Australian Federal Government Research Articles

A prescription model for vapes: the way we 'do' medicines policy in Australia.

On 2 May 2023, the Australian Federal Government announced a suite of reforms aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of the prescription model of regulation of vaping (or e-cigarette) products in Australia. These reforms are intended to protect Australians, particularly young people, from the harms of vaping and nicotine dependence. The ensuing public debate on the issue has often created the impression that the options under consideration are to either retain 'recently introduced' prescription regulation or to 'revert to' a retail supply approach. However, the sale of nicotine vapes by retailers such as tobacconists and convenience stores has never been lawful in Australia. The reforms do not seek to change the way nicotine vaping products are regulated, but rather to ensure that the existing prescription model can be effectively enforced and can function as originally intended. This paper describes the historical context and rationale for strengthening prescription regulation of vapes in this country.

“A war waged with numbers”: Accounting and accumulation by alienation in Australia’s border industrial complex

PurposeThis paper explores the role of accounting and accountability techniques in contributing to Australia’s border industrial complex.Design/methodology/approachWe use the political thought of Behrouz Boochani to explore the role that accounting techniques play at the micro and macro level of his dialectic of alienation and freedom. Firstly, we explore the accounting and accountability techniques detailed in Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountain, which gives an account of his life in Manus Prison, and the accounting techniques he experienced. Secondly, we explore the discourse of alienation created within the annual reporting of the Australian Federal Government regarding the border industrial complex.FindingsWe argue that the border industrial complex requires the alienation of asylum seekers from their own humanity for capital accumulation, and that accounting and accountability techniques facilitate this form of alienation. These techniques include inventorying, logging and queuing at the micro level within Manus Prison. This alienates those trapped in the system from one another and themselves. Techniques also include annual reporting at a macro level which alienates those trapped in the system from the (White) “Australian Community”. However, these techniques are resisted at every point by assertions of freedom.Originality/valueWe illustrate the role of accounting in accumulation by alienation, where the unfreedom of incarcerated asylum seekers is a site of profit for vested interests. But also that this alienation is resisted at every point by refusals of alienation as assertions of freedom. Thus, this study contributes to the accounting literature by drawing from theories of alienation, and putting forward the dialectic of alienation and freedom articulated by Boochani and collaborators.

Physical Experiments Of Wave Attenuation Over Submerged Shellfish Reefs

Globally and across Australia shellfish reef ecosystems have become critically endangered due to decades of overfishing, pollution and dredging (e.g., Beck et al., 2011). In response, the Australian federal government, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, committed to restoring 60 shellfish reef ecosystems across Australia by building reefs from limestone and recycled shells scattered with juvenile oysters or mussels. Although the primary aim is to promote healthy marine ecosystems and biodiversity, there are strong indications that these restored shellfish reefs may also substantially dissipate ocean waves and provide protection against coastal flooding. Analogies have been drawn with conventional engineering structures (submerged breakwaters, e.g. Dattatri et al., 1978) as well as nearshore shellfish reefs increasingly considered as a nature-based method for coastal resilience against flooding (“living shorelines”, see e.g. Morris et al., 2021). Although the currently restored reefs do present clear similarities, they also have distinct differences that raise questions to whether they can be as effective in dissipating wave energy. Observational data from laboratory or field to verify this is currently lacking. This study aims to quantify the effectiveness of multiple parallel submerged reef structures in relatively deep water in dissipating wave energy. Experiments (1:10 scale) were carried out in a 54-m-long wave flume using 3 reef designs that vary in reef spacing, width and height, representative for shellfish reef ecosystems as recently restored and established across Australia and the US. All designs were subjected to two water depths (0.7 and 1 m on laboratory scale) and 8 (irregular) wave conditions covering 4 peak wave periods and significant wave heights ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 m (lab scale). For the cases with 0.7 m water depth, wave height reduction varied from 10 to 23%, while for the cases with 1 m water depth wave heights generally decreased slightly up to about 5%. The reefs were found to be particularly effective in reducing the largest waves within the timeseries that would have the highest potential of causing coastal impact (e.g., flooding or erosion). In addition, observations obtained with an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter showed up to 45% reduction of near-bed orbital (rms) velocities, highlighting the potential for these structures to benefit seagrass restoration efforts. Overall, the results of this study show that restored shellfish reefs can reduce incident wave energy and orbital velocities considerably, in particular for relatively high waves in relatively shallow water, and have the potential to be considered in nature-based coastal defense strategies.

