WWW.VU.EDU.AU VICTORIA UNIVERSITYCONNECTIONSISSUE 3/JULY 2005

TIMOR-LESTE:

RISINGFROM THEASHES?

TAKING THE LAW TO VIENNALITERACY IN THE OUTBACK

OUR AGEING BABY BOOMERSHOLLYWOOD DOWN-UNDER

2 CONTENTS

CONTENTSISSUETHREE

20 MENOPAUSE AND THE SEARCH FOR RESILIENCERESEARCHTwo-and-a-half million Australianwomen are now in menopause.Two researchers want to knowwhy one-fifth of these womenwill breeze through this often‘difficult’ stage of life.

21 RESEARCH TAKESON THE LOCAL AND GLOBALRESEARCHTwo new Victoria Universityresearch institutes are part of anew initiative to increase theUniversity’s research performancein sustainable developmentand community engagement.

22 LEARN WHILE YOU WORKWORKPLACE LEARNINGVictoria University is makingworkplace learning a featureof all its courses. Four currentand former students tell whyworkplace learning workedfor them.

24 SWIRLERS GO OUTBACK TEACHINGLITERACYCOMMUNITY BUILDINGA program developed to providetrainee teachers with experienceworking with Aboriginal studentshas led to Central Australiancommunities gaining some oftheir best teacher recruits.

4 VC WELCOME

The Vice-Chancellor writesthat flare and drive is whatdefines our modern Universityas it adopts a new brand tofurther distinguish its positionin a highly competitive sector.

4 IN BRIEF

A visit by Tibetan monks, amajor national energy award,a visit by Dr Brendan Nelsonand a new digital art galleryare among the ‘in brief’ stories in this issue.

8 NATION BUILDINGTIMOR-LESTECOMMUNITY BUILDINGVictoria University continues to play a key role in therebuilding of East Timor.Abject poverty, an unskilledworkforce and an infrastructurelargely in tatters, means muchwork remains.

12 BEING SMART WITH WATERRESEARCHWater has become a national obsession. Sustaining adequate supplies has become a major challenge around the world. Victoria Universityis finding solutions.

12 168

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

PUBLISHER

Marketing and Communications Dept.Victoria University, Australia

MANAGING EDITOR

Phil Kofoed

STAFF WRITERS

Brett QuineClare Boyd-MacraeNiki Koulouris

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Jim Buckell, Paul MitchellGlen 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

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES

Phil KofoedMarketing and Communications Dept.Victoria University

PO Box 14428Melbourne VIC 8001 AustraliaPHONE: +61 3 9919 4956EMAIL: publications@vu.edu.au

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Brett Kiteley of Stroke p/l

COVER PHOTO

A school in Atebae, East Timor,destroyed by militia.PHOTO BY Ross Bird 1999

© Victoria University of Technologywww.vu.edu.au

CRICOS Provider No: 00124K

3

28 NEW CAREERS IN RURAL CLASSROOMSEDUCATIONA new $1.3 million StateGovernment teacher trainingprogram is encouraging professionals to changecareers and redeploy theirskills in rural classrooms.

30 MORE WORK ANDLESS BEDS FORBABY BOOMERSOPINION‘Aged issues’ expert, ProfessorJohn McCallum offers a personal view on the futureretirement age and nursingcare needs of our ageingbaby boomer population.

31 NEW BOOKS BYVU AUTHORSVU BOOKSThe history of naturalmedicine; case studies inAustralian tourism, hospitalityand marketing; and the evolutionof Australian sport policy aresome of the new books byVictoria University authors.

32 VU ART

ARTIST/STUDENT: Nic CarmanCOURSE: Diploma of Arts (Visual Art)DATE: 2005TITLE: SunshineMEDIA: Photocopies of a stencilled spray-painted image

14 BRINGINGHOLLYWOOD DOWN-UNDERRECREATION STUDIESGraduate David Pratt represents the Aussie entertainment industry inHollywood and negotiateswith producers to shoot their films in Australia.

15 TAKING THE LAWTO VIENNALAWThe School of Law continuesto build on its internationalreputation as four law students travel to Vienna tocompete in an internationalmooting competition.

16 TAKING THE GRITOUT OF PLUMBINGAPPRENTICESHIPSPlumbing training takes onnew meaning as apprenticesundertake ‘real-life’ training ina building that won a majorarchitectural award for itsopen-plan of interlinked zones.

18 SHOWING MUSCLE IN A WORLD OF SPORTSPORT AND FITNESSVictoria University’s new Aquaticand Fitness Centre has becomehome to elite athletes andsports teams. Offering an arrayof fitness programs, it had70,000 visitors in its first year.

VICTORIA UNIVERSITYCONNECTIONS

18 22 24

Photo: Sharon Walker Photo: Sharon Walker Photo: Lawry Mahon

4 VC WELCOME IN BRIEF

Award-winning author Arnold Zable.Photo: Sharon Jones

After some 18 months as Vice-Chancellor of VictoriaUniversity, it has been, and continues to be, a challengingand exhilarating journey.

The flair and drive of our people is what defines and distinguishes our modern University, ever building on an already recognised platform of open dialogue andengagement with the wider community.

This is exactly what Connections celebrates as it recordsmany of the latest outstanding achievements of our studentsand staff. As national changes sweep through tertiaryeducation, I believe we are well positioned to face anychallenge, with many recent initiatives such as our Staffand Leadership Forums aligned with our 2004–2008Strategic Plan.

Connections readers will notice a new format and feel inthis issue. This reflects our fantastic new University branding– bold, direct and street smart – now being adopted tofurther distinguish our position as a ‘New School ofThought’ 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-flyersin promoting the Australian film industry, and a feature onVictoria University's long-standing support of the people ofTimor-Leste and its assistance in the nation building of thatnew country.

While Victoria University has a strong community buildingrecord in the international arena, it also focuses on ourhome front. This is exemplified by a program where student teachers educate Aboriginal children in remoteNorthern Territory communities, which is also featured inthis issue. Our ‘aged issues’ expert, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor John McCallum, also offers a personal view on the future retirement age and nursingcare needs of our ageing baby boomer population.

Reading this issue, you will see that Victoria Universityis continuing to connect, excite and explore. Enjoy!

Professor Elizabeth HarmanVice-Chancellor and PresidentJune 2005

DEFINED BYFLAIR ANDDRIVE

Photo: Sharon Walker

BRINGINGTALES TO THE

WESTWriter Arnold Zable has been appointed asVictoria University’s inaugural writer-in-residence.Zable will be working with graduate and postgraduate students studying professionalwriting, 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 in Melbourne’s west,” says Dr Bronwyn Cranfrom the School of Communication, Cultureand Languages.

“His appointment is a wonderful opportunityfor the students in our creative writing programand for writers in Melbourne’s western suburbsto learn from one of the most inspiring writersand teachers of creative writing in Australiatoday. He has a great commitment to nurturingthe unheard voices of writers in communitiesthroughout Victoria.”

Zable is an award-winning author whosebooks include, Wanderers and Dreamers, ahistory of Yiddish theatre in Australia, andJewels and Ashes, a moving account of hisown family’s history, including his journey toPoland to trace his ancestors. His more recentbooks include, Cafe Scheherazade, The FigTree and Scraps of Heaven.

5IN BRIEF

AWARD FOR FUNCTIONAND STYLEThe delicate heritage restoration and refurbishmentof the historic former Records Office in Melbourne’sQueen Street has won the Royal Australian Instituteof Architects’ 2004 Institutional Architecture Award.

The Records Office is home to Victoria University’slaw teaching facilities, which include the Law School,the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Continuing LegalEducation and the Legal Services and JusticeAdministration Research Unit.

The former Records Office was built during 1900–04to house records of births, deaths and marriages,as well as legal records and wills. The premisesboasts marble staircases, chandeliers and intricategilt paintwork. Refurbishments included two mootcourts, a law library, computer laboratories, lecturetheatres and seminar rooms.

The architectural challenge was to introduce functionality, yet preserve enough heritage characterso that subsequent generations could relate to howthe building was originally constructed.

“The architects have come up with a way to [provide]additional space for us in a modern idiom, but onethat doesn’t detract from the French second empire-style building,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor(Management Services) Professor Michael Hamerston.

