South Australian Case Study Research Articles

Implementing 'Closing the Gap' policy through mainstream service provision: A South Australian case study.

The Australian government's 'Closing the Gap' (CTG) strategy has been implemented via multiple strategies. We examined CTG policy in early childhood within Southern Adelaide during the first decade of implementation (2008-2018) and critiqued the complexity and challenges of policy that is designed to promote health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children but lacked Aboriginal control. A qualitative case study was conducted in Southern Adelaide, and we interviewed 16 policy actors from health and early childhood education sectors. Thematic analysis revealed key themes to show how policy had been implemented through mainstream structures. The rapid roll out of the CTG strategy, the limitations of short-term funding, cuts to Aboriginal health services, tokenistic consultation, and the mainstreaming of service provision were key features of policy implementation. The influence of Aboriginal leaders varied across implementation contexts. Participants advocated for services in health and education that are culturally safe to improve health of children, families, and communities. The implementation of the CTG strategy in Southern Adelaide was rushed, complex, and lacking Aboriginal control. This contributed to the marginalisation of Aboriginal leaders, and disengagement of families and communities. A more collaborative and Aboriginal led process for policy implementation is essential to reform policy implementation and address health inequity. SO WHAT?: Findings from this study suggest that policy has continued to be implemented I ways that reflect colonial power imbalances. Alternative processes that promote the recognition of Indigenous rights must be considered if we are to achieve the targets set within the CTG strategy.

Operationalizing crop model data assimilation for improved on-farm situational awareness

The ability of ‘digital agriculture’ to support on-farm decision making is predicated on the real-time combination of observations and prior knowledge into an integrated digital environment. The mathematical discipline that seeks to provide this integration is known as model data assimilation (DA), with demonstrated benefits including improved predictive reliability, and the capacity to identify unexpected changes in field conditions and potential measurement errors. Despite routine adoption in other fields, the delayed adoption of DA in agriculture is due to the need to express end-of-season outcomes such as yield, update forecasts of these outcomes throughout the growing season as data become available, and enhance forecast reliability. To overcome these challenges, three guiding principles are introduced, providing a means to operationalize crop model DA for robust on-farm decision support. We apply the guiding principles using a South Australian viticulture case study. Our case study involves application of an iterative form of a widely used DA algorithm (ensemble Kalman filter) to dynamically update both static parameters and states associated with a grapevine simulation model. Daily weather data as well as fortnightly ground-based leaf area index (LAI) data are used for assimilation. It is shown how crop model DA can lead to not only significant improvements in forecasts of LAI but also to forecasts of end-of-season yield. The guiding principles also enable observations of greatest value to be identified throughout the season. This study highlights the role that formal crop model DA can play in agricultural decision support through enhancing situational awareness in real time.

Challenges in Quantifying Losses in a Partly Urbanised Catchment: A South Australian Case Study

Quantifying hydrological losses in a catchment is crucial for developing an effective flood forecasting system and estimating design floods. This can be a complicated and challenging task when the catchment is urbanised as the interaction of pervious and impervious (both directly connected and indirectly connected) areas makes responses to rainfall hard to predict. This paper presents the challenges faced in estimating initial losses (IL) and proportional losses (PL) of the partly urbanised Brownhill Creek catchment in South Australia. The loss components were calculated for 57 runoff generating rainfall events using the non-parametric IL-PL method and parametric method based on two runoff routing models, Runoff Routing Burroughs (RORB) and Rainfall-Runoff Routing (RRR). The analysis showed that the RORB model provided the most representative median IL and PL for the rural portion of the study area as 9 mm and 0.81, respectively. However, none of the methods can provide a reliable loss value for the urban portion because there is no runoff contribution from unconnected areas for each event. However, the estimated non-parametric IL of 1.37 mm can be considered as IL of EIA of the urban portion. Several challenges were identified in the loss estimation process, mainly when selecting appropriate storm events, collecting data with the available temporal resolution, extracting baseflow, and determining the main-stream transmission losses, which reduced the urban flow by 5.7%. The effect of hydrograph shape in non-parametric loss estimation and how combined runoff from the effective impervious area and unconnected (combined indirectly connected impervious and pervious) areas affects the loss estimation process using the RORB and RRR models are further discussed. We also demonstrate the importance of identifying the catchment specific conditions appropriately when quantifying baseflow and runoff of selected events for loss estimation.

