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Mapping culture: venues & infrastructure in the City of Sydney
No full textThis report was commissioned to assist the City of Sydney in developing a greater knowledge of its cultural infrastructure through a process of classification and mapping of the City’s cultural venues. Its multi-layered database assists with the design of the most appropriate and effective policies to enhance the cultural and creative life of the city.
The report provides:
An explanation of the concept of culture that has been operationalised;
A detailed rationale of the cultural classification framework adopted;
An elaboration of the key methodological issues addressed in the collation of a consolidated database of cultural venues and infrastructure in the City, and the mapping technologies deployed;
A presentation and discussion of a series of maps concerning the location and distribution of 3,106 cultural venues that were mapped and broken down into spatial, cultural industry, and venue types;
A presentation and discussion of a series of maps concerning the location and distribution of 3,106 cultural venues that were mapped and broken down intospatial, cultural industry, and venue types;
A series of recommendations and suggestions for future cultural mapping and other research, addressed directly in terms of the City of Sydney’s Cultural Policy and Action Plan;
A major information set consisting of references, cultural mapping website examples, coding information, the crowdsourcing survey, and data sources enables additional avenues of inquiry to be pursued
ACOSS budget priorities statement, 2017-18
No full textACOSS\u27 submission to the Federal Budget process, outlining their priority recommendations for the 2017-18 Federal Budget.
The Federal Budget is much more than an accounting exercise. It is ultimately about people and our communities, and the priorities and goals we set for our country.
The choices made in the budget tell us what the government of the day stands for and the goals it wishes to pursue on our behalf.
Crucially, the Federal Budget pays for essential community services and support payments that we all depend on at different times in our lives. Through a progressive personal income tax system, we all contribute according to our ability to pay. The contributions go into a pool with company and other tax contributions, and enable us to fund the essential needs of a healthy society. These span universal healthcare, education, disability and aged care services, to the lifeline support for people who experience tough times through unemployment or illness, as well as support for families or older members of our community. This is the social contract that has served our nation well for generations, ensuring social cohesion and paving the way for prosperity. By investing in our people and communities, we create a strong, prosperous and resilient society that can withstand any shocks – both internal and external
Tiptoeing around the nine-dash line: Southeast Asia after ASEAN
No full textSoutheast Asia is one of the most diverse regions on the planet, and its geopolitical importance is on the rise. While individual states in this part of the world have been strategically significant in the past, Southeast Asia now finds itself thrust into the limelight of international affairs as a result of the competition currently occurring between the US and China. Those developments have placed greater strategic weight and heightened attendant stresses on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the principal group representing the 10 countries in the region.
Even as ASEAN’s strategic pertinence steadily increases, the member states of the grouping face a dilemma over collective action that challenges not only perceptions of ASEAN’s efficacy but also the overall security of Southeast Asia. How they and other interested actors—including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the US, Australia and Japan—choose to act now will shape the region for decades to come
Beyond the article: frontiers of editorial and commercial innovation
No full textThis report looks at how news organisations are creating innovative editorial formats and seeking commercial opportunities ‘beyond the article’. The report and analysis are based primarily on case studies discussed in interviews conducted between December 2016 and January 2017 with startup founders, senior editorial leaders, technology directors and commercial executives at news organisations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland, Spain, Turkey, and the Philippines. We have found:
All of the cases involve some form of distributed content, either the well-known process of spreading content through social networks or increasingly via messaging platforms, apps, and emerging virtual reality stores.
The news organisations are moving beyond using distributed strategies simply to achieve scale. The editorial priorities included trying to build a more direct relationship with their audience, trying to increase engagement, or trying to reach a specific audience – in the case of Helsingin Sanomat a youth audience.
Display advertising is playing less of a role in monetising these distributed audiences. The news organisations in this report are utilising a number of commercial strategies for these projects including sponsored content, native advertising, commercial partnerships, and the sale of services.
While the virtual reality projects involved a great deal of resources – the resources only available to news organisations with a global reach such as the Guardian or the New York Times – most of the projects do not. One of our case studies, 140journos, has a full-time staff of only 10.
And the case studies show how news organisations have developed product management processes not only to increase the pace of innovation but also to try to increase the chance of commercial success
Freedom of speech in Australia
No full textOn 8 November 2016, pursuant to the section 7(c) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the Attorney-General referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights the following matters for inquiry and report:
whether the operation of Part IIA of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (including sections 18C and 18D) impose unreasonable restrictions on freedom of speech; and
whether the complaints-handling procedures of the Australian Human Rights Commission should be reformed
The oceans: the Law of the Sea Convention as a form of global governance
No full textLife came from the ocean. Without the ocean, life on Earth is not possible. The ocean produces and regulates much of the planet’s oxygen and water, provides substantial amounts of its nutrient and carbon cycling and supports most of its biological diversity. Fish feed over 3 billion humans, supplying 20% of their animal protein intake (FAO, 2016).
