Commonwealth Government Research Articles

The World Fisheries Congress 2021

The World Fisheries Congress 2021 will be delivered from Adelaide, South Australia by the World Council of Fisheries Societies, the Commonwealth and South Australian Governments and the Australian Society for Fish Biology. The Congress’ Steering and International Program Committees have developed the program, “Sharing the World’s Oceans and Rivers – a vision for the world’s fisheries”. Delegate access to the 2021 Congress has been affected by travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has guided the program delivery format to become an interactive hybrid format. The Congress will be delivered in-person to New Zealand and Australian delegates and via an interactive virtual platform designed to accommodate the delivery of program sessions at convenient times for delegates around the world. The program features 1,400 presentations addressing sustainability matters;innovation in technology and policy;acknowledgement and discussion of the societal matters facing fisheries;new research and discoveries in fish and aquatic ecosystem management. © 2021 American Fisheries Society

Access and allocation in fisheries: The Australian experience

In fisheries management, decisions regarding access (which users can fish) and allocation (what share of the resource they can use) often raise issues of justice, fairness and equity. In Australia, ecologically sustainable development (ESD) has been prioritised in fisheries legislation, policy, and management. However, the desired optimal community outcomes arising from determination of access and allocation are difficult to ascertain as few metrics of economic or social benefits are available. Here, we interviewed fishery managers and other prominent stakeholders responsible for advising Australian state, territory, and Commonwealth governments on access and allocation. This information was augmented with reviews of available information and case study analyses. Whereas access and allocation are highly constrained for commercial fishers, this is much less so for recreational and Indigenous fishers. Relatively high participation rates for recreational fishers command high implicit social value reflected in political power and commercial fishing is prohibited near major population centres in most Australian jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions, such as South and Western Australia, have explicit access and allocation policies, with shares of popular species such as rock lobster, abalone, and snapper allocated to the recreational and Indigenous sectors. Allocations to the commercial sector and, when applicable to the recreational sector, generally reflect estimates of their catch history rather than an evaluation of optimal benefits. Furthermore, allocation among jurisdictions is inconsistent and seemingly reflective of political rather than economic decision making. Strategic intent exists in many jurisdictions to incorporate social value into allocation decision making. However, few social metrics exist in management plans and these factors are rarely considered in formal access and allocation decisions. Thus, determining the best use of fisheries resources remains elusive in Australia and the utility of ESD and its application to sustainable fishery management and optimal community benefit remains unresolved.

Ecological consequences of Australian "Black Summer" (2019-20) fires: A synthesis of Australian Commonwealth Government report findings.

During the summer of 2019-2020, more than 15 000 wildfires burned up to 19 million hectares of forest and woodland regions across Australia. These fires culminated in the worst Australian fire season on record, producing what has come to be known as the Australian "Black Summer." The fires have been described as an "ecological disaster," but the scale of the impacts is so extensive that the full ecological consequence may take years to assess. In the immediate aftermath of the Black Summer fires, two major national investigations were established by the Australian Commonwealth Government. By reviewing reports produced by these two investigations, high-level insights into the scale of the ecological consequences of the Black Summer fires have been obtained and are summarized here. Through these insights, the urgency for action to reduce the occurrence, and improve the management, of future comparable fire events is made clear. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1136-1140. © 2021 SETAC.

Communicating with patients and the public about COVID-19 vaccine safety: recommendations from the Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation.

Communicating with patients and the public about COVID-19 vaccine safety: recommendations from the Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation.

A qualitative exploration of attitudes towards wealth transfer taxation in Australia

ABSTRACT Inheritance drives wealth concentration and economic inequality, meaning there is a strong case for wealth transfer taxation as an important element of government redistributive policy. In contrast to many OECD countries, Australia has not had estate or inheritance taxes for 40 years and little is known about contemporary public attitudes towards wealth transfer taxation. This paper draws on qualitative interviews investigating the attitudes of young adult and senior Australians towards wealth transfer taxation. Both groups supported the idea of reintroducing wealth transfer taxation in Australia, largely due to an almost universal absence of expectation that people would or should leave bequests to their descendants. These findings raise the possibility that considering the reintroduction of appropriately targeted wealth transfer taxation in Australia at a time when the Commonwealth Government is experiencing acute fiscal pressures may not generate as much public resistance as might have been assumed.

