Second action plan 2013-2016 – moving ahead – of the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010-2022

All Australian governments are strongly committed to reducing the alarming rates of violence against women and their children in this country. Commonwealth, state and territory governments are working together, with the community to implement the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 (the National Plan). The National Plan is a 12-year strategy with a vision that Australian women and their children live free from violence in safe communities. This is the Second Action Plan of the National Plan. It runs from 2013 to 2016 and contains 26 practical actions that all governments agree are critical if we are to move ahead in improving women’s safety. The First Action Plan laid a strong foundation for the changes we want to see in the future by establishing essential national infrastructure and innovative services. The Second Action Plan will build on this by increasing community involvement in actions that will prevent the violent crimes of domestic and family violence and sexual assault. It will focus on women and communities that have diverse experiences of violence, on strengthening and integrating services and systems, and on improving responses to perpetrators across the country. Governments will also continue to work together to build and improve the evidence base around violence against women and their children, and to bring together and disseminate research that can inform policy and practice. Reducing violence against women and their children is a community issue - it needs effort from us all. Living free from violence is everyone’s right, and reducing violence is everyone’s responsibility.&nbsp

Work-Life Balance and the Economics of Workplace Flexibility

[Excerpt] American society has changed dramatically over the past half century. Women have entered the labor force in growing numbers and families have increasingly relied on more than one earner to make ends meet. And yet, children still need to be taken to the doctor and elderly parents still need care. Moreover, more adults older than 25 are attending school. Because these changes have caused many workers to face conflicts between their work and their personal lives, they also inspire a need and desire for more flexibility in the workplace. Flexible workplace arrangements can be in terms of when one works, where one works, or how much one works (including time off after childbirth or other life events). They include a variety of arrangements such as job sharing, phased retirement of older workers, and telecommuting, that allow workers to continue making productive contributions to the workforce while also attending to family and other responsibilities. This report presents an economic perspective on flexible workplace policies and practices. The first section reports some of the changes in the U.S. workforce that have increased the need for flexibility in the workplace. • Women comprise nearly one-half of the labor force; in nearly one-half of households all adults are working. • In 2008, approximately 43.5 million Americans served as unpaid caregivers to a family member over the age of 50. Nearly one-fifth of employed people were caregivers who provided care to a person over age 50. • The increasing demand for analytical and interactive skills—those largely obtained through post-secondary education—means it is all the more important and common for individuals to pursue additional education while also working. The second section examines the current state of flexible work arrangements and reports that many employers have adapted to the changing realities of American workers. • Overall, over one-half of employers report allowing at least some workers to periodically change their starting and quitting times. However, less than one-third of full-time workers report having flexible work hours, and only 39 percent of part-time workers do. This discrepancy between the employer and employee reports may be due to differences in data collection or because more employers would be willing to accommodate the needs of individual workers but these workers are not aware of it. • Less-skilled workers have less workplace flexibility in terms of the scheduling of when they work than do more highly-skilled workers. • Flexibility in where to work is less common: only about 15 percent of workers report working from home at least once per week. • Finally, most employers offer at least some workers the ability to return to work gradually after a major life event such as the birth or adoption of a child, although job sharing appears less widespread. The report concludes with a discussion of the economic benefits of workplace flexibility arrangements. • Almost one-third of firms cite costs or limited funds as obstacles to implementing workplace flexibility arrangements. However, the benefits of adopting such management practices can outweigh the costs by reducing absenteeism, lowering turnover, improving the health of workers, and increasing productivity. • The costs and benefits of adopting flexible arrangements differ across industries and employers of different sizes. • Because many employers may not have accurate information about the costs and benefits of workplace flexibility practices and because some of the benefits may extend beyond the individual employer and its workers, wider adoption of such policies and practices may well have benefits to more firms and workers, and for the U.S. economy as a whole. • A factor hindering a deeper understanding of the benefits and costs of flexibility is a lack of data on the prevalence of workplace flexibility arrangements, and more research is needed on the mechanisms through which flexibility influences workers’ job satisfaction and firm profits to help policy makers and managers alike

