connections issue 1

ISSUE 1 > 2OO4 Preparing bodies and minds for AthensTrouble in the skies – something we all fear

Throwing the baby out with the marriagePoker machines – the economics and ethics

MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA

www.vu.edu.au

CONNECTIONS ƒ-art 14/6/04 2:40 PM

4 VC’s messageWELCOME

Vice-Chancellor Professor Elizabeth Harmanwelcomes readers to the first issueof Connections.

4 In briefNEWS

A visit by Dr Jose Ramos-Horta; VU’s High Voltage Theatre launch; a joint venture with The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils; a finalist for the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award; an Outstanding Instructor Awardfrom CISCO Systems; research on the perils of jockey wasting; and an outback nurse wins a top nursing award.

7 VU facts

8 Melbourne’s autumn splendourEVENTS MANAGEMENT

Food, flowers and wine: Natalie O’Brien and Greg Hooton are the heartbeat of two of Melbourne’s top festivals.

10 Preparing bodies and minds for AthensSPORT SCIENCE

Academics are helping some of Australia’stop athletes prepare for this year’s Olympic Games in Athens.

12 On-the-job, off-the-job: the world of new apprenticeshipsAPPRENTICESHIPS

Today’s apprentices train in a bewildering variety of professions. Five current or recently graduated apprentices tell us why they love what they do.

15 Throwing the baby out with the marriageSOCIAL RESEARCH

For Generation X, lack of trust and commitment in relationships is the order of the day.

16 Wetland’s health under the microscopeENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Ecologists are hoping a Gippsland swampwill shed light on a number of wide-rangingenvironmental issues.

18 Out of AfricaCOMMUNITY BUILDING

There are 20,000 Horn of Africa refugees in Melbourne. Most are here as a result of war, having been through trauma, torture and bereavement. They are getting a helping hand to settle in their new land.

2 >Contents

issue one 2OO

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VICTORIA UNIVERSITY


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Victoria University connections><

20 Trouble in the skiesPSYCHOLOGY

Something we all fear: an aircraft emergency.Recent research has implications for the development of passenger safety.

22 Pipedreams lead to work on city’s top building projectsENGINEERING

A young female hydraulics engineer, after topping her university classmates in a male-dominated field, now works on some of Melbourne’s landmark building projects.

23 TOTeM at the big end of townSOCIAL JUSTICE

A government-funded program aims to engage young people who have dropped out of mainstream schooling. They join bignames from the legal world for lunch.

24 Work integrated learning INDUSTRY TRAINING

Students excel in work-integrated learning programs. Students, their work supervisors and their lecturers tell us why the programs are successful.

26 Poker machine research:a long and winding roadECONOMICS

Dr James Doughney tells us about his six-year research on the economic impact of poker machines, and questions the ethics of those who promote their use.

28 Community building from the ground upCOMMUNITY HEALTH

Basic activities that hold Australian communities together are being abandoned. A new initiative hopesto reverse the trend.

30 Count us in: fit women stay healthy longerHEALTH

Two researchers believe that regular exercise is vital for the healthy ageing of women.

31 BooksVU BOOKS

Project management, corporate governance, German property law, life on a farm, and mathematics are issues explored in new books by members of the University community.

32 ArtSTUDENT ARTSTUDENT: Laura DayCOURSE: Diploma of Arts (Visual Art)TITLE: Untitled (detail)DATE: 2004MEDIUM: Oil on canvas

OO4<connections>

PUBLISHER

Media and Marketing BranchVictoria UniversityAustraliawww.vu.edu.au

© Victoria University of Technology

CRICOS Provider No: 00124K

MANAGING EDITOR

Phil Kofoed

STAFF WRITERS

Vin MaskellClare Boyd-MacraeNiki Koulouris

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jim BuckellPaul MitchellJane LevinJames Doughney

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Brett Kiteley of Stroke p/l

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Maurice Grant-Drew, Ross Bird,Sharon Jones, Warrick Attwood

COVER PHOTO

Australian cyclist Katie Mactier at theWorld Track Championships in Stuttgart,Germany, 2003 PHOTO BY Hennes Roth

CARTOONS

Shelley Miller Design

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES

Phil KofoedMedia and Marketing BranchVictoria UniversityPO Box 14428Melbourne VIC 8001Phone: (03) 9688 4956Email: [email protected]

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4 >VC’s message > In brief

WELCOME to this inaugural issue of Connections,the University’s new biannual magazine, which celebrates the achievements of students, graduatesand staff of Victoria University.

OUR University is part of Melbourne’s vibrant and rapidly grow-ing western region. Its eleven campuses are located in the hub ofMelbourne and across the city’s west. We serve and work withmany schools, businesses, research partners, community groupsand individuals in the region.

Our involvement in the international arena is also extensive.A steady stream of international visitors and foreign delegationsvisit our campuses, and our academics regularly travel overseas todisseminate their research findings. We have extensive and valu-able exchange agreements with institutions throughout the world.

Our student population now exceeds 52,000, studying bothTAFE and higher education courses. Our postgraduate studentpopulation exceeds 5600 and around 4000 international students study at our onshore campuses, while more than 4500students are enrolled in our offshore programs at nineteen locations in eight countries.

Victoria University continues to develop its research andresearch training activities to actively meet the needs of itsresearch students, industry, government and the community.Our areas of research strength are supported through a number ofUniversity Research Centres and cross-disciplinary institutes.

This edition of Connections takes you to the splendour of twoof Melbourne’s major festivals, to key construction sites aroundMelbourne and to the melaleuca wetlands of the Gippsland Lakes.It also reveals the thoughts of Olympic athletes who are seekingthat winning edge by working with two of our sport scientists.

Connections also describes our work with marginalised members of our community and details a major partnership withthe State Government with its Community Building Initiative.

Connections is for all of our University community and ourmany partners. The magazine is not just for those who work andstudy here, it is especially for the many individuals and organisationswho work with and support our University and its exciting mission.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy Connections.

Professor Elizabeth HarmanVice-Chancellor and PresidentJune 2004

>IN BRIEF>IN

Highly strungcontraption

PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew



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New sportsschool to lift industrystandardsA NEW training centre for the sport and recreation industry has been established bythe State Sport Centres Trust and VU with the support of the Victorian Department ofSport and Recreation, the Victorian Departmentof Education and Training, and the AustralianNational Training Authority as a holisticresponse to industry education needs.

The Melbourne School of Sport andRecreation Management will be housed nextto the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Centre in South Melbourne.

As well as lifting industry standards, theschool will fulfil industry needs for a co-ordi-nated approach to the professional develop-ment and career management of the 51,000people employed in the industry in Victoria.

Hortapleads forgenerosityDR JOSE Ramos-Horta, Foreign Minister of TimorL’este and Distinguished Visiting Professor at VU,spoke on ‘Aspects of Timor L’este’s Relationshipwith Australia: Political, Economic and Social’ at VUin April as part of the University’s Vice-Chancellorand President’s Lecture Series.

While acknowledging his country’s debt to theinternational community in achieving independence,he was frank about the vexed issue of oil rights inthe East Timor Sea.

“Australia needs to consider the morality of the situation,” he said. “Timor L’este is the poorest country in Asia. Australia must use creativity, generosity and pragmatism to find a solution to the East Timor Sea dispute. It is in her interests that my country is stabilised through prosperity.”

VU has been a strong supporter of EastTimor since the early 1990s and houses the East Timor Consular office for Victoria at its City Flinders Campus.

BRIEF>IN BRIEF>IN BRIEF>IN

Sparks fly at newtheatreTHE VU High Voltage Theatre was launched atScienceworks in March by the Minister for InnovationThe Hon. John Brumby and Museum Victoria’s CEODr J Patrick Greene.

Professor Akhtar Kalam, Deputy Dean of theFaculty of Science, Engineering and Technology saidVU and Scienceworks recognised the importance ofpromoting science, engineering and technology toresearchers, the general community, and students inprimary, secondary and tertiary sectors.

“Today, demand for electric energy is growing at arate faster than any other energy form,” Professor Kalamsaid. “But because of the complex nature of the subject,it is not very well understood by young people.”

The project is funded by VU and Museum Victoria,with the support of AGL, Agility, SPI Powernet, OlexCables, TXU and the Department of InnovationIndustry and Regional Development. Telstra donatedits high voltage research laboratory equipment.

A FOUR-metre-high catapult nestles betweenthe trees, just a missile’s throw from WerribeePark Mansion. And the missile lies a short distance away, connected to the catapult by a length of white nylon rope.

“We used 2500 metres of rope,” said sculptorEndra Che-Kahn. “It drove us mad actually, henceits name.”

‘Highly Strung Contraption Mk IV + MissedOpportunity’, created in collaboration with fellowartist Marco Mattucci, was one of 25 finalists forthis year’s prestigious Helen Lempriere NationalSculpture Award.

Che-Kahn is currently studying the AdvancedDiploma of Art (Electronic Design and InteractiveMedia) at VU.

“A lot of art is very serious,” he says, and describes his work as an “exploration into anabsurdist sense of humour”.

A previous work of Che-Kahn’s, ‘SafeBetween Us’, again created in collaboration withMattucci, consisted of a 275 kg safe wedgedbetween two buildings above a city lane with atarget painted on the road below.

This work also received critical acclaim, winning the Dulux Colour Award for PublicSpaces and Temporary Structures.

PHOTO BY Sharon Jones


VU has received $100,000 in funding from theSmart Water Fund to develop a new water-efficientsystem that will save farmers hundreds of thousandsof dollars annually and about 1000 average-sizeswimming pools of water.

VU and the Christou Group have joined forces todevelop the new system, which will improve the qualityof vegetables destined for domestic and export markets.

Vegetable growers need to cool their produce –usually with refrigerated water – as soon as possibleafter harvest to preserve quality. The new systemcould save up to $37,500 per year in water bills formetropolitan growers and up to $500,000 per yearfor regional growers.

The project is being funded through the SmartWater Fund, set up by Melbourne’s water businesses.

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Researchers keep coolwith water grant

PostgraduateresearchscholarshipsRECIPIENTS of the VU Vice-Chancellor’s2004 scholarships for postgraduate research:

> SHAYNE CRAWFORDFACULTY OF SCIENCE, ENGINEERINGAND TECHNOLOGY

His PhD research of vibration and modalanalysis is important to the packaging andtransportation of fragile products, passengers,animal transport and space cargo.

> GRETEL TAYLORFACULTY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Her PhD project involves site-specifictheatre performance and will conclude indirecting and performing in four on-site works in urban and rural locations.

> PETER GILLFACULTY OF ARTS

His PhD study of young adult male identity in a rural population will be highly valuable in creating initiatives to prevent high suiciderates among young, rural males.

CISCO Systems is one of the largest companies in the world, with more than 80 per cent of all internet traffic goingthrough their equipment. They have awarded VU’s Peter Averill, program manager at TAFE’s Department ofComputer Systems and Electronics, with an Outstanding Instructor Award. Theaward represents outstanding performanceamong a community of over 1100academies and over 3000 instructors

teaching 88,000 students in the AsiaPacific region. “It was a bit unexpected, to say the least,” Peter said about hisaward. “In fact, I was completely gob-smacked. I didn’t know anything about it until they rang me from Bangkok.”

