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the graduate union newsletter AUGUST 2020

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Graduate House

The Old Cherokee

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.”

He continued, “the other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “the one you feed.”

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Contents

Coming dates

4 International Days – August

Features

6 The Human Spirit

by Life Member, Mr Louis A Coutts

8 Unearthing of an Ancient Roman Mosaic

Floor

10 “A Journey Begins with but a Single Step”

by Mr Laurie Hawkins

14 Moral Fairground and the Early Ethical

Enterprise Pitch Competition 2020

15 Venture Capital Institute Australasia

(VCIA)

by Ms Merrill Gray

18 Australian Climate Deniers

Other

25 First Nations

Redress Scheme for Stolen Generation

26 SDG Report

Monash Sustainable Development

Institute

28 Innovation

Aboriginal Archaeological Seabed

Preserved

GU COLLEGIATE

24 August Monthly Luncheon

Dr Kate Cherry

Graduate house PROMOTIONS

21 Open and Safe at Graduate House

21 GU Face Mask

22 Graduate House Accommodation

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National Tree Day was co-founded by Planet Ark and Olivia Newton-John in 1996. While public events for National Tree Day 2020 have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Planet Ark recognises some communities and organisations may still acknowledge the Day and encourages individuals to plant trees in their own backyards, vegetable patches and farms.

The inaugural national Red Nose Day was held in 1988, 11 years after the first Red Nose state offices were formed in 1977. The organisation grew quickly, creating multiple services for families, such as an after-hours telephone support service and first emergency responders’ manual. Today it is one of Australia’s leading organisations dedicated to saving the lives of babies during pregnancy, infancy and childhood, and supporting families who have lost a child due to stillbirth, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and fatal sleeping accidents.

International Youth Day, first held in 1999, was created as an annual celebration of the role of young people in being partners in change, and to assist in addressing challenges and problems facing the world’s youth. There are now 1.8 billion young people - the largest youth population ever - yet more than half of those aged between 6 and 14 years lack basic skills in reading and mathematics.

Jeans for Genes Day was established to raise awareness and funding for children with birth defects or genetic diseases. Founded in 1994 by the Children’s Medical Research Institute, the day involves fundraising for more than 6,000 different types of genetic diseases, many of which lead to serious conditions. Today, one in 20 children have a birth defect or genetic disease, with 30 per cent of paediatric admissions being due to genetic disorders.

World Humanitarian Day is celebrated every year to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service and to give support to people affected by crises around the world. Since the 19 August 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 people, including humanitarian Sergio Vieira de Mello, more than 4,000 humanitarian workers have been killed in the line of duty. With the global pandemic severely challenging humanitarian operations globally, restrictions placed by governments around the world has resulted in communities, civil society and local not-for-profits being the frontline of the response. The 2020 campaign is thus focused on the personal stories of humanitarians who are treating and preventing COVID-19, providing food to vulnerable people, providing safe spaces for women and girls in lockdown, delivering babies, fighting locusts and running refugee camps.

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was launched by the United Nations via a resolution in 1994. There is an estimated 370 Indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries. This group makes up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population but accounts for 15 per cent of the poorest.

international days – August

2nd August – National Tree Day

14TH August – Red Nose Day

12th August – International Youth Day

7th August – Jeans for Genes Day

19th August – World Humanitarian Day

9th August – International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

COMING DATES

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August – Barbara Funder

COMING DATES

National Tree Day International Youth Day

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nourishing, otherwise the inspiration that is so necessary to sustain the hope of society is frustrated. The process of nourishment is at once simple and complex, but it involves people following their heart while availing themselves of the richness of thought and human achievement that is our heritage. This heritage is the product of people, who, over the centuries, have been inspired by their ancestors. They want to write, to compose music, to study and advance the study of history, to play musical instruments, to be philosophers, to study and advance the works of the geniuses of the past, to create and to pursue their own dreams. People need to make mistakes in their own journey of discovery. People need to be different because of the richness in diversity.

The source of nourishing the human spirit is inquiry and learning. This process was institutionalised by the early mediaeval

The human spirit - invisible, indescribable, elusive and so frequently neglected or ignored - is the energy of the human enterprise. It is the fulcrum of human endeavour. When left free to fly like a butterfly, it endows humanity with moments of sublime poetic beauty. The music of Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky immortally touches generation after generation of receptive souls with exquisite delicacy and tenderly arouses our romantic emotions. The archives of art, poetry, philosophy, literature, history and human endeavour bestowed upon us by our ancestors from Aristotle and Plato, to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Picasso, together with millions of their eternal fraternity, are forever at the disposal of civilisation, and continually enrich society.

