WWW.VU.EDU.

AU
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
CONNECTIONS
ISSUE 3/JULY 2005
TIMOR-LESTE:
RISING
FROM THE
ASHES?

TAKING THE LAW TO VIENNA OUR AGEING BABY BOOMERS

LITERACY IN THE OUTBACK HOLLYWOOD DOWN-UNDER
 2 CONTENTS

8 12 16

Photo: Ross Bird Photo: Sharon Walker Photo: Sharon Walker

4 VC WELCOME
4 IN BRIEF
The Vice-Chancellor writes
that flare and drive is what
defines our modern University
as it adopts a new brand to
further distinguish its position
in a highly competitive sector.
8 NATION BUILDING
A visit by Tibetan monks, a
major national energy award,
a visit by Dr Brendan Nelson
and a new digital art gallery
are among the ‘in brief’
stories in this issue.
TIMOR-LESTE 12 BEING SMART
WITH WATER
COMMUNITY BUILDING RESEARCH
Victoria University continues Water has become
to play a key role in the a national obsession.
rebuilding of East Timor. Sustaining adequate
Abject poverty, an unskilled supplies has become a
workforce and an infrastructure major challenge around
largely in tatters, means much the world. Victoria University
work remains. is finding solutions.

20 MENOPAUSE AND
THE SEARCH
FOR RESILIENCE
RESEARCH
Two-and-a-half million Australian
women are now in menopause.
Two researchers want to know
why one-fifth of these women
will breeze through this often
‘difficult’ stage of life.
21 RESEARCH TAKES
ON THE LOCAL
AND GLOBAL
RESEARCH
Two new Victoria University
research institutes are part of a
new initiative to increase the
University’s research performance
in sustainable development
and community engagement.
22 LEARN WHILE
YOU WORK
WORKPLACE LEARNING
Victoria University is making
workplace learning a feature
of all its courses. Four current
and former students tell why
workplace learning worked
for them.
24 SWIRLERS GO
OUTBACK TEACHING
LITERACY
COMMUNITY BUILDING
A program developed to provide
trainee teachers with experience
working with Aboriginal students
has led to Central Australian
communities gaining some of
their best teacher recruits.

CONTENTS
ISSUE
THREE

Photo: Sharon Walker
14 BRINGING
HOLLYWOOD
DOWN-UNDER
RECREATION STUDIES
Graduate David Pratt
represents the Aussie
entertainment industry in
Hollywood and negotiates
with producers to shoot
their films in Australia.
28 NEW CAREERS
IN RURAL
CLASSROOMS
EDUCATION
A new $1.3 million State
Government teacher training
program is encouraging
professionals to change
careers and redeploy their
skills in rural classrooms.
VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
CONNECTIONS
PUBLISHER
Marketing and Communications Dept.
Victoria University, Australia
MANAGING EDITOR
Phil Kofoed
STAFF WRITERS
Brett Quine
Clare Boyd-Macrae
Niki Koulouris
18
Photo: Sharon Walker
15 TAKING THE LAW
TO VIENNA
LAW
The School of Law continues
to build on its international
reputation as four law
students travel to Vienna to
compete in an international
mooting competition.
30 MORE WORK AND
LESS BEDS FOR
BABY BOOMERS
OPINION
‘Aged issues’ expert, Professor
John McCallum offers a
personal view on the future
retirement age and nursing
care needs of our ageing
baby boomer population.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jim Buckell, Paul Mitchell
Glen Dower, John McCallum
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Maurice Grant-Drew, Ross Bird,
Sharon Jones, Sharon Walker,
Lawry Mahon, Brett Kiteley, Brett Quine,
Peter Glenane, Heath Missen,
Jessica Garreffa, Lucas Dawson
3
22 24
Photo: Lawry Mahon
16 TAKING THE GRIT
OUT OF PLUMBING 18 SHOWING MUSCLE
IN A WORLD
APPRENTICESHIPS OF SPORT
Plumbing training takes on SPORT AND FITNESS
new meaning as apprentices Victoria University’s new Aquatic
undertake ‘real-life’ training in and Fitness Centre has become
a building that won a major home to elite athletes and
architectural award for its sports teams. Offering an array
open-plan of interlinked zones. of fitness programs, it had
70,000 visitors in its first year.
31 NEW BOOKS BY
VU AUTHORS 32 VU ART
VU BOOKS
The history of natural ARTIST/STUDENT: Nic Carman
medicine; case studies in COURSE: Diploma of Arts
Australian tourism, hospitality (Visual Art)
and marketing; and the evolution DATE: 2005
of Australian sport policy are TITLE: Sunshine
some of the new books by MEDIA: Photocopies of a
Victoria University authors. stencilled spray-painted image
EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Phil Kofoed Brett Kiteley of Stroke p/l
Marketing and Communications Dept.
COVER PHOTO
Victoria University
A school in Atebae, East Timor,
destroyed by militia.
PO Box 14428 PHOTO BY Ross Bird 1999
Melbourne VIC 8001
© Victoria University of Technology
Australia
www.vu.edu.au
PHONE: +61 3 9919 4956
EMAIL: publications@vu.edu.au CRICOS Provider No: 00124K
4 VC WELCOME IN BRIEF

DEFINED BY
After some 18 months as Vice-Chancellor of Victoria
University, it has been, and continues to be, a challenging
and exhilarating journey.

FLAIR AND The flair and drive of our people is what defines and
distinguishes our modern University, ever building on

DRIVE
an already recognised platform of open dialogue and
engagement with the wider community.
This is exactly what Connections celebrates as it records
many of the latest outstanding achievements of our students
and staff. As national changes sweep through tertiary
education, I believe we are well positioned to face any
challenge, with many recent initiatives such as our Staff
and Leadership Forums aligned with our 2004–2008
Strategic Plan.
Connections readers will notice a new format and feel in
this issue. This reflects our fantastic new University branding
– bold, direct and street smart – now being adopted to Award-winning author Arnold Zable.
further distinguish our position as a ‘New School of Photo: Sharon Jones
Thought’ in a highly competitive sector.
Some of the stories in this issue include a profile on our
$7.4 million Aquatic and Fitness Centre, a Hollywood-
based graduate’s involvement with entertainment’s high-flyers
in promoting the Australian film industry, and a feature on
Victoria University's long-standing support of the people of
Timor-Leste and its assistance in the nation building of that
new country.
While Victoria University has a strong community building
record in the international arena, it also focuses on our
home front. This is exemplified by a program where
student teachers educate Aboriginal children in remote
Northern Territory communities, which is also featured in
BRINGING
this issue. Our ‘aged issues’ expert, Deputy Vice- TALES TO THE
WEST
Chancellor Professor John McCallum, also offers a
personal view on the future retirement age and nursing
care needs of our ageing baby boomer population.
Reading this issue, you will see that Victoria University
is continuing to connect, excite and explore. Enjoy! Writer Arnold Zable has been appointed as
Victoria University’s inaugural writer-in-residence.
Professor Elizabeth Harman Zable will be working with graduate and
Vice-Chancellor and President postgraduate students studying professional
June 2005 writing, as well as fostering emerging talent
in the western suburbs community.
“Mr Zable’s appointment provides a vehicle
to tap into the reservoir of creative potential
Photo: Sharon Walker
in Melbourne’s west,” says Dr Bronwyn Cran
from the School of Communication, Culture
and Languages.
“His appointment is a wonderful opportunity
for the students in our creative writing program
and for writers in Melbourne’s western suburbs
to learn from one of the most inspiring writers
and teachers of creative writing in Australia
today. He has a great commitment to nurturing
the unheard voices of writers in communities
throughout Victoria.”
Zable is an award-winning author whose
books include, Wanderers and Dreamers, a
history of Yiddish theatre in Australia, and
Jewels and Ashes, a moving account of his
own family’s history, including his journey to
Poland to trace his ancestors. His more recent
books include, Cafe Scheherazade, The Fig
Tree and Scraps of Heaven.