Outbacknurse wins topawardANDREW Cameron from Cue in Western Australia haswon the Australian National Care Award. The CareAwards are part of the 2003/2004 Australian NursingAwards presented by HealthStaff Recruitment in conjunction with Victoria University.

Mr Cameron is affectionately called ‘Nurse Andrew’by his patients. He has worked at the remote NursingPost in the township of Cue for almost two years – nomean feat, as during the year before he arrived Cue hadno less than ten different nurses.

He deals with everything from childhood illness tocare of the elderly in a population that is 75 per centindigenous, and also prepares patients for transportationby the Flying Doctor – often in the middle of the night.

Former VU nursing student Joann Andres won the National Care Award for Victoria. Joann works at St George’s Hospital in Kew. One of her nominating colleagues described her as “a true angel from heaven”.

Bridging thedivide throughinternet training

PHOTO BY Warrick Attwood


PHOTO BY

Maurice Grant-Drew


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HISTORYFounded in 1916 as Footscray Institute of Technology and established as VictoriaUniversity in 1990.

CAMPUSESCity FlindersCity KingCity South MelbourneFootscray NicholsonFootscray ParkMeltonNewportSt AlbansSunburySunshineWerribee

FACULTIESArtsBusiness and LawHuman DevelopmentScience, Engineering and Technology

TAFE SCHOOLSBusiness, Hospitality and Personal ServicesHuman Services, Science and TechnologyFurther Education, Arts and Employment ServicesEngineering, Construction and Industrial Skills

AFFILIATIONSAustin Research InstituteCommunications Law CentreMelba Memorial Conservatorium of MusicPlaybox theatre company

STUDENT POPULATIONCurrent student population more than 52,000Onshore international studentsapproximately 4000Offshore international students more than 4500Postgraduate studentsmore than 5600

GENERAL ENQUIRIESPHONE: (03) 9688 4000

COURSE INFORMATIONCentre for Commencing StudentsPHONE: (03) 9688 4110EMAIL: [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENQUIRIESInternational BranchPHONE: 61 3 9248 1164EMAIL: [email protected]

POSTAL ADDRESSVictoria University of TechnologyPO Box 14428Melbourne VIC 8001

WEBwww.vu.edu.au

VU and AFIC ineducation project

VU and Australia’s peak Islamic organisa-tion, the Australian Federation of IslamicCouncils (AFIC), have announced a jointeducation venture unique in Australia.

The project creates a partnership to cater for both international and domestic students of Islamic background, enablingthose students to continue their studies inan environment that both understands andcaters for their specific needs.

Approximately 15 per cent of VU’s52,000 student population, or their parents, are from Islamic backgrounds.Because there is access to mosque andother important facilities, Islamic studentsrecruited through the joint venture will beable to adjust quickly to VU life.

AFIC’s President Dr Ameer Ali said AFIC regards education as the most important vehicle for positive change.

VU andAustradejoin forces

Pitfalls in jockeyweight lossWEIGHT loss strategies known as ‘wasting’ are common practice among professional jockeys. A jointstudy by VU and the Victoria Institute of Sport on behalfof the Victorian Jockeys Association and RacingVictoria is investigating the effects on jockeys ofdehydration on cognitive function and mood state.

According to VU sports psychologist andsenior lecturer, Dr Harriet Speed, very little is knownabout the psychological effects of wasting.

“Preliminary questionnaires from the currentcohort of jockeys confirm that many experience negativemood states, including suicidal thoughts, and havedifficulties with cognitive function.”

Dr Speed believes the research findings will haveimportant implications for the racing industry, both inAustralia and internationally, in terms of workplacehealth and safety.

“The torturous effects of wasting and weightloss to secure rides can leave jockeys scarred forlife,” she said.

EXPORT products such as Tasmanian spices,vanilla ice-cream and ‘bucket’ sun-hats are justsome of the recent Austrade success stories.

Austrade (Australian Trade Commission)helps Australian companies win overseas busi-ness for their products and services.

VU graduates Hala Shash and DeborahKerrins hold prominent positions with Austrade,and twenty-year-old business student JillianSpottiswood thrived in her six-month position asmarketing assistant to Austrade’s state manager for Victoria and Tasmania, and assistant to Erika Layton on the New ExporterDevelopment Program.

The VU–Austrade alliance gives VU accessto Austrade’s educational materials and a workexperience program that places internationaltrade students in potential small-to-mediumexport businesses.

Austrade, in turn, is tapping into VU’s substantial understanding of international businessand the benefits of internationalisation.

VU FACTS



8 >Events management

melbourne’sAUTUMNSPLENDOUR

PHOTOS BY Maurice Grant-Drew


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MARCH in Melbourne was the season to lounge back on sequinedcushions and watch the sun setover the Docklands through thehooped pipes of a hookah. Or have abreakfast of blueberry pancakes inthe mist with Motaba, MelbourneZoo’s burly silverback gorilla, andhis family.

Whether you went out of yourway to attend any of the exclusiveevents or just happened to stumbleupon the public ones at this year’sMelbourne Food and Wine Festivalduring March and April, you mostlikely would have appreciated theorganisers’ eye for the eclectic.

However if the multitude ofevents somehow passed you by, youare unlikely to experience the festivalin the same way next year. That’sbecause Natalie O’Brien, the CEO of the Melbourne Food and WineFestival wants to make sure it isunique every year.

“We are always on the lookoutfor propositions that are exceptionaland different, and could not beexperienced at any other time,”Natalie says.

Natalie’s been at the helm of the12-year-old festival for the last

three years – first as GeneralManager and now as CEO. She completed a degree in Tourism atVictoria University in 1991 andwhile working as product developmentmanager for Tourism Victoria won aTourism Victoria scholarship tostudy a Graduate Diploma in PublicSector Management, also at VU.

From the five events that tookplace during the inaugural festival,Natalie has helped transform it intoan internationally renowned extra-vaganza that has over 100 events andattracts 300,000 locals and tourists.

“It showcases what we celebrate365 days a year,” Natalie says. “It’sall about getting a momentum ofideas going. Sometimes they arecompletely over the top ideas, likehuge vanilla slices floating over thecity … some will – and some won’t– make it.”

This year the festival will have aninaugural winter phase beginningin August to contrast with the outdoor celebratory nature of theautumn festival.

“Chefs will have more time to dointensive classes because restaurantstend to have lower patronage inwinter,” Natalie says.

THE tail end of this year’s MelbourneFood and Wine Festival coincidedwith the Melbourne Flower andGarden Show, another iconicMelbourne attraction.

Event director Greg Hooton saysthe show began in 1995 followingthe merger of two separate flowerand nursery shows to create a majorevent of horticultural significancefor Victoria. It is now rated in thetop five events of its kind in the world.

Greg graduated with a degree in hospitality at VU in the mideighties and returned five yearslater to do a Graduate Diploma in Tourism Economics.

He says his challenge at theMelbourne Flower and GardenShow is to keep people interestedfor long periods of time.

“People like to spend four to fivehours here, so it’s got to be a dayout for them with plenty of visualdelights and roving entertainment,”Greg says.

He says he needs to keep ticketprices reasonable while maintainingthe “wow factor” of the show, whichthis year cost $2 million and had126,000 visitors. “This was ourninth year and the quality of theshow was lifted yet again.”

PROFESSOR Brian King, head ofVU’s School of Hospitality, Tourismand Marketing says the fact thatNatalie and Greg head up two verysignificant Melbourne-based eventsis “a sign of our graduates playingan important part in the eventsscene in Melbourne”.

“We have the biggest alumnigroup of any university in Australiain our field and our graduates havesenior positions worldwide,” he says.

“Since Natalie and Greg studied,we have started a fast-growingevents management strand in ourcourses and there are terrificemployment opportunities for ourgraduates in that sector. We havethe most comprehensive work-integrated learning program of anyuniversity in Australia and events is one of our key research areas.”

Other VU graduates managing significant festivals in Melbourneinclude William Garrigos, who organised ‘The taste of the west’,part of the Food and Wine Festival, and Kathy Valentas,who organised Melbourne’sWaterfront Seafood Festival.

Spice bazaarFood from the Middle East,North Africa and Spain linkedby the common thread of theirMoorish past. Vendors sellingspices and carpets, belly dancers,musicians, palm readers andcamels added to the magic.

Delicious double actsdemonstrations by a veritableline-up of Australian cooking talent, where the food createdwas as exhilarating as the chemistry between the presenters.

Celebrate the beanAustralia’s coffee capitalcelebrated its love for roasting,grinding, blending and drinkingcoffee against a backgroundof caffeine-fuelled jazz and traditional Cuban rhythms.

Cellar door at Southgatetwo hundred wines for tasting, workshops by leading wine writ-ers, wine trivia and wine rallies.

Edible map of MelbourneA huge edible map of the city of Melbourne is made with food from 35 communitygroups and visitors get to eat it.

<Natalie O’BrienCEOMelbourne Food and Wine Festival

<Greg HootonEvent DirectorMelbourne Flower and Garden Show

2004 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival highlights

Two Victoria University graduates are the heartbeat of two of the city’s major festivals.NIKI KOULOURIS and CLARE BOYD-MACRAE report.

The 2004 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival featured a giantedible map of Melbourne – and hundreds of visitors got to eat it.

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10 >Sport science

PREPARINGBODIES ANDMINDS FORATHENS

Through sports physiology and psychology, academics are working closely with some ofAustralia’s top athletes as they prepare for this year’s Olympic Games in Athens. PAUL MITCHELL reports.>

SHOOTING and psychology. Hearingthose two words together you’d be forgiven for thinking of criminals beingcounselled about their illegal use offirearms. But add the word ‘sport’ topsychology and you’ve got a differentkind of counselling, one that in recentyears has helped Australia’s Olympicshooting squad make a steady climb up the world rankings.

Dr Harriet Speed is senior lecturerin sport and exercise psychology at VU’sSchool of Human Movement, Recreationand Performance. Speed representedAustralia in volleyball before training asa psychologist. She recently commenceda five-year program with the Australianshooting squad.

“We had the Australian and WorldCups in March and we exceeded thestandings we’d achieved before onmedal count, which was great forshooting,” Speed says.

Of all the sportspeople she’s workedwith, she says shooters are the mostattuned to the psychological aspect of

their sport. While some athletes aresceptical about a connection betweensport psychology and athletic performance,shooters were open about how the stateof their minds affects their results.

“They know that a huge componentof their sport is where their heads areat,” Speed says. “They tend to be proac-tive about working on the mental sideof their sport and welcome the involve-ment of a sport psychologist.”

Speed says shooters in most eventshad to have short, successive periods ofintense concentration interlaced withbrief periods of relaxation. She says itis vital that athletes during these downtimes between shots keep themselvesfree of ‘mental gremlins’ that can creepin and disturb concentration.