The national plan to reduce violence against women and their children 2010 – 2022

Released in 2011, this 12-year national plan was an COAG initiative supported by Commonwealth, state and territory governments working with the community and includeds the first three-year action plan. Over 12 years the National Plan aims to achieve: A significant and sustained reduction in violence against women and their children. The National Plan focuses on the two main types of violent crimes that have a major impact on women in Australia–domestic and family violence and sexual assault. Research shows there is a strong link between violence against women and their children and how people view the roles of women and men. The National Plan focuses on stopping violence before it happens in the first place, supporting women who have experienced violence, stopping men from committing violence, and building the evidence base so that we learn more about ‘what works’ in reducing domestic and family violence and sexual assault. These changes take time, which is why we need a long-term plan. Each of the four Action Plans build on each other over 12 years, and are designed so that we can look back at what has been achieved and refocus on what actions will make the most difference in the future

Building on the value of Victoria’s community sector

Building on the value of Victoria’s community sector goes beyond the sector’s economic contribution. It discusses the value of all Victoria’s community sector organisations, including those operating with registered charitable status and those operating without. The paper also outlines broader aspects of the community sector’s value than just the economic. These include the sector’s unique ability to amplify the voice of people facing disadvantage and build relationships with those who most need support, its diversity, its innovative and collaborative nature, its focus on prevention and early intervention, and its ability to build community cohesion and wellbeing. While outlining these, Building on the value of Victoria’s community sector also outlines ways in which this value can be further built on, to generate even more benefit for people and communities facing disadvantage, and Victoria as a whole

Strengthening the state: a snapshot of Victoria’s community sector charities

Victoria’s community sector organisations make a significant contribution to strengthening the state’s economy and society. They generate high levels of economic activity, employment and volunteer support. They deliver positive service and advocacy programs that help people overcome disadvantage and build brighter futures. Through doing this, they help build strong, cohesive self-reliant communities. This report aims to provide a snapshot of community sector organisations operating as registered charities in Victoria. These charities form a sizeable part of the Victorian community sector, aiming primarily to support people to overcome disadvantage and poverty.  Key findings of this report include that, at the close of the 2012–13 financial year: There were 2,672 community sector charities operating in Victoria. Community sector charities employed almost 97,000 Victorians, equating to more than 3% of the Victorian workforce and employing more people than some other key industries, including the electricity, gas, water and waste services (34,900), rental, hiring and real estate services (47,300), information, media and telecommunications (64,000), arts and recreation services (69,600) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (82,200) industries. With Victoria’s unemployment and youth unemployment rates at their highest levels in decades, it is important to recognise the community sector as a key employer and crucial to tackling unemployment in this state. Approximately $13 billion in income was generated by Victorian community sector charities. In future years the ACNC is set to collect financial data in its AIS, which will enable a closer estimate to be made. The value of community sector charities to Victoria’s society and economy is leveraged further by a significant volunteer workforce. Almost 135,000 people were volunteering through community sector charities, on top of the contribution of almost 97,000 paid workers in the sector. Some sub-sectors of the Victorian charities community sector were almost completely reliant on volunteers to deliver services. The majority of community sector charities support multiple beneficiary groups, reflecting the diversity of multiple and complex needs within the community.  The full reporting burden on Victorian community sector charities is difficult to assess from the data analysed in this report, and warrants further research. VCOSS advocates that reporting obligation data become mandatory in future AIS reporting, to enable a complete picture of the burden of reporting obligations to be obtained

Consideration of the novel psychoactive substances (‘legal highs’)

