Charlotte Bedford

Bio: Charlotte Bedford is an academic researcher from University of Adelaide. The author has contributed to research in topics: Prison & Circular migration. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 11 publications receiving 149 citations.

Managed temporary labour migration of Pacific Islanders to Australia and New Zealand in the early twenty-first century

Abstract: Circular migration was one of several enduring themes in Graeme Hugo’s highly productive research career. Although his specialist field was Asian population movement, during the 2000s he became increasingly interested in labour migration in the Pacific Islands. This paper reviews the development of two managed circular migration schemes targeting Pacific labour that emerged following the UN High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in 2006. New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and Australia’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) have attracted international attention as the kind of ‘best practice’ temporary labour migration schemes that Hugo had in mind when he emphasised the positive contributions that circular forms of mobility could make to development in both source and destination countries. The two schemes have transformed mobility between the participating countries and have played a major role in the negotiations over a free-trade agreement between Pacific ...

Migrants in their family contexts: Application of a methodology

Abstract: This paper reports on a research project which is a continuation of an experiment conducted in 1997. The experiment involved the development of a research methodology for situating migrants in their family and household contexts, and the use of this methodology identifying ‘astronaut’ families among the recent Hong Kong Chinese immigrants as recorded in the 1991 Census of Population and Dwellings (Ho, Bedford and Goodwin, 1997a). This study extends the previous analysis of ‘astronaut’ families to the 1996 Census and to three other migrant groups from northeast Asia – China, Taiwan, and Korea. The results illustrate that the research methodology can be applied to the 1996 Census. Among the four migrant groups from northeast Asia, Taiwan had the highest incidence of ‘astronaut’ families, followed by Hong Kong. Some factors likely to contribute to the use of the ‘astronaut’ strategy amongst these migrant groups are discussed. The paper concludes with some suggestions for application of the research methodology in the analysis of migrants in the wider social context of family and household. 2 AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO THE USE OF CENSUS DATA At the 1997 Population Association of New Zealand (PANZ) Conference, Ho, Bedford and Goodwin (1997a) reported on the development of a research methodology for linking migrants into their family and household contexts, using data derived from the New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings. An experiment using the methodology to identify ‘astronaut’ families among the recent Hong Kong Chinese immigrants as recorded in the 1991 Census was also described. The ‘astronaut’ family was chosen as the migrant context of this research because of its topical interest. The term ‘astronaut family’ is popularly used to refer to families which contain members who return to their country of origin to work, often leaving their spouses and children in the country of destination (Boyer, 1996; Ho, Bedford and Goodwin, 1997b; Lidgard, 1996; Pe-Pua et al., 1996; Skeldon, 1994). ‘Parachute kids’ refers to the children being left with one or no parents in the country of destination. In the early 1990s media reports on immigrant children being left alone in New Zealand while their parents remained in Hong Kong and Taiwan had drawn considerable public and political attention to this type of migrant family. Yet the number of ‘astronauts’ and ‘astronaut households’ in New Zealand has been difficult to estimate (Ho, Bedford and Goodwin, 1997b). The Census of Population and Dwellings holds an enormous amount of information on immigrant populations in New Zealand, but this database had been under-utilised for a long time (Bedford, 1989; Bedford ad Lowe, 1993). A common approach to the use of census data for the analysis of immigrant populations has been to identify the migrants on the basis of their place of birth and/or residence five years ago, and examine their individual characteristics such as age, occupation, education level, and so on. In this type of research, the information that can be used to identify the ‘astronauts’ who make more than one trip to and from New Zealand between two censuses is extremely limited. Indeed, their presence is not even counted if the ‘astronauts’ are not residing in New Zealand on census night. With financial support from the Marsden Fund, an experiment was conducted in 1997 which involved the development of a research methodology for identifying the ‘astronaut’ families and their associated ‘parachute kids’ among recent Hong Kong Chinese immigrants as recorded in the 1991 Census of Population and Dwellings (Ho, Bedford and Goodwin, 1997a). The present study is a continuation of this experiment. It extends the analysis of the ‘astronaut’ phenomenon to the 1996 Census and to three other migrant groups from northeast Asia – China, Taiwan and Korea. Before presenting the results of this investigation, the research 3 methodology is outlined below. A METHODOLOGY FOR LINKING MIGRANTS INTO THEIR FAMILY CONTEXTS The development of the research methodology for linking migrants into their family and household contexts requires the creation of a series of census tables using Supercross (upgraded to SuperSTAR in 1999), the standard census tabulation package used by Statistics New Zealand, and an attached unit record synthetic database which replicates exactly the form of census records in the master file (Ho, Bedford and Goodwin, 1997a). Both the Supercross package and the synthetic database have been leased to the researchers by Statistics New Zealand. The census database for Supercross is composed of three types of records: personal, family and household (Statistics New Zealand, 1994). Personal records may be grouped into families, and these families may be further grouped into households (dwellings). Under each type of record in the Supercross database, a wide range of predefined fields are available for manipulation. If the tabulation is based on personal records, age, sex, birthplace, marital status and employment status are some of the fields available in the database. Figure 1 gives an example of a cross tabulation using three predefined fields available from the personal records – birthplace, years since arrival in New Zealand and sex. Such a table is the primary output of Supercross. To create a new table, the user needs to select the fields for cross tabulation and specify the record type from the Fields box. When a cross tabulation is run, Supercross counts the number of records that meet the cross tabulation criteria and displays the results in the form of a table (Figure 1). In this example, there are 4,689 males and 5,394 females who were born in the People’s Republic of China and had lived in New Zealand for less than five years at the time of the 1996 Census of Population and Dwellings.