Officially opened in August 2003, the building andrefurbishment cost $11.25 million.

MEDAL FOR PARAMEDICEDUCATORIntensive care paramedic and senior lecturer,Tony Walker received an Australia DayAmbulance Service Medal for ‘Outstanding service and contributions to the Victorian and Australian ambulance industry’ earlier this year. Tony is also Manager Operations – Clinical and Education Services for RuralAmbulance Victoria.

Tony has been with the ambulance service,both metropolitan and rural, for 19 years andhas been an intensive care paramedic for the last 12 years. He says one of his most satisfying contributions has been the establishment of the new community FirstResponder Program, where local teams of volunteers are trained to provide first aid andstabilise a patient until an ambulance arrives.

“This is especially important in isolated ruralareas,” says Tony. “The program has been goingfor four years and we had twenty-two new teamsaround Victoria at the end of June 2005.”

Victoria University is the first university in the state and the second in the country to offer pre-employment paramedic courses. Tony’s rolehas involved teaching, curriculum developmentand building strategic relationships with ambulance services and other stakeholders.

Loy Lichtman with one of his own art installations at the newvuspace gallery. Photo: Maurice Grant-Drew

Professor Michael Hamerston shows off the Institutional Architecture Awardplaque with architect Peter Elliott at the Queen Street site. Photo: Sharon Walker

Tony Walker, winner of an Australia Day Ambulance Service Medal.Photo: Sharon Walker

OPENINGUP A NEWVUSPACEA new art gallery with blinding white walls,a polished concrete floor, loads of naturallight 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 asmall handful of digital galleries in Australia.

vuspace is essentially a research space that explores digital visual art and the intersection between analogue and digitalvisual 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’sComputer Mediated Art program, whichwas the first visual art program in Australiato 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 overseasartists, including Christine Gates (Melbourne),Kurt Brereton (Sydney), Tim Plaisted andMatt Fletcher (Brisbane) and a number ofNew York artists.

All past exhibitions are archived and can be viewed by visitors.

6 IN BRIEF

MIXING ITWITH THE

BESTVictoria University academics Professor PhillipDeery and Lily Wong were both finalists atthe prestigious 2004 Australian Awards forUniversity Teaching, presented at ParliamentHouse in Canberra late last year.

Professor Deery, co-ordinator of history sincehe started at Victoria University in 1991, isa renowned authority on the Cold War. Hewas one of three finalists in the ‘Humanitiesand the Arts’ category. Lily Wong, lecturer in accounting and finance, was one of fivefinalists in the ‘Economics, Business, Lawand Related Studies’ category.

Professor Deery says he felt “humbled butimmensely chuffed” about being a finalist.“The unacknowledged contributors to thisachievement were the students whom Itaught,” he says.

Lily Wong is famous among her students forbeing able to make accounting entertaining.Her involvement with the University beganas a student. “Victoria University has givenme my education and my career,” she says.“Many students here are like myself, frommigrant families – but have a great willingness to learn. The University tries toprovide equal access to a quality education.”

MONKSMAKETH AMANDALAA spiritual event at Victoria University’s St Albans Campus in March captured goodhealth vibes for the local community. SevenTibetan monks on a world tour spent fivedays creating a spectacular multi-colouredsand mandala, believed capable of drawinghealing 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 blessingfor the environment and the people in thatenvironment,” said lecturer Frank Perri,course co-ordinator of the clinical dermaltherapies program.

Greater appreciation of alternative healthsciences, and diverse religious, cultural andenvironmental beliefs flowed from the monks’visit, which was sponsored by the School ofHealth Sciences.

The monks are also raising money to build a $600,000 traditional hospital in Tibet asthey tour and share their distinctive culturalcharacteristics with people in Australia.

Tibetan Buddhist monks creating a mandala at St Albans Campus.Photo: Sharon Walker

2004 Australian Awards for University Teaching finalists, Professor Phillip Deery and Lily Wong.

Dr Brian Young from the Australian Institute of Energypresents Amanullah Oo with his award.

Photo: Sharon Jones

TROPHY FORPOWERPROJECTPhD student Amanullah Maung Than Oo won the Best General Energy Project Category at the third Biennial Postgraduate Student EnergyAwards. The Awards are presented by theMelbourne Branch of the Australian Institute ofEnergy (AIE) and celebrate excellence in scienceand engineering. Twenty-one students from sixAustralian universities competed.

Amanullah’s research is looking at ways to improve the monitoring of electrical power systems, with the aim of developing an efficientpower system communication infrastructure.

“The rapid development in information technologyis pushing the power system information managementnetwork to a remarkable innovation state,” saysAmanullah. “A wide area network will enablepower systems to share system information morebroadly and effectively.”

The power industry is so impressed with Amanullah’sresearch that SPI PowerNet – a Victorian highvoltage transmission company – is providing allthe facilities and equipment he requires to furtherhis 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 ofHealth, Science and Engineering.

7IN BRIEF

GRASSLANDSGOING TO

SEEDA call for a community-planting day to helpprotect one of the world’s most endangeredecosystems – the western plains grasslands –was met with enthusiasm one Sunday inApril. Only two per cent of Victoria’s nativegrasslands remain – mostly as remnantsbeside 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 nativegrassland and home to other indigenousplants as well as the endangered striped legless lizard. The Iramoo Sustainable LivingPrecinct at the Campus has been workingtowards the restoration of this area.

Iramoo’s Community Sustainability Officer,Carolynne Venn, said members of the community planted hundreds of nativeseedlings. 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 thearea,” Ms Venn said. “The planting day wasa great opportunity to draw on our communityconnections for support and awareness.”

CHAMPSGET THE FULL

BLUEFourteen Victoria University students wererewarded for their outstanding sportingachievements with ‘Full Blue’ awards at the2004 Victoria University Sport Awards held at City Flinders Campus in late 2004.Awards were also presented recognisingOutstanding Service, Team of the Year, SportClub of the Year, and Male and FemaleAthlete of the Year.

The ‘Blues’ are awarded to students who have represented Australia at OlympicGames, Commonwealth Games, ParalympicGames, World Student Games andChampionships or who have represented the University at regional and national university championships.

2004 also saw one of Australia’s most decorated judo competitors, Olympian andformer multiple Australian judo championRebecca Sullivan, become the third inducteeinto the Victoria University Sporting Hall ofFame, as well as receiving a ‘Full Blue’.Previous inductees are basketball legendAndrew Gaze (2002) and Olympic rowerMike McKay (2003).

Men’s soccer, comprising students from eightVictoria University campuses, took out thehighly anticipated Team of the Year award.

TOTeM House student, Melissa, with Dr Brendan Nelson during his visit last December. Photo: Sharon Jones

The local community is helping to protect the native grasslandsthat surround St Albans Campus. Photo: Warrick Atwood

Judo champion Rebecca Sullivan, the third inductee into VictoriaUniversity’s Sporting Hall of Fame. Photo: Lucas Dawson

DR NELSONVISITSTOTEMThe Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson, joined Victoria University’s Partnership OutreachEducation Model (POEM) students at their end of semester celebration last December.

The POEM Project is aimed at young men andwomen 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 intostudy. 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 VictoriaUniversity 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 outcomesachieved. POEM is funded by the FederalDepartment of Education, Science and Training.

8

9COMMUNITY BUILDING

In the early 1990s Victoria University made pivotalmoves to organise a fledgling neighbour nation’s mostprecious resource – its intellectual infrastructure – beforethat country had even won independence. TheUniversity’s efforts were unique and largely unheralded.

While those efforts were at first down-played for the sake of diplomacy, in 1998 the University tookits first tentative steps in official recognition of EastTimor, since renamed Timor-Leste. Within a fewmonths, the University had reversed the acceptednorms of diplomatic recognition.

It started to co-host seminars with the Australia-EastTimor Association that year, while the University’sCentre for Asia-Pacific Studies provided resources todelve into development issues. By the end of 1998,Victoria University had become a formal partner ofthe East Timor resistance, Concelho NacionalResistance Timorense – the Council of NationalResistance for Timorese (CNRT).

