Faculty of Design

Until recently there was an assumption that Australian Aboriginal prisoners should be
accommodated in dual occupancy or dormitory accommodation while in custody to best meet
cultural needs, primarily to prevent social isolation. This historical assumption is reflected in the
national guidelines for prison accommodation, various coronial and royal commission
recommendations for both police and prison accommodation and evolved from the problem-solving
approaches to the custodial arrangements of Australian Aboriginal peoples instituted by custodial
agencies and stakeholder consultations with Aboriginal groups.
This paper presents the findings from the first empirical study of the needs and preferences of
Australian Aboriginal prisoners in custody. It suggests that certain types of shared and dormitory
accommodation present a myriad of complex implications for Aboriginal prisoners. Such
accommodation may not be the most favourable or preferred model for such individuals. And may,
in fact, be a simulacrum in meeting the needs of Aboriginal prisoners for living as a social group. The
paper presents new understandings and a number of socio-cultural options for viewing custodial
accommodation that have significance to prisoner outcomes at various end-points in the criminal
justice system.

In 2009, the Council of Australian Governments announced that it would request the Australian Building
Codes Board to increase the energy efficiency provisions in the 2010 edition of the Building Code of
Australia (BCA). These changes comprise a 6 Star energy rating, or equivalent, for new residential
buildings; and significant increases in the energy efficiency requirement for all new commercial
buildings. This report, through literature review, explores the possible positive and negative health
related effects as temperature and other conditions change within a building to satisfy the energy
efficiency provisions resulting from the proposed Building Code of Australia changes. As all new
buildings have been required to satisfy BCA energy efficiency provisions for several years and it is likely
that the most severe building defects that may impact on health conditions have already been
eliminated; this report therefore focuses on the incremental benefits that might flow from an increase in
the standard of construction.
There is an association between weather and health. Weather refers to the ambient climatic conditions,
not necessarily the conditions within buildings and temperature is generally taken as the main indicator
of climate severity. Low or high temperatures may lead to human stress situations and result in
increased morbidity and mortality. At a population level, heat-related health issues generally are at their
lowest at moderate temperatures and increase with elevated or reduced temperature conditions.
Populations in colder cities are more affected by warmer temperatures, whilst those in warmer cities
notice a greater effect of colder temperatures. While both cold and hot temperatures increase the risk of
mortality, hot temperatures are likely to have greater effects. The effects of extreme heat are more
immediate, occurring within one or two days of a hot weather event. Periods of hot weather generally
exacerbate underlying health conditions in vulnerable populations resulting in an increase in hospital
admissions, emergency department visits and ambulance transports. Heat-related fatalities generally
occur at an individual’s place of residence, which may be a private residence, an institution or the like.
The incidences of heat-related mortality in other buildings appear to be low.
Certain populations are more prone to temperature-associated illness than others. Vulnerable
populations include the elderly, those with chronic or underlying medical conditions (e.g. kidney disease,
respiratory or heart disease), mental illness, and the social disadvantaged. Many drugs can affect the
thermoregulatory process and can contribute to heat stroke. The pharmacological effects of some
medications may be a contributing factor to the increase in hospital admissions for renal and mental
disorders observed during heat waves. Predictors of heat-related illness (including fatalities) are
socioeconomic status (indicated by households without air conditioners or heaters), race and less
educated individuals. Living in social isolation increases vulnerability.
It is likely that in a changing climate, future temperature-related health issues will be dependent on the
adaptive capacity of populations, including improvements to building design. The presence of air
conditioning does not always guarantee its use, particularly with elderly householders with mobility or
cognitive problems and those with financial concerns relating to energy costs. Fuel poverty may also be
an issue but is under researched in the Australian context.
No studies or field data were found that detail health benefits that might accrue from an incremental
change in building energy-efficiency (eg a change in rating from 5 to 6 Stars for houses). In a New
Zealand intervention study which upgraded the standard of housing by adding thermal insulation, health
benefits were measured in terms of hospital admissions, days off school and days off work and the
private cost saving per household of visits to general practitioners and mental health improvements. The
study was limited to considering the winter time benefits. Applying a number of assumptions the findings
have been extrapolated to the Australian context. An estimated health benefit value of $111.00 per
household from moving to a 5 to 6 Stars can be calculated as a potential maximum. This figure however
would most likely apply to only the most vulnerable households (eg low income and elderly). The actual
value is likely to be significantly less because the majority of households would off-set minimum
temperatures by some form of heating. Assuming the penetration of heaters in new houses to be the
same as the whole population we estimate the benefit to be a maximum value of $9.50 per household.
No data exists to estimate similar health benefits associated with higher (summertime) temperatures.
With no appropriate data available the quantification of health benefits for the occupants of other
buildings has not been attempted.
This work has shown that a knowledge gap exists in this area with almost no research having been
undertaken in Australia to establish potential health benefits of energy-efficient building improvements.
The minimisation of temperature extremes within buildings, noise-related health impacts and air
pollution related morbidity and mortality in an enlarging vulnerable population may yield significant
savings to Australia’s health sector but as yet there is little evidence to back this proposition.