The resilience of the ocean is decreasing. The biodiversity of the high seas, which constitute almost half of Earth’s surface, remains largely unprotected from multiple threats. These include pollution, overfishing and destructive fishing, noise, and other new and emerging uses. All are compounded by climate change and ocean acidification. Severe depletion of coastal and shelfisheries has long been widely acknowledged, but for many years the open ocean was still considered one of the last great wild places on Earth. We now know that the open ocean, too, is under threat
An own coal?
No full textIntroduction
With coal import demand from China and India falling, Indonesia’s domestic coal miners are banking their future on government policies that would see the number of coal-fired power plants across the archipelago nearly triple. Under one plan, initiated by the Jokowi government in 2015, 35,000MW (35GW) of new electricity would be added to the Indonesian grid by 2019 (the same year as the nation’s next presidential election). Twenty-thousand megawatts, or nearly 60 percent of this, is slated to come from coal, and this is just one of several policies intended to increase the use of the dirty fossil fuel. A 10-year plan published by state-owned electricity utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN Persero) stipulates that a second 35,000MW is to be built between 2019 and 2024 – also dependent on coal.
But these plans cannot be reconciled with the detrimental environmental and social impacts such a vast expansion of coal use would have, nor with Indonesia’s pledge to cut emissions by 29 percent from business as usual levels by 2030. Indonesia’s wealth of renewable energy resources (principal among them being geothermal) have the potential to meet both the growing energy needs of the world’s fourth most populous nation, as well as its responsibility to help mitigate the impacts of global climate change. The development of Indonesia’s renewables industry, however, faces several obstacles including government subsidisation of coal, the monopoly power of state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, and a lack of financing and technological know-how. The international community, including Australia, can help remedy this by providing financial and technological support for projects that will help Indonesia prosper in a clean energy future
Integrating consumer engagement in health and medical research – an Australian framework
No full textBackground
Quality practice of consumer engagement is still in its infancy in many sectors of medical research. The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) identified, early in its development, the opportunity to integrate evidence-driven consumer and community engagement into its operations.
Process
SAHMRI partnered with Health Consumers Alliance and consumers in evidence generation. A Partnership Steering Committee of researchers and consumers was formed for the project. An iterative mixed-method qualitative process was used to generate a framework for consumer engagement. This process included a literature review followed by semi-structured interviews with experts in consumer engagement and lead medical researchers, group discussions and a consensus workshop with the Partnership Steering Committee, facilitated by Health Consumer Alliance.
Outcomes
The literature revealed a dearth of evidence about effective consumer engagement methodologies. Four organisational dimensions are reported to contribute to success, namely governance, infrastructure, capacity and advocacy. Key themes identified through the stakeholder interviews included sustained leadership, tangible benefits, engagement strategies should be varied, resourcing, a moral dimension, and challenges. The consensus workshop produced a framework and tangible strategies.
Conclusion
Comprehensive examples of consumer participation in health and medical research are limited. There are few documented studies of what techniques are effective. This evidence-driven framework, developed in collaboration with consumers, is being integrated in a health and medical research institute with diverse programs of research. This framework is offered as a contribution to the evidence base around meaningful consumer engagement and as a template for other research institutions to utilise
The human capital factor: generating, attracting and retaining human capital in regional Australia
No full textIn the field of labor economics, human capital refers to the stock of knowledge or characteristics of a worker that contributes to their productivity. Investment in education and training of individuals can enhance their level of human capital and this will be valued in the market because it increases firms’ profits. Various researchers have looked at the intersection of migration and human capital suggesting that higher levels of human capital are found in cities and that areas with high levels of human capital act as an attractor for individuals with high levels of skills and education. This self-reinforcing process of attraction raises many questions in the context of Australia’s urban primacy, as it suggests that capital cities will enjoy a cumulative gain in human capital over time, potentially at the expense of non-metropolitan areas. Net flows of young adults from regional to metropolitan Australia reinforces the concentration of economic activity and a relatively young metropolitan labour force. At the same time, it has led to a gradual ageing of the population structure and a depletion of human capital in many rural communities, placing constraints for local development, particularly through skills shortages and difficulty attracting professional workers. This paper explores whether the loss of regional capital from regional areas is inevitable. It poses a number of questions for discussion such as: Are there non-traditional ways in which regional communities can access or generate human capital? Can human capital be enhanced via mobility rather than permanent migration
Reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan: progress on implementation
No full textThe Great Barrier Reef Independent Review Group (the Reef Review Group) prepared this report to provide an independent analysis of the Australian and Queensland governments’ progress in implementing the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan).
We have reviewed the 2016 Reef 2050 Plan Annual Report and Addendum and the 2016 Update Report on Progress and Investment Framework. These reports cover the first 18+ months of a 5-year plan which is the first implementation phase of the 35-year Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan (Reef 2050 Plan). We have also considered government policy responses to issues not covered in the Reef 2050 Plan but critical to the long-term management of the Reef. Finally, we have looked at the implications of the 2016 mass coral bleaching event on future management of the Reef