Academic literature on the topic 'Community development – New South Wales – Western Sydney'

As in many growing urban areas, the prevention of environmental damage as Sydney spreads westward into the Hawkesbury-Nepean River basin is a major challenge for planners, managers and the local community, We surveyed macroinvertebrates at 45 river and stream sites in April-June 1996, and reviewed data from other sources, in order to assess the issues involved in conservation of the lotic macro invertebrate fauna, Regional richness is high with 443 recorded species and morphospecies, Cluster analysis showed community pattems related mainly to waterway size (separating the Hawkesbury-Nepean River from tributary streams), geology (tributaries on shale or sandstone), tidal intrusion and urbanization (impoverished faunas in urban streams). The ability of genus richness of mites and major insect orders to reflect overall genus richness at a site was limited, and Diptera and Trichoptera appear to have the greatest value as biodiversity predictors. Urban expansion is the major threat to lotic macro invertebrate communities in the region, but agriculture, flow regulation, sand and gravel ex1raction and introduced species have probably also impacted on the fauna, Streams with high conservation value for macroinvertebrates include those few on the Cumberland Plain and surrounding slopes that retain substantial indigenous vegetation in relatively undeveloped catchments. The Hawkesbury-Nepean River sfill harbours a rich faunal community and is also important for conservation, The development of effective strategies for conservation assessment and management is problematic for several reasons, Some species in the region are known to be vulnerable, but the status of most cannot be assessed because of a lack of taxonomic and zoogeographic information, Most "biodiversity indicator" concepts are of dubious value for aquatic macroinvertebrate conservation. A multi-faceted management approach emphasizing subcatchment reserves, riparian restoration and the control of threatening processes is required.

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Australia’s cities face significant social, economic and environmental challenges, driven by population growth and rapid urbanisation. The pressure to increase housing availability will lead to greater levels of high-density and medium-density stock. However, there is enormous political and community pushback against this. One way to address this challenge is to encourage medium-density living solutions through “precinct” scale development. Precinct-scale development has the potential to include additional hard and soft infrastructure that may offset the perceived negativities of higher densities. As part of Australian research into precinct-scale development, and as part of our broader Smart Cities approach, or more specifically City Analytics approach, new digital planning tools &amp;ndash; Envision and ESP &amp;ndash; have been developed to support scenario planning and design needs. They utilise a data-driven and scenario planning approach underpinned by Geographic Information System (GIS) functionality.</p><p>We focus on a case study in the City of Blacktown, Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. By 2036 Blacktown is forecast to grow to approximately 500,000 people (an increase of over 30<span class="thinspace"></span>%) and 180,000 dwellings. Most new dwellings will be delivered through urban infill. The Blacktown master plan promotes higher density housing, mixed employment uses and continued improvements to the public domain. Our study provides a unique opportunity to implement this broad strategy within a specific case and location. Specifically, this paper provides information on how these digital planning tools supported Blacktown planners in identifying, co-designing and implementing a new approach for precinct level planning. It also presents the results of an evaluation of digital-planning tools in the context of the Blacktown case study.</p>

This definitely was not the type of day that St. James Hospital CEO, Paul Ryan, was expecting. As the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Hospital's new addition were about to begin, Paul found himself facing an unsympathetic press and an angry group of protesters. Clearly, he had a crisis on his hands.St. James Hospital in Parramatta (Western Sydney area of New South Wales, Australia) is a 400-bed multi-specialty community hospital providing ambulatory care, acute care, and psychiatric care services to residents living within the five suburbs of Auburn, Holroyd, Parramatta, Blacktown, and Baulkhaum Hills in the area of Western Sydney. The population of this area is multi-cultural with nearly one-third of the population born overseas and thirty percent speaking a language other than English. The area's population also differs from the population of New South Wales in other demographic characteristics. Table 1 shows some of these differences, although the data do not always allow direct comparisons. These differences have presented the management and staff of St. James Hospital with special socio-cultural, financial, and communication challenges.

This definitely was not the type of day that St. James Hospital CEO, Paul Ryan, was expecting. As the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Hospital's new addition were about to begin, Paul found himself facing an unsympathetic press and an angry group of protesters. Clearly, he had a crisis on his hands.St. James Hospital in Parramatta (Western Sydney area of New South Wales, Australia) is a 400-bed multi-specialty community hospital providing ambulatory care, acute care, and psychiatric care services to residents living within the five suburbs of Auburn, Holroyd, Parramatta, Blacktown, and Baulkhaum Hills in the area of Western Sydney. The population of this area is multi-cultural with nearly one-third of the population born overseas and thirty percent speaking a language other than English. The area's population also differs from the population of New South Wales in other demographic characteristics. Table 1 shows some of these differences, although the data do not always allow direct comparisons. These differences have presented the management and staff of St. James Hospital with special socio-cultural, financial, and communication challenges.