The association was no accident; a select butstrong contingent of the University’s socially astuteacademics 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 formerUniversity Council member the Hon. Jean McLean –now special advisor to the Vice-Chancellor onTimor-Leste – and fellow social justice activist and lecturer Dr Helen Hill. Both were recently paid glowing tributes as “veteran supporters” byTimor-Leste’s Consul-General, Mr Abel Guterres.

McLean says the significance of the University’s official recognition of East Timor in 1998 could notbe understated. “It was very important,” she says.“It really showed that Victoria University was more

than an institution just teaching overseas students toraise its finances – the University was more aboutassisting people from countries in great need. Andwhen we requested an office for the CNRT the next year, it was granted and that was before agovernment had even been formed – it was a boldmove for the University back then.”

Today, the links between Victoria University andTimor-Leste are stronger than ever. But with abjectpoverty, a birth mortality rate of eight per cent, alargely 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 theAustralian Government’s foreign aid body, AusAID,at City Flinders Campus. It featured a keynoteaddress 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 VictoriaUniversity in 1998, CNRT representative and NobelPrize winner Dr Jose Ramos Horta suggested theUniversity co-host an international seminar on EastTimor Strategic Development Planning. The seminartook place in April 1999, co-ordinated by thenmasters student, Joao Cancio Freitas. The seminarsaw Timorese intellectuals write many policy paperslater adopted by the Timor-Leste Government following independence.

Six months later, former resistance leader XananaGusmao – who was later elected the first president ofTimor-Leste – visited Victoria University. A fundraisingdinner staged in his honour saw the formation ofthe Victoria University–East Timor Working Group.It was less than two months after the East Timorese hadoverwhelmingly voted for independence in a UnitedNations supervised popular referendum.

Working group members, including McLean, Hilland senior lecturers Jeannie Rea and Dr RichardChauvel asked former Vice-Chancellor JarlathRonayne for an office to accommodate the CNRT

NATIONBUILDINGTIMOR-LESTEBRETT QUINE

The significance of theUniversity’s official recognitionof East Timor in 1998 could not be understated.

All East Timor location photos by Ross Bird

10 COMMUNITY BUILDING

at the City Flinders Campus for the post-referendum‘emergency’ period of militia attacks. The office wasopened by Xanana Gusmao in May 2000, staffedby Abel Guterres.

The University had achieved what was most likely anunprecedented diplomatic oddity. It had establisheda de facto consular office two years before thecountry itself formally existed – before the officialMelbourne consulate, before the Sydney consulateand long before the Canberra embassy.

“It would have been difficult for us to operate withoutthat office,” says Guterres. “We needed the spaceand it was very well timed. It lent great credibilityto Victoria University, which as an institution was firstto recognise East Timor – in Victoria at least.”

When independence was finally declared on 20 May 2002, the CNRT office was relaunched asthe Consulate of Timor-Leste the following day. Long-time East Timor activist Kevin Bailey was immediatelyinstalled as the Honorary Consul. Bailey, a formerSAS soldier, is managing director and founder ofThe Money Managers – recognised as leaders inthe financial planning industry.

“Literally the morning after independence, theDepartment of Foreign Affairs issued the licence to practice,” Bailey recalls. “It was effectively thefirst international Consulate of East Timor anywherein the world.”

Bailey was inspired to support the East Timorese inNovember 1991 when he saw television reports of270 young people in a funeral procession killed bymilitia – subsequently known as the Dili or SantaCruz massacre.

Victoria University’s early support of the CNRT in 1998could easily have seen it fall out of favour with theAustralian Government. “There was a real risk inwhat they were doing,” says Bailey. He says theUniversity had to walk “a very fine line” becausethey were also very supportive of Indonesian students enrolled at the University.

“It wasn’t the Indonesian people the University wasconcerned about, it was the Indonesian militaryand the oppression,” says Bailey. “The militarywere oppressing their own people in 1998 – therewere riots leading up to when Suharto fell.

“And yet Victoria University had the courage tostand up and be counted, instead of taking thepolitically correct stance of, ‘Oh well, we won’tstep on anyone’s toes’. I think that is something theyshould be commended on. The Chancellor, JusticeFrank Vincent was very much about social justiceand was very involved. All these people took it onthemselves to get involved. I suppose it’s becausethe University’s roots are in the western suburbs and they can identify with social disadvantage.”

Xanana Gusmao has formed a strong bond withVictoria University academics and was conferred

11

an Honorary Doctorate from the University in April2003. Dr Ramos Horta was honoured as aDistinguished Visiting Professor in 2001. Joao CancioFreitas returned to East Timor with a PhD and becameexecutive director of the new Dili Institute ofTechnology. A number of other East Timorese graduatesof Victoria University also work in Timor-Leste.

Community development student Chloe Beatonformed the Victoria University Students for EastTimor (VUSET) after her visit to East Timor in 1999.“VUSET was active in raising awareness about issuesin East Timor on the campuses and fundraising forthe CNRT,” says Hill, who spent her Outside StudyProgram in East Timor in 2000 as the East Timor’sNational Research Centre’s first InternationalFellow. “They held meetings at Puckapunyal withthe Timorese students who had been evacuated toMelbourne following militia violence.”

Many Timorese students at Victoria University arefinanced by scholarships from AusAID and under-take community development courses. They includeBachelor of Arts Community Development graduateNivio Magalhães, who returned to Timor-Leste toteach at the National University, and JustinoGuterres, now Tertiary Education Director in Dili.

In August 2002, TAFE sector representativesRichard Carter – now Deputy Vice-Chancellor(Education Services) – and Brian Fairman visitedTimor-Leste and facilitated a Memorandum ofUnderstanding between Victoria University and the

Dili Institute of Technology. The partnership assistedthe institute with renovations, computers and jointapplications for training contracts in East Timor.

State and Federal Government steps towardgreater economic autonomy for the young nationhave increasingly vindicated Victoria University’searly support for an independent East Timor.

In early 2004, the Victorian Government agreed to fund Annie Keogh as an employee of VictoriaUniversity based at Dili Institute of Technology. As a vocational education and training adviser, one of her primary goals is to work toward establishingTAFE modules at the institute. Her contract wasrecently extended to June 2006.

In April this year, Australia’s Foreign Affairs ministerAlexander Downer touted more generous concessionsfor Timor-Leste in negotiations over oil and gasrights, while the Bracks Government funded the firstofficial office manager, a full-time position, for theTimor-Leste Consulate at City Flinders Campus.

In April 2004, Jean McLean and Brian Fairman visited Dili Institute of Technology and held meetingswith DIT president Kirsty Gusmao and ForeignAffairs Minister, Dr Ramos Horta to discuss economyand skills development in Timor-Leste. Further plans for education development are currentlybeing discussed with Timor-Leste’s NationalUniversity as part of Victoria University’s ongoingcommitment to the development of the new nation.

The University’s roots are in the western suburbs and they can identify with social disadvantage.

PAGE 8: Symbolic of the hopeful future of the East Timorese, two girls play on the outskirts of Dili eightmonths 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 dismantledand 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-Lesteconsulate office at City Flinders Campus. Photo by Brett Quine.

12 RESEARCH – SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION

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

13

BRETT QUINE

Water has become a national obsession. Being ableto sustain adequate supplies has become a majorchallenge. Eco-awareness has driven the publicand governments to find real solutions.

Victoria University has had a dedicated team ofscientists immersed in water desalination and watermanagement research for many years. The Universitycurrently has at least seven projects, schemes or initiatives that aim to better use or reuse water.

Associate Professor Graham Thorpe from the Schoolof Architecture, and Civil and MechanicalEngineering has developed a hydrocooler – aportable 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 coolingunits from 40,000 litres per tonne of produce tojust five litres per tonne. The unit was designed in ajoint venture with the Christou Group, a Werribee-based market garden business.

Victoria University researchers have also been inpursuit of an industry Holy Grail they believe iswithin their grasp – recycled sewage, commonlyaccepted as suitable for farm irrigation.

A water research forum, hosted by Victoria University’snew Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI) inFebruary, heard experts from Israel, France and theUS explain how they were working in partnershipwith Victoria University to better reclaim both sewageand salt water at the Western Treatment Plant atWerribee. They spoke of recycled water for domesticuse as inevitable.

