Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Government policy on agriculture (Australia)'
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1
Parsons, Kelly. "Constructing a national food policy : integration challenges in Australia and the UK." Thesis, City, University of London, 2018. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/19680/.
Abstract:
Calls for an integrated food policy to tackle the new fundamentals of the food system have been regularly made by academics, policymakers, the food industry and civil society for over a decade in many countries but, despite some changes, much of the old policy framework remains entrenched. This gap raises questions about why policy innovation has proved so difficult. This study responded to that research problem through a qualitative, interpretivist comparative study of how two countries attempted to improve their policy integration, via two specific policy integration projects: the UK’s Food Matters/Food 2030 process (2008-2010) and Australia’s (2010-2013) National Food Plan. It applied a conceptual framework fusing historical institutionalism and the public policy integration literature, focusing on the policy formulation stage. Fieldwork was conducted in both countries, including interviews with key informants; and publically-available documents about the policy projects and broader policy systems were analysed. The findings suggest the two policy projects represent a food policy shift from single-domain ‘policy taker’, towards multiple domain ‘policy maker’, but both fell short of what might be classed as ‘integration’ in the literature. The research identifies how tensions between domains are sidestepped, and makes broader propositions around how multiple values and goals co-exist in this contested policy space, and the need for improved value agreement capacity. It also highlights a general lack of focus on integration as a process. It explores how the legacy of historical fragmented approaches, plus political developments and decisions around institutional design, and a more general trend of hollowing out of national government, impact on how integrated food policy can be formulated in a particular country setting. It therefore proposes an emerging ‘institutionalist theory of food policy integration’, conceptualising the dimensions of integration, and multiple institutional influences on integration attempts.
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Wallace, Gary E., of Western Sydney Hawkesbury University, and Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture. "Governance for sustainable rural development : a critique of the ARMCANZ-DPIE structures and policy cycles." THESIS_FEMA_XXX_Wallace_G.xml, 1998. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/263.
Abstract:
The focus of the thesis is a critique of the form and function of the federal institutions governing the development of Rural Australia. In undertaking this study two cycles of a systemic action research were followed, the first to explore the policy development environment and the second to validate and expand on findings of the first cycle of enquiry. The thesis follows the historical development of policy institutions and the deliberations of poicy actors that have lead to normative, strategic and program change within these institutions. These institutional changes have then been critiqued from theoretical perspective of governance for sustainable development. Conclusions from this critique indicate that that the pace of policy change is very slow and after 20 years from the Rural Policy green paper of 1974 the federal institutions have taken on board a rhetoric of sustainable rural development that encapsulates much of the principles espoused in the Green Paper.This includes principles that aim to empower rural communities to find local solutions to their natural resource management and local economic development problems. The downside is found in institutional conflict over resource dependencies and spheres of responsibility and an apparent lack of community economic development facilitation skills within the service organisations of rural institutions.Master of Science (Hons)
3
Wallace, Gary E. "Governance for sustainable rural development : a critique of the ARMCANZ-DPIE structures and policy cycles." Thesis, [Richmond, N.S.W.] : Faculty of Environmental Management and Agriculture, University of Western Sydney - Hawkesbury, 1998. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/263.
Abstract:
The focus of the thesis is a critique of the form and function of the federal institutions governing the development of Rural Australia. In undertaking this study two cycles of a systemic action research were followed, the first to explore the policy development environment and the second to validate and expand on findings of the first cycle of enquiry. The thesis follows the historical development of policy institutions and the deliberations of poicy actors that have lead to normative, strategic and program change within these institutions. These institutional changes have then been critiqued from theoretical perspective of governance for sustainable development. Conclusions from this critique indicate that that the pace of policy change is very slow and after 20 years from the Rural Policy green paper of 1974 the federal institutions have taken on board a rhetoric of sustainable rural development that encapsulates much of the principles espoused in the Green Paper.This includes principles that aim to empower rural communities to find local solutions to their natural resource management and local economic development problems. The downside is found in institutional conflict over resource dependencies and spheres of responsibility and an apparent lack of community economic development facilitation skills within the service organisations of rural institutions.
4
Risely, Melissa. "The politics of precaution : an eco-political investigation of agricultural gene technology policy in Australia, 1992-2000." Title page, contents and abstract only, 2003. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phr5953.pdf.
5
Babidge, Sally. "Family affairs an historical anthropology of state practice and Aboriginal agency in a rural town, North Queensland /." Click here for electronic access to document: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/942, 2004. http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/942.
Abstract:
Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2004.Thesis submitted by Sally Marie Babidge, BA (Hons) UWA June 2004, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, James Cook University. Bibliography: leaves 283-303.
6
Carne, Kerry Ann. "Fiscal Policy Rules and Public Capital Formation in Australia." Thesis, Griffith University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365753.
Abstract:
Subsequent to the abandonment of the Bretton-Woods agreement, many governments experienced worsening fiscal outcomes and subsequent heightening debt levels over several decades. Many have recently adopted rules-based fiscal policy regimes in an attempt to correct this. The experience of capital formation by Australian national and sub-national governments is therefore examined before and after their adoption of fiscal policy rules. Applying non-parametric and parametric methods to data drawn from public policy documents, the degree to which the examined governments complied with the constraints imposed on fiscal measures by adoption of fiscal policy rules was ascertained. The Australian governments have generally, though not always, met fiscal constraints imposed by their fiscal policy rules. The absence of penalties for non-compliance may have contributed to the occasional exceptions to this high level of compliance. However, intentionality of compliance where observed cannot be ascertained due to the virtually simultaneous adoption of accrual-based financial reporting frameworks, and resulting informational effect, and other possible causal factors.
The degree of compliance varied with the type of fiscal policy rule. In order, constraints imposed by net debt, followed by net worth and budgetary balance rules were most frequently met. Possible causes include the significantly enhanced information set available to governments after adoption of accrual-based financial reporting networks and the significance attributed by governments to their credit ratings.
Attention was then focused on the experience of public capital formation and whether it changed at the date of adoption of net worth fiscal policy rules. The Commonwealth, Victorian, Queensland and Western Australian Governments increased the level, growth rate or output elasticity of their investment when they adopted a fiscal policy rule requiring, at a minimum, that they maintain their net worth. The Victorian Government’s experience showed the effects of unique infrastructure financing arrangements. The investment experience of the New South Wales Government cannot be modelled effectively in this way due to its practice of transfer of assets to other levels of government during the period of the study.
One potential implication of the research findings reported in this thesis is that the usual macroeconomic assumption of exogeneity of government expenditures may be too strong in circumstances where governments have adopted such fiscal policy rules. Specifically, it appears necessary to review the general assumption that only certain elements of government expenditures, those that are related to automatic stabilisers, are business cycle dependent. That is, other government expenditures, those usually considered to be independent of levels of economic activity, may no longer be able to be considered to be so when certain institutional arrangements, such as fiscal policy rules, exist. Instead, constraints imposed by adoption of fiscal policy rules appear likely to assume the position of determining upper or lower bounds on certain fiscal measures.