Loy Lichtman with one of his own art installations at the new
vuspace gallery. Photo: Maurice Grant-Drew
OPENING
UP A NEW
VUSPACE
A new art gallery with blinding white walls,
a polished concrete floor, loads of natural
light and ten discrete viewing spaces
was launched at St Albans Campus late
last year. vuspace is one of only two art
galleries in Melbourne’s west and one of a
small handful of digital galleries in Australia.
vuspace is essentially a research space
that explores digital visual art and the
intersection between analogue and digital
visual art. The gallery has network points
to allow visual art to be displayed from
anywhere around the globe.
The gallery is the brainchild of Loy Lichtman,
course co-ordinator of Victoria University’s
Computer Mediated Art program, which
was the first visual art program in Australia
to unite traditional studio practice with
digital studio practice. vuspace exhibits
the works of both students and staff.
vuspace is currently running a series of
exhibitions by Australian and overseas
artists, including Christine Gates (Melbourne),
Kurt Brereton (Sydney), Tim Plaisted and
Matt Fletcher (Brisbane) and a number of
New York artists.
All past exhibitions are archived and can
be viewed by visitors.
IN BRIEF 5
Professor Michael Hamerston shows off the Institutional Architecture Award Tony Walker, winner of an Australia Day Ambulance Service Medal.
plaque with architect Peter Elliott at the Queen Street site. Photo: Sharon Walker Photo: Sharon Walker
AWARD FOR MEDAL FOR
FUNCTION PARAMEDIC
AND STYLE EDUCATOR
The delicate heritage restoration and refurbishment Intensive care paramedic and senior lecturer,
of the historic former Records Office in Melbourne’s Tony Walker received an Australia Day
Queen Street has won the Royal Australian Institute Ambulance Service Medal for ‘Outstanding
of Architects’ 2004 Institutional Architecture Award. service and contributions to the Victorian
and Australian ambulance industry’ earlier
The Records Office is home to Victoria University’s
this year. Tony is also Manager Operations
law teaching facilities, which include the Law School,
– Clinical and Education Services for Rural
the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Continuing Legal
Ambulance Victoria.
Education and the Legal Services and Justice
Administration Research Unit. Tony has been with the ambulance service,
both metropolitan and rural, for 19 years and
The former Records Office was built during 1900–04
has been an intensive care paramedic for
to house records of births, deaths and marriages,
the last 12 years. He says one of his most
as well as legal records and wills. The premises
satisfying contributions has been the
boasts marble staircases, chandeliers and intricate
establishment of the new community First
gilt paintwork. Refurbishments included two moot
Responder Program, where local teams of
courts, a law library, computer laboratories, lecture
volunteers are trained to provide first aid and
theatres and seminar rooms.
stabilise a patient until an ambulance arrives.
The architectural challenge was to introduce
“This is especially important in isolated rural
functionality, yet preserve enough heritage character
areas,” says Tony. “The program has been going
so that subsequent generations could relate to how
for four years and we had twenty-two new teams
the building was originally constructed.
around Victoria at the end of June 2005.”
“The architects have come up with a way to [provide]
Victoria University is the first university in the
additional space for us in a modern idiom, but one
state and the second in the country to offer
that doesn’t detract from the French second empire-
pre-employment paramedic courses. Tony’s role
style building,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor
has involved teaching, curriculum development
(Management Services) Professor Michael Hamerston.
and building strategic relationships with
Officially opened in August 2003, the building and ambulance services and other stakeholders.
refurbishment cost $11.25 million.
 6 IN BRIEF
Dr Brian Young from the Australian Institute of Energy
presents Amanullah Oo with his award.
TROPHY FOR
POWER
PROJECT
PhD student Amanullah Maung Than Oo won
the Best General Energy Project Category at
the third Biennial Postgraduate Student Energy
Awards. The Awards are presented by the
Melbourne Branch of the Australian Institute of
Energy (AIE) and celebrate excellence in science
and engineering. Twenty-one students from six
Australian universities competed.
Amanullah’s research is looking at ways to
improve the monitoring of electrical power
systems, with the aim of developing an efficient
power system communication infrastructure.
“The rapid development in information technology
is pushing the power system information management
network to a remarkable innovation state,” says
Amanullah. “A wide area network will enable
power systems to share system information more
broadly and effectively.”
The power industry is so impressed with Amanullah’s
research that SPI PowerNet – a Victorian high
voltage transmission company – is providing all
the facilities and equipment he requires to further
his research.
“This research could bring enormous benefits
not only to the power industry but to the whole
community,” says Amanullah’s PhD supervisor,
Professor Akhtar Kalam from the Faculty of
Health, Science and Engineering.
Photo: Sharon Jones
2004 Australian Awards for University Teaching
finalists, Professor Phillip Deery and Lily Wong.
MIXING IT
WITH THE
BEST
Victoria University academics Professor Phillip
Deery and Lily Wong were both finalists at
the prestigious 2004 Australian Awards for
University Teaching, presented at Parliament
House in Canberra late last year.
Professor Deery, co-ordinator of history since
he started at Victoria University in 1991, is
a renowned authority on the Cold War. He
was one of three finalists in the ‘Humanities
and the Arts’ category. Lily Wong, lecturer
in accounting and finance, was one of five
finalists in the ‘Economics, Business, Law
and Related Studies’ category.
Professor Deery says he felt “humbled but
immensely chuffed” about being a finalist.
“The unacknowledged contributors to this
achievement were the students whom I
taught,” he says.
Lily Wong is famous among her students for
being able to make accounting entertaining.
Her involvement with the University began
as a student. “Victoria University has given
me my education and my career,” she says.
“Many students here are like myself, from
migrant families – but have a great
willingness to learn. The University tries to
provide equal access to a quality education.”
Tibetan Buddhist monks creating a mandala at St Albans Campus.
Photo: Sharon Walker
MONKS
MAKETH A
MANDALA
A spiritual event at Victoria University’s
St Albans Campus in March captured good
health vibes for the local community. Seven
Tibetan monks on a world tour spent five
days creating a spectacular multi-coloured
sand mandala, believed capable of drawing
healing energy from a medicine Buddha.
When the mandala was finished, the
monks held a ceremony to spread the
healing energy for the benefit of locals.
“Energy is captured and it’s like a blessing
for the environment and the people in that
environment,” said lecturer Frank Perri,
course co-ordinator of the clinical dermal
therapies program.
Greater appreciation of alternative health
sciences, and diverse religious, cultural and
environmental beliefs flowed from the monks’
visit, which was sponsored by the School of
Health Sciences.
The monks are also raising money to build
a $600,000 traditional hospital in Tibet as
they tour and share their distinctive cultural
characteristics with people in Australia.

TOTeM House student, Melissa, with Dr Brendan Nelson
during his visit last December. Photo: Sharon Jones
DR NELSON
VISITS
TOTEM
The Federal Minister for Education, Science
and Training, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson,
joined Victoria University’s Partnership Outreach
Education Model (POEM) students at their end
of semester celebration last December.
The POEM Project is aimed at young men and
women aged 15–19 who are often referred to
as ‘disconnected youth’ and who have dropped
out of school and are now trying to get back into
study. At Victoria University the project is known
as TOTeM House – which stands for ‘the one
and the many’.
“These are students who have been lost to the
mainstream education system for many reasons,”
says project manager Heather Millikan. “At
TOTeM House we work closely with community
networks as well as other departments at Victoria
University to create stimulating learning programs.”
Programs place emphasis on literacy, numeracy,
study skills, communication skills, good citizenship,
health issues, budget skills, employment options
and information-seeking skills.
The University received funding for the project
on the basis of its innovative approach to a pilot
pre-VCE program and the excellent outcomes
achieved. POEM is funded by the Federal
Department of Education, Science and Training.
The local community is helping to protect the native grasslands
that surround St Albans Campus. Photo: Warrick Atwood
GRASSLANDS
GOING TO
SEED
A call for a community-planting day to help
protect one of the world’s most endangered
ecosystems – the western plains grasslands –
was met with enthusiasm one Sunday in
April. Only two per cent of Victoria’s native
grasslands remain – mostly as remnants
beside railway lines or as small pockets
at the edge of farms.
Victoria University’s St Albans Campus is
situated on one of the largest remaining
remnants, which is now a protected native
grassland and home to other indigenous
plants as well as the endangered striped
legless lizard. The Iramoo Sustainable Living
Precinct at the Campus has been working
towards the restoration of this area.
Iramoo’s Community Sustainability Officer,
Carolynne Venn, said members of the
community planted hundreds of native
seedlings. The plants were grown at
Iramoo’s own nursery from local seeds
collected in the grassland reserve.
“Iramoo is in need of assistance to get
hundreds of plants in the ground to help
with the revegetation and rehabilitation of the
area,” Ms Venn said. “The planting day was
a great opportunity to draw on our community
connections for support and awareness.”
IN BRIEF 7
Judo champion Rebecca Sullivan, the third inductee into Victoria
University’s Sporting Hall of Fame. Photo: Lucas Dawson
CHAMPS
GET THE FULL
BLUE
Fourteen Victoria University students were
rewarded for their outstanding sporting
achievements with ‘Full Blue’ awards at the
2004 Victoria University Sport Awards held
at City Flinders Campus in late 2004.
Awards were also presented recognising
Outstanding Service, Team of the Year, Sport
Club of the Year, and Male and Female
Athlete of the Year.
The ‘Blues’ are awarded to students who
have represented Australia at Olympic
Games, Commonwealth Games, Paralympic
Games, World Student Games and
Championships or who have represented
the University at regional and national
university championships.
2004 also saw one of Australia’s most
decorated judo competitors, Olympian and
former multiple Australian judo champion
Rebecca Sullivan, become the third inductee
into the Victoria University Sporting Hall of
Fame, as well as receiving a ‘Full Blue’.
Previous inductees are basketball legend
Andrew Gaze (2002) and Olympic rower
Mike McKay (2003).
Men’s soccer, comprising students from eight
Victoria University campuses, took out the
highly anticipated Team of the Year award.
8

NATION
BUILDING
TIMOR-LESTE
BRETT QUINE
In the early 1990s Victoria University made pivotal
moves to organise a fledgling neighbour nation’s most
precious resource – its intellectual infrastructure – before
that country had even won independence. The
University’s efforts were unique and largely unheralded.
While those efforts were at first down-played for
the sake of diplomacy, in 1998 the University took
its first tentative steps in official recognition of East
Timor, since renamed Timor-Leste. Within a few
months, the University had reversed the accepted
norms of diplomatic recognition.
It started to co-host seminars with the Australia-East
Timor Association that year, while the University’s
Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies provided resources to
delve into development issues. By the end of 1998,
Victoria University had become a formal partner of
the East Timor resistance, Concelho Nacional
Resistance Timorense – the Council of National
Resistance for Timorese (CNRT).
The association was no accident; a select but
strong contingent of the University’s socially astute
academics had taken the East Timorese people
and their struggle to heart following the invasion
by Indonesian forces in 1975.
Notable among the early supporters were former
University Council member the Hon. Jean McLean –
now special advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on
Timor-Leste – and fellow social justice activist
and lecturer Dr Helen Hill. Both were recently
paid glowing tributes as “veteran supporters” by
Timor-Leste’s Consul-General, Mr Abel Guterres.
McLean says the significance of the University’s
official recognition of East Timor in 1998 could not
be understated. “It was very important,” she says.
“It really showed that Victoria University was more
The significance of the
University’s official recognition
of East Timor in 1998 could
not be understated.
COMMUNITY BUILDING 9
All East Timor location photos by Ross Bird
than an institution just teaching overseas students to
raise its finances – the University was more about
assisting people from countries in great need. And
when we requested an office for the CNRT the
next year, it was granted and that was before a
government had even been formed – it was a bold
move for the University back then.”
Today, the links between Victoria University and
Timor-Leste are stronger than ever. But with abject
poverty, a birth mortality rate of eight per cent, a
largely unskilled workforce and infrastructure in
tatters, much work remains.
In June, the University hosted a two-day conference,
Co-operating with Timor-Leste, sponsored by the
Australian Government’s foreign aid body, AusAID,
at City Flinders Campus. It featured a keynote
address by Timor-Leste Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri,
on the Timorese economy. In October, Vice-
Chancellor Professor ELizabeth Harman will lead
a visit by University delegates to Timor-Leste as
conference ideas are followed through.
At one of the East Timor seminars hosted by Victoria
University in 1998, CNRT representative and Nobel
Prize winner Dr Jose Ramos Horta suggested the
University co-host an international seminar on East
Timor Strategic Development Planning. The seminar
took place in April 1999, co-ordinated by then
masters student, Joao Cancio Freitas. The seminar
saw Timorese intellectuals write many policy papers
later adopted by the Timor-Leste Government
following independence.
Six months later, former resistance leader Xanana
Gusmao – who was later elected the first president of
Timor-Leste – visited Victoria University. A fundraising
dinner staged in his honour saw the formation of
the Victoria University–East Timor Working Group.
It was less than two months after the East Timorese had
overwhelmingly voted for independence in a United
Nations supervised popular referendum.
Working group members, including McLean, Hill
and senior lecturers Jeannie Rea and Dr Richard
Chauvel asked former Vice-Chancellor Jarlath
Ronayne for an office to accommodate the CNRT
10 COMMUNITY BUILDING
at the City Flinders Campus for the post-referendum
‘emergency’ period of militia attacks. The office was
opened by Xanana Gusmao in May 2000, staffed
by Abel Guterres.
The University had achieved what was most likely an
unprecedented diplomatic oddity. It had established
a de facto consular office two years before the
country itself formally existed – before the official
Melbourne consulate, before the Sydney consulate
and long before the Canberra embassy.
“It would have been difficult for us to operate without
that office,” says Guterres. “We needed the space
and it was very well timed. It lent great credibility
to Victoria University, which as an institution was first
to recognise East Timor – in Victoria at least.”
When independence was finally declared on
20 May 2002, the CNRT office was relaunched as
the Consulate of Timor-Leste the following day. Long-
time East Timor activist Kevin Bailey was immediately
installed as the Honorary Consul. Bailey, a former
SAS soldier, is managing director and founder of
The Money Managers – recognised as leaders in
the financial planning industry.
“Literally the morning after independence, the
Department of Foreign Affairs issued the licence
to practice,” Bailey recalls. “It was effectively the
first international Consulate of East Timor anywhere
in the world.”
Bailey was inspired to support the East Timorese in
November 1991 when he saw television reports of
270 young people in a funeral procession killed by
militia – subsequently known as the Dili or Santa
Cruz massacre.
Victoria University’s early support of the CNRT in 1998
could easily have seen it fall out of favour with the
Australian Government. “There was a real risk in
what they were doing,” says Bailey. He says the
University had to walk “a very fine line” because
they were also very supportive of Indonesian
students enrolled at the University.
“It wasn’t the Indonesian people the University was
concerned about, it was the Indonesian military
and the oppression,” says Bailey. “The military
were oppressing their own people in 1998 – there
were riots leading up to when Suharto fell.
“And yet Victoria University had the courage to
stand up and be counted, instead of taking the
politically correct stance of, ‘Oh well, we won’t
step on anyone’s toes’. I think that is something they
should be commended on. The Chancellor, Justice
Frank Vincent was very much about social justice
and was very involved. All these people took it on
themselves to get involved. I suppose it’s because
the University’s roots are in the western suburbs
and they can identify with social disadvantage.”
Xanana Gusmao has formed a strong bond with
Victoria University academics and was conferred

