PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS IN AUSTRALIA AND SWEDEN: WELFARE POLICY AND THE COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Pharmaceutical benefits provide a stable framework within which consumers, prescribers, suppliers, pharmacists and other actors undertake transactions. The state in effect delivers a good that enhances individual autonomy. A major reason for the legitimacy enjoyed by pharmaceutical benefits in both Australia and Sweden is that these programs have strong attributes of universalism (rather than targeting). Sweden's predominantly public health system allows greater scope for pharmaceutical policy innovation. Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), while historically resilient and effective, is now wedged precariously between traditional considerations of equity and public health on the one hand, and constant pressure for increased marketisation on the other.     

EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW: THE LIMITS OF LEGAL AID AND THE COST OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

The High Court decision in the Dietrich case highlighted the perilous state of legal aid in Australia when it instructed judges to refuse to hear criminal trials when a person has no legal counsel due to inability to pay and has been denied legal aid. The decision of the High Court places pressure on the Federal Government to resolve the situation by legislating a guaranteed right of legal representation. This article discusses the inadequacies of the legal system by examining the implications of the Dietrich case. It is argued that recent government reports only provide a piecemeal approach to improving access to justice and what is needed is wider systemic change in the form of universal legal insurance. Only in this way can citizenship rights he reasserted to ensure social justice.     

WESTERN SYDNEY AND THE DESIRE FOR HOME

‘Western Sydney’ frequently figures in current debates about urban planning as exemplifying ‘the problem of urban sprawl’. In this context it is represented as the spatial articulation of the irrational desires of a wilful population to live out ‘the great Australian dream’. This paper proposes an alternative reading of the western Sydney suburban landscape to argue for a different understanding of the issues it poses for urban planners. In particular, it is argued that this landscape articulates, and should be valued as, the memories and history of people struggling to make a home for themselves in the, modern world. Attempts by urban planners, it is suggested, to ignore or marginalise this version of ‘the great Australian dream’ will inevitably lead to failure.     

GROUP DEVELOPMENT AND GRIEF THERAPY FOR NONNURTURING MOTHERS

In this paper, the authors describe and analyze an identifiable progression of verbal and emotional content which enlerged in five separate long-term group experiences of neglectful and/or abusive mothers. These processes are linked to group developmentol theory, and specific skills for intervention at each stage are suggested. The processes observed in these groups parallel those described in the literature on grief therapy. Denial, anger, and depression precede the ability to accept and cope with reality. As grieving for a missed childhood is an integral part of the treatment, these parallels are understandable. Within the nurturing environment of the group as a family surrogate, the mourning for the nonexistent idealized parent can take place, and the healing process can begin.     

DISABILITY AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT: A PREDICTION OF FAILURE AND A PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE

This article will argue that recent disability services legislation has selectively interpreted the concepts of normalisation and integration to focus on employment for people with an intellectual disability as a major policy goal. It will be contended that the nature of the contemporary labour market is such that this goal cannot be fulfilled and therefore that the aim of enhancing quality of life cannot be achieved. The article recommends an approach to the reorientation of policy which is based upon a critical analysis of the cultural position of people with disabilities. In this regard, the notion of cultural productivity is introduced as a framework within which some solutions may be found.     

THE IMPACTS OF DEREGULATION AND AGRICULTURAL RESTRUCTURING FOR RURAL AUSTRALIA

As a leader in the Cairns Group of Nations, Australia has been advancing deregulation in agri‐food trade. Successive governments have assumed that Australia would benefit from a greater deregulation of international trade because this would allow increased access to world markets for primary agricultural commodities. But regulation exists, at least in Europe, to protect the social value of the rural landscape. Australian governments, strongly influenced by economic rationalist ideology, have given insufficient consideration to the rural social landscape. Little critical reflection has taken place about whether Australia, and its farmers, would actually benefit from deregulation, or what the social impacts of this trend might be. Deregulation inevitably invokes structural adjustment, forces farmers out of agriculture, depopulates rural areas, and creates social hardship. There are also environmental ramifications. The exit of farmers from agriculture has not been as fast as was expected by economists and policy‐makers, with many farmers adapting to new situations.     

书坛新锐金洪竹

当我在《沈阳晚报》上看到‘80榜样’全国上世纪80年代优秀书法家提名展2012年6月在北京军事博物馆开幕,辽宁书坛新锐金洪竹获提名,是辽宁惟一一位参加此展览的‘80后’书家的报道时,着实吃惊不小。为此,特意向金洪竹予以求证,她只是淡淡地腼腆地一笑。金洪竹是2007年毕业于鲁迅美术学院国画系书法专业,现在师从于庄廷伟先生。她是一位不事张扬,沉静斯     

CASH,CUSTOMERS, AND CARE: THE EXPERIENCE AND MEANING OF DIFFERENTIAL PAYMENT FOR HIGH CARE PLACES IN AGED CARE FACILITIES

The introduction of new asset/income tested charges for high care residents was the 1997–98 Commonwealth government policy response to concerns about financing residential aged care. This in‐depth study of residents, families, staff and managers in three aged care facilities explores issues of equity, access and empowerment arising when some residents pay more for the same level of care and amenity. The study reports little evidence of financial contributions affecting access to high care places and the delivery of care, the potential for differential access to amenities such as single rooms linked to the extra payments, and no evidence of a sense of empowerment linked to payment of the new charges. The complexity of current financial arrangements, access to appropriate financial advice at the time of entry, and the potential for an informal two tier system in relation to the allocation of amenities are identified as developing policy issues.     

INTENSIVE ASSESSMENT FOR “INTENSIVE ASSISTANCE”: UNEMPLOYMENT,MENTAL HEALTH AND THE NEED FOR HOLISTIC ASSESSMENT OF LONG‐TERM UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE

This article will comment on recently announced changes to the Intensive Assistance (IA) program and to the Community Support Program (CSP) as they relate to the assessment of mental health and similar issues in recipients of unemployment benefits. It will be argued that proposed resources to be spent on assessment of IA clients and increased funding and numbers for the CSP are much needed alterations and should be welcomed. It will be argued that agencies assisting IA clients risk significant underestimation of mental‐health and related issues in their clients if they rely only on Centrelink's Job Seeker Classification Instrument (JSCI) as a screening tool and do not expend resources on additional professional assessment. The reasons behind failure of such issues to be easily identified in the current system include difficulty in administration of the JSCI, fear of disclosure by the client, client ignorance of their condition and its relevance to work‐ability, the lack of mental‐health expertise in private sector employment agencies and the current high cost. of purchasing professional assessment. Recently announced changes to IA and the CSP appear to allow for considerable improvements in identifying and managing these issues.