Commonwealth Games gold medallistTim Lowndes is a small-bore rifle competitor on his way to Athens. He saysone of the major benefits of working withSpeed has been that someone else isthere to help carry the mental burdenthat an athlete normally carries alone.

“It allows you to get another angle onproblems you might be having, and tohave someone to share the responsibilityand workload,” Lowndes says. “Harriethas given me plans for when thingsmight go wrong.”

If he has a bad group of shots,Lowndes says he now knows to put down

the rifle and go through in his mind whata perfect shot looks like and rememberwhat the perfect tension should feel likeon the trigger.

Speed says the public understandssport psychology as being linked mainlyto performance enhancement. However,she says equally important is the widercounselling responsibility she andother psychologists have with athletes.

Like anyone, athletes suffer fromillnesses (including mental illness: anxiety disorders, depression), theymiss their friends and families whileoverseas, they are parents, they canhave friends or relatives die. All ofthese concerns can significantly impacton athletes’ performances.

“An athlete doesn’t just turn up at anevent as a machine,” Speed says. “Theyhave the specific demands of their sport,the demands the public places on theircharacters, the expectations of theirroles as fathers, sons, mothers, daugh-ters … so we see their development aspeople as being equally important withtheir development as athletes.”

Counselling also extends to the circumstances of the Games themselves.Because Athens is the first post-September11 Games, security is a key concern.

“I haven’t seen before this level ofconcern among athletes about safety,”Speed says.

Someone else is there to help carrythe mental burden that an athletenormally carries alone.

PHOTOS BY Maurice Grant-Drew

Linda Ryan, pistol shooter with the Australian shooting squad. Cosh

Pistol shooter and Olympic bronze medallist, Lalita Yauhleuskaya.


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SPORT isn’t all in the mind. There’sthat handy piece of equipment calledthe body as well. Sport scientist andsport physiologist Simon Sostaricknows better than many the ‘ins andouts’ of how the body responds to therigours of elite sport. Director of VU’sExercise and Sports Performance Unit,Sostaric says sports sciences havealways been integrated into Olympicsports, but today they are part of mostelite athletes’ daily schedules.

“Sports science provides athletesand coaches with an understanding oftheir specific individualised capacitiesand limitations, and how to develop the athlete within those boundaries,”Sostaric says.

He added that the Exercise andSports Performance Unit could monitorchanges in an athlete’s physiologyassociated with various interventions,such as training, nutrition, supplementsand recovery strategies. It can also makerecommendations about competitionpreparation; for example, how an athleteshould acclimatise to a new environ-ment or deal with altitude exposure.

One of the major issues in elite teamsports in recent years has been how tomanage sportspeople to maximise what

are often short careers at the top level.Sports scientists and physiologists haveworked hard to understand how to keepathletes in peak condition for longerperiods. A lot of work has gone intounderstanding how the body recoversfrom training and competition.

VU’s Exercise and Sports PerformanceUnit has worked with elite athletesfrom virtually the entire range ofsports: AFL, golf, motor sport, tennisand triathlon. Victorian Institute ofSport (VIS) sports, such as track andfield, cycling and rowing have alsocome under the Unit’s scrutiny. All theVictorian-based AFL clubs have at onetime or another put their players underthe Unit’s supervision, and pro golferslike Stuart Appleby and Geoff Ogilviehave graced the University’s corridors.

Right now the Unit is focusing onOlympic athletes and their preparationfor Athens. Numerous athletes from anumber of events receive expert assis-tance from Sostaric, among them row-ers James Tonkins and Drew Ginn –both Olympic gold medallists – middledistance runner Mike Power, marathonrunners Lee Troop and Nick Harrisonand cyclist Katie Mactier.

Mactier is favoured to win gold in

the 3000-metre track pursuit. She saysbeing involved with the Unit was fun-damental in her effort to keep track ofher performance.

“It allows me to monitor my fitnesslevels in a controlled environment,”Mactier says. “And it may help sportsscientists make advances in trainingaids for athletes in the future.”

Current national 5000-metre champion Mike Power echoed Mactier’s comments, adding that inthe lead up to Athens he has workedclosely with Sostaric.

“If it wasn’t for my work at the Unit,I wouldn’t be as well educated on variousscientific aspects to do with athletics,like hydration, VO2 training, heart-ratetraining and monitoring, altitude training and adequate rest,” Power says.

Heat is a big issue for athletes boundfor Athens, with the city expecting manydays when the mercury will soar to 35°C.

“A lot of work is focusing on thermo-regulating and pre-cooling to drop thebody’s core temperature before training,”Sostaric says. “There’s a different focusnow compared with Atlanta which washot, too. Pre-cooling has now beeninvestigated and full body immersionhas superseded the ice vest.”

One of the major issues has been how to manage sportspeople to maximise what are often short careers at the top level.

PHOTO BY Andy Gash

Sport scientist Simon Sostaric (left) monitors professional golfer Stuart Applebyat VU’s Exercise and Sports Performance Unit.

Commonwealth Games gold medalist, rifleshooter Tim Loundes.

Runner Mike Power, Australian 5000-metre champion.


12 >Apprenticeships

>THE word ‘apprentice’, for most people, conjures up an image of young menin overalls: a plumber, carpenter, painter or motor mechanic. These days,apprentices come in all shapes and sizes, in both genders and in more than 600professions. Victoria University is currently training more than 2000 apprentices.Clare Boyd-Macrae talks to five current or recently graduated VU apprentices.All have a combination of on-the-job and off-the-job training. Several havewon awards. All love what they do.

on-the-job, off-the-job:THE WORLD OF NEW APPRENTICESHIPS

CBM: What did you start off doing?TH: I had been in retail for manyyears and had a strong desire to dosomething more creative. I startedworking for a company calledAustralian Building Conservationand persuaded them to take me onfor a four-year apprenticeship.CBM: Have you been happy withyour change of direction?TH: Unbelievably happy. My compa-ny has done a lot of work for theNational Trust, so I’ve worked onproperties such as Como House andRipponlea Estate, and helped with acomplete refit of accommodationinside the historic Polly Woodsidesailing ship. We use traditional skillsand methods that were common-

place 100 years ago. This has been ahighlight of my learning experienceand has provided me with a range of traditional skills and knowledgethat are highly sought after inrestoration work.CBM: What are your long-term plans?TH: My apprenticeship finished inMay this year and AustralianBuilding Conservation has been goodenough to keep me on. I’d like to do aCertificate in Small BusinessManagement and start up my owncompany to pass on what I know toother young people interested in tra-ditional joinery methods. Right now,though, I’m very happy to be doingjust what I am. It’s fantastic.

The cabinet-maker Trevor Hatcher

TREVOR Hatcher, who completed the off-the-job part of his training – a CertificateIII in Carpentry and Joinery – at VU in 2002, won numerous awards for thosestudies in 2003: Outstanding Student in the School of Building, Electrical andInformation Technology; TAFE Student of the Year – Apprentice of the Year; and Master Builder Association of Victoria State Apprentice of the Year.



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CBM: What started your interest incooking?BK: I’m always eating, I think that’swhat got me started. I cook a lot at home.CBM: What’s your favourite thing to eat?BK: Lasagne!CBM: What’s your favourite thing to cook?BK: My dream is to be a pastry chef.I love making pastry because it’s soexact. If you stuff up a sauce or asavoury you can always add a bit of this and a bit of that and fix it.But not with pastries. I also love

decorating, and I love presentation.Presentation is so important. If itlooks good, you want to eat it. If itdoesn’t look good, people will gosomewhere else.CBM: What has been the highlight ofyour course and work?BK: Working with different chefs.They’ve all got different ideas anddifferent things they’ve taught them-selves. One of our teachers tells usthere are 100 ways to boil water. Themore people you interact with, and Imean the other students too, the moreideas you get. I just soak it all up.

The chef Beti Koltovski

BETI Koltovski is studying a Certificate III in Hospitality Operations (CommercialCookery) at VU’s Footscray Nicholson Campus. She has school one day a weekand for the other four works as a chef at Sheraton Towers where she createsentrees, desserts and garnishes for main courses.

“The more people you interact with, and Imean students too, the more ideas you get.I just soak it all up.” >


CBM: What did you start off doing?BM: I started off studying a Bachelorof Science at Deakin University atWarrnambool and then working as ananalytical chemist in a lab. But I wasnever very happy working indoors andeventually started a labouring job ata boat building shop in Sorrento.CBM: How did the apprenticeshipcome about?BM: I kept hassling the owner of theshop about an apprenticeship. Ataround this time I also met JohnBunnett who teaches the boat build-ing course at VU. I talked them intoletting me do a mature-age appren-ticeship and do my school work bycorrespondence. This isn’t for every-body and probably wouldn’t be ideal

for most younger apprentices. Itrequires a bit more personal dedica-tion doing it by yourself after workand at the weekend.CBM: Have you been happy withyour change of direction?BM: Yep, very. I love building things,and I think building boats is theepitomy of building. Working onhouses is good, but everything’ssquare. Boats are probably technicallymore demanding. The standard ofjoinery has to be higher because ofthe pressure on them in heavy swells.And, of course, it also has to lookgood. I’ve now completed my course-work and I’m working for myself,which is going well. There seems tobe plenty of work out there.

The boat builder Byron Miller

BYRON Miller started out on a completely different path before he discoveredwhat he really wanted to do with his life. But his change of direction was confirmed when he was named not only Overall Winner of the Best Apprenticein Boat Building at Victoria University, but also Apprentice of the Year at theannual Boating Industry Association Awards.



CBM: Does studying the course helpwith your job?RC: It helps heaps. We have to dolots of road levelling and earth mov-ing. I wasn’t good at that before Icame to uni, in fact I hadn’t done itat all. Now I can read the plans, dosurveying, mark the roads.CBM: What’s a highlight of thecourse?RC: Learning to use all the differentmachines.CBM: What led you to do thiscourse?RC: I completed Year 12 in 2001.Both my older brother and sister had

done this course at VU. They found itreally useful. They work in the fami-ly business. I’ve worked there in myholidays for years and I want tolearn more and join them.CBM: What are your plans for thefuture?RC: I want to join my brother andsister in the family business. I’vealways wanted to do this. Soon weplan to take over and Mum and Dadwill be able to retire.CBM: What’s the best thing about thejob?RC: Being outside, getting out andgetting dirty!

The road builder Regina Crameri

REGINA Crameri, who recently won the VU Apprentice of the Year Award, is inher final year of a Certificate III in Civil Construction. She studies at WerribeeCampus and works at her family business in Myrtleford in north-east Victoria.


14 >

CATERINA Di Biase, recently namedone of the top 10 hairdressers in theworld, is art director of all three ofMelbourne’s Heading Out salons andis in charge of apprentice training.

She says of her apprentices:“They are an asset to my business. Infact we couldn’t survive without them.I really believe in training and invery strict training criteria. Trainingis the foundation, and without good

foundations you can’t build any-thing. We work very closely with VUand we work really well together.”

