The Economy Listings


 

Aborigines and Diamond Mining
The politics of resource development in the East Kimberley

Dixon R A Dillon (eds) M C

University of Western Australia Press Nedlands, WA 1990
212
In 1979 an area south-west of Lake Argyle in Western Australia was found to be highly prospective for diamonds. This book includes a chronology 197983, and consists of: anthropological reports of the area's Aboriginal cultural significance; preliminary studies of the social impact of CRA's subsequent activities; and a narrative of responses by Western Australian government agencies, including the Western Australian Museum. Of greatest interest is Dixon's effort to comprehend the perspectives of the Aboriginal people who established a highly controversial deal with CRA. His compilation of their accounts of their actions (with his comments) evokes, as faithfully as anyone has dared, the complexity of Aboriginal decision-making. Includes maps and a glossary.

Internet Links: ATSIC | Native Title | CRA | A Guide to Iron Ore in WA



Adland A true story of corporate drama
Coombs Anne

William Heinemann Melbourne 1990
353
Written in a lively if occasionally superficial style, this is a record of the first year of the merger of two of Australia's leading advertising agencies, the Sydney-based Mojo and Melbourne's Monahan Dayman and Adams. Coombs reports, with relish on the events and the clashes and provides interesting profiles of main players, including well-known writer and broadcaster Phillip Adams. This is an unusually detailed and frank account of how businesses operate and what goes on among 'creative' people in the male-dominated advertising industry.

Internet Links: Advertising Association of Australian | Yahoo Australian Advertising | Australian Media Facilities Directory





Along Parallel Lines
A history of the railways of New South Wales 1850 - 1986

Gunn John

Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1989
599
Elegantly written, exhaustively researched, this is the best account of Australian railways. Although limited to New South Wales, the book is of wider interest for two reasons: the early years of rail in that colony are essentially the early years of Australian railways, and the NSW system connects directly with those of Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. Gunn traces the important role of rail in the economic and political development of the colony and, later, the state, and provides vivid accounts of debates about new lines and, more recently, closures. He quotes extensively from contemporary sources. An impressionistic account of railway history, using oral recollections, is Patsy Adam-Smith'
s When We Rode the Rails (Lansdowne, Sydney, 1983, 247p).David Burke's Making the Railways (State Library of New South Wales/State Rail Authority of NSW, Sydney, 1995, 262p) is a celebratory, but well-researched and engaging account of the New South Wales railway system, with an emphasis on the human face of that system.

Internet Links: State Library of NSW | State Rail Authority of NSW | National Rail Corporation





Australia and the World Economy
Lougheed Alan L

McPhee Gribble Fitzroy, Vic 1988
81
Lougheed, a specialist in the developing international economy, provides a concise overview of the trends and major events in Australia's trading relations with the rest of the world. He identifies an over-reliance on a small range of exports, a long-term decline in the relative price of our exports, and instability in supply and demand. The author's policy views contrast with those of Francis G Castles, for example in his
Economic Vulnerability and Public Policy (A&U, North Sydney, 1988, 184p). Seventeen tables and figures illustrate the main trends.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Australia in the International Economy
In the twentieth century

Dyster Barrie Meredith David

Cambridge University Press Melbourne and Cambridge 1990
378
Although it is primarily a tertiary textbook, this history provides a useful overview of the ways in which Australia interacts, in economic terms, with the rest of the world. Dyster and Meredith trace the pattern of foreign investment, exports and imports, immigration, and policies to protect local industries from, 1788 to the present. The text is supplemented by tables, charts and illustrations.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Australia's Foreign Debt
Myths and realities

Pitchford John

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1990
128
Professor Pitchford's view, much-discussed in the business press in the late 1980s, is that in an era of floating exchange rates governments should not attempt to tackle the foreign debt problem directly through macroeconomic policies. He argues that the record shows these attempts to be futile, indeed counterproductive. Most debt is a result of borrowing for investment by the private sector and should 'by definition' be repayable out of the income generated by that investment. Although few economists accept this argument in its entirety, it has contributed to the reassessment of economic policy over the past few years.

Internet Links: Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury | Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Dept | Foreign Investment Review Board





Australian Coastal Shipping
Pemberton Barry

Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1979
345
This book presents a description of the growth and location of Australian coastal and overseas shipping, providing information about the ships and shipowners of each trade, what cargo they carried, the routes they followed and when they finished. Arranged first by region, then by type of shipping, it discusses interstate passenger shipping, interstate cargo, and shipping and overseas trade, as well as shipping in defence and auxiliary services. Copiously illustrated with photographs and line drawings, and an appendix listing Australian-owned and operated steamers and motor vessels, the book provides a comprehensive record of the importance of coastal shipping in Australia's recent past.