Coronavax: preparing community and government for COVID-19 vaccination: a research protocol for a mixed methods social research project

IntroductionAhead of the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination programme, the interdisciplinary Coronavax research team developed a multicomponent mixed methods project to support successful roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine in Western...

Validation of a Short Dietary Questionnaire to Evaluate Dietary Intake in School-Aged Children 9–11 Years in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

ObjectivesRegular and timely assessment of children’s diet is crucial in the context of increased childhood overweight and obesity in countries undergoing the nutrition transition. Presently, there is no quick, simple, validated dietary assessment tool to evaluate children’s diet in Vietnam. Thus, this study will examine the reliability and validity of a newly developed short dietary questionnaire (SDQ) among school-aged children 9–11 years old in Ho Chi Minh City to assess whether they meet the Vietnamese dietary guidelines. MethodsA validation study is being conducted among fifth-grade students (9–11 years old) from four primary schools representative for four areas of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. 29-item questions including intakes in food groups (6 core food groups, and 5 non-core food groups) and five mealtime behaviors over the last week will be validated against 24-hour recalls on 3 days during one week (2 weekdays and one weekend). The SDQ will be administrated two times within one-week interval to examine its reliability. The difference between the frequency of food groups intakes and mealtime behaviors from the SDQ and 3-day 24 hour recalls will be examined using paired t-test. Bland-Altman analysis with 95% limit of agreement will be used to examine level agreement between two methods. Weighted Kappa will be applied to identify misclassification between quintiles of frequency of consumption in food groups per week. Strength of agreement will be defined by the Landis and Koch value. Also, the Children Dietary Score reflecting adherence to the Vietnamese dietary guidelines will be developed to examine agreement between scores from SDQ and from the 24 hour recalls. These Children Dietary scores will be used to test the validity and reliability of the tool using the above tests. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test will be used to examine whether an increase in the number of serves/cups from the SDQ correlates with increases in grams of fruits/vegetables or water volume consumed. ResultsN/A. ConclusionsThe SDQ is expected to be used as a screening tool to assess whether school-aged children meet the Vietnamese dietary guidelines. This could support governments to help improve children’s diet in a timely fashion. Funding SourcesPhD scholarship from QUT and the Commonwealth Government of Australia.

Dubiofossils from a Mars-analogue subsurface palaeoenvironment: The limits of biogenicity criteria.

The search for a fossil record of Earth's deep biosphere, partly motivated by potential analogies with subsurface habitats on Mars, has uncovered numerous assemblages of inorganic microfilaments and tubules inside ancient pores and fractures. Although these enigmatic objects are morphologically similar to mineralized microorganisms (and some contain organic carbon), they also resemble some abiotic structures. Palaeobiologists have responded to this ambiguity by evaluating problematic filaments against checklists of "biogenicity criteria". Here, we describe material that tests the limits of this approach. We sampled Jurassic calcite veins formed through subseafloor serpentinization, a water-rock reaction that can fuel the deep biosphere and is known to have occurred widely on Mars. At two localities ~4km apart, veins contained curving, branched microfilaments composed of Mg-silicate and Fe-oxide minerals. Using a wide range of analytical techniques including synchrotron X-ray microtomography and scanning transmission electron microscopy, we show that these features meet many published criteria for biogenicity and are comparable to fossilized cryptoendolithic fungi or bacteria. However, we argue that abiotic processes driven by serpentinization could account for the same set of lifelike features, and report a chemical garden experiment that supports this view. These filaments are, therefore, most objectively described as dubiofossils, a designation we here defend from criticism and recommend over alternative approaches, but which nevertheless signifies an impasse. Similar impasses can be anticipated in the future exploration of subsurface palaeo-habitats on Earth and Mars. To avoid them, further studies are required in biomimetic geochemical self-organization, microbial taphonomy and micro-analytical techniques, with a focus on subsurface habitats.