And of apprentice SamanthaRobinshaw-Standring: “She is veryeager and keen and practices withthe training, and that’s what it’s allabout. She grabs the knowledge thatwe have to offer. She wants to be thebest. And if you want to be the best,I’ll get the best out of you.”

NEW APPRENTICESHIPS

*IN 1999, the State Government brought in the New ApprenticeshipScheme, which includes traditional style apprenticeships as well as traineeships. The latter includes areas as diverse as sportand recreation, wholesale, retail and personal services, racing,veterinary, arts and entertainment, and community services.

“New apprenticeships are available in over 600 occupations,”says Robin Jolley, general manager of JobsPlus at FootscrayNicholson Campus.

“As part of undertaking a new apprenticeship you have toundertake structured training. In most traditional apprenticeshipsthis would happen in TAFE – rather than in a private RegisteredTraining Organisation – because TAFE has the infrastructure andresources required.”

CBM: What did you start off doing?SRS: I started Year 12 in 2002, buthalfway through I was offered ahairdressing apprenticeship andgrabbed the opportunity. I love it,both the study and the work. I’vefound exactly what I want to do.CBM: Where are you working now?SRS: I was working in a small salonin Werribee but wanted more out ofmy apprenticeship, so I moved to abigger, better salon. I’m trying toreally get myself out there, and it’sworking well, as this salon enters allits apprentices into HBIA shows. SoI’ve been involved in lots of hairshows and magazine work too.CBM: How does the study and workgo together?

SRS: They work perfectly together.I have about one week at schoolevery month. We also have a weeklytraining night in our salon where thefour apprentices work with the headof the salon. We go over what we doat school and learn other ways to do it: perming, colouring, cutting,blow-waving. I just love it. Since I’vemoved to a bigger workplace I’velearnt so much in such a short timeit’s amazing.CBM: What are your plans for the future?SRS: I’m about to start my third yearof the apprenticeship, so this timenext year I’ll be qualified. My dreamis to travel and work at top salons.

The hairdresserSamantha Robinshaw-Standring

SAMANTHA Robinshaw-Standring is a VU Certificate III in Hairdressing studentand third-year apprentice at the Heading Out salon in Camberwell. She is alsothe winner of VU’s Best Hairdressing Pre-apprentice, the Wyndham Apprenticeof the Year Award, and the Hair and Beauty Industry of Australia (HBIA)Pre-apprentice Award.

The employer Caterina Di Biase




15>Social research

IT’S A hot topic, and one that has Australia’spoliticians, economists and futurists in a lather ofanxiety. Many columns of newsprint are devoted tothe issue. Australians aren’t having enough babies.

One of the possible reasons for this is the factthat many Australians of childbearing age livedthrough the traumatic divorce of their parents.Groundbreaking research by Dr Katie Hughes, asenior lecturer in the Department of Communication,Culture and Languages at Victoria University,examines this in some depth.

“I’m very cynical about relationships and I don’tknow if that’s because of my parents splitting up,”says ‘Jay’, a single, 28-year-old student whoseparents separated when he was nine. “But I justdon’t think relationships last long these days.It seems that marriages aren’t for life anymore …[but] tend to be, if anything, a couple of years ifyou’re lucky.”

‘Louise’, a single, 41-year-old radio dispatcherwhose parents divorced when she was 12, says: “I think that all of my siblings, but definitely me,have real trust issues and whether that’s directlybecause of what we witnessed between our par-ents I don’t know.

“But I do know I had trouble trusting people,in being intimate and really trusting someone inthat sense. I had a very negative view. The minuteone negative thing happened everything else fedinto that to the point where I was thinking, ‘Well,I haven’t had a successful relationship until now,I’m in my thirties, it’s not going to happen.’”

Plenty of work has been done on the effects ofdivorce on children, but Dr Hughes’ research is abit different. “As far as I know, there’s been nothingquite like this, because I’m talking to adults, theadults that the children of divorce have become,”she says.

Her research project, Generation X Meets theFamily: Experiences and Aspirations, deals withthe adult children of divorce born between 1961and 1976, commonly known as Generation X. “In1961, the pill came on the market here, and in1976 the Family Law Act was passed, bringing inno-fault divorce,” says Dr Hughes, explaining whyshe chose those particular dates.

A key finding is lack of trust and commitmentin relationships among these people. In a recentjournal article, Dr Hughes wrote: “Children fromdivorced families are keen to avoid the errors theybelieve their parents made, and this is particularlytrue for Generation X … the tendency not to committhemselves to long-term relationships is evident… it may be that the experience of childhooddivorce and subsequent family reformation generatesa lack of trust in others which leaves the adultchildren of divorce ill-equipped to develop strongrelationships, which in turn might lead to a long-term partnership.”

Dr Hughes’ research project was financed by aVU Discovery Grant, most of which was spent ontranscribing in-depth interviews. Dr Hughes and herassistant, Nicola Thomson, interviewed 30 adults,including chefs, real estate agents, a senior bureaucratin the federal government, and also people withdifferent sexual orientations.

Interviewees were asked questions about thepast and how they felt at the time; the presentand how the divorce has had a lasting impact onthem and their relationships; and the future andwho they would like to be living with in 20 yearstime; and what they thought the family would belike in 50 years time.

“All said that divorce had made a huge differencein their lives,” Dr Hughes says. “A big issue was howparents communicated post-divorce. An absolutekey thing in this is how much conflict there is.

“One of the main reasons that divorce tends tobe bad for children is economic. Parents are muchpoorer after a divorce. Commonly, children moveto housing that is much cheaper, leaving theirschool and friends. There’s a drastic change intheir material wellbeing. The interviewees in thisproject talked a lot about poverty.”

Thirty-six per cent of the interviewees livealone, 31 per cent in nuclear families, 18 per centwith a partner and 15 per cent in shared houses.

“Although so many of these people live alone,they don’t see this as a problem. Family is seen asa lifestyle choice, a bit like choosing a brand.Most actually think the nuclear family is bad foryou, it’s claustrophobic with limited role models.

“This generation is very analytical. They seerelationships as being about growth and self-actualisation. You find someone who challengesyou, who makes you grow. They just don’t see relationships as lasting things – hence the factthey don’t have children and don’t tend to believein marriage. Most had no idea who they’d be living with in 20 years. Which is very differentfrom the old notions of relationships being forever.More like ‘So long as it is fun’. They have realproblems with trust and commitment.

“One of the things that wasn’t depressing though,was that these people have such a high emotional IQ.They are amazingly articulate about their emotions,and would never stay in an unhappy relationship.There are no bored married couples, and they seethis state of affairs as being an improvement.”

As for the future, most of the intervieweessaid they didn’t see the conventional family asstill being around in 50 years time. And althoughall said they wanted children, only six have them,and most of these have only one. “They genuinelywant children, but circumstances haven’t beenright. They want to do a better job than their parents did,” Dr Hughes says.

‘Steve’, a single 31 year old, sums up the general feeling of the interviewees: “The thing is that I don’t look at relationships as a lastingthing. To me, you’re with someone while thingsare okay, and if they get to a point where youdon’t like it anymore, then you leave. We don’t feel like we have to stay with them.”

Dr Hughes would like to use her research asa pilot project for a much larger project coveringsimilar issues.

Research by Dr Katie Hughes reveals that for Generation X trust and commitmentin marriage belong to a bygone era. CLARE BOYD-MACRAE reports.

Dr Katie Hughes. PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew


16 >Environmental science

PAUL Boon backs a white four-wheel drive up to ablue trailer, rather than trying to push the trailerthrough another metre of mud. The trailer’spacked with gumboots, waders, small mattocks,planting tools called ‘Hamiltons’, water contain-ers, tape measures, insect repellent, sunblock, atarpaulin, a barbecue, gas bottles and hundreds ofnarrow black rectangular pots which, just a fewhours earlier, contained paperbark seedlings.

It’s 4pm on an autumn Sunday, the end of asuccessful community tree-planting day. In midMarch fifty volunteers helped Paul and his col-leagues plant over 500 seedlings as part of anexperiment to gauge the best time, place and waysto grow paperbarks. The group included a toddlerin little blue gumboots, an elderly woman step-ping through the mud with a walking stick, twostudents from Germany, duck hunters from Fieldand Game Victoria, and members of localWaterwatch and field naturalist groups.

“It was an example of the great support we’vehad from local groups,” says Paul. “This socialside of the project shows us how much value the

local people put into the wetlands. It’s a delightand an honour to work with the community here.”

The $500,000 study, a joint project betweenVictoria University and Monash University, is afar-reaching investigation of damage to, and therehabilitation of, the wetlands around the ever-popular Gippsland Lakes.

VU’s Associate Professor Paul Boon, a wetlandecology and management expert, heads the projectwith his Monash University colleague and long-time friend, Dr Paul Bailey. Nearly a dozenresearchers and students from both universitiesare working in ponds, laboratories, hothouses andthe key wetland known as Dowd Morass, a 1500hectare swamp near Sale.

“Dowd Morass is internationally significant,”says Paul. “It is listed under the RamsarConvention of internationally important wetlands,

and is part of agreements with China and Japanfor protecting migratory water birds. It’s also astate game reserve.”

In summer Dowd Morass teems with birds,including pied cormorants, pelicans, sea hawks,ducks and royal spoonbills. There are 195 birdspecies in the area. Thousands and thousands ofibis perch in the paperbarks, turning the grey-green treetops white.

But the trees are struggling. Not only becauseof the vast number of birds but because there’stoo much water. Even wetlands need to dry outfrom time to time and the Dowd Morass soil has-n’t seen direct sunlight for twenty years or more.Not because of too much rain – Gippsland is partof the drought too – but because of floodwatersand salty, spent irrigation waters being chan-nelled into the swamp.

Wetland’s healthunder the microscopeA swamp on the edge of the Gippsland Lakes is the tranquil setting for a three-year study into a number of wide-ranging wetland issues. VIN MASKELL reports.

Thousands and thousands of ibis perch in thepaperbarks, turning the grey-green treetops white.



WETLANDS are among the most valuable of allaquatic systems, explains Paul. When in good healththey provide habitat for birds and fish, stabilise sedi-ments and prevent erosion. But flooding, salinisation,weeds and exotic fish like carp take their toll.

Paul points out that most studies of wetlands haveaddressed these threats one by one. But the VU–MonashUniversity study examines the interactive effects andmanagement of multiple threats. The project is alsounique for its sheer scale: it’s not every day you get towork in a 1500 hectare ‘laboratory’.What will it all lead to? The project hopes to determine:> how plants and birds in a Ramsar-listed wetland respond

to the return to a more natural water environment;> how best to revegetate wetlands where the natural

plants are subject to a wide range of threats; and> how to build collaborative teams of ecologists,

natural-resource agencies and community groups toimprove the health of wetlands.

Planning for the project began in late 2000, withfirst funding being received in 2003. VU PhD studentRandall Robinson joined the team in June of that year.Honours student Matt Hatton is enjoying the experienceand Linda Bester, also an honours student, will be partof the project from mid 2004.