Internet Links: Living on the Coast - Australia's Coastal Policy | Australian Shipping and Stevedoring | Department of Industry Science and Tourism





Australian Economic Terms
Noble C E

Longman Camberwell, Vic 1971
176
In a world increasingly dominated by economic jargon, this is a useful if sometimes opinion-laden guide to the terminology. On 'protection', for example, Noble is as anxious to castigate its proponents as to explain its meaning. Aimed at secondary, TAFE and tertiary students, each edition of this alphabetical guide is comprehensively updated and includes lists of symbols and abbreviations commonly used by economists. A fourth edition was published by Longman Cheshire in 1991.

Internet Links: Australian economics | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Basis of the Bargain, The
Gender, schooling and jobs

O'Donnell Carol

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1984
186
O'Donnell traces the roles of women in the Australian labour market from World War II to the early 1980s, and discusses women's place in the contemporary workforce. She examines trends in conditions, responsibility status, and promotion prospects in four main areas of employment the NSW teaching service, the NSW Public Service, the clothing industry and retail sales and analyses the reasons for inequalities between the sexes in the workforce. She concludes with a summary of forces shaping the labour market, the power of particular groups to enhance their conditions of work, and an examination of the role of education in the pursuit of equality and equal opportunity.

Internet Links: Centre For Economic Education - Index | Internet Resources for teachers of economics | Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE





Brittle Rim, The
Finance, business and the Pacific region

Daly M T Logan M I

Penguin Ringwood, Vic 1989
270
Against the accepted view, Daly and Logan argue that the spectacular success of the AsiaPacific region became less certain in the late 1980s. Now, the region is 'a much more varied and problematical set of nations' and changes in other parts of the world are shifting the balance of world growth. The authors marshal an enormous number of statistics as they trace the development of the region since financial deregulation started in the 1970s. Drawing on interviews with government officials and bankers in the region, they concentrate on the role of the banks, and point to the implications of the region's fortunes for Australia.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury | The Business Information Library | CNN Financial News - Asia | Asia Pacific Economic Review Home Page





Bull, the Bear and the Kangaroo, The
The history of the Sydney stock exchange

Salsbury Stephen Sweeney Kay

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1988
522
Stock exchanges have evolved from small, fairly simple operations to large bureaucracies, for most of their history virtually free of government regulation. They now occupy a central role in the financial sector. This meticulous history of the Sydney exchange incorporates material on its counterparts in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. After tracing the genesis of the exchange back to the first share trading in 1817, it shows how the organisation has operated since its creation in 1871, and provides an insight into various noted share-dealing cases, including the Poseidon affair of the late 1960s. Salsbury and Sweeney have compiled a companion volume,
Sydney Stockbrokers: Biographies of members of the Sydney stock exchange 1871 to 1987 (Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1992, 466p).

Internet Links: Australian Stock Exchange | Sydney Futures Exchange





Business Mates
The power and politics of the Hawke era

McEachern Doug

Prentice Hall Sydney 1991
176
One of the notable features of the federal Hawke Labor government (198391) was its relationship with sections of the business community. McEachern looks at both the broad picture the impact on profitability of government policies and the day-to-day detail of friendships and negotiations between government ministers and business leaders. He traces the rise of a counter movement the ill-fated 'Joh for PM' campaign and maps the role of business in the Liberal Party.

Internet Links: History of Australia - Robert James Lee Hawke | Australian Labor Party | Liberal Party





CCH Macquarie Dictionary of Business, The
CCH Australia North Ryde, NSW 1993
9
With 9400 entries, this dictionary covers matters including company and securities law, accounting, finance, management, taxation, insurance, marketing, employment, occupational health and safety, and industrial relations, and defines selected terms from computing and communications. Thoroughly cross-referenced, this book has been published simultaneously in several editions priced for businesses, libraries and students. Companion volumes on law, accounting, occupational health, and employment and industrial relations are available.

Internet Links: The Business Information Library | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Citizenship and Employment
Investigating post-industrial options

Pixley Jocelyn

Cambridge University Press Melbourne and Cambridge 1993
346
Published in a period of relatively high unemployment, this book examines the arguments for alternatives to paid employment (guaranteed income schemes, communes, etc) and concludes that these options potentially undermine citizen rights. Pixley's starting point is schemes of the type proposed by former prime minister R J Hawke, who suggested that unemployed youths should be given work opportunities in Israeli-style communes. She argues that paid work underpins citizenship, and supports government policies that recognise and support the opportunity for all adults to obtain work. Pixley also surveys a variety of alternative income support and work schemes proposed in different Western nations, and discusses the escalating level of 'acceptable' unemployment. Although this is a long and detailed book, it raises significant economic and social policy issues.