Flipped learning and parent engagement in secondary schools: A South Australian case study

AbstractParent involvement in and engagement with children’s learning has been shown to strongly influence student achievement, engagement, motivation and school completion. However, parent involvement decreases once students reach middle school, as subject content gets harder, the number of teachers increases, and students are less likely to share their homework and learning with parents. To this end, the flipped learning (FL) approach has received growing attention, with evidence of improved higher order thinking and collaborative skills and increased transparency for parents. This paper explores school leader, parent, student and teacher perceptions of the FL approach, through the lens of a 1‐year case study of two rural South Australian schools, in order to uncover how the approach affects parent engagement. Findings reveal that, whilst stakeholders feel that the flipped approach is beneficial for absent students, to reinforce content and increase student responsibility, it has not yet improved transparency for parents, with a disconnect between what schools think parents know and are engaging in, and the actual level of parent engagement in student learning. Recommendations for schools implementing the FL approach are provided against a bioecological model, adapted for this study.

Attachment, Bushfire Preparedness, Planning, and Response among Animal Guardians: A South Australian Case Study.

Background: Animal ownership has been identified as a risk factor for human survivability of natural disasters. Animal guardians have been reported to react or act in ways that may put their own safety and that of emergency services personnel at risk when faced with a natural disaster. Recent research has suggested that this risk factor could be reconfigured as a protective factor, whereby desires to save animals from natural disaster harm could motivate increased planning and preparedness behaviours amongst animal guardians. However, there has been no research to determine if bushfire planning and response behaviours differ between pet owners with low and high attachment; and how the relationship may differ in relation to small or large animals. Methods and procedure: We investigated the relationship between people’s emotional attachment to different types of pets and their preparation and actions during the Pinery bushfire in South Australia in November 2015. Thirty-four people who were impacted by the fire participated in an online survey. Data were collected about their preparedness, planning and response behaviours as well as their animal attachment (high or low). Results: We identified 10 characteristics (behaviours, attributes, skills and beliefs) associated with high animal attachment scores, and eight associated with low animal attachment scores. Discussion: Our discussion of the differences in demographics, preparedness, planning and response characteristics of participants with high and low animal attachment confirms research suggesting that animal guardians take risks to save their animals during disasters. Our findings also support recent propositions that animal attachment and ownership could be used to increase the natural disaster preparedness and survivability of animal guardians. However, making sure that animal attachment functions as a protective factor requires active and effective intervention through education, behaviour change and social marketing strategies. Whilst our study is high in ecological validity, future research with larger samples sizes is required to determine the generalisability of our findings to animal owners and guardians in other locations, facing fires with other characteristics, especially for owners and guardians with low levels of attachment.

The development of funding recommendations for health technologies at the state level: A South Australian case study.

State governments often face capped budgets that can restrict expenditure on health technologies and their evaluation, yet many technologies are introduced to practice through state-funded institutions such as hospitals, rather than through national evaluation mechanisms. This research aimed to identify the criteria, evidence, and standards used by South Australian committee members to recommend funding for high-cost health technologies. We undertook 8 semi-structured interviews and 2 meeting observations with members of state-wide committees that have a mandate to consider the safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of high-cost health technologies. Safety and effectiveness were fundamental criteria for decision makers, who were also concerned with increasing consistency in care and equitable access to technologies. Committee members often consider evidence that is limited in quantity and quality; however, they perceive evaluations to be rigorous and sufficient for decision making. Precise standards for safety, effective, and cost-effectiveness could not be identified. Consideration of new technologies at the state level is grounded in the desire to improve health outcomes and equity of access for patients. High quality evidence is often limited. The impact funding decisions have on population health is unclear due to limited use of cost-effectiveness analysis and unclear cost-effectiveness standards.

