WHO YOUARE IS WHEREYOU GOPersonality determinesholiday choice

ECOTOURISM HELPS sustainable development

LA TROBE UNIVERSITYLA TROBE UNIVERSITY

WHO YOUARE IS WHEREYOU GOPersonality determinesholiday choice

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004

ECOTOURISM HELPS sustainable development

NEWSLA TROBE UNIVERSITY

Bulletin

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLET IN2

IN THIS ISSUE

The La Trobe Bulletin is published ten times a year by thePublic Affairs Office, La Trobe University.

Articles may be reproduced with acknowledgement.

Enquiries and submissions to the editor, Ernest Raetz,La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, AustraliaTel (03) 9479 2315, Fax (03) 9479 1387Email: bulletin@latrobe.edu.au

Articles: Noel Carrick, Ernest RaetzPhotos: La Trobe University DPI, Design: Campus Graphics, 61059La Trobe University.Printed by Work & Turner.Website: www.latrobe.edu.au/bulletin

What constitutes an enjoyableholiday? A specialist in consumerbehaviour says four mainpersonality types determineholiday choice, see story page 10.

Photos: Mary Malloy and La TrobeUniversity PDI. Digital image: Greg Nelson

Don’t confuse anecdotes about‘black achievers’ in the UnitedStates with the continuing reality

of racial disadvantage. While there has beengrowth in the black and Hispanic middleclasses, their level of poverty has notchanged since the 1960s, especiallychildhood poverty.

That was the central message of thisyear’s La Trobe University Bernard BailynLecture. It was delivered by eminentAmerican historian and televisiondocumentary maker, Dan Carter, who wasalso awarded an Honorary Doctorate by theUniversity.

Professor Carter says that with five percent of the world’s population, the US has25 per cent of the world’s prisonpopulation. Black men in college areoutnumbered by black men behind bars.And there are calls for still tougher andlonger sentences. AIDS has become a blackdisease, nine times as prevalent amongblacks as whites.

The title of Professor Carter’s topic wasSeizing the Rhetorical High Ground:American Conservatives and the Politics ofRace in the 1990s.

He says in the US, the issue of race hasretreated from the public agenda. It is nowregarded as less important than gaymarriage, health care and debt. Whilediscussion about race has faded, recentcensus data reveals a poverty level amongblack people four times worse than forother people.

He says the way Americans view issuesof race has changed dramatically since thedays of the civil rights movement in the1960s, when conservatives beganrefocusing the context of discussion aboutrace and poverty.

The mid 1960s were the high-water pointof liberal consensus in American society,but already then the conservativemovement was on the march, with itsarguments about welfare and work ethics.

Professor Carter stresses that the US isnot an ‘all conservative society’. Morebooks are still written by liberals, but therehas been a strong shift.

The Bailyn lecture is the annual highlightof North American Studies at La Trobe. It isfollowed by a seminar where, this year,Professor Carter spoke about Americanpresidential autobiographies fromTheodore Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.

A visitor from the University of SouthCarolina, Professor Carter, has writtenmany prize-winning books includingScottsboro: A Tragedy of the AmericanSouth, which won six literary prizes.

He won a television ‘Emmy’ for hisresearch for the 1999 documentary GeorgeWallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire. Othertelevision programs in which he has beeninvolved are The American Civil War(1985), Stories of Scottsboro (2001),Ulysses Grant (2002), Jimmy Carter(2002) and A History of America (2002).

He also writes feature articles for majornewspapers, including The New York Timesand The Atlanta Constitution. �

Equality in the US 2

Truth and reconciliation in East Timor 3

Work: making it more family friendly 3

New Professor of Chinese Law and Legal Globalisation 4

Quest to eliminate arsenic from drinking water 5

A lighter wrist watch 6

New Mildura courses tackle regional workforce shortage 6

Research in Action

Family Law Reform 7

What’s lives on Ned’s Corner? 8

Good ecotourism helps sustainable development 9

Personality determines holiday choice 10

Prosthetics and orthotics goes global 11

New tool makes hospital discharge less risky 11

Clinical physio placements in Stockholm 12

New cerebral palsy research 12

Surprise findings from MS fitness study 13

Meeting the challenge of world poverty 14

Adjunct professors appointed at Mildura 14

Awards and prizes 15

Photography: theft has its reward 16

La Trobe University wins Koorie award 16

American conservatives and the politics of race:Professor Carter delivers his lecture.

EQUALITY IN THE USDon’t confuse the rhetoric with reality

Dr Spencer Zifcak, Associate Professor inLa Trobe University’s School of Law, hasofficially evaluated the work of EastTimor’s Truth and ReconciliationCommission.

The assignment followed Dr Zifcak’searlier work helping to draft the newnation’s constitution.

Undertaken for the Commission, hisevaluation focused on the extensive processof community reconciliation to resolvedisputes and differences between militiamembers and their victims before, andimmediately after, the referendum onindependence in 1999.

The Commission’s final report to thePresident of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao,was delivered in November.

‘On balance the communityreconciliation process must be considered avery significant success,’ said Dr Zifcak,who specialises in both human rights lawand public international law.

‘In almost all of about 200 hearings heldover 18 months, perpetrators and theirvictims agreed to reconcile. Just asimportantly, more than 30,000 peopleattended the hearings – approximately fiveper cent of the country’s population – so theprocess served an enormously importanteducational purpose as well,’ he said.

‘Through the many hearings, adults andchildren across the country were able tounearth the truth about what had occurred intheir local communities. Knowledge of thishistory may make a very significantcontribution to ensuring that the extensivepolitical criminality which occurred in 1999will not recur.’

Nevertheless, Dr Zifcak said that theCommission’s work was hamperedsubstantially, principally because almost allthe most serious perpetrators of politicallycriminal activity had fled across the borderto West Timor, or to the Indonesianmainland. There they walked freely andwith impunity under the protection ofIndonesian authorities.

‘For the future, perhaps the most important

aspect of this evaluation will be its

implications for the development of East

Timor’s nascent legal system. At present,

East Timor’s legal system is highly under-

developed. It cannot cope with the demands

placed upon it, so it needs to be

complemented by a viable system of local

district and village justice.

