The economics of Aboriginal education
This paper analyses broad patterns in Australian Aboriginal affairs and indigenous education since colonisation. The influence of these patterns on educational initiatives over the last 20 years is explored in some detail. Discussion highlights the level of systemic bias and structural violence which continue to influence Aboriginal life chances and, by extension, educational achievement among indigenous Australians despite state and federal policies designed to enhance educational access and equity. Of particular concern is that such policies are not closely integrated with community development and appear to continue to press for assimilation rather than self‐determination. As such, indigenous education appears to intensify levels of systemic frustration in Aboriginal communities. These issues are illustrated by an analysis of educational attainments among Aboriginal students in relation to those of other Australians and government expenditure.
Australian indigenous road safety
Indigenous Australians are over-represented in road fatalities by approximately 3.5 times. Until recently, there has been a lack of research in this area, and quantification of the road safety problem has been difficult due to poor reporting of crashes and complexities with the identification of Indigenous people. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau commissioned this scoping study on behalf of a working group of the National Road Safety Strategy Panel, which is the Indigenous Road Safety Working Group. The study seeks to identify current databases and research, gaps in information, and future research requirements in Indigenous road safety. While a national Indigenous road safety strategy has not been championed, it is intended that the research outcomes will ultimately provide core information for the development and implementation of culturally sound solutions to Indigenous road safety problems in Australia. The study has involved: 1. a comprehensive literature and research review; 2. crash statistics analysis; and 3. consultation with road safety authorities and Indigenous authorities in each jurisdiction. The study also draws heavily on a recent review of Indigenous road safety in South Australia conducted by Graham Brice (2000) and consultation with members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) Injury Prevention Action Committee (a subcommittee of the ATSI Working Group of the National Public Health Partnership).
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.