Australian Resources Research Articles

Modeling Vegetation Water Stress over the Forest from Space: Temperature Vegetation Water Stress Index (TVWSI)

The conventional Land Surface Temperature (LST)–Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) trapezoid model has been widely used to retrieve vegetation water stress. However, it has two inherent limitations: (1) its complex and computationally intensive parameterization for multi-temporal observations and (2) deficiency in canopy water content information. We tested the hypothesis that an improved water stress index could be constructed by the representation of canopy water content information to the LST–NDVI trapezoid model. Therefore, this study proposes a new index that combines three indicators associated with vegetation water stress: canopy temperature through LST, canopy water content through Surface Water Content Index (SWCI), and canopy fractional cover through NDVI in one temporally transferrable index. Firstly, a new optical space of SWCI–NDVI was conceptualized based on the linear physical relationship between shortwave infrared (SWIR) and soil moisture. Secondly, the SWCI–NDVI feature space was parameterized, and an index d(SWCI, NDVI) was computed based on the distribution of the observations in the SWCI–NDVI spectral space. Finally, standardized LST (LST/long term mean of LST) was combined to d(SWCI, NDVI) to give a new water stress index, Temperature Vegetation Water Stress Index (TVWSI). The modeled soil moisture from the Australian Water Resource Assessment—Landscape (AWRA-L) and Soil Water Fraction (SWF) from four FLUXNET sites across Victoria and New South Wales were used to evaluate TVWSI. The index TVWSI exhibited a high correlation with AWRA-L soil moisture (R2 of 0.71 with p < 0.001) and the ground-based SWF (R2 of 0.25–0.51 with p < 0.001). TVWSI predicted soil moisture more accurately with RMSE of 21.82 mm (AWRA-L) and 0.02–0.04 (SWF) compared to the RMSE ranging 28.98–36.68 mm (AWRA-L) and 0.03–0.05 (SWF) were obtained for some widely used water stress indices. The TVWSI could also be a useful input parameter for other environmental models.

Innovation through co-creation: lessons from an Australian broadcaster and teachers’ collaboration in designing engaging multiplatform education resources

ABSTRACT Lessons from a successful broadcaster and teacher community of practice can inform new approaches to online learning co-design. Co-creation occurred with Australia’s multicultural broadcaster, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and education communities, through a co-participation model of working more directly with teachers and young people. SBS also established an online learning hub and innovative digital education resources. This article analyses the curation and co-design approach used by SBS in such a partnership to propose five principles for co-design communities of practice involving broadcasters and teachers. Media producers can learn how to co-create with educators’ to meet the growing demands of students and teachers for engaging online education resources, while also furthering their own mandates as broadcasters. This is the first major study of the production and use of Australian public broadcaster online teacher resources.

Spatial interpolation of coal properties using geographic quantile regression forest

Inaccuracies in spatial modelling of coal properties can impact coal resource and reserve estimates. Geostatistical methods which account for compositional data have previously been recommended as a preferred method for modelling of coal properties. These methods can quantify uncertainty, can use auxiliary information to improve estimates, and ensure that compositional data (such as coal proximate analysis) is modelled in a mathematically consistent way. However, geostatistical methods have drawbacks in that have rigid statistical assumptions about the distribution and stationarity of the target variable and require variogram interpretation which can be onerous when then number of domains and target variables are numerous. Due to these drawback, inverse distance weighting (a simple deterministic method) remains the most popular method for modelling coal properties in Australian resource estimates. To address the drawbacks of geostatistical methods, a machine learning approach based on the quantile regression forest algorithm is proposed as an alternative method to spatially model coal properties. This newly proposed method, accounts for spatial arrangement of data, requires minimal pre-processing steps, can quantify uncertainty and can easily incorporate auxiliary information of various types. To evaluate the performance of this method, the accuracy of predictions of coal proximate analysis properties, and coal density are compared to the predictions of inverse distance weighting and regression kriging. All methods incorporate isometric log ratio transform and back-transform of data in order to account for the compositional nature of coal proximate analysis. Data from an active coal mine in the Bowen Basin, Queensland Australia was used as basis of the results. A unique feature of the mine site in this basin is the presence of intrusion which impacts coal quality properties to various degrees. Using evaluation metrics from leave-one-out cross-validation, this paper demonstrates that quantile regression forest has higher accuracy, lower bias and higher precision than inverses distance weighting across all coal properties. The paper also shows that results of the new method are very similar or better than regression kriging. It is also demonstrated that the prediction maps produced by quantile regression forest could be used to more accurately map out coal impacted by intrusion compared to inverse distance weighting, and that inverse distance weighting overestimates the impact of intrusion and intrusion extent. A drawback of the method compared to inverse distance weighting, is that it is more computationally demanding, less intuitive and is currently not available in existing geological packages.

