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Facebook Journalism Project
No full textFacebook is a new kind of platform and we want to do our part to enable people to have meaningful conversations, to be informed and to be connected to each other. We know that our community values sharing and discussing ideas and news, and as a part of our service, we care a great deal about making sure that a healthy news ecosystem and journalism can thrive.
That’s why today we’re announcing a new program to establish stronger ties between Facebook and the news industry. We will be collaborating with news organizations to develop products, learning from journalists about ways we can be a better partner, and working with publishers and educators on how we can equip people with the knowledge they need to be informed readers in the digital age.
Continued via link
AEMC submission to the Independent review into the future security of the national electricity market
No full text• The National Electricity Market was established in the context of a national productivity reform agenda aimed at delivering markets that are competitive where possible, and well -regulated where not.
• The NEM was established to introduce competition in the electricity sector and to decentralise operational and investment decisions away from governments and regulators to commercial parties. It also recognised the fact that the energy sector is not static. Change in markets is not new, and the framework was designed to, and does, evolve continuously while still meeting the need for a stable investment environment.
• Regulatory and market arrangements can be thought of as primary mechanisms for allocating and managing risks. Diagnosing and responding to regulatory and market failures therefore demands both clarity of policy objectives and a deep understanding of the technical, economic and financial risks inherent to the energy sector.
• The success of any regulatory framework largely depends on how the people who operate the system and its many parts respond when something happens that had not been anticipated.
• When designing frameworks, consideration should always be given to the fact that consumers are best served by workably competitive wholesale and retail markets that allocate risks to commercial parties that have the strongest incentives and abilities to manage those risks. Changes in technology or market conditions should not require changes in frameworks; rather the frameworks should be capable of adapting and self-correcting.
• The overall aim of the NEM is to provide a reliable, secure energy supply at the best possible price for consumers and it must deliver this while the sector transforms. Significant investment is needed to support this transformation and regulatory frameworks must support investment in the broadest range of technologies possible in order to deliver the outcomes customers want, at lowest cost.
• A comprehensive system security work program is already underway which will help deliver technical solutions and regulatory and market framework changes necessary to maintain a secure supply of electricity for customers as the NEM transitions to a lower emissions future.
• There are three matters the AEMC believes are critical to maintaining security in the current environment of change :
1. Good Governance - there are opportunities to improve the effective functioning of the current governance arrangements to shorten the lag between when challenges emerge, and when they are acted upon.
2. Effective integration of emissions reduction and energy policy - the design of any mechanism to achieve emissions reduction objectives is crucial if we are to achieve both the required emissions reductions and the safe, secure and reliable supply of electricity at the best price for consumers. If the impact on how the electricity markets operate is not properly considered when designing a mechanism to drive emissions reductions in the electricity sector, then the achievement of both energy and emissions objectives will be at risk.
3. Giving investors and consumers confidence - appropriate investment signals, and the ability to respond to those signals, are critical to achieving sufficient and timely investment in the technology necessary to maintaining security of supply and competition in the retail market. Fundamental risk management structures within the NEM must be maintained so as to protect customers from bearing the risk of those investments.
• As the Australian energy market becomes more dynamic , it is more important than ever that all parties are committed to playing their appropriate role in supporting timely , national energy market development
The effect of lockout and last drinks laws on non-domestic assaults in Sydney: an update to September 2016
No full textAims: To assess the longer-term effects of the 2014 NSW liquor law reforms on levels of violence in the inner Sydney area.
Method: Interrupted time series models were used to examine the effects of the legislative reforms introduced in January 2014. Police recorded non-domestic assaults were analysed over the period January 2009 and September 2016. Separate analyses were carried out for the Kings Cross Precinct (KXP); the Sydney CBD Entertainment Precinct (CBD); an area contiguous with KXP and CBD called the proximal displacement area (PDA); a group of entertainment areas not far from KXP and CBD called the distal displacement area (DDA) and the rest of NSW.
Results: Following the reforms statistically significant reductions in non-domestic assault incidents occurred in both the Kings Cross (down 49%) and CBD Entertainment Precincts (down 13%). There was evidence of geographical displacement to surrounding areas with increases in non-domestic assault observed in both the PDA (up 12%) and the DDA (up 17%). The reduction in the combined Kings Cross and CBD Precincts (930 fewer non-domestic assaults) was much greater than the increase in the combined proximal and displacement areas (299 more non-domestic assaults).
Conclusion: Restrictions on the availability of alcohol appear to have reduced non-domestic assault in the target Precincts. Continued research is needed to monitor if displacement of these assaults increases further
Corruption perceptions index 2016
No full textTransparency International\u27s latest corruption perceptions index shows more countries declined than improved in this year\u27s results, showing the urgent need for committed action to thwart corruption.
Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year\u27s index fall below the midpoint of our scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The global average score is a paltry 43, indicating endemic corruption in a country\u27s public sector
Faiva Ora 2016–2021 National Pasifika Disability Plan
No full textSummary
Approximately 6 percent of people who were allocated Ministry-funded disability support and services in 2016 identified as Pacific peoples. Yet, overall, Pacific disabled people remain under-represented in disability support services. Factors that contribute to this under-representation include: a limited choice of culturally responsive disability services and negative traditional Pacific views of disability.
