http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:10603 From the end of World War II until the early 1970s, vocational education and training (VET) in Australia was surprisingly static and resilient to government-led reform, due to the dominance of industry and union power. Following the oil shocks of 1973 and associated unemployment and declining union power, there have been calls on the federal and state governments to adopt a more proactive approach to dealing with quality assurance in the VET sector. In recent times, private registered training organisations (RTOs) are increasingly being used by federal and state governments to directly address the unemployment problem through programs such as the Productivity Places Program. As a result, an examination of quality assurance in the VET sector is increasingly important. This paper reviews the evolution of VET in Australia and examines what impact policy reforms have had on quality assurance in VET, identifying some opportunities and challenges facing the Australian VET sector in the changing global economy. 2012-04-12T01:35:11.593Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:42 Optimal intertemporal investment behaviour of Australian pastoralists is modelled using panel data for the period 1979-1993. Results indicate that quasi-fixity of inputs of labour, capital, sheep numbers and cattle numbers is characteristic of production in the pastoral region. It takes about two years for labour, four years for capital and a little over two years for both sheep numbers and cattle numbers to adjust towards long-run optimal levels. Results also indicate that, after accounting for adjustment costs, own-price product supply and input demand responses are inelastic in both the short and long run. 2012-03-01T01:22:05.328Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:92 Purpose - This study seeks to examine empirically import demand for total pulses, chickpeas and lentils in India based on the concept of unit root and cointegration. Design/methodology/approach - The Stock-Watson dynamic OLS (DOLS) model - which is robust to small sample and eliminates simultaneity bias - is used to derive the long-run price, income and urbanisation elasticities of import demand. The data covers the period 1970-2000. Findings - Results indicate that real GDP, relative price and urbanisation are the key determinants of import demand for pulses in India. The estimated long-run elasticities of import demand with respect to income (relative price) are 0.4 (-1.7) for chickpeas, 0.56 (-0.87) for lentils and 0.36 (0.00) for total pulses. The estimated long-run elasticities of import demand with respect to urbanisation are 9.9 for chickpeas, zero for lentils and 7.2 for total pulses. The policy implications of the results are discussed. Originality/value - Provides evidence that the response of import demand for pulses to key determinants differ substantially from product to product. 2012-01-31T01:57:58.246Z ]]>