Cross-cultural differences in nurse burnout and the relationship with patient safety: An East-West comparative study.

To compare levels of nurse burnout across eastern and western cultures, as well as examine the influence of burnout on patient safety cross-culturally. Comparative cross-sectional study. Survey data were collected from nurses between August and October 2017 in Australia (n=730) and between April and October 2019 in China (n=1107). Variables included burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment), nurse leadership and support, staffing and resource adequacy, and perceived patient safety. Data were analysed separately for each jurisdiction using bootstrapped hierarchical regressions, which tested the relationships between burnout indicators and patient safety, controlling for support resources. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scores were significantly higher in the Australian sample compared with the Chinese sample. Australian participants reported significantly lower patient safety grades than Chinese participants and were less likely to agree that support resources were present in their current job. Separate regressions indicated that patient safety was significantly associated with staffing and resource adequacy, nurse leadership and support, and depersonalization among Australian participants (30% of variance explained in the final regression model), while staffing and resource adequacy, nurse leadership and support, personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion predicted patient safety for Chinese participants (22% of variance explained in the final model). Australian nurses are at greater risk of burnout than Chinese nurses. Burnout dimensions are differentially associated with patient safety across cultures. Culturally relevant interventions may be more optimal than universal approaches for improving burnout and patient safety in nursing. This study increased understanding of cross-cultural differences in nurse burnout and the relationship with patient safety. Australian nurses were at greater risk of burnout than Chinese nurses. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment influenced patient safety distinctively across the countries. These findings inform interventions designed to reduce nurse burnout and improve patient safety internationally.

Forced flexibility and remote working: opportunities and challenges in the new normal

AbstractCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has seen a shift in remote work from being a discretionary flexible work policy to a mandatory requirement for several workplaces. This ‘forced flexibility’ has meant that organisations and their employees have had to adapt swiftly to new requirements and arrangements for how work is done. Working remotely, often at home in ‘virtual workspaces’, has become commonplace for many employees across Australia and globally. Drawing on findings from two qualitative phases of research in an Australian resources company, we use conservation of resources theory to explore the factors influencing processes related to wellbeing and productivity for employees working remotely in the COVID-19 environment. We identify challenges associated with working remotely, as well as important resources for wellbeing and productivity. Practical implications are also discussed.

Modular Information Management: Using AUSTLANG to Enhance the Classification of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Resources

ABSTRACT This research explores the potential for AUSTLANG – a database of Australian Indigenous languages – to enhance the identification of Australian Indigenous languages in MAchine Readable Cataloguing (MARC) bibliographic records. At present, it is acknowledged in the discipline of Library and Information Sciences (LIS) that material relating to Indigenous peoples are improperly and/or insensitively classified using mainstream library systems such as Dewey Decimal Classification. AUSTLANG was approved as a MARC language source code in November 2018 and has given libraries the ability to identify Australian Indigenous languages with standardised, culturally sensitive identifiers. The following research considers the variety of orthographies, codes and synonyms available for a sample of four Australian Indigenous languages as listed in AUSLANG and contrasts these with the single, authoritative AIATSIS reference names and codes contributed by the database. This research also considers how AUSTLANG can contribute to the classification of Indigenous Knowledge resources. Currently there is only a small body of technical information available on AUSTLANG and little focussed academic research, making it difficult to ascertain the success and characteristics of its implementation. This research represents an exploratory academic contribution and calls for a wider research effort.

