Employees' Choice of Superannuation Plan: Effects of Risk Transfer Costs

Consistent with a worldwide trend away from defined benefits towards accumulation benefits, many Australian employers who traditionally offered their workers defined superannuation benefits are closing their defined benefit plans to new members and/or offering existing members the option of transferring to an accumulation plan. There has also been a push to allow members greater choice in terms of both funds and investments. Against this background, the Superannuation Scheme for Australian Universities (SSAU) made an offer to its members in 1998 to transfer from the defined benefit section to an accumulation-style plan. Their position was that the choice of fund for employees should be a matter for the employer and the employees at the workplace or their respective representative organizations. At the conclusion of the offer period only one-third of SSAU members had elected to transfer to the Investment Choice Plan (ICP). This study seeks to explain why the majority of SSAU members chose to remain in the defined benefit plan when offered the option of transferring to the accumulation-style ICP. We propose that ‘risk transfer costs’ explain the low ICP acceptance rate. Research findings show that both those who chose to stay in the DBP and those who elected to transfer to the ICP were prepared to accept tradeoffs in their choice. DBP members were prepared to forego a higher quantum of expected benefits for greater security of benefits expected in the DBP, whereas the ICP members were prepared to forego such security and accepted higher investment risk in return for a higher expected quantum and greater control over their benefits. Differences in financial proficiency and differences across academic disciplines confirm that risk transfer costs were a key reason for the majority of SSAU members rejecting the ICP choice. Important implications arising from this study include the need for greater transparency of the risk transfer costs involved in offers of benefit structure change, such as that offered by the SSAU, and the need to incorporate compensation for such costs into the offer. Cognizance also needs to be taken of the major risk transfer cost of becoming informed about superannuation and the consequences of such costs for the Government’s intentions to mandate superannuation fund choice for all Australian workers

Encounters in documentary practice: a narrative hermeneutic inquiry with undergraduate first-time filmmakers.

This study is situated within traditions of education research investigating undergraduate students’ experiences as first-time practitioners in media practices. The research examines the ways in which students encounter documentary practices as first-time filmmakers. I argue that documentary filmmaking should be seen as a complex creative practice characterised by ethical and practical dilemmas which practitioners face. Whilst such practice clearly involves production knowledge or techne, seen as the ability to produce a well-crafted artefact, this study focuses on the practical knowledge or phronesis that is demanded of documentary filmmakers. Drawing on the virtue practice perspective of Alasdair MacIntyre, the research illuminates the practical and ethical negotiations students make as they go about their documentary filmmaking practice. As the research participants are my own students, I adopt a relational Narrative Inquiry research design informed by the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Through one-to-one conversational interviews with participants and the writing of eight first person stories, I give narrative hermeneutic interpretations of these filmmaking experiences and reveal the way student filmmakers enact practical knowledge as they go about their projects. The research argues that such knowledge, often concealed or marginalised in views of documentary solely as production, misses the important ‘educative energy’ that lies at the heart of documentary as ethical practice. By illuminating the ‘encounters’ within individual experiences of filmmaking, the research shows the practical knowledge or ‘phronesis’ that is developed by these first-time filmmakers

The Influence of Data Resolution on Predicted Distribution and Estimates of Extent of Current Protection of Three 'Listed' Deep-Sea Habitats

Modelling approaches have the potential to significantly contribute to the spatial management of the deep-sea ecosystem in a cost effective manner. However, we currently have little understanding of the accuracy of such models, developed using limited data, of varying resolution. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of predictive models constructed using non-simulated (real world) data of different resolution. Predicted distribution maps for three deep-sea habitats were constructed using MaxEnt modelling methods using high resolution multibeam bathymetric data and associated terrain derived variables as predictors. Model performance was evaluated using repeated 75/25 training/test data partitions using AUC and threshold-dependent assessment methods. The overall extent and distribution of each habitat, and the percentage contained within an existing MPA network were quantified and compared to results from low resolution GEBCO models. Predicted spatial extent for scleractinian coral reef and Syringammina fragilissima aggregations decreased with an increase in model resolution, whereas Pheronema carpenteri total suitable area increased. Distinct differences in predicted habitat distribution were observed for all three habitats. Estimates of habitat extent contained within the MPA network all increased when modelled at fine scale. High resolution models performed better than low resolution models according to threshold-dependent evaluation. We recommend the use of high resolution multibeam bathymetry data over low resolution bathymetry data for use in modelling approaches. We do not recommend the use of predictive models to produce absolute values of habitat extent, but likely areas of suitable habitat. Assessments of MPA network effectiveness based on calculations of percentage area protection (policy driven conservation targets) from low resolution models are likely to be fit for purpose

