News

Social Inclusion of the Hard to Reach, by Nicola Brackertz and Denise Meredyth, the final report of the Community Consultation and the Hard to Reach: Local Government, Social Profiling and Civic Infrastructure project, is now available. The report is intended as a practical resource for local councils wishing to engage their communities in decision making and planning. The focus is on how to broaden the range of people represented in council processes, especially those who are reluctant to participate in traditional consultation methods.

The latest book in the ISR’s Briefings series, published by UNSW Press, is Stormy Weather: The Challenge of Climate Change and Displacement, by adjunct research fellow David Corlett. Stormy Weather looks at the effects of climate change as experienced by the people of Tuvalu, a tiny, picturesque Pacific nation. It looks at how the international community should respond to climate-related migration in Asia, the Pacific and Africa, and argues that Australia – in a region in which 60 per cent of the world’s population lives and where the human implications of climate change will be played out – has a particular interest in ensuring that this new challenge is met. An extract from Stormy Weather appears on Inside Story.

Papers from the 2008 Communications Policy & Research Forum, an annual conference supported by the ISR, are now available online.

A new report by Kath Hulse and Lise Saugeres on Housing Insecurity and Precarious Living: An Australian Exploration (PDF) has has just been published by the Australian Housing amd Urban Research Institute.

On 26 November 2008 Kath Hulse launched a new report by Dr Andrea Sharam of Women’s Information, Support and Housing in the North, Going it Alone: Single, Low Needs Women and Hidden Homelessness (PDF). Andrea completed her PhD research at the ISR three years ago. The report is a pioneering study of the housing and other circumstances of older women living alone.

The ISR has launched a new website, Inside Story, which publishes essays, journalism and commentary from academic researchers and journalists. Drawing on a network of contributors in Australia and overseas, Inside Story will examine the forces shaping contemporary politics, society and culture.

Kath Hulse presented a keynote address, Understanding the Importance of Home and Place as the Foundation Stone for Social Inclusion (PDF), at the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s conference on housing and social inclusion, Connecting People – Connecting Neighbourhoods, on 7 October 2008.

The Institute for Social Research is currently offering scholarships that incorporate tuition and an annual non-taxable stipend of approximately $20,000 to undertake research in the following fields:

• Creative industries and innovation
  
• Digital media
  
• Technology, economy and society
  
• Community politics and networked government
  
• Reforming democratic systems
  
• Immigration and citizenship
  
• Sustainable cities and sustainable consumption
  
• Housing
  
• Homelessness and social inclusion

Scholarships will commence in 2009. More information on undertaking postgraduate research at the Institute is available in the student section of this site.

____

Nic Maclellan wrote about Seasonal Workers for Australia – Lessons from New Zealand for Farm Policy Journal, August Quarter 2008.

Sean McNelis and Caroline Neske are authors, with Andrew Jones and Rhonda Phillips, of a new report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Older Persons in Public Housing: The Policy and Management Issues (PDF), published in September 2008.

Two new ISR policy papers examine the implementation in two states of programs that provide housing and support to people discharged from psychiatric hospitals. In the first paper, From Psychiatric Hospital to Supported Housing: The Neami Community Housing Program, Melbourne, Australia, 1995–2008, Meg Carter describes the implementation in Victoria of a program established in 1995 by a non-government agency called Neami. Case Studies in Deinstitutionalisation: Implementing Supported Housing Programs in Two Australian States (PDF), by Meg Carter, Terry Burke and Sue Moore takes the Neami Community Housing Program as a point of reference against which to examine the implementation since 2005 in South Australia of a program called Returning Home.

David MacKenzie is co-author, with Chris Chamberlain from the Centre for Applied Social Research at RMIT, of a September 2008 Australian Bureau of Statistics publication, Counting the Homeless, 2006. According to the report, on Census night in 2006 the homeless population in Australia was 105,000. The majority of homeless people were single (57,182 people or 55%), while 20% were couples without accompanying children (20,704 people, or 10,160 couples with 384 accompanying adults) and 26% were in homeless families with children (26,790 people, or 7,483 families).