The ISI was launched in July last year with a keyagenda to achieve sustainable water use and reuse.Institute director Professor John Cary says theInstitute has two water-related projects running atthe Western Treatment Plant. The first addresseshow to reduce salt in water from sewage to make

it more favourable to horticulture, and the secondinvolves sewer ‘mining’, where valuable componentsof effluent are removed from sewage at the sitewhere the treated waste water is reused.

The research is being developed in conjunctionwith the University of NSW. Victoria Universityresearcher Dr Simon Wilson says several significanttechnology challenges remain, including disposalof the reject (concentrate) stream and energy costs.But he says the research will provide new opportunitiesfor water reclamation from treated waste water andimproved desalination of sea water.

The two projects are being developed with theassistance of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology,famed for making deserts bloom and transformingswamps into fertile agricultural valleys in Israel.

The director of the Technion Water Institute, ProfessorRaphael Semiat, says people have to questionwhether it is truly cost-effective to power recyclingand desalination projects with traditional dirty fuelssuch as oil and coal. Although nuclear, solar andwind energy are considered too expensive, hesays governments had not counted the ongoingenvironmental 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 onwater use.”

Associate Professor Greg Leslie from the Universityof NSW says the Victoria University–University ofNSW team are trying to selectively remove nutri-ents to design the water product specifically for theapplication. “It will be a water that has the rightbalance of nutrients, particularly phosphate andammonia ... that isn’t going to degrade the qualityof the land,” says Leslie.

A former Californian, Leslie believes Australia willsoon legislate the use of recycled water wherever

possible. It has already happened in California.“We need to recognise that we invest a lot ofmoney in infrastructure to collect sewage, to treatthat sewage, and it doesn’t make sense to then justsimply pump that water back into the ocean.”

In 2003, Victoria University and Melbourne Waterannounced a joint initiative to construct a computermodel to help water planners better manage theresource. 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 forlong-term conditions, including drought.

And four final-year civil engineering students havecome up with a plan to recycle water from astormwater drain that runs alongside the University’sAquatic 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 fill25 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 mostresults to date is the much-envied EnvironmentalManagement degree run by John Orbell at theDepartment of Molecular Sciences. The courseincludes two water-related modules, Water PollutionMonitoring and Liquid Waste Management. ProfessorOrbell describes the course as “unique”, and itboasts more than 100 graduates across the globe.

“A lot of universities have tried to emulate what wehave done,” says Orbell. “But we were lucky in the west in that we had established a very strongnetwork of industry associations 10 years ago, and that network still exists today.”

BEINGSMART WITHWATER

They are famed for making desertsbloom and transforming swampsinto fertile agricultural valleys.

Associate Professor Graham Thorpe. Photo: Sharon Walker

14 RECREATION STUDIES

“When they want something in Hollywood, they want it instantly,”says David Pratt. He should know. Pratt, a Victoria Universityrecreation studies graduate, is a ‘point man’ in Los Angeles for theAustralian entertainment industry. He negotiates with producers toshoot 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 aboutitself, 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 stillinvolves the kind of A list (and sometimes – darn it – B list)schmoozing that has made Lala land the cocktail and red-carpetcapital 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 cultural presentations as well as film and television.

As a private consultant, Pratt’s clients include the NSW Film andTelevision Office, many of the other State-based film agencies,and the Australian consulate in LA. He cut his teeth in LA as theagent for the Australian film industry’s promotional arm, Ausfilm,from 1997 until last year.

The Hollywood productions shot in Australia that he has beeninvolved in negotiations to attract reads like an action flick hotlist. They include the three Matrix blockbusters and MissionImpossible II – films that locked in the US view that Australia isan 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 USproductions bring to the big studios established over the pastdecade or so on Australia’s east coast, but it also needs topromote its own product, and those who make it, in the world’slargest entertainment and arts market – Hollywood.

“There is a real thirst in Hollywood for accessing talent from aroundthe world, particularly from Australia,” says Pratt. “Americans areamazed that Australia produces so much talent for such a smallcountry, especially actors and directors, but our technicians andcinematographers are highly regarded too.”

Inevitably, the talent pool of Aussies who work in Hollywood atleast part time continues to grow, and their cache eases the taskof arranging screenings of Australian film and TV productions.

Setting up meetings between key industry players from both sidesof the Pacific is also a big part of Pratt’s role. It’s just as importantto showcase the talent as it is the product. He started a non-profitgroup 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’sone thing I would say to students in recreation studies (he graduated in

1987) it is to use your time at uni to make as many work contactsas possible, especially those in your work experience placement.”

After all, it worked for Pratt. His studies provided him with a solidgrounding in the business and management side of the artsindustry, and his work experience with Film Victoria gave him anentrée 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 promotingMelbourne as a location and later transferred to LA.

He counts some of his teachers and colleagues from those earlyyears, including then lecturer Lorraine Smith and fellow graduatesJackie Kinder, now a producer with ABC radio, and LouisaCoppel, 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 aspart 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 placementbefore graduation can make such an impact,” Dressler says. “Byestablishing 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 ayear. Selection is based on work experience as well as TERscores and applications are accepted for mid-year intake.

Americans are amazed that Australia producesso much talent for such a small country.

JIM BUCKELL

BRINGING HOLLYWOODDOWN-UNDER

(l–r) David Pratt, Hollywood-based Australian actor Melissa George and talent manager Rob Marsala, who represents Australians such as actor Frances O’Connor and pop queen Kylie Minogue.

15

TAKING THE

LAWTO VIENNAPAUL MITCHELL

Victoria University’s School of Law has been established for just fiveyears, but already it is developing a strong international reputation.This year, when the School sent four law students to the annual WillemC V’s International Commercial Arbitration Moot court competition inVienna, it finished 50th out of the 150 universities participating – itsbest 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 intothe 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 verylittle in it these days.”

Students compete by presenting an oral and written argument forboth sides of a hypothetical dispute arising out of a contract of salebetween two countries. The goal is to train law students not only ininternational commercial law, but also arbitration for the resolution ofinternational business disputes.

“Students get to argue in court on behalf of a ‘client’ – they have tothink standing on their feet,” says Zeller. “And they get the experience ofan international court setting.”

With schools from universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Heidelbergand the National University of Singapore attending, the competitionwas fierce for Victoria University students Elise Martello, AliceO’Connell, Amy Wood and president of the University’s LawStudent Society, Jessica Latimer.

“At Vienna you can’t read, you have to know it – every possibilityand every little angle has to be ironed out,” says Zeller, adding thathis fellow arbitrators included high-ranking world professionals.

After their exams earlier this year the four young women had justtwo weeks to write two 20,000-word documents in preparation for Vienna. They then practised at least once a week, includingmoot courts against Deakin and Monash universities. Then they

travelled to practice events in New Orleans and Geneva beforegoing on to Vienna.

Jessica Latimer says the highlight of the competition for her, apart fromthe opportunity itself, was meeting students from around the world.

“From New York City attorneys to Turkish arbitrators; to students fromMoldova, South Africa and Singapore – people came from acrossthe world to participate.”

Dr Zeller, author of the soon-to-be released law text, Damages UnderInternational Sales Law (Oceania Press 2005), says the benefits forstudents competing in Vienna are enormous. “You could say there isa ‘Vienna mafia’,” he says, laughing, adding that Australian lawfirms employ many graduates who have competed in Vienna for different universities. “All the students that have gone to Vienna fromour School, bar two, have articles or have jobs, which is more thanone would say about the average law student.”

He says Victoria University’s success this year was a result of twofactors – 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 MurrayRaff, the head of the School, graciously paid for their flights andinsurance, so they only had to pay for accommodation.”

Elise Martello says preparation for Vienna was difficult due to timeconstraints because the team had to juggle part-time work. She saidthe 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 practicewas 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 constitutionalmoot in Brisbane, and because it has its own moot court facilities.

“The moots here are good. The one at the Law School allows youto videotape everything if you wish, which is great, and theUniversity’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 wehaven’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 factthat Zeller is one of the competition arbitrators. He has been invitedto Vienna six times to adjudicate and says, like the students, he hasto put in some solid preparation.

“Arbitration isn’t just sitting there listening,” he says, adding that henever gets to judge the Victoria University team. “You need to drawthe questions out; it is an aggressive way of seeing whether studentscan hold a point.”