Further, consistent with the literature on supply-side effects of public capital formation, the jurisdictions experiencing increased growth of public capital formation subsequent to adoption of fiscal policy rules are those which have experienced higher growth rates than other jurisdictions. This indicates the existence of a number of interesting directions for further research.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics
Griffith Business School
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7
Nguyen, Lan T. "Australian Private Health Insurance: Industry Performance, Market Failure and Government Policy." Thesis, Griffith University, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/403643.
Abstract:
Australia has a mixed public–private health system. The core of its funding is universal public health insurance supplemented by voluntary private health insurance (PHI), which despite being smaller, remains critical to the sustainability of the health system. In addition to injecting funding into the health system and thereby increasing capacity, PHI offers choice for consumers and enhances the responsibility of individuals for good health. Nonetheless, in common with many other developed countries around the world, there are several challenges currently facing the Australian health system, including an ageing population, increased chronic disease conditions, and ever more costly medical technologies. To cope with these pressures, the improvement of all sectors within the health care system is necessary.
The Australian PHI industry is currently under pressure due to constantly rising premiums and the declining affordability of insurance. Questions have long been raised, not only about the long-term profitability and sustainability of many insurers and the industry, but also whether the mixed public–private healthcare system can continue in its existing form and still meet its wider policy objectives. To address this, this thesis examines three separate yet related dimensions of the performance, sustainability, and stability of the Australian PHI industry using three different empirical analyses.
The first analysis investigates the efficiency and productivity growth of Australian private health insurers during the period 2010–2017. The findings suggest that the adoption of innovation and technologies in operations would help insurers to improve their productivity. In addition, there is significant scope for regulatory reform and structural change in this industry to improve the efficiency and productivity of the sector overall.
The second analysis examines the phenomenon of adverse selection in the private health insurance, testing whether unhealthy people are more likely to hold hospital PHI. The findings indicate that while adverse selection remains high, it has decreased over time because of government policy, industry conditions and the heterogeneous preferences and risk aversion of individual and potential policyholders. The results also document the emergence of a tendency for advantageous rather than adverse selection in the insured pool.
The third and final analysis considers moral hazard in policyholder behaviour. As both adverse selection and moral hazard are examples of market failure, there is the potential for loss of wellbeing for consumers, taxpayers, and citizens. While the approach considers just a single specific aspect of healthcare, namely, dental services, it is by far the largest ancillary healthcare service covered by PHI in Australia. The analysis employs a simultaneous equation framework to examine the relationship between PHI cover and the frequency of dental visits. The findings indicate the existence of moral hazard and the level of moral hazard in PHI has been quite stable over the longer term.
The thesis contributes to industry practice and government policy in several ways. First, the current crisis in the Australian PHI industry has pressured all stakeholders to find solutions to cope with the steadily increasing premiums and to provide affordable PHI. Higher levels of efficiency and productivity within this industry would certainly reduce some of the pressure on premiums. The analysis identifies the most and least efficient and productive insurers, and this helps identify firm- and industry-level factors likely to affect insurer and industry performance. The analysis also reveals the nature of the economies of scale within this industry and the prospects for structural reform.
Second, adverse selection is a serious problem in determining PHI cover participation, especially among young and healthy members likely to drop their policies when insurers equalize premiums between members not based on individual health risks. Adverse selection death spiral drives insurers to raise premiums even further to cover for the higher healthcare costs of aged and unhealthy insured members, thereby threatening the stability of the PHI system. This thesis addresses this by providing comprehensive evidence of adverse selection and its trend overtime.
Third, the thesis documents the existence of moral hazard in dental services, the largest component of ancillary healthcare treatment in Australia. The analysis considers moral hazard using a unique and comprehensive dataset, reflecting the insured’s behaviour pattern over time, which is useful to understand factors contributing to currently rising premiums.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Dept Account,Finance & Econ
Griffith Business School
Full Text
8
McMaster, Don. "Detention, deterrence, discrimination : Australian refugee policy /." Title page, abstract and contents only, 1999. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phm167.pdf.
9
Welsh, Mary, and n/a. "Promoting quality schooling in Australia : Commonwealth Government policy-making for schools (1987-1996)." University of Canberra. Education, 2000. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20061110.123723.
Abstract:
Promoting the quality of school education has been an issue of international, national
and local significance in Australia over the past three decades. Since 1973 the pursuit
of quality in school education has been embedded in the rhetoric of educational
discourse and framed by the wider policy context.
This study focuses on the Commonwealth (federal) government's policy agenda to
promote the quality of schooling between 1987 and 1996. During this ten year period,
successive Labor governments sought to promote quality through a range of policy
initiatives and funding programs. Through extensive documentary research, fifty
semi-structured interviews and one focus group with elite policy makers and
stakeholders, the study examines how the Commonwealth government's 'quality
agenda' was constructed and perceived. An analysis of relevant government reports
and ministerial statements provides documentary evidence of this agenda, both in
terms of stated policy intentions and the actual policy initiatives and funding programs
set in place in the period 1987-1996. Set against this analysis are elite informants'
perspectives on Commonwealth policy-making in this period - how quality was
conceptualised as a policy construct and as a policy solution, the influences on
Commonwealth policies for schools, whether there was a 'quality agenda' and how
that agenda was constructed and implemented. Informants generally perceived quality
as a diffuse, but all-encompassing concept which had symbolic and substantive value
as a policy construct. In the context of Commonwealth schools' policies, quality was
closely associated with promoting equity, outcomes, accountability, national
consistency in schooling and teacher quality. Promoting the quality of 'teaching and
learning' in Australian schools took on particular significance in the 1990s through a
number of national policy initiatives brokered by the Commonwealth government.
An exploration of policy processes through interview data reveals the multi-layered
nature of policy-making in this period, involving key individuals, intergovernmental
and national forums. In particular, it highlights the importance of a strong, reformist
Commonwealth Minister (John Dawkins), a number of 'policy brokers' within and
outside government and national collaboration in constructing and maintaining the
Commonwealth's 'quality agenda' for schools. While several Australian education
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policy analysts have described policy-making in this period in terms of 'corporate
federalism' (Lingard, 1991, 1998; Bartlett, Knight and Lingard, 1991; Lingard,
O'Brien and Knight, 1993), a different perspective emerges from this study on policymaking
at the national level. Despite unprecedented levels of national collaboration on
matters related to schooling in this period, this research reveals an apparent
ambivalence on the part of some elite policy makers towards the Commonwealth's
policy agenda and its approach to schools' policy-making within the federal arena.
Policy coherence emerged as a relevant issue in this study through analysis of
interview data and a review of related Australian and international policy literature.
Overall, informants perceived the Commonwealth's quality agenda to be relatively
coherent in terms of policy intentions, but much less coherent in terms of policy
implementation. Perceptions of Commonwealth domination, state parochialism,
rivalry, delaying tactics and a general lack of trust and cooperation between policy
players and stakeholders were cited as major obstacles to 'coherent' policy-making.
An analysis of informants' views on policy-making in this period highlights features of
coherent policy-making which have theoretical and practical significance in the
Australian context.