When the human spirit is denied, so is humanity and when humanity is denied, society is impoverished. The human spirit needs constant

The Human Spiritby Life Member, Mr Louis A Coutts

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The Creation of Adam, detail of the Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco by Michelangelo, 1508–1512. The painting – one of the most famous of the Renaissance – has become a symbol of humanity: the hand of God and Adam on the verge of touching. Credit: Scala/Art Resource, New York.

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the function of developing independent minds. Indeed, there is now an official assault on the traditional role of the university. People who want to pursue their heart in studying the humanities have to pay heavily for the privilege and in so doing, are required to subsidise people who want to be engineers, nurses or doctors. The thrust of this new policy of increasing the fees for people studying the humanities so as to reduce the fees for people studying for jobs, is one of the most catastrophic policies I have come across in my lifetime. It is social engineering similar to the social engineering practised in communist regimes. The government has decided to incentivise people away from pursuing their heart so that they will pursue the course determined by the government. The consequence to our society will be to withdraw the nourishment so necessary for the continuing momentum of the human spirit.

universities and that intrepid band of people seeking the “truth” called the Schoolmen. The pursuit of inquiry, the art of logic, the appreciation of beauty emerged into that magic period of human endeavour that we now know as the Renaissance. Art, poetry, literature, music became the currency, and their existence today, 500 years later, still enriches society.

This process of inquiry became the tool of scientists who ultimately challenged the theory that the world revolved around the earth. But the essence of that and many other scientific discoveries was the result of the concentration on the process of inquiry divorced from preconceptions. The gigantic discoveries of the splendour and dimension of our universe could never have been made without the emphasis on developing independent minds by the early universities. The study of the humanities changed the course of civilisation.

Today, universities are at the crossroads where pragmatism runs counter to their ancient legacy. Training people for jobs is overtaking

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Ancient Roman mosaic floor unearthed beneath vines in Italy

A perfectly preserved ancient Roman mosaic floor has been discovered near the northern Italian city of Verona.

Archaeologists were astonished by the find as it came almost a century after the remains of a villa, believed to date to the 3rd century AD, were unearthed, in a hilly area above the town of Negrar di Valpolicella.

After the discovery of the villa in 1922, the site was mostly left abandoned until a team from the Superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Verona resumed digging last summer. The team returned to the site in October 2019 and again in February 2020 before the excavation was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

One week after work resumed in May 2020, the mosaic was found a few metres beneath a row of vines. The official in charge of archaeology, Verona province, Gianni De Zuccato, said on 29th May that the mosaic, in bright shades of red, pink, orange, purple and yellow unearthed last week, came from what had been the servants’ quarters and appeared to be “in a good state of conservation”.

“After countless decades of failed attempts, part of the floor and foundations of the Roman villa located north of Verona, discovered by scholars a century ago, has finally been brought to light,” authorities from Negrar di Valpolicella wrote on the town’s Facebook page.

“The superintendent will now liaise with the owners of the area and municipality to identify the most appropriate ways of making this archaeological treasure, which has always been hidden beneath our feet, available and accessible.”

Roberto Grison, the mayor of Negrar di Valpolicella, told the local newspaper L’Arena: “We believe a cultural site of this value deserves

attention and should be enhanced. For this reason, together with the superintendent and those in charge of agricultural funds, we will find a way to make this treasure enjoyable.”

Archaeologists have been doing partial digs to determine the scale of the site and in preparation for the area, hopefully, to be turned into an open-air museum.

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Sources: The Guardian and The Associated Press (AP)

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The mosaic was found a few metres beneath a row of vines a week after work resumed following the coronavirus lockdown. Photo: Comune di Negrar di Valpolicella

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The official in charge of archaeology, Verona province, Gianni De Zuccato, on the 29th May 2020, said the mosaic appeared to be “in a good state of conservation”. Photo: AP

A man cleans a well-preserved colorful mosaic floor of an ancient Roman villa that archaeologists have revealed among vineyards near the northern city of Verona, Italy. Photo by: AP

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“A journey begins with but a single step”by Mr Laurie Hawkins

The proverb that gives this article its title is ascribed to Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer, and teaches that even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point; something which begins with one first step.

