Within higher education literature, assessment and graduate employability are linked and copresented, in that quality student assessment is purported to enhance employability. This research was designed to query the extent to which these same conceptual links are perceived by those actively involved in higher education. Four stakeholder groups from multiple disciplines and eight Australian states and territories (students, alumni, educators and employers) were interviewed about graduate employability (n=127). Interviewers intentionally omitted any mention of assessment to determine whether the various stakeholders would bring-it-up themselves when asked questions such as what is and is not effective for nurturing employability. The results indicated that among the educators, assessment emerged as a dominant theme. While the three other stakeholder groups infrequently used the term assessment, they did discuss related educational concepts and practices in the context of enhanced employability. All stakeholder groups identified a missing link between theory and practice, with educators specifying that link as assessment. Recommendations to improve employability through assessment are the key takeaways from this research.

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An examination of a Crime Stoppers initiative-a weekly page published in a major citybased tabloid newspaper-afforded a rare glimpse into this understudied global entity. It also offered a means of reflecting on the co-option of CCTV images; partnerships between police, media organisations and publics; and the harnessing of citizen labour in a culture of surveillance. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted on the images, accompanying texts and the rhetoric of this feature page for a two-year period. From a media criminology perspective, the portrayals underscore the abrogation of the presumption of innocence, a focus on mundane property offences, with the potential to exacerbate fear of crime and to engender more punitive public attitudes. From a conceptual frame, this article proffers the notion of surveil-labour where the re-purposing of CCTV data in the context of a Crime Stoppers scheme reinforces an alliance of police, media and the public to enhance an infrastructure of informing.

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This thesis examines an element of Australia’s live animal export trade regulatory framework. The ‘Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System’ was introduced following the 2011 exposé of Australian cattle being cruelly treated in abattoirs overseas. Ongoing welfare problems in the trade demanded greater investigation into the ESCAS. The case study makes a distinctive contribution through its critical socio-legal perspective and empirical interview research with key live export trade stakeholders. The thesis finds the ESCAS to be a performative regulatory regime deployed to enable and legitimise a future for the contentious trade, while making little meaningful difference in the interests of animals.