Ending Australia’s Status as a “Leaving Care Laggard”: The Case for a National Extended Care Framework to Lift the Outcomes for Young People Transitioning From Out-of-Home Care

ABSTRACT Young people transitioning from out-of-home care, commonly called care leavers, are known to be a vulnerable group. Many experience poor outcomes leading them to become homeless or involved in the criminal justice system. Yet compared to most other Anglophone democracies, Australia lacks mandatory assistance for care leavers beyond 18 years of age. There are also major legislative, policy, and program differences between care leaver entitlements in the individual states and territories. This paper argues that the Commonwealth Government should introduce a nationally consistent extended care system that would require all jurisdictions to provide a minimum standard of support until at least 21 years of age. A uniform set of extended care standards is even more vital in the context of COVID-19. IMPLICATIONS Many Australian care leavers have poor life chances despite recent advances in the support programs provided by the states and territories. A nationally consistent extended care program is likely to progress improved opportunities and outcomes for care leavers.

‘Seeing the Wood for the Trees’: Revisiting the Consistency of Australia’s Illegal Logging Act with the Law of the World Trade Organization

Abstract In the absence of coordinated multilateral action, many countries seek to address environmental harm occurring in foreign jurisdictions by introducing measures that regulate the importation of certain products. In Australia, the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012 (Cth) and the Illegal Logging Prohibition Regulation 2012 (Cth) prohibit the import of timber that has been harvested in a manner that is contrary to the laws of the harvesting country. One unsettled question is whether the measure is inconsistent with the law of the World Trade Organization. This article considers this question ahead of the Commonwealth Government’s 10-year review of the Measure. To this end, the article examines the consistency of the Act with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. The findings of the article are relevant to Australia and to other countries that design and implement measures to regulate the importation of products for environmental objectives.

The Canberra Bubble

The Canberra Bubble

Discover - Communicate - Collaborate

EdNA Online is a unique national collaboration between the Australian Commonwealth government Department of Education, Training and Science and the state Education Departments. This collaboration unites learning communities as it provides free resources and online services to all education sectors, including tertiary, schools, vocational training and adult education. There is access to evaluated curriculum resources in a safe environment. The use of standards to enable sharing between states, territories and national education departments has extended knowledge networks. Free communication tools link teacher librarians, teachers and students and assist engagement in professional development.

Behind the scenes: reporting under Australia’s Modern Slavery Act

ABSTRACT Australia’s Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (MSA) requires businesses and Commonwealth government entities with an annual turnover of $100 million or more to publish an annual statement on what they are doing to assess and address the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. Modern slavery includes human trafficking, forced labour, the worst forms of child labour, domestic servitude, and bonded labour. Modern slavery statements submitted by businesses under the Act are publicly available for analysis but may tell us little about the ‘behind the scenes’ processes, tools, structures and relationships within reporting entities. This research contributes to a deeper understanding through 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews with reporting entities where participants discussed the structures and supports they used both internally and externally, the importance of relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders and the barriers and gaps they experienced in their roles and efforts to comply with the Act. I propose recommendations for strengthening the MSA and its implementation that could inform the three-year review mandated under section 24 of the Act.

Towards a National Broadband Strategy for Australia, 2020-2030

This Report has been developed by the TelSoc National Broadband Network (NBN) Futures Group, drawing on substantial work since early 2019 to examine the current state and desirable future of broadband services in Australia. The purpose of the Group and this Report is to ensure Australia’s broadband infrastructure and services continues to develop in a financially responsible and timely manner, delivering value, economic benefit and new services to all Australian residents in all locations and in all economic circumstances. Broadband infrastructure, including the NBN in particular, represents National Critical Infrastructure providing essential services important for the development of a digital economy and online society. All Australians should benefit to the maximum extent in realising the social and economic potential of broadband. Large, long-term investments and programs that address the demand side, as well as the supply side, of broadband require a clear long-term vision and plan (the National Broadband Strategy), supported by a robust bipartisan commitment that endures beyond electoral cycles. The Report is not such a Strategy but is a major contribution towards it. It is addressed to all stakeholders, especially to the Commonwealth Government which has leadership responsibility, and to industry organisations whose involvement is important for success.