Internet Links: Australia in brief - immigration and citizenship | Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights





Class Apart?, A
Businessmen and Australian politics 1960-1980

Tsokhas Kosmas

Oxford University Press Melbourne 1984
214
Although too detailed for many readers, this is a original attempt to map the relationships between different sectors of Australian industry manufacturing, pastoral, mining and banking and the federal government. Tsokhas concentrates on the role of the 'peak' industry organisations (for example, the Australian Woolgrowers and Graziers Council) in pressing the claims of its constituents. He examines the role of tripartite (business/union/government) bodies and looks at policy issues, including the exchange rate, tariffs, tax and foreign investment. Tsokhas offers some revealing insights on the dynamics of interactions between industry and government.

Internet Links: Department of Industry Science and Tourism | ACTU | Australian Business Organisations





Defeat of Distance, The
Qantas 1919 - 1939

Gunn John

University of Queensland Press St Lucia, Qld 1985
416
This opening volume of a three-volume history of Qantas covers the years 191939, the first decades of the development of what was to become Australia's government-owned international airline. Volume 2
, Challenging Horizons: Qantas 193954 (UQP, St Lucia, Qld, 1987, 448 pp), includes the difficult war years, and the expansion of Pacific routes. The third volume, High Corridors: Qantas 195470 (UQP, St Lucia, Qld, 1988, 484 pp), traces the shift in decision-making power away from staff in favour of boardroom and federal cabinet, and conflict between these two bodies over foreign trade and policy questions. John Gunn is a writer and aviation consultant. From the Dawn of Aviation: The Qantas story 19201995 (Focus Publishing, Double Bay, NSW, 1995, 224pp) is a large-format commissioned history written by John Stackhouse to celebrate the airline's first 75 years.Particularly interesting are the full colour reproductions of the QANTAS posters, including a doublespread featuring the cross section of a flying boat. In 1996 the Qantas Foundation produced an attractive memorial book set in facsimile of five classics on the airline. The set includesFront- Line Airline by E.Bennett-Bremner(Angus &Robertson,Melbourne,1944; facsimile edition, Qantas Foundation Book Set, Longreach,193p); Hudson Fysh's Taming the North (Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1933 and 1950; facsimile edition, 267pQantas Rising (Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1965; facsimile edition, 296p)Qantas at War (Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1968; facsimile edition, 244p) and Wings to the World (Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1970; facsimile edition, 236p)

Internet Links: Aviation History of Australia | air affairs | QANTAS | Ansett Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority





Economics and the Dreamtime
A hypothetical history

Butlin N G

Cambridge University Press Melbourne and Cambridge 1993
272
A sequel to
Our Original Aggression , this book goes back to the last Ice Age (beginning 115120,000 years ago) to canvass some models and pathways of human migration to 'Australia' in pursuit of 'recognised production possibilities' here. Butlin then synthesises research on the shape and process of pre-contact Aboriginal society, emphasising that there was no distinct 'economic' sphere of life and that Aboriginal culture was a means to pass on adaptive responses to the demands of ecologically different regions. After reiterating his argument about the importance of epidemics, Butlin then describes the frontiers of settlement, up to 1850, as a series of mini-economies in which different kinds of settler enterprise developed different kinds of interest in the preservation or destruction of what remained of the indigenous population. As much a contribution to the theory of economic history (testing the limits of homo economicus) as a book about colonisation.

Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies





Emigrant Ships to Luxury Liners
Passenger ships to Australia and New Zealand 1945 - 1990

Plowman Peter

University of New South Wales Press Kensington, NSW 1992
296
Rather than present a narrative history of this facet of Australia's transport system, Plowman offers short (300800 word) histories of more than 200 individual vessels. Included in each entry are details of construction, tonnage, size, speed and propulsion, together with a photograph (mostly monochrome) and details of voyages to Australia and New Zealand. A short introduction includes figures on postwar migration numbers.

Internet Links: Australian Shipping and Stevedoring | Department of Industry Science and Tourism | Australasian Ships and Ports





Farming of Australia, The
Bromby Robin

Doubleday Sydney 1986
239
Generously illustrated, this is a celebratory popular history of agriculture in Australia since 1788. Bromby, an experienced journalist, writes a lively if necessarily sketchy history of farmers and farming, and offers some modest thoughts on future directions. An appendix lists the squatters who applied for leases under the Squatters Acts of 184647. An earlier more academic volume on the same subject is Samuel Wadham's
Australian Farming: 1788-1965 (Cheshire, Melbourne, 1967, 156p).