PAGE 8: Symbolic of the hopeful future of the East Timorese, two girls play on the outskirts of Dili eight
months after the climactic terror and destruction of their country during September 1999.
LEFT: Children at a school in Atauro. Nearly every school in East Timor was either destroyed or dismantled
and shipped away for sale by militias.
TOP: A roofing and water collection project in Baucau. East Timor is still one of the world’s poorest countries.
TOP RIGHT: An old man tends to graves on Mount Matebian. The last stronghold of the resistance, the
mountain has come to symbolise the will of the East Timorese to survive.
RIGHT: Timor-Leste Honorary Consul-General Kevin Bailey and office manager Joao Jong at the Timor-Leste
consulate office at City Flinders Campus. Photo by Brett Quine.
The University’s roots an Honorary Doctorate from the University in April
2003. Dr Ramos Horta was honoured as a
are in the western suburbs Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2001. Joao Cancio
Freitas returned to East Timor with a PhD and became
and they can identify executive director of the new Dili Institute of
with social disadvantage. Technology. A number of other East Timorese graduates
of Victoria University also work in Timor-Leste.
Community development student Chloe Beaton
formed the Victoria University Students for East
Timor (VUSET) after her visit to East Timor in 1999.
“VUSET was active in raising awareness about issues
in East Timor on the campuses and fundraising for
the CNRT,” says Hill, who spent her Outside Study
Program in East Timor in 2000 as the East Timor’s
National Research Centre’s first International
Fellow. “They held meetings at Puckapunyal with
the Timorese students who had been evacuated to
Melbourne following militia violence.”
Many Timorese students at Victoria University are
financed by scholarships from AusAID and under-
take community development courses. They include
Bachelor of Arts Community Development graduate
Nivio Magalhães, who returned to Timor-Leste to
teach at the National University, and Justino
Guterres, now Tertiary Education Director in Dili.
In August 2002, TAFE sector representatives
Richard Carter – now Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Education Services) – and Brian Fairman visited
Timor-Leste and facilitated a Memorandum of
Understanding between Victoria University and the
11
Dili Institute of Technology. The partnership assisted
the institute with renovations, computers and joint
applications for training contracts in East Timor.
State and Federal Government steps toward
greater economic autonomy for the young nation
have increasingly vindicated Victoria University’s
early support for an independent East Timor.
In early 2004, the Victorian Government agreed
to fund Annie Keogh as an employee of Victoria
University based at Dili Institute of Technology. As
a vocational education and training adviser, one
of her primary goals is to work toward establishing
TAFE modules at the institute. Her contract was
recently extended to June 2006.
In April this year, Australia’s Foreign Affairs minister
Alexander Downer touted more generous concessions
for Timor-Leste in negotiations over oil and gas
rights, while the Bracks Government funded the first
official office manager, a full-time position, for the
Timor-Leste Consulate at City Flinders Campus.
In April 2004, Jean McLean and Brian Fairman
visited Dili Institute of Technology and held meetings
with DIT president Kirsty Gusmao and Foreign
Affairs Minister, Dr Ramos Horta to discuss economy
and skills development in Timor-Leste. Further
plans for education development are currently
being discussed with Timor-Leste’s National
University as part of Victoria University’s ongoing
commitment to the development of the new nation.
12 RESEARCH – SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION

Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant at Werribee. Photo: Melbourne Water


BEING
SMART WITH
WATER
BRETT QUINE
Water has become a national obsession. Being able
to sustain adequate supplies has become a major
challenge. Eco-awareness has driven the public
and governments to find real solutions.
Victoria University has had a dedicated team of
scientists immersed in water desalination and water
management research for many years. The University
currently has at least seven projects, schemes or
initiatives that aim to better use or reuse water.
Associate Professor Graham Thorpe from the School
of Architecture, and Civil and Mechanical
Engineering has developed a hydrocooler – a
portable vegetable chilling unit that filters and
recycles the water used. Developed with
$100,000 in funds from the Smart Water Fund –
set up by Melbourne’s water suppliers – the hydro-
cooler can cut the water waste of conventional cooling
units from 40,000 litres per tonne of produce to
just five litres per tonne. The unit was designed in a
joint venture with the Christou Group, a Werribee-
based market garden business.
Victoria University researchers have also been in
pursuit of an industry Holy Grail they believe is
within their grasp – recycled sewage, commonly
accepted as suitable for farm irrigation.
A water research forum, hosted by Victoria University’s
new Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI) in
February, heard experts from Israel, France and the
US explain how they were working in partnership
with Victoria University to better reclaim both sewage
and salt water at the Western Treatment Plant at
Werribee. They spoke of recycled water for domestic
use as inevitable.
The ISI was launched in July last year with a key
agenda to achieve sustainable water use and reuse.
Institute director Professor John Cary says the
Institute has two water-related projects running at
the Western Treatment Plant. The first addresses
how to reduce salt in water from sewage to make
Associate Professor Graham Thorpe. Photo: Sharon Walker
They are famed for making deserts
bloom and transforming swamps
into fertile agricultural valleys.
it more favourable to horticulture, and the second
involves sewer ‘mining’, where valuable components
of effluent are removed from sewage at the site
where the treated waste water is reused.
The research is being developed in conjunction
with the University of NSW. Victoria University
researcher Dr Simon Wilson says several significant
technology challenges remain, including disposal
of the reject (concentrate) stream and energy costs.
But he says the research will provide new opportunities
for water reclamation from treated waste water and
improved desalination of sea water.
The two projects are being developed with the
assistance of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology,
famed for making deserts bloom and transforming
swamps into fertile agricultural valleys in Israel.
The director of the Technion Water Institute, Professor
Raphael Semiat, says people have to question
whether it is truly cost-effective to power recycling
and desalination projects with traditional dirty fuels
such as oil and coal. Although nuclear, solar and
wind energy are considered too expensive, he
says governments had not counted the ongoing
environmental damage costs of dirty fuels.
“We have to decide if we want more water or
more large cars, airconditioning and so forth,”
says Semiat. “It’s not enough to produce low-cost
water. It’s also important to re-educate people on
water use.”
Associate Professor Greg Leslie from the University
of NSW says the Victoria University–University of
NSW team are trying to selectively remove nutri-
ents to design the water product specifically for the
application. “It will be a water that has the right
balance of nutrients, particularly phosphate and
ammonia ... that isn’t going to degrade the quality
of the land,” says Leslie.
A former Californian, Leslie believes Australia will
soon legislate the use of recycled water wherever
13
possible. It has already happened in California.
“We need to recognise that we invest a lot of
money in infrastructure to collect sewage, to treat
that sewage, and it doesn’t make sense to then just
simply pump that water back into the ocean.”
In 2003, Victoria University and Melbourne Water
announced a joint initiative to construct a computer
model to help water planners better manage the
resource. The project recognises increasing
uncertainty about drinkable supplies of water
and future demand, and that building new dams
is no longer socially acceptable. It also integrates
economic, environmental and social factors to
provide an analytical framework to help plan for
long-term conditions, including drought.
And four final-year civil engineering students have
come up with a plan to recycle water from a
stormwater drain that runs alongside the University’s
Aquatic and Fitness Centre. It will be treated in
specially created wetlands for re-use on the
adjacent historic Footscray Park gardens. The
project will help Maribyrnong City Council save
25 megalitres of water a year. This is enough to fill
25 Olympic-size swimming pools or 70 million
buckets – 85 per cent of the water needs of the park.
Yet the water project that possibly has had most
results to date is the much-envied Environmental
Management degree run by John Orbell at the
Department of Molecular Sciences. The course
includes two water-related modules, Water Pollution
Monitoring and Liquid Waste Management. Professor
Orbell describes the course as “unique”, and it
boasts more than 100 graduates across the globe.
“A lot of universities have tried to emulate what we
have done,” says Orbell. “But we were lucky in
the west in that we had established a very strong
network of industry associations 10 years ago,
and that network still exists today.”
14 RECREATION STUDIES

BRINGING
HOLLYWOOD
DOWN-UNDER
JIM BUCKELL
“When they want something in Hollywood, they want it instantly,”
says David Pratt. He should know. Pratt, a Victoria University
recreation studies graduate, is a ‘point man’ in Los Angeles for the
Australian entertainment industry. He negotiates with producers to
shoot US productions in Australia and represents our film-makers,
actors, technicians, and our arts and fashion industry in California.
Despite the self-promotional spin that Hollywood weaves about
itself, it’s an industry not dictated by glamour so much as business.
But this isn’t the land of dreams for nothing. Pratt’s work still
involves the kind of A list (and sometimes – darn it – B list)
schmoozing that has made Lala land the cocktail and red-carpet
capital of the world. It’s just that the cast of financiers, stars,
directors, producers, managers, marketers and agents knows
it for what it really is – a compulsory circuit of over- or under-
dressed room workers seeking to smooth the path to future deals.
For the leading players it can be hard work on tight deadlines.
“The thing I’ve learnt about the film industry is that it’s very last-
minute,” says Pratt. “When they call, they want a lot of
information very quickly and it has to be accurate or your
credibility is out the window.” That means keeping up to date
with all activity across a brief that includes fashion, events and (l–r) David Pratt, Hollywood-based Australian actor Melissa George and talent manager Rob Marsala,
cultural presentations as well as film and television. who represents Australians such as actor Frances O’Connor and pop queen Kylie Minogue.