LAW

Law lecturer Dr Bruno Zeller in the Law School’s moot court at Queen Street. Photo: Sharon Walker

(l–r) Law students Elise Martello, Jessica Latimer and Alice O’Connell. Photo: Sharon Walker

Neville Penny oversees Australia’s most expensive sandpit. Fifteen metres deep and the size of a tenniscourt, it is worth $10,000.

“It’s a special-purpose sand,” says Penny. “We had toshop around for it and when we found the right type wegot the quarry to wash out the dirt and grit.”

Penny, head of the TAFE Department of Building Servicesand Special Trades at Victoria University’s SunshineCampus, says plumbing apprentices often dig trenchesas deep as three metres when practising the craft of laying drains, making it vital that the sand is kept at theright consistency.

The sandpit indicates the thoroughness with which theDepartment strives to make training as realistic as possi-ble in the $3.5 million plumbing apprentice facility thatmakes up the eastern wing of the R C Fordham Building.Soon after opening, the building’s innovative design wona 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 ona variety of specialised activities. Instructors have a clearview across the entire floor and operate in a team-teachingenvironment, offering individual attention while maintaininggeneral supervision of the various groups.

“It’s a flexible space where we can undertake training in any way required, as opposed to a formal classroomset-up,” says Penny. “It’s a big and ‘barny’ space – wecall it The Barn – and there’s nothing that is fixed in

THE BARNTAKES THE GRIT OUT OF

PLUMBING

16

GLEN DOWER

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

place. Our teachers are multiskilled and teach gas, sanitary, drainage, welding, roofing and mechanicalservices such as airconditioning, refrigeration and radiant heaters.”

These activities go on simultaneously and teachers havethe freedom to move unencumbered from one work ‘site’to the next. Penny says there are usually eight groups of13 students, and “some days it’s an anthill, then it’s fairlyquiet, and then it’s like an anthill again”.

The three-year plumbing apprenticeship emphasiseshands-on learning. “Before The Barn, we did benchmodels – 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 computertest, and then come out here and take on the actual task.We try to teach in a way that keeps the information currentover the three years, rather than cover all the draining inYear 1, all the gas fitting in Year 2, and so on.”

All likely scenarios are covered. Roof plumbers work on ascaled-down mock-up of a corrugated iron roof that hasall the corners and joins you would find in a suburbanstreetscape. When preparing chimney flashings, tin, tileand timber surfaces are used for practice.

At the end of three years most apprentices are surprisedby the amount of knowledge they have accumulated.This can be of comfort during the final 16-hour externalexamination, which requires an 80 per cent pass.

“Fantastic”, is how plumbing apprentice SpirosChristopoulous describes the facility. “It’s fully equippedand 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, andyou’re in a hands-on situation where you can put it to usethere and then. Assistance is always available and mostof the teachers have been in the game for a long time –they are really switched on.”

Christopoulous, 30, has two years of his apprenticeshipto 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’veever 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 anapprenticeship 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 externalworkplace. 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 thatextra little touch that makes a good job an excellent job. You learn those tricks of the trade here.”

17

We call it The Barn – and there’s nothing that is fixed in place.

Each job has one or two tricksof the trade that help you give it that extra little touch.

Exterior windows of ‘The Barn’ represent pixelated cloud formations. Photo: Lyons Architects

Australia’s most expensive sandpit. Photo: Sharon Walker

The three-year plumbing apprenticeship emphasises hands-on learning. Photo: Sharon Walker

APPRENTICESHIPS

18 SPORT AND FITNESS

BRETT QUINE

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 millionAquatic 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 companiesand access to physical assessments using the latest techniquesand technology. Sports groups and individuals are offered anarray 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 runsa learn-to-swim school at the centre as well as training squadsfor children and elite triathletes. Many other community benefitprograms operate at the centre and Victoria University studentsmake use of the facilities as part of their studies. In May alone,more than 70 students organised five promotional events as partof their Sports Administration course and a netball program waslaunched for the western suburbs’ intellectually disabled.

The gymnasium has a capacity of about 1500 members, andwith a current membership of 1200, management is looking toincrease it to 1300 members this year.

“There should be enough places for staff and students, and thetop-up is for the community,” says acting manager Rohenna Young.“It is a juggling act. Strategically, we are here to facilitate theeducational requirements of the University. Then we have certaincommercial ideals, where we have to try and cover our costs.”

Members have access to comprehensive health and medical tests bystaff 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

SHOWINGMUSCLEIN A WORLD OF SPORT

Sostaric is working with the entire Collingwood football team on projects he has sworn to secrecy.

Photo: Sharon Walker

19

market in the delivery of sports science services and performancemonitoring, as well as sports research and development.

Sports professionals regularly make use of the School’s expertisein fitness assessment, including marathon runner and former5000m Australian Open record holder Lee Troop, Olympic rowers James Tomkins and Drew Ginn, Melbourne Storm rugbyplayers and the Melbourne Tigers basketball team.

“A lot of Victorian-based Olympians went through performancemonitoring here,” says Sostaric. He points out that other universities with similar facilities do not focus on service provision but on research and teaching.

Golfers Stewart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy are among half a dozenprofessional golfers who undertake fitness assessments at the startof each season before they go on international tours. Sostaric iscurrently working with the entire Collingwood football team onprojects he cannot divulge. “I’m sworn to secrecy,” he says.

“One area we have developed expertise in is using exercise andexercise metabolism to assist with diagnosing medical conditions.We get a lot of referrals from sports medical practitioners andother practitioners. We look at things where the body is understressful conditions.”

The school has also worked with jockeys, racing car drivers andeven firefighters. “We do occupational health and safety work inindustry and corporate health education promotion programs,”says Sostaric. “The corporate side of things is now becomingmore popular. A lot of companies are looking at ways to givetheir employees a healthier lifestyle.”

Sostaric says the concept of what the School does with elite athleteshas a place in the general community. “I think that by default thisis the way universities are going to go – they will be driving moreservice provision. I think there is now more pressure for universitiesto be more of a force in the business world.”

Young says the centre has its amusing moments. She rememberswhen footballers from rival clubs Carlton, Essendon and the

Western Bulldogs all turned up to use the 10-lane pool. “They allwanted some lane space on the same day,” she says. “So itwas like, well, you can come in at this time, and you can comein then. But they all ended up here at the same time. It didn’tcause any real dramas though.”

For the individual athlete, such as professional runner Isaul D’Sousa,the real lure of the Aquatic and Fitness Centre is its range ofequipment, including its large gymnasium with every imaginablefitness and muscle-building apparatus, and heated 25-metreindoor pool.

D’Sousa, who ran fourth in the 2005 Stawell Gift, trains regularlyat the gym and reckons it is the best place in Melbourne to preparehimself for the Commonwealth Games next year.

“For what I want to do, it’s amazing,” says D’Sousa. “It has thebest range of equipment with everything I need, and a pool andsauna right there as well. When I tell my friends about howgood it is, they freak.”

Photo: Sharon Walker

Photo: Maurice Grant-Drew

20 RESEARCH – HEALTH AND DIVERSITY

“A part of me is nervous and frightened because it’sthe unknown. It’s the phase of life where you takestock of who you are – and you do something withwho you are. It’s like the last leg of the race. It’snow or never.” – Peri-menopausal woman

“The bulk of menopause research is clinical,” saysAssociate Professor Lily Stojanovska, a physiologistfrom Victoria University’s Department of BiomedicalSciences, who teamed up with Dr Marion Kostanski,a senior lecturer in psychology, for a qualitativeapproach to determine why some women are moreresilient to the events of menopause than others.

Supported by a 2004 $25,000 grant from theAustralian Menopause Society, the research duohope to shed light on the other side of menopause– what women think and feel about it, as opposedto what drugs they should take.

“This is a quality of life study that looks at other physicaland emotional factors happening around the timeof menopause,” says Stojanovska.

According to Stojanovska the mood swings, concentration loss, hot flushes and cold sweats mostcommonly associated with menopause are oftenaccompanied by “the revolving door at home ofchildren leaving and returning to the nest, agedparents, changing body shape, and loss of libidoand self-esteem.”

She says around 2.5 million Australian women are inmenopause – a mid-life phenomenon for which thereis no cut-off age at which symptoms begin or end.“Around a third of women will experience severesymptoms and 20 per cent will breeze through, withthe majority of women in the grey zone.”