‘My report has sought to makerecommendations to the Commission abouthow its own success in the conduct of localcommunity mediation proceedings may betranslated into making the country’s localjustice systems fairer and more effective.’ �

3

LA TROBE LAW

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

IN EAST TIMOR

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004

Professor Zifcak, left, with his translator and villagers who participated in the truth and reconciliation process.

A La Trobe University specialist ininternational labour law has played a role inthe campaign by trade unions to makeAustralian workplaces more family friendly.

The ACTU commissioned Dr JillianMurray, a lecturer in the School of Law andLegal Studies, to write a report oninternational developments in maternityleave, parental leave and part time work.

Her report, International Legal Trends inthe Reconciliation of Work and Family Life,was presented to a hearing before the FullBench of the Australian Industrial RelationsCommission during the Work and FamilyTest Case. She also spent several hours beingcross-examined on the report as an ‘expert’

witness. Dr Murray’s doctoral thesis atOxford University examined the roles of theInternational Labour Organisation and theEuropean Union in securing workers’ rights,and she has undertaken consultancies for boththe ILO and EU. At La Trobe, she iscontinuing to develop her research in the roleof law in helping people reconcile their workand family life.

The ACTU is claiming three majoradjustments: an increase in parental leavefrom one to two years, the right to part timework, and increased emergency leave forfamily reasons.

Work: making it family-friendly

Continued page 4

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLETIN

LA TROBE LAW

4

Dr Jianfu Chen – a legal specialistwith interests ranging fromhuman rights to international

business law – has been appointedProfessor of Chinese Law and LegalGlobalisation in La Trobe University’sSchool of Law.

Professor Chen collaborates widely withChinese and European institutions and hasheld visiting professorial and otherappointments in China, Europe, HongKong and Australia.

An authority on Chinese law, he has ledinternational research projects funded byEuropean governmental and otherorganisations, and provided legal andacademic opinions on many issues.

His research interests include humanrights, globalisation and global justice;central-local relations in China; China’sWorld Trade Organisation membershipand legal implications; and Chinese lawand its implementation.

Professor Chen has written two books,and co-authored five others, on Chineselaw, Australian law, globalisation and

global trade. He is co-editor of three otherbooks. His work, in English, Chinese, andFrench translation, appears in academicand professional forums nationally andinternationally.

Recent academic publications includeChinese Law: Towards an Understandingof Chinese Law, Its Nature andDevelopment (Kluwer Law International,1999), Law-Making in the People’sRepublic of China (co-editor, with Otto,Polak & Li) (Kluwer Law International,2000), Implementation of Law in thePeople’s Republic of China (co-editor,with Otto & Li) (Kluwer LawInternational, 2002), and Balancing Act:Law, Policy and Politics in Globalisationand Global Trade (co-editor, with GWalker) (Federation Press, 2004).

Since 1999, Professor Chen has beenChief Editor of the China Business LawGuide, updated quarterly. Professor Chenhas a BSc degree from China, and a LLM(Honours I) and PhD (Law) from theUniversity of Sydney. He joined La TrobeUniversity in 1993. �

Dr Murray said conflicting demands ofwork and family make life difficult for manypeople and governments were introducinglaws and processes which allowed people toreconcile work and family.

Her report described a significant trendtowards legal intervention in the labourmarket to achieve more effective resolutionof work and family life. Change has beenpromoted by national governments, andinternational institutions including theInternational Labour Organisation and thoseof the European Union.

New employment rights have beencreated, but they vary from country tocountry. In some cases, there are now verysignificant leave entitlements.

Examples include up to 52 weeks paidmaternity leave in the UK; up to three yearsparental leave prior to a child’s eighthbirthday in Germany; 60 days paidemergency leave per worker per year to carefor a child under twelve in Sweden; access topart-time work with a right to change hours,subject only to serious business objections inthe Netherlands and Germany; and certainrights to part-time work in all EU countries.

Dr Murray’s report said definitions of‘work and family’ were becoming moreflexible. For example, UK law permitsworkers ‘reasonable time off’ to care for non-family members, where the worker is theonly person available to undertake this task inan emergency.

She said much of this recent regulationwas designed to establish a legal frameworkwithin which implementation can occur atthe workplace, through individual orcollective bargaining.

Early evidence from the UK, Ireland andthe Netherlands suggested that the new ruleshave increased workers’use of flexible work,and have not led to a sharp increase incontested matters before industrial tribunalsand the courts.

‘There is some evidence that employergroups – many of whom opposed theintroduction of the new laws – haveworked well with the new systems. Thepredicated catastrophic consequenceshave either not occurred, or have not yetbeen reported in the research available. Anexception appears to be the USA, wherethe Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 isclaimed by some employers as a majorfetter on their ability to compete.’ �

NEW PROFESSORof Chinese Law andLegal Globalisation

Continued from page 3

Professor Chen at La Trobe University’s Law School.

GLOBAL HEALTH

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 5

ALa Trobe University micro-biologist is a member of a six-member international research

team that has advanced the prospect ofresolving one of South Asia’s major healthproblems.

That problem is a form of cancer peopledevelop when they drink arsenic-contaminated bore water. Tens of millionsof people in 61 of the 64 districts ofBangladesh rely for water on bores drilledup to 100 metres deep through rock thatcontains arsenic.

Surface water, while in ample supply,often contains dangerous pathogens andcannot be drunk. The problem also existsin the Indian states of West Bengal, Biharand Uttar Pradesh.

The team in which La Trobe University-ARC Australian Post Doctoral Fellow, DrJoanne Santini, is a major player, hasdeveloped an efficient method – a simplemolecular assay – to detect a bacterial genecalled arrA that can cause a dangerousform of arsenic called arsenite tocontaminate water.

A type of arrA, found in an organismcalled Chrysiogenes arsenatis from thetailings of a gold mine near Ballarat,

similar bacteria from Haiwee Reservoirwhich supplies drinking water to LosAngeles, and bacteria from 11 other sites,were used in the research.

A paper describing their discovery,entitled arrA is a Reliable Marker forAs(V)-Respiration in the Environment, waspublished in the October edition ofScience, the journal of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement ofScience. The five other members of theteam – Dr Dianne Newman, Mr DavinMalasarn, Dr Chad Saltikov, Ms KateCampbell and Professor Janet Hering – arefrom the California Institute ofTechnology, Pasadena.