This is about my journey with AITIA Global, a start-up company I have founded to build on two national digital health initiatives that I have been responsible for in Australia.

My goal is to leave a “legacy” that will improve healthcare across our planet.

Following my success in 2011 in getting eight State and Territory Governments, the Federal Government and private healthcare stakeholders to adopt a “National Services Library” (called the National Health Services Directory or NHSD in Australia) for “health and social care services” (Yellowpages) combining public, private and not-for-profit organisations into a “single source of truth” I have wanted to “change the world” for the better.

Having been successful in getting myriad healthcare stakeholders to share “data” (not patient data) and realising today “the world is all about data”, and seeing the many benefits it brings to strengthen health systems at a local, national and international perspective, so began my journey, which has taken “passion, persistence and perspiration” (true grit) and travels across the world to promote this concept.

Now, more than ever, during this COVID-19 global pandemic, we need to “join the dots” by having a multi-agency collaboration across multiple countries using “data” on a single platform. Australia has created its global equivalent to assist the “world”, which is similar to “John Hopkins University”, but has more functionality including “spatial bars” and is based on the Advanced Data Analytics Platform, which is the second initiative for which I have been responsible.

What I have learned?

“Resilience, never give up”, they are just “bumps in the road” from whatever setbacks you have.

Surround yourself with positive people and build professional networks, which for me includes 5,000 connections at very senior levels, predominately in the healthcare sector, but many other industry sectors, as well across more than 100 countries.

This led me to a “mentor” of a large Global Health Alliance, who has encouraged me by providing the opportunities to present at major conferences including the European Union Health Conference hosted by Estonia during its Presidency in 2017. Other conferences include Beijing, China, Singapore and Boston.

Not being a “digital native” (defined on Wikipedia as “generally somebody who was born after 1980 and thus raised with the internet”) in today’s connected world, and as Estonia is ranked as the

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Laurie Hawkins, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder, AITIA Global.

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most digitally advanced country in the world, I became an e-resident of Estonia, so that I could trade across the EU, have an international bank account and register a company there – AITIA Estonia, all from Australia.

Along the way, I have been lucky to find “amazing people” not only in “my own backyard” of Melbourne or Australia but across the world. People who have great digital health products and services aimed at a regional, state, country, or international perspective.

Why this Journey

Across the world, as countries struggle to balance rising consumer expectations, escalating demands on health systems, an ageing population, rising rates of chronic disease and increasing costs, there is a need to consider the foundation blocks of “digital health”, which act as a catalyst for other innovations to build upon, for example, secure messaging, telehealth, and tools such as data analytics.

Having been successful in Victoria with this concept, it was adopted and launched nationally in Australia in July 2012 as the National Health Services Directory (known as the Health Services Library internationally). This is a repository of health and social care “services” which combines both operational data for Health and Human Services and provider data for transactional information to “provide better continuity of care” for health consumers throughout their life through better collaboration between health providers.

At present, many hospitals, aged care, community care, and primary care settings independently maintain address books of local clinicians. These are used daily by doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals to aid the transfer and management of care. They range from simple lists to relatively sophisticated databases separate to,

or embedded within, other systems. Few of these, however, are linked to a capacity for ehealth communication.

For example, when a GP or hospital-based doctor is planning further care for a patient such as a renal patient with diabetes, they need to be able to:

• access high-quality information about various service providers in the patient’s town or suburb;

• find a podiatrist, physiotherapist, dietitian, pharmacist, etc.;

• assure themselves of the identity, provider status, address, etc. of those providers; and

• access electronic address information easily available to refer the patient for further care.

Australia built the National Health Services Library (NHSD in Australia) on the back of the Victorian Health Services Directory (for which I was responsible), combining “service” and “provider” directories across state jurisdictions. It was in response to an increasing frustration initially from health professionals about the overlapping nature of finding information and the inconsistent type and quality. The shift toward ehealth and healthcare reform meant the greater integration of systems and a consumer group that expects greater access to information.

Service and provider information must be available quickly, easily and with the highest possible degree of accuracy and reliability alongside the emerging identification, authentication, and messaging regimes if we are to use electronic communications effectively to support health services.