This research also demonstrates the benefits of going beyond the study of written
policy texts to a richer analysis of recent policy history based on elite interviewing.
The wide range of views offered by elite policy makers and stakeholders in this study
both confirms and challenges established views about policy-making in the period
1987-1996. Elite interviewing lent itself to a grounded theory approach to data
collection and analysis (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1998). This
approach was significant in that it allowed relevant issues to emerge in the process of
research, rather than relying on 'up front' theoretical frameworks for the analysis of
data.
10
Frawley, Patsie, and timpat@pacific net au. "Participation in Government Disability Advisory Bodies in Australia: An Intellectual Disability perspective." La Trobe University. School of Social Work and Social Policy, 2008. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au./thesis/public/adt-LTU20090122.114029.
Abstract:
This qualitative study examined the participatory experiences of people with an intellectual disability as members of government disability advisory bodies in Australia. These forums are one of the strategies adopted by governments to enable people with an intellectual disability to participate in the formulation of social policy. Such opportunities have arisen from progressive policy that frames people with an intellectual disability as full citizens with equal rights to inclusion and participation in society.
Little research has considered how people with an intellectual disability experience the participatory opportunities that have grown from this recognition of their rights. This reflects the more traditional focus on their status and participation as consumers and service users. The central question of this study is how people with an intellectual disability experience participation in government advisory bodies, and how such forums can be inclusive and meaningful.
This study positions people with an intellectual disability as the experts about their own experiences by relying primarily on their first person accounts of their experiences. Ethnographic and case study methods were employed including in-depth interviews with the central participants, document analysis, observation of the work of the advisory bodies and interviews with others involved in advisory bodies. Analysis led to the development of a typology of participation that describes the political and personal orientations people have to participation.
The study found that structures and the processes used by advisory bodies can mediate people�s experiences; however more significantly, the experiences of people with intellectual disability are shaped by their perception of how they are regarded by others. Central to this is the efficacy of support based on the development of collegiate relationships, similar to the notion of civic friendship described by Reinders (2002), rather than support that is solely focussed on tangible accommodations
The study concludes that citizen participation bodies have not fully recognised the personal and political potential of members with an intellectual disability. It presents evidence that people with an intellectual disability are capable of this form of participation, can provide legitimate and informed perspectives on policy and can engage meaningfully, given full recognition of their capacity to participate as well as structures and processes that enable this.
11
Griffiths, Joanne. "Curriculum contestation : analysis of contemporary curriculum policy and practices in government and non-government education sectors in Western Australia." University of Western Australia. Graduate School of Education, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0178.
Abstract:
[Truncated abstract] The aim of this study was to analyse the changing dynamics within and between government and non-government education sectors in relation to the Curriculum Framework (CF) policy in Western Australia (WA) from 1995 to 2004. The Curriculum Council was established by an act of State Parliament in 1997 to oversee the development and enactment of the CF, which was released in 1998. A stated aim of the CF policy was to unify the education sectors through a shared curriculum. The WA State government mandated that all schools, both government and non-government, demonstrate compliance by 2004. This was the first time that curriculum was mandated for non-government schools, therefore the dynamics within and between the education sectors were in an accelerated state of transformation in the period of study. The timeframe for the research represented the period from policy inception (1995) to the deadline for policy enactment for Kindergarten to Year 10 (2004). However, given the continually evolving and increasingly politicised nature of curriculum policy processes in WA, this thesis also provides an extended analysis of policy changes to the time of thesis submission in 2007 when the abolition of the Curriculum Council was formally announced - a decade after it was established. ... The research reported in this thesis draws on both critical theory and post-structuralist approaches to policy analysis within a broader framework of policy network theory. Policy network theory is used to bring the macro focus of critical theory and the micro focus of post-structuralism together in order to highlight power issues at all levels of the policy trajectory. Power dynamics within a policy network are fluid and multidimensional, and power struggles are characteristic at all levels. This study revealed significant power differentials between government and non-government education sectors caused by structural and cultural differences. Differences in autonomy between the education sectors meant that those policy actors within the non-government sector were more empowered to navigate the competing and conflicting forms of accountabilities that emerged from the changes to WA curriculum policy. Despite both generalised discourses of blurring public/private boundaries within the context of neoliberal globalisation and specific CF goals of bringing the sectors together, the boundaries continue to exist. Further, there is much strategising about how to remain distinct within the context of increased market choice. This study makes a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of policy processes surrounding the development and enactment of the CF in WA and the implications for the changing dynamics within and between the education sectors. Emergent themes and findings may potentially be used as a basis for contrast and comparison in other contexts. The research contributes to policy theory by arguing for closer attention to be paid to power dynamics between localised agency in particular policy spaces and the state-imposed constraints.
12
Minami, Masaki. "The role and policy of the South Australian Government in the development of economic ties with Asian nations /." Title page, table of contents and abstract only, 1997. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ARM/09armm663.pdf.
13
Ryan, Neal. "Science and Technology Policy in Australia: Implementation Problems and Prospects." Thesis, Griffith University, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367205.
Abstract:
A long standing economic problem in Australia has been its inability to convert its world class scientific research and development into high value, internationally competitive industries. Throughout the 1980s Commonwealth and State governments have attempted to address this issue through a series of interventions which have done little to change the situation. Indeed, the new technology sector in Australia remains economically and politically unimportant in the 1990s. This thesis examines government intervention in the new technology sector with a particular focus on public policy implementation issues which have been an important influence on outcomes. This thesis concentrates attention on the recent government assistance for the commercialisation of technology in Australia. This task is undertaken in two parts. First, there is an examination of the institutions and actors which have impacted on the development of science and technology (S&T) policy in Australia. This level of analysis provides sufficient disaggregration of the S&T policy environment to be able to examine important areas affecting the implementation of policy, and provides a context for evaluating specific government programs. Second, government programs assisting in the commercialisation of technology are evaluated with respect to: political outcomes such as political support, coordination and consistency; and economic outcomes such as commercial benefits and the development of industrial structures. This thesis examines four Commonwealth programs which have been the main source of assistance to the commercialisation of technology in Australia, and the intervention of State governments in the sector. The Commonwealth programs examined here are the Management and Investment Companies Program, Australian Government Offsets, National Energy Research Development and Demonstration Program, and National Procurement and Demonstration Program.
Institutions, actors and programs provide the empirical evidence for addressing two implementation research questions which are central to this thesis. The first research problem is to assess the impact of implementation on policy outcomes. Second, analysis of the outcomes of programs enables the disaggregration of the important elements of implementation. The first conclusion drawn from this thesis is that poor implementation strategies have been a central influence on the inadequate results achieved from government intervention in the new technology sector. The implementation of government S&T programs have been characterised by: a lack of cooperation, coordination and coherence between Commonwealth agencies, and between Federal and State governments; and an absence of effective linkages between program objectives, long-term commercial and structural needs of the sector and implementation strategies.