As a private consultant, Pratt’s clients include the NSW Film and
Television Office, many of the other State-based film agencies,
and the Australian consulate in LA. He cut his teeth in LA as the
agent for the Australian film industry’s promotional arm, Ausfilm,
from 1997 until last year.
The Hollywood productions shot in Australia that he has been
involved in negotiations to attract reads like an action flick hot
list. They include the three Matrix blockbusters and Mission
Impossible II – films that locked in the US view that Australia is
an ideal film production location.
But what makes Pratt’s job so interesting is that it cuts both ways.
The Australian industry wants to attract the investment that US
productions bring to the big studios established over the past
decade or so on Australia’s east coast, but it also needs to
promote its own product, and those who make it, in the world’s
largest entertainment and arts market – Hollywood.
“There is a real thirst in Hollywood for accessing talent from around
the world, particularly from Australia,” says Pratt. “Americans are
amazed that Australia produces so much talent for such a small
country, especially actors and directors, but our technicians and
cinematographers are highly regarded too.”
Inevitably, the talent pool of Aussies who work in Hollywood at
least part time continues to grow, and their cache eases the task
of arranging screenings of Australian film and TV productions.
Setting up meetings between key industry players from both sides
of the Pacific is also a big part of Pratt’s role. It’s just as important
to showcase the talent as it is the product. He started a non-profit
group called Australians in Film to help make these connections,
and now sits on the board after many years as its president.
Maintaining these networks is essential to Pratt’s success. “If there’s
one thing I would say to students in recreation studies (he graduated in
Americans are amazed that Australia produces
so much talent for such a small country.
1987) it is to use your time at uni to make as many work contacts
as possible, especially those in your work experience placement.”
After all, it worked for Pratt. His studies provided him with a solid
grounding in the business and management side of the arts
industry, and his work experience with Film Victoria gave him an
entrée into the industry that he was later able to capitalise on.
After working in mainstream recreation programs for a few
years he lobbied for and got a job at Film Victoria promoting
Melbourne as a location and later transferred to LA.
He counts some of his teachers and colleagues from those early
years, including then lecturer Lorraine Smith and fellow graduates
Jackie Kinder, now a producer with ABC radio, and Louisa
Coppel, a Victorian Government communications staffer, as
integral parts of his network.
Students planning to enter the entertainment and recreation
industries are taught networking and contact-building skills as
part of the Victoria University course. Career development
co-ordinator of the degree in recreation studies, Angela Dressler,
who has been on staff since Pratt’s undergraduate days, says
it’s an important component of the course.
“It’s where students, particularly those going into their final placement
before graduation can make such an impact,” Dressler says. “By
establishing those contacts and impressing them with their work,
most of our students end up employed in the industry of their choice
– and many in the organisation where they did their placements.”
These days the degree in recreation studies enrols 50 students a
year. Selection is based on work experience as well as TER
scores and applications are accepted for mid-year intake.
LAW
TAKING THE
LAWTO VIENNA
PAUL MITCHELL
Victoria University’s School of Law has been established for just five
years, but already it is developing a strong international reputation.
This year, when the School sent four law students to the annual Willem
C V’s International Commercial Arbitration Moot court competition in
Vienna, it finished 50th out of the 150 universities participating – its
best placing in the four years it has been attending the event.
“The top team had a 46 average out of 50,” says Dr Bruno Zeller,
School of Law lecturer and an arbitrator at the competition. “To get into
the final round of thirty-two schools you had to have a 43 average,
and we had 42. That one point makes the difference – there is very
little in it these days.”
Students compete by presenting an oral and written argument for
both sides of a hypothetical dispute arising out of a contract of sale
between two countries. The goal is to train law students not only in
international commercial law, but also arbitration for the resolution of
international business disputes.
“Students get to argue in court on behalf of a ‘client’ – they have to
think standing on their feet,” says Zeller. “And they get the experience of
an international court setting.”
With schools from universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Heidelberg
and the National University of Singapore attending, the competition
was fierce for Victoria University students Elise Martello, Alice
O’Connell, Amy Wood and president of the University’s Law
Student Society, Jessica Latimer.
“At Vienna you can’t read, you have to know it – every possibility
and every little angle has to be ironed out,” says Zeller, adding that
his fellow arbitrators included high-ranking world professionals.
After their exams earlier this year the four young women had just
two weeks to write two 20,000-word documents in preparation
for Vienna. They then practised at least once a week, including
moot courts against Deakin and Monash universities. Then they
(l–r) Law students Elise Martello, Jessica Latimer and Alice O’Connell. Photo: Sharon Walker
15
Law lecturer Dr Bruno Zeller in the Law School’s moot court at Queen Street.
Photo: Sharon Walker
travelled to practice events in New Orleans and Geneva before
going on to Vienna.
Jessica Latimer says the highlight of the competition for her, apart from
the opportunity itself, was meeting students from around the world.
“From New York City attorneys to Turkish arbitrators; to students from
Moldova, South Africa and Singapore – people came from across
the world to participate.”
Dr Zeller, author of the soon-to-be released law text, Damages Under
International Sales Law (Oceania Press 2005), says the benefits for
students competing in Vienna are enormous. “You could say there is
a ‘Vienna mafia’,” he says, laughing, adding that Australian law
firms employ many graduates who have competed in Vienna for
different universities. “All the students that have gone to Vienna from
our School, bar two, have articles or have jobs, which is more than
one would say about the average law student.”
He says Victoria University’s success this year was a result of two
factors – funding and hard work. “This was the first year when
funding has been forthcoming. In previous years the students had
to find the money themselves – about $7000. This year Dr Murray
Raff, the head of the School, graciously paid for their flights and
insurance, so they only had to pay for accommodation.”
Elise Martello says preparation for Vienna was difficult due to time
constraints because the team had to juggle part-time work. She said
the problem they were set was “long, intricate and required
repetitive close reading and analysis to absorb the legal issues”.
But, as Latimer says, all the hard work in preparation and practice
was definitely worth it. “Apart from being highly regarded by all
sectors of the legal profession, the competition has helped me
develop skills in public speaking, confidence and networking,
which are invaluable for future career development.”
Zeller says the School was also successful because it now has a
culture of mooting, due to its regular attendance at the constitutional
moot in Brisbane, and because it has its own moot court facilities.
“The moots here are good. The one at the Law School allows you
to videotape everything if you wish, which is great, and the
University’s Sir Zelman Cowan Centre has got an even better one.
It’s new and as technologically advanced as you could wish for.
They train judges there in the application of new software, but we
haven’t started our students at that moot court yet.”
He says one subject in the School has a “fully blown” moot as
part of the curriculum, where students have to talk for half an hour.
“That really instils a culture of mooting. Students really know what
is expected of them and they develop a desire to go to moot
court competitions.”
The University’s chances of success at Vienna aren’t hurt by the fact
that Zeller is one of the competition arbitrators. He has been invited
to Vienna six times to adjudicate and says, like the students, he has
to put in some solid preparation.
“Arbitration isn’t just sitting there listening,” he says, adding that he
never gets to judge the Victoria University team. “You need to draw
the questions out; it is an aggressive way of seeing whether students
can hold a point.”
16

‘The Barn’ is a large open-plan space of interlinked zones accommodating around 100 students. Photo: Sharon Walker

THE BARN
Neville Penny oversees Australia’s most expensive
sandpit. Fifteen metres deep and the size of a tennis
court, it is worth $10,000.
“It’s a special-purpose sand,” says Penny. “We had to
shop around for it and when we found the right type we
got the quarry to wash out the dirt and grit.”

TAKES THE GRIT OUT OF

Penny, head of the TAFE Department of Building Services
and Special Trades at Victoria University’s Sunshine
Campus, says plumbing apprentices often dig trenches

PLUMBING
as deep as three metres when practising the craft of
laying drains, making it vital that the sand is kept at the
right consistency.
The sandpit indicates the thoroughness with which the
Department strives to make training as realistic as possi-
ble in the $3.5 million plumbing apprentice facility that
makes up the eastern wing of the R C Fordham Building.
GLEN DOWER Soon after opening, the building’s innovative design won
a 2001 Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA)
Architectural Merit award.
The sandpit is part of a large open-plan space of
interlinked zones, where plumbing apprentices work on
a variety of specialised activities. Instructors have a clear
view across the entire floor and operate in a team-teaching
environment, offering individual attention while maintaining
general supervision of the various groups.
“It’s a flexible space where we can undertake training
in any way required, as opposed to a formal classroom
set-up,” says Penny. “It’s a big and ‘barny’ space – we
call it The Barn – and there’s nothing that is fixed in