Dr Santini explained that in Bangladeshand other areas, when water flowsunderground over rocks containingarsenic, it reacts with oxygen when it risesup a bore to the surface, to produce twosoluble toxic forms of arsenic – arseniteand arsenate. Arsenite is 100 times moretoxic than arsenate.

The problem is that bacteria can usearsenate instead of oxygen for respirationand covert it to arsenite. The arrA gene isone of the genes required for convertingarsenate to arsenite.

Dr Santini said arrA enables arsenate-metabolising bacteria to become energisedand once energised, it causes rocks torelease their natural arsenic content intowater. The arsenic in the form of arsenateis relatively harmless when dormant inrocks and soil but when it reacts, itbecomes highly toxic arsenite.

The team advanced the prospect ofalleviating the problem by developing atest to detect the presence of arrA insamples of water from aquifers.

It developed a ‘primer’, a chemicalwhich binds to the arrA gene. Using atechnique called polymerase chainreaction, the team tested the 13 species ofbacteria and found that 12 of them had thearrA gene.

Team members have not yet testedwhether the same bacteria exist inBangladesh – but all the indications arethat they are there.

The next step is to use the team’smolecular assay to identify areas wherearsenic-releasing bacteria are at work,enabling scientists to determine thereasons why the gene is active. This willenable them to predict when arrA willconvert arsenate into arsenite. �

Quest to eliminate arsenic from drinking water

SIMPLE TEST MAY HELP MILLIONS

Photo: John Casamento.

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLET IN

NEWS

6

NewMilduracoursestackleregionalworkforceshortageThe Mildura campus is expanding itsrange of courses to cater for increasedregional demand for higher education.

New offerings for next year includedegree courses in Nursing and SocialWork and a Graduate Diploma inSecondary Education.

The three-year Bachelor of Nursingcaters for year 12 school leavers, as wellas mature age entry students and Division2 nurses who wish to upgrade theirqualifications.

The Bachelor of Social Work is afour-year course, while the GraduateDiploma in Secondary Education isone-year full-time.

Mildura Campus Director, Mr RonBroadhead, says the courses address aregional shortage of qualifiedprofessionals. Local people, oncequalified, are more likely to remain in theregional workforce than those who train in cities. �

Details: Tel: (03) 5051 4000.

Aluminium is expensive to use inthe manufacture of smallcomponents of complex shape

because of certain technical difficultiesand the cost of moulding or pressing it.

This has limited its use in a potentiallyhuge range of applications such as watchcases and components for engines,portable generators, hand-held electronicdevices and hand tools.

Two La Trobe University economistsare now playing a major role in amultidiscipline research project todevelop technology to overcomealuminium’s technical ‘barrier’ and toascertain whether such a product wouldbe economically viable.

Dr David Prentice and Dr XiangkangYin, both senior lecturers in La Trobe’sDepartment of Economics and Finance,will supervise the component of the projectto determine the profitability andeconomic applications of a technologycalled Metal Injection Moulding ofAluminium (Al MIM) which is beingdeveloped by the School of Engineering atthe University of Queensland.

Drs Prentice and Yin – with ProfessorGraham Schaffer and Dr Tim Sercombefrom the University of Queensland, andindustry partners Cooltemp Pty Ltd ofQueensland and the Aluminium PowerCompany Ltd of the UK – have beenawarded a $228,000 ARC Linkage Grantover three years for the research.

They say La Trobe’s side of the researchis to estimate the cost efficiency ofreplacing aluminium componentsmanufactured by conventional methodssuch as casting, machining and forgingwith injection moulded components orother injected-moulded materials likePVC.

‘We will do this by adopting thetechnical cost modelling methodology toestimate the costs of Al MIM and themanufacturing methods it will replace.More importantly, this component of theproject will also draw on techniques usedin applied microeconomics to estimate theproduction functions or cost functions toinvestigate the economies of scale andestimate the efficient scales of productionof Al MIM.’

This approach – which will look at bothcost and demand – will yield advice onhow to choose the best plant and companysize. It will also help measure the privateand social benefits of process innovationslike Al MIM.

For example, they will attempt toestablish how the market values theattributes of such a new product: if it isused to make watch cases much lighter,what kind of premium do people pay forlightweight watches? They will alsocollect data on the prices andcharacteristics of existing products whichthe new material will replace. �

A LIGHTER WRIST WATCHBUT HOW MUCH EXTRA WILL YOU PAY?

Amulti-disciplinary team from La Trobe University recentlycompleted a project to ensure that

children’s needs top the agenda in alldiscussions on Family Law disputes.

Commissioned and funded by the FederalAttorney General’s Department, ProfessorTania Sourdin, Associate Professor LawrieMoloney, and senior lecturer, Dr Tom Fisher,have prepared standards for Family Lawdispute resolution practitioners.

The La Trobe team – which has extensiveexperience in family law and disputeresolution – prepared draft ‘approval’standards and ‘practice’ standards.Safeguarding children’s interests is one of anumber of areas covered in the standards.

Project Leader, Professor Sourdin, is anexperienced mediator, conciliator,adjudicator, Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR) trainer and lawyer with a PhD incommercial dispute resolution. Her bookAlternative Dispute Resolution waspublished in 2002. She is also a key authorof the Australian Standard on DisputeResolution and of other recent AustralianLaw Reform Commission work on ADR.

Dr Fisher is co-ordinator of graduateprograms for law and social science studentsin Conflict Resolution and Family LawMediation. A mediator under the FamilyLaw Act, he also mediates in community,workplace and planning disputes. He has co-authored major studies and trainingprograms in family law mediation for theFederal Attorney-General’s Department.

Head of the Department of Counsellingand Psychological Health, Dr Moloney is afamily therapist and teaches ‘MediatingFamily Conflict’ in the Graduate Diploma in

Family Law. He has supervised familymediators for ten years, and is a researcherand evaluator as well as a clinician. As aformer Director of the Family CourtCounselling Service in Melbourne, he has along-standing interest in ADR.