Internet Links: AUSFARM | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness





Flypast
A record of aviation in Australia
Parnell N M Boughton Trevor

Australian Government Publishing Service Canberra 1988
562
This well-illustrated overview of Australia's aviation history provides details of notable events and inventions of aeronautical interest, arranged chronologically from May 1843 to July 1988. It contains triumphs like Amy Johnson's solo flight between England and Australia in 1930, as well as disasters like the death of H J Hinkler in 1933 during his attempt to break the EnglandAustralia record. In addition it covers topics such as the establishment of new airlines, airports and landing drives; purchases and introduction of new aircraft; and various operations by the RAAF, including non-military operations like `Operation Pig Bristles' in 1946 which involved transporting 11,000 pounds
5 tonnes of pigs' bristles from China. The appendices give selected firsts in Australian aviation, details about notable figures, lists of scheduled internal and international air services, balloons and aircraft before 1921, and Australian military ships that have been equipped with, and operated, aircraft.

Internet Links: Aviation History of Australia | air affairs | QANTAS | Ansett Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority





Gender at Work
Game Ann Pringle Rosemary

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1983
147
Game, Pringle and co-author Helen Grace explore the relationship between gender, the labour process and technological change. They use six case studies of whitegoods, banking, retailing, computing, nursing and housework to probe changes in job design, gender divisions and status. In computing, for example, they find that gender divisions persist despite the lack of explicit sex-typing among tasks. Though this study is somewhat outdated, there is still much valuable material in the analysis of a society in change. Includes photographs by Helen Grace.

Internet Links: Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE





Gentle Invaders
Australian women at work

Ryan Edna Conlon Anne

Nelson Melbourne 1975
207
Reprinted by Penguin with a new introduction in 1989, this two-century history focuses on attitudes to working women and their fate at the hands of the wage-fixing system. Ryan and Conlon describe the British heritage and trace the emergence of distinctively Australian rules. They critically assess the pivotal 'Harvester' living wage decision of 1907, discuss the impact of two world wars, and survey the moves towards equal pay since 1951.

Internet Links: Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE





Gifthorse, The
A critical look at equal employment opportunity in Australia

Poiner Gretchen Wills Sue

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1991
144
Since 1981 equal employment opportunity (EEO) legislation has been introduced in most states and federally. Poiner and Wills argue that it has operated neither as its critics nor its supporters expected. Some women have benefited, they contend, but many have not. They look at the background to EEO, how it was steered through the bureaucracy (drawing on interviews with participants), resistance to the legislation, and its impact on various groups. Clare Burton's
The Promise and the Price (A&U, North Sydney, 1991, 198p) comes to a similar conclusion about EEO; Burton argues that organisational cultures need to change before there will be significant progress.

Internet Links: Employment Services Regulatory Authority | Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission





Gold and Paper
A history of the National Bank of Australasia Ltd

Blainey Geoffrey

Georgian House Melbourne 1958
443
One of several detailed histories of banking in Australia, this is a superbly written, sympathetic account of the development of the National Bank since 1858. Blainey chronicles the impact of the boom of the 1880s, the recession of the 1890s, the Great War and the dropping of the gold standard, the 1930s depression and World War II, and provides useful insights into the operations of the bank. The 1983 edition (Macmillan, South Melbourne, 369p) includes new chapters by journalist Geoffrey Hutton, bringing the story up to 1982 when the bank took over the Commercial Bank of Australia. Hutton outlines the impact of technological change, the bank's overseas ambitions, changing economic circumstances and the beginnings of dramatic reforms in financial regulations. Other bank histories include S J Butlin's
Australia and New Zealand Bank (Longman, London, 1961, 459p) and R F Holder's two-volume history of what is now the Westpac Bank, Bank of New South Wales: A history 1817-1970 (A&R, Sydney, 1970, 985p).

Internet Links: Westpac | National Bank | Commonwealth Bank | Reserve Bank of Australia




Golden Mile, The
Blainey Geoffrey

Allen & Unwin/Rathdowne St Leonards, NSW 1993
184
Despite his sometimes controversial views on contemporary issues, Blainey continues to produce finely crafted histories. In keeping with many of his books, this is economic history with a detectable but not overwhelming bias towards business. Australia's most productive goldfield, Kalgoorlie, has been worked for 100 years, and Blainey describes the discoveries, mines and companies as well as the region's infrastructure and the political and economic context for the mining operations.

Internet Links: Australian Mineral Foundation | Mining and Exploration | Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO)





Government and Capitalism
Public and private choice in twentieth century Australia

Butlin N G Barnard A

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1982
380
This book traces the interaction of government and the private sector since federation, focusing on regulation and allocative policy, social policy, and public enterprises. Based on a major academic research program, this is a useful survey up to 1975. Contrary to the publisher's 'blurb', the authors conclude that no single trend emerges from the statistics; some areas of government have grown in relative terms, others have declined. Co-author Butlin was a major figure in Australian economic history over the past three decades. Among his other important books on the Australian economy is his seminal
Investment in Economic Growth 18601890 (Dept of Economic History, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, 1972, 477pp). First published by Cambridge University Press in 1964, this is an influential and comprehensive study of the role of investment, particularly government, in the development of the Australian economy.

