Family violence homicide rates: a state-wide comparison of three data sources in Victoria, Australia

Background Family violence homicide (FVH) is a major public health and social problem in Australia. FVH trend rates are key outcomes that determine the effectiveness of current management practices and policy directions. Data source–related methodological problems affect FVH research and policy and the reliable measurement of homicide trends. Objective This study aimed to determine data reliability and temporal trends of Victorian FVH rates and sex and relationship patterns. Method FVH rates per 100,000 persons in Victoria were compared between the National Coronial Information System (NCIS), Coroners Court of Victoria (CCoV) Homicide Register, and the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP). Trends for 2001–2017 were analysed using Joinpoint regression. Crude rates were determined by sex and relationship categories using annual frequencies and Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates. Results NCIS closed FVH cases totalled 360, and an apparent downward trend in the FVH rate was identified. However, CCoV and NHMP rates trended upwards. While NCIS and CCoV were case-based, NHMP was incident-based, contributing to rate variations. The NCIS-derived trend was particularly impacted by unavailable case data, potential coding errors and entry backlog. Neither CCoV nor NHMP provided victim-age in their public domain data to enable age-adjusted rate comparison. Conclusion Current datasets have limitations for FVH trend determination; most notably lag times for NCIS data. Implications This study identified an indicative upward trend in FVH rates in Victoria, suggesting insufficiency of current management and policy settings for its prevention and control.

Cultural diversity in the Australian early childhood education workforce: What do we know, what don’t we know and why is it important?

This paper reviews current literature and research relevant to the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Early Childhood Education (ECE) workforce in Australia, including data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Australia is a highly multicultural society, with one out of every three people born overseas. Anecdotally, the Australian early childhood sector is reported to have a highly multicultural workforce. Yet there is a noticeable lack of data and research concerning cultural diversity in the Australian ECE workforce. This paper reports on the data from the ABS-Census of Population and Housing (ABS-Census), the small body of literature on the CALD ECE workforce and literature pertaining to CALD in other Australian workforces to argue that more data and research is needed. Developing a richer understanding of the status, experience and contributions of CALD educators would enable the sector to recognise and support the potential benefits of such a workforce for children and families and social cohesion in Australia.

Study on End-of-Life Tires (ELTs) Recycling Strategy and Applications

Due to modernization and urbanization, the number of vehicles on the road has been increased. Around 3 billion tires have been sold, and an equivalent number of tires have been discarded each year. Even though the lifetime of the tires has been increased but according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of end-of-life tires is going to rise approximately 5 billion in a year. Its complex composition, make it the most tricky and difficult waste in the world to handle. Because it creates significant health and environmental problem by emitting harmful chemicals in the environment, working as a birthplace for pests, and prone to fire hazards. Recycling waste tires can add economical value also creating a sustainable way to dispose of them. This paper presents different recycling strategies and civil engineering applications of end-of-life tires. Reduction, reuse, recovery, and recycling have been applied. Application of waste tire as reinforcing layers in landfill, road pavement, drainage system, fuel source in the kiln, playground surface makes it an ideal material for affordable, medium-density, low-rise buildings that are highly valued worldwide. Moreover, the sound insulation and absorption with enhanced seismic resilience properties of the end-of-life tire can provide novel and effective engineering solutions.

Migrant residential concentrations and socio-economic disadvantage in two Australian gateway cities

This article explores the relationship of residential concentrations of non-Anglophone migrants with socio-economic disadvantage at the suburb (SA2) level. We look at two main Australian gateway cities, Sydney and Melbourne. We use the ‘person-counts’ of the latest available (2016) Australian Census data, matching them with the socio-economic data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics ‘socio-economic indexes for areas’ (SEIFA). Our analysis shows that despite decades of careful filtering of migrants for skills and language, socio-economic disadvantage in migrant concentrations persists in the main gateway cities, being more pronounced in Melbourne than in Sydney. The article employs an original quantitative analysis in order to advance the understanding of relationship between ethnicity, socio-economic position and residential location. We seek to contribute to the ongoing scholarly and policy debate about migrant concentration areas in large immigrant-receiving cities.

Is Tourism and Energy Consumption Linked? Evidence from Australia

Tourism contributes to the growth of an economy via earning foreign currencies and employment opportunities. However, tourism also contributes to greater energy consumption because of various tourist activities such as hotel accommodations and transportation. This study investigates the long-term cointegrating relationship between international tourist arrivals and primary energy consumption in Australia. In addition, the roles of gross domestic product, gross fixed capital formation, financial development, and total population on energy consumption are also examined. The study covered the last four decades (1976–2018) using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, BP Statistical Review, and the World Development Indicators. Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Phillips-Perron, Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound tests, Johansen and Juselius, Bayer-Hanck cointegration test, and several key diagnostic tests have been conducted to assess the relationship. The estimated results indicate that tourist arrivals, gross domestic product, and financial development have a significant long-run cointegrating relationship with energy consumption. Policy measures are suggested based on the findings of this study.