A National Approach to The Management of Multi-Jurisdictional Linked Data Projects in Australia

IntroductionThe Population Health Research Network (PHRN) is an Australian data linkage infrastructure capable of securely and safely linking and integrating data collections from a wide range of sources. Australia, as a federated nation, has taken a national approach because:
 
 Australia’s population is mobile and there is significant cross border service use
 Commonwealth, state and territory government agencies collect and store their own data.
 
 The national data linkage infrastructure enables researchers to apply for access to routinely collected and linked administrative data from the Commonwealth, six states and two territories. The application and approvals has been described by researchers as a time-consuming and administratively burdensome process.
 Objectives and ApproachThe primary objective of this project was to improve coordination of the application and approval processes for researchers requesting linked data from multiple jurisdictions in Australia. The approach taken was to develop a single application form/online application system (OAS) and standardise the business processes for multi-jurisdictional research applications.
 ResultsThe PHRN OAS was launched in 2014. All jurisdictions agreed to use the system for multi-jurisdictional linked data projects and SA NT DataLink agreed to use the system for their single-jurisdictional projects.
 Each year since the PHRN OAS’s launch, both the total number of registered users and the number of submissions each year has increased. The majority oforganisations that lodge submissions are universities and medical research institutes.
 There has been a significant reduction in the time taken by data linkage units to issue quotes and the time taken to achieve all approvals for multi-jurisdictional projects since the introduction of the standardised business processes.
 Conclusion / ImplicationsThis paper demonstrates that despite the challenges and complexities associated with applying for linked data from multiple jurisdictions a coordinated application and approval approach can be achieved.

Australian private practice metropolitan telepsychiatry during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of Quarter-2, 2020 usage of new MBS-telehealth item psychiatrist services.

Objective:The Australian Commonwealth Government introduced new psychiatrist Medicare-Benefits-Schedule (MBS)-telehealth items in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist with previously office-based psychiatric practice. We investigate private psychiatrists’ uptake of (1) video- and telephone-telehealth consultations for Quarter-2 (April–June) of 2020 and (2) total telehealth and face-to-face consultations in Quarter-2, 2020 in comparison to Quarter-2, 2019 for Australia.Methods:MBS item service data were extracted for COVID-19-psychiatrist-video- and telephone-telehealth item numbers and compared with a baseline of the Quarter-2, 2019 (April–June 2019) of face-to-face consultations for the whole of Australia.Results:Combined telehealth and face-to-face psychiatry consultations rose during the first wave of the pandemic in Quarter-2, 2020 by 14% compared to Quarter-2, 2019 and telehealth was approximately half of this total. Face-to-face consultations in 2020 comprised only 56% of the comparative Quarter-2, 2019 consultations. Most telehealth provision was by telephone for short consultations of ⩽15–30 min. Video consultations comprised 38% of the total telehealth provision (for new patient assessments and longer consultations).Conclusions:There has been a flexible, rapid response to patient demand by private psychiatrists using the new COVID-19-MBS-telehealth items for Quarter-2, 2020, and in the context of decreased face-to-face consultations, ongoing telehealth is essential.

Many Voices, One Ambition: Local Government, Post‐War Reconstruction and Northern Development in Australia

Established in 1944, the North Queensland Local Government Association made an impact on post‐war reconstruction and northern development in Australia. The association modernised infrastructure and improved social conditions in Queensland's north, as well as launching an influential publicity campaign to promote a massive northern development scheme. In an era when federal proposals for developing Australia's northern regions often struggled to make a convincing case for Commonwealth investment, these were significant contributions to nation‐building. Putting substance before parochialism, the association fostered cooperation among municipal authorities and patiently lobbied the Queensland government. But some members complained that their region was part of a “neglected north” and called for a more assertive campaign. By the late 1950s, having developed regional infrastructure, grown in confidence, and looking for new challenges, the association shifted its lobbying to target the Commonwealth government. The change led to the “People the North” publicity campaign, which influenced federal northern development policy. This article analyses the campaigns led by the North Queensland Local Government Association in the twenty years after 1944. It illuminates a neglected part of Australia's political history: the contribution of regional political voices from Australia's north to nation‐building projects such as post‐war reconstruction and northern development.