A creative gift economy: pre-pandemic creative systems examined through a study of regional creative industries in Australia

Australia’s creative industries and the impact COVID-19 had on cultural, employment and economic outputs is examined through the themes creative systems, creative migration, cultural volunteering and cultural tourism. Using a Creative System/Ecosystem theoretical framework, this research takes a retrospective view through data collected during the ‘old normal’ that was pre-pandemic Australia and presents findings on creative and cultural activities occurring in seven statistically determined creative hotspots. These findings are reviewed against the COVID-19 economic stimulus packages created by Australian Federal and State Governments. The research takes a deep dive into the precarious nature of creative employment and migration, cultural volunteering and tourism, through an investigation of Australia’s regional creative economies and points to the existence of a gift economy that sustains many activities that are essential to the Creative Industries.

Demonised energy: Could nuclear power help Australia achieve net zero emissions by 2050?

Nuclear energy is probably the most controversial source of energy praised by some and demonised by others. Although several countries acknowledge the benefits of nuclear power and continue to support its use, there are some nations such as Australia that reject nuclear energy. The implementation of the nuclear moratorium by the Australian federal government in 1998, coupled with the shared net zero ambition of the country, has the potential to reinvigorate a crucial debate on nuclear power. Revaluating the nuclear moratorium could foster public debate and private sector involvement, potentially enabling financially viable, safe, and environmentally sustainable nuclear power in the future.

Addressing the teacher shortage in Australia: what do the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) completion data tell us?

With projections from the Australian federal government indicating an impending exacerbation of the teacher shortage by 2025, it is timely to explore potential approaches that could help mitigate this imminent national crisis. In teaching, there is an historical tendency for the teaching profession to attract more women than men and this study therefore aims to analyse trends in female completion rates of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) degrees. The study objective was to identify the specific teaching degree levels (undergraduate and postgraduate) and modes of attendance that are most likely to continue attracting women to pursue careers in teaching. This research relies on non-identifiable open access data obtained from Australian ITE providers between 2001 and 2021, which have been collected by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment. The study findings reveal an upward trend in female completions of ITE programs offered through external and multimodal study modes, while the internal mode of attendance show a decline. These findings hold significant implications for policy and practice, suggesting the need to enhance the accessibility of external and multimodal ITE degrees for women.

“Stay tuned!"

“Stay tuned!"

177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 plus enzalutamide in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (ENZA-p): an open-label, multicentre, randomised, phase 2 trial