Commodity boom‐bust cycles and the resource curse in Australia: 1900 to 2007

AbstractThe Australian economy experienced very frequent and sizeable terms of trade shocks. These shocks at times were more pronounced than commodity exporting developing countries and disproportionately benefited the extreme top end of income distribution. Did they derail overall economic progress? Circumstantial evidence suggests that they did not, but hard econometric evidence appears to be rare. In this paper, I revisit the Australian resource curse question from a long‐run perspective. Using time series data on commodity prices, real GDP, real wages, non‐farm GDP, manufacturing share of GDP, and manufacturing share of employment covering the period 1900 to 2007, I find very little evidence of a resource curse. Commodity booms in general and positive agricultural price shocks in particular appear to have impacted the rest of the economy positively both in short‐ and long‐run. The positive effect is primarily led by expansion in manufacturing. This is perhaps reflective of trade protection, labour and credit market flexibility, and relatively open skilled migration in Australia especially during the post‐war period.

Impact of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions on ICU Admissions During Lockdown for Coronavirus Disease 2019 in New Zealand-A Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES:Nonpharmaceutical interventions are implemented internationally to mitigate the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 with the aim to reduce coronavirus disease 2019–related deaths and to protect the health system, particularly intensive care facilities from being overwhelmed. The aim of this study is to describe the impact of nonpharmaceutical interventions on ICU admissions of non–coronavirus disease 2019–related patients.DESIGN:Retrospective cohort study.SETTING:Analysis of all reported adult patient admissions to New Zealand ICUs during Level 3 and Level 4 lockdown restrictions from March 23, to May 13, 2020, in comparison with equivalent periods from 5 previous years (2015–2019).SUBJECTS:Twelve-thousand one-hundred ninety-two ICU admissions during the time periods of interest were identified.MEASUREMENTS:Patient data were obtained from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database, Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society critical care resources registry, and Statistics New Zealand. Study variables included patient baseline characteristics and ICU resource use.MAIN RESULTS:Nonpharmaceutical interventions in New Zealand were associated with a 39.1% decrease in ICU admission rates (p < 0.0001). Both elective (–44.2%) and acute (–36.5%) ICU admissions were significantly reduced when compared with the average of the previous 5 years (both p < 0.0001). ICU occupancy decreased from a mean of 64.3% (2015–2019) to 39.8% in 2020. Case mix, ICU resource use per patient, and ICU and hospital mortality remained unchanged.CONCLUSIONS:The institution of nonpharmaceutical interventions was associated with a significant decrease in elective and acute ICU admissions and ICU resource use. These findings may help hospitals and health authorities planning for surge capacities and elective surgery management in future pandemics.

Analysis of common genetic variation and rare CNVs in the Australian Autism Biobank

BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition whose biological basis is yet to be elucidated. The Australian Autism Biobank (AAB) is an initiative of the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) to establish an Australian resource of biospecimens, phenotypes and genomic data for research on autism.MethodsGenome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism genotypes were available for 2,477 individuals (after quality control) from 546 families (436 complete), including 886 participants aged 2 to 17 years with diagnosed (n = 871) or suspected (n = 15) ASD, 218 siblings without ASD, 1,256 parents, and 117 unrelated children without an ASD diagnosis. The genetic data were used to confirm familial relationships and assign ancestry, which was majority European (n = 1,964 European individuals). We generated polygenic scores (PGS) for ASD, IQ, chronotype and height in the subset of Europeans, and in 3,490 unrelated ancestry-matched participants from the UK Biobank. We tested for group differences for each PGS, and performed prediction analyses for related phenotypes in the AAB. We called copy-number variants (CNVs) in all participants, and intersected these with high-confidence ASD- and intellectual disability (ID)-associated CNVs and genes from the public domain.ResultsThe ASD (p = 6.1e−13), sibling (p = 4.9e−3) and unrelated (p = 3.0e−3) groups had significantly higher ASD PGS than UK Biobank controls, whereas this was not the case for height—a control trait. The IQ PGS was a significant predictor of measured IQ in undiagnosed children (r = 0.24, p = 2.1e−3) and parents (r = 0.17, p = 8.0e−7; 4.0% of variance), but not the ASD group. Chronotype PGS predicted sleep disturbances within the ASD group (r = 0.13, p = 1.9e−3; 1.3% of variance). In the CNV analysis, we identified 13 individuals with CNVs overlapping ASD/ID-associated CNVs, and 12 with CNVs overlapping ASD/ID/developmental delay-associated genes identified on the basis of de novo variants.LimitationsThis dataset is modest in size, and the publicly-available genome-wide-association-study (GWAS) summary statistics used to calculate PGS for ASD and other traits are relatively underpowered.ConclusionsWe report on common genetic variation and rare CNVs within the AAB. Prediction analyses using currently available GWAS summary statistics are largely consistent with expected relationships based on published studies. As the size of publicly-available GWAS summary statistics grows, the phenotypic depth of the AAB dataset will provide many opportunities for analyses of autism profiles and co-occurring conditions, including when integrated with other omics datasets generated from AAB biospecimens (blood, urine, stool, hair).

Legal regime of subsoil use in Australia

The subject of this research is the Australian federal and regional normative legal acts that regulate subsoil use. The object is public relations in the sphere of land turnover, subsurface and natural resource management in the Commonwealth of Australia. The author describes the system and structure of normative legal regulation, as well as subsoil use in Australia. The work contains a list of sources of the Australian natural resources law; analysis of their content is carried out. Special attention is given to the legal regime of exploitation of subsoil resources of the continental shelf of the Commonwealth of Australia, licensing of subsoil use, the role of British monarchy in exercising the right of ownership of land by its subjects, and the authority for subsoil management. The scientific novelty of this article consists in the disclosure of legal regime of subsoil use in the Commonwealth of Australia in the context of amendments to Australian natural resources legislation, constitutional and administrative reforms. This work reflects the economic interest of the Russian Federation and domestic organizations of the fuel and energy complex in the Oceania Region, which defines its relevance. The presented materials can be used within the framework of comparative jurisprudence, lawmaking, for educational and other purposes. The author concludes on the preservation of public legal regime of subsoil use in Australia, namely with regards to turnover of licenses and shares therein.

Further evidence from the LiveLighter® campaign: A controlled cohort study in Victoria and South Australia.

The LiveLighter® healthy weight and lifestyle social marketing campaign, developed in Western Australia, employs graphic advertising to communicate negative health effects of overweight and motivate behaviour change. This study extends prior evidence of the effectiveness of the LiveLighter® campaign by evaluating its implementation in a new jurisdiction. A controlled cohort design was employed in intervention (Vic) and comparison states (SA), with and without campaign exposure. Population surveys conducted at baseline (BL) (n=1000 each state), had 75% retention at follow-up (FU) (Vic: n=715; SA: n=787). Total campaign awareness was moderate (61.5%). Exposed respondents indicated the campaign was "believable" (91.0%), made a strong argument for reducing weight (87.3%), made them "stop and think" (70.1%), motivated action to reach/stay a healthy weight (59.1%) and was "relevant" (55.6%). The proportion of respondents indicating "toxic fat build up" was a health consequence of overweight increased significantly from BL to FU in Vic and to a lesser extent in SA (Vic:55.7% vs 75.9%; SA:58.1% vs 62.6%, interaction P<.001). The proportion indicating cancer is a health consequence of overweight increased significantly from BL to FU in Vic, but not in SA (Vic:77.1% vs 83.4%; SA:77.8% vs 78.1%, interaction P<.05). This study extends the evidence base for the LiveLighter® campaign. Sustained campaign activity with clear behavioural recommendations is required to translate improved knowledge into behaviour change. Evidence-based mass media campaigns can positively impact health behaviours to address the unsustainable increasing burdens of unhealthy weight, dietary risk and inadequate physical activity. A National Obesity Campaign is needed and LiveLighter® is a ready-made, relevant Australian resource.

