While in the M.E. in the mid 2000s I came across a Uni paper (Reading University, I think) that was reprinted in a CX Crews News mag I picked up in the crew room. It was primarily exploring the different accident rates around the world (at the time excluding Russia and African operators) and how crew interactions (CA / FO) may impact on safety outcomes. It noted that Australia had a lower accident rate than the rest.
It went on to discuss an "attitude check" on how crews from different countries rated their opposite number, by that, how supportive they're of the other crew member. The Brits surprisingly enough didn't rated each other highly, Australian crews in general showed the highest support of the other (!!). It went on to look at what impact this had on safety outcomes and in doing so pointed out Australia's relatively BENIGN wx and in doing so noted that wx as a contributing factor in accidents was 3% (this was surprising to me). I believe the quoted figure came from the NTSB.
I think you are referring to this bloke Professor Graham Braithwaite FRAeS, FCILT, FISASI Director, Transport Systems Academic & Business Support who was doing his PhD. I think his paper was titled "Latitude or Attitude?" and he was looking into the question of why Australia's accident rate was so low.compared to the rest of the world. He did a lot of jump seat rides and part of his conclusion was the weather wasn't as big a factor as the crew dynamics.