RANDALL Robinson crouches among the reeds andrushes on the edge of Dowd Morass. He points to ayoung paperbark tree, about a metre high.

“You see, the seed has sown itself in what’s left of anold reed,” he says gently. “The clump,” he explains, “is aperfect incubator for the seed. It’s moist, it’s warm, it’sfull of organic matter.”

Randall is investigating the growth patterns of theswamp paperbark. Part of his work includes studyingold aerial photographs as he tries to establish the ageof groups of trees. He uses the word ‘fun’ several timeswhen describing his work. “I love being down here,among the birds and the trees. It reminds me of whereI grew up, in Chesapeake Bay near Philadelphia.”

Matt Hatton estimates he’s probably planted 50,000young trees across Victoria over the past few years as amember of various environmental groups. He plantedconsiderably fewer on the community tree-plantingday as he was also involved in instructing volunteersand in taking measurements as part of charting thegrowth of the seedlings.

“I’ve always felt like a stranger in my own land, notknowing much about the trees around me,” he says. “I’mgetting to know them now, though,” he adds, smiling.The former factory worker relishes being able to spendso much time outdoors as part of his studies.

Paul Boon gazes across the shallow water to the distanttrees. The blue trailer is safely hitched up. It’s time todrive back to Melbourne to lectures at St Albans andFootscray Park campuses. He’s known this area for a longtime, since his parents first took him to Gippsland Lakes.Now he takes his own children there for holidays.

“These are still lovely wetlands,” he says. “They’vebeen damaged but they’re in much better shape than alot of others. This is a three-year project but we’re allkeen to work here for a lot longer.”www.wetland-ecology.info

FUNDING for the wetlandsresearch has mainly come from the FederalGovernment body, Land and Water Australia.

Other financial partners are the Victorian Government,West Gippsland CatchmentManagement Authority, theGippsland Coastal Board and Parks Victoria.

“I’ve always felt like a stranger in my ownland, not knowing much about the trees around me.”- Matt Hatton

Associate Professor Paul Boon is a member of the Faculty of Science,Engineering and Technology. He is also part of VU’s involvement in theAustralia-wide Sustainable Tourism Co-operative Research Centre, working in conjunction with the Faculty ofBusiness and Law’s Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research.

17

PHOTOS COURTESY Monash University


There are 20,000 Horn of African refugees in Melbourne and most livein the western region. Clare Boyd-Macrae reports on VictoriaUniversity’s involvement with this proud and resilient community.

Out ofAfrica

Somalia

Ethiopia

Sudan

Eritrea

Djibouti

18 >Community building

PHOTOS BY Ross Bird


19


NINETY-EIGHT PER CENT of Melbourne’s Horn ofAfrica community are refugees. They includeEthiopians, Eritreans, Somalians and Sudanese.Most are here as a result of war. The majority havebeen through trauma, torture or bereavement.

As VU’s Community Partnerships Officer, ElleniBereded, who comes from Ethiopia, knows only toowell the needs of these relatively new refugees. Since1997, Elleni and others from VU have been involvedwith the Horn of Africa Community Network (HACN),helping the community settle in a new land.

Elleni develops partnerships between VU andmigrant and refugee community organisations, andKoori and Torres Strait islander communities withthe aim of increasing access to the University by individuals from these communities.

Finding a home by the Murray

In 2001, Elleni Bereded and former Deputy MagistrateBrian Barrow met to discuss the issues facing Hornof African refugees. Brian put Elleni in touch withJan McCalman, executive manager of Murray MalleeTraining Company (MMTC) in Swan Hill.

“One of the main problems facing immigrantsis unemployment,” Elleni says. “Sometimes theirqualifications are not recognised, or they are lackingin local experience. Whatever the reason, it is hardfor them to find even voluntary work.”

In Swan Hill, however, young people flock to thecity, so there are plenty of jobs in this countrytown on the Murray River. Jan McCalman saw theopportunity and MMTC funded a position to recruitworkers from Melbourne.

It took two years of groundwork to set up theprogram, which included visits to Swan Hill bypotential residents, meetings with the mayor,employers and local people at Swan Hill and runningcross-cultural information days for MMTC staff.

Back in Melbourne VU offered a weatherboard

house opposite its Footscray Nicholson Campus torun programs from and Elleni started the pre-employment training of Horn of Africa refugeesthrough JobsPlus.

“We taught our people things like interviewtechniques,” Elleni says. “At home, we don’t talkmuch and we don’t look people in the eye. If you gofor a job interview here and don’t look the inter-viewer in the eye, they think you can’t be trusted.There are so many language and cultural differences,and we had to educate our people about these.”

The project has been enormously successful. Thelocal paper wrote about it under the title ‘Melbourne’sloss, Swan Hill’s gain’. Twenty-five people from theHorn of Africa are now settled in the Swan Hillarea, with jobs from labourer to accountant.

“I never hear grumbles,” Jan McCalman says.“And in a community this size if people weren’thappy I’d soon hear about it.”

Helping with the homework

It’s often difficult for students from the Horn ofAfrica to cope with schoolwork. There are languageproblems, social differences and parents who canbe too busy or traumatized to help.

HACN approached VU to see how it could helpaddress these problems. “As a result, in 2001 westarted a Saturday afternoon program at an EthiopianOrthodox Church in Maribyrnong with VU Bachelorof Education teaching students helping the children,”Elleni says.

A request from the Somalian community resulted ina similar education support program at the FootscrayNorth Primary School, followed by one for Sudanesechildren and another for children from Eritrea.

“The teaching students have been great,” Ellenisays. “They build up such good relationships withthe kids that they don’t want to move on at the endof the year.”

Zebiba’s police dream

Zebiba Hussein, who is from the Horn of Africa,grew up in Kenya and has lived in Australia forthree years. As a child she wanted to be a policeofficer, and at the age of 23 has taken the first stepstowards making that long-held dream a reality.

While Zebiba was studying a Certificate III in Community Development at VU she developedcontacts with Elleni Bereded and some police officers, all of whom encouraged her interest.

Zebiba is now working as a public service officer at Victoria Police headquarters in Melbourne.She is on a 12-month traineeship and attends VUTAFE one day a week to study a Certificate III inBusiness Administration. She will graduate with a formal qualification, administrative skills andsome knowledge of the police force.

But the learning and opportunities work bothways, says Inspector Bill Mathers, ActingSuperintendent of Victoria Police’s Community and Cultural Division.

“We’ve learnt a lot about the customs of someone from an Islamic background, and aboutaccepting people,” Inspector Mathers says. “It’sbeen fantastic just in terms of understanding.”

Zebiba agrees. “When I started working hereit was Ramadan and I was allowed to be flexible to fit in with that,” she says. “I’ve also been given aprayer room for my midday and afternoon prayers.Sometimes people ask me why I wear a head scarfand we talk about it.”

Bill Mathers can’t say enough good thingsabout Zebiba. “Zebiba is fantastic,” he says. “She is so courageous. In her home country not all her experiences of police would have been positiveones. We hope she’s forging the way for other people to come behind her. I feel the benefits of this initiative will still be reaped in 20 to 30years time.”

Inspector Bill Mathers and Zebiba Hussein.


20 >Psychology

YOU’RE IN AN AEROPLANE. YOU’VE JUST TAKEN OFF FROM HEATHROW, BOUND FOR PARIS. AN ENGINE EXPLODES. WHAT DO YOU DO? HOW DO YOU FEEL?“When someone tells me to keep calm, then already I think I need to be panicking because there’s a reason to be told to keep calm.Do you know what I mean? … I could see, I could hear but I couldn’t sayanything and I couldn’t move. It was like everything was happening in frontof me and I couldn’t do anything for myself.”

YOU’RE IN AN AEROPLANE. YOU’VE LANDED AT SYDNEY FOR A HOLIDAY. THE AIRPORT HAS JUST RECEIVED A BOMB THREAT. WHAT DO YOU DO? HOW DO YOU FEEL?“It just takes you a while to really understand that this is happening, andaccept it is happening. I felt a mixture of anxiety, panic and being alone.”

YOU’RE IN A LIGHT AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT PUTS HIS ARM OVER THE BACK OF HIS SEAT, TURNS HIS HEAD AROUND TO THE HANDFUL OF PASSENGERS AND SAYS, “I CAN’T GET A GREEN LIGHT ON THE LANDING GEAR.” WHAT DO YOU DO? HOW DO YOU FEEL?“I’m thinking, ‘Well, if I’m going to die I suppose I’ve done most of the things I wanted to do.’ But I was more concerned about my son than I was about myself.”

>

>

>

Cameron Crawford.PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew


21


Cameron Crawford’s research is delving deep into how we behave during aircraft emergencies. VIN MASKELL reports.

According to the United States NationalTransportation Safety Board, aircraft emergency evacuations occur at an averagerate of one in every eleven days, or one inevery 330,000 departures.

YOU’RE IN AN AEROPLANE FLYING FROMMELBOURNE TO BRISBANE FOR A HOLIDAY.IT’S YOUR FIRST FLIGHT AND THERE’S HEAVYTURBULENCE FOR NEARLY TEN MINUTES WHAT DO YOU DO? HOW DO YOU FEEL?“It freaked me out,” says Cameron Crawford. “I justtried to grab onto something. There were some kids on the flight who asked lots of questions but most of the passengers seemed calm and the crew wastotally fine. I was very glad when we touched down in Brisbane.”

While the experience unsettled Cameron it provided the spark he needed when looking forresearch topics for his graduate diploma. He is hopingto study his masters in 2005, expanding his research into how people behave in more severeemergencies.

CAMERON Crawford, a recent graduate ofVictoria University’s applied psychologygraduate diploma course, has completedresearch which he believes has implicationsfor the development and refinement of air-craft passenger safety, and emergencyguidelines and training procedures forflight and cabin crew.

He says the development of increasedpassenger safety relies on “a deep and mean-ingful understanding of how passengersand crew cope in emergencies”, as well ason engineering and design solutions.

“If flight attendants know how torecognise responses, then that helps theircrowd control,” he says.

On the opposite page are some of theresponses Cameron received when heinterviewed people about how they copedduring particular aircraft emergencies.

“The research is a valuable contributionto the research on human behaviour inemergencies and disasters,” says Cameron’ssupervisor, Dr Wendy Saunders, of VU’sSchool of Psychology. Dr Saunders is anexpert on human behaviour in disasters,fires and emergencies. “This is a challeng-ing area and there is a dearth of qualita-tively based literature in this area.”

Cameron, 22, explains that prior to hisresearch, knowledge about behaviour inaircraft emergencies was limited to question-naires and highly structured interviewscarried out as part of safety investigations.

‘They did not allow the individuals

the freedom to describe their own experi-ences without being directed to addressthe specific questions of the researcher,’wrote Cameron in his thesis paper.

He was keen to give his intervieweesroom to speak about how they felt andwhat, if anything, they did. He spoke to sixpeople between the ages of 26 and 62. Fourwere passengers, one was a co-pilot, andone was a flight attendant.