Systematic review and content analysis of Australian health care substitute decision making online resources.

Objective Substitute decision makers (SDMs) can be required to make difficult health care decisions on behalf of individuals lacking decision-making capacity. Online resources may be helpful in preparing and supporting SDMs. This study systematically explored the frequency, content and usability of Australian online resources containing health care substitute decision-making content written for consumers. Methods In April 2019, Google searches were conducted to identify online resources containing health care substitute decision-making content for consumers. Analysis comprised mapping resource characteristics, including target audience (individual-specific, SDM-specific, mixed) and thematic analysis of content. Usability was assessed using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). Results Of the 61 resources identified, the most frequent were webpages (57%), individual-specific (43%) and those produced by government organisations (31%). Only 15 resources (24%) were written for SDMs. Content themes identified were: defining the scope of the SDM role (93%); recommended traits or characteristics of SDMs (80%); instructions or principles regarding standards for decision making (75%); duties of SDMs (70%); and supports (46%), rights (16%), barriers (8%) and benefits (5%) for SDMs. The median (interquartile range) PEMAT scores (out of 100) were 66 (27) for understandability and 60 (55) for actionability. Conclusions SDMs have a vital role in making decisions for people lacking decision-making capacity. Online resources are a potential source of information and support for SDMs in Australia. This study identified key gaps in availability, content and usability of existing SDM resources, highlighting the need for the further development of such resources. We suggest that future resource development include SDMs in the design and evaluation processes. What is known about the topic? An aging population and a greater need for decisions to be made on behalf of others who lack capacity means that health care substitute decision-making is occurring more frequently. Appointing one or more SDMs may occur as part of the advance care planning process. However, being a healthcare SDM can be difficult and stressful. People frequently use the Internet to search for health-related information. What does this paper add? This paper systematically examined the frequency, content and usability of existing Australian online resources with substitute decision-making content written for a consumer audience in English, and identified key gaps in online resources available to support SDMs. What are the implications for practitioners? Although there is a need for resources written for SDMs, authors of online resources need to pay careful attention to the purpose, content and usability of their resource. Future resource development should include input from SDMs and involve them in evaluation to assess whether the resources meet target audience needs.

A history of Australian pasture genetic resource collections

The introduction of exotic pasture germplasm has formed the foundation of many Australian grazing systems. Scientists have searched the world for plants to improve the feedbase, amassing collections of diverse genetic material, creating genebanks that have made a large contribution to feedbase productivity. These genebanks contain a vast range of legumes, grasses, herbs and shrubs with growth habits ranging from small herbaceous plants to woody trees and life cycles from annuals to short- and long-term perennial plants. They have been collected from cool temperate to tropical climates and arid to high-rainfall zones. Hundreds of cultivars have been developed from material either collected by Australian plant breeders overseas or introduced from overseas genebanks. The collection of this germplasm has enabled plant breeders to extend the area of adaptation of species into climates, soils and systems previously considered marginal. The importance to Australian and world agriculture is increasing as plant breeders seek traits to meet the challenges of a changing climate and animal production systems. Furthermore, urbanisation, landscape degradation and political instability are making it increasingly difficult to collect pasture and forage germplasm from native grasslands in many countries. This emphasises the need to maintain and improve the capacity of the Australian Pastures Genebank (APG). The APG houses ~85 000 accessions and is a modern, online source of diversity for plant scientists around the world. This paper summarises the history of the founding genebank collections, their environment and farming systems focus, and the visionary and resourceful individuals that built them.

