Sydney Population Research Articles

Immigration and the Changing Population of New South Wales and Sydney with Implications for Education and Health Services

The problem of economic and social support for the dependant sectors of the Australian population in the future is addressed through consideration of recent national and regional population projections in relation to dependency theory. The level of immigration required to prevent the dependent sectors growing unduly at the expense of the productive is shown to be significant and this is complicated by high unemployment, and the issue of how many immigrants that can continue to be absorbed into the workforce. The contribution of suburban development trends, with their often wasteful provision of services at the local level in the longer term, as the result of regional demographic change, is seen to exacerbate the problems at the national level.

The impact of random breath testing in New South Wales, December, 1982 to February, 1983

A survey to investigate the impact of random breath testing (RBT) was carried out in late February, 1983. The survey sample comprised 400 Sydney residents. In the first 10 weeks of operation, nearly half the Sydney population were directly exposed to RBT, either by being tested themselves or by driving past other people being tested. Despite this high penetration rate, many licence holders regarded their chances of being tested as lower than they were when RBT was first introduced, in December, 1982. Men, younger respondents, and heavy drinkers had higher rates of exposure to RBT, rated their chances of being tested more highly than did other groups and more often reported changes in behaviour due to RBT. However, respondents in these groups also more often reported drinking and driving since the advent of RBT. The implications of these findings for police law enforcement strategies and for the current debate on mandatory zero blood alcohol levels among provisionally licensed (P-plate) drivers are considered.

Trends in Sydney's population

Trends in Sydney's population

Greek settlement in Sydney, 1947–1971

Summary The Greek population of Sydney is of substantial size, constituting one of the ten largest urban Greek populations in the world. Distinct ethnic concentrations of Greeks have formed in the inner suburbs. The origins and character of the Greek settlements are complex, reflecting economic and cultural factors, migration processes and the residential stratification pattern of the total society. Cross‐classifications of the Greek population by age, period of residence and occupation indicated considerable variations between the Greek and Australian‐born population in areas of ethnic concentration. The life cycle stage and occupational differentials between the ethnic and host society populations in the same area complicate the common view of urban residential social structure as simply reflecting familism, segregation and socio‐.economic status as independent elements of residential differentiation.

The Size of the Homeless Men Population of Sydney

An attempt is made to determine the size of the population which uses the facilities for homeless men in Sydney. The distribution in age groupings of homeless men in Sydney is shown to be quite different from that of the general male population of New South Wales, and the extreme mobility of members of this population is again noted.

ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND ANALGESICS—BUSSELTON, 1972

Mass health examinations carried out in Busselton in November and December, 1972, revealed that drinking and smoking were more prevalent amongst men, whereas more women took analgesic drugs. Compared with older age groups more young people consumed alcohol, tobacco and analgesics. Younger people are also taking up smoking and drinking at earlier ages than the older age groups. These findings stress the need for better health education to alter the attitudes of younger people. The people of Busselton would support legislation to allow spot breathalyser tests for drivers, women (70%) providing stronger support than men (57%). This suggests that public opinion could support continuing legislation to combat road accidents. Comparisons between the North Shore, Sydney, and Busselton populations indicated somewhat higher proportions of the urban people were consuming alcohol, tobacco and analgesics, particularly urban women. However, both Australian samples revealed disturbingly high proportions of subjects taking excessive monthly quantities of analgesics (3% to 5%) compared with the United Kingdom (2-8%). Previous reports of the high proportion of Traralgon people taking drugs or medication is supported by the Busselton data, which suggest the Australia requires stricter statutory control of analgesics, compulsory warnings on labels and restriction of sales to pharmacists.

Type V Hyperlipoproteinaemia Re‐visited: Findings in a Sydney Population*

The clinical and biochemical features of eleven patients with Type V hyperlipoproteinaemia have been reviewed. All patients were male, and there was a high incidence in the group of obesity, vascular disease, acute abdominal pain, gout, diabetes mellitus and alcoholism. Plasma cholesterol concentrations ranged from 212 to 1512 mg/100ml and triglycerides from 708 to 7670 mg/100 ml. Lipaemia was associated with significant hyponatraemia, and also interfered with the determination of plasma glucose and serum amylase. Chylomicronaemia and hyperprebetalipoproteinaemia were accompanied by reduction in the pools of beta and alpha lipoproteins. All lipoprotein classes were relatively depleted of cholesterol compared to triglyceride. There was a variable pattern of treatment response. In some patients alcohol withdrawal produced a rapid improvement in plasma lipids. In diabetes mellitus there were two types of response: a rapid one in chronic insulin deficiency, and secondly, a more gradual one in mild diabetes associated with hyperinsulinaemia. In other patients there was a rapid response to carbohydrate-calorie restriction but the respective contributions of each of the steps remained unclear.