Cameron concluded that there aremany factors that shape an individual’scoping ability in aircraft emergencies. Twomajor themes were revealed by his analysisof the interviews: awareness of mortality,and ability to understand and react.

He also discovered that, consistentwith past research, panic is a relativelyrare response in an aircraft emergency.

Cameron’s work connects with projectsDr Saunders has been carrying out withthe University of Greenwich in England andLund University in Sweden.

In 2002, Dr Saunders’ expertise tookher to the University of Greenwich where sheworked with the University’s Fire SafetyEngineering Group, and to Sweden whereshe spent time with Lund University’sDepartment of Fire Safety Engineering andalso the Swedish Rescue Services.

These connections have lead to proposals for ongoing collaborationbetween VU and the two European universities, including student exchangeprograms and research.

“If flight attendants know how to recognise

responses, then that helps their crowd control.”>


22 >Engineering

AS HYPED-UP kids swirl their way through anoutsize slide tunnel and shoot into a blue abyss,it becomes evident that water rarely takes cen-tre stage indoors the way it does in Melbourne’spremier venue for water worship: the MelbourneSports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC). One wouldnot really want to notice this vital, transparentliquid inside any of the office complexes nearby,unless coaxing a sleek stream of water from ahot water urn to make a cup of coffee.

Victoria University graduate MarinaBurneska makes her living making sure that waterglides through buildings in the ways we have cometo expect. The 24-year-old hydraulics engineer isalready working on some of Melbourne’s land-mark projects that are transforming Victoria’scapital into a city of the new millennium.

These include the redevelopment of theMSAC for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and700 Collins Street, a striking office buildingwhich is part of the city’s new Docklands. 700Collins is just over the new Collins Street Bridgethat takes the shape of Batman’s Hill, extendingwhat is known as Melbourne’s most stylishstreet to beyond the CBD into the new harbour-side development.

“Collins Street was the first multi-storeybuilding I worked on,” says Marina, who isemployed by Connell Wagner, one of Australia’slargest international consulting engineering firms.

“And yes, there was excitement,” she sayssmiling under her hardhat and adding that herprevious projects included the Cardinia ShireOffices in Pakenham and the major refurbish-ment of Coles stores across Australia.

Marina started on the South Melbourneoffice of Connell Wagner just after she graduat-ed from VU with an honours Bachelor ofEngineering degree in building engineering.

Having joined the 18-storey project at 700Collins Street after construction began, she isworking on selected levels from level eleven up.

“I worked on the design of hot and cold waterand sewerage systems for the building,” saysMarina, who is charged with the responsibility ofmaking sure that the water gets to every fixture.

The idea of creating a landmark and making it work as a building is something that

inspired her to become an engineer.She dreams of one day working on a project

that would be recognised for its water savingcomponents to promote “a respect for natureand what nature provides”.

“I like challenge and being challenged, andengineering is about that,”says Marina. Her love ofa challenge has ensured that her choice of a male-dominated career has not hindered her success.

“If you are interested you can prove thatyou are as good as males and, in some instances,even better,” she says, punctuating her commentwith laughter and adding that she only remem-bers being treated with respect and as a buddywhen she began her undergraduate studies asthe only female student in her year.

And there is plenty of evidence to show thatMarina has done extraordinarily well despiteher circumstances. An outstanding student,Marina consistently beat the boys by winningbest student in her year – and her faculty –annually. Even her high VCE score earned her ascholarship to study at VU.

It’s a long way to come for a young girl whoarrived in Australia from Macedonia eight yearsago with hardly a word of English.

lead to work on city’stop building projects

The idea of creating a landmark and makingit work inspired her to become an engineer.

Marina consistently beat the boys by winning beststudent in her year – and faculty – annually.

pipedreams

A young woman who arrived in Australia speaking almost no English, topped her university classmates in a male-dominated field and now works on building projects across the country. Niki Koulouris reports.

Marina BurneskaPHOTO BY Ross Bird An artist’s impression of 700 Collins Street


23>Social justice

TOTeM SUCCESS STORY 1:Grant SchuhkraftGRANT had completed Year 9 but had moved fromMelbourne to Queensland where he didn’t like hisnew school. He dropped out for a while, and back inMelbourne visited the Job Network office in Footscraywhere he heard about VU’s TOTeM project.

“I thought it was good,” says Grant. “It was differ-ent from school, very unusual, much more relaxed. Itreally opened me up and gave me a sense of belonging.”

Grant did his TOTeM year in 2003 and is nowdoing VCE at VU. He studies English, maths, info-rmation technology and history and will continuenext year, completing his VCE over two years.

“I’m enjoying it, but the work’s the hard part,”says Grant, whose dream is to be a car designer.

TOTeM SUCCESS STORY 2:Meg RoacheMEG had passed Year 10 and done a couple of termsof Year 11. “But I didn’t get along with the teachers,”she says. “I was doing absolutely nothing, and gettinginto trouble. A friend of mine went to TOTeM in 2002and she said, ‘Come to school with me’. I went ‘causeI was so bored – and then I started going myself.”

Meg attended all through 2003. “It was fun, reallyopen-minded. We had a lot of freedom and peoplewould actually hear your opinion on stuff. It gave memore self-confidence. It made me realise I was hangingout with the wrong people and getting nowhere. I hated school and didn’t get maths at all, and TOTeMhad special maths classes. It helped me heaps.”

Meg is now working full time, making and sellingcoffees at Coffee HQ at Parliament Station.

“I’m not sure what I want to do long-term, but I knowthat I want to study and learn something,” she says.

A unique program is re-engagingyoung people who have dropped out of mainstream schooling. CLARE BOYD-MACRAE reports.

A TOTeM class can be full of surprises. It may even includea meeting with eminent legal minds over lunch at VU’s SirZelman Cowen Centre for Continuing Legal Education,which is part of the immaculately restored former RecordsOffice in Queen Street.

“Are you a judge?”“No, I’m only a barrister. I’m just one of those idiots

who look silly in a wig and gown.”Laughter.“It’s not funny. You try wearing a horsehair wig!”A group of students from VU TAFE’s TOTeM project were

chatting over lunch with Mr Brind Zichy-Woinarski QC. Theyrubbed shoulders with other big names from the legal worldtoo: Supreme Court Judge The Hon Justice Frank Vincent,His Honour Chief Judge Rozenes of the County Court andRob Allen, Clerk of Courts from the Supreme Court.

The students didn’t appear to be intimidated by the marblestaircases, chandeliers and gilt paintwork that give the build-ing such an air of pomp and majesty. Indeed one of them,Rick, commented the next day: “I thought it was prettycool. I liked meeting the judges [sic] and finding out aboutwhat they do, what their job is. They seemed like nice peo-ple. We asked them questions and they answered honestly,got straight to the point.”

TOTeM stands for ‘The One & The Many’, and is funded bythe Federal Department of Education, Science and Training.The aim of the project is to engage young people who havedropped out of mainstream schooling.

Organising a day’s excursion to the courts and the SirZelman Cowen Centre was the brainchild of the Centre’sregistrar Sandra Potter, who met TOTeM project managerAndrew Williamson at a VU function. “The idea was to giveparticipants an idea about the law from a different perspective,” Ms Potter says. “We wanted to introduce themto some high-profile people, to let them see that they’re justpeople, and to show them that there are some excitingpositions in law that don’t involve having a law degree.”

Ms Potter, who has been involved in the legal world for22 years, used her extensive networks to set up the day. Itincluded visits to courts and sitting in on a hearing.

After the buzz of a delicious lunch shared with big legalnames, the students heard from five people who have doneextremely well in the legal world without having a lawdegree, including Ms Potter.

Elsa Lee, Litigation Support Worker with one of Australia’sbiggest law firms, said: “No one handed me anything. I justhad the confidence that that was what I wanted to do … If youtake away one thing from this talk, it’s to have confidencein yourself.”

Andrew Williamson sums up the TOTeM approach bysaying: “We try to provide a nurturing environment and avery tailored, responsive curriculum to give students own-ership of what they’re doing. At any one time we have 12students, two staff and four youth-work students from VUhigher education who do placements with us. The youngpeople stay for as long as they need to. If they stay for 12months, they end up with a Certificate I in IT, VocationalEducation and General Education for Adults.”

They have had numerous successes in the short timethe program has been operating, with students moving onto jobs, VCE or VCAL programs.

AT THEBIG END

OF TOWN

TOTeM students and teachers at their Footscray school premises. PHOTO BY Sharon Jones

Grant Schuhkraft and Meg Roache. PHOTO BY Sharon Jones

“We asked the judges whatthey’ve done and whothey’ve met. It was easier to talk to them than Ithought. I thought theywould have been grumpy.”- TOTeM student

Justice Frank Vincent lunches with TOTeM students.PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew



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WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AND EMPLOYERS

24 > Industry training

PHOTOS BY Sharon Jones

DRIVENicole Aquilina

TWENTY-three-year-old accounting graduateNicole Aquilina completed her Co-op position(40 weeks of paid full-time work) at NSP Buck,a large employee benefits consultancy. The2002 Co-operative Education Student of theYear is now with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“I credit everything to the Co-op year – itgave me a world of opportunities. I’m goingup for a senior position in June, which usuallytakes two years for a graduate to get to.I finished my degree in four and a half years,but I’m still ahead.

“I was working as a sales assistant when I started my degree, and if I had just stayed asales assistant I wouldn’t have found a job inan organisation such as Pricewaterhouse-Coopers for at least three to four years.”

“Nicole was a resounding success story,”says Sarsha McEntee, a former supervisor atNSP Buck who now works at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “She was exceptionally quick tograsp things, but she is very thorough – shewon’t put something down unless she hasmastered it. She’s very driven!”

“Nicole deserves everything that has comeher way,” commented Dr Albie Brooks, seniorlecturer in VU’s accounting program. “The Co-op year rounded her off and showed her thatshe was able to match it in an accounting andbusiness environment – sometimes it’s just amatter of recognising that you can.”

CONFIDENCEAyhan Demirovski

IN 2002 Ayhan Demirovski spent valuabletime with the major commercial law firmAllens Arthur Robinson. He completed hisBachelor of Business (Commercial Law) at theend of 2003 and is now working full time inthe firm’s legal support unit.

“I really enjoyed the work placement. Thiswas my first professional job. It was great toput the theory into practice. When I firststarted, my confidence was pretty low, butonce I started working here and getting toknow everyone my confidence grew and myresponsibility grew.

“And to be honest, during the first twoyears of uni my marks were average, butwhile I was doing the work placement myresults improved. It just helped me get moreorganised.”

“Ayhan has been given responsibility forrunning small projects and given more auton-omy,” says Ian Anderson, legal support sitemanager Melbourne, Allens Arthur Robinson.

“All of our VU people have stayed on withus. It’s been good for me to find out a bitmore about what is going on in tertiary edu-cation.”

Business degree studentsare excelling in their variousforms of work intergatedlearning, often gaining full-time work as a result. Why is the Work IntegratedLearning program, which features what’s known as Co-operative Education, so successful? Connectionsspoke to students, their supervisors and their lecturers to find out.Interviews by Jane Levin


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MATURITYRob Hortle

ROB Hortle, 22, is studying human resourcemanagement. His Co-op placement was with theFederal Department of Employment andWorkplace Relations, where he is now workingfull time in the Office of Workplace Services.