Second, the elements of implementation which have dominated S&T policy outcomes in Australia have been: the absence of political support base to vigilantly support the cause of new technology programs, and argue for changes where appropriate; and the absence of sound commercial theory in implementation strategies. These elements of implementation suggest that fixture government support for new technology industries requires programs to be more closely linked to existing economic interests, and strategies enhancing the prospects of industries succeeding commercially.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Full Text
14
Wang, Yan Chao. "EU's agricultural support policy and its revelation on China's agricultural policy." Thesis, University of Macau, 2011. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2555588.
15
Oliver, Clive P. "Analysis and determinants of sustainability policy choice of local councils in Australia : a test of stakeholder theory." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2013. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/700.
Abstract:
Since the early 1990’s, issues of sustainability involving community, government and industry have gained momentum, and the environment has become the focus of numerous studies, such as those undertaken by Young and Hayes (2002); Yuan (2001); Staley (2006); Mellahi and Wood (2004); Hezri and Hasan (2006); Dowse 2006; Wilmhurst and Frost (2000); and Qian, Burritt and Monroe (2010). Cotter and Hannan (1999, p.11) also discussed the impetus of a United Nations summit in 1992, known as the Earth Summit, which resulted in Local Agenda 21, a blueprint for action to achieve sustainable development.
Global sustainability is currently a major focus for policies in both the public and private sectors. Local government in Australia is currently undergoing historic changes as a result of a major thrust to restructure through amalgamation, in order to improve efficiencies and effectiveness in local government. Amalgamations are considered necessary for the financial survival of local government, as there is growing evidence to suggest that too many small councils will not be financially viable in the future. Moreover, local government worldwide is now more accountable than ever before for sustainable policy choices and the impact of those policy choices on their communities.
Sustainable policy choices of local councils worldwide will have an enormous economic and environmental impact on the planet. Previous studies into the effects of sustainability issues and their relationship to local councils have been carried out by Kloot and Martin (2001); O’Brien (2002); Reid (1999); Bulkeley (2000); and Tebbatt (2006).
This empirical quantitative study examines the sustainability policy choices of local government Australia-wide, and looks specifically at the determinants of such choices in local government. It also investigates the influence of stakeholders on the sustainability policy choices of each local government, the results of which have the potential to affect society’s quality of life. Identifying stakeholders who influence sustainability policy choices is therefore of great importance for the future.
All five hundred and fifty eight local Australian government entities listed by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) were invited to participate in this study. Data were gathered through the use of a structured questionnaire, and an analysis was undertaken to identify those stakeholders who influence the sustainability policies of Australian local government.
This is the first research to examine all Australian local government entities to find out why they make the sustainability choices they do. To date, most studies relating to local government have been in areas of disclosure, such as those carried out by Royston (2001); Priest, Ng and Dolley (1999); and Piaseka (2006).
The findings of this study support the assertion of Mitchell, Agle and Wood (1997), that stakeholder salience is positively related to the cumulative number of the three variable attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency. In addition, this study ranked stakeholders from one to eight according to the perceptions of local government CEOs. It is interesting to note that, of the listed stakeholders, government did not rank as number one. The results indicated that stakeholder influence on local government sustainability policy choices varied depending on local government size, location, and whether they were urban or rural according to their government classification. The researcher was surprised to learn that many councils did not know their own government classification. The study also revealed that local government took sustainability seriously in all its forms and applications. As in previous research, the CEO of each council was selected as the respondent for the questionnaire. It was discovered that many of the larger councils had specialist positions dealing with these issues.
This study is significant because it contributes original research in the area of stakeholder influence on sustainability policy choices of local government in Australia. It is important for future sustainability studies to have an understanding of which stakeholders influence local government in making their sustainability policy choices. This study also clarifies the perceived salience of local government stakeholders from the perspective of Australian local government CEOs. Moreover, the study proves quite clearly that local government is not homogenous, and the potential exists for future studies to investigate the importance and consequence of heterogeneous local government in Australia and around the world.
16
Costello, Mayet Anne. "Australia says no? : policy, politics and the Australian government's approachs to male violence against women during the Howard years (1996-2007)." Phd thesis, Faculty of Education and Social Work, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8942.
17
Winkworth, Gail. "All hands on deck : government service delivery, partnership and participation : Centrelink : a case study / Gail Winkworth." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2004. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/28030.
Abstract:
This thesis seeks to understand how government service delivery agencies can develop more individualised solutions for citizens through new kinds of relationships or ‘social partnerships’ across sectors. Specifically it examines how Centrelink, the Australian Government’s largest service delivery agency is working across other government, the not-for—profit and business sectors to reduce social exclusion and to increase participation opportunities for people on income support.
18
Kendal, Stephen Leslie, and n/a. "THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC POLICY. UNIVERSITY AMALGAMATIONS IN AUSTRALIA IN THE 1980s AND 1990s." University of Canberra. Business and Government, 2006. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20071005.123202.
Abstract:
This thesis considers the adequacy of existing theories of implementation of tertiary education policy, in relation to university amalgamations in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia. In particular the thesis examines the difficulties of mergers attempted in the case of Monash University (a successful amalgamation), the University of New England (a partially successful amalgamation), and the Australian National University (an amalgamation which never took place). The thesis argues that the best available model of policy implementation in the tertiary education sector is that set out by Cerych and Sabatier (1986), and that even this is less than adequate through its omission of several relevant factors, notably the factor of leadership. The thesis accordingly presents a modification of the Cerych and Sabatier (1986) model as well as suggestions for inclusion of factors omitted in the broader implementation literature.
19
Manning, Elizabeth Sophie Mary. "Local content and related trade policy: Australian applications /." Title page, abstract and table of contents only, 2004. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phm2832.pdf.
20
Peel, Samantha. "Indicators for sustainability : Local Agenda 21 in Adelaide." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1999. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ENV/09envp374.pdf.
Abstract:
Bibliography: leaves 99-105. Examines the ways in which local governments in the Adelaide region have used the Local Agenda 21 program, with particular focus on public participation and the development of indicators. Argues that sustainability requires the support and involvement of the widest possible community, a necessity that will not be realised until public participation, particularly involving those groups with a reduced 'social voice' (such as women, youth and minority cultural/ethnic groups), becomes an integral part of the local government's modernisation agenda. Concludes with a summary of the main issues and a set of recommendations for future research and action.
21
Fleming, Brian James. "The social gradient in health : trends in C20th ideas, Australian Health Policy 1970-1998, and a health equity policy evaluation of Australian aged care planning /." Title page, abstract and table of contents only, 2003. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phf5971.pdf.
22
Johnson, Kevin. "Subnational economic development in federal systems : the case of Western Australia." University of Western Australia. School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, 2006. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2007.0014.