The Stojanovska–Kostanski study involved two interviews with 30 women who either were beginningto miss periods or no longer had periods. The womenwere asked to keep a diary of their experiences.Both researchers agree that western culture has atendency to ‘over-medicalise’ the experience.

“It is important that women know it’s not all doom andgloom, and the benefits of Hormone ReplacementTherapy and the associated dangers of cancer,”says Kostanski. “Is it such a negative event in one’slife? It is definitely a physiological event but thereare many ways of managing it so life does notend. It is not the biggest bogy.”

Stojanovska agrees that many women who see itas a negative thing are searching for cures in ‘afountain of youth’. “Menopause is a natural biological

state, not a disease,” she says. “Between the agesof 40 and 50 many women are starting to feel morevulnerable, that they are slower thinkers and that theyare not as pretty. Yet some women are embracing it,saying, ‘Thank god I’m not going to have anotherperiod!’ Being informed and laughing is just asimportant as taking medication.”

The study found that such positive attitudes did existamong women. Their data also showed there weretwo other distinct attitudes – those of women notcoping, who were negative about the experience;and a group of women in between. They also foundthat women’s attitudes to menopause generallyseemed to reflect their view of life.

“Women who coped tended to have a positive attitude and outlook to life, and tended to be moreproactive, liberated and resourceful,” saysStojanovska. “They accepted and moved on fromlife’s challenges and misfortunes.”

Kostanski concurs that the women who cope havesome fantastic strategies. She says they are “authorsof their own lives” and appear to have a “selfworth connected to a life philosophy” or “spiritualconnection”. “There is something in there that thesewomen have that no matter what knocks they takethere is purpose to their lives,” she says. “Womenwho exercise, take time out to nurture themselvesand are socially connected to a cross-section ofpeople, negotiate this whole transition well.”

On the other hand, she says the women who seemednot to be coping “did not really have a broad circleof friends, the confidence, or maybe were not selfishenough to say, ‘I’m important’. The investigationshowed that they generally had a negative attitudeand outlook on life, and tended to be “ruminating,reactive, controlling and stoic.”

The research showed that many women were struggling but searching for resilience, and displayed characteristics of exploration, reflectionand determination. Many of these women wereexperimenting with complementary medicines andphilosophical approaches. “They will get there withfurther support,” says Stojanovska, who hopes that thefindings will form the basis for education guidelinesfor women. “We hope to develop a model forresilience so women can know what strategies thereare to make the transition a less bumpy ride.”

Analysis of the research data is almost complete. Thefindings will be submitted for publication in late 2005.

Stojanovska is co-author of The Other Fact of Life –taking control of menopause (Allen and Unwin,2001) and was named on the 2004 VictorianHonour Roll of Women for her work as an interna-tional educator on women’s health matters.

Kostanski’s research interests include resilience inindividuals with eating disorders, and recoveringfrom stroke and cardiac events, and she has been widely published on adolescent body image.

MENOPAUSEAND THE SEARCH FOR

RESILIENCE

Associate Professor Lily Stojanovska and Dr Marion Kostanski. Photo: Peter Glenane

Is there a blueprint for successful menopause? Two Victoria University expertson the subject have joined forces to find out what makes women who breezethrough menopause ‘tick’. NIKI KOULOURIS reports.

21SUSTAINABILITY/COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

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-winningrefugee resettlement program, as well as public lectures and forums. The Institutefor Community Engagement and Policy Alternatives (ICEPA) was established inlate 2004 as a focus for working with diverse communities to build and shareknowledge of community trends, challenges and policy options.

“Our aim is to increase our research opportunities in a way that is responsive tothe needs of the western region and to build on the strengths and capacity we haveas a result of being in the western region – for example, our extensive contactswith and knowledge of ethnically diverse communities,” says ICEPA director, AssociateProfessor 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 variousinterests, 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.”

Sustainability. It is arguably the most important word for the 21st century. In itsenvironmental charter, Victoria University recognises the importance of sustainabledevelopment 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 understandingof the principles of sustainability.

One of the important ways of fulfilling this commitment is through the Institutefor 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 fromexternal stakeholders.

ISI has focused on water research because of increasing concerns regardingboth its shortage and pollution. The institute is collaborating with MelbourneWater on the nutrient recovery and recycling of treated sewage (see story onpage 12), and postgraduate students are working with City West Water andindustries in Melbourne’s west to help reduce salt loads in industrial wastewater. Work on the rehabilitation of the Gippsland wetlands by Professor PaulBoon (profiled in Connections, Issue 1) is another strand of ISI’s work.

Knowledge sharing and dissemination is an important role for ISI, which earlierthis year sponsored a seminar bringing together international experts to sharethe latest knowledge on desalination, including membrane technology to filtersalts, with the water industry and government.

“We’re looking at membrane work that might considerably lower the cost ofdesalination, 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’sstudents. “We need to develop the skills and understandings that can beapplied when they are graduates – and filter through to industry and their private lives,” says Cary.

INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES

Visit www.vu.edu.au/Research/ICEPA

INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION

Visit http://research.vu.edu.au/ISI

Professor John Cary, acting director of the Institute forSustainability and Innovation. Photo: Sharon Jones

Associate Professor Danny Ben-Moshe, director of the Institute forCommunity Engagement and Policy Alternatives. Photo: Sharon Jones

Two new Victoria University institutes are part of a new initiative to designinnovative solutions to real-world problems. CLARE BOYD-MACRAE reports.

INSTITUTES TAKE ON THELOCAL AND GLOBAL

Lisa Hobson ORDER IN THE COURT

For every legal case there is an invisible army ofworkers behind the scenes. And they need trainingto negotiate the myriad tasks to be done. LisaHobson is a trainee court registrar at MelbourneMagistrate’s Court. She is also studying theCertificate IV in Court Services at VictoriaUniversity’s law school in Queen Street.

“I sit next to the magistrate’s bench and manage thecourt, call the cases, put them in order and organisethe defendants to be brought in if they are in custody,” says Lisa.

She attends classes one Friday each month. Herclassmates are in the children’s, suburban and country courts, and Lisa says classes provide achance to catch up with her colleagues and hearabout their work.

When she finishes her course at the end of 2006,there will be a range of jobs she will be qualified todo. “I’m working in criminal law at the moment,”she says. “But I could move to a suburban or countrycourt. Or I could move to the kids’ or the coroner’scourt, or VCAT. I like that idea. It would be great tosee how things work in different jurisdictions.

“I really enjoy what I do. It’s interesting, and everyday is different. I’ve always been interested in thecourts and in law. And getting the Certificate inCourt Services is a bonus.”

22 WORKPLACE LEARNING

LEARNWHILE YOUWORK

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

Photo: Sharon Walker

Carl MillenA LOGICAL PROGRESSION

Carl Millen studied 18 months of a degree in metallurgical engineering before applying forVictoria University’s Bachelor of Business andApplied Economics in Logistics.

“I heard that logistics would be the next big thing –and it is,” says Carl. “I’ve never looked back.” Thefour-year degree includes twelve months of full-timework. Carl’s placement was with Boral Asphalt,part of the Australian international building and construction materials supplier. Carl places great valueon the work placement part of his degree. “Thecombination of work and study gave me a goodbasis for moving into the business world,” he says.

2005 has been a good year for Carl. The Facultyof Business and Law awarded him the Best GlobalLogistics and Transport Co-operative EducationStudent, and in January he began a permanent full-time job with Boral. As works co-ordinator, Carl’sjob is to program all the asphalt, spray and sealwork performed across metropolitan Melbourne.

“We get work from new estates, from local councilsand from VicRoads,” he says, pointing to a largewhiteboard that illustrates a ‘beehive’ of activity bywork crews, and which changes daily as jobs arecompleted. He enjoys his work and says it is greatto be part of a large company where there is plentyof 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.”

Warren Peters KEEPING ON TRACK

It runs in the family. Warren Peters’ father and unclesworked in the railways in India. Now, although farfrom his birthplace, Warren looks set to follow intheir footsteps.