“The Co-op year was definitely beneficial.You don’t have to worry about study for twelvemonths. You learn a bit more about what life isall about. It’s made me a lot more employable, andit helps with your own personal development.

“It also gave me a new attitude to study.I can’t even count the number of times that I’vesat in the classroom and thought ‘Why is thatrelevant?’, and yet now I know that it is.”

“With Rob, his maturity really stood out, andhe has a really great work ethic,” says MartinDwelly, team leader, Office of Workplace Services.

“I was very impressed with him and he wasn’tscared of speaking up, in a positive way. He alsois willing to work and put himself forward.

“VU students are just better prepared,certainly at the interview stage. Rob was one of the more outstanding we’ve had for sure.His life experiences have stood him in goodstead in dealing with people.”

KNOWLEDGEJennifer Long

JENNIFER Long, a multi-award winning graduate now working in computer systemssupport, completed her Co-op year at the end of2000 at HPA, a national business process out-sourcing company of around 1000 people. HPArecently promoted Jennifer from a full-timecomputer programming role to team leader.Jennifer, 23, also works in co-ordinating current VU Co-op placements at HPA.

“I had an absolutely fantastic Co-op year.The program was about turning the theory intoworkplace actions, and I learnt so much morebecause it’s outside of the textbook. It reallyhelped me with my studies because I couldactually apply working knowledge. It helped meunderstand the theory better.

“Before doing Co-op I was a bit unsure of whatI wanted to get into. It definitely helped me todefine my career path and set me on the way to it.”

“Jennifer was the first Co-op student at HPA,so she was the person who was going to make orbreak the program,” commented Peter Coe, ITmanager of HPA’s Victorian branch.

“It’s great to get the input of the students andthe new skills that they are learning. It’s goodfor the University, it’s great for the studentsand it’s great for HPA.

“With the IT downturn since 2001 it’s really hardfor students to get jobs, particularly as graduates,”notes VU’s John Bentley, a senior lecturer ininformation systems. “What we are finding isthat students like Jennifer who have finishedthe Co-op year have been offered a position.”

SKILLSEva Bono

EVA Bono, 21, is completing her tourism man-agement studies after travelling to the US forher Co-op placement with Swain AustraliaTours. She has recently started her own smallbusiness and hopes to eventually work intourism overseas.

“Living overseas meant having independenceand being in a different culture where every-thing is always exciting and new, and you justare a better person because you see everythingin such a different light.

“I now have my own business and I don’tthink I would have ever been able to do it if Ihadn’t done what I did during the Co-op year.I can talk to people easily and I have so manyorganisational skills. And having been in thetourism industry I feel that now I can go forany job.”

Martin Fluker, tourism lecturer: “In lastyear’s field research project I got to see Evainteracting with other students her own ageand saw how mature she was and how hersocial skills were honed from her experience.She knows a lot more about the industry inwhich she may work once she has finished her degree.”

25


ENERGY

The Work Integrated Learning program offers business students invaluable experienceand prospects in the workplace, and demonstrates to industry the value of a VU degree.

“Students are able to blend their theoretical knowledge obtained in the classroomwith ‘real life’ experiences,” says the program’s manager, Barry Broons.

“I suspect that some of our students’ offices could be powered by the light bulbs thatgo off throughout their Co-op employment. Employers obtain earnest, enthusiastic andenergetic young business students who infuse a breadth of skills into the workplace.”

>


26 >Economics

Dr James Doughney >

SOURCE PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew COLLAGE BY Brett Kiteley


27


Dr James Doughney is Senior Researcherat Victoria University’s Work and EconomicPolicy Research Unit in the School of AppliedEconomics. He writes about his researchover the past six years on the impact ofpoker machines in Victoria.

SOMETIMES you just do not know whereresearch will take you. It is a bit like life itself.You take certain actions – sometimes without alot of thought – and years later you find thatthose actions have helped to shape your life’scourse. They can influence who you are.

The reason I started this article with this lineof thought is because it is related to pokermachine gambling research. Without a chancetelephone call, which I chanced to answer, noneof it would have happened.

In September 1998, Charles Livingstone, thenpolicy officer at the Maribyrnong City Council,rang to speak to my colleague Santina Bertone.He wanted to know if she knew anyone at VUwho might be able to assess the impact of pokermachines on the local economy.

I took a punt. I love a punt. Partly this is whythe subject seemed interesting. The first thing wefound out – confirmed really – is that pokermachines are not even remotely like other familiarforms of gambling, such as horse racing.

Think of a vacuum cleaner,a powerful vacuum cleaner.Poker machines aggressivelysuck vast sums from communities.

From zero losses in 1992 to $2.33 billionlast year in Victoria alone. That is preciselywhat they were designed to do: raise revenuefor the government, Tattersall’s and Tabcorp.

The second thing we confirmed was that thesemachines sucked most from poorer communitiesbecause Tatersall’s and Tabcorp target them. Newdata from the Australian Bureau of Statistics andthe Office of Gaming Regulation in Victoria tell usnothing has changed, despite ‘caps’ on machinenumbers in less well-off municipalities.

Losses in the Melbourne municipalities ofGreater Dandenong and Maribyrnong are stillfive times the losses in Boroondara and Bayside.On average, adults in Maribyrnong lost $1077 in2002–2003. In Boroondara the loss was $149.

The third thing we discovered was that ‘research’proving economic benefit was flaky. One line ofargument claimed that poker machine lossescaused economic growth because losers spent (lost)income that otherwise would have been saved.

However, this assumption was based on an ABSdata source called the HES. We found that, at most,10 per cent of losses appeared in the HES. Worse,those who lost most – problem gamblers – were likelyto falsify their reports most. The data were dodgy,as were the grandiose claims made about growth.

The second line of economic argument, thatlosses are benefits by definition, or consumer’ssurplus, was downright silly. Economists commissioned by the gambling corporations hadsimply used economic concepts inappropriately.

How could problematicgamblers’ pain andsuffering rationally becalled economic benefit?

Pain and suffering are not exaggerations. Asthe Australian Medical Association (AMA) notedin an alert to practitioners in 1999:

‘The AMA acknowledges that the social, physicaland mental health of people with problem gamblingand of their families are often at risk as a resultof reduced household income and associatedsocial disruption. They may experience stress-related physical and psychological ill health.Other adverse effects include family breakdown,domestic violence, criminal activity, disruptionto or loss of employment and social isolation.Additionally, problem gambling may compro-mise their capacity to afford necessities such asadequate nutrition, heating, shelter, transport,medications and health services. Severe problemgamblers are at risk of self-harming behaviour,including attempted suicide.’

This brings us to the fourth significant find-ing from our research. Such harm is inevitable.Problem gambling cannot be dismissed as trivialbecause poker machine revenues depend on itfundamentally. In fact a recent leak of hard datafrom Tattersall’s confirmed that 6 per cent ofVictorians account for 60 per cent of all loses.

Translated into dollar terms, 6 per cent of thepopulation (or about 223,000 people) is losing atotal of $1330 million or on average about $5,966each per year. Because average losses inMaribyrnong are $1077, compared with the stateaverage of $628, this means that 6 per cent of theadult population of Maribyrnong might be losingmore than $10,000 per year. Harm is inevitable.

We did not intend at the start of this researchprogram to consider ethical and moral questions, butby 2002 we could no longer ignore them.You just donot know in advance where research will take you.

Our fifth finding was that poker machines arenot an ethical source of revenue. Indeed they arean immoral source of revenue for governments orcorporations. I do not think it is immoral for peopleto gamble or to use poker machines. Critics of thepoker machine industry are often, and wrongly,accused of being ‘moralisers’ who want torestrict people’s rights. This is not correct, and itis the wrong way to pose the public policy issue.

The public policy issue is best posed in theform of two questions that come from the otherdirection. That is, we should come from the direction of the rights and responsibilities ofcorporations and governments.

The first question: ‘Should gaming corporationshave the right to continue to cause considerableharm to problem gamblers in order to profit, and inthe full knowledge of the harm they are causing?’This is the tobacco industry question.

The second question is based on the widelyaccepted notion that governments have a duty ofcare to their citizens to protect them from harm:

‘Is it right that govern-ments should seek revenues by deliberately, and in full knowledge of the consequences, cause avoid-able harm to those they are duty bound to serve?’

This is a fundamental part of the Hippocraticoath: ‘First cause no harm’.

I think the answer is no to both questions.Corporations should not have ‘rights’ to consciouslyharm people, even if some people willingly participate. Governments have obligations to protect, and the efficiency of poker machine vacuum cleaners as revenue raisers is no excuse.In fact it sharpens the point. Once addicted tothe revenues, governments’ dependence becomesmorally corrosive, corrupting their mission.

It has been a long and winding research road. Alas, until the government does somethingdramatic – such as legislate to reduce machinespin speeds so that total losses are halved – thejourney remains unfinished.

Dr Doughney is the author of The Poker Machine State: Dilemmas inEthics, Economics and Governance (2002), published by CommonGround Publishing, Melbourne.


28 >Community health

“ You have to build trustbetween the communityand the workers who comewith their own agenda.”

Jenny Sharples (centre) with fellow researchers Barbara Tilden (left) and Dot Bruck. PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew

Community buildingfrom the ground up

LOCAL communities, far from being the robust

pillars upon which our society is built, are becoming

fragile. They are in danger of being toppled by the

demands of work and family, and the burdens of

economic restructuring and social change.

Households are either asset rich and time poor

(usually those with two working parents) or asset

poor and time rich (often single parents or welfare-

dependent families). Either way, parents are either

too busy or too ill equipped to put in the extra

yards to sit on the committee of the local childcare

centre or even to run a cake stall.

The basic activities, both social and civic, that

keep a community of people knitted together

are falling by the wayside. As the glue that holds

us together weakens, some neighbourhoods are

becoming unstuck.

In their report into disadvantaged communities

in March (eds: 2004) the Jesuit Ignatius Centre

identified several severely disadvantaged commu-

nities in Victoria and NSW that are in danger of

becoming ghettos, dysfunctional no-go zones where

the poor and the marginalised end up.

The report’s author, Dr Tony Vinson, says these

communities can help themselves get out of the rut,

but they need assistance.

It’s a call that has been heard by the Victorian

Government, which has set up a Community Building

Initiative. A major part of the program is a $1 million

Department for Victorian Communities grant to

Victoria University with partners RMIT University,

Infoxchange and I&J Management Consultants.

Together they will support communities with

training and skills development, research, a website

and an information clearing house.

The Community Building Resource Service

(CBRS) will work with scores of groups throughout

the state in developing initiatives to strengthen

community links over two and a half years.

The head of the CBRS project, the director of

VU’s Work and Economic Policy Research Unit

Santina Bertone, says the aim is to work alongside

communities by resourcing their needs.