Peter Browne is co-author, with Ian Watson from Macquarie University, of The 2007 Federal Election: Exit Poll Analysis (PDF), which analyses two public opinion surveys on the 2007 federal election. Peter wrote about the survey for the Canberra Times on 6 September 2008, and on Australian Policy Online.

Kath Hulse and Lise Saugeres from the ISR are among the authors of a new report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Housing Assistance and Economic Participation (PDF).

Peter Browne wrote about the Lyne by-election for the Age and Australian Policy Online.

Kathleen Maltzahn, author of Trafficked, part of the ISR’s Briefings series, has been interviewed about the High Court’s 28 August decision on sexual slavery by ABC Radio’s PM, the Canberra Times, ABC Radio News and ABC Newcastle.

With the federal government’s announcement of a seasonal workers scheme Nic Maclellan’s report, Workers for All Seasons?, has received coverage in the Age and the Australian, on ABC Radio’s PM and on 5UV Radio Adelaide. Nic wrote about the government’s announcement for Australian Policy Online and the Fiji Times.

Julian Thomas wrote about The Internet in Australia, the first Digital Futures report, for the Canberra Times and Creative Economy. The report was prepared by ISR staff for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation.

Brian Costar commented on the merger of the Liberal and National parties in Queensland for the Canberra Times and in an article for Australian Policy Online.

Peter Newton’s new book, Transitions: Pathways Towards Sustainable Urban Development in Australia released by CSIRO Publishing, was launched at the Melbourne Town Hall on 31 July 2008.

Maria Tumarkin reviewed two new books, A Family History of Smoking by Andrew Riemer, and Destined to Live by Sabina Wolanski with Diana Bagnall, for the July 2008 edition of the Australian Literary Review.

Brian Costar wrote about the results of the 28 June by-elections in Gippsland and Kororoit for Australian Policy Online.

Jock Given commissioned several articles about the federal government’s National Broadband Plan, published in the May 2008 issue of Media International Australia.

Michelle Dimasi wrote about the Christmas Island detention centre, nearing completion, for Australian Policy Online and the Canberra Times (PDF).

City of Boroondara Case Study Report: Camberwell and Kew Structure Plans, by Katrina Gorjanicyn, Ivan Zwart, Nicola Brackertz and Denise Meredyth, is the latest report from the Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’ project.

In Workers for All Seasons? Issues from New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Program Nic Maclellan looked at a program that allows NZ employers to recruit overseas workers from the Pacific and South East Asia for seasonal work in horticulture and viticulture, and discusses the lessons for Australia. The report has been featured in the Age, the Australian Financial Review, on Radio National’s Bush Telegraph and on Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.

Peter Newton wrote about the sustainability of Melbourne for the Age, reprinted on Australian Policy Online.

The ISR is currently offering fully funded PhD scholarships in the following areas: Creative industries and innovation; Digital media; Community politics and networked government; Reforming democratic systems; Immigration and citizenship; Sustainable cities and sustainable consumption; Affordable housing; Homelessness and social inclusion; and Technology, economy and society. Applications close on Friday 30 May 2008. More details > (PDF)

City of Moreland Case Study Report: Focus on Fawkner Community Group, by Helen Sheil, Ivan Zwart, Nicola Brackertz and Denise Meredyth, is the latest report from the Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’ project.

The Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology, is seeking a Research Fellow to conduct research on the ARC-funded project Exploring the Experience of Security in the Australian Vietnamese Community: Practical Implications for Policing. The project will conduct an analysis of the relationship between Victorian police and Vietnamese communities and its implications for debates on security, risk and trust and on organisational culture within the police. The position is Academic Level A.6–B.1, $57,046 - $64,409; part-Time (0.6) for 2 years, based at the Hawthorn Campus. (Please note: deadline for applications extended to 29 April.) Details >

The ISR’s David MacKenzie is a member of the National Youth Commission, which published the report (PDF) of its Inquiry into Youth Homelessness on 8 April 2008. The inquiry is a major contribution to informed debate in this area and its findings have attracted a remarkable level of interest.