"History shows Aboriginal housing to be a politically contested realm as two quite different peoples attempt to negotiate different social, economic and cultural values in constructing a shared future Australian built environment. Housing procurement, defined herein as ‘the act or process of bringing into being a building that was not there before and embraces all the activities that might be necessary to that objective’, has at times been sporadically linked to other forms of government service delivery outcomes and objectives in remote Aboriginal communities such as construction, maintenance, training, employment, education, governance, management, health, and sustainability. Yet still further program values have emerged in recent years that can best be described as ‘symbolic capitals’ inclusive of leadership, mutual respect, positive cultural identity and other life-skills outcomes.
Secondary outcomes of the housing process are what we loosely term the ‘socio-economic capitals’ of housing procurement: outcomes that are in addition to the physical asset of the house. Specifically, this study explores the relationships between remote Indigenous housing procurement and the broader socio-economic capitals of Indigenous communities. It contributes to an understanding of the potential longer-term economic, social, health and cultural outcomes of current and future housing policies and housing delivery programs.
Remote Indigenous housing procurement practice occurs in a complex context of political, market, and industry dynamics. Achieving high-level outcomes beyond the physical units of houses is fraught with difficulty in these contexts. Despite this, there are some procurement success stories and, with this in mind, this project aims to assess what has been achieved during the last decade in the procurement of Aboriginal housing, as grounded in actual practice. The delivery of Aboriginal housing, if done well, would not only diminish livelihood vulnerabilities, but would also strengthen self-governance and generate services responsive to community demand. The significance of a better understanding of housing procurement systems within the context of remote Indigenous communities has potential benefit for all peoples engaged in the built environment sector.
Partly due to the paucity of research in this field, the current research project is a valuable addition to the body of knowledge regarding housing procurement processes in remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. It has the potential to create greater awareness of good practice administrative processes leading to more positive outcomes of culturally responsive housing by using the social and economic capitals that Aboriginal people can bring to procurement. If there has been one clear outcome from this research project, it is that the procurement process is arguably just as important as the final housing product itself. Focus needs to be placed on a meaningful process and the product that eventuates must conform to statutory and regulatory standards. Procurement driven by the scenario of maximum numbers of houses on the ground as fast as possible ignores the potential to value add multiple Aboriginal social and economic capitals"

This article argues that Australian prisons have uncritically emulated American penitentiaries in their architecture and structure. We suggest that simply transporting physical design models from one geographic and politicocultural setting to another, with little commitment to understanding the context-bound philosophies and conditions that underpin such models, has been highly problematic. The result has been an Australian penal estate that for decades was incompatible with its aims and purpose. Finally, we discuss the eventual introduction of unique, innovative styles of penal architecture in Australia, which are not only appropriate to their culture and context, but represent world-class developments in penal design.