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Bibliography: leaves 124-136. This thesis gives an overview of factors used in weed risk assessments and explores the disparity between the measured high accuracy rate of the weed risk assessment system (WRA) as implemented in Australia and the pessimistic assessments of some workers about the possibility of predicting the weed potential of plant species imported in the future. The accuracy of the WRA may not be as high as previously thought, and it varies with weed definition and taxonomic groups. Cluster analysis and comparative analysis by independent contrasts were employed to determine the value of individual biological and ecological questions on the WRA questionnaire. Results showed that some WRA questions could be deleted from the questionnaire and the scores for others weighted differently. The WRA is not a reliable predictor of weeds when it is considered in the context of the base-rate probability of an introduced plant becoming weedy in Australia. As a result a far greater number on non-weeds will be placed on the prohibited imported list than was initially expected.

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This thesis addresses a significant gap in Australian social policy literature about the relationship between the impact of economic rationalism on social policy and interest representation during policy implementation. Michael Pusey, for instance, argues that economic rationalism displaces social values in social policy. However, other theorists, such as Robert Alford and Rod Rhodes, caution that policy often changes when it is implemented. With a foundation in Weberian social theory about participant values, the analytical framework incorporates three institutional policy implementation concepts to capture the dynamic characteristics of the policy process. These are: policy stages to describe policy change over time; structural interests of policy organisations; and policy networks within which participants act. The thesis tests this framework to explain the impact of values of economic rationality in the Australian coordinated care policy. The policy attempted to coordinate the care of people with chronic care needs, using a funds pool, case managers and care plans. The research methods are interviews with policy participants; analysis of public documents; and participant observation as an evaluator in one trial. Data about the policy process from 1994 to 2001 are analysed with a critical interpretive approach. The study reveals that central agency officials acted primarily on values of economic rationality. In contrast, health agency officials acted primarily on organisational values. The transfer of responsibility for the policy process from a central agency to the health agency after the policy statements reinforced health provider organisational interests, rather than either the rationalist interests of central agencies or the social interests of consumer groups. The policy consequently changed away from economic rationality. The policy process in the planning, implementation and revision stages was in no sense an instrumental application of the values of economic rationality apparent in the policy statements stage. Neither, however, did social values predominate in any policy stage. The study argues that insights from policy implementation research can refine the literature on economic rationalism. This research further advances policy network theory. It recognises that understanding which organisation is responsible for the policy, at various policy stages, advances our understanding of whose values shape social policy.

There is growing interest in airborne lidar for forest carbon accounting and precision forestry purposes. Airborne lidar systems offer a cost-effective, versatile, operationally flexible and robust sampling tool for forest managers. The objective of this study was to develop and test lidar canopy surface enhancement and segmentation processes for estimating dominant above-ground biomass (DAB) in a harvested eucalypt forest on the Central Coast of New South Wales (Australia). The Crown Infill, Trim and Smooth (CITS) process, incorporating a series of filters, algorithms, and selective multi-stage smoothing, was used to enhance lidar canopy surfaces prior to segmentation. Canopy segmentation was achieved using a vertical crown template approach termed the Spatially and Morphologically Isolated Crest (SMIC) process. SMIC delineates dominant tree crowns by detecting elevated crown crests within a 3D lidar canopy surface. Consolidated crown units constitute the basic sampling, analysis and reporting units for wall-to-wall forest inventory. The performance, sensitivity and limitations of these procedures were evaluated using a combination of simulated forest models and actual lidar forest data. Automated crown polygons were used as a sampling template to extract dominant tree height values which were converted to DAB estimates via height-to-biomass relationships derived from field survey and on-site destructive sampling. Results were compared with field based tree height and biomass estimates. Compared against a manually derived crown map from a 2ha field plot, canopy segmentation results revealed a producer???s accuracy of 76% and overall accuracy of 67%. Results indicated a trend toward greater crown splitting (fragmentation) as trees increase in age, height, stem diameter and crown size. Extracted dominant tree height values were highly correlated with ground survey height estimates (r2 0.95 for precision survey and r2 0.69 for standard survey). There was also no significant difference between SMIC and manual crown height estimates. SMIC units overestimated ground-based DAB by 5%; this increased to 36% with the inclusion of segmentation errors. However, SMIC estimation of total plot above-ground biomass (AGB) was within 9% of the ground-based estimate. Results are encouraging considering the mixed-species, multi-aged composition of the forest, and the combined effects of SMIC segmentation and lidar height errors.