For Australia, with a population of 25 million people, the NHSD:

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• covers the breadth and depth of Health and Social Care Services across Australia (eight State and Territory governments and a Federal government);

• is the “single source of truth” for ehealth from the “cloud”; and

• handles over 10 million transactions per month (and growing as more national and state ehealth initiatives start to use the national secure messaging facilities).

The NHSD is now the:

• National Services Directory (400,000+ Services);

• National Provider Directory (300,000+ Accredited Health Practitioners); and

• National Telehealth Directory.

It also underpins many Federal, State, and local health initiatives such as the National Nurse on Call, the National GP After Hours program, the National Pregnancy Birth and Baby website, the National My Aged Care website, and many other initiatives.

The NHSD in Australia is a shared piece of national infrastructure and allows many stakeholders to have varying degrees of control. Opening the NHSD infrastructure to be ubiquitously available, has built a community of positive support because of its utility and ease of availability. The NHSD is currently accessible via websites, mobile apps, and APIs, integrated into an increasing range of software products.

With increasing demands on national and international health services, we urgently need to shift from primary and acute care to include “social care” (or community care). This has been a missing link in the context of “patients” healthcare throughout their lifetime, so we can build healthy communities through knowledge-based environmental preventative strategies and sustainable active living principles. This can be done here and now by making data readily available in a more effective context to policymakers, health planners, and researchers.

An example of a software product integrating the NHSD is the National Healthmap data platform.

This platform aims to help overcome the “islands of data” held across the health sector by combining the NHSD with a range of relevant health data sets, such as census demographics, disease prevalence, and health outcomes.

The Healthmap demonstrates how the NHSD can be extended from its primary role as a foundation for national ehealth initiatives to a health data tool to support policymakers, health planners, and researchers in their broader roles of improving population health outcomes through evidence-based decision making.

Visualisation of data is extremely effective in allowing complex datasets to be brought together to convey information in a simple geospatial (Google Maps) format. The National Healthmap uses data from the NHSD, from which we can introduce a wide range of national datasets (e.g., census) and local health datasets to support a greater focus on evidence-based planning and decision making.

Now that key service information can be sourced (from an authoritative resource) and a greater focus on data governance rather than fragmented silos, data quality issues are reduced, and we have more data possibilities to the greater community as it allows greater and more widespread use of data.

Service data can now be viewed by Health Focus Areas, for example by Cancer, Aged Care, or “Categories” or by “Programs by Organisations” such as – Access To “Allied Psychological Services Program” (ATAPS).

The Health Services Library (HSL) can be replicated anywhere around the world. For

The NHSD is a shared piece of national infrastructure and allows many stakeholders to have varying degrees of control.

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example, National Health Libraries linked together across the European Union (EU) to provide health consumers, health planners, research groups with a significant database of health and human services.

This could empower citizens when they travel, for example, to see where doctor (General Practitioner) services are available after hours on the user’s smartphone, an excellent example of providing the right data at the right time at the right place.

Barriers, such as cost, technology, and data quality, have arisen and continue to arise frequently. However, by demonstrating what is possible with the vast knowledge of health data coming from the “cloud”, and how effective it can be in health planning, evidence-based, policy-making, and empowering health consumers, these barriers are overcome more readily. Data quality is improved as we can now have national and international data standards quickly and easily, and an easy-to-use platform with a “Google Maps” front end.

The National “Health Services Library” acts as a catalyst for ehealth, delivering greater access to relevant health sector data and providing a wealth of information resources to the health sector and consumers.

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Laurie Hawkins is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Subject Matter Expert – Health Services Libraries, and Founder, AITIA Global.

For more information:

• Contact Laurie at laurie.hawkins@healthservicesdirectories.com

• Australian National Health Services Library: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/australian-health-services

• AITIA Global: https://www.aitiaglobal.com/

• Australia’s global equivalent of the John Hopkins COVID-19: https://studio.healthmap.com.au/#/gNG

• Global Health Alliances: https://echalliance.com/

• European Union Health Conference Presentation by the author, Tallinn, Estonia, October 2017: https://bit.ly/3eaxMNd

• Estonia as the most digitally advanced country: https://e-estonia.com/

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Data from Australia, Ireland, the UK, and the USA viewed all from the same platform.

