Spatially Disaggregated Modelling of Voting Outcomes and Socio‐Economic Characteristics at the 2001 Australian Federal Election

This study uses GIS and spatial modelling to relate voting outcomes at the 2001 federal election for polling booths across Australia with the socio‐economic characteristics of polling booth catchment areas. The data and analysis used are more detailed and comprehensive than previous studies. It is conducted at a fine level of spatial disaggregation across the whole nation to examine voting outcomes for both major and minor political parties. Because the aim of the paper is to distinguish voting outcomes between political parties rather than to predict voting outcomes for particular political parties, a discriminant analysis is used rather than regression analysis. The statistical discriminant analysis identifies two main socio‐economic dimensions that are able to predict polling booth outcomes with a relatively high degree of accuracy. That analysis shows how, at the 2001 federal election, the middle ground, in terms of socio‐economic characteristics, was being claimed by the Liberal Party, Country Liberal Party, The Greens, and, to a lesser extent, by the Australian Labor Party. However, the Australian Democrats, National Party and One Nation had more distinctive constituencies, with the National Party and One Nation Party competing for areas with similar socio‐economic characteristics. Using GIS mapping tools, examples of actual and predicted polling booth voting outcomes are given, along with selected socio‐economic characteristics of booth catchments.     

Re‐sampling for Soil‐caesium‐137 to Assess Soil Losses after a 19‐year Interval in a Hunter Valley Vineyard,New South Wales,Australia

Soils in a lower Hunter valley vineyard, New South Wales, Australia, were sampled and analysed for caesium‐137, an indicator of soil erosion status, in 1984–1985 and 2004. From the time of the vineyard's first establishment in 1971 to 1985, estimated soil losses were 250 tonnes (equivalent to 64.2 t ha^?1 yr^?1). Re‐sampling in 2004 showed that soil losses were 48 tonnes in the 19 years since 1985, equivalent to 9.7 t ha^?1 yr^?1. The decline in erosion rates may be explained by a change in land and soil management from intensive cultivation to one of no cultivation (sod culture) in 1998, and a lower annual rainfall and fewer rain‐days per year in the period from 1986 to 2004.     

Immigrants and homelessness—at risk in Canada's outer suburbs

Homelessness is a risk for growing numbers of immigrants. Largely as a result of low incomes, newcomers are more likely than the Canadian-born to spend over 50 percent of total household income on housing costs. Many newcomers suffer 'hidden homelessness'. They do not use shelters and other services, but share accommodation, couch-surf and rely on their social contacts for temporary and precarious housing. The adverse impact of low incomes on the housing experiences of Canadian newcomers is exacerbated in the outer suburbs of metropolitan areas where the supply of affordable housing is limited. This study explores the social backgrounds and housing experiences of immigrant households that are vulnerable to homelessness in outer suburbs through analysis of special tabulations from the 2001 census for York Region and interviews with representatives from local community organisations serving immigrant and low-income populations. The initial findings confirm that a high proportion of newcomers in York Region are at-risk of homelessness during the first 10 years of residence in Canada. Although renters are more vulnerable than homeowners, a substantial percentage of newcomers who are homeowners pay more than 30 percent of their total income on housing costs. The shortage of affordable rental housing in the outer suburbs exacerbates the impacts of low incomes, immigration status, household size and ethnoracial identities on immigrants' housing.     

THE GRAND MENHIR BRISÉ: ITS FALL and FRACTURE

The stability of the Grand Menhir against high velocity winds, and its fall and subsequent breakage are analyzed dynamically. It is concluded that the present locations of the fragments indicate strongly that the menhir was indeed erected and that it broke on impacting with the ground. the Grand Menhir Brisé represents a unique example of breakage in which dynamical principles of solid mechanics have been found scientifically appropriate.     

THE BADBURY-SHAPWICK HOARD AND THE DATE OF THE MAIDEN CASTLE COINS FROM SIR MORTIMER WHEELER'S 1934–1937 EXCAVATIONS

Summary. Fifteen Celtic coins found during Sir Mortimer Wheeler's excavations have never been dated with precision. A hoard of similar coins, found in the vicinity of Badbury Rings hillfort gives us a yardstick for their chronology.     

And Behind the Plate … Muddy Ruel of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar

On May 27, 1929, Herold D. Ruel “was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.” ¹ The next day, the visiting New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators 12–7. Ruel walked, singled, and drove in two runs for the home team.     

Managing Neoliberal Urban Spaces: Commercial Property Development at Australian Airports

Airports are remaking Australian cities as they remake themselves as privatised enclaves of commercial entrepreneurialism. In line with overseas trends towards airport cities, all major federally leased Australian airports now derive a significant proportion of their revenue from non‐aeronautical property development. New land uses such as direct factory outlets, big‐box retailing, and even brickworks have proven most controversial. State governments, local councils, community groups, industry, and professional associations have expressed concerns about these commercial developments with statutory responsibility for development approvals vested solely in the federal government. The paper draws on the concept of ‘actually existing neoliberalism’ to interpret the making of the new market‐driven airport spaces, the controversies which have ensued, and the re‐regulatory interventions of the Commonwealth required to address community tensions. The debate about development of non‐aeronautical activities on federally leased airport land is explored through the lens of the National Aviation Policy Review. The recommendations of this Review aim to incrementally reconfigure the policy commitment to ‘light handed’ regulation but future planning conflicts seem inevitable.