Professor Sourdin said high standards fordispute resolution were of growingimportance as a result of a recent rule changeby the Family Law Court. This requiredmost disputants to use dispute resolutionprocesses such as mediation before courtproceedings can be filed.

She said that the draft ‘approval’standards specify that from 2008,practitioners who work in the counselling,facilitative and dispute advisory areas mustmeet minimum qualification, supervisionand competency requirements.

In addition, practitioners have extensiveobligations to meet ‘practice’ standards. Atpresent those obligations have been

developed for ‘facilitative practitioners’ only.

‘Practitioners who work in a facilitativerole do not advise upon, evaluate, ordetermine disputes. They assist in managingthe process of dispute and conflict resolutionwhereby the participants determine theoutcomes,’ Professor Sourdin said.

‘Facilitative processes include mediation,conciliation, conferencing and facilitation –where the practitioner does not provideadvice or proffer a view as to outcomes –and counselling where the process isdirected at dispute resolution and involvestwo or more participants. The principle ofself determination requires that theseprocesses be non-directive.’

In relation to children, practitioners haveto help adults to keep the interests, needs andemotional attachments of any child affectedby a family dispute at the centre ofdiscussions about future parenting and carearrangements, she added. �

RESEARCH IN ACTION

Family Law Reform

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 7

ProfessorSourdin, centre,

with Dr Moloney,left, and

Dr Fisher.

PUTTINGCHILDREN’SNEEDSFIRST

RESEARCH IN ACTION

What flora and fauna live onNed’s Corner – 30,000hectares of historic flatsaltbush plain with a 27 km

Murray River frontage 100 km west ofMildura, once Victoria’s largest freeholdgrazing property?

We now have a good indication, thanks toa highly unusual La Trobe Universityexpedition in which 25 students and staffrecently spent seven days assessing the plantand animal inhabitants of the former propertyof Kidman the Cattle King.

Organised by zoologists Professor TimNew and Associate Professor MichaelClarke, the expedition returned with detailedinformation about insects, birds, reptiles,

mammals, invertebrates and plants that willtake months to analyse.

In 2002 the Trust for Nature (TFN)purchased the former grazing property, onwhich up to 15,000 sheep had grazed at anyone time, and the sheep were removed. The property is part of the proposed Barkindji Biosphere Reserve, theestablishment of which has strong La TrobeUniversity support.

‘Because this survey took place so soonafter the sheep were removed, it was a uniqueopportunity to begin a study of long-termchanges in a saltbush environment,’ says Dr Clarke.

Other La Trobe University academic staffwho participated, and their specialities, were:

Dr Brian Malone (reptiles),Associate Professor PatWoolley (mammals), DrDennis Black (reptiles, bats,invertebrates) and AssociateProfessor Richard Zann(birds). Three TFN plantspecialists, Dr Chris Williams,Ms Natalie Holland and MrGreg Ogle also participated.

The 16 third year students,

all volunteers who contributed specific skillsto the expedition, comprised 11 Bachelor ofConservation Biology and Ecology, AnimalScience or Biological Science students fromthe main Melbourne campus at Bundoora andfive Bachelor of Environmental Managementand Ecology students from the Albury-Wodonga campus.

Expedition members split into five groupsseeking information on plants, invertebrates,reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammalsand used a number of different methods thatinvolved sightings, direct search, scatanalysis and many kinds of traps and nets.

The most unexpected result was finding arare small marsupial called Planigale gilesiwhich had not been seen in the area for atleast two decades. A dead animal of the samespecies was also found. The tiny nocturnalcreature lives in cracking clays but emergesinto bushes when infrequent rains fall.

Many reptiles were found, including sevenspecies of geckoes, four of snakes, four ofskinks and several species of frogs. Amongthe 86 species of birds sighted was theunusual Inland Dotterel which was foundbreeding on the property.

Professor New led the team seeking

WHAT LIVES ON NED’S CORNER?Baseline biology in Kidman Country

Good ecotourism can be a greatboost for environmentallearning. And the more we learn

about the environment, the better thechance for sustainable development.

But the term ‘ecotourism’ must meanwhat it says. Tourism operators should notuse it as a marketing tool for nature travelthat doesn’t enhance appreciation of theenvironment.

A lecturer in La Trobe University’sSchool of Sport, Tourism and HospitalityManagement, Dr Garry Price, makes these points in his PhD thesis entitled: Ecotourism Experiences andEnvironmental Learning: A CriticalExamination of their Nexus in SelectedAustralian Ecotourism Operations.

Dr Price says that some operators,although not necessarily the ones selectedfor his study, use the prefix ‘eco’ in thetitle of their tours, but do not deliver thegoods. Although nature-based tourism isthe fastest growing segment of theindustry world-wide, not all nature-basedtourism is ecotourism.

Authentic ecotours, he says, mustcomply with four principles: they must benature based; they must contribute to thequest for economic, ecological and socialsustainability; they must have anenvironmental education component; andthey must benefit the local community.

‘The distinguishing feature of anecotour is its environmental educationcomponent. Such a tour must not just

permit participants to look at nature, butmust convey to them an environmentalmessage.

‘The focus of my investigation of thenine companies whose tours I joined – inQueensland, New South Wales andVictoria – was whether they weredelivering good quality environmentaleducation.

‘I found that while many of them arevery good, some could improve thequality of their environmental education.In true ecotourism, operators must not justpoint out and name trees or birds or otherfauna, but must convey an environmentalmessage.’

To help ecotourism operators delivergood quality environment education, DrPrice has developed a model of idealinterpretative practice from which theycan extract sections for use in their ownoperations.

Dr Price’s interest in both the theoryand practice of ecotourism reflects hisbackground as a VCE secondary schoolteacher in Environmental Studies andowner-operator of an ecotourism businessin Victoria’s central Gippsland.

As part of his research, the nine‘ecotours’ he joined included a river cruiseat Noosa, a rainforest tour inland from theSunshine Coast, a four-wheel drive touron Fraser Island, a cruise on wetlands nearMaroochydore, and visits to both Frenchand Phillip islands in Westernport Bay. �

9NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004

Good ecotourism HELPS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

invertebrates and concentrated on ants. Histeam collected several thousand individuals.