The ISR’s Liza Hopkins and Glenn Jessop are among the contributors to an online volume featuring papers from last September’s Communications Policy and Research Forum.

In ‘Community Media in the Prosumer Era’ (PDF), an article for the online journal 3CMedia, Ellie Rennie uses SYN-FM, a community radio licensee in Melbourne, as a case study to identify contemporary challenges facing community media.

In conjunction with Swinburne Information Technology Innovations Group, the ISR’s Sean McNelis has developed a website which provides data on local housing affordability indicators, housing sales and prices and other housing data. The website was developed for local councils in the Inner Melbourne region: City of Melbourne, City of Port Phillip, City of Stonnington and City of Yarra. This is a pilot project which provides a framework which could be adopted by other regions and councils in Victoria. More >

The ISR will be conducting a second Emerging Scholars Workshop, this time on Memory. The workshop, on 30–31 May 2008, is for students who are currently pursuing fourth year or postgraduate studies in Australia or New Zealand, or who have recently completed fourth year honours.

Jock Given discussed how broadcasters are planning for the introduction of digital radio in an article (PDF) for the Herald Sun published on 5 March 2008.

Kath Hulse and Terry Burke analysed the rental housing crisis in an article published in the Age on 1 March 2008 and reprinted on Australian Policy Online.

Liza Hopkins gave a paper, ‘Culture, Religion, Ethnicity: Notions of Identity Amongst Young Turks in Australia’, at the Youth Identity and Migration: Culture, Values and Social Connectedness Symposium at Deakin University, 21–22 February 2008.

Kath Hulse presented two papers to the 2008 National Housing Conference, one based on the Home Life, Housing and Work Decisions report, which she co-authored with Lise Saugeres for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, and one on Local Community Engagement: Fact and Fiction, based on her work with Wendy Stone on housing and social cohesion.

Kath Hulse participated in a discussion on Radio National Breakfast about a new report which estimates that by 2045, 3.3 million Australians will be renting and the number of all households struggling to pay rent will rise by 77 per cent.

Sean McNelis and Terry Burke provided the research input for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s first audio briefing, Public Housing Rent Policy in Australia and Overseas, released in February 2008. The briefing presents details of the first comprehensive and comparative review of public housing rent policies in Australia and seven overseas countries, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The delayed introduction of digital radio could mean the future has already been created by other audio media, writes Jock Given on Creative Economy.

Terry Burke delivered a paper on the rental crisis in Australia, reported in the Age and elsewhere, to the 2008 National Housing Conference.

The Content Makers: Understanding the Media in Australia, by ISR visiting fellow Margaret Simons, has been shortlisted in non-fiction category of the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature.

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has released a new paper by the ISR’s Terry Burke, Caroline Neske, Liss Ralston and their co-authors, Experiencing the Housing Affordability Problem: Blocked Aspirations, Trade-offs and Financial Hardships (PDF). This paper focuses on the actual experience of housing affordability, revealing how deeply the problem cuts into the financial and general wellbeing of renters. Not only does it create intense hardship for many, but there is no escape from the relentless squeeze between income and rents. The findings also indicate that, for many renters, it is not that rents have increased to excessive levels that has created the affordability problem, but that incomes are too low and too uncertain.

Peter Browne wrote for the Age about the crisis in Kenya.

2007

Jock Given delivered a paper about the Sydney-based international short-wave broadcasting service to a conference at the Schol of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, International Broadcasting, Public Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange – a conference to evaluate 75 years of BBC overseas broadcasting.

Brian Costar wrote about the possibility of a double dissolution of federal parliament for the Canberra Times and spoke about the 2007 federal election campaign at a seminar at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College London.