Each job has one or two tricks
of the trade that help you give
it that extra little touch.
The three-year plumbing apprenticeship emphasises hands-on learning. Photo: Sharon Walker
place. Our teachers are multiskilled and teach gas,
We call it The Barn sanitary, drainage, welding, roofing and mechanical
– and there’s nothing services such as airconditioning, refrigeration and
radiant heaters.”
that is fixed in place.
These activities go on simultaneously and teachers have
the freedom to move unencumbered from one work ‘site’
to the next. Penny says there are usually eight groups of
13 students, and “some days it’s an anthill, then it’s fairly
quiet, and then it’s like an anthill again”.
The three-year plumbing apprenticeship emphasises
hands-on learning. “Before The Barn, we did bench
models – there was no working on full-size, real-life
situations,” says Penny. “You would talk about a drain,
but you wouldn’t work with it.
“Plumbing is monkey stuff – monkey see, monkey do.
Apprentices do the theory in the textbook, take a computer
test, and then come out here and take on the actual task.
We try to teach in a way that keeps the information current
over the three years, rather than cover all the draining in
Year 1, all the gas fitting in Year 2, and so on.”
All likely scenarios are covered. Roof plumbers work on a
scaled-down mock-up of a corrugated iron roof that has
all the corners and joins you would find in a suburban
streetscape. When preparing chimney flashings, tin, tile
and timber surfaces are used for practice.
At the end of three years most apprentices are surprised
by the amount of knowledge they have accumulated.
This can be of comfort during the final 16-hour external
examination, which requires an 80 per cent pass.
APPRENTICESHIPS 17
Australia’s most expensive sandpit. Photo: Sharon Walker
Exterior windows of ‘The Barn’ represent pixelated cloud formations.
Photo: Lyons Architects
“Fantastic”, is how plumbing apprentice Spiros
Christopoulous describes the facility. “It’s fully equipped
and provides a good learning environment for those
who want to master their trade,” he says.
“If you ask a question you get an answer right away, and
you’re in a hands-on situation where you can put it to use
there and then. Assistance is always available and most
of the teachers have been in the game for a long time –
they are really switched on.”
Christopoulous, 30, has two years of his apprenticeship
to complete. He now works with Master Plumbers.
“I was self-employed in take-away food enterprises
for 11 years,” he says. “But this is the best move I’ve
ever made.”
Penny says the plumbing department also holds
14-week courses where pre-apprentice groups
gain enough skills to get work that can lead to an
apprenticeship and enrolment in the course.
Plumbing apprentices combine work with their training.
Most have a Monday to Friday, 8am to 4.45pm
week at TAFE, followed by three weeks at their external
workplace. This cycle continues throughout the year.
Penny says it is a successful schedule. “Out on the
job they can learn while making a dollar – in here
we teach them how to do a great job. Each job has
one or two tricks of the trade that help you give it that
extra little touch that makes a good job an excellent
job. You learn those tricks of the trade here.”
18 SPORT AND FITNESS

SHOWING
MUSCLE
IN A WORLD OF SPORT
BRETT QUINE

Photo: Sharon Walker

Olympic gold medal rowers do it, the Western Bulldogs do it,
even State Premier Steve Bracks does it. Along with many others,
they all hone their fitness at Victoria University’s $7.4 million
Aquatic and Fitness Centre at Footscray Park Campus.
Opened in early 2004, the centre has quickly evolved into a
‘world of sport’ with an enviable tally of community credits.
The centre had 70,000 visitors in its first year.
It is not only the home of elite athletes and national sports teams,
it offers health programs for the employees of large companies
and access to physical assessments using the latest techniques
and technology. Sports groups and individuals are offered an
array of health and fitness programs, from ‘combat conditioning’,
pilates and water polo to basketball, judo, spinning (group
exercise-bike riding), indoor cycling, cricket and even ballet.
PhD student and lecturer in exercise metabolism, Chris Stathis runs
a learn-to-swim school at the centre as well as training squads
for children and elite triathletes. Many other community benefit
programs operate at the centre and Victoria University students
make use of the facilities as part of their studies. In May alone,
more than 70 students organised five promotional events as part
of their Sports Administration course and a netball program was
launched for the western suburbs’ intellectually disabled.
The gymnasium has a capacity of about 1500 members, and
with a current membership of 1200, management is looking to
increase it to 1300 members this year.
“There should be enough places for staff and students, and the
top-up is for the community,” says acting manager Rohenna Young.
“It is a juggling act. Strategically, we are here to facilitate the
educational requirements of the University. Then we have certain
commercial ideals, where we have to try and cover our costs.”
Members have access to comprehensive health and medical tests by
staff from the Centre for Rehabilitation, Exercise and Sport Science,
which is housed in the same building. The School’s fitness expert,
Simon Sostaric, says Victoria University has developed a niche

Sostaric is working with

the entire Collingwood
football team on projects
he has sworn to secrecy.
 19

Photo: Sharon Walker

market in the delivery of sports science services and performance Western Bulldogs all turned up to use the 10-lane pool. “They all
monitoring, as well as sports research and development. wanted some lane space on the same day,” she says. “So it
was like, well, you can come in at this time, and you can come
Sports professionals regularly make use of the School’s expertise
in then. But they all ended up here at the same time. It didn’t
in fitness assessment, including marathon runner and former
cause any real dramas though.”
5000m Australian Open record holder Lee Troop, Olympic
rowers James Tomkins and Drew Ginn, Melbourne Storm rugby For the individual athlete, such as professional runner Isaul D’Sousa,
players and the Melbourne Tigers basketball team. the real lure of the Aquatic and Fitness Centre is its range of
equipment, including its large gymnasium with every imaginable
“A lot of Victorian-based Olympians went through performance
fitness and muscle-building apparatus, and heated 25-metre
monitoring here,” says Sostaric. He points out that other
indoor pool.
universities with similar facilities do not focus on service
provision but on research and teaching. D’Sousa, who ran fourth in the 2005 Stawell Gift, trains regularly
Golfers Stewart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy are among half a dozen at the gym and reckons it is the best place in Melbourne to prepare
professional golfers who undertake fitness assessments at the start himself for the Commonwealth Games next year.
of each season before they go on international tours. Sostaric is “For what I want to do, it’s amazing,” says D’Sousa. “It has the
currently working with the entire Collingwood football team on best range of equipment with everything I need, and a pool and
projects he cannot divulge. “I’m sworn to secrecy,” he says. sauna right there as well. When I tell my friends about how
“One area we have developed expertise in is using exercise and good it is, they freak.”
exercise metabolism to assist with diagnosing medical conditions. Photo: Maurice Grant-Drew
We get a lot of referrals from sports medical practitioners and
other practitioners. We look at things where the body is under
stressful conditions.”
The school has also worked with jockeys, racing car drivers and
even firefighters. “We do occupational health and safety work in
industry and corporate health education promotion programs,”
says Sostaric. “The corporate side of things is now becoming
more popular. A lot of companies are looking at ways to give
their employees a healthier lifestyle.”
Sostaric says the concept of what the School does with elite athletes
has a place in the general community. “I think that by default this
is the way universities are going to go – they will be driving more
service provision. I think there is now more pressure for universities
to be more of a force in the business world.”
Young says the centre has its amusing moments. She remembers
when footballers from rival clubs Carlton, Essendon and the
20 RESEARCH – HEALTH AND DIVERSITY

MENOPAUSE
AND THE SEARCH FOR
RESILIENCE
Is there a blueprint for successful menopause? Two Victoria University experts
on the subject have joined forces to find out what makes women who breeze
through menopause ‘tick’. NIKI KOULOURIS reports.

“A part of me is nervous and frightened because it’s

the unknown. It’s the phase of life where you take
stock of who you are – and you do something with
who you are. It’s like the last leg of the race. It’s
now or never.” – Peri-menopausal woman
“The bulk of menopause research is clinical,” says
Associate Professor Lily Stojanovska, a physiologist
from Victoria University’s Department of Biomedical
Sciences, who teamed up with Dr Marion Kostanski,
a senior lecturer in psychology, for a qualitative
approach to determine why some women are more
resilient to the events of menopause than others.
Supported by a 2004 $25,000 grant from the
Australian Menopause Society, the research duo
hope to shed light on the other side of menopause
– what women think and feel about it, as opposed
to what drugs they should take.
“This is a quality of life study that looks at other physical
and emotional factors happening around the time Associate Professor Lily Stojanovska and Dr Marion Kostanski.
Photo: Peter Glenane
of menopause,” says Stojanovska.
According to Stojanovska the mood swings,
concentration loss, hot flushes and cold sweats most state, not a disease,” she says. “Between the ages On the other hand, she says the women who seemed
commonly associated with menopause are often of 40 and 50 many women are starting to feel more not to be coping “did not really have a broad circle
vulnerable, that they are slower thinkers and that they of friends, the confidence, or maybe were not selfish
accompanied by “the revolving door at home of
are not as pretty. Yet some women are embracing it, enough to say, ‘I’m important’. The investigation
children leaving and returning to the nest, aged
saying, ‘Thank god I’m not going to have another showed that they generally had a negative attitude
parents, changing body shape, and loss of libido
period!’ Being informed and laughing is just as and outlook on life, and tended to be “ruminating,
and self-esteem.”
important as taking medication.” reactive, controlling and stoic.”
She says around 2.5 million Australian women are in
The study found that such positive attitudes did exist The research showed that many women were
menopause – a mid-life phenomenon for which there
among women. Their data also showed there were struggling but searching for resilience, and
is no cut-off age at which symptoms begin or end.
two other distinct attitudes – those of women not displayed characteristics of exploration, reflection
“Around a third of women will experience severe
coping, who were negative about the experience; and determination. Many of these women were
symptoms and 20 per cent will breeze through, with experimenting with complementary medicines and
the majority of women in the grey zone.” and a group of women in between. They also found
that women’s attitudes to menopause generally philosophical approaches. “They will get there with
The Stojanovska–Kostanski study involved two seemed to reflect their view of life. further support,” says Stojanovska, who hopes that the
interviews with 30 women who either were beginning findings will form the basis for education guidelines
to miss periods or no longer had periods. The women “Women who coped tended to have a positive for women. “We hope to develop a model for
were asked to keep a diary of their experiences. attitude and outlook to life, and tended to be more resilience so women can know what strategies there
Both researchers agree that western culture has a proactive, liberated and resourceful,” says are to make the transition a less bumpy ride.”
tendency to ‘over-medicalise’ the experience. Stojanovska. “They accepted and moved on from
life’s challenges and misfortunes.” Analysis of the research data is almost complete. The
“It is important that women know it’s not all doom and findings will be submitted for publication in late 2005.
gloom, and the benefits of Hormone Replacement Kostanski concurs that the women who cope have
Stojanovska is co-author of The Other Fact of Life –
Therapy and the associated dangers of cancer,” some fantastic strategies. She says they are “authors
taking control of menopause (Allen and Unwin,
says Kostanski. “Is it such a negative event in one’s of their own lives” and appear to have a “self
2001) and was named on the 2004 Victorian
life? It is definitely a physiological event but there worth connected to a life philosophy” or “spiritual
Honour Roll of Women for her work as an interna-
are many ways of managing it so life does not connection”. “There is something in there that these
tional educator on women’s health matters.
end. It is not the biggest bogy.” women have that no matter what knocks they take
there is purpose to their lives,” she says. “Women Kostanski’s research interests include resilience in
Stojanovska agrees that many women who see it who exercise, take time out to nurture themselves individuals with eating disorders, and recovering
as a negative thing are searching for cures in ‘a and are socially connected to a cross-section of from stroke and cardiac events, and she has been
fountain of youth’. “Menopause is a natural biological people, negotiate this whole transition well.” widely published on adolescent body image.