‘I think we collected about 40 to 70 speciesbut we won’t know for sure until I have had anopportunity to examine them all in detail in thelaboratory,’ Professor New said.

Dr Black also performed ‘litter extractions’in which many minute organisms includingmites and insect larvae were located. These areregarded as important indicators of the healthof the soil.

The TFN botanists had conductedpreliminary surveys of the flora, and the recentexpedition confirmed the rich botanicaldiversity of the area, despite its small anderratic rainfall.

All data collected will be made available tothe TFN land managers and significantfindings will be lodged with the Atlas ofVictorian Wildlife. A summary containinginformation needed to guide land managementand habitat restoration will be given both to the TFN and the Mallee CatchmentManagement Authority.

All who took part in the expedition are keento return and pursue the many researchopportunities through future expeditions andpostgraduate studies. �

RESEARCH IN ACTION

Professor New, far left, andtwo finds, an adult MalleeBlackhead snake, top, andFat-Tailed Dunnart, left.

Photos: Anna Clarke

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLET IN10

RESEARCH IN ACTION

Four main personality types – thinking,physical, feeling, and imaginative –have different ideas as to what

constitutes an enjoyable holiday, accordingto La Trobe University specialist inConsumer Behaviour, Dr John Gountas.

Although there are many sharedpreferences, he has pinpointed where thedifferent personalities prefer to have theirholidays.

‘Thinking’ personality types preferindependent holidays often to cultural trendyfamous places while ‘physical’ types mainlychoose package holidays in the sun wherethey can relax in comfort.

‘Feeling’ types like smaller quiet resortswith organised activities and sports while‘imaginative’ types also like independentholidays but in small quiet resorts – wherethey can to venture out and mix with localpeople.

Working with a British leisure airline,First Choice, Dr Gountas, a senior lecturer inmarketing in La Trobe’s School of Business,investigated the holiday choices based onthe characteristics of the holiday makers’personality types.

The study was carried out as part of hisPhD thesis, entitled Personality Types andTourism Holiday Preferences. Dr Gountascarried out three empirical surveys between1999 and 2000 with a total sample of 2669

holidaymakers. The holidaymakers travelledfrom British regional airports and Ireland toMediterranean, Caribbean, North African,and Asian resorts. The three surveys tried tocapture all holiday types included in thewinter, shoulder and summer seasons.

To define ‘personality’ types, Dr Gountasresearched personality type theories startingwith Plato’s theory of temperaments, Jung’s1921 theory of the eight personality types,the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and otherpost-Jungian theories up to the present dayincluding some neuropsychological andbrain theories.

After formulating the four personalitytypes, Dr Gountas devised a 50-itemquestionnaire filled out by the holidaymakers en route to their destinations.

The survey results tested the relationshipsbetween the holiday makers’ personalitytypes, preferences for holiday resorts,sources of information and the core valuesor main source of ‘satisfaction’.

Dr Gountas summarised the generalholiday resort preferences of the four maintypes as follows:

Thinking types (21.7% of the population):Prefer independent holidays, variety ofresorts, outdoor, mountains and scenic tours,historical and cultural, trendy places. Theygained their holiday satisfaction fromlearning and thinking and relied on TV, radioand the mass printed media for theirinformation.

Physical Types (20.8 %): Mostly preferpackage holidays in the sun by the sea wherethey relax in comfort and are close to natureand physical pleasures. Satisfaction comesfrom physical pleasures and comforts afterlearning about their favourite destinationsfrom mass printed media and word ofmouth.

Feeling types (29 %): Prefer to go tosmaller, quiet resorts with activities andsports and different experiences from

normal or routine lifestyle. Satisfactionstems from feelings and emotionalexperiences and their information comesfrom mass printed media and friends andrelatives.

Imaginative types (28.3%): Tend to beinterested in flexible and independentholidays in small, quiet resorts where theycan see historical, cultural and naturalwonders and also mix with locals. Theyenjoy holidays that appeal to theirperceptions or fantasy needs, and tend to goto travel agents and tour operators for theirinformation as well as TV and radio andword of mouth.

Dr Gountas says his research has manyimplications for tourism marketers.

Products can be differentiated moreaccurately to target the psychographic anddemographic characteristics of differentholiday makers, thereby identifying moresegments in the tourism population andcreating holidays for their needs.

Communications strategies can bedirected more accurately towards the rightmarket segments according to theirpersonality type, using appropriate languageand media taking into account the differentsocial groups, education levels and age.

Irrespective of personality type, DrGountas says the main motive for going onholidays for the British public was to getaway from the usual routine, the rainy andcold weather and find a sunny and warmclimate – preferably at locations as familiaras British seaside resorts. �

Personality determinesholiday choice WHO YOU ARE IS WHERE YOU GO

Dr Gountas

The University has taken a further step toconsolidate its leading position as a worldprovider of tertiary education and researchin prosthetics and orthotics.

In its latest expansion, it will provide itshighly regarded Prosthetics and Orthoticsdegree courses on-line for students fromCambodia, and several African and MiddleEastern counties.

Prosthetics and orthotics is the design andfitting of artificial limbs and othersupportive devices.

La Trobe PhD candidate and sessionallecturer in the National Centre forProsthetics and Orthotics, Mr Wesley Pryor,helped initiate the latest arrangement – withthe Cambodian School of Prosthetics andOrthotics in Phnom Penh – to upgrade theCambodian diplomas of some of itsstudents to La Trobe bachelor degree status.

The Vice-Chancellor’s fund hasprovided $75,000 to help develop thecourse which will enrol its first 15students in January 2006.

‘The Cambodian School of Prostheticsand Orthotics approached La Trobe forassistance because we are recognised forour clinical skills and the reputation of ourgraduates as good communicators.Institutions all over the world realise thatwhat we are doing in distance learning isworld’s best practice,’ Mr Pryor says.

La Trobe has excellent infrastructure foron-line learning of this kind, and its Centrefor Online and Multimedia EducationalTechnologies has helped overcome manytechnical barriers.

‘Cambodia wants its students not only tohave the necessary technical skills, but alsothe training that prepares them forleadership roles. We have demonstratedflexibility in our teaching approach,including an initiative to teach Japanesestudents.’