Internet Links: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission | AEC Group | Access Economics Home Page | AMP: Market commentary : Australian economy





Great Australian Advertising Campaigns
Shoebridge Neil

McGraw-Hill Sydney 1992
192
Shoebridge, a marketing journalist, describes and analyses 12 famous Australian advertising campaigns, from the 1930 Aeroplane Jelly commercials to the Homer Hudson ice-cream advertisements of 1989. Although this is not a sociological or cultural treatment, it offers interesting insights into the industry and is well illustrated. Shoebridge discusses advertising principles, the factors contributing to successful campaigns, and the companies and people involved.

Internet Links: Advertising Association of Australian | Yahoo Australian Advertising | Australian Media Facilities Directory





Great Australian Nightmare, The
A critique of the home-ownership ideology

Kemeny Jim

Georgian House Melbourne 1983
130
Kemeny argues that pursuit of the great Australian 'dream', home ownership, has a number of important side effects. He contends that the quest for home ownership eats up resources and because transfer costs are cumulatively added to the initial costs of housing fuels inflation; that an enormous industry has grown up around real estate commissions, conveyancing and other fees; that the cost of housing ensures that it is maldistributed, and that mortgage costs reduce households' willingness to contribute to a comprehensive welfare system. Kemeny argues for a more balanced government policy, with cost-effective public rental made a more attractive option.

Internet Links:Australia in Brief: Housing | Housing Update | A Dream Home We Can All Afford | Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) - Research Program





Hauling the Loads
A history of Australia's working horses and bullocks

Kennedy Malcolm J

Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1992
239
Kennedy argues that the role of bullocks and horses in Australia's economic development has been largely overlooked. In this detailed account, he describes their contribution to transport, exploration, pastoralism, farming and mining since 1788, with an emphasis on developments in the eastern states. Kennedy details the design of horse-drawn vehicles and profiles the major haulage companies. This novel piece of economic history is somewhat let down by the author's dry prose style, and the very small illustrations. Includes a foreword by historian Geoffrey Blainey.

Internet Links: Australian Brumby | History of transport by land | Australian History





History of Australian Economic Thought, A

Groenewegen Peter McFarlane Bruce

Routledge London 1990
291
This concise history traces the development of a distinctly Australian body of economic thought from its 'rude beginnings' in the 1820s. Groenewegen and McFarlane, economists in the post-Keynesian mould, argue that a disinct Australian school became evident in the 1920s, when a group of economists began to grapple with 'national problems and national solutions', including protection, wage fixing and government finance. Major figures and institutions are profiled, and the authors consider the success of and prospects for Australian economics. The introduction includes an annotated list of earlier histories.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft in Australia and New Zealand
Eyre David

Sunshine Hornsby, NSW 1983
240
Pitched at the air enthusiast, this large-format book includes illustrated entries for around 500 aircraft that can be found in Australian museums, airports and private airfields. For each, Eyre details country of origin, a description, specifications and history. A revised and enlarged edition was published in 1988 (Child & Associates, Frenchs Forest, NSW, 288p).

Internet Links: RAAF | ADFA| Aviation History of Australia | air affairs | QANTAS | Ansett Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority





Land of Promises
Coombs (ed) H C

Australian National University / Aboriginal Studies Press Canberra 1989
181
A multidisciplinary investigation of the past and future of 'development' in the East Kimberley gave rise to this report. After characterising development up till now as exclusive of Aborigines' interests, the authors sketch the nature of that interest, noting that adapted indigenous traditions of land management may not necessarily be 'sustainable'. Only genuine political partnership with Aboriginal organisations will create the conditions to plan sustainable development in the future, the authors conclude. A creative synthesis of diverse disciplines and politics, this book gives substance to that promising term 'reconciliation'.

Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies





Making the Market
The rise of consumer society

Whitwell Greg

McPhee Gribble Fitzroy, Vic 1989
74
This brief survey of the main characteristics of the 'long boom' the 25 years 1945 - 70 traces the development of a relatively well-off, mainly suburban population. This was a time of steady growth with few interruptions, of very low recorded unemployment and of political stability. Whitwell looks at trends in home ownership, transport, spending patterns, women in the workforce and household incomes.

Internet Links:Australia in Brief: Housing | Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) - Research Program | Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE)





Managing Occupational Health and Safety in Australia
A multidisciplinary approach

Quinlan Michael Bohle Philip

Macmillan Australia South Melbourne 1991
453
Bringing together a wealth of detail, this is an account of the legislative, theoretical and workplace state-of-play. The authors provide a survey of the spate of legislation over the past decade, which has brought major changes to regulations in all states. They argue that only an approach that combines medical, behavioural, technical, sociological, legal, economic and industrial relations perspectives will advance our understanding of occupational risks. They submit each discipline, however, to a close and critical scrutiny. Two examples repetition strain and the impact of shiftwork are examined in detail.