Jock Given explored competition in the early Australian wireless business in this article for the CSIRO journal Historical Records of Australian Science.

Terry Burke and co-author Maryann Wulff discussed Submarkets in Public Sector Housing (PDF) in a position paper for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Brian Costar wrote about the future of the Liberal Party for the Age and Australian Policy Online.

Jock Given reviewed David Edgerton’s The Shock of the Old: Technology in Global History Since 1900 for ABC Radio National’s The Book Show.

Jock Given (“Switching Off Analogue TV”) and Ellie Rennie and Julian Thomas (“Analogue Nation, Digital Communications”) have contributed chapters to the new book, TV Futures: Digital Television Policy in Australia (Melbourne University Publishing).

Peter Browne wrote about a new OECD report on social mobility for the Age and the Canberra Times.

With Peter Brent, Brian Costar wrote about the shortfall in enrolled voters for the Sunday Age.

Kath Hulse participated in a discussion about Myths and Mortar with Saul Eslake, Chief Economist of the ANZ Bank, and Steve Bevington, Managing Director of Community Housing Ltd, on ABC Radio National’s The National Interest on Sunday 21 October.

The City of Whittlesea Case Study (PDF), by Nicola Brackertz and the City of Port Phillip Case Study (PDF) by Katrina Gorjanicyn have been released by the Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’ research project.

ISR Visiting Scholar Olaf Kleist wrote for the Age and Australian Policy Online about a new memorial to those who died on the SIEV-X.

Klaus Neumann has been awarded the John and Patricia Ward History Prize in the 2007 NSW Premier’s History Awards for his book In the Interest of National Security: Civilian Internment in Australia During World War II, published by the National Archives of Australia. The judges wrote: “During World War II the Australian authorities interned more than 15,000 civilians, comprising Australian residents (including British nationals) and those detained overseas and sent to Australia for detention. In the Interest of National Security recounts the experiences of seven men and three women who were interned in this context, thereby providing an overview of Australia’s internment policies in the recent past... In the Interest of National Security provides an accessible and  revealing account of civilian internment during World War II. It also draws attention to the wealth of archival resources available on this topic, perhaps in the hope that others too will explore this crucial chapter of Australian history.” Full judges’ report >

Hal Pawson, professorial fellow at the School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, is a visiting professor at the ISR from 8 October to 2 November 2007. His special interests are in housing and urban policy, especially homelessness, social housing management and area regeneration. He has led many national research studies for central government departments and other bodies in England and Scotland and has published in numerous international journals. Hal is a member of the Westminster government’s expert panel on housing and communities. He will be giving a lecture in the Swinburne Research Series at 12 pm on Thursday 25 October on Improving Performance in UK Public Services. Venue is Hawthorn Campus of Swinburne, AGSE Building, Room 207.

Art That Made History, a six-part series produced with the assistance of Peter Browne, goes to air on Sundays from 7 October on Radio National as part of the Big Ideas series.

Klaus Neumann responds to Kevin Andrews’s comments about African refugees, and describes a revealing historical parallel, in the Australian.

Glenn Nicholls’s book, Deported: A History of Forced Departures from Australia, has been published by UNSW Press. Drawing on archival material, case studies, court decisions and parliamentary debates, the book details the use and misuse of deportation powers in Australia since Federation.

The ISR is the lead institution in four successful Australian Research Council funding applications: Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget (Klaus Neumann and colleagues), The Reinvention of Indigenous Media: Innovation, Expansion and Social Development (Ellie Rennie), Consuming the Urban Environment: A Study of the Factors that Influence Resource Use in Australian Cities (Peter Newton, Terry Burke and colleagues), and the Australian Policy Online Upgrade Project (Julian Thomas, Brian Costar and colleagues). As well, the ISR’s Julian Thomas is one of the chief investigators in the successful application, Amateur Hour: The Sociolegal Construction of Amateur Media.

