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National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) costs: issues paper
No full textThe National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a new scheme designed to change the way that support and care is provided to people with profound or severe permanent disability. The scheme is currently being rolled out across Australia.
The NDIS is based on the premise that individuals’ support needs are different, and those participating in the scheme should be able to exercise choice and control over the services and support they receive. The scheme is distinguished from previous approaches in a number of ways:
• it adopts a person-centred model of care and support
• it applies insurance principles to costs
• funding is determined by an assessment of individual needs (rather than a fixed budget)
• it is a national scheme.
This study is a review of NDIS costs and is to help inform the final design of the full scheme. The study will examine factors affecting scheme costs in light of the benefits and impacts of the scheme on the lives of people with disability, and Australians more generally.
Initial submissions are due by Friday 24 March 2017. Opportunity for further comment will be sought upon release of the position paper in May 2017
System event report: New South Wales, 10 February 2017
No full textThis report provides information on the operation of the National Electricity Market (NEM) and national power grid in New South Wales on Friday 10 February 2017, during a heatwave in eastern Australia.
On Friday 10 February 2017, the eastern Australian states of South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland all experienced high summer temperatures. Temperature forecasts for New South Wales were overall lower during this day than actual temperatures.
New South Wales operational demand (energy demand provided from the grid) peaked at 1630 hours (hrs) at 14,181 megawatts (MW).
The New South Wales record peak operational demand was on 1 February 2011, and was 14,744 MW. The New South Wales Government publicly encouraged customers to reduce electricity use. AEMO observed demand reductions of approximately 200MW below forecast at the time of peak demand on 10 February 2017, which may have been due to customer responses. However, AEMO cannot measure or verify the extent of the response
Trends in international arms transfers, 2016
No full textThis SIPRI fact sheet describes the trends in international arms transfers that are revealed by the new data. It lists the main suppliers and recipients for the period 2012–16 and describes the changes in regional trends.
The volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and increased by 8.4 per cent between 2007–11 and 2012–16, according to new data on arms transfers published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Notably, transfers of major weapons in 2012–16 reached their highest volume for any five-year period since the end of the cold war.
The flow of arms increased to Asia and Oceania and the Middle East between 2007–11 and 2012–16, while there was a decrease in the flow to Europe, the Americas and Africa. The five biggest exporters—the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany—together accounted for 74 per cent of the total volume of arms exports
The impact of foreign military involvement on the development of northern Australia
No full textSummary
Globally, governments are under increasing pressure to allocate ever scarcer land resources while taking account of economic outcomes, environmental sustainability and social benefits. Food production, mineral resource extraction, tourism, industrial infrastructure and urban development are just some of the essential activities that compete for land. Similarly, airspace is becoming increasingly crowded as the demand for travel and trade increase.
One less obvious, but also important use of land, sea and airspace, is military training. Australia, with its large area, relatively small population and its geographical positioning on the periphery of principle sea and air trade routes, is uniquely placed as it still has sufficient land and airspace available where it can adequately meet the demands detailed above and can still allocate land for large military training areas, particularly in the north.
During World War Two, Australia provided training areas to the United States to support the conflict in the Pacific. The United States has continued to conduct military training on Australian soil and airspace to the present day. The United Kingdom conducted 12 major nuclear weapon’s tests in Australia between 1952 and 1957. More recently, regional neighbours have been provided permanent training facilities, particularly for pilot training. These arrangements provide both benefits and costs to Australia. They invest in infrastructure, provide employment to the local workforce and inject money into local economies. They can also be environmentally and culturally disruptive and can prevent land use for other purposes. The negative aspects of permanent, foreign military bases in Australia notwithstanding, they can be used strategically as a development tool for northern Australia.
Key points
Foreign forces have a history of land use for the military training extending back to World War II.
Allowing foreign defence forces to access Australian military establishments and field training ranges is fundamental to maintaining regional security and long-standing strategic alliances.
Expenditure by foreign forces visiting northern Australia has had significant impact on local economies, which will grow exponentially due to increasing numbers of personnel over extended periods.
Environmental risks relating to land clearing, infrastructure development and military operations are mitigated through robust management and control systems.
Social impacts of visiting foreign forces have been negligible where troops have been permitted to interact with local communities
Australian clinical legal education: designing and operating a best practice clinical program in an Australian law school
No full textOverview
Clinical legal education (CLE) is potentially the major disruptor of traditional law schools’ core functions. Good CLE challenges many central clichés of conventional learning in law—everything from case book method to the 50-minute lecture. And it can challenge a contemporary overemphasis on screen-based learning, particularly when those screens only provide information and require no interaction.
Australian Clinical Legal Education comes out of a thorough research program and offers the essential guidebook for anyone seeking to design and redesign accountable legal education; that is, education that does not just transform the learner, but also inculcates in future lawyers a compassion for and service of those whom the law ought to serve.
Established law teachers will come to grips with the power of clinical method. Law students struggling with overly dry conceptual content will experience the connections between skills, the law and real life. Regulators will look again at law curricula and ask law deans ‘when’
Surge in part-time work leading to significant social change, say researchers
No full textThe latest official figures show the unemployment rate fell slightly in January to 5.7 per cent. A surge in Australians landing part time work, more than made up a big slump in full-time work.
Social researchers say the trend to part-time work is placing a heavy financial burden on families and is also seeing the nation undergo a significant social change
Cat tracker South Australia
No full textDomestic cats are one of the most popular pets worldwide and they play an important and much-cherished role in the lives of many South Australians.
The Cat Tracker project was designed to help cat owners make informed decisions about the care and management of their pet cats.
Cat Tracker was launched in South Australia in February 2015. The project focussed on the movement and management of pet cats in South Australia, as well as exploring cat personality and the attachment people have with pet cats
Interview with the Hon. Nicola Roxon: getting evidence into health policy
No full textPublic health researchers and practitioners want to see their research inform government decision making.
It is not always clear to researchers how evidence is used in policy decisions in a highly politicised environment with many competing demands.
Public Health Research & Practice spoke to Nicola Roxon, former Federal Health and Ageing Minister (2007–2011), to gain some insight into the process, and advice on how to engage most productively with government
Shared ownership can help make housing affordable for people with disability
No full textThe National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is expected to help more people with disability access the support services they need to live independently in the community. But the majority of NDIS participants have low incomes. So, without substantial financial assistance, they struggle to find affordable housing to move into.
In recent years there has been much public policy discussion about shared ownership housing models – also known as shared equity – as part of the solution for this problem.
Read the full article on The Conversation
More aqua nullius? The Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic) and the neglect of Indigenous rights to manage inland water resources
No full textAbstract
The Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (Vic) was enacted in response to the deficiencies of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) in recognising the native title rights and interests of Victoria’s Traditional Owners. It is widely recognised that the NTA is particularly inadequate when it comes to Indigenous participation in water management. This article evaluates the TOS Act to see if it improves on the NTA in that regard. After outlining the deficiencies of the NTA and its application in Victoria, it considers the nature of water rights capable of being recognised under the TOS Act. This is followed by an analysis of the procedural rights under the land use activity regime, the TOS Act’s equivalent of the NTA’s future act regime. Finally, it analyses the role of Aboriginal title (introduced by the TOS Act) and joint management (enhanced by the TOS Act) in facilitating Indigenous participation in water management. It concludes that the TOS Act does little to advance the water management aspirations of Victoria’s Traditional Owners