Budget reviews and commissions of audit in Australia

Examining the origins, conduct, conclusions of, and reactions to, previous budget reviews provides some indications about how the current National Commission of Audit might unfold. Introduction On 22 October 2013 the Abbott Government announced the appointment of a National Commission of Audit. In announcing the review, Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Cormann said ‘[i]t is …essential that the Commonwealth government live within its means and begin to pay down debt’. The review, headed by the president of the Business Council of Australia, Tony Shepherd AO, has broad terms of reference that are intended to allow it to ‘assess the role and scope of Government, as well as ensuring taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and in an efficient manner.\u27The other members of the Commission are the current head of the New South Wales Independent Regulatory and Pricing Tribunal, Dr Peter Boxall AO, former public servants Tony Cole AO and Robert Fisher AM, and former politician Amanda Vanstone. The appointment of the current Commission of Audit has not passed without criticism. For example, the Shadow Finance Minister, Tony Burke has described the review as a ‘Commission of Cuts,’ and declared that it was ‘an extraordinary outsourcing of the responsibilities of Government across to big business’. The current National Commission of Audit is but one in a long series of budget reviews that have been conducted by Commonwealth, state and territory governments in Australia. Many previous reviews have largely been forgotten by the general public and sometimes even by the governments that have commissioned them. Others provided broad recommendations that have assisted in providing coherence and purpose to what have usually been new administrations. Examining the origins, conduct and conclusions of, and reactions to previous reviews provides some indications about how the current National Commission of Audit might unfold. While every review is inevitably a product of its time and the political and economic circumstances in which it was commissioned, there are recurring themes that emerge from many of these exercises. Arguably, the general nature of the findings and recommendations of budget reviews can be broadly predicted, but how—and even if—governments respond to them cannot.  Examining past reviews may also show whether the current review has provided genuinely new approaches to managing and prioritising Commonwealth expenditure and service delivery, or has rehashed well-worn policy prescriptions posed repeatedly by prior reviews

Staff attitudes towards inpatients with borderline personality disorder

This article discusses the negative attitudes of some nursing staff towards inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), from the perspective of a third-year mental health nursing student. Factors to support underlying nurses’ attitudes are considered, including stigma associated with BPD, the relationship between BPD and self-harm, clients being viewed as manipulative and nurses’ lack of optimism for client recovery. Work pressures, poor communication skills and time restraints also contribute to the poor care being delivered by some mental health nurses. The authors suggest ways to improve staff attitudes, based on recommendations in the literature. Further education relating to BPD is discussed, as well as the need for increased supervision of mental health nurses and more time for effective communication between nurse, client and the multidisciplinary team

The Budget: a quick guide

The Budget is an opportunity for the Government to inform the Parliament, and therefore the broader public, about matters including: the expected performance of the international and Australian economy the Government’s economic and fiscal strategy specific policy decisions the Government has made. Budget Night is typically the most important annual policy statement by the Government

Restoring Soil Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa: Technical and Economic Issues

Land Economics/Use, Downloads July 2008-June 2009: 9,

Reversible adsorption on a random site surface

We examine the reversible adsorption of hard spheres on a random site surface in which the adsorption sites are uniformly and randomly distributed on a plane. Each site can be occupied by one solute provided that the nearest occupied site is at least one diameter away. We use a numerical method to obtain the adsorption isotherm, i.e. the number of adsorbed particles as a function of the bulk activity. The maximum coverage is obtained in the limit of infinite activity and is known exactly in the limits of low and high site density. An approximate theory for the adsorption isotherms, valid at low site density, is developed by using a cluster expansion of the grand canonical partition function. This requires as input the number of clusters of adsorption site of a given size. The theory is accurate for the entire range of activity as long as the site density is less than about 0.3 sites per particle area. We also discuss a connection between this model and the vertex cover problem.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Locative systems using mobile phones

In the age of mobile media, artists interested in storytelling and place have been exploring various technologies to enable their locative media work. The author traces the aesthetic and technical background to these works and discusses recent RMIT projects, which work with a solar powered Bluetooth server to deliver their poetic psychogeographic stories

A very luminous, highly extinguished, very fast nova - V1721 Aquilae

Fast novae are primarily located within the plane of the Galaxy, slow novae are found within its bulge. Because of high interstellar extinction along the line of sight many novae lying close to the plane are missed and only the brightest seen. One nova lying very close to the Galactic plane is V1721 Aquilae, discovered in outburst on 2008 September 22. Spectra obtained 2.69 days after outburst revealed very high expansion velocities (FWHM ~6450 km/s). In this paper we have used available pre- and post-outburst photometry and post-outburst spectroscopy to conclude that the object is a very fast, luminous, and highly extinguished A_V=11.6+/-0.2) nova system with an average ejection velocity of ~3400 km/s. Pre-outburst near-IR colours from 2MASS indicate that at quiescence the object is similar to many quiescent CNe and appears to have a main sequence/sub-giant secondary rather than a giant. Based on the speed of decline of the nova and its emission line profiles we hypothesise that the axis ratio of the nova ejecta is ~1.4 and that its inclination is such that the central binary accretion disc is face-on to the observer. The accretion disc's blue contribution to the system's near-IR quiescent colours may be significant. Simple models of the nova ejecta have been constructed using the morphological modelling code XS5, and the results support the above hypothesis. Spectral classification of this object has been difficult owing to low S/N levels and high extinction, which has eliminated all evidence of any He/N or FeII emission within the spectra. We suggest two possibilities for the nature of V1721 Aql: that it is a U Sco type RN with a sub-giant secondary or, less likely, that it is a highly energetic bright and fast classical nova with a main sequence secondary. Future monitoring of the object for possible RN episodes may be worthwhile, as would archival searches for previous outbursts.Comment: 9 pages 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Abstract has been slightly shortened from published versio