Enzalutamide and lutetium-177 [177Lu]Lu-prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-617 both improve overall survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Androgen and PSMA receptors have a close intracellular relationship, with data suggesting complementary benefit if targeted concurrently. In this study, we assessed the activity and safety of enzalutamide plus adaptive-dosed [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 versus enzalutamide alone as first-line treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. ENZA-p was an open-label, randomised, controlled phase 2 trial done at 15 hospitals in Australia. Participants were men aged 18 years or older with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer not previously treated with docetaxel or androgen receptor pathway inhibitors for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, gallium-68 [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-PET-CT (PSMA-PET-CT) positive disease, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-2, and at least two risk factors for early progression on enzalutamide. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) by a centralised, web-based system using minimisation with a random component to stratify for study site, disease burden, use of early docetaxel, and previous treatment with abiraterone acetate. Patients were either given oral enzalutamide 160 mg daily alone or with adaptive-dosed (two or four doses) intravenous 7·5 GBq [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 every 6-8 weeks dependent on an interim PSMA-PET-CT (week 12). The primary endpoint was prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression-free survival, defined as the interval from the date of randomisation to the date of first evidence of PSA progression, commencement of non-protocol anticancer therapy, or death. The analysis was done in the intention-to-treat population, using stratified Cox proportional hazards regression. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04419402, and participant follow-up is ongoing. 162 participants were randomly assigned between Aug 17, 2020, and July 26, 2022. 83 men were assigned to the enzalutamide plus [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 group, and 79 were assigned to the enzalutamide group. Median follow-up in this interim analysis was 20 months (IQR 18-21), with 32 (39%) of 83 patients in the enzalutamide plus [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 group and 16 (20%) of 79 patients in the enzalutamide group remaining on treatment at the data cutoff date. Median age was 71 years (IQR 64-76). Median PSA progression-free survival was 13·0 months (95% CI 11·0-17·0) in the enzalutamide plus [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 group and 7·8 months (95% CI 4·3-11·0) in the enzalutamide group (hazard ratio 0·43, 95% CI 0·29-0·63, p<0·0001). The most common adverse events (all grades) were fatigue (61 [75%] of 81 patients), nausea (38 [47%]), and dry mouth (32 [40%]) in the enzalutamide plus [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 group and fatigue (55 [70%] of 79), nausea (21 [27%]), and constipation (18 [23%]) in the enzalutamide group. Grade 3-5 adverse events occurred in 32 (40%) of 81 patients in the enzalutamide plus [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 group and 32 (41%) of 79 patients in the enzalutamide group. Grade 3 events that occurred only in the enzalutamide plus [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 group included anaemia (three [4%] of 81 participants) and decreased platelet count (one [1%] participant). No grade 4 or 5 events were attributed to treatment on central review in either group. The addition of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 to enzalutamide improved PSA progression-free survival providing evidence of enhanced anticancer activity in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with risk factors for early progression on enzalutamide and warrants further evaluation of the combination more broadly in metastatic prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Research Alliance (Movember and Australian Federal Government), St Vincent's Clinic Foundation, GenesisCare, Roy Morgan Research, and Endocyte (a Novartis company).

How much is invested in obesity prevention in Australia? An analysis of major research and Federal Government funding, 2013–2022

How much is invested in obesity prevention in Australia? An analysis of major research and Federal Government funding, 2013–2022

An analysis of the transformative potential of Australia's national food policies and policy actions to promote healthy and sustainable food systems.

Despite commitment by many countries to promote food system transformation, Australia has yet to adopt a national food policy. This study aimed to evaluate Australian Federal Government's (AFG) food policies and policy actions potential to promote healthy and sustainable food systems. This study is a desk-based policy mapping followed by a theoretically guided evaluation of policy actions. This involved three steps: (1) identification of government departments and agencies that could influence Australia's food system; (2) identification of food policies and policy actions within these departments and (3) use of a conceptual framework to evaluate policy actions' potential of changing the food system as adjust (first-order change), reform (second-order change) or transform (third-order change). Australia. None. Twenty-four food policies and sixty-two policy actions were identified across eight AFG departments and the Food Regulation System and evaluated based on the order of change they represented. Most policies were led by individual departments, reflecting the absence of a joined-up approach to food policy in Australia. Most policy actions (n 25/ 56·5 %) were evaluated as having adjust potential, whereas no transformative policy action was identified. These findings suggest that Australia is likely to proceed incrementally towards achieving food system change through adjustments and reforms but lacking transformative impact. To promote transformative change, all three orders of change must be strategically implemented in a coherent and coordinated matter. A comprehensive national food policy and a national coordinating body are needed to ensure a cohesive approach to policy.