1272Patterns of multimorbidity show strong association between many chronic condition pairs

Background Many people with chronic conditions do not have a single condition: 4.9 million (20%) Australians had multimorbidity (2 or more chronic conditions) in 2017–18. Understanding which conditions co-occur can inform treatment guidelines. This study performs new analysis on Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017–18 National Health Survey data to identify conditions that commonly co-occur, and that co-occur at a higher than expected prevalence. Methods Analysis was restricted to people aged 45 and over (most people with multimorbidity). Using 10 selected chronic conditions, weighted age-adjusted estimates of observed and expected events for each combination of 2 conditions were calculated. To identify pairs of conditions that co-occurred at a higher than expected prevalence, the ratio of observed to expected prevalence was assessed using a 95% confidence interval. Results Over half of the condition pairs tested were significantly associated. The most strongly associated conditions were asthma with COPD (with co-occurrence 3.5 times as high as expected), diabetes with chronic kidney disease (2.5 times as high), and cardiovascular diseases with chronic kidney disease (2.3 times as high). Conclusions Multimorbidity is common, with many conditions co-occurring more frequently than expected by chance. Developing treatment guidelines that consider common multimorbidities would support holistic patient care. Key messages Many chronic condition pairs occur together in individuals more often than would be expected by chance. There were strong associations between asthma and COPD, diabetes and chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease.

1457Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander deaths by suicide in Australia

Background The fifth leading cause of death for Aboriginal people in Australia is suicide. These deaths are preventable, and their impact is significant for family and the wider community. This work aims to increase understanding of suicide deaths among Aboriginal people by describing these deaths by a range of factors, and identifying similarities and differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal deaths by suicide. Methods Suicide deaths in Australia from 2001 to 2019 will be identified from the National Coronial Information System database. Demographic factors, details of the deaths and geographic factors will be described, and comparisons will be made between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal deaths by suicide. Overall suicide rates by Aboriginal status and age- and sex-standardised rates per 100,000 person-years will be calculated using mid-year estimated resident population and death counts stratified by year, age, sex, and Aboriginal status from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Results The analysis for this work is currently underway and will be finalised prior to the conference. Conclusions The results of this research will provide information about sub-groups of the Aboriginal population and areas of Australia with heightened and reduced risks and rates of suicide. The findings will be interpreted with guidance from the Aboriginal Advisory Committee involved in this work. Findings will be shared with service providers, policymakers, communities, and researchers to enable improved targeting of interventions. Key messages Better understanding of Aboriginal deaths by suicide is critical to inform and improve the much-needed targeting of services and interventions.

Negative interest rate: Way to tackle inflationary housing prices

While housing affordability is on drop by the rising prices, specially in large cities, the young generation suffers from the pending independence as a result. Despite the significantly good industrial performance in the construction sector in Australia, reduced housing prices is still under burden by the middle mans and real estate brokers. Several socio-economic factors are indeed involved in the rising prices such as unequal wealth distribution, banking strategies, wages growth rate, mortgage interest rate, population growth, etc. which are being discussed in this article. Data had been collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in order to compare and analyze the effectiveness of negative interest rates on housing affordability. New financial asset classes such as cryptocurrencies had also been introduced in order to propose alternatives to the traditional investment banking which also ensures profit earning for bankers.

Incidence of idiopathic intracranial hypertension in Southern Tasmania, Australia

IntroductionAnecdotally, the incidence of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is increasing, linked to an increase in the obesity rate in Australian society. However, formal incidence and prevalence studies are rare. We therefore sought to determine the incidence and clinical features of IIH in Southern Tasmania, Australia.MethodNeurology discharge summaries and lumbar puncture referrals from the single tertiary referral centre in this region were screened for an IIH diagnosis. All regional neurologists were surveyed to capture patients diagnosed through private neurology clinics. A retrospective review of medical records was conducted to confirm the diagnosis and determine whether patients met the Modified Dandy Criteria (MDC). Patients were included if they were above the age of 18 years and received a new diagnosis of IIH between June 2016 and June 2018. Population statistics were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.ResultsIIH incidence was 5.4/100 000. All patients were females, aged between 18 and 45 years. Headache was the most commonly reported symptom, with high rates of pre-existing or concurrent migraine diagnoses. Weight loss and commencement of oral acetazolamide were the most common treatment approaches. Four patients were medically refractory and required surgical intervention.ConclusionThe incidence of IIH in Southern Tasmania is comparable with the incidence reported in subgroups of females of childbearing age in recent prior studies. The demographic, diagnostic and therapeutic data presented can inform future local health service provision and serve as a baseline for ongoing assessment of change in incidence and treatment of IIH at a community level.