Internet Links: Health Insurance Commission | National Health and Medical Research Council | Occupational Health and Safety





Markets, Money and Empire
The political economy of the Australian wool industry

Tsokhas Kosmas

Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1990
243
In this reassessment of the dynamics of the wool trade, Tsokhas argues against two common views of Australia's performance as a primary producer: that the federal politicians have been passive in their dealings with our major trading partners and that Australian capitalists have been manipulated by other producers and by customers. Several major episodes and periods are used to illustrate this argument, and Tsokhas links the cases to a broader view of trading relations in the British empire. Despite its iconoclastic content, however, this is sometimes difficult reading.

Internet Links: Wool House | Wool CRC site | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness





Merinos, Myths and Macarthurs
Australian graziers and their sheep 1788 - 1900

Garran J C White L

Australian National University Press Rushcutters Bay, NSW 1985
288
An enjoyable and well-researched study of the Australian wool industry, the Macarthur family and the merino sheep. The wool industry may no longer be the backbone of the Australian economy, but its significance in the formation of contemporary Australia, economically, socially and environmentally is undenied. Like so many historical studies of the nineteenth century, it rather neglects the impact of the pastoral industry on the indigenous population, but is still the most valuable study of the industry during the nineteenth century.

Internet Links: Wool House | Wool CRC site | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness






Money Masters, The
Banks, power and economic control
Reinecke Ian
Heinemann Melbourne 1988
The deregulation of the Australian banking system was one of the marked achievements, or disasters, of the 1980s, depending on the analyst's point of view. The author of
The Money Masters concludes that deregulation has given the country an untamed monster, powerful but unaccountable to no-one, customers, employees or politicians. Other worthwhile books on the same subject are Louis Pauly's Foreign Banks in Australia: The politics of deregulation (Australian Professional Publications/Macquarie University, Sydney, 1987, 110p), and Paul McLean and James Renton's Bankers and Bastards (Hudson, Hawthorn, Vic,1992,178p). The latter is particularly critical of the banking system.

Internet Links: Westpac | National Bank | Commonwealth Bank | Reserve Bank of Australia





Open Street, The
Public transport, motor cars and politics in Australian cities

Manning Ian

Transit Australia Sydney 1991
112
This history of the politics of urban transport emphasises the role of transport during the development and growth of cities in Australia. The book examines the political influences of different interest groups and the impact of the transport system on people's lives. The rise and decline of public transport and the rise of private motoring are described, and the debates on transport systems in the 1970s and 1980s are documented. The author concludes with a chapter discussing possible future developments. This book is of interest to those concerned with public transport advocacy, the impact of traffic on the urban environment or transport history.

Internet Links: Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE) | Transport and Regional Development | National Rail Corporation |





Planning for Sustainable Farming
The Potter farmland plan story

Campbell Andrew

Lothian Melbourne 1991
206
Demonstration farms set up in three districts by the Potter Foundation, a Victorian philanthropic trust, are intended to show that financial viability can be combined with environmentally sensitive practices. Each was a privately owned property with significant soil problems caused by erosion or salinity; each has achieved success in tackling these problems and in establishing a viable cropping system. As Campbell outlines, part of the success of the experiment is in the example it provides to other farmers.

Internet Links: The Potter Foundation | Landcare | AUSFARM | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness





Politics of Development in Australia, The
Head (ed) Brian

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1986
289
Unlike many accounts of Australian economic history, this collection was careful to consider the political and institutional players in recent developments. Chapters look at Queensland's National party 'populism', the Portland Smelter affair in Victoria, the Playford legacy in South Australia, Western Australia's development ethos and Tasmania's Hydroelectric Commission. Although somewhat dated, Head's introduction provides an overview of the role of government, financing arrangements and regional development during a period of expansion.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Process of Economic Development in Australia, The
Sinclair W A

Cheshire Melbourne 1976
266
Sinclair has produced a number of important economic history works, and though his approach is traditional and to a large extent out of date, this is still a valuable reference work for those studying Australia's economic development. G J Abbot and N B Nairn's
Economic Growth of Australia 1788 - 1821 (MUP, Carlton,Vic, 1961, 361p) is a comparable, sound study for the early colonial period.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Shared Harvest, A
The Australian wheat industry, 1939 - 1989

Whitwell Greg Sydenham Diane

Macmillan South Melbourne 1991
335
From 1939, the proceeds of the Australian wheat crop were pooled and distributed among Australia's wheat growers. Many of the features of this system of 'orderly marketing' are still operating. After outlining the background to the introduction of the scheme, Whitwell and Sydenham describe its operation through a period of great technological and economic change. In a series of thematic chapters, they look at the contribution of the industry to Australia's economic well being, the impact of changing world conditions, the problems faced by family farms, and marketing and distribution matters. Commissioned by the Australian Wheat Board, this is a very detailed account, with an enormous amount of information on the industry, including a statistical appendix. Edgar Dunsdorf's
The Australian Wheat-growing Industry, 1788 - 1948 (MUP, Melbourne, 1956) is a thorough account of the foundation and formative years of the industry.

