Australian Journal of Social Issues最新文献

Previous research demonstrates that businesses that are Indigenous-owned are far more likely to employ Indigenous people than non-Indigenous-owned businesses (Hunter, 2015). The majority of the literature on Indigenous employment uses a deficit discourse, describing factors that prevent or exclude Indigenous people from non-Indigenous-owned organisations. There is markedly less literature using a strength-based approach, detailing how Indigenous-owned businesses create workplaces without barriers to Indigenous employment. Through 32 semistructured interviews with Indigenous business owners, managers, and Indigenous employees of Indigenous-owned businesses, this paper provides insights into how participants' businesses create workplaces that are more supportive of, and conducive to, Indigenous employment. This paper finds that Indigenous approaches to governance inform an organisational level of cultural competence, which creates tailored and specific practices that support better Indigenous employment outcomes. This resonates with the concept of Indigenous ways of “knowing, being, and doing,” and how this framework encompasses participants' approaches to business operations. In the light of increasing public and private policy commitments to improve Indigenous employment outcomes, it is imperative that the Indigenous business sector's best practice inform said policies, given its successes. However, inherent in these findings are broader discussions into more systemic and societal issues that go beyond workplace policy.

This article highlights the lessons learned from a study of the 2021 Intergenerational Report hosted by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. That study, published in a book, More than Fiscal, (Podger et al., 2023, More than Fiscal, ANU Press), also advises how to improve future IGRs. The article includes a brief assessment of the extent to which the recently published 2023 IGR takes up the improvements suggested.

For more than three decades, official and independent enquiries have documented the poor outcomes experienced by many young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia, known as care leavers. Yet, until 2017, most of the state and territory governments cut off financial support to these vulnerable young people at no later than 18 years of age and failed to provide them with the ongoing material and relationship assistance into early adulthood guaranteed to most of their non-care peers. Australia was regarded internationally as a leaving care laggard. This paper examines the remarkably effective advocacy strategies used by the Home Stretch campaign, formed in 2016, to persuade all Australian jurisdictions to extend OOHC until 21 years. By the end of 2022, every state and territory had agreed to introduce some form of extended care, and Australia was recognised as a global leader in leaving care policy and programmes provision.

When Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention) in 1990, all children within its borders became entitled to the protection of the rights set out in the Convention. Children, thus, became rights holders. More than just human rights holders, they became children's rights holders. The Convention is the first international instrument to address the protection of children from violence directly. Corporal punishment (CP) is increasingly recognised internationally as physical abuse and a violation of children's rights. However, CP in the home is still legal in all Australian jurisdictions even though it violates several of the rights protected by the Convention. This contribution will examine Articles 2, 3(1), 5, 16, 19(1), 24(3) and 37(a) of the Convention to outline how parental CP undermines the legally binding obligations of the Convention by violating the rights espoused by these provisions. This article then calls for CP to be outlawed by all state and territory governments to adhere to the aim of the Convention that because of children's unique vulnerabilities, all their rights need to be protected, respected and promoted by those who ratified the Convention.

Australians with disability have inequitable access to assistive technology (AT) and home modifications (HMs). This is inconsistent with human rights obligations and fails to capitalise on internationally recognised potential return on investment. Co-designed with a consortium of AT stakeholders, this study quantifies the public provision of AT and HM in Australia by identifying all publicly funded national and state-/territory-based schemes and reporting and comparing available data on the spend per person. An environmental scan and data survey identified 88 government funders administering 109 schemes. Data were available for 1/3 of schemes. Economic evaluation of available cost and participant data estimated the annual AT/HM and wrap-around support spend per person per scheme and organisational costs. Data demonstrated significant AT/HM spend variability across schemes, for example a 50-fold difference between Aged Care ($51) and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS, $2500). Modelled costs are presented for a $16 billion national scheme where all Australians with disability are funded NDIS-equivalent. These foundation data demonstrate substantial service provision gaps and an urgent need for change in disability policy. A cost model and policy principles have been proposed to achieve economies of scale and equity in the provision of AT and HM.

This article explores the concept of conviviality: the practice and negotiation of sharing space in suburbs with diverse populations. Australia has a growing Muslim population and reports of Islamophobia remain widespread. While there is some evidence, however, that forming intercultural connections can foster more positive attitudes toward religious minority groups, we know little about how Muslim and non-Muslim communities share space in Australia. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative investigation into how conviviality is perceived in Australian suburbs with high concentrations of Muslim residents. Following qualitative, thematic analysis of 15 interviews with multicultural service providers who work with Muslims in Melbourne, Victoria, we conclude that conviviality is fostered by a sense of community between people who share similar backgrounds as well as increased opportunities to form intercultural social connections. We discuss the scholarly and policy implications of these findings, with consideration of existing arguments about the practices of sharing space in Australian cities.