• National Healthmap data platform: https://healthmap.com.au/

1. Click ENTER.

2. Click Continue as Guest.

Examples of the Advanced Data Analytics platform, known as the Healthmap:

* National Healthmap data platform;

* General Medical Practitioners Rate per 100,000 people;

* Avoidable mortality with Geographic Bar charts and Confidence Intervals;

* Health Service Proximity of Influence regions for Remote Australia; and

* Districts of Workforce Shortage Storyboard.

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Moral Fairground has announced that their Early Ethical Enterprise Pitch Competition 2020 (EEEPC 2020) is now open. This is for ethical enterprises that are at the conception stage or less than 24 months old.

The aim of the EEEPC 2020 is to provide entrepreneurs with an opportunity to present their idea to four business and social entrepreneurial leaders who are influential in the community and who have the mentoring skills and resources to support an entrepreneur or enterprises to make a concept a reality.

If you have an idea that you’re focused on turning into a business or your start-up business has the potential to improve the social, economic and environmental conditions of a community – Moral Fairground wants to hear from you!

Winning the EEEPC gives you access to the support and resources that will help turn your idea into an executable reality.

Here’s what last year’s winner, Megan O’Malley, HUMIFORM, has shared since last year’s win: “The advice and support I have received since winning the EEEPC has been invaluable. I have learned so much from all of the people I have

come into contact with through the prize and my business is so much better off for it after people found out I had won the EEEPC. They started to take me and my ideas more seriously. That outside validation opened doors for me that were previously closed.”

Winning the EEEPC gives you access to the support and resources that will help turn your idea into an executable reality. For more information about the EEEPC 2020, see: https://bit.ly/38Jt3kq. Applications close on 1st September 2020.

Since 2009, Moral Fairground has been the driving force in creating awareness and raising the profile of fair trade throughout the community, as well as the conscious business sector Australia wide. Their mission is to organise an online platform and events that will educate, inspire and encourage people to make choices that will have a positive impact on the world, the environment and the people they share it with.

Through their many diverse events, they have reached hundreds and thousands of people. They have created a community of conscious consumers, inspired hundreds of advocates and continue to be a great resource of information. Moral Fairground creates dynamic platforms to connect both the traditional and conscious consumer to the conscious and emerging business sector, and they represent and provide opportunities to share knowledge and best practice in a supportive ethical space.

Moral Fairground is devoted to promoting sustainable and fair trade business practices. The coordinators and ambassadors of Moral Fairground reflect the diversity of persons involved and are passionate about fair and sustainable business practices.

* * *

For more information about Moral Fairground: https://moralfairground.com.au/

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Moral Fairground and the Early Ethical Enterprise Pitch Competition 2020

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June and July 2020 saw the Washington D.C. headquartered global reach Venture Capital Institute (www.vcinstitute.org) release its first Thought Leadership Series. Entitled, Entrepreneurship post-COVID-19 – What, Where, Why, How, the series is comprised of four, 5-minute talks covering:

• Identifying opportunities, managing uncertainty and pivoting in response to COVID-19.

• How the nature of start-ups is changing – not only as a result of the huge investments going in to health systems and in vaccine research globally, but in the ways we are, and will continue to, collaborate.

• Globalisation during and post-COVID-19 – with every facet of our global society impacted, the playing field has been levelled through the pandemic. The door has been opened for economies to be reshaped by those who are highly creative and “think outside the box” – with new “sea lines”/trade routes and digital interfaces being used as we emerge into a different collaboration environment.

• The way forward – specifically what the VCI brings when it comes to delivering long term commercialisation success.

To watch these talks, see the table below:

All of these talks, included extended cut versions, are also accessible on VCI Australia’s website (https://vciglobal.org/latest-news/).

Venture Capital Institute Australasia (VCIA)

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by Ms Merrill Gray

Title Presenter Name YouTube Link Comments

1 Opportunities, Pivoting and Uncertainty Opportunities, Pivoting and Uncertainty

Ms. Amanda Heyworth: Independent NED

https://youtu.be/EqWNwgpvZYU

Extended Cut version: https://youtu.be/IhprwpbXsws

2 The Nature of New Start-Ups Faz K Bashi M.D.: Founder and Investor

https://youtu.be/r0WAVgadSus

5-minute talk

3 Globalisation post-COVID-19 Bill Parker: Former Diplomat and Internationalist

https://youtu.be/OvDlQ9KydmQ

Extended Cut version: https://youtu.be/lcpzFTHzGhM

4 Moving Forward Clare J. Fairfield: Chair of VCI

https://youtu.be/YbL-hIFYkEM

3-minute talk

Ms. Merrill Gray, Principal, Venture Capital Institute Australasia (VCIA).