Shared leadership, value and risks in large scale transport projects: Re-calibrating procurement policy for post COVID-19

Before the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak, the Australian Commonwealth and State Governments invested significantly in the upgrade and construction of large-scale transport infrastructure projects (>AU$500 million). However, two trends prevail in Australia. Concessionaires/contractors face a requirement for fixed-price contracts, high levels of risk, and low margins. Concomitantly, an increasing number of projects have experienced significant cost blowouts, with adverse impacts on both the public and private sectors. Calls for the public sector to engage with collaborative procurement approaches to deliver large-scale transport projects, however, have gone unheeded. In this paper, we critically review existing policies and practices used to procure large-scale transport projects and examine the challenges they pose in a post-COVID-19 world. We suggest that the public and private sectors need to work in unison to overcome the significant economic hurdles that COVID-19 presents to the nation's infrastructure demands. We then proffer that governments need to re-calibrate their procurement policies to future-proof their large-scale transport infrastructure projects. To facilitate the process of re-calibration, we develop a theoretical procurement framework for consideration based on the concepts of shared leadership, value creation, and risks. It is envisaged that our procurement framework will provide a platform for engendering economic value and accounting for all-important societal costs and benefits in a world post pandemic.

Congregations of a threatened species: mitigating impacts from Grey-headed Flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus camps on the Batemans Bay community

ABSTRACT Flying-fox camps in urban areas are a contentious wildlife management issue. Since 2012, Grey-headed Flying-foxes Pteropus poliocephalus have regularly occupied two camps in Batemans Bay, New South Wales (NSW). At one site, the Water Gardens, impacts on adjacent residents and businesses occur when animals roost near the reserve boundaries. During March–July 2016, a large influx of flying-foxes arrived, causing the camps to spread into neighbouring residential, recreational and industrial areas. Prior to this, impacts had been mitigated through vegetation clearing to create buffer zones and residential subsidies for mitigation equipment and services. The influx warranted additional measures such as a dispersal program and further vegetation removal, which were expedited by the Commonwealth Government granting a National Interest Exemption under section 158 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the NSW Government committing $2.5 million in funding towards the new measures. These measures moved flying-foxes from key conflict areas but also coincided with flying-fox numbers reducing as local blossom diminished. Ongoing community engagement played an important role in building community resilience to live with this threatened species, which is vital considering that Batemans Bay will likely continue to be an important area for flying-foxes.

Private practice metropolitan telepsychiatry in larger Australian states during the COVID-19 pandemic: an analysis of the first 2 months of new MBS telehealth item psychiatrist services.

Private practice psychiatry in Australia was largely office-based until the Commonwealth Government introduced new psychiatrist Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telehealth items in response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigate the uptake of (1) video and telephone telehealth consultations in April-May 2020, and (2) the overall changing rates of consultation, i.e. total telehealth and in-person consultations across the larger states of Australia. MBS item service data were extracted for COVID-19 psychiatrist video- and telephone-telehealth item numbers and compared with a baseline of the 2018-2019-financial-year monthly average of in-person consultations for New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia. Total psychiatry consultations (telehealth and in-person) rose during the first wave of the pandemic by 10%-20% compared to the previous year. The majority of private practice was conducted by telehealth in April but was lower in May as new COVID-19 case rates fell. Most telehealth provision was by telephone for short consultations of ⩽15-30 min. Video consultations increased from April into May. For large states, there has been a rapid adoption of the MBS telehealth psychiatrist items, followed by a trend back to face-to-face as COVID-19 new case rates reduced. There was an overall increased consultation rate (in-person plus telehealth) for April-May 2020.