Background: Access to &quot high-cost medicines&quot under Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is characterised by strict eligibility criteria. The PBS access scheme for the anti-rheumatic biologicals (etanercept, infliximab, and adalimumab) was examined for concordance with Australia?s National Medicines Policy. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders were conducted. National, aggregated prescription and expenditure data from Medicare Australia and dispensing data from the Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee were analysed. Access to biologicals was also examined from an ethical perspective. Results: Interviewees agreed that controlled access to high-cost medicines was broadly equitable and practical but specific concerns included: timeliness of access; bureaucracy of the process; contentious cases of individual patients being denied access; insufficient patient information; the quantum of resources required to administer the access scheme; inadequate stakeholder consultation. The access requirement of a history of failure of conventional anti-rheumatic drugs was supported. Recommendations included proactive review of the access criteria and outcomes; greater transparency and formal stakeholder involvement to increase public confidence in the definition of &quot target patient population" and a formal appeal mechanism to increase the fairness and accountability of the PBS. Establishment of an appeal mechanism is supported by &quot accountability for reasonableness&quot framework grounded in procedural justice. Data needed to examine the health outcomes associated with the use of biologicals on a national level was not easily available. This shortcoming is discordant with National Medicines Policy. Utilisation of biologicals over the first two years of PBS-subsidy was conservative but with considerable variability across States and Territories (an 8-fold difference between the jurisdictions), usage roughly correlating with access to rheumatologists. Introduction of PBS-subsidised biologicals did not alter the trends in utilisation of non-biological anti-rheumatic drugs. Conclusions: This research suggests that policy-makers focus upon: explicitly considering ethical principles and formally involving stakeholders when developing policies on access to high-cost medicines; improving communication and providing information based on increased transparency; and establishing formal mechanisms for review of and appeals against PBS decisions. The comprehensive evaluation of medicine use and outcomes post-subsidy is critical for the future of the PBS. The National Medicines Policy has proved a useful framework for evaluating this access scheme.

Taxpayer certainty is the most frequently cited argument against statutory General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAARs). However the vast literature criticising statutory GAARs fails to consider the extent of taxpayer uncertainty, and the potential for taxpayer uncertainty, in jurisdictions without a statutory GAAR. This thesis examines that gap in the literature. The thesis uses inductive reasoning to suggest that there is greater taxpayer certainty where a statutory GAAR exists and is appropriately administered. Specifically, it uses a case study to demonstrate that there is greater uncertainty for taxpayers where the administration, the judiciary and the legislature may use their vast powers to address perceived avoidance. The thesis then considers the form of a statutory GAAR that may best be expected to promote taxpayer certainty. Such analysis involves a comparison of Australia???s oldest statutory GAAR, Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (and its predecessor section 260), with the more recent GAARs in Australia???s indirect tax legislation (GST and state stamp duty), and the GAARs of other jurisdictions, including New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. In order to promote taxpayer certainty, a uniform statutory GAAR is ultimately proposed for all Australian taxation legislation, with safeguards to ensure the appropriate administration of the uniform GAAR.

Introduction While urinary incontinence is a condition that affects men and women of all ages, it is more prevalent amongst post-menopausal women. Chinese women have been under-represented at the uro-gynaecology clinic at the Royal Hospital for Women for reasons yet unknown. Objectives What are the reasons for this under-representation? Do the Chinese women in Sydney not know of the services available for urinary incontinence, or, do they not want to seek help? What are their beliefs on urinary incontinence, and how do these beliefs affect their health seeking behaviour, if at all? Methodology Informal interviews with continence specialists and other healthcare professionals determined the selection of Qualitative research methodology, using Grounded Theory and Ethnography. Focus group discussion and interviews were the data collection techniques used for this research. Chinese women that had been in Australia for less than 5 years, more than 5 years and those born in Australia were recruited to participate. Results & Conclusions The knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Chinese women in Sydney differ depending on whether or not they were born in Australia, and the length of time in Australia. With Australian born Chinese being more acculturated, having greater knowledge of the services available for urinary incontinence and more likely to seek help for urinary incontinence compared to overseas born Chinese women. While those women who had been in Australia for more than 5 years were more informed about the available services, they did not necessarily use the available services.