Ideas, actors and institutions: lessons from South Australian Health in All Policies on what encourages other sectors\u2019 involvement

BackgroundThis paper examines the extent to which actors from sectors other than health engaged with the South Australian Health in All Policies (HiAP) initiative, determines why they were prepared to do so and explains the mechanisms by which successful engagement happened. This examination applies theories of policy development and implementation.MethodsThe paper draws on a five year study of the implementation of HiAP comprising document analysis, a log of key events, detailed interviews with 64 policy actors and two surveys of public servants.ResultsThe findings are analysed within an institutional policy analysis framework and examine the extent to which ideas, institutional factors and actor agency influenced the willingness of actors from other sectors to work with Health sector staff under the HiAP initiative. In terms of ideas, there was wide acceptance of the role of social determinants in shaping health and the importance of action to promote health in all government agencies. The institutional environment was initially supportive, but support waned over the course of the study when the economy in South Australia became less buoyant and a health minister less supportive of health promotion took office. The existence of a HiAP Unit was very helpful for gaining support from other sectors. A new Public Health Act offered some promise of institutionalising the HiAP approach and ideas. The analysis concludes that a key factor was the operation of a supportive network of public servants who promoted HiAP, including some who were senior and influential.ConclusionsThe South Australian case study demonstrates that despite institutional constraints and shifting political support within the health sector, HiAP gained traction in other sectors. The key factors that encouraged the commitment of others sectors to HiAP were the existence of a supportive, knowledgeable policy network, political support, institutionalisation of the ideas and approach, and balancing of the economic and social goals of government.

Spatial Concentration in Australian Regional Development, Exogenous Shocks and Regional Demographic Outcomes: a South Australian case study

ABSTRACTAs a tribute to the massive contribution of our friend and colleague Graeme Hugo to the population and settlement geography of Australian rural areas, this paper presents a longitudinal study from his home State. It forms part of a wider study of the long-term demographic relationships between Australia’s rapidly growing regional cities and their surrounding functional regions. Of particular interest is the question of what effect the accelerating concentration of population and economic activity into a given regional city will have for the longer term demographic sustainability of its functional region as a whole. Taking the case of Port Lincoln, regional capital of most of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, it examines the nature of change in the functional region over the period 1947–2011, and investigates the forces feeding, and partly counteracting, the population concentration process, informed by concepts of evolutionary economic geography. In particular it traces the demographic impact (particularly differential migration and ageing trends) of exogenous shocks to the region’s essentially primary productive economic base during the period of major change from 1981 to 2011.

An energy integrated, multi-microgrid, MILP (mixed-integer linear programming) approach for residential distributed energy system planning – A South Australian case-study

The integration of distributed generation units and microgrids in the current grid infrastructure requires an efficient and cost effective local energy system design. A mixed-integer linear programming model is presented to identify such optimal design. The electricity as well as the space heating and cooling demands of a small residential neighbourhood are satisfied through the consideration and combined use of distributed generation technologies, thermal units and energy storage with an optional interconnection with the central grid. Moreover, energy integration is allowed in the form of both optimised pipeline networks and microgrid operation. The objective is to minimise the total annualised cost of the system to meet its yearly energy demand. The model integrates the operational characteristics and constraints of the different technologies for several scenarios in a South Australian setting and is implemented in GAMS. The impact of energy integration is analysed, leading to the identification of key components for residential energy systems. Additionally, a multi-microgrid concept is introduced to allow for local clustering of households within neighbourhoods. The robustness of the model is shown through sensitivity analysis, up-scaling and an effort to address the variability of solar irradiation.

Regional agricultural governance in peri-urban and rural South Australia: strategies to improve multifunctionality

Historically, agricultural policy in Australia has focused on maximising the economic productivity and efficiency of the sector. The issues that have arisen from this governance focus are manyfold. In this study, we illustrate the regional disparity and implications for agricultural sustainability caused by such a policy model. We surveyed farmers in two South Australian case study regions, the adjoining peri-urban Barossa-Light region, and the rural area of Loxton. It was found that respondents from Loxton had larger properties, saw more benefits from government support for agriculture, and were more likely to prioritise support for their local community and increases in productivity. Respondents from Barossa-Light were more concerned about risks of urban encroachment, prioritised keeping their farms in their families, and were generally more concerned about government support. These results highlight the complexity involved with applying appropriate government support mechanisms across a diverse industry such as agriculture, with various regional sustainability issues driving respondent priorities. We also suggest that regional variation will require explicit planning which aims for heterogeneous goals and that educational and cooperative pursuits may help to increase the capacity of the land managers in the case study regions. These suggestions have broader implications for other regions where agricultural diversity complicates policy to support the industry within historically productivist agricultural regimes.

Building Respectful Relationships Early: Educating Children on Gender Variance and Sexual Diversity. A Response to Damien Riggs.