Associate Professor Danny Ben-Moshe, director of the Institute for
Community Engagement and Policy Alternatives. Photo: Sharon Jones
INSTITUTES TAKE ON THE
LOCAL AND GLOBAL
Two new Victoria University institutes are part of a new initiative to design
innovative solutions to real-world problems. CLARE BOYD-MACRAE reports.
INSTITUTE FOR
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
It has been involved in activities as varied as a community theatre project,
developing a network of education providers in Melbourne’s west, an award-winning
refugee resettlement program, as well as public lectures and forums. The Institute
for Community Engagement and Policy Alternatives (ICEPA) was established in
late 2004 as a focus for working with diverse communities to build and share
knowledge of community trends, challenges and policy options.
“Our aim is to increase our research opportunities in a way that is responsive to
the needs of the western region and to build on the strengths and capacity we have
as a result of being in the western region – for example, our extensive contacts
with and knowledge of ethnically diverse communities,” says ICEPA director, Associate
Professor Danny Ben-Moshe.
Four ‘hubs’ form the main focus of ICEPA’s work: community strengthening and
wellbeing; social and cultural diversity; learning and creativity; and globalisation.
Each has projects in progress or being planned. These include:
• co-ordinating a Community Building Resource Service – a State Government-
funded program to help build the skills and capacity of various community projects;
• developing a Victorian Community Indicators project – collaborating with local
governments across the state to produce community health indicators;
• partnering with the Horn of Africa Community Network and the Swan Hill
community to relocate unemployed Africans for employment in Swan Hill;
• involvement with the Torch West Community Theatre Project, which brings
together Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians;
• running forums and public lectures on major issues, such as globalisation;
• organising the Australian Universities Community Engagement Association
(AUCEA) Conference in July 2005; and
• producing reports such as, Investing in Melbourne’s West: A Region in Transition.
“The idea is to create an intellectual and collegial framework where these various
interests, learning and experiences can be shared, and collaborations can
develop,” says Ben-Moshe. “We aim to become the researchers and teachers
of choice, and international leaders in our four focus areas.”
Visit www.vu.edu.au/Research/ICEPA
SUSTAINABILITY/COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 21
Professor John Cary, acting director of the Institute for
Sustainability and Innovation. Photo: Sharon Jones
INSTITUTE FOR
SUSTAINABILITY
AND INNOVATION
Sustainability. It is arguably the most important word for the 21st century. In its
environmental charter, Victoria University recognises the importance of sustainable
development and the need to protect both local and global environments.
The charter declares a commitment to improving environmental knowledge,
practices and policies, and to produce graduates with a sound understanding
of the principles of sustainability.
One of the important ways of fulfilling this commitment is through the Institute
for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI), which was launched late last year.
Acting director Professor John Cary says ISI is multi-disciplinary and acts as
an “umbrella facilitator” to match the University’s resources to demands from
external stakeholders.
ISI has focused on water research because of increasing concerns regarding
both its shortage and pollution. The institute is collaborating with Melbourne
Water on the nutrient recovery and recycling of treated sewage (see story on
page 12), and postgraduate students are working with City West Water and
industries in Melbourne’s west to help reduce salt loads in industrial waste
water. Work on the rehabilitation of the Gippsland wetlands by Professor Paul
Boon (profiled in Connections, Issue 1) is another strand of ISI’s work.
Knowledge sharing and dissemination is an important role for ISI, which earlier
this year sponsored a seminar bringing together international experts to share
the latest knowledge on desalination, including membrane technology to filter
salts, with the water industry and government.
“We’re looking at membrane work that might considerably lower the cost of
desalination, which would be a significant technical breakthrough,” says Cary.
“We are also hoping to start projects on more effective water filtration for
air-conditioning towers and swimming pools.”Another vital part of the ISI
charter is to develop a sense of the importance of sustainability in the University’s
students. “We need to develop the skills and understandings that can be
applied when they are graduates – and filter through to industry and their
private lives,” says Cary.
Visit http://research.vu.edu.au/ISI
22 WORKPLACE LEARNING

LEARN
WHILE YOU
WORK
Victoria University is strengthening its
commitment to learning in the workplace
by making workplace learning a key
feature of courses in all faculties
and TAFE. Three current students
and a graduate tell why workplace
learning worked for them.
CLARE BOYD-MACRAE reports.

Lisa Hobson
ORDER IN THE COURT

For every legal case there is an invisible army of

workers behind the scenes. And they need training
to negotiate the myriad tasks to be done. Lisa
Hobson is a trainee court registrar at Melbourne
Magistrate’s Court. She is also studying the
Certificate IV in Court Services at Victoria
University’s law school in Queen Street.
“I sit next to the magistrate’s bench and manage the
court, call the cases, put them in order and organise
the defendants to be brought in if they are in
custody,” says Lisa.
She attends classes one Friday each month. Her
classmates are in the children’s, suburban and
country courts, and Lisa says classes provide a
chance to catch up with her colleagues and hear
about their work.
When she finishes her course at the end of 2006,
there will be a range of jobs she will be qualified to
do. “I’m working in criminal law at the moment,”
she says. “But I could move to a suburban or country
court. Or I could move to the kids’ or the coroner’s
court, or VCAT. I like that idea. It would be great to
see how things work in different jurisdictions.
“I really enjoy what I do. It’s interesting, and every
day is different. I’ve always been interested in the
courts and in law. And getting the Certificate in
Court Services is a bonus.”

Photo: Sharon Walker


Photo: Maurice Grant-Drew
Warren Peters
KEEPING ON TRACK
It runs in the family. Warren Peters’ father and uncles
worked in the railways in India. Now, although far
from his birthplace, Warren looks set to follow in
their footsteps.
With a degree in commerce and a diploma in
computer management, Warren had worked as an
office manager for several years in India before
immigrating to Melbourne in 2004. In March this
year he started the Certificate III in Transport and
Distribution (Rail Operations), a two-year traineeship
offered through Urban Systems Training, a joint
venture between private railway operator Connex
and Victoria University.
Two weeks of training were followed by two weeks
of supervised work at Caulfield railway station and
assessment for the initial stage of his training. Warren
now works independently as an assistant station
officer on the Melbourne–Frankston line. Regular
classroom sessions and on-the-job training and
assessment will continue over the next two years
of his traineeship.
“The initial study part of the course was very useful,”
says Warren. “The University staff explained every-
thing very beautifully and helped us very nicely. In
the two weeks of on-the-job training we spent time
observing experienced railway workers, asking
them questions and learning by watching them work.”
Warren mainly works in customer service, and says
the best part of his job is “helping people, solving
problems, giving directions and interacting with people”.
Photo: Sharon Jones
Bianca Teal
PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER
Bianca Teal always loved the idea of working with
animals, but decided to do a degree in tourism
before starting work at an Alice Springs resort.
A year later she realised it wasn’t for her and
enrolled in the Diploma of Animal Technology at
Victoria University’s Werribee Campus.
After completing first year she applied to work at
the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. She now
works there full time, studying two evenings a
week. Bianca has been invited to continue working
full time at the institute when she completes her
diploma at the end of this year.
“When you’re working at the same time as doing
the course it keeps you really motivated,” says
Bianca. “It’s quite inspiring. I like to stay motivated
and there’s just heaps to learn.” She started at the
Ludwig Institute as a junior animal technician,
cleaning cages and checking mice, but now most
of her work involves breeding mice.
“Working in a small animal house you do a lot
more things – there are fewer staff so you get to do
everything. I’m learning something new every day.
I love that we are doing something good here.
Our researchers come over and discuss what’s
going on – they get excited and it’s good to feel
a part of something bigger.”
23
Photo: Sharon Walker
Carl Millen
A LOGICAL PROGRESSION
Carl Millen studied 18 months of a degree in
metallurgical engineering before applying for
Victoria University’s Bachelor of Business and
Applied Economics in Logistics.
“I heard that logistics would be the next big thing –
and it is,” says Carl. “I’ve never looked back.” The
four-year degree includes twelve months of full-time
work. Carl’s placement was with Boral Asphalt,
part of the Australian international building and
construction materials supplier. Carl places great value
on the work placement part of his degree. “The
combination of work and study gave me a good
basis for moving into the business world,” he says.
2005 has been a good year for Carl. The Faculty
of Business and Law awarded him the Best Global
Logistics and Transport Co-operative Education
Student, and in January he began a permanent
full-time job with Boral. As works co-ordinator, Carl’s
job is to program all the asphalt, spray and seal
work performed across metropolitan Melbourne.
“We get work from new estates, from local councils
and from VicRoads,” he says, pointing to a large
whiteboard that illustrates a ‘beehive’ of activity by
work crews, and which changes daily as jobs are
completed. He enjoys his work and says it is great
to be part of a large company where there is plenty
of scope for travel and different work roles.
“We do so many different things at Boral –
concrete, windows, asphalt, quarries, masonry,
bricks – it just goes on and on.”
24 COMMUNITY BUILDING

SWIRLERS
GO OUTBACK
TEACHING
LITERACY
JIM BUCKELL All photos by Lawry Mahon

As part of SWIRL programs, Aboriginal schoolchildren are encouraged to express themselves through dot painting.