With a degree in commerce and a diploma in computer management, Warren had worked as anoffice manager for several years in India beforeimmigrating to Melbourne in 2004. In March thisyear he started the Certificate III in Transport andDistribution (Rail Operations), a two-year traineeshipoffered through Urban Systems Training, a jointventure between private railway operator Connex and Victoria University.

Two weeks of training were followed by two weeks of supervised work at Caulfield railway station andassessment for the initial stage of his training. Warrennow works independently as an assistant stationofficer on the Melbourne–Frankston line. Regularclassroom sessions and on-the-job training andassessment 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. Inthe two weeks of on-the-job training we spent timeobserving experienced railway workers, askingthem questions and learning by watching them work.”

Warren mainly works in customer service, and saysthe best part of his job is “helping people, solvingproblems, giving directions and interacting with people”.

Bianca Teal PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER

Bianca Teal always loved the idea of working withanimals, but decided to do a degree in tourismbefore starting work at an Alice Springs resort. A year later she realised it wasn’t for her andenrolled in the Diploma of Animal Technology atVictoria University’s Werribee Campus.

After completing first year she applied to work atthe Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. She nowworks there full time, studying two evenings aweek. Bianca has been invited to continue workingfull time at the institute when she completes herdiploma at the end of this year.

“When you’re working at the same time as doingthe course it keeps you really motivated,” saysBianca. “It’s quite inspiring. I like to stay motivatedand there’s just heaps to learn.” She started at theLudwig 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 lotmore things – there are fewer staff so you get to doeverything. I’m learning something new every day. I love that we are doing something good here. Our researchers come over and discuss what’sgoing on – they get excited and it’s good to feel a part of something bigger.”

23

Photo: Maurice Grant-Drew Photo: Sharon Jones Photo: Sharon Walker

24 COMMUNITY BUILDING

SWIRLERS GO OUTBACKTEACHINGLITERACY

JIM BUCKELL All photos by Lawry Mahon

As part of SWIRL programs, Aboriginal schoolchildren are encouraged to express themselves through dot painting.

2525

“From little things, big things grow,” sang Paul Kellyin a lyric that has resonance for Victoria Universityeducation lecturer Lawry Mahon.

Mahon had a similar starting point – remote Aboriginalcommunities – when he began a literacy developmentprogram nine years ago. His aim was to providehis trainee teachers with experience working withAboriginal schoolchildren and to develop readingmaterials drawn from those students’ own experiences.Little did he know that one of its long-term effectswould 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 toall participating schools – the Commonwealth andNorthern Territory education departments, VictoriaUniversity and recently from universities in the 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 activitiesand then document their experiences in bookletsand other media such as video, animation, artwork and photographs. A number of traineeyouth workers also participate in the program.

“When I first came to the Territory I was frustratedin my attempts to find reading material with

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 programin 1998 went to just one community, Atitjere, 250 kmnortheast of Alice Springs. SWIRL has now grownwith students from two other Melbourne universities(RMIT and La Trobe) joining the program. Togetherwith two or three of the US universities they visit upto thirteen Central Australian communities eachyear. And once they have completed their trainingmany of the trainees go back to teach full time inthe Northern Territory. About 30 Swirlers – as theycall themselves – have become NT teachers.

“It’s been one the unexpected outcomes,” says Mahon.“The average stay of a teacher in a remote schoolin the Territory is about seven months. We havefound that our students stay on average two years.That makes a big difference because they canbuild up relationships and gain the confidence and support of their students and the community.”

One such returnee is Sue McAvoy, principal of theWillowra school at a Warlpiri community of about150 people 300 km northwest of Alice. Unlikemost Swirlers, McAvoy joined the program as afully qualified teacher to gain some experienceworking with remote Aboriginal students.

That was the starting point– to produce materials that the students could relate to.

SWIRL participants at Canteen Creek, 400 km east of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Molly Kirby, a student youth worker, shows girls from the Titjikila community, 107 km southeast of Alice Springs, the art of batik making.

26 COMMUNITY BUILDING

The program is only a tiny ripple in the vast pool of issues that confront remoteAboriginal education.

Trainee teacher Kate Toll helps a young member of the Atitjere community,250 km northeast of Alice Springs, to write a story on a computer.

Proud storywriter, Debon, from the Atitjere community.

Lecturer Lawry Mahon has been taking his students to the Northern Territory each year for the past nine years.

Aboriginal boys create posters in support of their local football team.An Atitjere boy shows a sense of humour during a painting project.

“I had worked in schools in Melbourne’s westernsuburbs for more than 20 years,” says McAvoy,whose faith in education as leverage for studentsfrom poor and disadvantaged backgrounds attractedher 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 thelookout for SWIRL graduates. She is also a goodrole model for other Swirlers, one of whom,Hannah Casper, joined the staff at Willowra as a qualified teacher this year after participating inSWIRL as a trainee last year.

Despite its modest success, the SWIRL program isonly a tiny ripple in the vast pool of issues that confront remote Aboriginal education. Attendanceis poor at best in such schools, where the class-room competes with family and ritual obligations –which can take extended family groups away fromtheir home community for weeks at a time – andwith sickness for the attention of pupils.

At Willowra, where attendance averages between25 and 35 of the 40 children enrolled, these problemshave been ameliorated by a free breakfast and acheap lunch program, and by funds set aside bythe Commonwealth for activities such as bush tripsand special resources.

But this is under threat from new Commonwealthguidelines in force this year that mean schools mustsubmit a plan for the use of such funds, then waitfor approval before submitting a second proposal.“This means we have to jump through more hoops to secure the funding, which is no longerguaranteed,” says McAvoy.

The scrapping of a bilingual education program afew years ago has also had an impact because ithas limited the available resources in Aboriginallanguages. This is one area in which SWIRL hasmade a difference. Their materials, which aremainly produced in English, but sometimes includework in Aboriginal languages, are available asclassroom teaching aides. Generally, though,SWIRL students have been impressed with theresources 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 studentfrom Echuca who took part in SWIRL last year.

Like many of the Victoria University Swirlers,Cartwright was intrigued by Mahon’s enthusiasmfor the project. “Basically, he never shut up aboutit,” says Cartwright. A lot of that enthusiasm has

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 isthat its benefits flow two ways. Not only do theAboriginal students get the impetus of the youngand energetic fresh faces running programs in their communities, but the trainee teachers learnfirst-hand about Aboriginal culture. Many areimpressed with the bushcraft of their young charges.

“I was out bush with kids as young as four and fivein very dry country and they were unearthing frogsfrom below the ground,” says Cartwright. “Thatamazed me, just how much they know about theland from such a young age.”

Mahon has put a lot of care into ensuring that eldersand other respected members of remote communitiesare involved in overseeing the programs, and theirattendance on bush trips is encouraged. This stampsthe project with the blessing of community leaders,helping to ensure its success.

“We have attendances at or close to 100 per centin most of our programs – the sort of roll-up that allremote Northern Territory schools are striving toachieve,” says Mahon.

In 2005, Mahon is planning to take his students tosix remote Aboriginal communities.

I was out bush with kids as young as four and five and they were unearthing frogs from below the ground.

SWIRL programs are very popular in Aboriginal communities. Attendances are at or close to 100 per cent.

27

28 EDUCATION

A new program is encouraging professionals to undertake a career change

and redeploy their skills in the classroom. NIKI KOULOURIS reports.

NEW CAREERS BRING KNOW-HOW TO RURAL CLASSROOMS

Former policeman Robert Glanowski now teaches information technology to schoolkids in regional Victoria. Photo: Sharon Walker

29

At a time when more and more Australians are‘downshifting’ or seeking a ‘sea change’, a groupof professionals are also making considerable ‘lifechanges’ by retraining and moving into regionalVictoria to become teachers.

Several musicians, a mechanic, an accountant, anopal miner, a football coach and a policeman areamong 28 Victorians being trained at VictoriaUniversity as part of a new $1.3 million StateGovernment teacher training course that will bringvaluable experiences and skills to the classroom.

Known as the Career Change Program, the coursebegan with an intensive two-and-a-half week summerschool at Footscray Park Campus in January beforethe much needed new teachers headed off toschools around Victoria, including Mildura, Orbost,Corryong, Cobden, Horsham, Orbost, Swan Hill,Murrayville and Wangaratta.