To address this under-representation, the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services have been working with Pacific disabled people, Pacific communities and disability support services to develop the Faiva Ora National Pasifika Disability Plan 2016–2021.
The plan focuses on:
improving outcomes for Pacific disabled children, youth and their families
encouraging Pacific communities to better engage with and support individuals with disabilities and their families to participate in their communities
ensuring disability services and supports meet the needs of Pacific disabled people and their families
encouraging stakeholders to work in partnerships to address challenges experienced by Pacific disabled people and their families
S2M: the economics of Australia’s small-to-medium visual arts sector
No full textBased on a survey conducted in 2016, the data in this study reveals that the small-to-medium (S2M) visual arts sector employs over 2,000 people, puts $100 million into the economy and produces 26,000 new art works each year - with a budget worth just 0.03% of Federal Government revenue. However, there has been a 55% decline in per capita federal arts spending since 2008.
Key points
1 // Art shapes the preferences and views of the community, influencing patterns of consumption and production, and therefore has an important economic role.
2 // ‘Art literacy’ has similar public benefit to that of text literacy and numeracy in providing the value that comes from having an educated public.
3 // The arts function like an ecosystem with diverse types of interdependent organisations. Australia’s small-to-medium (S2M) visual arts sector (which itself consists of different types of organisations that perform a variety of functions) is an essential element in supporting the production, distribution and appreciation of contemporary Australian art.
4 // The S2M sector is producing more art, supporting more artists and engaging with wider and more diverse audiences than ever before.
5 // The S2M sector facilitates the production of four times as many new works as the major galleries commission and acquire, but operates on little more than a quarter of their budgets.
6 // Arts funding for the S2M sector has not kept pace with inflation and population growth, let alone the increased outputs of the sector and the demands placed upon it.
7 // These increased pressures have seen declining numbers of full time arts professionals and the casualisation of the sector’s workforce. Arts professionals are paid a fraction of average earnings, generally well below recommended industry rates.
8 // These trends predate recent federal government funding cuts and will be exacerbated by them. Federal funding cuts affect a number of well-known organisations that are the link between communities, artist-run initiatives and major national and international galleries and art events (including biennales and art fairs).
9 // Cuts to federal funding of these organisations:
+ Reduce their ability to support and promote Australia’s most talented artists
+ Exacerbate already intense competition for state and local government funding and other revenue
+ Impact adversely on the organisations that promote early stage artists and also on the major arts organisations
+ Diminish the public’s access to Australian art.
10 // Arts funding policy needs to be developed in a coordinated way between the three levels of government and other funders and informed by close consultation with the arts sector. Policy makers need to understand the different roles, outputs and support structures of different S2M arts organisations.
11 // This report provides extensive quantitative data to assist in this policy development process
The true history of fake news
No full textThe fake news world isn\u27t new, according to Robert Darnton, Professor of History and University Librarian Emeritus at Harvard.
The tradition can be traced back to the Byzantine empire, but its real origins can be found in early newspaper journalism in 18th century London and Paris
Ex treasury boss warns political games are robbing Australia's economic future
No full textThe influential former head of treasury Ken Henry has again hit out at the political process today in some of his strongest language yet about the dangers of economic inaction.
Speaking to a group of economic policy makers and business leaders in Canberra, he said Australian was being robbed of its potential by a political class more interested in pantomime than reform
Human rights scrutiny report: report 1 of 2017
No full textUnder the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the committee is required to examine bills, Acts and legislative instruments for compatibility with human rights, and report its findings to both Houses of the Parliament. The committee may also inquire into and report on any human rights matters referred to it by the Attorney-General.
This is their first report tabled for 2017
Challenges in conducting natural experiments in parks—lessons from the REVAMP study
No full textExperimental evidence on the role of the built environment for promoting physical activity is important for informing how to create cities that promote active living. Parks provide opportunities for physical activity; however, there is little robust evidence on the impact of park refurbishment. Government agencies often modify parks, providing opportunities for natural experiment studies of these interventions. Such an opportunity was provided by the modification of a large park in Victoria, Australia in 2013 when the Recording and EValuating Activity in a Modified Park (REVAMP) study was established. Based on insights from the REVAMP study, this paper discusses challenges involved in conducting natural experiments in park settings, focussing on issues that may help design more effective future evaluations of the impact of park refurbishment. Natural experiments offer unique opportunities to evaluate the impact of large-scale changes to the built environment. They provide valuable data that might not otherwise be possible to gather, because of the costs associated with modification of the environment. However, factors beyond the control of the study team contribute to the complexity of both organising and conducting natural experiments, with potential flow-on effects to the quality of data. Therefore many extraneous factors need to be considered when designing, costing and conducting natural experiments; studies should identify opportunities to include key partners from the inception of the project, be flexible yet robust, and allow sufficient funding to accommodate unexpected changes in the research protocol