Generative AI in the Australian education system: An open data set of stakeholder recommendations and emerging analysis from a public inquiry

The launch of new tools in late 2022 heralded significant growth in attention to the impacts of generative AI (GenAI) in education. Claims of the potential impact on education are contested, but there are clear risks of inappropriate use particularly where GenAI aligns poorly with learning aims. In response, in mid-2023, the Australian Federal Government held an inquiry, calling for public submissions. This inquiry offers a lens onto the policy framing of GenAI in education and provides the object of investigation for this paper. We use the inquiry submissions, extracting structured claims from each. This extraction is provided as an open data set for further research, while this paper focuses on our analysis of the policy recommendations made. Implications for practice or policy For practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. the paper provides an overview and synthesis of submission recommendations and their themes, by source type. For respondents to the inquiry (sources), the paper supports reflection regarding synergies and gaps in recommendations, pointing to opportunity for collaboration and policy development. For stakeholders with responsibility for aspects of policy delivery and/or those applying a critical lens to the inquiry and recommendation framing(s), the paper offers actionable insight.

Unpeeling the onion: Digital triage and monitoring of general practice, private psychiatry, and psychology.

The Australian federal government is considering a 'digital front door' to mental healthcare. The Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney has published a discussion paper advocating that the government should adopt a comprehensive model of digital triage and monitoring (DTM) based on a government-funded initiative Project Synergy ($30 million). We critically examine the final report on Project Synergy, which is now available under a Freedom of Information request. The DTM model is disruptive. Non-government organisations would replace general practitioners as care coordinators. Patients, private psychiatrists, and psychologists would be subjected to additional layers of administration, assessment, and digital compliance, which may decrease efficiency, and lengthen the duration of untreated illness. Only one patient was deemed eligible for DTM, however, during the 8-month regional trial of Project Synergy (recruitment rate = 1/500,000 across the region). Instead of an unproven DTM model, the proposed 'digital front door' to Australian mental healthcare should emphasise technology-enabled shared care (general practitioners and mental health professionals) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe illness.

A Qualitative Evaluation of the Australian Community Pharmacy Agreement.

The Australian Federal Government's Community Pharmacy Agreement (Agreement), initiated in 1990 and renegotiated every five years with a pharmacy owners' organisation, is the dominant policy directing community pharmacy. We studied the experience with the Agreements of 38 purposively selected individual pharmacists and others of diverse backgrounds, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Although perceived to lack transparency in negotiation and operation, as well as paucity of outcome measures, the Agreements have generally supported the viability of community pharmacies and on balance, contributed positively to the public's access to medicines. There were, however, contradictory opinions regarding the impact of the policy's regulation of pharmacy locations, including the suggestion that they provide existing owners with an undue commercial advantage. A reported shortcoming of the Agreements was their impact on pharmacists' abilities to expand their scopes of practice and assist patients to make better use of medicines, in part due to the funding being almost totally focused on supply-related functions. The support for programs such as medication management services was perceived to be limited, and opportunities for diversification in pharmacy practice appeared constrained. Future pharmacy policy developed by the government could be more inclusive of a diverse range of stakeholders, seek to better utilise pharmacists' expertise, and have a greater focus on health outcomes.

How tobacco companies use the revolving door between government and industry to influence policymaking: an Australian case study.

Mixed-methods including non-experimental descriptive and exploratory case studies. To build a picture of tobacco lobbying through the revolving door in Australia, data was triangulated from multiple publicly available sources: 1) Australian federal, state and territory government lobbyist registers, 2) the online social networking platform, LinkedIn; and 3) Australian news media reports. Tobacco companies lobby the Australian government using 'in-house' employees, lobbyists working in firms acting on their behalf, and third-party allies with common interests. Almost half (48%) of internal tobacco company lobbyists had held positions in the Australian government (state, territory and/or federal) before or after working in the tobacco industry. Likewise, 55% of lobbyists acting on behalf of tobacco companies had held government positions before or after working as a lobbyist. In-house tobacco industry lobbyists, as well as those working on behalf of tobacco companies within lobbying firms, were found to have held senior governmental positions, such as a Member of Parliament (MP) or Senator, chief or deputy chief of staff, or senior advisor in a ministerial office, and many had moved into or out of government within 1 year of working for a tobacco company (56%) or as a lobbyist (48%). Tobacco companies are strategically using the revolving door between the government and the tobacco industry as a key political lobbying mechanism to try to influence public health policy in Australia.