Data relating to flood events in the west Sydney area of Windsor, have been re-analysed using extreme value statistics, and the analysis has shown that the risk of occurrence of the probable maximum flood is greater than previously assumed using conventional statistical methods.The response of the New South Wales Government to the perceived risk is discussed and the efficacy of their strategy of relying on passing information to local residents has been tested by the use of a survey of residents of the area.The survey of Windsor residents showed that a significant percentage of the population had no knowledge of the flood risk. Of the rest of the population there was little or no knowledge of the effects that a severe flood might have, and there was little appreciation of the yearly risk of floods that would affect the town. Overall, it was concluded that the main mitigation strategy of government has been ineffective.

This paper describes a service-based initiative to enhance capacity for evidence-based practice (EBP) in the South Western Sydney Area Health Service Division of Population Health. A working group planned an organisational response to a customised EBP needs assessment using the New South Wales Department of Health?s framework for capacity building focussing on five key action areas; organisational development, workforce development, resource allocation, leadership and partnerships. Innovative strategies to promote EBP were developed and implemented and on-site training programs that targeted specific groups of staff were conducted. Because there was commitment and leadership from senior staff for the initiative, a comprehensive approach to building capacity for EBP in population health was possible. Evidence of impact needs to be collected in the future.

This paper briefly describes the history and service context of the Psychiatric Disability Rehabilitation and Support sector (PDRSS) in Victoria, and, to a lesser extent, in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. In describing the sector we will call upon the experience of a particular PDRSS - Neami - in operating and developing services, and the challenges it faced in establishing a culture of quality that directly improves consumer outcomes. Elements of this experience may serve as a guide in the development of mental health service policy at state and federal level.

Purpose: This study identifies the attitudes of participants in the root cause analysis (RCA) process and barriers to it?s implementation within one New South Wales area health service. Method: Employees and consumer representatives of the former South Western Sydney Area Health Service who participated in an RCA as either a team member or a team leader between December 2002 and October 2003 completed a self-administered survey. Results: Thirty seven of 39 eligible participants completed the survey (response rate 95%). The respondents identified formulation of causal statements, ensuring the causal statements met the ?rules of causality? outlined by New South Wales Health, and arranging times for interviews as most difficult. Team leader respondents (n = 7) ranked keeping the team focused, organising the first meeting within 7 days of the incident, and completing the RCA in three 2-hour meetings as barriers to the process. Conclusions: Training was valued by participants, however greater emphasis on the development of causal statements could be beneficial. Team leaders expressed difficulty in keeping the team focused and meeting the stipulated RCA timeframes, suggesting that additional support for RCA participants may be warranted.

This study investigated the prevalence of psychological distress among parents in Western Sydney households and examined its relationship with household financial, family and life stressors, and potential resilience factors. As part of a longer-term study, parents from Western Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), completed computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) in May 2011 (N=439). Respondents were primary caregivers of at least one child (aged 4–16). Responses were weighted to reflect the Western Sydney population. Multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between parent experiences of stressor and resilience factors and reported psychological distress. Overall, 10.7% (95% CI: 7.8, 14.5) reported experiencing high/very high levels of psychological distress. Multivariate analysis indicated that financial hardship factors formed the strongest associations with psychological distress particularly housing and job security factors and, specifically, inability to meet mortgage/rent payments (OR=5.15, 95% CI: 1.74–15.25, p=0.003), poor self-rated health (OR=4.48, 95% CI: 1.88–10.64, p=0.001), adult job loss (OR=3.77, 95% CI: 1.33–10.66, p=0.013), and other family/life events (OR=2.30, 95% CI: 1.05–5.03, p=0.037). High personal resilience was common within this parent population and was a significant protective factor for high psychological distress (OR=0.14, 95% CI: 0.06–0.34, p<0.001). The findings support the development of targeted interventions to promote parent coping strategies in the context of household financial hardship.

