Reinventing the regions: Victoria’s changing regional economies

Regional Victoria accounts for around a quarter of the State\u27s population and economic output. In March 2013 Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan released the Reinventing the Regions report which documents the findings from a series of events held in 2011-2012 which CEDA, in collaboration with RDV, hosted. This report provides an overview of the changes taking place in five of Victoria\u27s regional economies, key policy and economic themes that emerged from discussions throughout the series of events, case studies from regional businesses and five individual event summaries. The event series provided an opportunity to engage key stakeholders including business, industry, government, communities and academia in a discussion of: The key economic drivers and prospects for growth; Challenges faced by businesses across five regions; How regional businesses are adapting to evolving economic conditions; and How they can capitalise on new opportunities. The series consisted of five events looking at the experiences of Ballarat and the Central Highlands, Hume,Geelong and Barwon South West, Loddon Mallee and the Latrobe Valley. This publication is a joint project of CEDA and Regional Development Victoria. &nbsp

Evaluation of the ACT Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP)

In 2005 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) produced a report, Responding to sexual assault: The challenge of change (DPP & AFP 2005), which made 105 recommendations for reforming the way sexual offence cases are handled by the ACT’s criminal justice system. The Sexual Assault Reform Program (SARP) is one key initiative developed in response to these recommendations. Managed by the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), SARP’s main objective is to improve aspects of the criminal justice system relating to: processes and support for victims of sexual offences as they progress through the system; attrition in sexual offence matters in the criminal justice system; and coordination and collaboration among the agencies involved. In November 2007 the ACT Attorney-General announced $4 million of funding for several SARP reforms. This funding provided for additional victim support staff; a dedicated additional police officer, prosecutor and legal policy officer; and an upgrade of equipment for the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court, including improvements in technology to assist witnesses in giving evidence, and the establishment of an off-site facility to allow witnesses to give evidence from a location outside of the court. In addition, the reform agenda included a number of legislative amendments that changed how evidence can be given by victims of sexual and family violence offences, children and other vulnerable witnesses. The primary objectives of these legislative changes are to provide an unintimidating, safe environment for vulnerable witnesses (including sexual offence complainants) to give evidence and to obtain prompt statements from witnesses to improve the quality of evidence captured (DPP 2009: 13)

Convictions for summary insolvency offences committed by company directors

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigates and prosecutes certain strict liability criminal offences by directors before local and Magistrates’ courts across Australia. Until December 2011, ASIC made public the details of each successful case by periodically releasing conviction reports on its website and through media releases. In this paper, an analysis of the raw information in ASIC conviction reports for the five calendar years 2006 to 2010 is presented to provide statistical data on convictions and fines obtained by ASIC under its court-based enforcement activities, with an emphasis on insolvency offences. The analysis reveals that under its summary prosecution program, ASIC’s focus turned almost exclusively to insolvency crimes committed by directors of collapsed, insolvent companies, where they have failed to assist liquidators. The analysis reveals a trend toward fewer convictions (except in New South Wales) and smaller fines for these ‘fail-to-assist’ offences between 2006 and 2010. This paper also provides background information about the traditional role played by insolvency practitioners in detecting corporate crime and assisting with prosecution, as well as the character and significance of summary insolvency offences. It suggests that prosecution of these summary insolvency offences may be important to the integrity of Australia’s regime of corporate insolvency law. By arrangement with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, ASIC is permitted to conduct its own prosecutions of what the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions describes as minor regulatory offences against the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act). Under this arrangement, ASIC commenced an expanded summary prosecutions program in 2002 and as part of this, received special funding for a Liquidator Assistance Program. ASIC’s first report on the outcomes of these initiatives showed that most of the convictions achieved between 2002 and 2005 were in respect of offences relating to failure by company officers to assist insolvency practitioners (ASIC 2005). Analysis of similar ASIC reports since 2005 reveals that convictions for such insolvency offences now predominate. Further, analysis of these reports shows a reduction in the average fine being imposed by the courts, a fall in the actual number of defendants convicted and offence rates varying between jurisdictions. The purpose of this scoping study is to analyse and document changes in the number of convictions achieved by ASIC for failure to assist-type insolvency offences identified during the liquidation process, to examine changes in the penalties awarded by the courts for such offences, to illuminate enforcement and prosecution action being taken in an area of white collar crime that is rarely discussed outside the insolvency industry and to point to the nature of the issues that should be examined through additional research

