Family, Community and Disability

For almost two decades, community Landcare groups and supporting institutional bodies were the focus of agri-environmental policy in Australia. Despite the successes of Landcare, the programme faces challenges securing funding in an era of agri-environmental policy that preferences economic mechanisms, such as market-based instruments, for devolv ....

To determine if the addition of a video link to the existing phone connection, enabling patients admitted for mental and behavioural disorders to be seen by a centrally located psychiatrist or mental health clinician, would change the probability of these patients being transferred to the central mental health unit. The ability for the psychiatr ....

This report forms part of the Mineral Council of Australia’s Vision 2020 Project – a project with the objective of addressing capacity constraints to growth that have afflicted the minerals industry in the past and are likely to return and erode Australia’s market share and thus visit opportunity costs on the industry and the nation into th ....

The 2006 project reported on here focused on the ways in which communities find things that, at the local level, provide support to people with a mental illness. In understanding this, the project explored how communities are resilient and how resilience can be further developed, focusing on regional and rural communities and analy ....

Many single parents and people with disabilities who apply for social security payments after 1 July 2006 will be affected by the Government's Welfare to Work legislation, passed by the Parliament late last year. The changes include new activity requirements, greater investment in employment assistance services to help people get w ....

This report examines the results of the 2015 Regional Wellbeing Survey, focusing on wellbeing, liveability, and resilience. The Regional Wellbeing Survey was launched in 2013 to examine the wellbeing of people living in rural and regional areas of Australia. The survey is conducted annually, and measures the subjective wellbeing of people and co ....

There is a growing body of literature within social and cultural geography that explores notions of place, space, culture, race and identity. When health services in rural communities are explored using these notions, it can lead to multiple ways of understanding the cultural meanings inscribed within health services and how they c ....

The Wheatbelt Regional Plan is a five year strategic outlook for the Wheatbelt region that aims to inform decision makers about appropriate policy for the area and provide a focus for investment. The plan has been developed through extensive consultation as well as desk top research to ensure that the actions and strategies identified are based ....

The aim of this paper is to explore the lack of retention of allied health professionals in rural areas in Victoria, Australia.A structured telephone interview was used to elicit responses from 32 allied health professionals from south-west, central-west and north-east Victoria about their working experiences and reasons for resign ....

In Australia, diversification is being implemented by farming families and promoted by extension personnel to build economic resilience to maintain rural landscapes and communities in the face of increasing financial and environmental pressures. The purpose of this report is to gain a better understanding of why farming families di ....

The study aimed to capture the labour market transition experiences of Australian mothers who are balancing work and family responsibilities. It used qualitative and quantitative methods, involving in-depth interviews with 20 mothers and an analysis of quantitative data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Sur ....

A pilot research project into work and family balance, funded by Industrial Relations Victoria (IRV) and Regional Development Victoria (RDV), was undertaken in February 2006. The research focuses on four Victorian regional areas: Bendigo, Colac, Horsham and Latrobe City. It draws on an analysis of statistical data to identify major ....

Youth homelessness is widely acknowledged as an area of concern and it has received reasonable focus and research attention in metropolitan areas. However, the particular concerns and needs of rural youth have not generally been investigated or documented. This is despite many rural young people experiencing problems relating to th ....

In Central Australia, youth programs have addressed volatile substance misuse and, more recently, issues associated with crime rates, health and emotional wellbeing, cultural renewal, educational outcomes and 'socialising'. This paper outlines the current context of Aboriginal youth development programs in the Central Australian region and review ....