After graduating with their Cambodiandiplomas, students from Cambodia andother countries will upgrade theirqualifications using distance web-basedcourses, as well as three-months ofintensive technical and clinical work at La Trobe’s main Melbourne campus atBundoora.

‘The need for prosthetics and orthoticsservices in Cambodia, the Middle East andAfrica is extremely high,’ says Mr Pryor.‘Victims of war, disease and naturaldisasters have greatly increased the need forprostheses and orthoses.’

Last year he conducted training sessionsin Delhi, India, for Handicap Internationalto research the efficiency of prosthesesfitted to victims of the 2001 earthquake inthe State of Gujarat. �

New ‘tool’makes hospitaldischarge less risky

La Trobe University is helpingimprove risk and decision-makingprinciples in the health sector.

Professor of Public Health, ShaneThomas, has developed the Thomas PostAcute (PAC) Risk Screen Tool now usedwidely in Australian health services toassist discharge planning for hospitalpatients.

The tool, he says, screens patients forwhether they may need additional servicesat home so that they can be fully assessedand the services arranged.

The Victorian Effective DischargeStrategy, introduced in 2001, made itmandatory for hospitals to report theoutcomes of the Risk Screen.

Recently the State Government re-committed its health services to use RiskScreen to improve care for older people.Other Australian health services havealso adopted it. It is used in Queenslandand some services in NSW haverecommended it.

Professor Thomas says having effectivescreening tools, such as the PAC Tool,ensures that the needs of people aresystematically taken into account whenthey are discharged from hospital.

‘If people are discharged without thenecessary supports, their recovery andhealth may be compromised. The use ofscreening tools helps minimise this risk.’

Professor Thomas is also working witha team of researchers from the Universityof Melbourne to develop a Prisoner RiskScreen Tool to identify prisoners who maybenefit from prison services that couldhelp reduce their risk of re-offending. �

Out on a limb

HEALTH

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 11

La Trobe consolidates its global leadership inprosthetics and orthotics

Photo: Tim Grant

Professor Thomas

PHYSIOTHERAPY

12

Research links to help children withcerebral palsy have been establishedbetween La Trobe University, the

Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne,and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

About 135 children are born in Victoriaevery year with cerebral palsy. A majorpart of this applied neuroscience researchconcerns understanding the hand functionof children with cerebral palsy to helpimprove clinical practice.

Collaborative research includesvalidating in Australia an assessmentdeveloped by Swedish neuroscientist andclinical researcher, Dr Ann-ChristinEliasson, an Associate Professor at theKarolinska Institute.

Collaboration between Dr Eliasson and

La Trobe lecturer in Occupational Therapy,Ms Christine Imms and Dr Roslyn Boydfrom the School of Physiotherapy, led to arecent visit by Dr Eliasson as a La TrobeDistinguished Fellow.

Ms Imms said that Dr Eliasson, usingher skills as a neuroscientist and clinicalresearcher, has provided manyopportunities for academic staff, paediatrictherapy researchers, post-graduate studentsand clinicians to collaborate and to gainfrom her experience and knowledge.

Before coming to Australia, Dr Eliassonand her Swedish colleagues had developedthe Manual Ability Classification System(MACS). This enables clinicians to gaugethe relative abilities of children by usingfive levels related to their capacity tofunction in daily life.

In a joint project between La Trobe andthe Royal Children’s Hospital with MsImms and Dr Boyd, therapists and childrenwere recruited for an Australian validationstudy of the MACS.

A new collaborative research project –to investigate the use of ConstraintInduced Movement Therapy (CIMT) andBotulinum toxin A to improve upper limbfunction in young children with cerebralpalsy aged five to 15 years – was alsodeveloped.

During her stay at La Trobe, Dr Eliassonpresented a paper to the AustralasianAcademy of Cerebral Palsy andDevelopmental Medicine, gave a workshopfor more than 100 people, and provided apaediatric training course to La Trobe post-graduate students and clinicians. �

The first group of La Trobe

University physiotherapy students

recently undertook their clinical

placements at one of Sweden’s leading

medical institutes – the Karolinska

Institute in Stockholm.

The three third year students were Ms

Laura Keely, Ms Danielle Ryan and Mr

James Bainbridge. They spent their nine-

week neurological physiotherapy clinicalplacement at the Institute.

While in Sweden, they were visited byLa Trobe lecturer in neurologicalphysiotherapy, Sonia Denisenko, who wonthis year’s Faculty of Health SciencesDean’s Teaching Excellence Award.

Chair of the Australian PhysiotherapyAssociation National Neurology Group,

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLET IN

International links forge new cerebral palsy research

Ms Denisenko used her $5000 prizemoney to attend the European Society forMovement Analysis for Adults andChildren Gait course in Warsaw, Poland,and visit the students in Stockholm.

She won the award for up-datingcourses dealing with the management ofconditions such as stroke, Parkinson’sdisease, multiple sclerosis, head injury andbrain tumours.

Physiotherapy practice in Australia –including that currently presented in La Trobe Physiotherapy courses – wasextremely well regarded internationally,Ms Denisenko said.

‘At least half a dozen presenters at theWarsaw course referred to work atMelbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital(RCH). It is considered a centre of worldexcellence in the management of childrenwith cerebral palsy.’ she added.

Several of the presenters referred to thework of another La Trobe University PhDgraduate, Dr Roslyn Boyd, who recentlywon a Premier’s Commendation forMedical Research and now works at the RCH. �

From left, Ms Denisenko, Ms Ryan, Karolinska Institutelecturer, Ms Anne Kusoffsky, Mr Bainbridge and Ms

Keely, after presenting a colleague’s paper inStockholm.

Clinical physio placements

NOW IN STOCKHOLM

PHYSIOTHERAPY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 13

La Trobe University physiotherapyresearchers believe a controversialresearch project they recentlycompleted has overturned

previously held beliefs about increasing thewell-being of people with multiplesclerosis.

They say results of the pilot project,carried out in collaboration with theMultiple Sclerosis Society of Victoria usingnine participants with MS in Melbourne,turn around views most clinicians holdabout the use of strenuous exercise such asweight training.

‘Previously most clinicians werereluctant to prescribe weight training andmany believed that it had potentiallyharmful effects,’ said La Trobe teammember, Dr Karen Dodd.