Abstract:
[Truncated abstract] The objectives of this study are threefold: Firstly, to consider the relevance (to subnational state development) and adaptability (to globalisation) of federalism from a Western Australian perspective. Secondly, to consider the way in which various State Governments in Western Australia have implemented economic development policies to benefit from the global political economy. Finally, it proposes alternative mechanisms for guiding long-term economic development policy decision-making in Western Australia. This final objective is addressed in light of the findings of the first two. It is recognised that incremental changes are possible in full knowledge of the embedded nature of the policy-making process in Western Australia . . . In the case of Western Australia, subnational autonomy does not herald the end of the nationstate so much as a new stage in globalisation. In terms of how the Western Australian State Government attracts capital and labour investment, its history as an independent colony and its physical isolation from the other colonies have created the initial conditions that frame the policy-making process, which includes a set of drivers influencing the decisions that are made by State agents. Overall, the State Government continues to reinforce the State’s role as a peripheral resource supplier to the national and global political economy. Within this context, however, alternative strategies can be proposed that may contribute to the long-term sustainable development of the State’s economy.
23
Edwards, Geoffrey. "Defining the 'Public Interest'." Thesis, Griffith University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365184.
Abstract:
The 'public interest' (including 'national interest' in foreign affairs) has long been recognised as a yardstick in public policy. Intuitively, one would expect that first-rate policy analysis, including multi-disciplinary inquiry and public consultation, should be adequate to document a reasonable approximation of the public interest to guide- political debate. Yet the precise nature of the public interest remains enigmatic. The concept plays out in three primary ways: as a rhetorical device, as a statement of current policy, and as a normative standard. Error arises from assuming that these usages are equivalent. When it is found that rhetorical and current formulations are inadequate, the temptation is to discard the concept as meaningless without further normative inquiry. Indeed, the academic literature on the subject seems to peter out in the 1970s without reaching any consensus on whether the term has meaning other than as a device for propaganda.
Since economic rationalism rose to prominence in the 1980s, governments have allowed markets to determine what is in the public interest and have neglected other standards such as ethics, the wisdom of the ages, the deliberations of a non-partisan public service, international treaties and biophysical limits to economic growth.
As a working definition, the present research describes the public interest as the stake that the community at large has in public affairs and searches for some objective criteria in the literature and through case studies, survey and logical analysis. The three case studies related to (a) real property rights, (b) international free trade and (c) aviation safety. It was found that: the private rights and public responsibilities of holders of real property are poorly defined; the Australian Government's insistence that free international trade is a major limb of national interest is defective on both theoretical and evidentiary grounds; and in aviation a search for a widely accepted definition even of 'safety' was unsuccessful.
The research also explored the features of gross domestic product, a universally accepted measure of economic growth popularly taken as an indicator of public well-being. The concept was found to be riddled with defects, even as a narrow measure of economic prosperity. Nor did any of several philosophical lenses evaluated in the thesis lead to a clear benchmark (though 'natural law' was found to have promise as it holds that some ethical traits are inherent in human nature and are augmented by a corpus of moral standards that have gained consensus over the centuries). The analysis did not support the prevalent view that government ministers determine the public interest or that public interest arises as the pluralist-style resultant of contending interest groups.
In short, no authoritative or objective standard could be discovered. Further, the hold that relativism and neo-liberalism have within the social sciences and the policy community makes it unlikely that scholars will reach a consensus on how to crystallise the public interest in the foreseeable future.
The research therefore turned to look for some foundation in the biophysical environment and in global affairs. Two findings rescued the quest: the demonstrable limits of the natural environment and the existence of international treaties. Some axioms are derived from these for the biophysical, social and public policy arenas. The thesis argues that it should be possible to align government policies and actions to achieve objectives consistent with these, though this process is inconsistent with the predominant market-led model of framing public policy. In brief, the public interest can be served by progress towards internationally accepted ideal conditions even if, by definition, a normative standard remains elusive.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department of Politics and Public Policy
Griffith Business School
Full Text
24
McLean, Kathleen Ann 1952. "Culture, commerce and ambivalence : a study of Australian federal government intervention in book publishing." Monash University, National Centre for Australian Studies, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/7566.
25
Wilkinson, James Max. "Vocationalism in Australia: A qualitative study of the impact of restructuring on education." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1995. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36523/1/36523_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.
Abstract:
This research was an exercise in educational policy interpretation and analysis, focussing, in particular, on the policies of vocationalism which have been instrumental in the restructuring of education in Australia.
The research findings showed that the policies, being a pragmatic response by a government to a perceived political crisis, lack, as White (1989) argued, an appropriate, underpinning educational theory. The study' s findings of a theoretical model integrating general and vocational education informed by the literature review, the research analysis and by Dewey's educational philosophy, are offered as a possible solution to the problem of vocationalism.
26
Rutland, Suzanne D. "The Jewish Community In New South Wales 1914-1939." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/6536.
27
Rutland, Suzanne D. "The Jewish Community In New South Wales 1914-1939." University of Sydney, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/6536.
28
Akinboade, Oludele. "Agriculture, income distribution and policy in Kenya : a SAM based general equilibrium analysis." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.670311.
29
Vickery, Edward Louis. "Telling Australia's story to the world : the Department of Information 1939-1950 /." View thesis entry in Australian Digital Theses Program, 2003. http://thesis.anu.edu.au/public/adt-ANU20040721.123626/index.html.
30
Siemon, Noel, and n/a. "Civil remote sensing policy in Australia : a case study concerning the commercialisation of a government-developed technology." University of Canberra. Administrative Studies, 1993. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20061108.154949.
31
Gibson, Lisanne, and L. Gibson@mailbox gu edu au. "Art and Citizenship- Governmental Intersections." Griffith University. School of Film, Media and Cultural Studies, 1999. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20030226.085219.
Abstract:
The thesis argues that the relations between culture and government are best viewed through an analysis of the programmatic and institutional contexts for the use of culture as an interface in the relations between citizenship and government. Discussion takes place through an analysis of the history of art programmes which, in seeking to target a 'general' population, have attempted to equip this population with various particular capacities. We aim to provide a history of rationalities of art administration. This will provide us with an approach through which we might understand some of the seemingly irreconcilable policy discourses which characterise contemporary discussion of government arts funding. Research for this thesis aims to make a contribution to historical research on arts institutions in Australia and provide a base from which to think about the role of government in culture in contemporary Australia. In order to reflect on the relations between government and culture the thesis discusses the key rationales for the conjunction of art, citizenship and government in post-World War Two (WWII) Australia to the present day. Thus, the thesis aims to contribute an overview of the discursive origins of the main contemporary rationales framing arts subvention in post-WWII Australia. The relations involved in the government of culture in late eighteenth-century France, nineteenth-century Britain, America in the 1930s and Britain during WWII are examined by way of arguing that the discursive influences on government cultural policy in Australia have been diverse. It is suggested in relation to present day Australian cultural policy that more effective terms of engagement with policy imperatives might be found in a history of the funding of culture which emphasises the plurality of relations between governmental programmes and the self-shaping activities of citizens. During this century there has been a shift in the political rationality which organises government in modern Western liberal democracies. The historical case studies which form section two of the thesis enable us to argue that, since WWII, cultural programmes have been increasingly deployed on the basis of a governmental rationality that can be described as advanced or neo-liberal. This is both in relation to the forms these programmes have taken and in relation to the character of the forms of conduct such programmes have sought to shape in the populations they act upon. Mechanisms characteristic of such neo-liberal forms of government are those associated with the welfare state and include cultural programmes. Analysis of governmental programmes using such conceptual tools allows us to interpret problems of modern social democratic government less in terms of oppositions between structure and agency and more in terms of the strategies and techniques of government which shape the activities of citizens. Thus, the thesis will approach the field of cultural management not as a field of monolithic decision making but as a domain in which there are a multiplicity of power effects, knowledges, and tactics, which react to, or are based upon, the management of the population through culture. The thesis consists of two sections. Section one serves primarily to establish a set of historical and theoretical co-ordinates on which the more detailed historical work of the thesis in section two will be based. We conclude by emphasising the necessity for the continuation of a mix of policy frameworks in the construction of the relations between art, government and citizenship which will encompass a focus on diverse and sometimes competing policy goals.