This article, which is a response to Damien Riggs' article, ‘Heteronormativity in Online Information about Sex: A South Australian Case Study’, focuses on three main areas relevant to children's ea...

The social and economic impacts of immigration detention facilities: a South Australian case study

The negative attitudes fostered by political rhetoric against asylum seekers create significant problems when asylum seekers are housed within communities. Much of the community's opposition focuses on the perceived economic and social impacts of large numbers of asylum seekers. However, we currently lack research on the local economic and social impacts of asylum seekers. As a contribution to this evidence base our paper outlines a South Australian case study of the impact of a low security immigration detention facility on the local economy, health services and social cohesion. Our impact assessment found that community concerns were not borne out. There were increases in employment and local expenditure, no reduction in health care services or access, and tensions between residents subsided, as did initially strong reactions against the asylum seekers themselves. The minimal impacts were due to the government and community interventions such as seeking local contracts and providing onsite health services. This case study is used to provide some guidelines for other communities to effectively target the fears that matter most to the community – either through disseminating information that reduces fears and myths, or through planning and interventions that minimise negative impacts and enhance positive benefits. In this way, the arrival of asylum seekers can potentially become one that benefits all community members.

Building Respectful Relationships Early: Educating Children on Gender Variance and Sexual Diversity. A Response to Damien Riggs

This article, which is a response to Damien Riggs' article, ‘Heteronormativity in Online Information about Sex: A South Australian Case Study’, focuses on three main areas relevant to children's early education in this area. Firstly, it is important to increase parents’, educators’, and children's awareness of gender variance or gender diversity in children's and young people's lives. Gender variance is becoming increasingly visible, including in schooling, with some children and young people experiencing hostile reactions to their gender transgressions from their peers and also from some adults. Secondly, it is vital that the development of children's sexual citizenship and building respectful relationships starts early in children's lives through open and comprehensive sex and sexualities education in online, schooling, and family contexts. Attempts to include the development of knowledge and skills in building and maintaining respectful relationships and exploring the factors that influence gender and sexual identities in children's early education are hindered by discourses of childhood innocence. The third main area discussed is, in order to effectively address sex and sexualities education in children's lives, there is a need to address these issues in a collaborative manner between early childhood educators and families.

Shedding New Light on Adelaide? Intersections between Urban Design Projects and City Marketing

Cities are increasingly locked in transnational networks, thus prompting the need for competitive urban identities. Governments and policy makers are increasingly looking towards city marketing to gain a competitive advantage. Urban design projects have emerged as a key strategy in this pursuit. Policy makers often assume that physical interventions in place will assist in the creation of a more globally competitive urban identity. However, such an assumption may be overly simplistic, denying the complexities inherent in place. This paper critiques the relationship between urban design and urban identity through a South Australian case study. Investigating the Rundle Lantern, an urban design project aimed at activating a prominent Adelaide intersection and assisting to re-orient the city's image, the paper evaluates the capacity of urban design to create emblematic places that seek to communicate a more progressive and vibrant urban identity. Drawing upon a multi-method approach, the paper demonstrates the opportunities for and limitations of major urban design projects to achieve the place-making outcomes which they are purported to deliver.

What policies and policy processes are needed to ensure that people with psychiatric disabilities have access to appropriate housing?

This paper uses data from a South Australian case study of a period of mental health reform (2000-2005) to answer the question of how different policy networks set agenda and implement policy to ensure that people with psychiatric disabilities have access to appropriate housing. Qualitative methods were used, including interviews (n = 31) and focus groups (n = 8) with non-government organisations (NGOs), consumers and carers and professionals from health, disability and housing sectors, and participant observation with South Australian NGOs (n = 52). These data were supported by a thematic analysis of national and State (i.e. South Australian) policies in mental health and housing sectors. The research indicated that, despite a number of 'inter-sectoral projects' and regional networks, the health and housing sectors were essentially separate policy systems with little integration. It also concluded that the absence of strategic integration across sectors leads to inadequate housing for people with a psychiatric disability. Research participants considered the need for better collaboration secondary to the need for additional housing and support resources and political commitment to such resources. A number of barriers and enablers to policy agenda setting and collaboration were identified. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy and policy processes which will support housing outcomes for people with psychiatric disability.