A New Drought Index for Soil Moisture Monitoring Based on MPDI-NDVI Trapezoid Space Using MODIS Data

The temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) has been commonly implemented to estimate regional soil moisture in arid and semi-arid regions. However, the parameterization of the dry edge in the TVDI model is performed with a constraint to define the maximum water stress conditions. Mismatch of the spatial scale between visible and thermal bands retrieved from remotely sensed data and terrain variations also affect the effectiveness of the TVDI. Therefore, this study proposed a new drought index named the condition vegetation drought index (CVDI) to monitor the temporal and spatial variations of soil moisture status by substituting the land surface temperature (LST) with the modified perpendicular drought index (MPDI). In situ soil moisture observations at crop and pasture sites in Victoria were used to validate the effectiveness of the CVDI. The results indicate that the dry and wet edges in the parameterization scheme of the CVDI formed a better-defined trapezoid shape than that of the TVDI. Compared with the MPDI and TVDI for soil moisture monitoring at crop sites, the CVDI exhibited a performance superior to the MPDI and TVDI in most days where the coefficients of determination (R2) achieved can reach to 0.67 on DOY023, 137, 274 and 0.71 on DOY 322 and reproduced more accurate spatial and seasonal variation of soil moisture. Moreover, the CVDI showed higher correlation with the Australian Water Resource Assessment Landscape (AWRA-L) soil moisture product on temporal scales. The R2 can reach to 0.69 and the root mean square error (RMSE) is also much better than that of the MPDI and TVDI. Overall, it can be concluded that the CVDI appears to be a feasible method and can be successfully used in regional soil moisture monitoring.

Understanding trends in hydrologic extremes across Australia

Changes in the hydrologic cycle have far reaching impacts on agricultural productivity, water resources availability, riverine ecosystems, and our ability to manage environmental assets, bushfire risk, and flood hazard. For example, declining rainfall in the southeast of Australia has led to a prolonged period of drought, with serious impacts on agriculture, the environment, and water supply to urban and rural towns. Here, using the continental wide Australian Water Resources Assessment Landscape model (AWRA-L), we evaluate historical trends from 1960 to 2017 in rainfall, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and runoff to explain changing drought and flooding. Northern parts of Australia have experienced increasing annual rainfall totals, resulting in increased water availability in the tropics with increased soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and runoff, particularly during the hot, wet monsoon season. In contrast, the southwest and southeast coast of Australia have experienced declines in rainfall, particularly in the colder months, corresponding with decreasing evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and runoff. Trends in flooding are aligned with runoff trends, and closely follow trends in rainfall, with changes in soil moisture of secondary influence. Streamflow droughts, measured by the standardised runoff index, are increasing across large parts of Australia, with these increases more widespread than changes in rainfall alone. Increases in rainfall in the tropics of northern Australia appear to be related to decreasing drought occurrence and extent, but this trend is not universal, suggesting changes in rainfall alone are not an indicator of changing drought conditions.

Spatio-Temporal Evaluation of Water Storage Trends from Hydrological Models over Australia Using GRACE Mascon Solutions

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data have been extensively used to evaluate the total terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWSA) from hydrological models. However, which individual water storage components (i.e., soil moisture storage anomalies (SMSA) or groundwater water storage anomalies (GWSA)) cause the discrepancies in TWSA between GRACE and hydrological models have not been thoroughly investigated or quantified. In this study, we applied GRACE mass concentration block (mascon) solutions to evaluate the spatio-temporal TWSA trends (2003–2014) from seven prevailing hydrological models (i.e., Noah-3.6, Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM-F2.5), Variable Infiltration Capacity macroscale model (VIC-4.1.2), Water—Global Assessment and Prognosis (WaterGAP-2.2d), PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB-2), Community Land Model (CLM-4.5), and Australian Water Resources Assessment Landscape model (AWRA-L v6)) in Australia and, more importantly, identified which individual water storage components lead to the differences in TWSA trends between GRACE and hydrological models. The results showed that all of the hydrological models employed in this study, except for CLM-4.5 model, underestimated the GRACE-derived TWSA trends. These underestimations can be divided into three categories: (1) ignoring GWSA, e.g., Noah-3.6 and VIC-4.1.2 models; (2) underrating both SMSA and GWSA, e.g., CLSM-F2.5, WaterGAP-2.2d, and PCR-GLOBWB-2 models; (3) deficiently modeling GWSA, e.g., AWRA-L v6 model. In comparison, CLM-4.5 model yielded the best agreement with GRACE but overstated the GRACE-derived TWSA trends due to the overestimation of GWSA. Our results underscore that GRACE mascon solutions can be used as a valuable and efficient validation dataset to evaluate the spatio-temporal performance of hydrological models. Confirming which individual water storage components result in the discrepancies in TWSA between GRACE and hydrological models can better assist in further hydrological model development.