32
Visessuvanapoom, Vinit. "State and economy in Thailand: the possibility of establishing a developmental state." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2006. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/28173.
Abstract:
This dissertation addresses the question of whether the Thai state is already a
developmental state or could readily become one early in the 21St century. To begin with it identifies the two principal conditions that have to be satisfied, namely commitment to develop and state capacity to influence development. The latter of ‘which in turn depends on the state’s general authority (legitimacy) and its general regulatory capacity. The focus of the dissertation is on the particular capacities that can be said to characterise a developmental state in the present era. These particular capacities are, first, the particular capacities providing the basis of industry policy as identified in the analyses of the earlier formation of developmental states by Chalmers Johnson and his successors and, second, certain complementary capacities which are required to meet the challenges of the twenty—first century. The body of the dissertation is an examination of whether, and to what extent, the particular capacities exist within Thailand or could readily be brought into existence. The dissertation further examines the commitment to development in Thailand through an examination of contemporary Thai polity and specifically the state’s ability, under a Thaksin administration in particular, to govern conflicts within the Thai polity in a manner consistent with broad development. It is recognised that insofar as the state’s capacity to influence development also depends on its general authority (the legitimacy of the state), that authority also is sensitive to its ability to govern conflict resolution. The dissertation ends by speculating about how different the commitment to development might be under another Democrat-led administration. The overall conclusion of the dissertation is that, while the Thai state does indeed possess critical capacities for the pursuit of industry policy, other essential capacities - fundamental and complementary
— as well as legitimacy and commitment to development are weak and not obviously being strengthened. That being the case, it would only be wishful thinking to say that Thailand is already a developmental state.
33
Brankovich, Jasmina. "Burning down the house? : feminism, politics and women's policy in Western Australia, 1972-1998." University of Western Australia. School of Humanities, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0122.
Abstract:
This thesis examines the constraints and options inherent in placing feminist demands on the state, the limits of such interventions, and the subjective, intimate understandings of feminism among agents who have aimed to change the state from within. First, I describe the central element of a
34
Whelan, Stephen P. "Land freight transport in Australia : an economic analysis of regulatory and competition reform." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 1996. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/27642.
Abstract:
An examination of land freight transport in Australia shows that a diverse range of influences
have shaped its development and structure over time. Parochial political interests have
constituted a potent input into the development of policy, made possible by the federal structure
of the Australian governmental structure. Australia is in no way unique in this sense, but the
structure and its constituent elements have, over time, resulted in the development of land
freight transport policy which has proven, in some respects, to be inefficient and ineffective.
Despite a perception that land freight transport policy has been inadequate in the past, attempts
to comprehensively reform the regulatory framework in which the land freight transport task is
undertaken have not proved successful. This has been partly due to constraints imposed by
institutional forces beyond the reach of policy makers. More recently, however, changes in
institutional constraints provided an opportunity for reform to be initiated. Coupled with a
commitment on the part of constituent governments to seek economically efficient national
solutions, changes have occurred in the regulatory environment for land freight transport in
Australia.
The nature of the economic relationships underlying the freight transport task are examined,
and a modelling framework developed for analysing the freight transport task within a spatial
equilibrium framework. Although not applied directly to the issue of concern in the present
study, the technique represents a useful tool to analyse freight transport relationships in the
future. In lieu of the direct application of the spatial transport equilibrium model developed,
previous Australian studies are reviewed and inter-state land freight transport demand
relationships estimated.
The economic implication of regulatory and competition reforms are assessed in the context of
a federal structure of government, and a scenario in which the freight transport task represents
a diverse set of activities. The study concludes that although the reforms offer opportunities to
enhance the regulatory environment for land freight transport, the results to date do not show
unambiguous gains from the changes which have occurred, or which are envisaged.
Moreover, considerations other than cost-benefit considerations may undermine the persuasive
arguments on which much of proposed reforms have been premised. This is likely to lead to
misguided policy which, in the long run, does not prove to be welfare enhancing, and which
may not correspond with the institutional framework underlying the Australian federal
structure.
35
Harper, James. "The role of folk culture in Australia's quest for national identity : a case study." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1997. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36391/1/36391_Harper_1997.pdf.
Abstract:
In recent years, especially since the release of the cultural policy statement Creative Nation in 1994, the role of Australia's cultural sector in developing the national identity has been a source of public debate. Some commentators have used the metaphor of the quest for self-knowledge to the country's search for identity, and emphasised the importance of the work of artists in
expressing this quest. Policy makers have attempted to link this quest more closely with their own
arts and other polices. This thesis presents exploratory research into the role played by one particular sector of the cultural industry, the folk movement. It does so through a case study of one of the movement's
principal organisations, the Queensland Folk Federation (QFF). It asks the question: What is the role of the QFF in the quest for Australian national identity?
After a general introduction to the :field of inquiry, the thesis draws on folklore, cultural policy
and cultural tourism to provide historical and theoretical context and introduces the case study
organisation. It lists research questions and derives eight research themes from the folkloric, arts
policy and cultural tourism background. Research methodology, in particular the in-depth
interviewing approach, is discussed. Data gathered from the application of this approach, along with documentary research and participant observation are described and six emergent themes are used to summarise characteristics of the case study organisation's quest.
It is concluded that the Queensland Folk Federation is an organisation pursuing its own agenda which it perceives as strongly related to developing national identity, regardless of whether or not it matches current cultural policy. Strong parallels are suggested between the management style and membership involvement of the Federation and organisations with a religious or spiritual mission.
36
Collins, Lisette Bernadette. "Confronting the Inconvenient Truth: The Politics and Policies of Australian Climate Change Adaptation Planning." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/15553.
Abstract:
Climate change adaptation policy development has been taking place for almost a decade, but thorough analysis of adaptation policy across Australia is yet to be achieved. This thesis explains variation in the identification of vulnerability in Australian climate change adaptation plans (CCAPs). It asks: how can we explain the variation in the prioritisation of socio-political concerns in CCAPs developed by local governments across Australia? The research shows that a general indistinct remit within local government contributes to a variety of problem definitions regarding climate change across councils that result in variation in identification and prioritisation of socio-political concerns. The thesis also engages with the question of ‘adaptation as transformation’ and concludes that transformation has not yet occurred in the Australian adaptation context. This thesis lays out the findings of a personally collated database of 97 climate change adaptation plans (CCAPs) from across Australia. CCAPs are categorised as either biophysical impacts-based or socio-political inclusive. Surveys and interviews were conducted to examine this variation, with specific attention paid to the inclusion of vulnerable groups and mental health in adaptation planning. Variation in the inclusion of and approaches to education and community consultation (key determinants of adaptive capacity) was also examined. The research is located at the intersection of the vulnerability literature, public policy, and the politics of climate change adaptation planning. As well as categorising Australian CCAPs as ‘transitional’ rather than ‘transformational’ adaptation, the research contributes a new theory – ‘the politicisation of vulnerability’ to the vulnerability literature, provides a new Australia-wide case study for the public policy literature, and offers a unique database of Australian local government CCAPs.