Original report can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ Crown Copyright, the Advisory Council/ The Home Office. This work is published under an open government license.The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) committed to providing the Government with advice on novel psychoactive substances (often colloquially termed „legal highs‟). This is a relatively recent phenomenon, exemplified by the drug known as mephedrone. The actions by the ACMD and subsequently by the Government on this drug have gone some way to reducing the potential harms caused by this substance. However, there is more that can be done. The advent of novel psychoactive substances has changed the face of the drug scene remarkably and with rapidity. The range of substances now available, their lack of consistency and the potential harms users are exposed to are now complex and multi-faceted. In light of this we have pleasure in enclosing the Council‟s report. This report provides advice on high level issues that ACMD believe the Government should give careful consideration to in addressing legally available psychoactive substances. The report does not purport to provide a single solution to the problem, but rather a number of practicable options that, in combination, seek to tackle the on-going sale, supply and consequential harms. It is important that the Government recognises that each and every department, that has a locus of responsibility in drug issues should both take personal ownership and share collective responsibility of the recommendations in this report. Tackling the issues that are raised by novel psychoactive substances requires a co-ordination of efforts that can only be realised by a strategic and co-operative approach. The ACMD has identified lead departments for each of the recommendations that should assist and guide the Government in this aim. The ACMD provides key recommendations in this report on legislation, public health, education and research. The key legislative measures are primarily concerned with tightening the enforcement of existing legislation and moving the responsibility for the supply of novel psychoactive substances to the vendors, such that the burden of proof falls to them. The ACMD believe it is for vendors to prove that such substances are neither analogues of current medicines nor products harmful to consumers in their intended form. The ACMD also makes key recommendations around public awareness from local to international initiatives.Final Published versio

Functional Inequalities: New Perspectives and New Applications

This book is not meant to be another compendium of select inequalities, nor does it claim to contain the latest or the slickest ways of proving them. This project is rather an attempt at describing how most functional inequalities are not merely the byproduct of ingenious guess work by a few wizards among us, but are often manifestations of certain natural mathematical structures and physical phenomena. Our main goal here is to show how this point of view leads to "systematic" approaches for not just proving the most basic functional inequalities, but also for understanding and improving them, and for devising new ones - sometimes at will, and often on demand.Comment: 17 pages; contact Nassif Ghoussoub (nassif @ math.ubc.ca) for a pre-publication pdf cop

Why EU asylum standards exceed the lowest common denominator: the role of regulatory expertise in EU decision-making

While scholars traditionally expected EU policy-making in the area of asylum to produce lowest common denominator standards, recent studies on the first phase of the Common European Asylum System have observed higher asylum standards in some instances. This article aims at explaining this divergence. Drawing on concepts of regulatory expertise and ‘misfit’, it argues that the observed variation in policy output can be explained by the dominance of a few (Northern) member states which were highly successful in inserting their positions in the core EU directives. Government effectiveness and exposure to the phenomenon entailing regulatory expertise provide a powerful explanation for member states being effective policy-shapers. Characterized by low levels of government effectiveness and exposure in the asylum area, Southern European countries were, on the contrary, rather passive during the negotiations and barely left any mark on the EU directives

A Case for an Online Educational Administrator Practicum Experience

The principal and superintendent practicum experiences have traditionally been entirely face-to-face (f2f) between university professors, interns and site mentors – typically a campus or district administrator (Figure 1). Advancements in technology combined with the exponential growth of online graduate programs give rise to additional incorporation of technology into the practicum experience

Overview of International Household Panel Studies. Statement of the German Council of Science and Humanities on the Status and Future Development of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). November 13, 2009. Appendix 6

In July 2007, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) requested that the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat) develop recommendations on improving Germany’s scientific infrastructure in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Before the publication of the responsible working group’s report, as a first step, the German Council of Science and Humanities called upon its evaluation committee to conduct an appraisal of the current status and future prospects of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP). This Panel is an integral part of Germany’s scientific infrastructure. Accordingly, over the course of 2009, the German Council of Science and Humanities evaluated the SOEP. This assessment, which was released in November 2009 as a report containing recommendations (see http://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/texte/9503-09.pdf), was partly based on an international comparison of household panel studies. The German Council for Social and Economic Data (RatSWD) believes that the overview of these international household panel studies produced by the German Council of Science and Humanities is of such a high standard that it is deserving of being published as a document in itself. The RatSWD is thus delighted that the German Council of Science and Humanities has agreed to allow publication of this overview as part of the RatSWD Working Paper Series.