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Established in 1974, what the VCI brings, and this Thought Leadership Series begins to showcase, is the deep global start-up and growth experience base and funding connections there are across VCI. This can be seen through its faculty and associates, which is both unique and fundamental to:

1. The VCI’s Entrepreneurial ecosystem education programs. Where VCI faculty work with entrepreneurs across all dimensions of what it takes to achieve long-term commercial success, as well as across all of the supporting ecosystem elements. Namely; financial capital, community and culture, strategic affiliations, human capital, educational infrastructure and opportunities/markets as illustrated below. This could mean government organisations – policy makers, accelerators, financiers and investors, industry bodies and even families and friends.

2. The VCI’s Venture Capital Funds. Whether they are Australian headquartered or accessed within global networks/funds.

It is this systems approach – from inception/start up through the innovation value creation journey (as well as, if necessary, the stopping of investment if product/market fit will not create value in the short, medium and long term for whatever reason) that sets VCI apart from others.

The VCI is currently expanding into Australia and the Asia Pacific region as a whole, with VCI Australasia (www.vciglobal.org) established in 2019.

VCIA is working on the next Thought Leadership Series! A deeper dive into the next generation of start-ups across:

• Digi-tech;

• Fin-tech;

• Med-tech; and

• Space-tech.

We, at VCIA, look forward to interacting with many Graduate House Members and affiliates into the future as we expand and support more successful Australasian innovation commercialisations and support the growth of the Australian economy and other economies in the region.

We would welcome your feedback on what is of most relevance at this time to founders, investors and anyone across the Australasian entrepreneurial ecosystem.

To provide feedback or simply find out more on VCIA’s programs and funding go to: www.vciglobal.org or contact VCIA’s Director, Mr Grant Scott at gscott@vciglobal.org.

***

VCI’s Entrepreneurial ecosystem education programs.

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Merrill Gray is a Principal at VCIA. She also runs a Melbourne-based corporate advisory group, Wolf Advisory and Consulting (www.wolfmanagementconsulting.com.au), where she assists start-ups become investment ready and with capital raising. Her sectoral focus lies in energy – emerging renewable technologies, e.g., hydrogen and energy storage (cryogenic to thermal and battery) and the integration of these technologies into the grid, mining and mineral processing particularly the application of new technologies, sustainability (the matching of waste to technology in a circular economy context) and infrastructure.

Prior to this, in 2007 she founded and back door ASX listed, then led as CEO/MD, a brown coal above-ground gasification company (Hydrogen/Syngas), which focused on high quality diesel production and where she raised capital both in Australian markets and globally. She then led a spinoff biomass gasification and combustion company – BioSyngas Limited (www.biosyngas.com.au) – developing embedded co-generation plants for large industrial energy users Australia-wide.

Merrill is an engineer (started out as a mining and process engineer extracting and pouring gold in the goldfields of Western Australia), a scientist and holds an MBA from Melbourne University/Business School. She is in the early stages of undertaking a PhD in Business on the topic of profiling capital raising experiences and success of women in the Australian capital markets.

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New survey finds Australian climate deniers at more than double the global average

Australian news consumers are far more likely to believe climate change is “not at all” serious compared to news users in other countries. That’s according to new research that surveyed 2,131 Australians about their news consumption in relation to climate change.

The Digital News Report: Australia 2020 was conducted by the University of Canberra at the end of the severe bushfire season from 17th January to 8th February 2020.

It also found the level of climate change concern varies considerably depending on age, gender, education, place of residence, political orientation and the type of news consumed.

Young people are much more concerned than older generations, women are more concerned than men, and city-dwellers think it’s more serious than news consumers in regional and rural Australia.

Fifteen per cent don’t pay attention to climate change news

More than half (58 per cent) of respondents say they consider climate change to be a very or extremely serious problem, 21 per cent consider it somewhat serious, 10 per cent consider it not very serious and 8 per cent not at all serious.

Out of the 40 countries in the survey, Australia’s 8 per cent of “deniers” is more than double the global average of 3 per cent. We’re beaten only by the US (12 per cent) and Sweden (9 per cent).