Internet Links: Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness | Wheat Board





Short Changed Women and economic policies
Sharp Rhonda Broomhill Ray

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1988
213
Concentrating on the period 198387, this book assesses the impact of economic policy on women. The Hawke government's program, and the taxation and superannuation systems, are examined in detail. An introductory chapter discusses theoretical issues, and the book concludes with the outline of an economic strategy to achieve greater equity. Although the data is dated in places, this is the only detailed study of the issue.

Internet Links: Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE





Sitting In
Hill Barry

William Heinemann Port Melbourne 1991
338
One of Victoria's major industrial disputes was the long-running battle at the Altona petrochemical works during 1979 and 1980. Set in a changing but still significantly working-class community, the dispute focused on working hours. But, as Hill shows in this elegantly written book, the confrontation resonated into the broader community, raising concerns about the environment and the siting of hazardous industries as well as highlighting generational change and broader economic forces. Using a mixture of autobiography, fictionalisation, political essay and history, Hill traces the impact of the dispute and of events since then on people, like his father, who were directly involved.

Internet Links: ACTU | Australian Business Organisations | Australian economics | Employment Services Regulatory Authority





State of Play
The INDECS Economics Special Report
Various

Allen & Unwin St Leonards, NSW 1992
349
For more than a decade, the INDECS economics group has produced this clearly written guide to the economy. Although their division of economic thought into two camps restrictionist and expansionist sometimes obscures more than it illuminates, this is a useful overview of the main features of economic life, from interest rates and taxation to government spending and overseas trade. The 1992 seventh edition has sections on the policies of federal Labor and the coalition, on speculative boom and bust, and the rising unemployment and falling inflation of 1990 - 92. An eighth edition was published in 1995.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Strikes
Studies in twentieth century Australian social history

Iremonger John Merritt (eds) John

Angus & Robertson Sydney 1973
289
Contains 11 studies of strikes and lock-outs, starting with the Victorian Railway strike of 1903 and concluding with the NSW teachers strike of 1968. The background, course and aftermath of each strike are outlined, and the involvement of key figures from both labour and management sides is discussed. The authors, historians and political scientists address questions as to why a particular strike occurred and why it took the course it did, and conclude that both tangible and intangible forces influence the development and course of a strike. The studies raise questions about the causes and nature of industrial conflict, and the view is presented that strikes are complex social phenomena and that attempting to uncover their complexity will reveal information about the society in which they occur.

Internet Links: ACTU | Australian Business Organisations | Australian economics | Employment Services Regulatory Authority





Superannuation and the Australian Financial System
Davis Kevin Harper (eds) Ian

Allen & Unwin St Leonards, NSW 1992
192
Study of the impact of superannuation on the Australian financial system and the Australian economy, due to factors such as changed savings and investment patterns. Gives a historical overview as well as predictions, policy analysis and prescriptions. The contributors are specialists from the finance industry, the public sector and academia. Indexed.

Internet Links: Senate Select Committee on Superannuation | ComSuper | Insurance and Superannuation Commission (ISC)





Tariff Politics
Australian policymaking 1960 - 1980

Glezer Leon

Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1982
367
Tariffs have been at the centre of the debate over economic policy in Australia in recent years. As Glezer shows, this is an old and complex controversy. The book opens with a brief discussion of the history of tariffs and import quotas over the decades since federation, then focuses on a detailed account of the attitudes and actions of the key interest groups and the evolution of government policy between 1960 and 1980.
Industry Assistance: The inside story (MUP, Carlton, Vic, 1986, 296p) is an alternative account of these issues by Alf Rattigan, a former head of the Tariff Board (and a passionate opponent of protectionism).

Internet Links: Foreign Affairs and Trade | Austrade | "Enterprise" The Voice of Business | OECD Online





Temptations
Sex, selling and the department store

Reekie Gail

Allen & Unwin St Leonards, NSW 1993
279
Reekie's aim is to describe the 'sexual culture' of the department store how relations between the sexes influenced these retail outlets and how the stores helped to shape sex roles. Concentrating on the period 1880 - 1930, she uses company records, catalogues, trade journals, advertisements and other contemporary material to discuss marketing, store layout and behaviour during the period in which mass marketing evolved in Australia. She examines the efforts of women to resist the retailers' techniques, primarily through organisations like the Housewives Association. While the book uses comparatively few illustrations and Reekie has not drawn on oral accounts, this is nevertheless a fascinating study.

