Young children have social worries too: validation of a brief parent report measure of social worries in children aged 4–8 years

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Worries Anxiety Index for Young children (SWAIY), adapted from the Social Worries Questionnaire—Parent version (SWQ-P; Spence, 1995), as a measure of social anxiety in young children. 169 parents of children aged four to eight years from a community sample completed the SWAIY and a standardized measure of anxiety; the SWAIY was completed again two weeks later. Parents deemed the items appropriate and relevant to children of this age. The SWAIY demonstrated excellent ( > 0.80) internal consistency and a one-factor model. Test-retest reliability was strong (r = 0.87) and evidence of convergent validity (r > .50) was found. The study provides initial evidence for the validation of SWAIY as a measure of social anxiety in children aged four to eight years old. This questionnaire is ideal for investigating social anxiety over early childhood and the relationship between early social worries and later anxiety disorders

Universal communications in a broadband world

Do Australians have a right to access a telecommunications service? There are at least two schools of thought: the view that sees universal service as a basic right of citizens, essential for membership in the community, as against the view that sees universal service as an economic good to be delivered in the market, where the paramount questions are efficiency and the distribution of economic welfare

From public service to services to the public: inventing telecommunications consumers

The paper opens with the PMG as provider of a service to the public. Against the backdrop of a more competitive regime, consumer participation in telecommunications develops with the establishment of TACC and CTN, and later, funding for consumer representation by the Government. With two issues the consumer contracts code and mobile premium services issue, the strains on industry self-regulation and existing representations structures are evident. With the establishment of a new peak consumer body ACCAN, and renewed support from Government and the regulator, new understandings of the limits of industry self-regulation may be reached

From public service to services to the public: inventing telecommunications consumers

The paper opens with the PMG as provider of a service to the public. Against the backdrop of a more competitive regime, consumer participation in telecommunications develops with the establishment of TACC and CTN, and later, funding for consumer representation by the Government. With two issues the consumer contracts code and mobile premium services issue, the strains on industry self-regulation and existing representations structures are evident. With the establishment of a new peak consumer body ACCAN, and renewed support from Government and the regulator, new understandings of the limits of industry self-regulation may be reached. Copyright 2009 Holly Raiche. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher

The Australian Telecommunications Access Regime - ten years on

When open competition was introduced through the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth), Part XIB The Telecommunications Industry: Anti-Competitive Conduct and Record-Keeping rules and Part XIC Telecommunications Access Regime were added to the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) to underpin open competition. In moving from the former Government owned monopoly providers to open competition, new competitors to the former monopolist Telecom (now Telstra) had to be able to interconnect to Telstras infrastructure to be able to provide competing services. The Governments aim was that, in the first instance, interconnection arrangements would be commercially negotiated. Failing successful negotiations, however, the Access Regime provided that the bottleneck facilities could be declared. Once a service is declared, the provider of the declared service has specific obligations to provide interconnection on specified terms, with the possibility that the ACCC can arbitrate disputes on access to declared services. Ten years later, the effectiveness of the Access Regime is being questioned, by the competition regulator, by Telstra and by Telstras competitors.The purpose of this paper is to review the effectiveness of the Access Regime and consider whether it can be further amended to improve its effectiveness (there have been significant amendments to the Access Regime in 1999, 2002 and 2005) or whether other measures to ensure a competitive environment in telecommunications should be considered.The research for this paper has been an examination of written material, including significant reports on competition in telecommunications by the Productivity Commission and by ACCC reports on competition in the industry. It has also examined the many ACCC inquiries into Access Regime issues, submissions to those inquiries and public statements made by industry participants

The policy context

Not available