A critical skills shortage has developed which threatens the ability of the agricultural sector to continue to grow and meet increasing global demand for food and fibre.On 19 September 2011 the Senate referred the following matters to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee for inquiry and report by 1 March 2012: All...

This paper provides brief background information on the origins of the Olympics and a snapshot of the development of the Games since the first modern Olympics were held in 1896. Particular reference is made to the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The achievements of Australian Olympians are also a special...

This paper provides information on a proposed bill introducing new anti-siphoning measures for Australian broadcasting. Siphoning refers to the practice used by pay television broadcasters by which they appropriate, or ‘siphon off’ certain events that have been traditionally shown on free-to-air television so that viewers who do not subscribe to their services are unable to...

This background note provides a detailed account of the issues and dynamics of the 2012 election for the Queensland Legislative Assembly, along with a summary of its outcomes. Elections for the Queensland Legislative Assembly are regulated by the Electoral Act 1992 and managed by the Electoral Commission Queensland. There are currently seven political parties formally...

Income management (IM) has applied in the Northern Territory (NT) since 2007. IM is designed to ensure that income support payments are used to pay for necessary goods and services rather than discretionary items and activities. Initially targeting Indigenous Australians living in remote and very remote communities, it has been applied across the entire NT...