Understanding Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plans from a corporate social responsibility perspective

Many local and foreign companies operating in Australia are now establishing Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) to commit to and report on specific activities for engaging Indigenous stakeholders. While RAPs appear to align with existing approaches of sustainability reporting, these disclosure practices are yet to be empirically investigated within the broader context of CSR, or specifically the implications for stakeholder theory perspective. This paper examines RAP reporting practices over a thirteen year period, as well as how firms disclose reconciliation activities into their sustainability reporting and whether firms with RAPs disclose more ‘reconciliation’ activities than others. A content analysis is performed based on a sample of RAPs, sustainability reports and website data from companies operating in the Australian resources sector. Results indicate that firms do integrate reconciliation activities into their general sustainability reporting, however the quality of disclosure was in most cases low. The analysis also shows that on average, firms with RAPs do disclose reconciliation activities in greater detail than similar firms without. These findings provide a new empirical understanding embedded within theoretical perspectives of CSR, to support further integration of RAPs across industry and improve community impact.

Climatology and Variability of the Evaporative Stress Index and Its Suitability as a Tool to Monitor Australian Drought

AbstractThe seasonal cycle of the evaporative stress index (ESI) over Australia, and its relationship to observed rainfall and temperature, is examined. The ESI is defined as the standardized anomaly of the ratio of actual evapotranspiration to potential evapotranspiration, and as such, is a measure of vegetation moisture stress associated with agricultural or ecological drought. The ESI is computed using the daily output of version 6 of the Bureau of Meteorology’s landscape water balance model [Australian Water Resource Assessment Landscape (AWRA-L)] on a 5-km horizontal grid over a 45-yr period (1975–2019). Here we show that the ESI exhibits marked spatial and seasonal variability and can be used to accurately monitor drought across Australia, where ESI values less than negative one indicate drought. While the ESI is highly correlated with rainfall as expected, its relationship with temperature only becomes significant during the warmer seasons, suggesting a threshold above which temperature may affect vegetation stress. Our analysis also shows that the ESI tends to be strongly negative (i.e., indicating drought) during El Niño and positive phases of the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD), when conditions tend to be anomalously hot and dry. A negative phase of the southern annular mode also tends to drive negative ESI values during austral spring with a one-month delay.

Branded with the same mobility brush – the construction workforce in the Australian resources industries

ABSTRACT The construction workforce and its relationship with the resources industries is an under-researched sector of the mobile labour market. While it is broadly assumed that the construction workforce is an integral part of the resources industry, those with a familiarity with resource boomtowns perceive the construction workforce to be different or ‘other’, mostly viewing the workers to be socially, economically and culturally inferior with different values, practices and rewards. The ‘new mobilities paradigm’ and Employment-Related Geographical Mobility provide useful frameworks to examine the nuances of mobile workers, placing mobility at the centre of an assessment of paid work and socio-economic differentiation in Western Australian resources boomtown settings. The lived experience of construction workers and their families are interrogated providing an insight into the complex and unequal ‘relatedness’ of the sector to the resources industries, another sector employing a mobile workforce.

Joking behaviours and bullying from the perspective of Australian human resource professionals

This paper examines the views of human resource professionals (HRPs) and employee representatives on joking behaviours and the potential link to workplace bullying in Australia. Individual semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 10 HRPs and five employee (union) representatives. Contextual factors stemming from Australian culture and historic characteristics of work in this country are discussed. The findings indicate that the legal framework – specifically, the definition of bullying and related legislation such as health and safety laws and equal employment opportunity legislation – is key for HRPs in establishing whether joking behaviours transgress into bullying. Implications for HRPs including ‘boundary’ management of joking behaviours are discussed and some ideas for future research are presented.