Engaging with New Zealand's Recognized Seasonal Employer Work Policy: The Case of Tuvalu:

Abstract: New Zealand's Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) work policy is a managed circular migration initiative that is designed to provide benefits to employers in New Zealand's horticulture and viticulture industries, workers from Pacific states that have limited opportunities for wage-earning employment in their own countries, and the communities that the workers leave temporarily for work in New Zealand. Tuvalu is one of five Pacific countries where the New Zealand Department of Labour has been facilitating participation in the RSE scheme since the policy was formally introduced in April 2007. Tuvalu is by far the smallest of the participating countries, with a population aged 15–49 years of around 4,600 in 2008. It is the Pacific country where the RSE scheme could potentially make the greatest difference to provision of temporary wage employment for the country's labor force. However, there is little evidence to date that Tuvalians, despite their extensive experience of overseas labor migration, have maximiz...

Fifty Years of Resistance and Representation: A Historical Account of Australian Community Radio

Abstract: This article outlines the early history of the Australian community radio sector. It focuses on three of the country’s oldest stations – Radio Adelaide, 4ZZZ and 3CR – to document the establishment...

Book Review: Asian Development Bank, Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012Asian Development Bank, Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012, ADB, Manila

Abstract: Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2012, the 43rd edition of this series, is a statistical data book presenting economic, financial, social, and environmental indicators for the 48 regional members of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This issue of Key Indicators presents in Part I a special chapter—Green Urbanization in Asia—followed by statistical tables in Parts II and III with short, nontechnical commentaries on economic, financial, social, and environmental developments. Part II comprises the first set of statistical tables and commentaries, which look at the Millennium Development Goals and progress in the region toward achieving key targets. The second set of tables in Part III is grouped into seven themes, and provides a broader picture of economic, financial, social, and environmental developments. This publication aims to present the latest key statistics on development issues concerning the economies of Asia and the Pacific to a wide audience, including policy makers, development practitioners, government officials, researchers, students, and the general public. This year, ADB also publishes the second edition of the Framework of Inclusive Growth Indicators, a special supplement to Key Indicators.

The Development Impact of a Best Practice Seasonal Worker Policy

Abstract: Seasonal migration programs are widely used around the world, yet there is little evidence as to their development impacts. A multiyear prospective evaluation of New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) seasonal worker program allows us to measure the impact of participating in this program on households in Tonga and Vanuatu. Using a propensity-score prescreened difference-in-differences analysis based on surveys fielded before, during, and after participation, we find that the RSE has indeed had positive development impacts that dwarf those of other popular development interventions. It has increased income, consumption, and savings of households; durable goods ownership; and subjective standard of living. The results also suggest that child schooling improved in Tonga.

Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities and Policies, 3rd edn [Book Review]

Abstract: Review(s) of: Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities and Policies, 3rd edn, by Surette, Ray, Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, 2007; ISBN 0 5345 5147 5; 268 pp.; US$47.95.

International migration in New Zealand: Context, components and policy issues

Abstract: This paper reviews the context and components of, and the policy issues surrounding, international migration to and from New Zealand. It first outlines the country's distinctive migration and settlement history before discussing the close interconnection between immigration and late twentieth century Maori concern to, under the Treaty of Waitangi, resuscitate indigenous culture and reclaim control over various natural resources. New Zealand's trans-Tasman connection is then examined, followed by its respectively longstanding and more recent links to the island nations of the Pacific and (Chinese goldminers apart) Asia. The paper concludes with an assessment of the likely course of international migration into the twenty-first century.