bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
National Competition Policy and its Implications for Local Government
Authors: Felmingham Bruce , Page Bruce 
Published: March 2008

Two aspects of National Competition Policy (NCP) are likely to be the catalyst of change in Australian local government (LG): competitive neutrality and the reform of public monopolies. Competitive neutrality will be achieved in LG through the imposition of tax equivalents, removal of debt guarantees and cross‐subsidisation deemed not to be in the public interest. The reform of public monopolies will open more functions to competition.But other items of the NCP are also of significance to LG. The imposition of prices oversight of LG services will make these more cost reflective. Legislative reviews at LG level will produce deregulation in some cases and greater uniformity in others while the issue of allowing private access to LG assets has competitive potential in relation to the services and provision of roads, parks and sewerage treatment.We emphasise the importance of recognising the present benefits of current LG operations and cite the current proposal to privatise Tasmania's water and sewerage services as an example. NCP has the potential to produce further LG boundary amalgamations, or to accelerate regional cooperation as an alternative. The role of cross‐border and competitive tendering in this respect are highlighted. Finally, we analyse the implications of the NCP for the Local Government Grants Commission process.
The Implications of National Competition Policy
Authors: Boswell Senator Ron 
Published: March 2008

The Competition Policy Reform Bill 1995 is part of a national policy package which aims to free up competition in Australian markets. The objective is to systematically remove anti‐competitive behaviour so that efficiency is improved to the public benefit.While one can endorse the concept that economic efficiency is best served in a purely competitive market, where businesses can get on with their responsibilitiy to maximise profits, concerns exist as to whether it is possible to impose legislatively and unilaterally an economic principle or philosophy on a nation that will achieve its lofty objectives.These proposals were developed before the 1996 federal election.
Consumers/Citizens and the National Competition Policy
Authors: Carver Lisa 
Published: March 2008

NCP provides a framework for reform ranging from the introduction of competition in energy and water services to the dismantling of agricultural marketing boards. The effects on consumers will depend upon whether their interests are narrowly construed as preoccupations with price and choice of services or whether they extend to broad social justice and equity considerations. The ‘marketisation’ of government services is not concerned with distributional equity, and budget funding of CSOs is necessary to address distributional inequities. But domestic consumers will remain captive to monopoly franchises and competition objectives add pressure for the ‘contracting out’ of government services and the winding back of cross‐subsidies which have traditionally operated in favour of household consumers.NCP will transform the public from ‘citizen’ to ‘consumer’. Consumer advocates have risen to these new challenges and grasped the opportunity presented by industry restructuring to propose a range of mechanisms for consumer empowerment. This article will briefly identify some of the key issues for consumers in the implementation of the NCP and demonstrate the complexity of any attempt to assess the threats and opportunities for consumers. Particular attention will be given to the reforms to the electricity industries in NSW and Victoria.
National Competition Policy and the Australian Taxi Industry
Authors: Gunning Robert 
Published: March 2008

This article outlines the Australian Taxi Industry Association's (ATIA) perspective on the development of the National Competition Policy (NCP). The ATIA has been actively involved in the issue since the establishment of the Hilmer Inquiry into National Competition Policy in 1992.The Australian taxi industry is regulated by state and territory governments. Taxi industry regulations are designed to facilitate the provision of high‐quality and comprehensive taxi services to the community and disadvantaged groups. One element of this regulatory structure involves the sale, or lease, of taxi plates by state and territory governments as a revenue‐raising measure.This revenue‐raising by governments produces two different effects. On the one hand taxi plate owners having purchased taxi plates from the government (or leased) have an interest in the value of the plate, as well as in continuing to provide quality services. On the other hand some observers see taxi plate values as inherently unacceptable and needing to be reduced, or abolished, by allowing unrestricted access to the taxi industry.These competing views have provided much of the impetus for the debate associated with the taxi industry and the NCP. The industry believes that NCP has the potential to impact adversely on taxi ‘markets’ and consumer interests.
The Transformation of Bureaucracy? Structural Change in the Commonwealth Public Service 1983‐93
Authors: Stewart Jenny , Kimber Megan 
Published: March 2008

Commentators have predicted bureaucratic organisations would undergo substantial change as a result of social and economic pressures. We ask whether reforms to the Australian public service over the 1983–93 period exemplify this process.We use the methods of organisational analysis to characterise the direction of change, basing our assessment on the standard structural variables of complexity, formalisation and centralisation, together with a cultural variable. We find evidence that, overall, departments of state in the APS were becoming less bureaucratic in their structure, culture and internal function in the 1983–93 period. However, the effect was not uniform across departments, or unambiguous — formalisation, for example, increased in some respects and decreased in others. Centralisation increased overall, despite devolution of some decision‐making.
Competitive Tendering and Contracting in the Australian Public Sector
Authors: Quiggin John 
Published: March 2008

