A SHORT COMMENTARY ON TIMOTHY M. TIPPINS AND JEFFREY P. WITTMANN'S "EMPIRICAL AND ETHICAL PROBLEMS WITH CUSTODY RECOMMENDATIONS

In this commentary, the call for clinical humility and judicial vigilance in custody recommendations is confirmed as valid and the Australian experience, where the child custody report writer has for some years been permitted to express an opinion on the ultimate issue, is considered. The inherent risks are briefly discussed, and the question of who of the judge and the social scientist might be better placed to decide the exquisitely difficult children's issues after family breakdown is touched upon. It suggests that a combination of the expert's opinion and judicial fact finding probably produces a result that is as good as it gets. But a greater danger is highlighted. It is the impact of the adversary system, and whether it is suitable in any event to these sensitive court decisions.     

The importance of industry compliance in improving advertising self‐regulatory processes

As the most visible element of the marketing communications mix, advertising has had its critics and, given the choice, developed countries usually select a self‐regulatory approach to deal with unacceptable advertising. The recent breakdown of one of the world's longest established advertising self‐regulatory programmes in Australia has reopened the 20‐year old debate that has taken place in the leading academic and business journals concerned with enhancing understanding of such regulatory systems. This paper focuses on the activity of code enforcement in improving the effectiveness of advertising self‐regulatory frameworks. The key findings of an Australian study, where its scheme has recently failed, are presented and discussed in this context and a key concept is developed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

区际民事案件移送制度初探

区际民事案件移送制度的作用主要是为了节约司法资源、减低司法成本、提高司法效率、保证司法公正、缓和区际管辖权冲突、避免当事人挑选法院、保护当事人合法的诉讼权益和促进区际司法协助等。美国和澳大利亚区际民事案件移送制度的立法与实践对我国具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Does Size Still Matter? An Empirical Analysis of the Effectiveness of Victorian Local Authorities

Efficiency approaches to the question of whether population size matters to optimal local government have proved largely inconclusive. However, recent exploratory empirical work employing an effectiveness approach – as proxied by citizen satisfaction survey data – offers a promising way forward. The present paper seeks to build upon an earlier cross-sectional analysis of Victorian local government by employing longitudinal data over a three-year period – 2008 to 2010 – for Victorian local authorities. The greater depth of data confirmed the positive associations with population density but suggests that negative linear relationships dominate over parabolic associations for population size. This result underlines the need for the collection of more local government citizen satisfaction data by Australian local government systems, given its potentially fruitful application in tackling contentious questions in contemporary local government policy debates.     

Sustainability reporting by Australian local government authorities

This qualitative study investigates the Western Australian (WA) local government authorities’ sustainability reporting practices, in the absence of mandatory reporting guidelines, through content analysis of their websites. Calculations from comparing the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s disclosures with those of 140 local council websites were used to develop a sustainability reporting disclosure index. The findings indicate that sustainability reporting remains moderately practised by local government authorities, despite stakeholder demand for proactive disclosures. The discourse analysis shows that Western Australia’s strategic planning for sustainable development is the key force propelling councils towards sustainability reporting practices. The findings also suggest that WA local government authorities are increasing sustainability disclosures to legitimate their social and environmental initiatives. The findings have policy implications for regulators and/or government in Western Australia, with practical implications for local council authorities and/or managers in developing awareness of sustainable operations. The study also contributes to local government authorities’ growing awareness of sustainable service operations.     

A Study of Transnational Communication Among Iranian Migrant Women in Australia

Through the analysis of 25 interviews with Iranian migrant women in Australia, this study shows how living in different communicative environments can affect transnational communication practices. The case of these Iranian transnational families indicates that the digital divide, in terms of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and communication capacity, may affect the technological quality of ICT-mediated communication. However, the digital divide does not significantly affect the frequency of communication among these families. The findings illustrate that the Iranian migrants in Australia and their family members overseas developed innovative communication practices and went to great lengths to maintain “ordinary” family interactions across national borders.     

Oceanic Opportunities

正President Xi deepens both political and economic ties with Australia,New Zealand and Fiji Chinese President Xi Jinping paid state visits to three South Pacific countries—Australia,New Zealand and Fiji—from November 16 to 23.During his trip,China and Australia not only concluded bilateral free trade agreement(FTA)talks but also decided to     

‘Policies that Fail – Words that Succeed’: The Politics of Accessible Housing in Australia

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate over the efficacy of voluntary agreements versus regulation, and uses a study of the Livable Housing Design initiative to deliver voluntarily new‐built accessible housing in Australia. We first probe why regulation has become such a significant component of government policy making, and then ask why political campaigns focus on this issue as a strategy for reform. We refer to research by disability activists, which claims that the voluntary approach has failed and regulation is necessary. Amongst our conclusions are: (1) that the disjuncture between policy rhetoric and outcome can be attributed to the power of lobbyists, reliance on the private market to address inequality, and antipathy to regulatory enforcement; and (2) that there is a need for greater interrogation of the language deployed in policy texts to identify whether they are crafted to maintain the government's legitimacy or to deliver purposeful change.     

Food security or commercial business? Gulf State investments in Australian agriculture

Worldwide investments in agricultural land have gained much attention in recent years, resulting in renewed awareness of land as being a scarce and finite resource. This paper investigates a case of South-to-North land deals, namely investments from the Arab Gulf targeting agricultural land in Australia. For the Arab Gulf States that highly depend on external food supplies, investment abroad is one strategy to guarantee future food security. At the same time, leading Australian political and economic representatives have been eager to attract investments from the Gulf. Increasing foreign investment in Australian land has, however, provoked a vivid public debate in Australia. Concepts of foreign direct investment and its role are currently renegotiated on the federal level with regard to Australia's own food security, the ‘national interest’ and the redefinition of ‘Australian agricultural land’. While these concerns also play out on the local level, investments have to be seen within the wider context of Australian ruralities. The paper reveals how food security and commercial and financial interests intersect and become blurred within current transformations of the global agri-food system.     

World Leaders' Gatherings: From APEC to G20

正From Beijing to Naypyitaw and then Brisbane,world leaders had a tight schedule from November 7 to 16 that entailed attending several major international conferences in the Asia-Pacific region.On the global stage,Chinese leaders announced the country’s new proposals on international governance.