SWIRL participants at Canteen Creek, 400 km east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.
“From little things, big things grow,” sang Paul Kelly
in a lyric that has resonance for Victoria University
education lecturer Lawry Mahon.
Mahon had a similar starting point – remote Aboriginal
communities – when he began a literacy development
program nine years ago. His aim was to provide
his trainee teachers with experience working with
Aboriginal schoolchildren and to develop reading
materials drawn from those students’ own experiences.
Little did he know that one of its long-term effects
would be to supply those Central Australian
communities with some of their best teacher recruits.
The Story Writing in Remote Locations (SWIRL)
program is a modest project that has drawn
support from IBM – which provides a computer to
all participating schools – the Commonwealth and
Northern Territory education departments, Victoria
Molly Kirby, a student youth worker, shows girls from the Titjikila University and recently from universities in the
community, 107 km southeast of Alice Springs, the art of batik making. US – Harvard, Oregon and Montana.
SWIRL involves student teachers working in
remote communities for one month on holiday
programs in which children take part in activities
and then document their experiences in booklets
and other media such as video, animation,
That was the starting point artwork and photographs. A number of trainee
youth workers also participate in the program.
– to produce materials that
“When I first came to the Territory I was frustrated
the students could relate to. in my attempts to find reading material with
25
Aboriginal faces and voices,” says Mahon.
“Mostly it was Europeans that were the subject
matter, so that was the starting point for SWIRL
– to produce materials that the students could
relate to their own lives.”
The first trainee teachers to take part in the program
in 1998 went to just one community, Atitjere, 250 km
northeast of Alice Springs. SWIRL has now grown
with students from two other Melbourne universities
(RMIT and La Trobe) joining the program. Together
with two or three of the US universities they visit up
to thirteen Central Australian communities each
year. And once they have completed their training
many of the trainees go back to teach full time in
the Northern Territory. About 30 Swirlers – as they
call themselves – have become NT teachers.
“It’s been one the unexpected outcomes,” says Mahon.
“The average stay of a teacher in a remote school
in the Territory is about seven months. We have
found that our students stay on average two years.
That makes a big difference because they can
build up relationships and gain the confidence
and support of their students and the community.”
One such returnee is Sue McAvoy, principal of the
Willowra school at a Warlpiri community of about
150 people 300 km northwest of Alice. Unlike
most Swirlers, McAvoy joined the program as a
fully qualified teacher to gain some experience
working with remote Aboriginal students.
26 COMMUNITY BUILDING

Trainee teacher Kate Toll helps a young member of the Atitjere community, Proud storywriter, Debon, from the Atitjere community.
The program is only a tiny 250 km northeast of Alice Springs, to write a story on a computer.

ripple in the vast pool of

issues that confront remote
Aboriginal education.

Lecturer Lawry Mahon has been taking his students to the Aboriginal boys create posters in support of their local football team.
An Atitjere boy shows a sense of humour during a painting project. Northern Territory each year for the past nine years.

SWIRL programs are very popular in Aboriginal communities. Attendances are at or close to 100 per cent.
“I had worked in schools in Melbourne’s western
suburbs for more than 20 years,” says McAvoy,
whose faith in education as leverage for students
from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds attracted
her to working with Aboriginal communities in the bush.
McAvoy is proof that the SWIRL experience is
an ideal introduction to teaching in the Territory,
whose education authorities are always on the
lookout for SWIRL graduates. She is also a good
role model for other Swirlers, one of whom,
Hannah Casper, joined the staff at Willowra as
a qualified teacher this year after participating in
SWIRL as a trainee last year.
Despite its modest success, the SWIRL program is
only a tiny ripple in the vast pool of issues that
confront remote Aboriginal education. Attendance
is poor at best in such schools, where the class-
room competes with family and ritual obligations –
which can take extended family groups away from
their home community for weeks at a time – and
with sickness for the attention of pupils.
At Willowra, where attendance averages between
25 and 35 of the 40 children enrolled, these problems
have been ameliorated by a free breakfast and a
cheap lunch program, and by funds set aside by
the Commonwealth for activities such as bush trips
and special resources.
But this is under threat from new Commonwealth
guidelines in force this year that mean schools must
submit a plan for the use of such funds, then wait
for approval before submitting a second proposal.
“This means we have to jump through more
hoops to secure the funding, which is no longer
guaranteed,” says McAvoy.
The scrapping of a bilingual education program a
few years ago has also had an impact because it
has limited the available resources in Aboriginal
languages. This is one area in which SWIRL has
made a difference. Their materials, which are
mainly produced in English, but sometimes include
work in Aboriginal languages, are available as
classroom teaching aides. Generally, though,
SWIRL students have been impressed with the
resources available in remote schools.
“When I was there [in Newcastle Waters, north
of Tennant Creek] a whole band kit showed up –
there was a truckload of new music equipment,”
says Travis Cartwright, a Victoria University student
from Echuca who took part in SWIRL last year.
Like many of the Victoria University Swirlers,
Cartwright was intrigued by Mahon’s enthusiasm
for the project. “Basically, he never shut up about
it,” says Cartwright. A lot of that enthusiasm has
27
I was out bush with kids as
young as four and five and
they were unearthing frogs
from below the ground.
rubbed off. The third-year student hopes to return
to the Territory to teach when he graduates.
One of the other positive outcomes of SWIRL is
that its benefits flow two ways. Not only do the
Aboriginal students get the impetus of the young
and energetic fresh faces running programs
in their communities, but the trainee teachers learn
first-hand about Aboriginal culture. Many are
impressed with the bushcraft of their young charges.
“I was out bush with kids as young as four and five
in very dry country and they were unearthing frogs
from below the ground,” says Cartwright. “That
amazed me, just how much they know about the
land from such a young age.”
Mahon has put a lot of care into ensuring that elders
and other respected members of remote communities
are involved in overseeing the programs, and their
attendance on bush trips is encouraged. This stamps
the project with the blessing of community leaders,
helping to ensure its success.
“We have attendances at or close to 100 per cent
in most of our programs – the sort of roll-up that all
remote Northern Territory schools are striving to
achieve,” says Mahon.
In 2005, Mahon is planning to take his students to
six remote Aboriginal communities.
28 EDUCATION

NEW CAREERS
BRING KNOW-HOW TO
RURAL CLASSROOMS
A new program is encouraging professionals to undertake a career change
and redeploy their skills in the classroom. NIKI KOULOURIS reports.

Former policeman Robert Glanowski now teaches information technology to schoolkids in regional Victoria. Photo: Sharon Walker

