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: Objective: The study aimed to examine associations of community cultural connectedness with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young peoples’ suicide rates in areas with elevated risk factors. Methods: Age‐specific suicide rates (ASSRs) were calculated using suicides recorded by the Queensland Suicide Register (QSR) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (aged 15–24 years) in Queensland from 2001–2015. Rate Ratios (RRs) compared young peoples’ suicide rates in areas with high and low levels of cultural connectedness indicators (cultural social capital and Indigenous language use) within areas with elevated risk factors (high rates of discrimination, low socioeconomic resources, and remoteness). Results: Within low socioeconomically resourced areas and where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experienced more discrimination, greater engagement and involvement with cultural events, ceremonies and organisations was associated with 36% and 47% lower young peoples’ suicide rates respectively (RR=1.57, 95%CI=1.13–2.21, p= Conclusion: Cultural connectedness indicators were associated with lower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young peoples’ suicide rates in communities experiencing the most disadvantage. Implications for public health: This provides initial evidence for trialling and evaluating interventions using cultural practices and engagement to mitigate against the impacts of community risk factors on Aboriginal and Torres Islander suicide., Past and present colonisation in Australia has resulted in injustice against First Peoples through forced removal of communities from traditional homelands and children from their families, as well as genocide, [...]

Significant variations in educational outcomes across both the spatial and socioeconomic spectra in Australia have been widely debated by policymakers in recent years. This paper examines these variations and decomposes educational outcomes into 3 major input factors: availability of school resources, socioeconomic background, and a latent factor that links to the specificities of the local education system such as efficiencies. The proposed method respects the multi-dimensional nature of educational outcomes by estimating structural parameters of an extended education production function with multiple outcome measures. The results indicate that all factors contribute to the variations. Nevertheless, socioeconomic factors dominate non-school-based measures such as the tertiary education enrolment rate. The study also reveals significant differences in education system efficiencies across areas, suggesting compounding factors are often responsible for poor educational performance.

This paper concerns accountability and agency concepts in governance reforms in Indonesia. The country's economic crisis in 1997, which snowballed into social and political crisis, triggered the country to reform the governance of the ministries by transferring government functions from ministries to agency-type organizations. However, this reform has led to rising questions about the accountability arrangements of the newly formed organisations which are oriented to agency-based governance. In addition, there are several different arrangements for these agencies. This study aims to analyse the extent to which accountability is accorded in various types of agencies. In doing so, the study uses typology of the government agencies as a tool to understand the accountability through its autonomies. The results indicate that the variety of agencies' forms requires a different accountability setting, which is not being met in the current regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid decentralisation in Indonesia has shifted responsibility for managing substantial public funding from national to district governments and increased the importance of local government at the district level in delivering public services. Local government budget delays have become a huge problem as they not only delay the local government's delivery of services but also reduce its functional capacity. Our research assesses problems of budget delay in Indonesian districts. Three districts were chosen as case studies for interviews and group discussions. The research finds that human capacity and administrative problems have slowed the development and enactment of budgets. Moreover, efforts to keep election promises, especially to develop infrastructure, have not only brought a lengthy process of bargaining for economic and financial resources but also undermined the participatory budget process. This has been intensified by poor political interaction, as shown in the three case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]