Economics - Theses
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ItemShop stewards in the Latrobe Valley( 1988)In Australia, industrial relations research has focused almost exclusively on the major industrial relations institutions and their role in the determination of the rules of the workplace. Local workplace industrial relations and the interaction between worker and representatives and enterprise management has been a neglected area of research. This study attempts to rectify this situation. By focusing attention on the workplace a number of important questions are raised that have not been systematically addressed in Australian industrial relations research. In particular, what, if any, is the role of shop stewards in a centralised system dominated by unions, employers and tribunals organised on a state and national basis? If there is a role for shop stewards, how does this role manifest itself in terms of the stewards’ relationships with members, fellow shop stewards, union officials and management? Finally, what factors explain variations in role perceptions, and how does the adoption of a particular role affect the behaviour of shop stewards? This thesis will address these questions. It examines in some detail the behaviour of shop stewards in the coal winning and power generation industry in the Latrobe Valley. After reviewing the existing literature, a model of shop steward behaviour is proposed based on the stewards' leadership style and orientation to unionism. This model, in conjunction with union and employment variables, is then used to analyse differences in levels of bargaining, shop-f1oor organisation and industrial action as well as stewards' relationships with members, management and their union. By utilizing a survey questionnaire, interviews and two case studies the thesis demonstrates that the shop stewards of the Latrobe Valley play a significant role in workplace industrial relations. Further, it is argued that variations in stewards' behaviour are, at least in part, explained by the stewards' orientation to unionism, their leadership style, the type of union they belong to and their place of work.
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ItemRailways and the development of Victoria, 1860-1900( 1973)This thesis attempts to assess the role of the railways in the economic development of Victoria in the nineteenth century. Although both forward and backward linkages are examined the main emphasis is on the forward linkage effects of the provision of railway services and reductions in freight rates. Considerable attention is devoted to the criteria used in formulating railway tariff policies. Throughout the nineteenth century railway managers were expected to operate the railways without incurring deficits but at the same time there were constant pressures, from both within and outside parliament, for railways to play a developmental role regardless of revenue considerations. There was no satisfactory resolution of the conflict between the rating criteria, and consequently railway rate adjustments tended to be ad hoc political responses to changing economic and social circumstances. In Victoria the railways were built and operated by the state and in a very real way they served as the instrument for the implementation of the social philosophy of the community. This was particularly so in regard to the development of agriculture and the railways were an essential complement to the land legislation which aimed at settling a considerable agricultural population in the countryside. Not only did the railways provide the essential transport infrastructure for an export orientated economy, but the extension of lines and downward adjustments of freight rates helped agriculture to remain viable during a long period of falling prices and declining yields. The railways exercised a considerable influence over the geographical pattern of economic activity in Victoria. In particular the differential rating system stimulated the growth of processing industries and commercial activity in Melbourne to the detriment of the inland towns. Preferential rates were used to attract the Riverina trade to Melbourne and in some cases were consciously used to favour metropolitan over provincial manufacturers. By providing an efficient and cheap transport system which served nearly every part of the colony the Victorian railways played an indispensible role in the economic development of Victoria in the nineteenth century. Railway investment and rating policies served the economic and social aspirations of the people then and provided the basis for further continuing development.
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ItemFeasibility analysis for property development( 1989)The success of property developers and investors in property is significantly predicated by accurate feasibility analysis of development projects. Initially, this report refines the method of feasibility analysis currently used by Lend Lease Development (VIC). The refined lump sum profit feasibility analysis is then compared with the net present value analysis, and found to be inferior. This is particularly apparent when delays at the commencement or during the development occur. This report proposes that even after refinement the current feasibility package may inaccurately forecast development profits. In its place I recommend net present value analysis of development projects and the consideration of numerous qualitative influences. The data used to draw the above mentioned conclusions in this report comes from three recently completed developments by Lend Lease Development (VIC), in three building sectors.
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ItemWardley v. Ansett: an examination and analysis of a leading and influential equal opportunity case( 1987)The aim of this paper is to examine Deborah Wardley's lengthy and costly struggle to become a trainee pilot with Ansett Airlines. This struggle began in February 1976 when Deborah (then) Lawrie lodged an application with Ansett. Ansett finally offered her employment some 3 1/2 years later after the company had been found guilty of discriminating against her on the basis of her sex and were ordered to accept her as a trainee. The protracted legal battles continued however and over 4 years elapsed before Mrs. Wardley's trainee position was secured. The examination constitutes a chronicle of the facts as well as the judicial aspects of the dispute from the attempts at conciliation by the Victorian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity through proceedings at the Equal Opportunity Board, the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia. At the time of the complaint by Miss Lawrie, the Equal Opportunity Act was in its infancy and the Ansett/Wardley case was the first Victorian Equal Opportunity matter to be heard by the judicial system. The examination also includes a range of ancilliary issues that impacted on the case which, together with the legal precedents set by the case, have had important consequences on community and employer attitudes to equal employment opportunity generally and sex discrimination in particular. These ancilliary issues include the media/public attention given to the case, the involvement of women's groups, the particular attitudes and tactics adopted by Sir Reginald Ansett and his company and the personal characteristics of Mrs. Wardley herself. The examination concludes with an analysis of the case, and the key factors that made it unique and of historical importance. Moreover, the peculiar characteristics of the case raise important issues about the effectiveness of equal opportunity legislation in eliminating sex discrimination in employment.
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ItemThe growth and development of the Commissioners' Savings Banks in Victoria 1875-1900( 1973)I have chosen the years 1875-1900 in the history of the Commissioners’ Saving Banks in Victoria (forerunners of the State Savings Bank) because this short span contained so many momentous events in Australian banking history, and it is tempting to fit the institution into the overall picture, but also because it embraced the second major period of expansion of the network of offices, and saw a dramatic change in the role and function of the Savings Bank. The previous period of expansion had occurred largely as the result of the discovery of gold in the 1850s and the need for saving facilities in country districts. It had come to an end because of the Commissioners’ inability to satisfy the requests for further Savings Banks with the limited resources at their disposal. This inability led them to suggest the establishment of post office savings bank facilities, with the expectation, it has been claimed that these new offices be entrusted to their supervision. This was not to be so but the commissioners nevertheless welcomed the new system as providing a satisfactory means of reaching the small saver in all the settled areas of the colony and relieving them of the costly obligation of opening further offices. From 1862 until 1879, therefore, no addition to the existing network of Banks was contemplated and this period quite clearly separates and defines the two periods of expansion. The second expansionary phase, with which we are about to deal, was a largely metropolitan one and therefore entirely different from its predecessor. It was essentially part of that remarkable period in Victorian economic history, the 1880s and 1890s, during which there was so much expansion in Melbourne in the fields of construction and public transport, but also in the realms of finance. Much has been written about the various other financial organisations that grew and proliferated as a result of the very extensive overseas borrowing and the buoyancy of the export market for the colony’s staples, but the savings banks have largely been neglected. This is surprising for they were well established in eastern Australia before the 1880s and played a not insignificant role in the events of the two decades prior to 1900. In Melbourne, particularly, the path pursued by the Commissioners’ Savings Banks so closely paralleled the course of economic events that it is possible to gain considerable insight into the manner in which ordinary business decision were influenced by and contributed to the cumulative optimism of the boom and, conversely, how they collectively accentuated the rigours of the ensuing depression.