For Robert Glanowski, joining the program meantmore than making a big move from the city toRainbow in northwestern Victoria, 340 km away. It also meant making what some would see as ahuge career transition. The information technologyteacher’s former occupation was a talking point onlocal radio when he arrived.

“It was also mentioned at the assembly at thebeginning of the year,” says Robert, who used towork 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 theirstride,” says Robert, adding that he does not thinkthat having been on the beat has made him anytougher on his classes than other teachers. He washappy to switch to teaching because he says he isnow more connected to young people, as opposedto just dealing with individual police incidents.“Police work was rewarding,” he says. “I wasyoung and had lots of energy.”

During his police career, Robert experienced the gamutof police duties, including car chases, breaking upfights and catching burglars. “Nowadays I gain alot of satisfaction in teaching. I’m quite happy tohave input into a young person’s life. It is satisfyingto be catering to the next generation.” He gets alot out of “seeing where kids’ skills lie and helpingthem decide where to go in the future”.

Fellow trainee Kym Woolley is looking forward tocatching up with Robert and their student colleaguesfor 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 asRobert about watching kids learn.

Years ago, she did a TAFE apprenticeship inmechanical engineering at Karratha College inWestern Australia. Kym says the only two optionsfor her back then were to be a mechanic or a secretary. “I did not want to be a secretary so Iwent 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 inthe paper and that was it,” says Kym, who nowteaches mechanical engineering to Year 9, 10 and11 students at Robinvale Secondary College onthe Murray River between Mildura and Swan Hill.

All 110 of her pupils are boys, and although shewould like to see more girls in her classes, Kimdoes not mind the boys – who don’t mind hereither despite having been inquisitive at first.“When I first started they said, ‘How come youknow about this miss?’”

Further east along the Murray, near Wodonga,Diah Krishnayanti-Grant (Yanti) teaches the kids atTallangatta Secondary College to speak Indonesian.

“As a native speaker I like to pass on my knowledge,”says Yanti. Originally from West Java, Yanti trainedas a lawyer and came to Australia in the late eighties.She now calls Wodonga home. “I’ve always livedin the country because my husband was born andgrew up in Wodonga.” Her husband was anexchange student in Jakarta when they met.

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 secondaryschool students, especially Year 8 and 9, and says the Victoria University course has helped herenormously with class management.

According to Victoria University teaching supervisorRodney Moore, Yanti “has warmth and energy andreally engages kids”. He remembers one of her lessons when she brought in some traditionalIndonesian 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 RodneyMoore goes on the road to supervise his studentteachers. A former English teacher, the lecturergives the student teachers advice, and discussestheir progress and the issues they are facing. “Even the school students don’t mind dropping aword in my ear now and then,” he quips.

According to Rodney, the career change teachershave a huge range of experience between themand are very knowledgeable in their fields. “Theyare more likely to treat their students as individualsrather than treat them en masse as kids. It’s importantbecause relationships are at the heart of it.”

Relationships are so important that the teachertrainees 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 travelto Melbourne for a two-day training session.

A feature of the new course is that most of the studentswill graduate with both Vocational Education andTraining (VET) qualifications and a Diploma ofEducation. “Some students required TAFE and highereducation qualifications, so we set up an integratedprogram with TAFE,” says Brenda Cherednichenko,head of the School of Education. “Now we canoffer VET as another string in our Bachelor ofEducation and Diploma of Education courses.”

Having been on the beat has not made him any tougher on his charges.

The only two options back then were to be a mechanic or a secretary.

Kym Woolley worked in open cut mines before becoming a teacher. Photo: Jessica Garreffa

Originally from West Java, Diah Krishnayanti-Grant now teachesIndonesian at a school near Wodonga. Photo: Heath Missen/The Border Mail

30 OPINION

Baby boomers have looked at a future with more aged carebeds and decided, ‘It isn’t us’. It surely follows that Australia shouldn’tbe planning for more aged care beds in hospitals and nursinghomes but for how to provide less. Older Australians already wantmore than ‘custodial’ residential care. They resist admission tonursing homes – and baby boomers will resist even more strongly.

Baby boomers – born in the post-World War 2 years – are used togetting what they want and shaping a future that fits them. They wantchoice, flexibility, stimulation and above all, control. They won’twant to be put away in hospitals or nursing homes.

I define a future with the least number of custodial beds possibleas the ‘zero bed’ ageing society. Australia’s first ‘zero bed’ policytarget should be to only place 5 per cent of people 85 years andolder 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 doneit. By the time we get there, best practice is sure to be lower. Soalthough the number of older Australians is growing, they don’tneed to occupy publicly funded beds at the same rate as theyhave in the past.

A ‘zero bed’ option will require an expansion in community care– not necessarily all from the public sector – and significant changesin local government and the community. New housing options usingnew domestic technologies and innovative approaches to serviceswill need to be developed and marketed.

Baby boomers want more flexible options than currently availablein residential care, namely high-quality community-delivered care,and community-based expert care for chronic illnesses. Chronicdisease management is now the norm rather than the exceptionfor health services. Chronic care health experts have to be basedoutside hospitals, with their major focus not being their hospital butthe people they serve in their homes and communities. In chroniccare it is the patient who is the care manager not the doctor.

The obvious political barrier is that beds have become the currencyof political debate about nursing homes and hospitals. No political

campaign seems able to proceed without a focus on more beds, withcommunity-delivered care as the residual option. Remember‘Medicare Gold’? At the moment chronic care and communitycare are the ‘hand-me-downs’, the ‘leftovers’ after acute care inhospitals and long-term residential care have taken the dollars.

For change to happen, we’re going to need radical reform of ourhealth care system – a shift in focus and expenditure from beds andhospital-based technology to new community-delivered services.With the impending ageing of large numbers of baby boomersthere is no time to be lost in moving to the ‘zero bed’ ageing society.

A more controversial question is whether baby boomers want toretire at an older age as the Federal Government is proposing.The prime minister has made a commitment to increase the workparticipation of older workers aged 55 to 64 years by 10 to 15per cent (The Age, 30 July 2002). The current participation rate isaround 49 per cent, and the prime minister has proposed a targetof 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 zeroin 20 years. The working age population has been growing byabout 170,000 a year. Current demographic trends will see theworking age population grow by just 125,000 during the2020s – over the whole decade, not per annum.

This represents a major challenge to the assumptions and practices ofthe Australian society and economy – and universities. Employersmust think about ‘new tricks’ for older workers. The shift from manualwork in industrialised economies towards work in knowledge-basedindustries means that workers have more opportunities to continueemployment in less physically demanding jobs. Mature-age work-ers can advise, consult and manage rather than be involved indirect labour. And technological support and work practices,such as ‘no lift’ procedures, can be employed to a greater extentwhere mature-age workers continue to work in direct labour.

But it will require a change in employer attitudes. As the nature ofwork changes and there is increased pressure on all workers toperform a range of multi-disciplinary tasks, training will becomevery important. Some employers believe that older workers havemore difficulty learning, particularly technological skills, but thereis 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 Bertelsmannreplaced its CEO with a 60 year old, and French media companyVivendi replaced its CEO with a 63 year old. Westpac is lookingto realign its workforce to match the demographic profile of its customerbase and the labour market – half of its customers are aged 46years and over but only two percent of its staff is over 56.

While Australia struggles with the older worker issue, our Pacificneighbour Japan has maintained high levels of work participationby older workers. Japanese participation rates are approximatelydouble those for Australians aged 60 to 64 years, treble forthose aged 65 to 69, and even higher for those aged 70 yearsand 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 resourcesand work’, as developed in Finland. Individual resources includehealth, functional capacity, education and various kinds of workknow-how. The important message is that good resources do nottransform into good ‘work ability’ unless the content of the work,the work community and the work environment provide the properconditions for the older worker.

But the question remains open whether baby boomers willreverse the later-life work patterns of their parents, as I expectthem to do in aged care.

Professor John McCallum is Victoria University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education Programs). He takes a personalinterest in epidemiology.

There is no time tobe lost in moving to the ‘zero bed’ ageing society.

PROFESSOR JOHN MCCALLUM offers a personal view on thefuture retirement age and nursing care needs of our ageingbaby boomer population.

MORE WORK AND LESS BEDS FOR AGEING BABY BOOMERS

Professor John McCallum. Photo: Brett Kiteley

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