Suchergebnisse

Objective The Indigenous Burden of Disease (IBoD) report is the most comprehensive assessment of Indigenous disease burden in Australia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential effect of the IBoD report on Australian Indigenous health policy, service expenditure and research funding. Findings have significance for understanding factors that may influence Indigenous health policy. Methods The potential effect of the IBoD report was considered by: (1) conducting a text search of pertinent documents published by the federal government, Council of Australian Governments and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) and observing the quantity and quality of references to IBoD; (2) examining data on government Indigenous healthcare expenditure for trends consistent with the findings and policy implications of the IBoD report; and (3) examining NHMRC Indigenous grant allocation trends consistent with the findings and policy implications of the IBoD report. Results Of 110 government and NHMRC documents found, IBoD was cited in 27. Immediately after publication of the IBoD report, federal and state governments increased Indigenous health spending (relative to non-Indigenous), notably for community health and public health at the state level. Expenditure on Indigenous hospital separations for chronic diseases also increased. These changes are broadly consistent with the findings of the IBoD report on the significance of chronic disease and the need to address certain risk factors. However, there is no evidence that such changes had a causal connection with the IBoD study. After publication of the IBoD report, changes in NHMRC Indigenous research funding showed little consistency with the findings of the IBoD report. Conclusions The present study found only indirect and inconsistent correlational evidence of the potential influence of the IBoD report on Indigenous health expenditure and research funding. Further assessment of the potential influence of the IBoD report on ...

This article discusses the foreign policy of Australia's new government, in particular the extent to which its policies, as is widely suggested, represent a sharp break with the past. Australia long accepted the role of 'junior partner', first of Britain, then of the United States. The change of government in December 1972 coincides with changes in the international system which necessitate a basic reassessment. It is argued that in the fields of national security policy and regional cooperation these have been changes of emphasis rather than of fundamental priorities, whereas new themes have been in troduced on racial and colonial issues and in economic diplomacy. The changes are overdue and offer some prospect of a more relevant and constructive Australian role in the emerging international system.

The contributors to this book, Information Technology and Indigenous Communities, are working at the cutting edge of their cultural, geographic and disciplinary fields. The sheer innovation, as well as the global reach of Australia's Indigenous communities working with these new technologies, becomes clear in each of these chapters. That information technology and communication is now a major industry in Indigenous communities across Australia is evident and demands a comprehensive response from governments and service providers. - Foreword ; Chpt. 1: A study of mobile technology in a Cape York community. Laurel Evelyn Dyson and Fiona Brady. Chpt. 2: The Aboriginal invention of broadband: how Yarnangu are using ICTs in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of Western Australia. Daniel Featherstone. Chpt. 3: The acquisition of media as cultural practice. Inge Kral. Chjpt. 4: Training for inclusion. Cat Kutay and Kaye Mundine. Chpt. 5: Culture online. Cat Kutay and Richard Green. Chpt. 6: We have a Dreaming. Barbara Glowczewski. Chpt. 7: Teaching from Country. Michael Christie, Yiniya Guyula, Dhangal Gurruwiwi and John Greatorex. Chpt. 8: Reversing the gaze. Sandy O'Sullivan. Chpt. 9: The Ara Itititja Project. Sally Anga Scales, Julia Burke, John Dallwitz, Susan Lowish and Douglas Mann. Chpt. 10: A digital community project for the recuperation, activitation and emergence of Victorian Koorie knowledge, culture and identity. Sharon Huebner. Chpt. 11: Digitial archives and discoverability. Michael Cawthorn and Hart Cohen. Chpt. 12: Discovering the earliest shadows. Joseph Gumbala, Aaron Corn and Julia Mant. Chpt. 13: Photographic legacies: Missionaries and anthropologists in Arnhem Land. Julia Mant. Chpt. 14: Trove: a new information destination for all Australians. Debbie Campbell. Chpt. 15: Crashes alone the superhighway. Robyn Sloggett and Lyndon Ormond-Parker. Chpt. 16: Building the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia: five years on. Aaron Corn ; Developed from papers presented at the 2009 AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference and the 2010 symposium Information Technologies and Indigenous Communities

It is gradually being recognised by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians that getting contemporary Indigenous governance right is fundamental to improving Indigenous well-being and generating sustained socioeconomic development. This collection of papers examines the dilemmas and challenges involved in the Indigenous struggle for the development and recognition of systems of governance that they recognise as both legitimate and effective. The authors highlight the nature of the contestation and negotiation between Australian governments, their agents, and Indigenous groups over the appropriateness of different governance processes, values and practices, and over the application of related policy, institutional and funding frameworks within Indigenous affairs. The long-term, comparative study reported in this monograph has been national in coverage, and community and regional in focus. It has pulled together a multidisciplinary team to work with partner communities and organisations to investigate Indigenous governance arrangements–the processes, structures, scales, institutions, leadership, powers, capacities, and cultural foundations–across rural, remote and urban settings.

This ethnographic case study research demonstrates that Indigenous and non-Indigenous governance systems are intercultural in respect to issues of power, authority, institutions and relationships. It documents the intended and unintended consequences–beneficial and negative–arising for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians from the realities of contested governance. The findings suggest that the facilitation of effective, legitimate governance should be a policy, funding and institutional imperative for all Australian governments.

This research was conducted under an Australian Research Council Linkage Project, with Reconciliation Australia as Industry Partner.

Indigenous Australians experience one of the highest rates of pneumococcal disease globally. In the Northern Territory of Australia, a unique government-funded vaccination schedule for Indigenous Australian adults comprising multiple lifetime doses of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is currently implemented. Despite this programme, rates of pneumococcal disease do not appear to be declining, with concerns raised over the potential for immune hyporesponse associated with the use of this vaccine. We undertook a study to examine the immunogenicity and immune function of a single and repeat pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination among Indigenous adults compared to non-Indigenous adults. Our results found that immune function, as measured by opsonophagocytic and memory B-cell responses, were similar between the Indigenous groups but lower for some serotypes in comparison with the non-Indigenous group. This is the first study to document the immunogenicity following repeat 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine administration among Indigenous Australian adults, and reinforces the continued need for optimal pneumococcal vaccination programmes among high-risk populations.

Indigenous Australians experience one of the highest rates of pneumococcal disease globally. In the Northern Territory of Australia, a unique government-funded vaccination schedule for Indigenous Australian adults comprising multiple lifetime doses of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is currently implemented. Despite this programme, rates of pneumococcal disease do not appear to be declining, with concerns raised over the potential for immune hyporesponse associated with the use of this vaccine. We undertook a study to examine the immunogenicity and immune function of a single and repeat pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination among Indigenous adults compared to non-Indigenous adults. Our results found that immune function, as measured by opsonophagocytic and memory B-cell responses, were similar between the Indigenous groups but lower for some serotypes in comparison with the non-Indigenous group. This is the first study to document the immunogenicity following repeat 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine administration among Indigenous Australian adults, and reinforces the continued need for optimal pneumococcal vaccination programmes among high-risk populations.