Resource Management and Geography - Theses
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ItemLabour restructuring and the growth of casual employment in Australia, 1982-1996( 1998)This thesis examines the expansion of casual employment in Australia since the early 1980s. It investigates the important phenomenon of casualisation, ie the increase in the proportion of employees who are employed under a casual contract of employment. ABS data suggest that the proportion of employees who are casual employees (in their main job) rose sharply from 13.3 per cent in 1982 to 26.1 per cent in 1996. Casualisation is a central element of contemporary labour restructuring in Australia, with significant implications for the employees directly involved, other workers, employers, trade unions and policy-makers. In spite of its importance, it is, however, neglected in social science research. Casual employment is the main form of non-permanent waged work in Australia. It is an unusual phenomenon, without an easily recognisable counterpart in other advanced capitalist societies, where non-permanent waged work, ie 'temporary' employment, is more likely to take the form of fixed-term contracts. The thesis is both a theoretical and an empirical study. It appropriates and develops several theoretical concepts to use in the investigation of casualisation in Australia. In order to assist in delineating the main features of casual employment and casualisation, it develops and deploys a comparative perspective. After reviewing the extensive literature on temporary employment in other advanced capitalist societies, the thesis argues that casual employment, like temporary employment in many European countries, can be understood as situated within the gaps in the system of protective regulation, including a gap associated with special rules and special exemptions. It is the distinctive form of labour regulation in Australia that is largely responsible for the distinctive features of casual employment. The empirical component of the thesis describes and starts to explain the phenomenon of casualisation. It builds up a detailed descriptive profile of the expansion of casual employment, drawing primarily on aggregate ABS data. This starts with a description of the labour regulations that structure the casual employment contract. In addition, it includes description of the steady expansion of casual employment since the early 1980s, the (changing) distribution of casual employees in the employment structure, the characteristics of casual employees (according to age, sex and ethnicity), and the conditions of casual employment. The thesis also examines the causes of casualisation. It focuses on employer calculations and choices, and points to the way in which casual employment, where it is available to employers, can offer advantages in terms of cheaper labour costs, greater ease of dismissal, ability to match labour-time to fluctuations in workload, administrative convenience, and enhanced control. It suggests that the expansion of casual employment can be viewed as the product of a combination of factors, including shifts in the relative advantages of casual employment, in product market imperatives, in employer power, and in employer perceptions.
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Item'It's in your hands': an assessment of the Australian Landcare movement( 1995)Australia's 'Landcare' program is a community-based, participatory program, established by Government, to tackle the problem of land degradation. It has been hailed by some, as the most imaginative sustainable development policy anywhere in the world. There have been many studies which have sought to measure the success of Landcare, using quantitative indicators such as the number of Landcare groups. This thesis seeks to devise alternative ways for Landcare to be assessed and thought about. It focuses upon the practice of Landcare in one particular region of Victoria: a practice which is formed out of the complex interaction of state policy, community aspirations and capabilities and the broader political and economic context. At a theoretical level, this thesis is informed by several areas of the academic literature. In particular, the role of the state apparatus in environmental management, the environment and political economy, and theories of ideology. These theoretical arguments are elaborated in several ways: through a detailed review of the emergence of Landcare as policy, both in Victoria and at a Federal level; through consideration of the complex bureaucratic arrangements which have grown around Landcare; and through a case study. The case study draws upon the experience of Landcare by farmers on the Dundas Tablelands in Victoria's Western District. Through participant observation and in-depth interviewing across seven Landcare groups, some insight is offered into the practice of Landcare in a local setting, for example: the ways in which government rhetoric about Landcare is enacted at the local level; the way in which the Landcare bureaucracy works with, or against, the program; and the way in which funding arrangements contribute to Landcare's effect on-the-ground. The case study draws upon the experience of Landcare by farmers on the Dundas Tablelands in Victoria's Western District. Through participant observation and in-depth interviewing across seven Landcare groups, some insight is offered into the practice of Landcare in a local setting, for example: the ways in which government rhetoric about Landcare is enacted at the local level; the way in which the Landcare bureaucracy works with, or against, the program; and the way in which funding arrangements contribute to Landcare's effect on-the-ground. It is argued that without an improved understanding of its limitations, the Landcare program is unlikely to succeed in the long-term. In the meantime, there are indications that calls for the expansion of Landcare may be to the detriment of the program’s original objective, which was to ensure more sustainable use of agricultural land in Australia. Renewed consideration is urged, of the ways in which Landcare's 'success' is measured.