Sustainable community services for older people

This paper explores the sustainability of non-government organisations (NGOs) providing services to older people in the local government authority area of North Sydney. It identifies several key issues that can be used to assess the level of programme sustainability in the community sector. We suggest that government support is essential for the ongoing financial sustainability of community aged care services and that community-based organisations need to address a number of issues that will impact on their long-term sustainability. A good working relationship with local and state government is crucial for organisations to access community grants, donations and subsidised premises. The recruitment, training and retention of volunteers were some of the most important issues identified. Further, these NGOs will need to develop strategic plans that factor in sustainability indicators to address rental, recycling, transport, renewable energy and water costs to ensure that they have the capacity to pay for these utilities in the future

Social Inclusion in North Sydney LGA

Social exclusion in the North Sydney local government area has increasingly become a matter for concern in the last decade. In 2005/2006 local government community service referrals indicate that there were growing numbers of people living on their own with little contact or engagement with community services and social activities. It was also suggested that older people at risk of social exclusion were living in poor housing conditions and experienced serious health issues. The ABS 2006 census data highlights that the North Sydney Council area has a significantly larger number of people living on their own (33%) compared to the rest of New South Wales (22%).This paper will present a number of different perspectives of social exclusion and consider why people in North Sydney become isolated. It will provide a brief analysis of existing programs designed to reduce social isolation and where they fit in the service system by using case studies of people who have been identified as at risk of becoming socially isolated in the North Sydney area. We will evaluate the case studies and provide several policy recommendation

The Greenway social housing estate: lessons in community development

Greenway is a self-contained estate for social housing tenants in the North Sydney local government area of Sydney, Australia. When Greenway opened in 1954 local newspapers reported on the modern, all electric units providing living opportunities for working people.  By 2007 social isolation and anti-social behaviour at Greenway were regularly reported by the local press.  The revitalisation of the Greenway estate occurred with the arrival of new residents who were keen to be actively involved in community development and stand for election to the Greenway Tenants Group (GTG).  North Sydney Council supports the GTG with grants and expertise when required and also conducts elections on behalf of the tenants group

American Outlaws in Australia

An aspect of the diffusion of American popular culture is examined in this research drawing upon national survey data. Measuring Australians’ knowledge of American and Australian outlaws, we found that Jesse James and Billy the Kid are better known in Australia than any of the local outlaws, or bushrangers, with the exception of Ned Kelly. While a relatively large proportion of Australians identified Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Jesse James and Billy the Kid as outlaws, few identified other Australian ‘outlaws’. Social background and political ideology is associated with greater knowledge of outlaws. Men, baby boomers and their predecessors, those born in Australia or the UK, those with a basic secondary level education and those identifying as left on the political spectrum are the most knowledgeable. This Australian study suggests that outlaws such as Jesse James and Billy the Kid are not just national folk heroes, but recognised globally. Promoted by visual and print media they have transcended their outlaw heritage to represent romanticised notions of freedom, loyalty and the ‘underdog’, regardless of the historical facts surrounding their lives and deaths

Homeownership, Shareownership And Coalition Policy

The rise in private shareownership has been a striking feature of Australia's political economy over the last decade. This paper compares its implications with those arising from the widespread homeownership, that occurred from the Menzies years onwards

Developing effective housing management strategies to address problems of anti-social behaviour

“Copyright 2010 AHURI Limited. Published version of the paper reproduced here with permission from the publisher.” This is the publisher's copryight version of this article, the original can be found at: http://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/position-papers/135This Positioning Paper introduces research being undertaken by the AHURI Southern Research Centre to develop effective housing management strategies to address problems of anti-social behaviour (ASB). The research is premised on the assumption that public housing has, in recent years, become the tenure of the least well-off (a process known as residualisation). Residualisation has created a set of challenges for housing managers. In particular, deinstitutionalisation policies in health care have meant that many individuals, who would have been provided with institutional care, are now housed by public landlords. Housing managers are, as a consequence, increasingly expected to respond to complaints and resolve disputes between neighbours

20th Century Accounts of American Citizenship

Accounts of citizenship by Presidents of the American Political Science Association (APSA) are examined through Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge. We use Marshall as a platform to reconceptualise the dynamics of Mannheim’s three incommensurable ‘thought styles’: one liberal; one conservative; and one dialectically social. We suggest on this basis that American political citizenship in the twentieth century entails three incompatible but concurrent ‘thought styles’, that involve a triple helix of political rationalities (see White and Donoghue 2003). The model is tested in a longitudinal study of ‘citizenship and democracy’ in regular social scientific usage. The empirical material comprises the presidential addresses to the American Political Science Association (APSA) published in the American Political Science Review (APSR) from 1906 to 1997. The findings suggest that the addresses by the presidents of the Political Science Association of America invoke intertwining rationalities that relate twentieth century citizenship to classical political discourses

American Outlaws in Australia

An aspect of the diffusion of American popular culture is examined in this research drawing upon national survey data. Measuring Australians’ knowledge of American and Australian outlaws, we found that Jesse James and Billy the Kid are better known in Australia than any of the local outlaws, or bushrangers, with the exception of Ned Kelly. While a relatively large proportion of Australians identified Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Jesse James and Billy the Kid as outlaws, few identified other Australian ‘outlaws’. Social background and political ideology is associated with greater knowledge of outlaws. Men, baby boomers and their predecessors, those born in Australia or the UK, those with a basic secondary level education and those identifying as left on the political spectrum are the most knowledgeable. This Australian study suggests that outlaws such as Jesse James and Billy the Kid are not just national folk heroes, but recognised globally. Promoted by visual and print media they have transcended their outlaw heritage to represent romanticised notions of freedom, loyalty and the ‘underdog’, regardless of the historical facts surrounding their lives and deaths

Variation in neurosurgical management of traumatic brain injury

Background: Neurosurgical management of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is challenging, with only low-quality evidence. We aimed to explore differences in neurosurgical strategies for TBI across Europe. Methods: A survey was sent to 68 centers participating in the Collaborative European Neurotrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study. The questionnaire contained 21 questions, including the decision when to operate (or not) on traumatic acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) and intracerebral hematoma (ICH), and when to perform a decompressive craniectomy (DC) in raised intracranial pressure (ICP). Results: The survey was completed by 68 centers (100%). On average, 10 neurosurgeons work in each trauma center. In all centers, a neurosurgeon was available within 30 min. Forty percent of responders reported a thickness or volume threshold for evacuation of an ASDH. Most responders (78%) decide on a primary DC in evacuating an ASDH during the operation, when swelling is present. For ICH, 3% would perform an evacuation directly to prevent secondary deterioration and 66% only in case of clinical deterioration. Most respondents (91%) reported to consider a DC for refractory high ICP. The reported cut-off ICP for DC in refractory high ICP, however, differed: 60% uses 25 mmHg, 18% 30 mmHg, and 17% 20 mmHg. Treatment strategies varied substantially between regions, specifically for the threshold for ASDH surgery and DC for refractory raised ICP. Also within center variation was present: 31% reported variation within the hospital for inserting an ICP monitor and 43% for evacuating mass lesions. Conclusion: Despite a homogeneous organization, considerable practice variation exists of neurosurgical strategies for TBI in Europe. These results provide an incentive for comparative effectiveness research to determine elements of effective neurosurgical care