Acceptance and commitment therapy with older adults and psychosocial adjustment to mild cognitive impairment

Purpose: The systematic review summarised the research investigating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with older adults. The empirical study explored psychosocial adjustment patterns to a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, a condition characterised by memory or thinking problems. Method: The review included 14 studies identified through database searches using predefined eligibility criteria. The empirical study employed a cross-sectional design. Thirty-five participants completed a short cognitive assessment and a series of questionnaires measuring perceptions of MCI, cognitive fusion (i.e. how caught up someone is with their thoughts), anxiety, depression and quality of life. Results: The review found initial evidence to suggest that ACT is an acceptable and effective intervention for reducing distress in older adults. The empirical study found that threatening perceptions of MCI were more strongly related to psychosocial adjustment outcomes than objective level of cognitive impairment. The study also found evidence to suggest that cognitive fusion is associated with adjustment outcomes in an MCI population. Conclusions: The systematic review highlights the limited, but promising evidence-base for the application of ACT with older adults. The review emphasises the need for further research with improved methodological rigor. Findings from the empirical study need to be replicated with a larger sample, however the results indicate that psychological interventions such like ACT could have utility for MCI patients with adjustment difficulties

A Review of Transport Practices and Mortalities in pigs in Australia

The closure of abattoirs in Australia dictates that pigs will be transported over greater distances resulting in increased costs and reduced margins for producers. Factors contributing to reduced margins could include increased freight costs, reduced scale weight as a result of reduced killing out percentage and condemnations (due to injuries) plus possible increased deaths in transport. More information is needed in Australia on transport practices and mortalities to address knowledge deficiencies in our understanding of the welfare implications of road transport

Visions of Quality Assurance in Online MBA Programs

Online MBA programs have undergone significant growth in recent years. However, quality assurance measures have not kept pace with this growth. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize aspects of quality assurance specific to Association to Advance College Schools of Business (AACSB)-accredited online MBA programs. The Delphi methodology was used to facilitate a group conversation among administrators, faculty members, and instructional designers around the topic of quality assurance for online Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs over the next 3-5 years. This paper reports the results of this study and how the results will help to direct the efforts of those involved in the delivery of a quality online MBA program

A matter of conscience? The democratic significance of \u27conscience votes\u27 in legislating bioethics in Australia

In Australia, members of a political party are expected to vote as a block on the instructions of their party. Occasionally a ‘conscience vote’ (or ‘free vote’) is allowed, which releases parliamentarians from the obligation to maintain party discipline and permits them to vote according to their ‘conscience.’ In recent years Australia has had a number of conscience votes in federal Parliament, many of which have focused on bioethical issues (e.g., euthanasia, abortion, RU486, and embryonic/stem cell research and cloning). This paper examines the use of conscience votes in six key case studies in these contested areas of policy-making, with particular attention to their implications for promoting democratic values and the significance of women’s Parliamentary participation

Culture contacts on the Loyalty Islands, 1841-1895

This thesis examines the interaction among and between Loyalty Islanders and Europeans from the 1840s, when Europeans first arrived in any numbers, to the end of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is placed upon the islanders' responses to European presence, and the consequences for the island communities. In more general terms, this study is an attempt to describe and examine in some detail on a local level aspects of culture contacts more often approached by historians on a wider basis, encompassing greater numbers of participants and larger geographic areas. The first chapter gives an outline of what is presently known about the more significant pre-contact developments on the Loyalty Islands and the socio-political structure existing at the time of early contact. Chapters Two to Seven discuss the activities of English Protestant missionaries, French Catholic missionaries, and French administrators in the context of the islanders' local politics. The way in which the islanders responded to and applied to their own hostilities the divergent religious and national interests among the European groups is the central theme of these chapters. Chapters Eight to Ten analyse other aspects of European contact, such as the socio-economic, consequences for the islanders of numerous European trading contacts, of their commercial dealings with Europeans, and of certain European ideas. Chapters Eleven to Thirteen investigate the effects of firearms in local fighting, European introduced diseases, and alcohol - influences which are popularly thought to have had a devastating effect upon Pacific island communities, particularly by causing serious depopulation