“We are not going to impose solutions,” she

Many of the basic activities that hold Australian communities together arebeing abandoned – some neighbourhoods are threatening to fall apart. A newcommunity building initiative aims to reverse the trend. JIM BUCKELL reports.


29

Bass Coast residents are creatively connecting communities.PHOTO COURTESY Department for Victorian Communities

says. “We are here to provide resources and to

help community groups to develop programs in

a systematic way. It’s a bottom-up approach.”

The University’s strategy was put together by

an interdisciplinary group of academics at VU.

Their aim was to draw upon the diverse range

of academics whose work informs community

development. As well as social scientists, the group

includes geographers, educators and community

health experts. Ms Bertone’s expertise is in work-

place management, specifically the effects of

deregulation and free trade on the labour market.

“The impact on the labour force has been sig-

nificant,” she says. “As well as greater job insecurity,

there’s a trend towards longer working hours that

mitigates against family and community.”

Coupled with the growth in consumerism and

the commodification of goods and services, which

tends to privatise many activities by placing a

commercial value upon them – and communities

often get squeezed – efforts to pitch in at a neigh-

bourhood level fall to the bottom of priorities.

On the ground, project staff have been involved

in a range of information-gathering activities across

the state since the end of last year. Psychologist

Jenny Sharples, who is head of VU’s Wellness

Promotion Unit, has been leading a team to evaluate

the best ways of getting groups together to document

their needs. In the past, this might have involved a

community meeting in a hall or library, where a

project worker held a brainstorm. Now, strategies

are much more likely to be based on meeting people

in what researchers call their “natural groupings”

in settings where they feel most comfortable.

“One of the common methods is talking around

a kitchen table, pub table or café table,” Ms Sharples

says. “This allows people to meet in situations

where they feel most comfortable, and with like-

minded people.”

‘Table talk’ often works best for groups in smaller

communities who are neighbours or are already

socially connected. But men might prefer to meet

in a pub. Groups who are only loosely connected

often prefer to meet in a café, not wanting strangers

in their own home. In one project, targeting young

people around St Kilda, a mobile café was success-

fully used to draw young people together.

The strategy is coupled with the concept of

‘community readiness’, which assesses the

willingness of communities to work together.

“With most communities, you can’t just jump in

and expect them to come up with a list of strategies,”

says Ms Sharples. “They have to be at the stage where

they are willing and able to meet first, and you have

to build trust between the community and the workers

who come with their own agenda.

“When the field workers started out, they picked

up a lot of resentment to outsiders coming into

their communities, holding a meeting to get info-

rmation and ideas out of them and not giving back

anything to the community. So we now acknowl-

edge the need for communities to gain skills and

resources right from the start.”

This might involve giving participants in early

meetings the skills to convene groups themselves,

to chair meetings or to apply for funding.

Another VU team, led by Wayne Butson, the head

of Social and Community Studies in TAFE, has been

assessing the skills needs of communities across

the state. Over the course of the project they will

provide training to up to 100 groups. Already, after

a few months’ work, the priorities are clear.

“It comes back to basics,” he says. “People want

the general organisational skills to be able to run

meetings, manage projects, engage local business

and to evaluate their projects. Then there’s basic

computer skills and using the Net.”

Another concern is terminology and language.

Government often talks about “governance” and the

“sustainability” of a project, but often these terms

aren’t clearly defined, so that groups are unaware

how their work will be assessed.

Although their work has only just started, the

CBRS staff is adamant about one thing: community

building takes time. In her work with Iraqi youth

in the Shepparton district and with teenagers on

the Angliss housing estate in Maribyrnong, VU

education lecturer Robyn Broadbent is examining

the barriers to community building.

“I am looking at why people are not connected

to their communities,” she says. “It’s about stepping

stones, working out what they have to contribute

and how they can go about it.

“Right from the beginning it becomes clear that

community building takes time. It’s about building

trust and credibility. Then there are issues of

diversity. People such as the Iraqis are very well

connected within their own ethnic community, but

lack the skills or the networks to build bridges in

the wider community. It’s a two-way street – we

have to examine issues like racism too. Sometimes

we haven’t dealt too well with that.”

The CBRS project will run until midway

through 2006, working with groups involved in

10 large demonstration projects selected by the

Victorian Government from East Gippsland to the

Pyrenees Ranges to inner-city Melbourne. They will

also support scores of other smaller initiatives

ranging from establishing sewing circles to

running training courses.

VU’s Social Diversity and Community Wellbeing

Key Research Area, headed by Associate Professor

Danny Ben-Moshe, was instrumental in winning

the contract for the University.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CHECK THE GOVERNMENT WEBSITE: www.communitybuilding.vic.gov.au

SOURCE PHOTO BY Maurice Grant-Drew COLLAGE BY Brett Kiteley

“There’s a trend towardslonger working hours thatmitigates against familyand community. ”



30 >Health

ONCE a week a group of elderly women, somein their eighties, go cycling through variousMelbourne parks. Some ride bicycles, someride tricycles. They also meet at a local aquaticcentre to do an aqua exercise class. All arepleased to be out exercising.

Meanwhile, another group of women, agroup of new mothers, meet regularly for a ‘walkand talk’. Pushing strollers ahead of them theyrelish the chance to socialise and exercise.

Despite there being many such communityprograms in Victoria, research shows thatacross all age groups, women are 20 per centless likely than men to be sufficiently active.

Two Victoria University researchers aredetermined to increase the participation rate ofwomen in active recreation such as walking,cycling and water aerobics. Dr Clare Hanlon andAssociate Professor Precilla Choi know thatregular exercise at community or grassrootslevel is vital for the healthy ageing of women.

The energetic duo, both from the School of

Human Movement, Recreation and Performance,have received a $102,000 grant for their three-year study called ‘Count us in: developingphysical activity programs for women’. Theresearch is jointly funded by VU and Sport andRecreation Victoria, a division of theDepartment for Victorian Communities.

“Precilla and I are passionate about thebenefits of lifetime participation in activerecreation,” says Clare, whose own interestsinclude walking and running. Precilla’s activerecreation includes orienteering and dancing.

But many women and girls are not soactive. “The pressures of today’s society canmake it difficult,” Clare says. “You need to beable to find the time and energy.”

The first part of the study will address the current lack of data about what makesactive recreation programs for women in thecommunity successful. All local governmentsacross Victoria will be surveyed, as willfunding organisations such as VicFit, Sport

and Recreation Victoria, and VicHealth.“We need to identify what’s out there and

determine the strategies behind successful programs,” Clare says.

The researchers will then interview partic-ipants in eight successful active recreation pro-grams to determine why the related programcan recruit and retain women. The identifiedstrategies from the quantitative and qualitativedata will then be incorporated in a template.

Eight active recreation and sport pro-grams currently offering activities for womenwill then pilot the template over a 12-weekperiod. The participants will be contacted priorto the program and then six and twelve monthsafter the 12-week period to identify if they arestill involved in physical activity.

“We need to know if such programs lead tohealthy exercise habits,” Clare says.

At the end of the project Clare and Precillahope to create a template designed for commu-nity programs that will ensure continuity ofwomen’s participation in active recreation.

“This is an exciting initiative for women’sparticipation,” says Merryn Bellamy, a projectmanager with Sport and Recreation Victoria.“Trend data for participation in exercise, recre-ation and sport indicates that Victorianwomen’s favourite forms of physical activityare walking, aerobics fitness and swimming.

“This research will assist in identifyingwhat are the key success factors for communi-ty-based organisations and community facili-ties to get more women participating moreoften in these forms of activity.”

“We need to identify what’sout there and determine the strategies behind successful programs.”

countus inFIT WOMEN STAY HEALTHY LONGER by VIN MASKELL

Dr Clare Hanlon (second from right) with colleagues from Sport and Recreation Victoria.



31>Books


Project management, corporate governance,German property law, life on a farm, and mathematics are issues explored in new bookswritten by members of the VU community.

VU BOOKS

Realizing your Objectives –Project Management asMethodology and Values/Beliefs

By VU graduate Dr Xiaojin WangPublished by People’s Publishing House

Dr Wang’s book discusses project management not only as a set of technical tools for project planning andcontrolling, but also as a set of work-related values and beliefs and a specialkind of management philosophy. It is the discussion of the values/beliefsand management philosophy that distinguishes this book from other books that focus on the technical aspect of project management.

Farm KidBy Sherryl ClarkPublished by Penguin Books – Puffin imprint

Zack has lived on the family farm his whole life. To him it means cows,haymaking, the creek, paddocks, driving the tractor, helping dad, milking,blue skies, freedom – and the drought. When the drought worsens andthe bank threatens, everything begins to change. Farm Kid is a novel inpoems, written for 9–13 year olds. Its themes of family and loss are inter-spersed with deft touches of humour.

Sherryl, the author of more than 20 books, teaches fiction, poetryand writing for children and young adults in the TAFE Diploma of Arts –Professional Writing & Editing.

Private Property and EnvironmentalResponsibilityA Comparative Study of German Real Property Law

By Dr Murray RaffPublished by Kluwer Law International

In German property law there is a principleof responsible proprietorship under whichlandowners are expected to exercise widerenvironmental and social responsibility withrespect to their land. Because of the paral-lels between Australian and German law, itis clear that we already have the basic legalprinciple of responsible proprietorship thatshould make an individual responsible forenvironmental issues relating to property.

The German model of land title regis-tration has been freely adopted in jurisdic-tions as widespread as Eastern Europe andAsia, and it is the model favoured by inter-national capacity building and fundingagencies of the UN, World Bank and IMF.

Some Gronwall TypeInequalities and ApplicationsBy Professor Sever DragomirPublished by Nova Publishers

Computational Techniquesfor the Summation of SeriesBy Associate Professor Anthony SofoPublished by WKAP

These two books were launched in Aprilat Footscray Park Campus by ProfessorCharles Pearce of the University ofAdelaide. Professor Pearce said the bookswere part of “the brilliant explosion ofmathematics studies at VU in the pasthalf-a-dozen years … the quality andquantity of work in the School ofComputer Science and Mathematics hereis remarkable. It is world class.”

Professor Pearce praised SeverDragomir for being the “creative spring”behind the maths renaissance and said Anthony Sofo’s book “has wonderfulinsights as it draws threads from different areas.”

Introduction to Corporate Governance, and Applications of Corporate GovernanceEdited by Professor Anona Armstrong and Professor Ronald FrancisPublished by Standards Australia

The first of these texts looks at corporategovernance standards and the developmentof standards in Australia. The second concentrates on how to apply the principleswithin different industry sectors.

“These are aspiration standards of corporate governance,” Professor Armstrongsays. “What we are saying is if you followthis blueprint it will show you how to implement good corporate governance andto continually monitor that to ensure thestandard is maintained.”

Several VU academics and doctoralstudents were involved in writing the two publications.


32 >Art

STUDENT: Laura DayCOURSE: Diploma of Arts (Visual Art)TITLE: Untitled (detail)DATE: 2004MEDIUM: Oil on canvas

www.vu.edu.au


connections issue 1

Documents