DISABILITY RIGHTS AND AWARENESS
Volume 316 Editor: Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 27 4 $20.95
One in 5 Australians has a disability. Although this figure represents a significant portion of Australia’s population, many struggle against direct and indirect discrimination in the form of barriers to basic assistance, services and social inclusion. This book provides an overview of the major disability groups (physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological etc) and their core activity restrictions. It also explores the promotion of awareness and understanding; rights and protection under the Disability Discrimination Act; Australia’s inadequate disability support system and the proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme; the role of carers and families; accessibility issues; education rights for disabled students; employment of people with disabilities; and legal ethics issues including genetic screening, sterilisation and ‘wrongful life’ cases.

POPULATION SUSTAINABILITY
Volume 317 Editor: Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 28 1 $20.95
The federal government has recently appointed its first population minister amid extensive public debate over how to respond to rapid growth in Australia’s current birth rate, population ageing, and a projected increase from 22 million to 36 million people by 2050. Current trends and policies involving population growth will have a major impact on Australia’s future sustainability and quality of life. This book features statistical projections for Australia’s population size and presents a wide range of viewpoints in the population debate. Issues include the skills shortage and employment, immigration intake levels and cultural diversity, environmental sustainability and water management, government service delivery, urban congestion and infrastructure capacity, the cost of housing, and the potential economic growth benefits. Do we want or need a ‘big Australia’? Is bigger better, or does growth come at too great a cost?

WHALING
Volume 318 Editor: Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 29 8 $20.95
Unregulated commercial whaling has had a major impact on the world’s whale populations. In spite of a complete commercial whaling ban imposed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986, whales are still being killed on a daily basis by traditional whaling nations such as Japan, Norway and Iceland. And despite broad global concern for the depleting whale populations, there is still ongoing debate among IWC members over if and how whaling should continue. This book examines the history of whaling and focuses on Australia’s prominent role in trying to secure a compromise from the whaling nations, especially Japan, with whom diplomatic relations have become strained. The book also details Australian and international efforts to protect whales through sanctuaries, research and legal frameworks. Aboriginal subsistence whaling, ‘scientific’ whaling and commercial whaling ... what is entailed in each of these practices? Is there room for political compromise, or do these giants of the ocean need a globally binding conservation commitment to survive in the world’s already over-fished oceans?

COPING WITH GRIEF AND LOSS
Volume 319 Editor: Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 30 4 $20.95
At various points in our lives we will all experience loss and grief – such as the death of a loved one, a divorce or family breakdown. This book focuses on how to identify the various stages of bereavement and suggests ways of coping with a range of experiences involving loss. What coping strategies can we use to deal with the emotional and practical challenges of losing someone close to us? In what ways can we support others who are bereaved? Coping with Grief and Loss is full of helpful bereavement advice, presented in two chapters: Understanding Grief and Loss; and Young People and Children.

HIV AND AIDS
Volume 322 Edited by Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 33 5
The AIDS epidemic has spread for almost 30 years. 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide and 28 million have died from an AIDS-related illness since 1981, mostly in Africa. A new HIV infection is diagnosed somewhere in the world every 7 seconds and someone dies from an AIDS-related illness every 11 seconds. Almost 17,000 people are living with HIV in Australia, and about 1000 become infected each year; over 6700 Australians have died from AIDS during the last 25 years. This book presents an overview of the history and prevalence of AIDS globally and in Australia, and explains the latest developments in HIV prevention and treatment. Key topics include: understanding the causes of transmission by this deadly virus; HIV prevention programs for specific communities and populations; HIV and safer sex practices; injecting drug use and needle exchange programs; HIV testing; drug treatments and the search for an AIDS cure; the experience of people living with HIV, including discrimination and disclosure issues. So many lives have been devastated by this disease – isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AT RISK
Volume 323 Edited by Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 34 2
Many Australian children and young people are at significant risk of abuse and neglect. The reported prevalence of child maltreatment (neglect, and physical, emotional and sexual abuse) is at alarming levels. New figures show the number of children in the care and protection system has increased by almost 10% since 2008. Nearly 35,500 children were placed under protection orders in 2009 and more than 34,000 were placed in out-of-home care. Vulnerable families require intensive support from an overburdened system struggling to respond to mandatory reporting requirements. When is a child in need of protection and when do ‘abusive and neglectful behaviours’ become ‘abuse’ and ‘neglect’? There is a range of factors that expose children and young people to greater risk of disadvantage, including family stressors like financial stress, domestic violence, social isolation, mental health and substance abuse. Foster care does not always protect young people from risk, and may even cause more problems than it seeks to solve. Who is at risk, and what is happening to children being removed from their families into out-of-home care? What assistance is available to vulnerable families experiencing abuse and neglect?

SOCIAL IMPACTS OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Volume 324 Edited by Justin Healey ISBN 978 1921507 35 9
The rapid uptake of digital technologies has hugely impacted on the way we communicate, relate, learn, work, and spend our leisure time. Digital media literacy is the ability to access, understand and participate or create content using digital media. This ability is becoming integral to effective participation in the digital economy and Australian society. Those who do not adapt may fall victim to the ‘digital divide’ and be excluded. The ‘Digital Revolution’ has both positive and negative effects, which are explored in this timely book. On the positive side, people are connected across distances with the greatest of ease and innovation via mobile/smart phones, online social networking, blogging, gaming, e-learning, etc. Online social networks present greater opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and self-expression. On the negative side, are we becoming over-reliant on constant upgrades and new devices – is the medium becoming the message? Negative social impacts explored in the book include: internet addiction, information overload and the decline of conventional media, online safety and privacy invasion (cyberbullying, pornography), cyber crime, and the proposed internet filter debate. Are our brains being re-wired to receive and transmit, at the expense of safe and meaningful interactions?