The Hilmer reforms, and recent reports from the Industry Commission, advocate a significant shift toward competitive tendering for Australian public services. This article discusses the policy debate in the light of recent developments in the economic theory of contracts.It will be argued that, although more intense competition can, on some occasions, generate apparent efficiency gains, it can also generate efficiency losses. Following Stigler, it will be argued that the general tendency for competition to generate cost reductions may be explained in terms of increased work intensity, and does not therefore involve a net social welfare gain. Such issues will be examined in relation to the Industry Commission (1995b) draft report on Competitive Tendering and Contracting by Public Sector Agencies, with particular attention to the issue of net social welfare benefits of contracting out. It is suggested that the Industry Commission estimates of efficiency gains available through contracting out are based on an incomplete sample, ignore the social transfer implied in reducing costs and are unlikely to hold for many sections of the public sector.
Past and Future Directions of the APS: Some Personal Reflections
Authors: Keating Michael 
Published: March 2008

Reform of the public service has not been just some management fad, nor is it even driven by purely management considerations. Fundamentally, public service reform, both in the last decade and in the future, is being driven by basic changes in our society, economy and technology, which in turn influence what the public expects from government.The reforms of the last decade or so have concentrated on changing the management framework and culture. Future reforms are likely to impact more heavily on the responsibilities of the APS and what it actually does. However, the underlying rationale will continue to be to ensure the delivery of services which respond more effectively to the needs of the community.
Introduction to the Symposium on Public Sector Management in Asia: What's New from the North?
Authors: Corbett David 
Published: March 2008

What lessons can we draw from a symposium on public administration in Asia? Does Australia share common problems with our Asian neighbours? Are Asian countries adopting similar patterns of public sector reform, or diverging in their responses to contemporary problems?In this commentary David Corbett reviews the contributions to this symposium and finds Asian nations grappling with local issues and problems. And yet he considers there are many continuities which run across cultural and historical differences. Asia provides a patchwork of different public sector cultures and experiences on which, he suggests, there is much to reflect.
What Should be the Role of the Auditor‐General in the Context of Managerialist Government and New Public Management?
Authors: Taylor John 
Published: March 2008

The role of an auditor‐general may be set out in somewhat dry terms as follows: providing expert, independent, public opinions on the financial affairs of government and its bodies and the efficiency, economy and effectiveness with which governments use the resources and power provided to them by taxpayers. This definition is relevant to any environment, managerialist or otherwise, for it is silent on the methods by which these opinions are reached. There will always be a requirement for some official with a duty to stand apart from executive government to review, independently assess and report to the people.In my opinion an auditor‐general should always be mindful that his or her ultimate responsibility is to the people. For this reason the function appropriate to an auditor‐general will continue under some guise or other whatever the managerial form of government. To put it another way, our form of government is more likely to change than the functions of the auditor‐general. In the long run, stupidity or hubris in public administration is unlikely to long outweigh the practical, commonsense needs of society — despite the evidence of the last decade. In reviewing the auditor‐general's role any changes should only be made if they ensure that the independence, strength, institutional memory, adaptability and continued professionalism of the function is retained.
Implementing the Contract State
Authors: Proust Elizabeth 
Published: March 2008

The term ‘contract state’ can capture three different types of contractual arrangements:*employment contracts*intra public sector service contracts (often used in the health and education fields)*public‐private service contracts or outsourcing.Victoria, since the election of the Kennett government in 1992, has engaged in all three, but in particular, public sector change has been characterised by significant outsourcing. This article outlines the extent of outsourcing in Victorian state and local government, the managerial challenges of a contract state, and the need for continuous reflection on, and improvement of, the reform process.
The Impact of the Coalition Government on the Public Service: Was Change Inevitable?
Authors: Schroder Philippa 
Published: March 2008

Prime Minister John Howard has indicated that he wants to break down the welfare state as we know it and create a society that thrives on innovation and free enterprise. To do this will require a change in culture and attitudes in both the government and the community. The Coalition government argues that the state must withdraw its presence so market forces can be freed up to generate wealth, leading to greater prosperity for all Australians.This article poses the questions: was change in the public service inevitable under the Coalition government? and have the Coalition thought through the consequences of the changes proposed? The evidence to date suggests a negative answer to both.
Departmental Secretaries: Appointment, Termination and their Impact
Authors: Weller Patrick , Wanna John 
Published: March 2008