Two new books have been released in the Briefings series, published by UNSW Press in association with the ISR’s Australian Policy Online. In No, Prime Minister: Reclaiming Politics from Leaders, James Walter and Paul Strangio analyse the performances of five prime ministers (Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke, Keating and Howard) against the background of institutional changes to the political system that have been in train over the past three decades. In Behind Closed Doors: Politics, Scandals and the Lobbying Industry, John Warhurst describes the growing size and importance of the lobbying industry, looking at the many ways in which lobbyists attempt to influence politicians and other decision makers, and assessing their role in the political system.

Brian Costar writes about the Williamstown and Albert Park by-elections for the Sunday Age.

Evidence suggests that almost half a million renter households, or almost a quarter of Australia’s two million renter households, are in “housing stress.” Kath Hulse writes about this crisis in housing affordability among renters for the Age and Australian Policy Online.

Brian Costar appears on ABC Statewide Drive in Victoria discussing John Howard’s leadership, on ABC Radio National’s The National Interest discussing the likely outcome of the federal election, and on ABC TV’s JTV and SBS World News discussing the early closure of the federal electoral rolls.

The ISR’s Cities and Housing Program has been awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Social Housing Award by the Australasian Housing Institute.  This award is presented in recognition of the program’s ongoing role in educating social housing professionals and his great strengths in linking research and teaching in social housing, and in industry liaison.

Brian Costar writes about the resignation of the Queensland premier, Peter Beattie for the Age and Australian Policy Online and discusses Mr Beattie’s premiership on ABC Radio 702 Sydney.

Klaus Neumann’s book In the Interest of National Security has been shortlisted for the John and Patricia Ward History Prize, one of the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards, and was also highly commended in this year’s Mander Jones Awards. The jury wrote: “The contextual material is beautifully written, the choice of subjects and stories is balanced and objective, the overall topic one that has previously received little attention.”

ISR Visiting Fellow Margaret Simons published two new books in September 2007, The Content Makers: Understanding the Media in Australia (Penguin Australia) and Faith, Money, Power: What the Religious Revival Means for Politics (Pluto Press).

Klaus Neumann will present a public lecture on Refugees, Compassion and Australian Values at the State Library of Victoria at 6pm on Wednesday 10 October 2007, chaired by Peter Mares and introduced by Emeritus Professor Hank Nelson. Refreshments will be served after the lecture. RSVP by 4 October to jcolosimo@swin.edu.au.

ISR Research Associate Nic Maclellan is the co-author of A Price Too High: The Cost of Australia’s Approach to Asylum Seekers, a report from Oxfam Australia published on 23 August 2007.

Julian Thomas, Ellie Rennie and Liza Hopkins presented papers at the 50th anniversary conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research in Paris in July 2007. The conference theme was “Media, Communication, Information: Celebrating 50 Years of Theories and Practices”.

Peter Browne writes about AIDS, government and the media in Botswana for the spring 2007 edition of the Griffith Review (PDF).

Following the judgement in the C7 case, Jock Given discusses why we should worry about Kerry Stokes on ABC Online.

Brian Costar is interviewed by The Age Online, ABC Radio Gippsland, the Australian Financial Review, ABC Statewide Drive and ABC Radio Wodonga and writes for the Sunday Age about the resignation of the Victorian premier, Steve Bracks and his deputy John Thwaites.

Kath Hulse discusses Labor’s housing affordability conference, held on 27 July 2007, with Jon Faine on ABC Radio Melbourne.

Glenn Nicholls writes about the Mohamed Haneef case and a revealing historical parallel, the case of Egon Kisch, for the Canberra Times (PDF) and Australian Policy Online.

In the Age, Brian Costar pays tribute to Walter Jona AM, former Victorian government minister, who died on 22 July 2007.

In a new paper, ISR visiting professor, Fred Fletcher, looks at The Future of News in the Digital Era (PDF).