What would Australia be like if it had been recognised as terra alterius, ???land of another???, by the British, rather than claimed and treated as terra nullius, ???land of no-one???? This question was posed by the exhibition Terra Alterius: Land of Another, which comprised works by Gordon Bennett, Barbara Campbell-Allen, Julie Dowling, Shaun Gladwell + Michael Schiavello, Jonathan Jones, Joanne Searle, Esme Timbery, Freddie Timms, Lynette Wallworth, Guan Wei and Lena Yarinkura, created or nominated in response to the theme. This thesis describes the concept of terra alterius and the exhibition Terra Alterius: Land of Another. It considers the utility of the concept terra alterius, whether the exhibition achieved its ambition to explore the political and social terrain of a reconciled Australia, and, briefly, whether the concept of terra alterius might be useful to other ???terra nullius??? countries. It argues that the curatorial strategies ??? the ???What if???? re-imagination of Australia???s past, multiplicity of vision and active creation, grounding of the exhibition in affect (in response to Aboriginal painting), and working within Indigenous protocols ??? were effective, and that the exhibition was a useful means of exploring the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Comparisons with the exhibition Turn the Soil curated by Kevin Murray and the ???retrospective utopia??? W.H. Oliver argues has been created for New Zealand by the Waitangi Tribunal provide insight into the nature of the reconciled Australia presented in the exhibition and what might be achieved by a counterfactual exhibition. From these comparisons, it is argued, first, that the exhibition points to a disjuncture between Australia???s ongoing official, psychological and legal terra nullius and the approaches and relationships present in Australian society (characterised as a performance of Bloch???s utopian function); and secondly, that a counterfactual exhibition, because it is not bound to the factual, causal or narrative qualities traditionally attributed to history, is able to explore the future in a way that contains rather than denies the past. Although the concept of terra alterius is seen as having played a crucial role in the realisation of the exhibition, it is questioned whether the concept???s utility extends beyond Australia.

To obtain more complete mortality data following HIV and AIDS diagnosis in Australia, HIV/AIDS diagnoses between 1980 and 2003 were linked to the National Death Index. Based on 6900 known deaths, and 1455 known non-deaths, sensitivity and specificity of the linkage was estimated to be 82% and 92% respectively. Mortality rates were compared by calendar period, pre-ART (<1990), pre- and early-HAART (1990-1996) and late-HAART (1997-2003). Mortality following AIDS decreased from 590.2/1000 person years pre-ART to 77.4 during the late-HAART period. Mortality following HIV diagnosis prior to AIDS increased from 9.7 to 20.2/1000 person years. The total number living with diagnosed HIV infection in Australia was estimated to have increased from 7873 at the end of 1989 to 12828 in 2003. Risk factors for survival following HIV and AIDS diagnosis were assessed using Cox regression. Age >40 years and certain HIV exposure results were associated with poorer survival following HIV. Predictors of poorer survival following AIDS were age >40 years, females exposed to HIV through receipt of blood, CD4 count <20 and certain AIDS illnesses. Parametric models of survival following HIV and AIDS diagnosis were assessed using likelihood based criteria. Goodness of fit was assessed by comparing observed with model predicted numbers of deaths. Weibull models were found to fit best to both survival following HIV and AIDS. Parametric survival models were used to project deaths after HIV and AIDS across three scenarios of HAART usage. Deaths following HIV were projected to remain low, but to increase from 223 in 2005 to 288, 292 and 282 in 2010 if the HAART usage remains stable at 2005 levels, increases to 70% of all people with diagnosed HIV by 2010 and decreases to 39% of all people with diagnosed HIV respectively. Deaths after AIDS diagnosis were projected to increase unless if HAART usage increases to 100% of AIDS diagnoses by 2010.