Approximately 40 per cent of the 52,000 km2 Sydney Basin lies in shallow waters (less than 200 m) off the central New South Wales coast. Containing more than 5,000 m of Permo-Triassic marine and non-marine sediments, and having been the subject of several previous exploration campaigns, no wells have been drilled in the offshore despite widespread numerous occurrences of oil and gas onshore.The Sydney Basin, together with the Bowen and Gunnedah basins, form a major longitudinal Permo-Triassic basinal complex stretching 2,500 km down the eastern margin of Australia. Whereas the onset of this basinal development may have been extensional, reinterpretation of seismic and other geophysical data highlight the potential role played in the early development of the Sydney Basin by easterly directed compression. A compressional style is to be contrasted with the dominantly extensional style interpreted by others for the adjacent onshore areas. The most conspicuous structural element in the offshore, the Offshore Uplift, is interpreted to represent the western overthrust edge of the Currarong Orogen. Accepting the Panthalassan margin geometry of Veevers and Powell (1994) it follows that the Offshore Uplift and restored Dampier Ridge would have constituted a 'greater Currarong Orogen'. A series of progressive westerly directed thrust fronts may have been established across the Panthalassan margin, including the uplifted western margin of the Currarong Orogen, which over-rode and created a thrust load onto the eastern margin of the Lachlan Fold Belt. Much of the Early Permian development of the Sydney Basin therefore could have resulted as a consequence of foreland loading. This is consistent with depositional trends including the overall westerly directed marine transgression which dominated the sedimentary record of the Early Permian. Alternatively, this marine transgression may represent the sag phase induced along a segment of the Bowen-Sydney rift system that had been offset by the Hunter River Transverse Zone from the Gunnedah Basin to a site coincident with the Offshore Syncline.Previous interpretations identified structural development of the Currarong Orogen as either a Cretaceous (Tasman Sea rift related) or Middle to Late Permian phenomena. Early Permian structural growth of the offshore Uplift has important implications for petroleum exploration. The major impediment to exploration appears to be the perception that the Sydney Basin lacks suitable reservoir targets and is gas-prone. Potential source and seal sequences occur extensively within both Early Permian marine shales and siltstones and Early and Late Permian coal measure sequences. The emerging uplift provided a major sediment provenance area and represented a barrier behind which restricted anoxic conditions flourished, conditions favouring the preservation of organic matter. Late Permian and Triassic sequences are absent across the crestal portions of the uplift. However, the emerging, sea-ward facing flank of the uplift would have been subject to marginal and shallow marine, wave-base, barrier and strand bar deposition during the Lower Permian, conditions known in the onshore to favour better reservoir development.Gas demand to the greater Sydney region is anticipated to exceed supply by the year 2000, and new gas markets are being eagerly sought in time for the expiration, in 2006, of the current contract under which gas is supplied to Sydney via the Moomba pipeline.Cretaceous, Tasman Sea rift related, structuring is subordinate to that of the earlier compressional and wrench related structuring. Several new structural targets have been added to the existing inventory of prospects and leads, including some now considered optiminally located with respect to source rock and reservoir development.

The use of community consultation to address socio-environmental degradation is entwined with contested democratic principles polarising views of its role. I frame this problem by examining three democratic paradigms faced with two contemporary problems. The deliberative argument that preferences require enrichment with debate mediates between the liberal-aggregative view that preferences are individual, private and amenable to aggregation and the view that participation in public life is foundational. Viewing consultation as deliberative reconciles the liberal-aggregative view of consultation as the illegitimate elevation of unrepresentative minority groups with the participationist view that consultation constitutes a step towards participatory democracy. Theorists of social reflexivity, however, point to an elided politics of knowledge challenging technoscience's exemption from politically garnered consent. Also neglected by much democratic theory is how functional differentiation renders self-referential legal, political, technoscientific and administrative domains increasingly unaccountable. I employ Habermas' procedural theory that public spheres allow social irritations into the political domain where they can be encoded into laws capable of systemic interjection in response, along with a dialogic extension accommodating the politics of knowledge. I then use this procedural-dialogic deliberative understanding of democracy to elucidate the context and outcomes of the NSW State's consultative strategy. The NSW state, institutionally compelled to underwrite economic growth, implicating itself in that growth's socio-environmental side effects provoking widespread contestation. The resulting Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (1979) and its adjunctive consultative provisions helped highlight the socio-environmental degradation of the Hawkesbury Nepean River Catchment via Western Sydney's urban sprawl, politicising the region. The convenement of a consultative forum to oversee a contaminated site audit within the region facilitated incisive lay critique of the technoscientific underpinnings of administrative underwriting of socio-environmental degradation. The discomforted NSW State tightened environmental policy, gutted the EP&A Act's consultative provisions and removed regional dialogic forums and institutions. I conclude that the socio-economic accord equating economic growth with social progress is both entrenched and besieged, destabilising the political/administrative/technoscientific regime built upon it. This withdrawal of avenues for critique risks deeper estrangement between reflexive society and the NSW State generative of electoral volatility.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2008.
A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Social Sciences, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosphy. Includes bibliographies.