This report examines the conditions of appointment and termination of departmental secretaries in the APS and considers the impact of these conditions on: the secretaries themselves; the potential pool from which secretaries are drawn; and the likely continuing influence on the way in which the APS operates.The report is based on reviews of the literature on the appointments of departmental secretaries and of the legislative changes made in the last decades. It also draws from a series of interviews with 20 past and present secretaries. The interviews were conducted in October and December 1996, after a number of secretaries had been terminated by the new government but in most cases before the government paper on public service reform was releasedThe report is divided into two main sections: the first section analyses the changing conditions of service and tenure, the appointment and termination of secretaries and pay and conditions; the second section analyses the impact of the changes under three headings and explores the future implications.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN RETRACTED: Toll‐like receptor 3 contributes to spinal glial activation and tactile allodynia after nerve injury
Authors: Obata Koichi , Katsura Hirokazu , Miyoshi Kan , Kondo Takashi , Yamanaka Hiroki , Kobayashi Kimiko , Dai Yi , Fukuoka Tetsuo , Akira Shizuo , Noguchi Koichi 
Published: March 2008

AbstractToll‐like receptors (TLRs) play an essential role in innate immune responses and in the initiation of adaptive immune responses. Microglia, the resident innate immune cells in the CNS, express TLRs. In this study, we show that TLR3 is crucial for spinal cord glial activation and tactile allodynia after peripheral nerve injury. Intrathecal administration of TLR3 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide suppressed nerve injury‐induced tactile allodynia, and decreased the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase, but not extracellular signal‐regulated protein kinases 1/2, in spinal glial cells. Antisense knockdown of TLR3 also attenuated the activation of spinal microglia, but not astrocytes, caused by nerve injury. Furthermore, down‐regulation of TLR3 inhibited nerve injury‐induced up‐regulation of spinal pro‐inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin‐1β, interleukin‐6, and tumor necrosis factor‐α. Conversely, intrathecal injection of the TLR3 agonist polyinosine–polycytidylic acid induced behavioral, morphological, and biochemical changes similar to those observed after nerve injury. Indeed, TLR3‐deficient mice did not develop tactile allodynia after nerve injury or polyinosine–polycytidylic acid injection. Our results indicate that TLR3 has a substantial role in the activation of spinal glial cells and the development of tactile allodynia after nerve injury. Thus, blocking TLR3 in the spinal glial cells might provide a fruitful strategy for treating neuropathic pain.
Intra‐session repeatability of FET and FEV6 in the general population
Authors: Kainu Annette , Lindqvist Ari , Sarna Seppo , Sovijärvi Anssi 
Published: March 2008

SummaryBackground:  The recent American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society spirometry guidelines harmonized quality criteria and included assessment of forced expiratory time (FET) in bronchodilation testing when an isolated significant forced vital capacity (FVC) bronchodilation effect is observed. No consensus exists on the criteria of accepted variability of FET. Forced expiratory volume in 6 s (FEV6) has been suggested to replace FVC, especially in primary care. We examined the variability of FET and FEV6 and its determinants in the general population.Methods:  We studied the results of acceptable flow‐volume measurements from a general population sample of 603 subjects aged 25–74 years. Intra‐class correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficients of variation (CoV), absolute and relative differences of FET, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), FEV6 and FVC from the three acceptable curves were calculated.Results:  FET had a mean CoV of 11·3% and ICC of 0·873. The average CoV and ICC for FEV1, FVC and FEV6 were 1·4% and 0·996, respectively. The 95th percentile of FET difference was 2·7 s. Older age was associated with slightly higher variability. Reproducibility of FET (CoV 10·6%) was better, that of both FEV6 (1·5%) and FVC (1·7%) slightly worse, in subjects with airflow limitation (FEV1/FVC < 88% predicted).Conclusions:  Intra‐session variability of FET was eightfold compared with other flow‐volume variables. Variability of FEV1, FEV6 and FVC were similar. The findings suggest that the upper limit of intra‐session repeatability of FET is around 3·0 s. In subjects with airflow limitation FEV6 was slightly but not significantly less variable than FVC.
Hyperaemic blood‐flow velocities in systole and diastole relate to coronary risk in divergent ways
Authors: Järhult Susann J. , Hall Jan , Lind Lars 
Published: March 2008