The only two options back
then were to be a mechanic
or a secretary.
At a time when more and more Australians are
‘downshifting’ or seeking a ‘sea change’, a group
of professionals are also making considerable ‘life
changes’ by retraining and moving into regional
Victoria to become teachers.
Several musicians, a mechanic, an accountant, an
opal miner, a football coach and a policeman are
among 28 Victorians being trained at Victoria
University as part of a new $1.3 million State
Government teacher training course that will bring
valuable experiences and skills to the classroom.
Known as the Career Change Program, the course
began with an intensive two-and-a-half week summer
school at Footscray Park Campus in January before
the much needed new teachers headed off to
schools around Victoria, including Mildura, Orbost,
Corryong, Cobden, Horsham, Orbost, Swan Hill,
Murrayville and Wangaratta.
For Robert Glanowski, joining the program meant
more than making a big move from the city to
Rainbow in northwestern Victoria, 340 km away.
It also meant making what some would see as a
huge career transition. The information technology
teacher’s former occupation was a talking point on
local radio when he arrived.
“It was also mentioned at the assembly at the
beginning of the year,” says Robert, who used to
work as a general patrol officer in the police force.
And how did the kids react when they met the
former policeman?
“They had some questions but they took it in their
stride,” says Robert, adding that he does not think
that having been on the beat has made him any
tougher on his classes than other teachers. He was
happy to switch to teaching because he says he is
now more connected to young people, as opposed
to just dealing with individual police incidents.
“Police work was rewarding,” he says. “I was
young and had lots of energy.”
Having been on the beat
has not made him any
tougher on his charges.
Kym Woolley worked in open cut mines before becoming a teacher.
Photo: Jessica Garreffa
During his police career, Robert experienced the gamut
of police duties, including car chases, breaking up
fights and catching burglars. “Nowadays I gain a
lot of satisfaction in teaching. I’m quite happy to
have input into a young person’s life. It is satisfying
to be catering to the next generation.” He gets a
lot out of “seeing where kids’ skills lie and helping
them decide where to go in the future”.
Fellow trainee Kym Woolley is looking forward to
catching up with Robert and their student colleagues
for another burst of teaching theory in Melbourne.
She is keen to compare notes on “what has worked,
and what has not”. She has similar feelings as
Robert about watching kids learn.
Years ago, she did a TAFE apprenticeship in
mechanical engineering at Karratha College in
Western Australia. Kym says the only two options
for her back then were to be a mechanic or a
secretary. “I did not want to be a secretary so I
went the other way,” she laughs.
But after working in open-cut mines in the Pilbara –
on anything from cars to huge rubble crushing plants
– she decided to return to study. “I saw the ad in
the paper and that was it,” says Kym, who now
teaches mechanical engineering to Year 9, 10 and
11 students at Robinvale Secondary College on
the Murray River between Mildura and Swan Hill.
All 110 of her pupils are boys, and although she
would like to see more girls in her classes, Kim
does not mind the boys – who don’t mind her
either despite having been inquisitive at first.
“When I first started they said, ‘How come you
know about this miss?’”
Further east along the Murray, near Wodonga,
Diah Krishnayanti-Grant (Yanti) teaches the kids at
Tallangatta Secondary College to speak Indonesian.
“As a native speaker I like to pass on my knowledge,”
says Yanti. Originally from West Java, Yanti trained
as a lawyer and came to Australia in the late eighties.
She now calls Wodonga home. “I’ve always lived
in the country because my husband was born and
grew up in Wodonga.” Her husband was an
exchange student in Jakarta when they met.
29
Originally from West Java, Diah Krishnayanti-Grant now teaches
Indonesian at a school near Wodonga.
Photo: Heath Missen/The Border Mail
Before secondary school teaching, Yanti worked
as a waitress, a translator, and taught Indonesian
language and culture in a community education
centre. “I wanted to do the course to get the
qualifications,” she says.
She likes the challenge of teaching secondary
school students, especially Year 8 and 9, and
says the Victoria University course has helped her
enormously with class management.
According to Victoria University teaching supervisor
Rodney Moore, Yanti “has warmth and energy and
really engages kids”. He remembers one of her
lessons when she brought in some traditional
Indonesian clothing for her students to wear.
“They had fun parading about in it while they
were learning the vocabulary,” says Rodney.
Six am starts are part of the job when Rodney
Moore goes on the road to supervise his student
teachers. A former English teacher, the lecturer
gives the student teachers advice, and discusses
their progress and the issues they are facing.
“Even the school students don’t mind dropping a
word in my ear now and then,” he quips.
According to Rodney, the career change teachers
have a huge range of experience between them
and are very knowledgeable in their fields. “They
are more likely to treat their students as individuals
rather than treat them en masse as kids. It’s important
because relationships are at the heart of it.”
Relationships are so important that the teacher
trainees thrive on being mentored by more
experienced teachers at the school where
they teach. “Having someone in the school to
support them is a key element,” says Rodney.
As part of the program, the teacher mentors travel
to Melbourne for a two-day training session.
A feature of the new course is that most of the students
will graduate with both Vocational Education and
Training (VET) qualifications and a Diploma of
Education. “Some students required TAFE and higher
education qualifications, so we set up an integrated
program with TAFE,” says Brenda Cherednichenko,
head of the School of Education. “Now we can
offer VET as another string in our Bachelor of
Education and Diploma of Education courses.”
30 OPINION
There is no time to
be lost in moving
to the ‘zero bed’
ageing society.
Professor John McCallum. Photo: Brett Kiteley
MORE WORK
AND LESS BEDS FOR AGEING
BABY BOOMERS
PROFESSOR JOHN MCCALLUM offers a personal view on the
future retirement age and nursing care needs of our ageing
baby boomer population.
Baby boomers have looked at a future with more aged care
beds and decided, ‘It isn’t us’. It surely follows that Australia shouldn’t
be planning for more aged care beds in hospitals and nursing
homes but for how to provide less. Older Australians already want
more than ‘custodial’ residential care. They resist admission to
nursing homes – and baby boomers will resist even more strongly.
Baby boomers – born in the post-World War 2 years – are used to
getting what they want and shaping a future that fits them. They want
choice, flexibility, stimulation and above all, control. They won’t
want to be put away in hospitals or nursing homes.
I define a future with the least number of custodial beds possible
as the ‘zero bed’ ageing society. Australia’s first ‘zero bed’ policy
target should be to only place 5 per cent of people 85 years and
older in residential care. We are currently at about 25 per cent,
five times more than the benchmark of 5 per cent in Denmark.
Five per cent is achievable because Denmark has already done
it. By the time we get there, best practice is sure to be lower. So
although the number of older Australians is growing, they don’t
need to occupy publicly funded beds at the same rate as they
have in the past.
A ‘zero bed’ option will require an expansion in community care
– not necessarily all from the public sector – and significant changes
in local government and the community. New housing options using
new domestic technologies and innovative approaches to services
will need to be developed and marketed.
Baby boomers want more flexible options than currently available
in residential care, namely high-quality community-delivered care,
and community-based expert care for chronic illnesses. Chronic
disease management is now the norm rather than the exception
for health services. Chronic care health experts have to be based
outside hospitals, with their major focus not being their hospital but
the people they serve in their homes and communities. In chronic
care it is the patient who is the care manager not the doctor.
The obvious political barrier is that beds have become the currency
of political debate about nursing homes and hospitals. No political
campaign seems able to proceed without a focus on more beds, with
community-delivered care as the residual option. Remember
‘Medicare Gold’? At the moment chronic care and community
care are the ‘hand-me-downs’, the ‘leftovers’ after acute care in
hospitals and long-term residential care have taken the dollars.
For change to happen, we’re going to need radical reform of our
health care system – a shift in focus and expenditure from beds and
hospital-based technology to new community-delivered services.
With the impending ageing of large numbers of baby boomers
there is no time to be lost in moving to the ‘zero bed’ ageing society.
A more controversial question is whether baby boomers want to
retire at an older age as the Federal Government is proposing.
The prime minister has made a commitment to increase the work
participation of older workers aged 55 to 64 years by 10 to 15
per cent (The Age, 30 July 2002). The current participation rate is
around 49 per cent, and the prime minister has proposed a target
of 59 to 63 per cent to match international levels.
The growth of people aged 15 to 64 years – currently the ‘desir-
able’ employees in the Australian workforce – will slump to zero
in 20 years. The working age population has been growing by
about 170,000 a year. Current demographic trends will see the
working age population grow by just 125,000 during the
2020s – over the whole decade, not per annum.
This represents a major challenge to the assumptions and practices of
the Australian society and economy – and universities. Employers
must think about ‘new tricks’ for older workers. The shift from manual
work in industrialised economies towards work in knowledge-based
industries means that workers have more opportunities to continue
employment in less physically demanding jobs. Mature-age work-
ers can advise, consult and manage rather than be involved in
direct labour. And technological support and work practices,
such as ‘no lift’ procedures, can be employed to a greater extent
where mature-age workers continue to work in direct labour.
But it will require a change in employer attitudes. As the nature of
work changes and there is increased pressure on all workers to
perform a range of multi-disciplinary tasks, training will become
very important. Some employers believe that older workers have
more difficulty learning, particularly technological skills, but there
is no evidence to support this.
There are some signs of change. Centrelink has employed a
71- year-old advisor and changes are evident in multinational
corporations after major crises – German media giant Bertelsmann
replaced its CEO with a 60 year old, and French media company
Vivendi replaced its CEO with a 63 year old. Westpac is looking
to realign its workforce to match the demographic profile of its customer
base and the labour market – half of its customers are aged 46
years and over but only two percent of its staff is over 56.
While Australia struggles with the older worker issue, our Pacific
neighbour Japan has maintained high levels of work participation
by older workers. Japanese participation rates are approximately
double those for Australians aged 60 to 64 years, treble for
those aged 65 to 69, and even higher for those aged 70 years
and over. These should be our future targets.
The focus needs to be on the ‘work ability’ of older workers,
namely ‘the result of the interaction between individual resources
and work’, as developed in Finland. Individual resources include
health, functional capacity, education and various kinds of work
know-how. The important message is that good resources do not
transform into good ‘work ability’ unless the content of the work,
the work community and the work environment provide the proper
conditions for the older worker.
But the question remains open whether baby boomers will
reverse the later-life work patterns of their parents, as I expect
them to do in aged care.
Professor John McCallum is Victoria University’s Deputy
Vice-Chancellor (Education Programs). He takes a personal
interest in epidemiology.
 VU BOOKS 31

VU FACTS NEW BOOKS

HISTORY
Founded in 1916 as Footscray
Institute of Technology and
established as Victoria University
in 1990.
CAMPUSES AND SITES
City Flinders
City King
City Queen (site)
City South Melbourne
Echuca (site)
Footscray Nicholson
Footscray Park
Newport
Melton
Australian Sport: Better By The Littlest Pirate and Case Studies in Tourism
St Albans Design? The Evolution of the Hammerheads & Hospitality Marketing
Sunbury Australian Sport Policy
Sunshine
BY BOB STEWART, MATTHEW BY SHERRYL CLARK BY ROB HARRIS, LEO JAGO AND BRIAN KING
Werribee NICHOLSON, AARON SMITH
PUBLISHED BY PENGUIN BOOKS PUBLISHED BY PEARSON EDUCATION
FACULTIES AND HANS WESTERBEEK
AUSTRALIA
Faculty of Arts and Human Development PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE, LONDON The Littlest Pirate returns to fight again.
This time, the dastardly Captain This book explores marketing theories,
Faculty of Business and Law
This book focuses on sport policy and Hammerhead has stolen Nicholas concepts and strategies within a
Faculty of Health and Engineering examines the ways in which government localised Australian context, giving
Nosh’s family treasure and sailed off
TAFE SCHOOLS has impacted on the development of in his ship, The Deadly Denture. students the opportunity to compare and
Business, Hospitality and Australian sport since 1919. The text Nicholas must round up a crew and contrast marketing practices between
Personal Services identifies the political, economic and chase him. As usual, his trusty first different organisations. Case studies
cultural context in which policies were mate, Gretta the Cook, accompanies help students to master the principles
Human Services, Science
set, and examines critical policy shifts. him. Nicholas has to use all his and practices of tourism and hospitality
and Technology
Australian Sport: Better By Design? cleverness as well as the contents marketing, and each case concludes
Further Education, Arts provides a unique blend of theory, of the ship’s larder to vanquish with questions. Lists of academic journals,
and Employment Services history and practice, and is an Hammerhead and his sharks. Clark’s websites and annual reports, and a
Engineering, Construction essential foundation for sport book, Farm Kid, won a 2005 NSW substantial bibliography give students
and Industrial Skills policy analysis. Premier’s Literary Award. a starting point for further research.

AFFILIATIONS
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of Music
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STUDENT POPULATION
Current student population:
more than 47,000
Onshore international students:
approximately 4000
Offshore international students:
approximately 4500 Healing: The History, A Unique Endeavour: Marketing
Postgraduate students: Philosophy and Practice A History of the Western Insights
more than 5600 of Natural Medicine Region Health Centre
GENERAL ENQUIRIES
PHONE: +61 3 9919 4000 BY PETER SHERWOOD BY FELICITY BARTAK AND PHILLIP DEERY BY JEFFREY KIDD, SHAMEEM ALI
AND JOHN HALL
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHED BY THE AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE PUBLISHED BY THE WESTERN REGION
STUDENT ENQUIRIES OF NATURAL MEDICINE HEALTH CENTRE PUBLISHED BY PEARSON EDUCATION
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This groundbreaking book explains The Western Region Health Centre was
why natural medicine has always established 40 years ago as a unique This book was written for students
EMAIL: international@vu.edu.au
been the most used medical treatment experiment in the provision of community undertaking the first-year subject,
COURSE INFORMATION throughout the world. It traces the health. It challenged existing Introduction to Marketing. It provides
Centre for Commencing Students breadth of natural medicine from preconceptions about how health care notes and summaries of the textbooks
PHONE: +61 3 9919 4110 pre-history to the present and explains should operate, removed the distinction they are using, together with multiple
EMAIL: ccs@vu.edu.au why the use of natural medicine between curative and preventative choice and true/false questions, case
increased in the 20th Century, medicine, and by-passed the traditional studies, internet sites and sample
POSTAL ADDRESS
Victoria University of Technology particularly since the 1960s in the medical establishment. This book traces exam questions. It will be handy
PO Box 14428 West, and why it is used today by the Centre’s origins, idealism, industrial for lecturers and tutors to ensure
Melbourne VIC 8001 80 per cent of the world’s population. unrest, financial difficulties and ultimate that all students are receiving similar
Dr Sherwood is founder of the emergence into today’s multi-faceted instruction, and is particularly useful
WEB Australian College of Natural Medicine. provider of community health. for sessional staff.
www.vu.edu.au
32 VU ART WWW.VU.EDU.AU

ARTIST/STUDENT: Nic Carman

COURSE: Diploma of Arts (Visual Art)
DATE: 2005
TITLE: Sunshine
MEDIA: Photocopies of a stencilled spray-painted image