‘We were surprised that our results wereso good and so uniform, flying in the face ofall previously held ideas. We showed thatleg muscle strength improved by 33 per centand arm strength by 14 per cent and therewere a number of other benefits bothphysical and psychological,’ Dr Dodd said.

In addition there was the advantage thatthe program was carried out in aconventional gymnasium in the community.

Caused by a breakdown of the centralnervous system, MS affects control ofmuscles, sensation, vision and other bodyfunctions. A common symptom of thedisease, which affects about 15,000Australians, is fatigue.

Dr Dodd explained that weight trainingfor people with MS raises complexproblems. If they don’t exercise, theybecome progressively physically weaker –but if they do exercise using a medium likeweight training, many clinicians believethey become fatigued with subsequentpossible complications.

Because of this dilemma, clinicians havebeen most reluctant to prescribe strengthtraining as most believed that it could bedetrimental.

Encouraged by indications from overseas

that this belief was not necessarily correct,the physiotherapy team at the MS Society ofVictoria asked La Trobe’s MusculoskeletalResearch Centre to investigate.

In collaboration with Ms Dawn Prasadfrom the MS Society and physiotherapistcolleagues from the Centre, Dr NicholasTaylor and Ms Sonia Denisenko, theprogram was carried out over a 14 weeks,starting at Easter in the gymnasium atTelstra Dome.

Before the volunteers, two men and sevenwomen aged between 27 and 61, began thecarefully planned weight training program,they underwent four weeks of baselinetesting including measurements of thestrength in various parts of their body. Thesemeasurements were compared with thosetaken after attending the gym twice a weekfor 10 weeks.

Ms Prasad and two qualified fitnessinstructors monitored the participants inexercises designed to strengthen arms, legsand trunk. As well as the improved strengthin arms and legs, the researchers found thatat the end of the 10 week period, thevolunteers walked faster and increased theirdistance walked over a given time.

While there was some expected musclesoreness – which even fully fit peoplestarting weight training experience – therewere no adverse neurological changes andmost importantly, no increased fatigue.When interviewed at the end of theprogram, participants reported they wereless clumsy, found it easier to walk up anddown stairs, and had more energy.

Team members said weight training maynow be seen as a possible fitness option forpeople with MS with a mild to moderatedisability. They now hope to verify theirresults with a randomised control trial of atleast 30 people with MS.

The results of the pilot project werepresented to the MS Australia ScientificMeeting: Progress in Multiple SclerosisResearch in Melbourne in November at theWalter and Eliza Hall Institute. �

Surprise findings from MS FITNESS RESEARCH

Dr Dodd: leg muscle strength improved by 33per cent, arm strength by 14 per cent – and there

were other physical and psychological benefits.

T he Reverend Tim Costello – one of Australia’s leading campaigners on

social justice issues and ‘Victorian of the Year 2004’ – delivered two public lecturesat the University recently.

Chief Executive of World VisionAustralia, he spoke in support of an Anti-Poverty Week event in October. Hosted bythe School of Social Work and SocialPolicy in association with the Brotherhoodof St Laurence, the title of his lecture was:Meeting the challenge of world poverty.

Earlier, he was the keynote speaker atpublic seminar, Sudan: the Human Crisis,convened by the La Trobe Politics Society.

The seminar provided back-ground to thecrisis. Other speakers were La Trobe Headof African Studies, Dr David Dorward, afrequent visitor to Africa, and ProfessorAnthony Low, former Vice-Chancellor ofthe Australian National University andSmuts Professor of CommonwealthHistory at Cambridge University.

Having brought Labor leader, MarkLatham to the University earlier in theyear, the Politics Society also ran a specialelection seminar featuring former Senatorand Labor Minister, John Button,Associate Editor of The Age, ShaunCarney, and La Trobe Professor ofPolitics, Judith Brett.

State Attorney-General Rob Hulls spoketo about 80 final year La Trobe Lawstudents in October, challenging them touse the law as an instrument of change tobenefit the most vulnerable anddisadvantaged members of our community.In an address to the Legal Practice andConduct class, Mr Hulls said lawyers had aprofessional responsibility to do pro bonolegal work to ensure access to justice is notlimited to those who can afford it.

Head of La Trobe Law Clinical LegalEducation, Ms Mary Anne Noone, said theUniversity played its part by providinglegal services where senior students, undersupervision, helped the local community. �

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLET IN

PEOPLE

14

Two well-know members of theMildura community, John Irwin andRob Walker, have been appointed

Adjunct Professors. Their appointmentsacknowledge their contributions to theUniversity, principally to the Faculty ofScience Technology and Engineering.

Professor Irwin is a key figure in the80,000 hectare Barkindji Biosphere Projectnear Mildura. Biospheres, created underterms set out by UNESCO, are ‘ecosystemspromoting solutions to reconcile theconservation of biodiversity with itssustainable use.’

The Barkindji Biosphere has receivedstrong backing from the University. La Trobescientists are already undertaking research onthe site, and several groups of students have

been taught using resources from theBiosphere. These initiatives are expected toincrease significantly in the years ahead.

Professor Irwin also helped forge linksbetween La Trobe and the YunnanAgricultural University in the People’sRepublic of China. The first graduates fromYunnan are expected to arrive next year asvisiting scholars, under a project designed toultimately help agribusiness and tradebetween Sunraysia and China.

Professor Walker, Chief ResearchScientist at the CSIRO Plant IndustriesLaboratories at Merbein, has made majorcontributions to teaching and research at the University. A founding member of theRiverlink Network of Horticultural Researchand Development Agencies in Sunraysia and

Riverland, he was also a key figure increating the Riverlink Postgraduate ResearchNetwork.

The network helps La Trobe scholars tocarry out research in local Riverlinklaboratories, and the first of these scholarssrecently completed her doctoral studies. �

Meeting the challenge of world poverty

ADJUNCT PROFESSORS APPOINTED AT MILDURA

The Rev. Costello, left, and Mr Hulls.

Adjunct Professors Irwin, left, and Walker,right, with Deputy Vice-Chancellor,

Professor Graham McDowell.