SummaryBackground:  A recent study suggested blood‐flow velocity in diastole during reactive hyperaemia as a major driver of flow‐mediated vasodilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, also being related to cardiovascular risk factors. The present study aimed to investigate the relative importance of hyperaemic systolic and diastolic blood‐flow velocity in the forearm regarding both FMD and cardiovascular risk factors.Methods:  In the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors study, conducted in 1016 subjects aged 70 years, FMD, systolic and diastolic blood hyperaemic flow velocities in the brachial artery were evaluated by ultrasound.Results:  Hyperaemic blood‐flow velocity both in systole and diastole were related to FMD (r = 0·14–0·19, P<0·0001). However, while hyperaemic systolic blood‐flow velocity was related to coronary risk (Framingham risk score) in a positive way (r = 0·08, P = 0·013), diastolic blood‐flow velocity was inversely related to coronary risk (r = −0·08, P = 0·016). Therefore, the systolic to diastolic hyperaemic blood‐flow velocity ratio was more powerful related to coronary risk (r = 0·23, P = 0·0001). In a multiple regression model, both FMD and the systolic to diastolic hyperaemic blood‐flow velocity ratio were independent predictors of coronary risk (P = 0·018 and P = 0·0001).Conclusion:  As hyperaemic blood‐flow velocities in systole and diastole in the brachial artery were related to coronary risk in divergent ways, the ratio thereof is a promising index of vascular function providing independent information regarding coronary risk when compared with FMD.
Short‐ and Long‐Term Mortality after an Acute Illness for Elderly Whites and Blacks
Authors: Polsky Daniel , Jha Ashish K. , Lave Judith , Pauly Mark V. , Cen Liyi , Klusaritz Heather , Chen Zhen , Volpp Kevin G. 
Published: March 2008

Objective. To estimate racial differences in mortality at 30 days and up to 2 years following a hospital admission for the elderly with common medical conditions.Data Sources. The Medicare Provider Analysis and Review File and the VA Patient Treatment File from 1998 to 2002 were used to extract patients 65 or older admitted with a principal diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, stroke, hip fracture, gastrointestinal bleeding, congestive heart failure, or pneumonia.Study Design. A retrospective analysis of risk‐adjusted mortality after hospital admission for blacks and whites by medical condition and in different hospital settings.Principal Findings. Black Medicare patients had consistently lower adjusted 30‐day mortality than white Medicare patients, but the initial survival advantage observed among blacks dissipated beyond 30 days and reversed by 2 years. For VA hospitalizations similar patterns were observed, but the initial survival advantage for blacks dissipated at a slower rate.Conclusions. Racial disparities in health are more likely to be generated in the posthospital phase of the process of care delivery rather than during the hospital stay. The slower rate of increase in relative mortality among black VA patients suggests an integrated health care delivery system like the VA may attenuate racial disparities in health.
An Overview of Patient Safety Climate in the VA
Authors: Hartmann Christine W. , Rosen Amy K. , Meterko Mark , Shokeen Priti , Zhao Shibei , Singer Sara , Falwell Alyson , Gaba David M. 
Published: March 2008

Objective. To assess variation in safety climate across VA hospitals nationally.Study Setting. Data were collected from employees at 30 VA hospitals over a 6‐month period using the Patient Safety Climate in Healthcare Organizations survey.Study Design. We sampled 100 percent of senior managers and physicians and a random 10 percent of other employees. At 10 randomly selected hospitals, we sampled an additional 100 percent of employees working in units with intrinsically higher hazards (high‐hazard units [HHUs]).Data Collection. Data were collected using an anonymous survey design.Principal Findings. We received 4,547 responses (49 percent response rate). The percent problematic response—lower percent reflecting higher levels of patient safety climate—ranged from 12.0–23.7 percent across hospitals (mean=17.5 percent). Differences in safety climate emerged by management level, clinician status, and workgroup. Supervisors and front‐line staff reported lower levels of safety climate than senior managers; clinician responses reflected lower levels of safety climate than those of nonclinicians; and responses of employees in HHUs reflected lower levels of safety climate than those of workers in other areas.Conclusions. This is the first systematic study of patient safety climate in VA hospitals. Findings indicate an overall positive safety climate across the VA, but there is room for improvement.
Ownership Conversions and Nursing Home Performance
Authors: Grabowski David C. , Stevenson David G. 
Published: March 2008

Objective. To examine the effects of ownership conversions on nursing home performance.Data Source. Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting system data from 1993 to 2004, and the Minimum Data Set (MDS) facility reports from 1998 to 2004.Study Design. Regression specification incorporating facility fixed effects, with terms to identify trends in the pre‐ and postconversion periods.Principal Findings. The annual rate of nursing home conversions almost tripled between 1994 and 2004. Our regression results indicate converting facilities are generally different throughout the pre/postconversion years, suggesting little causal effect of ownership conversions on nursing home performance. Before and after conversion, nursing homes converting from nonprofit to for‐profit status generally exhibit deterioration in their performance, while nursing homes converting from for‐profit to nonprofit status generally exhibit improvement.Conclusions. Policy makers have expressed concern regarding the implications of ownership conversions for nursing home performance. Our results imply that regulators and policy makers should not only monitor the outcomes of nursing home conversions, but also the targets of these conversions.