An exploration of the critical success factors associated with implementing a Public Health Plan in Local Governments within Western Australia

Public Health planning in local governments in Western Australia (WA) is a relatively new approach to addressing local health needs. The Western Australian Public Health Act came into effect in 2016. The Public Health Act 2016 encompasses a range of legislative requirements, some of which include the development of Local Public Health Plans. A range of roles within the local government workforce therefore are likely to require support to plan and implement Public Health Plans, which in the past have not directly been a component of their role. There is limited understanding and evidence of the barriers and enablers that contribute to effective implementation of Public Health Plans in the Western Australian context. The research aims to determine the critical success factors associated with implementing Public health Plans in local governments within Western Australia. This exploratory study encompassed a series of case studies from local governments in Western Australia that had implemented a Public Health Plan. Data was collected via in-depth interviews and document analysis. The results of this study articulate local government staff perspectives about the challenges and barriers faced when implementing a Public Health Plan. This study informs discussion around the training and resource requirements of staff in local governments in WA tasked with the development and implementation of Local Public Health Plans

Measuring, Mapping, Creating: A mixed method approach to sedentary behaviours and work-place design

This paper reports on the formation and success of an innovative interdisciplinary research team formed to tackle a current critical challenge in our social, cultural and built environments. The challenge—that of sedentary behaviour and its relationship to workplace design—is somewhat familiar to researchers in health promotion but is less so to architectural researchers. The research team has been especially choreographed to include a diverse membership with different skills and expertise ranging from highly scientific to highly creative practices. The team consists of experienced researchers from the fields of architecture, health promotion and recreation and includes early career researchers, doctoral and undergraduate students. The mixed methods employed in this study reinforce the value of engaging critical creative practices with scientific analyses. The success of the partnership is demonstrated by being awarded the first ‘Healthway’ grant to an area outside of Health Sciences at Curtin University. In undertaking the research and engaging in interdisciplinary practices it was found that all parties built understandings and capacities in unexpected and enriching ways. Tackling a real world challenge, such as this, through the full spectrum of scientific, critical and creative means results in multifaceted creative solutions and outputs with wide dissemination opportunities

Western Australian state election 2013

This paper provides a narrative account of the issues, dynamics and outcomes of the 2013 Western Australian (WA) state election. It draws extensively on newspaper and electronic media coverage of the election campaign , and information and data provided by the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) .The 2013 WA state general election — held on 9 March 2013 — was the first election to be held after legislation was proclaimed in 2011 to fix the date of state general election s as the second Saturday in March, every four years. Previously, the Legislative Council had fixed four year terms, but the Legislative Assembly was elected for up to four years commencing from the date of its first meeting following a general election.The Electoral Amendment and Constitution Act 2011 passed through the WA Parliament in 2011 and was proclaimed on 20 December 2011. It amended the Electoral Act 1907 and the Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899 to enable this fixed date for state general elections in Western Australia.New electoral boundaries applied for the 2013 WA election. After a review in 2011, boundaries were drawn in line with local changes in elector numbers.The last state general election was held on Saturday, 6 September 2008. The next state general election is due on Saturday, 11 March 2017

Local Government Efficiency in Western Australia

The State government of Western Australia is currently working through a significant program of local government reform that has as a core objective a reduction in the number of local councils. The perception that there are economies of scale in service delivery is a key reason behind the State government’s desire to see a reduction in the number of councils in Western Australia. The following article uses the technique of Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the technical and scale efficiency of councils in Western Australia. The average pure technical efficiency score for Western Australian councils was found to be 83 per cent, and the average scale efficiency score was found to be 94 per cent. This suggests that pure scale effects are not a major source of inefficiency. Detailed returns to scale analysis for the 73 councils where complete data was available revealed that 17 councils were operating at the optimal scale, 26 were operating below the optimal scale, and 30 were operating above the optimal scale.Data Envelope Analysis, Local Government, Efficiency, Productivity Analysis,

Investigation of effects of rehydration of cement in recycled crushed concrete road base

This research investigates the methods controlling shrinkage cracking of Recycled Crushed Concrete (RCC) and RCC blended with two recycled aggregate types, namely, brick & tile and ferricrete, for road base whilst retaining the inherent strength of the base material. The strength tests on the various blends indicated that with the addition of brick & tile or ferricrete to RCC, the resulting materials remained "stiff'. In conclusion, using recycled materials can enhance heavy duty pavement behaviour

Political actor or policy instrument? Governance challenges in Australian local government

This article examines the governance challenges facing Australian local government, which include lack of constitutional standing, intergovernmental dependencies, financial constraints and weak democratic standing. The historical context has shaped the nature and place of local government in the Australian federal polity and has contributed to the tensions created by an expansion of the roles and responsibilities of local government, especially in the provision of services, which is not matched by concomitant increases in financial capacity and local autonomy. These governance challenges are discussed with a view to establishing local government’s capacity for autonomous self-governance in the face of intergovernmental and fiscal dependencies, and the implications of this for local government reform trajectories. Author: Dr Nicola Brackertz, Swinburne University of Technolog

Advancing leadership

The Advancing Leadership Initiative as described in this discussion paper, is aimed at broadening leadership capacity for professionals working within Australian Local Government. It has been developed in response to the urgent need to nurture those mid-tier local government professionals who aspire to be better leaders and make more effective contributions to improved outcomes for their councils and communities. ‘Advancing Leadership’ aims to raise the capability, capacity and credibility of local government via a network of quality development programs delivered in a variety of modes and by a combination of providers

Biosecurity Council of Western Australia annual report 2019/20

During 2019/20 the Council continued to monitor biosecurity-related developments at national and State levels and proactively engaged with industry, community and government on biosecurity matters. The key areas of advice that were progressed during the year were: • biosecurity research and development • border biosecurity • the declaration of non-agricultural pests under the BAM Act; and • recognised biosecurity groups and declared pest rates.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/ar_bcwa/1003/thumbnail.jp

Taking shape: Implementing citizen-centric local digital government in Western Australia

Digital government, encompassing output-focused e-government (delivering services online) and outcomes-focused e-governance (developing ICT-enabled citizen interaction and participation) has been proposed as the next step in online interaction between government and its citizens. Local government is still coming to grips with providing a mechanism for implementation of both facets of digital government, particularly those of e-governance. The Local Digital Government Framework (LDGF) was developed in this study to incorporate the citizen-centric focus of e-governance, facilitating the move from the organisational, New Public Managementbased focus of e-government. The LDGF extends existing frameworks, providing continuity in the literature. It comprises a new conceptual model of Citizen-Centric Digital Government (CCDG) and a new ICTenabled management paradigm of Cybercentric Management (CM). Survey, website assessment and interview research strategies developed in this study, based on the LDGF, have validated its use as a benchmarking framework for the level of implementation of local digital government in Western Australia