Selwyn medalfor Chris GrayDr Chris Gray, senior lecturer and Head ofEarth Sciences, has been awarded thisyear’s Selwyn Medal by the GeologicalSociety of Australia (Victoria Division)for his contribution over more than 25years to the study and understanding ofgeology.

The award citation says Victoriangeology has benefited greatly from DrGray’s application of geochemistry andisotope geochemistry to field problems.Internationally, his work has implicationsfor broader processes such as magmatismand planetology.

The Selwyn Medal is named after SirAlfred Selwyn, founder of the GeologicalSurvey of Victoria. �

National awardfor Robert Manne

AWARDS

15NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004

Top essay performanceby Kate Chanock

La Trobe University Professor ofPolitics, writer and politicalcommentator, Robert Manne, has won

a place among ‘Australia’s top 10’ creativeand innovative people.

He has topped the ‘Society’category of the‘Smart 100’ competition conducted by thenational magazine, The Bulletin.

Professor Manne was chosen fromfinalists including philanthropist, HeloiseWaislitz from the Pratt Foundation;Educational consultant, writer and feminist,Dale Spender; and human rights advocate,High Court judge, Mr Justice Michael Kirby.

Editor of Quadrant magazine for most ofthe 1990s, Professor Manne is acommentator on public affairs for the ABC,The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. AtLa Trobe, he teaches Australian politics and20th Century political history.

The Bulletin’s ‘Smart 100’ list celebratesthe efforts of scientists and researchers infields ranging from business andcommunications, health and medicine to artsand entertainment.

The selection panel said ProfessorManne’s ‘writings and advocacy have shownus all that ideasand words canbe as powerful aforce in ourcommunity asdeeds.’ �

The awards were presented at a three-day conference on the Wurreker Strategy –Pathways and Partnerships to the Futurefor Koorie communities, employers,employment agencies, TAFE and othertraining organisations.

The conference was attended by La Trobe Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equity andAccess), Dr Kerry Ferguson andIndigenous Development Officer, Ms JulieAndrews.

Ms Andrews, who co-ordinated thedevelopment of the La Trobe IndigenousEmployment Strategy, said the first stepwill be the appointment of an IndigenousEmployment Co-ordinator. �

Koorie trainingawardContinued from page 14

‘Australian identity is vulnerable, notbecause it fails to resist the seductions ofother, flashier cultural products, butbecause, like other nations, we invest ourcultural confidence in nationalperformances.’

So writes La Trobe’s Dr Kate Chanock,in an essay titled Identity Anxiety, whichwon the $10,000 first prize in this year’sDialogica awards.

‘By investing so much in Olympicsuccess … Australia invites harm to themost cherished component of its ownimagined identity, the value of mateship.

‘Whether games or battles, these arealways going to be about ranking, splittingand winning. If this undermines the things wemost like about ourselves, we would do betterto climb over the edge of our box and look atwhat makes us the same as everybody else, inevery other time and place.’

Dr Chanock heads the Language andAcademic Skills Unit in the Faculty of

Humanities and Social Sciences. She says‘refracted through the prism ofpostmodernism’, identity studies havebecome the ‘New Black’ in universities,with students spending a lot of timelooking at how identity is defined, andshaped.

While she normally helps students withessays of this sort, her own contribution, inunder 2,000 words, covers a lot of ground- from the Anzac spirit, egalitarianism andmateship to ‘Big Brother’ and the recentOlympic Games.

The Campus Review/Co-op BookshopDialogica Awards promote clear andcoherent writing about contemporaryissues. Dr Chanock received her award atthe Academy of the HumanitiesSymposium annual dinner in Hobart inNovember. �

For the full text of the essay, seehttp://www.camrev.com.au

Dialogica Award winner, Dr Chanock.

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY BULLET IN16

La TrobeUniversity winsKoorie trainingaward

La Trobe took out the ‘University –Pathways’ prize in the inaugural WurrekerAwards for achievements in training forKoorie students. The awards are a jointinitiative of the Victorian AboriginalEducation Association Incorporated and the State Office of Training andTertiary Education.

The award category ‘UniversityPathways’ is for the development and/ordelivery of innovative tertiary educationprograms and services promotingincreased pathways for Koorie academicachievement. La Trobe has developed andimplemented its Indigenous EmploymentStrategy in partnership with the Kooriecommunity, to address the low levels ofIndigenous employment in the highereducation sector.

Education and Training Minister, LynneKosky, who assisted in presenting theawards, said the ‘Wurreker Strategy’helped provide training pathways leadingto better employment opportunities forIndigenous people.

She said the strategy was ‘based on amutual respect for Koorie culture andheritage and for the aspirations of theKoorie community to achieve self-determination.’

For Bendigo photographic artistDonna Bailey the antics of herdaughter’s pet parrot, Charlie,

stealing a biscuit has secured her a placeamong six finalists exhibiting in theprestigious national Energex ArbourContemporary Art Prize.

Ms Bailey is a PhD candidate in VisualArts (Photography) at La Trobe University,Bendigo. And she was the only Victorianfinalist in this year’s competition whichcalled for works with the theme‘Australians at Play’.

As part of the award, her image entitled,Charlie and the Pink Biscuit has beenenlarged to 3 metres by 2.4 metres andmounted in a public art exhibition atBrisbane’s South Bank Energex Arbourduring December.

Ms Bailey said the picture was capturedspontaneously at a popular picnic spot nearBendigo last summer.

‘I was laughing, too, as I pressed theshutter on the camera capturing Zoe andher friend Raquel’s looks of delight andsurprise.’

Ms Bailey is a finalist in the Centre forContemporary Photography Leica,Documentary Award, currently touringAustralia. She was invited to exhibit in theAustralian Centre for Photographyexhibition, Changeling: Childhood and theUncanny in Sydney in November. Herwork was also featured in a groupexhibition, The Line Between Us: TheMaternal Relation in ContemporaryPhotography at the Monash UniversityMuseum of Art. �

THEFT HASITS REWARDS

La Trobe’s Dr Ferguson, behind the award, andMs Andrews flanked by Joel Wright, NationalIndigenous Officer for NTEU, left, and WayneClarke, Wurreker Broker, Victorian Aboriginal

Education Association Incorporated.

Continued page 15

AWARDS