A decade after the 2002 Bali Bombing a landmark study has found Australians directly affected by the terrorist attack had relatively good physical health but high rates of psychological distress with 20 percent of those in the study experiencing high levels of distress – twice the rate of the general population. The study by University of Western Sydney researchers and colleagues is one of the first in the world to examine the long term psychological impact of terrorism. The results are published today in the Medical Journal of Australia. Lead author and clinical psychologist, Garry Stevens from the University of Western Sydney’s School of Medicine says the ability to ‘make sense’ of a loved one’s death is considered a central process of grieving.
2013. The Americanisation of Australian Culture. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ironbarkresources.com/articles/guild2004americanisation.htm. [Accessed 04 May 2013]. * Four more US franchises heading to Australia.
In comparison around 50,000 people over-stayed their visa last year alone, 298,800 came with a time limited visa and 171,320 came as migrants with permanent residency. The fact is Australia only accepts 0.6% of the world’s refugees and at the current rate of refugee arrivals it would take 20 years to fill the MCG. Most of the people that seek asylum in Australia are from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and China. Raj, a Sri Lankan Tamil man fled his home in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka because he says ‘the island is a living hell for the 3.8 million Tamils who live there’. ''The situation in Sri Lanka is still dangerous.
Indigenous young people died at a rate 2.5 times as high as that for non-Indigenous young people Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–14 years died at more than twice the rate of non-Indigenous children. For Indigenous children aged 5–14 years, external causes were the leading cause of death between 2003 and 2007—3 times the rate for nonIndigenous children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2011 p. ix-x) Sociology can help us answer some of the questions as to why this is still an issue in contemporary Australia. It can provide us with a better understanding of culture and human behaviour within societies. C. Wright Mills believed in order to understand these societies one must first develop ‘social imagination’ - a methodology which guides sociological practice. One of the three elements that comprise this methodology is: Seeing the strange in the familiar.
This law requires commercial free-to-air licensees to broadcast an annual minimum 55% of Australian programming between 6am to midnight. This standard demonstrates the change of television content within our society, with the standard’s objective of emerging and reflecting a sense of Australian identity, cultural diversity, and supporting Australian programs. In 2009, television content took another change within Australia, when the introduction of new digital channels occurred. Broadcasters introduced new digital channels such as One, Go, 7Mate and ABC2. With these channels requiring no local content requirements, Australian content plummeted from 52% to 38% in just three years across all the free-to-air networks.
There are many reasons for changes in family size over the past 100 years. Family size has been changing in all of the world’s industrial societies. One of the main reasons of changes in family size is that divorce rates have increased dramatically. This can be seen by figures showing that in 1950, there were 40,000 divorces across England and Wales and in 2005 there 153,399 across the same area. The increase in divorce has led to more reconstituted families, singlehood and single parenthood, therefore the family size has generally decreased apart from in cases where reconstituted families have been formed.
The same case also occurred in Australia. More than 66,000 foreigners were allowed to work there as long as they were capable through it. Moreover, Australia gives the immigrants chance to be permanent residents after stay up for four years (Lebrain 2009). If the number of immigrants as much as this, no wonder if indigenous peoples’ job were taken by the qualified immigrants. Furthermore, Dustmann, Frattini and Preston studies were also stated that every immigrant’s wages increasing for 1%, there was a decrease for 0.3% for the native people (Dustmann, Frattini, Preston, 2014).
Youth homelessness The problem of homelessness is a serious issue in Australia. The Australian Human Rights Commission (2006) says that “homelessness is defined under Australian federal law as ‘inadequate access to safe and secure housing’.” According to the ABS (2011), the number of homeless people was 89,728 and 105,237 in 2006 and 2011 respectively. As can be seen from the statistics, the number of homeless people rose by approximately 17% during those five years. The homeless were classified into several main groups, youth, women and people with mental illness. Youth homelessness is a focus group, and they should get more attention.
(Homelessness in Australia, Factsheet: General Overview) (2011). Homelessness remains a particular problem among Australia's Indigenous people, who are over represented in their use of homeless services in all states and territories (Which Way Home? 2008: 20). In 2008 the Rudd Government set itself an ambitious target to ‘halve homelessness by 2020 and offer supported accommodation to all rough sleepers who need it’. (The Road Home 2008) It agreed to provide $6.1 Billion over 5 years from 2008-2009 on measures including social housing, assistance to people in the private rental market, support and accommodation for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and assistance with home purchasing.
Hey! - Is that your Aussie brother out on the street? “Each day nearly 1 in every 200 Australians is homeless, without safe, secure or affordable housing. Last year, 220,000 Australians received support from specialist homelessness services, this equates to 1 in every 100 people"[i]. Who are these people?