Reducing the gap between rhetoric and reality: Use of Digital Service Standards for public service innovation through digital transformation in Australia

AbstractNearly a decade ago, the Australian Federal Government introduced a Digital Service Standard (DSS) for new and redesigned government services. This was an opportunity to encourage digital services and disruptive innovations to help the government improve citizens outcomes, and indeed there was a significant uptake in the digital services assessments offered by the program with key government agencies across health, human services, taxation, and education on board. However, by the 2020s the number of publicly visible assessments had significantly reduced. The initial broad adoption and recent reduction in numbers present an opportunity to explore the effectiveness of this government innovation management program that was ahead of its time. This paper reviews the impact of the DSS in fostering public service innovation and presents lessons learnt from the program. To perform this analysis, this research evaluates to what extent the DSS applied common private sector innovation management approaches of Innovation Process Management and Innovation Portfolio Management in the public sector. It also looks at the impact of these programs in encouraging specific types of modern digital innovations. The analysis draws on DSS assessments from 2015 to 2021 and considers how the program demonstrated public sector innovation leadership. This paper proposes a framework to improve the DSS by tailoring its approach for new and existing services, adopting specific standards to encourage incremental and disruptive innovations, and promoting more transparent reporting and funding of innovation management programs. This evaluation found that the DSS exemplifies Innovation Process Management in its use of stages and gates, and Innovation Portfolio Management in its use of targeted assessment criteria across innovation portfolios of various government agencies. The analysis also identified design limitations in the DSS as a whole of government innovation management approach due to its limited uptake in multiple large agencies and lack of specific standards to encourage different types of innovation. The impact of this research is to increase the adoption of the DSS and increase the innovation outcomes delivered by this government program. We conclude by reflecting some of the unique considerations in applying private sector innovation management practices in the public sector.Points for practitioners Innovation management techniques are emerging but remain immature in the public sector. Australia has shown leadership in Government Innovation Process and Portfolio Management. Government must remain committed to innovation management programs and sharing the outputs of these programs. Government Innovation Management Programs should build in flexibility to encourage different types of innovation.

Music as Magic

Music as Magic

The temporality of community sentiment on the Australian continent: mineral extraction, waste storage and Indigenous protest writing

ABSTRACT The Australian federal government has recently recommenced a previously paused process to select a site for a national nuclear waste storage facility despite significant opposition from Australian Indigenous communities and others. This article considers what some might understand as a contemporary issue by examining its relationship to previous events. It emphasizes how Western linear temporality facilitates disregard for negative community sentiment and the consigning of previous wrongs to the past. In contrast, Indigenous temporalities – where time is understood as immanent and space and time intermingled – emphasize positive relationships and require the remediation of past wrongs to support just futures. Thus, historical nuclear weapons testing in Australia, current plans for waste storage, and historical and ongoing ecological and social consequences of resource extraction are all related, reflecting the violence of British colonization and contemporary settler colonial governance. Using a literary studies approach, this article examines historically significant moments of Indigenous Australian protest writing regarding extractive industries, nuclear waste storage, and settler colonial governance, to show that some Indigenous communities in Australia have clearly communicated their negative sentiments. It argues for equitable relationships as a first step towards the restitution of past wrongs and the creation of just futures.