Conducting home visits procedures

This procedural guideline must be read in conjunction with Partnerships in Learning Policy Driver (Doc ID: TASED-4-1398), Home Visit Safety Checklist (below), Worker Safety Guidelines (Doc ID: TASED-4-1219), Support for Early Years Home Visits (Doc ID: TASED-4-1218) and the Risk Management Template (Doc ID: TASED-4-1781), which are locatable at http://www.education.tas.gov.au. While all home and non-school location visits should be respectful and mutually beneficial, the safety of Department of Education (DoE) personnel is a priority in all interventions where personnel enter private residences or meet with families on non-school premises. A home visit should not be conducted if there is a potential risk to DoE personnel safety. DoE personell include teachers, principles, support staff, aboriginal education workers, officers and early years liaison officers. DoE personnel conducting home visits should create a management plan that includes a risk assessment. This plan must be approved by the principle or relevant senior management staff prior to the visit. Should there be any uncertainty, DoE personnel may discuss the appropriateness of a home visit with the principle and/or relevant senior manager in the learning services.Home visits should be conducted during work hours and DoE personnel engaged in visits should keep their mobile phone switched on and remain only in the general living areas of the house. Phone contact should be made 30 minutes after expected return. DoE personnel must ensure adherence to the State Public Service code of conduct (link: http://www.ossc.tas.gov.au/cd/05-2009.pdf) and other relevant professional codes of ethics.Home based visits can assist to build rapport with families, inform an holistic assessement of educational/student welfare issues and identify the need for referral to other services. When planning a home visit with a parent or carer, DoE personnel should ascertain basic preliminary information about the meeting place. For exmaple, asking questions such as: Who will be home at the time of the visit? Do you have any pets? Will you be expecting any visitors at this time? will allow DoE personnel to evaluate the safety of the environment and the appropriateness of the scheduled time of the home visit.It is expected that DoE personnel be sensitive to available cultural background information in order to ensure home visits are mutually beneficial and respectful. Folllowing a home visit, if there is any indication that a young person may be at risk, child protection must be contacted

More power to you: electricity and people with physical disability

This report highlights the inequity experienced by people with disability when it comes to electricity use and pricing. It finds that people with physical disability face four layers of disadvantage: Low incomes mean people with disability struggle to afford electricity Disability brings additional general costs associated with wheelchairs and medicine Disability brings additional energy costs associated with heating, cooling, mobility, communication and life-saving equipment Disability can inhibit peoples capacity to adopt energy efficiency measures. The report includes action plans to guide government and industry on ways to reduce the disadvantage that exists in our energy markets. The report was released by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Physical Disability Council of NSW (PDCN)

The social media report: state of the media 2012

This report looks at the ever growing importance of social media to the world, in all facets of everyday life. Social media and social networking are no longer in their infancy. Since the emergence of the first social media networks some two decades ago, social media has continued to evolve and offer consumers around the world new and meaningful ways to engage with the people, events, and brands that matter to them. Now years later, social media is still growing rapidly and has become an integral part of our daily lives. Today, social networking is truly a global phenomenon

Heritage diplomacy and Australia's responses to a shifting landscape of international conservation

The economic and political shifts that together constitute contemporary globalisation are opening up new spaces for non-Western modes of heritage governance in the international arena. Perhaps most notable here is the so-called rise of Asia, wherein a growing number of countries are investing heavily in a range of institutions and initiatives designed to provide cultural sector aid across the region. These new forms of heritage diplomacy hold significant implications for the governance of heritage at the global level, such that they promise to unsettle those structures and norms which emerged from Europe and North America and stabilised internationally over the course of the twentieth century. The paper explores such changes and some of the ways the Australian heritage conservation sector might respond to this rapidly shifting landscape of heritage diplomacy.&nbsp

Why Australia should build its own submarines

This paper considers the design and build of Australia’s future submarine. Overview Submarines are a critical strategic capability for the uncertain times ahead. This paper considers the design and build of Australia’s future submarine including the possible acquisition of Japanese submarines by Australia to replace the Collins class and a hybrid approach of constructing the hull modules in Japan and assembling them here. It provides lessons learned from the Collins project. The paper concludes that Australia’s requirements and geography demand at least 12 large submarines. Trying to stretch an existing design is a high-risk proposal with limited capability to grow to meet future changes. An integrated design process based on a designer experienced in producing designs for foreign customers, working with the Australian builders and the ‘in service’ industries, is the low-risk path. The current focus on a Japanese-built solution is misdirected and a distraction. Peter Briggs says that building in Australia will be cheaper overall, provide better control of the project, guarantee quality, and achieve improved stealth from sensitive Australian and third-party research and development. Just as importantly, an Australian build program would develop Australia’s in-service and design support, encourage hi-tech Australian industry and boost employment by creating high-quality jobs

Analysis of the transaction costs and administration benefits associated with Behind The Label

Compliance with government regulations represents a cost to business operations. Of all compliance activities, compliance with taxation regulations and legislation constitutes a significant proportion of business expense. Estimates obtained in this study by Phillip O\u27Neill and Grahame O\u27Leary suggest that compliance with licensing and other arrangements of the proposed Ethical Clothing Trades Act account for less than five per cent of total compliance costs

The broadband-enabled innovation program: a working demonstration of the effective use of technology in community-based patient care

Illustrates the practical application of technology in community-based patient care through an overview of a project that the RDNS has trialled to provide remote medicines management. Summary Background Given the socioeconomic demands of the Australian society, both now and in the future, the Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) has identified the importance of exploring suitable commercial forms of telehealth technologies to enable robust and sustainable models of care for their clients. Objective The aim of this article is to illustrate the practical application of technology in community-based patient care through an overview of a project that the RDNS has trialled to provide remote medicines management. Discussion The results of this project demonstrate that technology can be successfully applied in community-based patient care to enhance the capacity of RDNS to deliver medications management for clients. It showed benefits in terms of increasing the efficiency of service delivery as well as staff and patient satisfaction. On the basis of this success, the program is being expanded and un-dergoing further evaluation to assess its impact. &nbsp