The Limits of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

The competitive worldwide economic environment and ever-increasing costs of health care have created a setting in which understanding costs and making sure that we achieve good value in health care are paramount. One approach to seeking value is through the use of cost-effectiveness analysis. Although this science is now several decades old, it has been refined over the last several years, with increasingly sophisticated statistical and standardized methods.1,2 Is cost-effectiveness analysis useful? Does it help in medical decision making and in allocation of scarce resources? In the accompanying article, “Cost, Effectiveness, and Cost-Effectiveness” Diamond and Kaul3 argue that cost-effectiveness analysis is not a useful approach. Although we agree with many of the points that Diamond and Kaul raise, we do not agree with their conclusion. Cost-effectiveness analysis involves an assessment of both cost and effectiveness. The distribution of each needs to be understood. A cost-effectiveness analysis is only as valid as its underlying measures of effectiveness and cost, a discussion that is beyond the scope of this article. However, the methods to make these assessments vary considerably. There are standards for cost-effectiveness, but at times, perfectly adhering to these standards is not realistic, and compromises are often made that may be entirely scientifically legitimate.4 Cost-effectiveness is, by nature, incremental. Thus, it is necessary to look at the added costs compared with a control group. Selection of the appropriate control group is a challenge itself. At times, the appropriate control is placebo, and at other times, it is active therapy; the appropriate control is dependent on the clinical question being asked. However, when cost-effectiveness analysis is conducted using data from a clinical trial, the selection of the control group will not be a decision that the analyst can affect (at least after the trial has been completed). When …

Raise your Glasses - the Water's Magic! Strategic IT at SA Water: A Case Study in Alignment, Outsourcing and Governance

The South Australian Water case study illustrates the management challenges in aligning Information Technology with business objectives in a publicly owned corporation. To achieve the alignment, the new CIO begins by refreshing the IT infrastructure to support the required business applications. When the Government establishes ‘Improved water quality’ as a major corporate goal, the CIO seeks to add value to the business by developing a quality reporting system that leverages the existing technology. At the same time, he demonstrates to the corporation the IT function's capability to deliver business value through the management of multiple outsourcing vendors.

South Australian Workers Compensation Disputes: from Conciliation to Adjudication and Back Again

Reforms to workers compensation schemes throughout Australia in the 1980s brought many changes to the substantive entitlements of injured workers, admin istration and funding arrangements. Those reforms also introduced new ways of resolving disputes about entitlements. Tbis paper identifies some of the major factors that influence the design and operation of dispute resolution systems and demonstrates that there is a tendency for such systems to develop in a manner that can be contrary to the original objectives as a result of particular pressures and unanticipated developments. A case study of dispute resolution in South Australian workers compensation in the period 1986 to 1999 provides the empirical detail. Dispute resolution systems are dynamic rather than static. Tbey frequently reflect some of the pressures and conflicts within the workers compensation schemes. The nature of the administration and management of dispute resolution processes at a time of changing statutory requirements, and in the face of challenges to it by the various interest groups, are contributing factors to the direction of the changes. The South Australian case study and the subsequent analysis are prefaced by a brief discussion of some features of alternative dispute resolution and conciliation in particular :

Identifying Industrial Location and Site Preferences for Small Business: A South Australian Case Study

This paper is based on a survey of 87 small to medium industrial land users which was undertaken in June 1997 to examine industrial property use and preferences within the Adelaide Statistical Division (ASD) of South Australia (SA). Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia has a metropolitan population of 1 million. The study was undertaken in response to a perceived mismatch by small business operators within the industrial land market between demand for and supply of industrial zoned land in Adelaide in terms of location, quality and site characteristics. The survey was undertaken across a cross section of small business land users in terms of location, tenancy and business type at a time when significant areas of industrial land within metropolitan Adelaide were being rezoned for residential and recreational purposes. Small business continues to be a major contributor to the SA economy but may be impeded in its development by uninformed planning decisions. This paper provides a focus on current characteristics and preferences of industrial property users in an attempt to better anticipate future demand for industrial space. The implications of the survey for decision making with respect to management of land and planning policy are explored

Interpreting townscape as a means of conservation in the built environment: a South Australian case study

The concept of townscape where community values and identity are sustained by the conservation of the built environment is one that has been both popular and divisive. This paper reviews the attempt by an Australian inner city council to introduce the notion of townscape into its planning form and how it has sought to retain the concept despite legislative change, resistance from developers and state government ambivalence.