Policy mobilities and the policy cycle: An analysis using two smart grid case studies

This paper adds to scholarship on policy mobilities by borrowing a typology and set of ideas from political science about the different stages of the policy making process, namely agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision making, implementation, and evaluation. To date policy mobilities scholarship has mostly not been explicit about which stage of the policy process is being examined. We therefore provide a structure for analysing mobile policy inflows to, and outflows from, a policy over time, across the different stages, allowing the analysis of policy mobilities to be aligned more closely with government decision making processes. To test out our ideas we trace the policy mobilities associated with two Australian smart grid policies over their lifetime, i.e. in the lead up to the policy being implemented, and subsequently. The policies are the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program in the State of Victoria, Australia (2009–2013) and the Australian federal government Smart Grid Smart City program (2010–14). We analyse a combination of codified and tacit forms of knowledge sharing, including through policy and industry reports, and interviews with policy practitioners. Key findings include a peak in policy mobilities during the implementation stage, and policy mobility inflows (learning from elsewhere) continuing even in later policy stages. In conclusion we advocate for greater attention to policy mobilities at different stages of the policy process, in order to broaden the scope of policy mobilities research and to develop a stronger understanding of the temporal dimensions of policy mobilities.

Evolution of Geotourism in Australia from Kanawinka Global Geopark and Australian National Landscapes to GeoRegions and Geotrails: A Review and Lessons Learned

The geological heritage of Australia’s landscapes and World Heritage areas has generally been underpromoted to the public by the tourism industry. However, in 2008, the fledgling world of geotourism in Australia received a significant boost with two events: the Inaugural Global Geotourism Conference ‘Discover the Earth beneath our Feet’ held in Fremantle, Western Australia, and the declaration of the UNESCO Kanawinka Global Geopark, which linked volcanic regions in South Australia and Victoria. Simultaneously the Australian Federal Government launched the ‘Australian National Landscapes’ (ANL) program. However, this impetus was not sustained when the Kanawinka Global Geopark was deregistered as a UNESCO-branded geopark in 2012, and the ANL program faded within a decade. Despite these setbacks, as an outcome of the 2008 Fremantle conference, several productive lines of geotourism have developed across Australia. This paper reviews the history of Australian geotourism since 2008. It examines the impacts of the experiences, lessons learned, problems for geology as perceived by National Parks and the Environment movement, geological communication problems, and the subsequent evolution of Australian geotourism. From these issues, new non-government bodies and initiatives have arisen, including the Australian Geoparks Network, the Australian Geoscience Council, and the recent development of a National Geotourism Strategy. Strong elements emerging from these initiatives are the increasing development of geotrails (which suit the large Australian continent) and the new Australian concept of ‘GeoRegions’. These are in response to an awareness that geotourism requires a flexible outlook to widen the appreciation and appeal of geological heritage and landscapes to the broader public. A further new direction is suggested: for Australian geotourism to combine with some elements of ICOMOS Cultural Routes. An outstanding example, the ICOMOS Overland Telegraph Line (OTL) Cultural Route that crosses Australia from south to north, is considered. For 2000 km, the construction of this line in the 1870s followed the regional geology and hydrology, relying upon the available biota but bringing about a clash of human cultures. The six colonies of Australia were finally linked to the world by wire, but the arrival of the OTL had a significant impact on the country’s Indigenous inhabitants. In Australia and globally, geotourism is incorporating the A–B–Cs (abiotic, biotic and cultural elements) to more effectively encourage the public to value their landscapes and the associated stories. The OTL provides an example of a newly introduced fourth dimension for geotourism, which gives consideration to the socio-political context of landscape adaptation.

Endometriosis research priorities in Australia.

In Australia, endometriosis affects one in nine women and those assigned female at birth. Although endometriosis is more common than conditions such as diabetes, research funding for endometriosis research has historically been low in comparison. The National Action Plan for Endometriosis is an Australian Federal Government initiative designed to redress this imbalance, with a focus on research funding. Identification of research priorities, and subsequent funding allocation that is determined by consumer input is vital. An online survey focusing on Australia and New Zealand found that the highest general priorities were the treatment and management of endometriosis and its cause(s).