Housing and Social Cohesion: An Empirical Exploration (PDF), a new report by Wendy Stone and Kath Hulse, has been published in June 2007 by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

The City of Melbourne Case Study (PDF), by Ivan Zwart and the City of Maribyrnong Case Study (PDF) by Nicola Brackertz have been released by the Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’ research project.

ISR Visiting Professor Fred Fletcher delivers a lecture on Free and Fair Elections (PDF) at the Parliament of Victoria on 20 June 2007.

Brian Costar discusses the right of prisoners to vote on ABC Radio National’s Perspective.

The Nillumbik Shire Council Case Study (PDF), by Nicola Brackertz and Denise Meredyth, is a new report from the Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’ research project. The project is investigating how community consultation is currently practised by Victorian councils, especially in relation to multiple publics and groups that councils can find hard to reach.

Julian Thomas discusses the language and political theatre of The West Wing on ABC Radio National’s Lingua Franca.

The World Internet Project Annual Partners’ Meeting, hosted by the ISR, will be held in Melbourne on 10–12 July 2007.

Writing in the Canberra Times, Klaus Neumann comments on Mark McKenna’s article about Manning Clark in the March 2007 issue of The Monthly.

Peter Browne’s book The Longest Journey: Resettling Refugees from Africa was shortlisted in the community relations category of the NSW Premiers Literary Awards.

David Mackenzie has been appointed one of the commissioners of Australia’s first national independent inquiry for 20 years examining youth homelessness. The National Youth Commission inquiry has been set up to examine why youth homelessness continues to be a major problem in Australia. Despite Australia experiencing 15 years of economic growth and unemployment at record lows, the number of young people turning to homeless services for support has remained unchanged since the last comprehensive inquiry by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. David was profiled in the Age’s education section on 12 March 2007.

In a paper to the Australian Financial Review’s Housing Congress 2007 on 9 March 2007, Terry Burke looks at the experience of housing affordability, revealing how deeply the problem cuts into the financial and general wellbeing of renters. Not only does it create intense hardship for many, but there is no escape from the relentless squeeze between income and rents. And, for many renters, the problem is not that rents have increased to excessive levels (they have been relatively constant), but that incomes are too low and too uncertain. Experiencing the Housing Affordability Problem: Blocked Aspirations, Trade-offs and Financial Hardships (PDF).

Brian Costar is one of the authors of a new research paper, The 2006 Victorian State Election (PDF), released by the Victorian Parliamentary Library Research Service. The paper examines the campaign and the result, describing who won and why. It also includes a detailed explanation of voting for the new-look Legislative Council, and voting figures for each Assembly District and Council Region.

Not long ago, travellers idly fancied that there would be a time when humanity could tour the world free of restrictions. It seems things have gone the other way. The next big thing will be biometric identification, by scanning the traveller's iris, and anyone without legal travel authority can might be arrested as a terrorist. On Radio National’s Radio Eye at 2pm on Saturday 3 March (repeated 1pm on 7 March), the ISR’s Peter Mares looks at The Passport.

Klaus Neumann’s latest book, In the Interest of National Security: Civilian Internment in Australia during World War II, was recently launched by Sam Lipski AM. It is available from the National Archives of Australia (phone 02 6212 3609 for credit card orders). An extract is available online (PDF) >>

Who is Hard to Reach and Why? (PDF), is a new working paper by Nicola Brackertz from the ISR project Community Consultation and the Hard to Reach: Local Government, Social Profiling and Civic Infrastructure.

Peter Mares and Brian Costar wrote about the federal government’s proposed citizenship test for the Age and Australian Policy Online.

Professor Peter Newton has joined the ISR and Swinburne’s Centre for Regional Development, and is based within the ISR. Peter is an expert in urban planning and sustainability and comes to Swinburne from the CSIRO, where he was Chief Research Scientist and Leader of the Urban Systems Program. Among many outstanding publications, he is well-known for his work as a lead author of the 1996, 2001 and 2006 State of the Environment reports for the federal government.

More >>