37
Lapham, Angela. "From Papua to Western Australia : Middleton's implementation of Social Assimilation Policy, 1948-1962." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2007. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/270.
Abstract:
In 1948, after twenty years in the Papuan administration, Stanley Middleton became the Western Australian Commissioner of Native Affairs. State and Federal governments at that time had a policy of social assimilation towards Aboriginal people, who were expected to live in the same manner as other Australians, accepting the same responsibilties, observing the same customs and influenced by the same beliefs, hopes and loyalties. European civilization was seen as the pinnacle of development. Thus both giving Aboriginal people the opportunity to reach this pinnacle and believing they were equally capable of reaching this pinnacle was viewed as a progessive and humanitarian act. Aboriginal cultural beliefs and loyalties were not considered important, if they were recognized at all, because they were seen as primitive or as having being abandoned in favour of a Western lifestyle.
38
Congues, Janet Maureen. "Women's recollection of farming and managing for drought in Australia, 2006-2010: What role for local government?" Phd thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/108622.
Abstract:
Women who farmed and local government may have played key roles in managing for drought in Australia during 2006-2010 but their knowledge and experiences were not always documented or evaluated. Research has demonstrated how agrarian and neoliberal ideologies and Australia’s negation of women who farmed from the national census resulted in knowledge and experiences of women who farmed being marginalised and discounted by agricultural leadership organisations and decision making processes.
Smith’s (1990a) feminist standpoint theory was used to establish the everyday lives of women who farmed and locate their experience as significant to enhancing agricultural knowledge. Prioritising their recollection of the drought enabled the women to recognise the importance of their ideas, experiences and expertise. Other theoretical tools such as Bourdieu’s (Swartz 1997; Raedeke, Green, Hodge & Valdivia 2003) notions of ‘habitus’, ‘capital’ and ‘field’ along with Heller’s (2005) theoretical perspective about ideology were used to enhance the theoretical framework. Qualitative methods of in-depth interviews and text analysis of documents were used to gather and analyse the data.
The study was located in the latter four years (2006-2010) of Australia’s Millennium Drought and focused on the Goulburn Valley, a mixed farming region of Australia’s south-eastern state of Victoria. A thematic analysis of eleven in-depth interviews from women who farmed in the Goulburn Valley during that time formed the foundation from which findings were analysed and discussed. This was followed by an interpretive text analysis of the role local government played during that drought using, with permission, the Greater Shepparton City Council’s Drought Program reports written at that time.
Evidence suggested initially agrarian and neoliberal ideologies provided some support for women and men who farmed during Australia’s Millennium Drought. As the drought continued, norms around notions of preparedness and resilience appeared to fragment and issues arose regarding the impact of hardship, providing appropriate services and preparing for the longer term impact of recurring droughts and climate change.
The thesis found that women did have experience and expertise that could enhance the knowledge of people who farm to better prepare and manage for future droughts in Australia and they identified how local government could be better utilised to support rural communities more effectively.
39
Risely, Melissa. "The politics of precaution : an eco-political investigation of agricultural gene technology policy in Australia, 1992-2000 / Melissa Risely." Thesis, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/21968.
40
MacWilliam, Scott. "Development and agriculture in late colonial Papua New Guinea." Phd thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/151517.
41
Woodhead, Alice. "Marking change : changing marks : social benchmarking for interdisciplinary ecosystems management : case study : agriculture and diffuse source pollution from acid sulfate soils, NSW, Australia." Thesis, 2003. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/458706.
Abstract:
To incorporate concepts of sustainable agriculture into policy formulation, and decision making for ecosystem management there is a need to integrate social, environmental and economic objectives. This thesis explores a Social Benchmarking model for achieving this integration. The social benchmarking methodology has been designed to respond to complex ecosystem problems that are caused by diffuse source pollution. It is a multimethodology approach that develops qualitative and quantitative data for measurement of change over time, combined with participative processes for identifying best practices and developing tools for providing information to decision makers. The philosophy behind the process is to actively acknowledge that each stakeholder has a vested interest in their own future and that they need credible information to enable them to reach agreement on future ecosystem issues. The research was conducted in seven coastal catchments in New South Wales, Australia between 1998 and 2003. The case study explores the issues raised by problems from acid sulfate soils. Oxidation of these soils causes acidification of soils and diffuse source pollution of water. It is relatively simple to treat at source, but there are multiple sources and entry points from private and public land. The impacts can be a lowering pH to less than 3, affecting water quality, biodiversity and downstream industries. This has resulted in conflict between the multiple stakeholders. Such environmental problems are challenging much of the orthodox thinking and effectiveness of policies. To achieve sustainable development, government agencies need to change their operational ideas away from purely efficient use to include environmentally and socially acceptable use of resources by multiple stakeholders. The key themes of this thesis are using a benchmarking system to provide feedback to industry groups and the role and relationship between human and social capital for participatory and evidence based policy development. How to align education and regulatory policies with best practice standards and incentives so that institutions support building adult skills and community capacity to change. Thus, this thesis develops social indicators of human and social capital for stakeholders associated with acid sulfate soils, along with environmental and economic indicators. The benchmarking system provided feedback to the industry groups (beef, cane, dairy and tea tree landholders) about where their industry was positioned relative to others in the industry, identified best practices and provided the mechanism for triple bottom line reporting. There are three reports within the scope this thesis. The first report ‘Farming community ideas about the way forward’ in 1998 described the industry, provided baseline data and introduces major issues, such as how there is considerable concern about developing a balance between education and regulation within stakeholder groups. Using participatory research to validate the survey results, the best management practices were identified. One industry, the sugar cane industry, was tackling managing acid sulfate soils and felt they were in control. This was due to their emphasis on building human and social capital. They had developed a soil sampling program and aligned their best practice standards and regulatory policies. The soil sampling program was investigated and guidelines developed to enable sharing of this knowledge in other industries. “Keys to Success” is best practices guidelines about how to sample for acid sulfate soils. The last report in the series “Four years on: What Changed?” looks at these same four industries and the changes that have occurred, while also exploring in more detail the policy implications including: Investing in adult education policies to increase adult skills over 4 years resulted in 25% increase in knowledge and behavioural change (sustainability performance indicators). Access to strong social capital, increases likelihood of life long learning and accounts for variation in human capital and behavioural change. Number of information resources accessed was highly correlated with positive attitude to behavioural change. Lack of equity between institutional and civil stakeholders undermines belief system and social capitals by causing conflict and loss of trust in institutions. These books form the basis of a social/sustainability reporting system, they also provided the basis of the communication strategy to build human capital within the stakeholder groups. One final contribution to the communication facet of this thesis is the proceedings from an OECD funded workshop, Agriculture and Ecosystems Management. These proceedings were aimed at policy and academic stakeholders and attempt to investigate the relationship between the divergent viewpoints held by social, environmental and economic researchers. Building human capital and thereby capacity of individuals and groups to move beyond agricultural production and to become natural resource managers requires alignment of policies and ongoing support and change in institutional thinking. Building strong social capital is the key to facilitating change particularly where collective action is required, but contradictory information and policies can rapidly undermine social capital. Within the context of the acid sulfate soils case study, results from this research indicate that communication of information about change in society through reporting mechanisms is an important facet of facilitating sustainable development that requires more attention in policy and institutional frameworks.
