2013

The core of life on Earth is the daily requirement of food for people and all living organisms in webs of life, or ecosystems. These natural, self-organising ecosystems, which have provided food for millennia, are increasingly being taken apart - by ecological destruction and changing climates caused by ever increasing world population; industria ....

Regional Australia is a frequent victim of natural disasters yet there is limited information about how communities recover and whether we have the right policies in place to help them get back on their feet and looking to the future. This collection of case studies looks at the experiences of four different communities and their recovery process ....

The paper explores the impact of geographical remoteness and area-level socioeconomic disadvantage on colorectal cancer (CRC) survival. Report LocationClick here to view the full publication ....

A key policy issue in many countries is the maldistribution of doctors across geographic areas, which has important effects on equity of access and health care costs. Many government programs and incentive schemes have been established to encourage doctors to practise in rural areas. However, there is little robust evidence of the effectiveness o ....

Over the next five years, 20th-century manufacturing stalwarts like the United States, Germany and Japan will be challenged to maintain their competitive edge to emerging nations such as China, India and Brazil, according to the 2013 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index report from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited's (DTTL) Global Manufactur ....

This paper outlines first why good governance for northern Australia is important to the nation. It details how things actually function in a pan-tropical sense, in northern Western Australia (WA), the Northern Territory (NT) and northern Queensland, and at regional and local scales. It then looks at how the north has been governed through the le ....

All Australian governments are accountable for the ongoing poor access to quality health care services in rural Australia, delegates at Australia's largest multidisciplinary rural health conference heard last month. Working conditions including incomes, job stability, workplace safety, education, housing and schooling were factors that contribute ....

Over recent years, regional Western Australia has faced increased challenges associated with ensuring the availability of a skilled and flexible workforce. It has become increasingly difficult to secure the labour required that would enable regions to meet their full economic and social potential due to the combination(s) of: • rapid economic g ....

ACIL Allen Consulting (ACIL Allen) was commissioned by Regional Development Australia (RDA) ACT to develop a skills and training gaps strategy for the Greater Capital Region based on the results of several skills audit reports. ACIL Allen has synthesised the findings of the separate skills audits in order to develop a comprehensive profile of sk ....

Within the context of contemporary concerns about ecological degradation and debates about water use for irrigation, this article examines how and why commercial rice growing began in the Murrumbidgee River region, New South Wales. It focuses on the crop's establishment and rapid expansion from approximately 1900 to 1960 and concentrates on three ....

Introduction: Understanding health inequity is necessary for addressing the disparities in health outcomes in many populations, including the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This report investigates the links between Indigenous health outcomes and socioeconomic disadvantage in the Northern Territory of Australia (NT) ....

This report has been undertaken in response to a request from the Mid North Coast Local Health District. The Health Care and Social Assistance sector is now the largest employing sector in  Australia and in the Mid North Coast region. The sector also makes significant contributions to the Gross Regional Product of the Mid North Co ....

Policy directives in agriculture have long been concerned with encouraging low producing farmers to retire - with limited success. From a healthy ageing perspective, the choice to remain on the farm into advancing years could appear a desirable policy outcome. Yet as farmers age, many with little prospect of inter-generational succession, there i ....

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the key dimensions of access and their significance for the provision of primary health care and a framework that assists policy-makers to evaluate how well policy targets the dimensions of access. Access to health care can be conceptualised as the potential ease with which consumers can obtain health ....