The Ecology of Suicide in an Australian Metropolis: The Case of Sydney

The ecological patterns of suicide in metropolitan Sydney are described and policy recommendations made. Some inferences about the association of urbanization with suicide are suggested.     

Associations between overseas,intra-urban and internal migration dynamics in Sydney, 1976–91

Between 1976 and 1991 metropolitan Sydney experienced unprecedented internal migration losses to other states and coastal regions of New South Wales. Levels of overseas immigration were also high and housing costs increased markedly, especially between 1986 and 1991. This paper investigates spatial statistical associations between overseas in-migration rates and internal migration loss within Sydney and between housing costs in Sydney and internal migration outflows. The hypothesis was that housing cost changes and overseas migration contributed additively to migration losses from the metropolis. A complementary analysis of the relationship between migration and housing cost changes is also undertaken. There was a strong positive association between overseas in-migration and intra-urban out-migration and a strong negative spatial association between overseas in-migration and internal out-migration. In consequence, housing cost associations with internal migration loss were found, although not all were in the expected direction. There were stronger associations between housing factors and intra-urban migration. The integration of metropolitan Sydney and Australia into the ‘Pacific rim’ economy is examined with reference to wider explanations of house cost changes and migration flows.     

Socio-demographic structure of Sydney’s perimetropolitan region

The reach of cities extends well beyond the newest outer suburbs to at least the limits of commuting. Beyond the suburbs lie rural lands and urban centres which increasingly take on the function of suburbs. This peri metropolitan region has been researched from various perspectives and there has been a resurgence of interest in recent years. The paper conceptualizes processes driving change in perimetropolitan regions then, using Sydney as a case study, analyses population growth rates and internal migration patterns between 1981 and 1991. Next, a set of social and demographic variables derived from the 1986 Census is analysed to derive four key dimensions of socio-spatial structure, namely: disadvantage, rurality, socio-economic status and retirement.     

Change, continuity or cycles: The population turnaround in New South Wales

This study examines population flows from Sydney and other regions to perimetropolitan and coastal areas of New South Wales, the two main foci of the population turnaround since 1971. It uses census internal migration statistics for the five intercensal periods between 1971 and 1996, and estimated resident population statistics between 1997 and 2000. Fluctuating trends are described with respect to variations in age structures of migration flows and net migration gains by SLAs in coastal areas over time. Evidence of fluctuating trends is evaluated in relation to population structure change and local socio-economic multipliers in turnaround areas. The turnaround is far mor than a net migration gain from large metropolitan areas; it is also associated with interregional migration which avoids metropolitan areas, and which is at least in part environment- and amenity-related. The experience of some other countries, such as the USA where net migration reversals in population turn-around regions have occurred, has not been replicated in Australia. While elements of explanation for the complex cumulative causation process of the population turnaround in Australia are discussed, including the issues of fluctuating or cyclical trends, much more understanding of the economic and social factors involved is required.     

Immigration and the Changing Population of New South Wales and Sydney with Implications for Education and Health Services

The problem of economic and social support for the dependant sectors of the Australian population in the future is addressed through consideration of recent national and regional population projections in relation to dependency theory. The level of immigration required to prevent the dependent sectors growing unduly at the expense of the productive is shown to be significant and this is complicated by high unemployment, and the issue of how many immigrants that can continue to be absorbed into the workforce. The contribution of suburban development trends, with their often wasteful provision of services at the local level in the longer term, as the result of regional demographic change, is seen to exacerbate the problems at the national level.     

Social Ecology of Premature Mortality in Three Australian Cities

Variations in mortality from ischaemic heart disease and cancer in the age group 50–64 for the period 1969–1973 inclusive were found to be statistically highly significant, with the highest incidences in certain inner local government areas (LGA) and some exurban LGAs. Correlation and regression analysis were undertaken between a small number of social indicator independent variables and the dependent mortality variables. These variables represented three constructs, social isolation-housing class, crowding-density and socioeconomic status which together accounted for more than 40% of the variance in Sydney and Adelaide, but not in Melbourne, although the relationship there was still highly significant. Schematic models of factors in higher or lower disease incidence in particular areas are presented in the concluding section.     

Constructing Racism in Australia

There is a dearth of empirical evidence on the extent of racist attitudes, broadly defined, in Australia. A telephone survey of 5056 residents in Queensland and NSW examined attitudes to cultural difference, perceptions of the extent of racism, tolerance of specific groups, ideology of nation, perceptions of Anglo‐Celtic cultural privilege, and belief in racialism, racial separatism and racial hierarchy. The research was conducted within a social constructivist understanding of racisms. Racist attitudes are positively associated with age, non‐tertiary education, and to a slightly lesser extent with those who do not speak a language other than English, the Australia‐born, and with males. Anti‐Muslim sentiment is very strong, but there is also a persistence of some intolerance against Asian, Indigenous and Jewish Australians. Those who believe in racial hierarchy and separatism (old racisms) are a minority and are largely the same people who self‐identify as being prejudiced. The ‘new racisms’ of cultural intolerance, denial of Anglo‐privilege and narrow constructions of nation have a much stronger hold. Nonetheless, sociobiologically related understandings of race and nation remain linked to these new racisms. Narrow understandings of what constitutes a nation (and a community) are in tension with equally widely held liberal dispositions towards cultural diversity and dynamism. Encouragingly, most respondents recognise racism as a problem in Australian society and this is a solid basis for anti‐racism initiatives.     

Lebanese migration and settlement in Sydney,Australia

"This article outlines the evolution of Lebanese settlement in Sydney, taking an ecological perspective and reports on a social survey of two Lebanese ethnic concentrations, undertaken in 1977-78 with the assistance of the Ford-Rockefeller Foundation of New York, with 256 Lebanese persons interviewed by bilingual interviewers."