42
Liang, Fuyuan. "From Favourable Treatments to Conflicts: Some Selected Case Studies of Chinese Investments in Australia." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/43679/.
Abstract:
A comprehensive and rigid analysis of Chinese investment in Australia for the past four decades is an under-researched topic, though there had been sporadic treatments of this subject matter from the perspective of single institutions in economics, politics, and culture. The neoliberalism era marked a honeymoon between China and Australia, which boosted the Chinese investments in Australia, marked by the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement and the ‘One Belt One Road Initiative’ Agreement, signed by the Victorian Government and the Chinese Development and Reform Commission. Recent years witnessed a deterioration of the Australia and China relationships and the “tit-for-tat” strategies and racism movements which discourage the Chinese investments in Australia.
This study has developed a conceptual framework consisting of economic, political, cultural and institutional factors that may explain the Australian government’s decision of rejecting certain Chinese investments in recent years. Case studies were employed to illustrate the application of the conceptual framework. The findings suggest that the conceptual framework can be utilized to explain why the Australian government rejected certain Chinese investments.
This research aims to analyze the determinants of Australia Government’s rejection of Chinese investment in Australia. Case studies in the field of the Australian mining sector, agriculture and agribusiness, and infrastructure unveil that political distrust towards Chinese investment in Australia is a major source of refusing Chinese investment. This led to continuous reduction of Chinese investment in Australia since 2016. Such political distrust which works against the national interest of the respective countries, may also drive the decline of Chinese investment in Australia.
This research contributes to the literature by examining the factors which lead to the Australian Government’s decision to reject certain Chinese investments based on in depth analysis of case studies. This will be useful for understanding how to enlarge shared interest for policymakers, businessmen and academic researchers.
43
Fort, Carol S. (Carol Susan). "Developing a national employment policy : Australia 1939-45." 2000. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phf736.pdf.
Abstract:
Bibliography: leaves 378-400. Studies the development of national employment policy in wartime Australia. This experience encouraged the establishment of a centrally controlled employment service as a lynch pin of Australian federal government's post-war reconstruction policy.
44
Gray, Gwendolyn. "Health policy in two federations." Phd thesis, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/142644.
45
Fort, Carol S. (Carol Susan). "Developing a national employment policy : Australia 1939-45 / Carol Susan Fort." Thesis, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/19601.
Abstract:
Bibliography: leaves 378-400.x, 400 leaves ; 30 cm.
Studies the development of national employment policy in wartime Australia. This experience encouraged the establishment of a centrally controlled employment service as a lynch pin of Australian federal government's post-war reconstruction policy.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of History, 2000?
46
Nolles, Karel Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications Faculty of Engineering UNSW. "Using markets to implement energy and environmental policy. Considerations of the regulatory challenges and lessons learned from the Australian experience and laboratory investigation using experimental economics." 2007. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/40778.
Abstract:
Government is constantly attempting to balance the competing interests within society, and is itself active in a variety of different roles. The conflict between these roles becomes particularly clear when an attempt is made to implement a "regulatory market" - that is a market that exists only because of government action- such as an electricity or environmental market - to implement some policy objective, since it is the nature of markets to candidly reveal weaknesses that in a non-market management framework may have remained hidden for some time. This thesis examines the difficulty that government has in setting market rules that implement an efficient market design for such markets. After examining the history and development of the Australian Electricity Industry market reform process, we examine more closely some of the electricity related environmental markets developed specifically to drive a policy outcome in Australia -- in particular the Australian Mandatory Renewable Energy Target Market (MRET) and the New South Wales Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme. By comparing these environmental markets with established financial markets, and using the techniques of experimental economics, we show that these environmental markets have significant inefficiencies in their design. We argue that these come about because lessons from the financial markets have not be learned by those implementing environmental markets, that stakeholders are lobbying for market design characteristics that are not in fact in their own best interests, and that governments struggle to manage the divergent pressure upon them. For example, in MRET we show experimentally that one of the market design characteristics most fought for by generators (the ability to create renewable energy certificates from qualifying energy without declaring the certificates to the market until a later time of the creator's choosing) in fact leads to market volatility, and ultimately inefficiently low prices. We also examine the impact on the overall MRET market of simple rule changes upon market performance. Key conclusions of this thesis are that it is more difficult than has been appreciated to successfully use a market to implement public policy and that important lessons have not yet been learned from the existing financial markets.
47
Martin, John F. "Reorienting a nation : consultants and Australian public policy." Phd thesis, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/144377.
48
Kerley, Margot. "Commercial television in Australia: government policy and regulation, 1953 to 1963." Phd thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/13892.
Abstract:
Television came relatively late to Australia, but by 1950 the overriding issue
of whether to allow commercial as well as national television stations had
been settled in favour of a 'dual system', with reference to the examples of
Britain, Canada and the United States.
The Royal Commission on Television was set up in 1953 to determine the
residual details. It decided that television could be successfully regulated by
the Broadcasting Control Board which had proved itself a capable regulator
of radio broadcasting, and that television transmission channels would be
licensed to private individuals or companies selected by means of public
hearings. Television 'services' would, it was hoped, gradually be extended to
all major urban and regional centres in an equitable and orderly manner.
The weaknesses of the Broadcasting and Television Act 1956, began to be
manifest from the first round of licence hearings. The Control Board were
placed in an increasingly invidious position, caught between the market
imperatives which were driving the commercial television industry, and
the demands of a bevy of reformers who sought to change programme
outcomes to reflect a variety of minority interests.
Despite the existence of an avowed policy of 'localism', commercial
licensees were quick to form networks based initially on programme sharing
arrangements, but later extended by means of a web of minority
shareholdings in regional subsidiary companies.
49
McMaster, Don. "Detention, deterrence, discrimination : Australian refugee policy / Don McMaster." Thesis, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/19457.
Abstract:
Bibliography: leaves 385-420.vi, 420 leaves ; 30 cm.
Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library.
An exploration of the Australian refugee detention policy, which argues that the resort to detention is discriminatory and founded in the fear of Australia's "significant other" - the Asian.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 1999
50
Chapman, Paul (Paul Noel). "The policy implications of Japanese foreign direct investment in Australia." 2001. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phc4662.pdf.