Internet Links: Australia in brief: Services industry | Retailing Analysis of Australia | X-Change





Treasury Line, The
Whitwell Greg

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1986
320
As well as providing an insight into the workings of the federal bureaucracy, this pioneering study traces the development of the Treasury's underlying but influential view of the economy. In clear, non-technical language, Whitwell argues that by the mid to late 1970s Treasury's outlook had gradually changed from the postwar Keynesian viewpoint to a 'neoclassical model'. This transition saw within the department an increasing suspicion of government intervention in the economy. The change, according to Whitwell, resulted partly from a shift in international thinking, partly from the 'stagflation' of the mid-1970s, and partly from the rise of a new generation of bureaucrats. This argument has some parallels with that put forward in Michael Pusey's
Economic Rationalism in Canberra . Whitwell describes the structure and decision-making processes of Treasury, and summarises Keynesian and neo-classical thought.

Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury





Two Centuries of Panic
A history of corporate collapses in Australia

Sykes Trevor

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1988
604
Beginning with the Bank of New South Wales crisis in the 1820s, the editor of
Australian Business chronicles a succession of corporate crashes and near disasters. In a number of cases, notably the depression of the 1890s, Sykes brings to light new evidence. Surprisingly, the long-running and convoluted Nugan Hand Bank case is not covered. Throughout, the writing is brisk and accessible; only in his concluding chapter on the future of business regulation is Sykes lacking in concrete detail. Sykes has also written the well-regardedThe Bold Riders: Behind Australia's Corporate Collapses, second edition, Allen & Unwin, St.Leonards, 1996, 654p), which deals equally competently with the spectatacular corporate collapses of the 1980s.

Internet Links: Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury | Centre For Economic Education - Index | Workplace Relations and Small Business | KPMG Australia | Chaos in the Counting House




Visible and Invisible
Aboriginal people in the economy of northern Australia

Crough Gregory

North Australia Research Unit Darwin 1993
144
A short, readable and argumentative survey of the ways in which Aboriginal people of northern Australia participate in 'the economy'. Crough's most important point is to question the partitioning of policy thinking on the North into 'social' policy and 'economic development' policy. Funding for Aboriginal people is politically vulnerable to the extent that it is placed under the former heading. Crough argues for a more politically creative approach to the structuring of public sector payments to Aborigines, an approach which will enhance Aborigines' political autonomy and will be recognised as a form of 'economic development' required by the cultural make-up of Australia's northern half.

Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies




Working Class and Welfare
Reflections on the political development of the welfare state in Australia and New Zealand, 1890 - 1980

Castles Francis G

Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1985
142
Castles' aim is to explain why two countries whose labour movements were strong and electorally significant in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries now have 'half-hearted' welfare systems. He argues that the strength of the unions allowed them to strike an 'historic compromise' with employers and government, to create a 'wage earner's welfare state' based on centralised wage fixing, tariff protection and population control. In contrast to Scandinavia, for instance, welfare programs were seen as a safety net rather than an integral part of the accommodation between labour, business and government. Castles links this to the fact that, whereas social democratic parties enjoyed consistent success in Scandinavia in the postwar decades, their record in Australasia is chequered. This original analysis is pursued in Castl
es' Economic Vulnerability and Public Policy (A&U, Sydney, 1988, 184p), which looks at other areas of government policy.

Internet Links: Employment Services Regulatory Authority | Centrelink | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare | Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission | Hineni Youth and Welfare Australia | Children and the State | Welfare Associations - Internet Resources





Working Together for Land Care
Group management skills and strategies

Chamala Shankariah Mortiss Peter D

Australian Academic Press Brisbane 1990
384
This guide is less an account of the implications of soil degradation than a nuts-and-bolts account of how to organise a self-help group and keep it active and effective. Chamala's aim is to mobilise individual farmers to act collectively to combat environmental problems and work towards sustainable agriculture. The techniques and group activities set out ranging from establishing a group to raising funds will be useful in many other contexts.

Internet Links: Landcare | Environet | CSIRO





Yugul: An Arnhem Land cattle station
Thiele Steven

Australian National University, North Australia Research Unit Darwin 1982
84
An important but neglected study (its page design an academic cruelty),
Yugul tells of the difficulties faced by Aborigines of the Roper River region when they attempted, in the 1970s, to run cattle as both a business and as an adaptation of their traditional way of life. Aboriginal owners eventually dismissed their management consultant, the Australian Agricultural Consulting and Management Company, but then suffered withdrawal of government financial support. Meanwhile, there was no coherent, community-wide Aboriginal power structure to make and enforce difficult decisions. An unsparingly acute exposé of the problems of giving economic foundation to Aboriginal self-determination.

Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies


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