Discovery of a Second Nova Eruption of V2487 Ophiuchi

A directed search for previously-undiscovered nova eruptions was conducted in the astronomical plate archives at Harvard College Observatory and Sonneberg Observatory. We found that an eruption of V2487 Oph (Nova Oph 1998) occurred on 1900 June 20. V2487 Oph was previously classified as a classical nova, which we identified as a probable recurrent nova based on its large expansion velocities and the presence of high excitation lines in the outburst spectrum. The event was recorded on Harvard plate AM 505, at a B magnitude of 10.27 +/- 0.11, which is near peak. The outburst can only be seen on one plate, but the image has a characteristic dumbbell shape (caused by a double exposure) that is identical to the other star images on the plate, and thus is not a plate defect. We conclude that this is in fact a previously-undiscovered nova outburst of V2487 Oph, confirming our prediction that it is a recurrent nova. We also examine the discovery efficiency for eruptions of the system and conclude that a randomly-timed outburst has, on average, a 30% chance of being discovered in the past century. Using this, we deduce a recurrence time for V2487 Oph of approximately 18 years, which implies that the next eruption is expected around 2016.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, to be published in the Astronomical Journa

The Active Quiescence of HR Del (Nova Del 1967)

This new UV study of the ex-nova HR Del is based on all of the data obtained with the IUE satellite, and includes the important series of spectra taken in 1988 and 1992 that have not been analyzed so far. After the correction for the reddening (EB-V)=0.16), adopting a distance d =850 pc, we have derived a mean UV luminosity close to Luv ~ 56 Lsun, the highest value among classical novae in "quiescence". Also the "average" optical absolute magnitude Mv=+2.30 is indicative of a bright object. The UV continuum luminosity, the HeII 1640 A emission line luminosity, and the optical absolute magnitude all give a mass accretion rate Mdot very close to 1.4*10**(-7) Msun/yr, if one assumes that the luminosity of the old nova is due to a non-irradiated accretion disk. The continuum distribution is well fitted with either a black body of 33,900 K, or a power-law F(lambda) ~ lambda**(-2.20). We show that the "quiescent" optical magnitude at mv ~ 12 comes from the hot component and not from the companion star. Since most IUE observations correspond to the "quiescent" magnitude at mv ~ 12, the same as in the pre-eruption stage, we infer that the pre-nova, for at least 70 years prior to eruption, was also very bright at near the same Luv, Mv, Mdot and T values as derived in the present study for the ex-nova. The wind components in the P Cyg profiles of the CIV 1550 A and NV 1240 A resonance lines are strong and variable on short timescales, with vedge up to -5000 km/s, a remarkably high value. The phenomenology in the short-time variations of the wind indicates the presence of an inhomogeneous outflow. We discuss the nature of the strong UV continuum and wind features and the implications of the presence of a "bright" state a long time before and after outburst on our present knowledge of the pre-nova and post-nova behavior.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for Astronomy and Astrophysic

Metacognition as a Mental Health Support Strategy for Elementary Students with Anxiety

Mental health issues affect learning and performance in profound ways. Schools tend to lack a comprehensive approach to address the needs of students with anxiety, due to the limited training staff receive in mental health identification and support. As teachers work to address barriers to learning, schools must develop a system to fully address the growing needs of students with anxiety. Metacognition plays a significant role in clinical psychology and is used as a mental health intervention and support in clinical settings. The possibility of the application of a specific cognitive strategy to classroom settings in order to support elementary students with anxiety could impact how students are served appropriately for mental health issues within the school setting. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between metacognition and its use as a mental health support strategy for elementary school students suffering from anxiety. The study presents a critical analysis of metacognition studies in both the educational setting and the clinical setting, as well as examines teacher perceptional data about supporting students with anxiety within the classroom. Participants in the study consisted of a convenience sample from an ex post facto survey administered to school staff in a small suburban Washington school district. Results of the study showed a statistically significant relationship between the use of metacognition, self-regulation as a component of metacognition, and teacher confidence level in supporting students with anxiety. This study works to further advance the growing body of knowledge regarding the teacher’s role in the support of mental health needs of students. Though the level of cognitive monitoring in children with generalized anxiety orders is not fully understood, further research linking the strategy of metacognition for students suffering from anxiety as a possible school intervention could aid the field of education in serving the social, emotional and behavioral development of students with anxiety