Understanding recent Australian trends in alcohol consumption and harms. This project aims to provide critical insight into recent trends in alcohol consumption and related harm in Australia. Many indicators of harm from alcohol have increased dramatically in the past decade, while drinking behaviours appear largely unchanged. This project aims to investigate two potential explanations for these trends: that apparent increases in rates of alcohol-related harm are driven by operational or adminis ....Understanding recent Australian trends in alcohol consumption and harms. This project aims to provide critical insight into recent trends in alcohol consumption and related harm in Australia. Many indicators of harm from alcohol have increased dramatically in the past decade, while drinking behaviours appear largely unchanged. This project aims to investigate two potential explanations for these trends: that apparent increases in rates of alcohol-related harm are driven by operational or administrative practices rather than by increases in actual harm; and that stable per-capita consumption data obscures divergent drinking behaviours, with increases among heavy drinkers driving increasing harm rates. The project aims to inform alcohol policy debates, which rely on robust trend data.Read moreRead less
Reducing imprisonment rates in Australia: international experiences, marginal populations and a focus on the overrepresentation of Indigenous people. The purpose of this study is to test the validity of factors influencing imprisonment rates and initiatives that have been trialed in other jurisdictions to decrease prison numbers for the Australian situation. The expected outcome is to identify ways to reduce the prison population, most particularly the over-representation of Indigenous people.
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sex-offenders in Australia: Assessing risk for practice and policy. A key priority of Australian governments is to improve community safety through reducing the risk of sex offenders re-offending after release from prison. This project will assess the validity of tools used to predict the risk of sexual offender recidivism and identify alternate risk assessment tools for Indigenous and non-Indigenous sex offenders.
Better Planning for and Managing Asymmetric Threats to Australia's Security: Applying the Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) Systems Thinking Approach. Despite an enviable national security condition, Australia is at risk in an information-abundant world that increasingly spawns asymmetric threats such as information terrorism. What is needed are enhanced strategic and operational structures to improve the nation's security and ensure sound futures planning. This research focuses on applying the Fie ....Better Planning for and Managing Asymmetric Threats to Australia's Security: Applying the Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) Systems Thinking Approach. Despite an enviable national security condition, Australia is at risk in an information-abundant world that increasingly spawns asymmetric threats such as information terrorism. What is needed are enhanced strategic and operational structures to improve the nation's security and ensure sound futures planning. This research focuses on applying the Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) systems thinking approach to asymmetric information warfare threats to Australia. This is a new approach previously developed by ECU researchers investigating risk and innovation in the armed forces. It will now be extended to improve professional practice and the knowledge and skill base of Australia's information defence practitioners.Read moreRead less
View and shape invariant modeling of human actions for smart surveillance. This project aims to enable surveillance cameras to interpret videos and detect unexpected activity in real time. Existing surveillance cameras are unable to interpret videos. Because most are not monitored in real time, they play no role in improving security response time. The project plans to develop algorithms to detect actions from any camera viewpoint in continuous videos, a capability that is imperative for smart s ....View and shape invariant modeling of human actions for smart surveillance. This project aims to enable surveillance cameras to interpret videos and detect unexpected activity in real time. Existing surveillance cameras are unable to interpret videos. Because most are not monitored in real time, they play no role in improving security response time. The project plans to develop algorithms to detect actions from any camera viewpoint in continuous videos, a capability that is imperative for smart surveillance yet missing in current techniques. This would improve security and safety response time to events that need immediate attention, such as crimes and medical emergencies, and offer autonomous aids to elderly care, smart homes, child minding, patient monitoring and post-trauma rehabilitation.Read moreRead less
Material well-being in the Australian welfare state. This project will use Australian Bureau of Statistics data on incomes, wealth and time use to construct a picture of material well-being in contemporary Australia. The results will show how material well-being relates to stages in the life cycle, to family types, and to relative affluence and relative poverty. Comparisons will be drawn between these results and a similar Australian study based on data from the late 1980s. International compari ....Material well-being in the Australian welfare state. This project will use Australian Bureau of Statistics data on incomes, wealth and time use to construct a picture of material well-being in contemporary Australia. The results will show how material well-being relates to stages in the life cycle, to family types, and to relative affluence and relative poverty. Comparisons will be drawn between these results and a similar Australian study based on data from the late 1980s. International comparisons will also be attempted. The findings provide important guidelines for public policy and especially for welfare policy.Read moreRead less
Emerging from the shadows: the evaluation of intervention strategies to reduce social isolation amongst the aged. Social isolation imposes a high cost on affected individuals and the community at large. This project will determine what interventions work in addressing social isolation amongst the older population.
Understanding and reducing alcohol-related harm among young adults in urban settings: Opportunities for intervention. Alcohol use is a major contributing factor to injury and death, with 2634 young Australians dying from alcohol-related causes in the decade to 2004. Local governments (LGs) urgently require research evidence on which to base policy to reduce alcohol-related harms. The project will provide an analysis of patterns of alcohol consumption by young adults in inner and peri-urban (grow ....Understanding and reducing alcohol-related harm among young adults in urban settings: Opportunities for intervention. Alcohol use is a major contributing factor to injury and death, with 2634 young Australians dying from alcohol-related causes in the decade to 2004. Local governments (LGs) urgently require research evidence on which to base policy to reduce alcohol-related harms. The project will provide an analysis of patterns of alcohol consumption by young adults in inner and peri-urban (growth corridor) LG areas, along with information about how young adults view alcohol use. In collaboration with industry partners VicHealth, the Victorian Department of Human Services, the Municipal Association of Victoria and LGs in Hume and Yarra, specific policy recommendations for implementation at LG, state and national levels will be developed and disseminated. Read moreRead less
Understanding and Costing Offending Trajectories: Creating an Evidence-Base for Targeting Crime Prevention. The research will provide an evidence-base for targeting diversionary and crime prevention programs and for assessing their cost-effectiveness. Many of these programs have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes and they are receiving increased government funding. By providing a better understanding of offending pathways, the research will enable programs to be targeted towards particul ....Understanding and Costing Offending Trajectories: Creating an Evidence-Base for Targeting Crime Prevention. The research will provide an evidence-base for targeting diversionary and crime prevention programs and for assessing their cost-effectiveness. Many of these programs have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes and they are receiving increased government funding. By providing a better understanding of offending pathways, the research will enable programs to be targeted towards particular at-risk groups at crucial developmental phases. The innovative longitudinal costing method that will be developed and applied in the Queensland context will enable an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of diversionary and crime prevention programs. This will provide a sound empirical basis for directing scarce government resources.Read moreRead less
Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and p ....Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and private sector organisations in Australia and New Zealand, the project intends to identify the factors that influence good and bad responses across a range of institutions; provide a clearer basis for reform of policies, procedures and law; and set benchmarks for comparative research worldwide.Read moreRead less