Sustainable development is a multi-faceted and complex proposition, investigating such a goal required a grounded study capable of analysing real world issues. Managing such a highly diverse region as Western Sydney with its multiple demands is complicated by the plethora of government administration agencies. Contemporary land use planning policies and decisions appear frequently at odds with community values and aspirations for the region. Evidence presented in this research suggests a declining natural resource base that manifests itself in an insidious cost impost to the public sector while the benefits accrue to the private sector.Eventual developments in the resolution and maintenance of the functional integrity of the natural systems in Western Sydney may demand a major paradigm shift in economic and social policy. This research suggests that a precautionary based approach to thresholds of harm in the Western Sydney region is long overdue. Tools developed in this study appear capable of clarifying the evident land use planning paradoxes and may assist in negotiating sustainable outcomes by fostering a collaborative learning process between decision makers, experts and the community.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study seeks to develop a better understanding of the nature and potential of quality management in primary schools and to determine possible professional development strategies for principals in relation to the introduction of quality management within their schools. A questionnaire was utilised to seek the insights, understandings and opinions of thirty-four primary school principals within the Western Sydney area in relation to quality management in their schools and the kinds of leadership support required to initiate and sustain this process. The policy orientation of the research is evident through suggested options for leadership development which emerge from the findings of the quesionnaire. Furthermore, the notion of schools as 'learning communities' is a vision for school education which requires the transformation of the cultural elements of schools to enable all school members to be active managers of their own learning. There is a need to develop systems and processes to allow this vision for schools to emerge, and this research accepts this challenge. This thesis, based on the outcomes of the questionnaire, includes a theoretical framework based on an overview of current models relating to quality management in primary schools and concludes with considerations for the further development of the process in primary schools in New South Wales.
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

There is a need for research to understand change processes and knowledge management in health service organisations, and indeed public sector organisations in general. This research seeks to explain how knowledge becomes formulated and thereby mobile, and also how practice has come to be established, visibilised and thereby sustained in a specific context. Exploring practice within a health service organisation, and in particular a public health service organisation, is a particular feature of this research. The research demonstrates how collaboration becomes necessitated under pressure of enacting increasingly complex work activities, an outcome being changing practices and extended accountability relationships which enacts discipline while realising expertise. Using an ethnographic approach, the research explores how the practice of early childhood nursing in the South Western Sydney Area Health Service became a specialised expert undertaking. The research examines how change has occurred, whereby early childhood nursing was refined from being one part of the generalist community nursing practice to being a specialised practice through the increasing technologisation of practice. The technologisation of practice refers to the artefacts, conduct and the processes through which the conceptualisation and enactment of early childhood nursing has become increasingly standardised. Through the technologisation of practice explicit knowledge becomes distributed within the artefacts for practice and tacit knowing becomes distributed across, and is continually enacted by, the collaboration of the practice community. There are four interrelated aspects to the technologisation of practice. Firstly, the technologisation of practice involves standardising the conceptualisation and enactment of practice through constructing a multi-dimensional practice resource within a community of practice. Secondly, the technologisation of practice involves the mobilisation and refinement of the multi-dimensional practice resource to realise a practice network involving extended relationships of accountability. These relationships of accountability are within a profession and also with other professionals. Thirdly, the technologisation of practice involves the ongoing enactment of accountability in a collaborative community of practice. The research shows that a team can become a collaborative community by constructing an accountability context, reorganising and facilitating the team, and then amalgamating the organising and service delivery activities through integrating formal meetings and informal interactions. Fourthly, the technologisation of practice involves the collaborative community assemblage and/or appropriation of further technologies into practice thereby strengthening the local and extended relationships of accountability and expanding the boundaries of practice. The research describes how the technologisation of practice is the enactment of a number of mutually enabling practice dualities, which together simultaneously discipline and realise expertise. The interrelated practice dualities are individual-community, subjective-objective, local-global, formal-informal and governmentality-communal self-governance. The situatedness of practice is shown to necessitate a subjectivity-objectivity duality, whereby individual and communal experience is drawn upon to see through the otherwise opaque nature of statistics and information. The alignment of practice with the broader organisation and professional colleagues realises a local-global duality, whereby the community's local understandings are informed and shaped by distant issues. The formal-informal duality is a mechanism by which practice is increasingly collaboratively conceptualised and enacted, and thereby standardised. Individual and communal 'expertise' becomes realised through the assemblage and appropriation of organising and transforming tools and artefacts, or alternatively technologies. At the same time, the community in defining the use of such technologies as competent practice is disciplining their own conduct. Through this action a governmentality-communal self-governance duality is realised as the nursing community pursues expertise while disciplining themselves; by engaging in collaborative interactions and using standardised technologies the community constructs and makes visible their knowing, practice and expertise.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.