While most Australian news consumers think climate change is an extremely or very serious problem (58 per cent), this is still lower than the global average of 69 per cent. Only 10 countries in the survey are less concerned than we are.

Strident critics in commercial media

There’s a strong connection between the brands people use and whether they think climate change is serious.

More than one-third (35 per cent) of people who listen to commercial AM radio (such as 2GB, 2UE, 3AW) or watch Sky News consider climate change to be “not at all” or “not very” serious, followed by Fox News consumers (32 per cent).

This is perhaps not surprising when some of the most strident critics of climate change science can be found on commercial AM radio, Sky and Fox News. Among online brands, those who have the highest concern about climate change are readers of The Conversation (94 per cent) and The Guardian Australia (93 per cent).

More than half of Australians get their information about climate change from traditional news sources (TV 28 per cent, online 17 per cent, radio 5 per cent, newspapers 4 per cent).

However, 15 per cent of Australians say they don’t pay any attention to news about climate change. This lack of interest is double the global average of 7 per cent. Given climate change impacts everyone, this lack of engagement is troubling and reflects the difficulty in Australia in gaining political momentum for action.

The polarised nature of the debate

The data show older generations are much less interested in news about climate change than news in general, and younger people are much more interested in news about climate change than other news.

News consumers in regional Australia are also less likely to pay attention to news about climate change. One fifth (21 per cent) of

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regional news consumers say they aren’t interested in climate change information compared to only 11 per cent of their city counterparts.

Given this survey was conducted during the bushfire season that hit regional and rural Australia hardest, these findings appear surprising at first glance.

But it’s possible they simply reflect the ageing

nature of regional and rural communities and a tendency towards more conservative politics. The report shows 27 per cent of regional and rural news consumers identify as right-wing compared to 23 per cent of city news consumers.

And the data clearly reflects the polarised nature of the debate around climate change and the connection between political orientation, news brands and concern about the issue. The results

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suggested that right-wing news consumers are more likely to ignore news about climate change than left-wing, and that they are less likely to think that reporting of the issue is accurate.

Regardless of political orientation, only 36 per cent of news consumers think climate change reporting is accurate. This indicates low levels of trust in climate change reporting and is in stark contrast with trust in COVID-19 reporting, which was much higher at 53 per cent.

The findings also point to a significant section of the community that simply don’t pay attention to the issue, despite the calamitous bushfires.

This presents a real challenge to news organisations. They must find ways of telling the climate change story to engage the 15 per cent of people who aren’t interested, but are still feeling its effects.

Nineteen per cent want news confirming their worldview

Other key findings in the Digital News Report: Australia 2020 include:

• the majority of Australian news consumers will miss their local news services if they shut down: 76 per cent would miss their local newspaper, 79 per cent local TV news, 81 per cent local radio news service and 74 per cent would miss local online news offerings;

• more than half (54 per cent) of news consumers say they prefer impartial news, but 19 per cent want news that confirms their worldview;

• two-thirds (62 per cent) of news consumers say independent journalism is important for society to function properly;

• around half (54 per cent) think journalists should report false statements from politicians and about one-quarter do not;

• news consumption and news sharing have increased since 2019, but interest in news has declined;

• only 14 per cent continue to pay for online news, but more are subscribing rather than making one-off donations; and

• TV is still the main source of news for Australians but continues to fall.

The ‘COVID-trust-bump’

In many ways these findings, including those on climate change reporting, reflect wider trends. Our interest in general news has been falling, along with our trust.

This changed suddenly with COVID-19 when we saw a big rise in coverage specifically about the pandemic. Suddenly, the news was relevant to everyone, not just a few.

We suspect that key to the ‘COVID-trust-bump’ was the news media adopting a more constructive approach to reporting on this issue. Much of the sensationalism, conflict and partisanship that drives news – particularly climate change news – was muted and instead important health information from authoritative sources guided the coverage.

This desire for impartial and independent news is reflected in the new report, Digital News Report: Australia 2020. The challenge is getting people to pay for it.

This article is republished from The Conversation: https://tinyurl.com/yb3z5dpl

Read the full report at: https://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/nmrc/digital-news-report-australia-2020

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GU PROMOTION

Open and Safe at Graduate House

Our food is prepared and served with your safety in mind (Class 2 registration. Melbourne City Council).

We have increased deep cleaning and sanitisation of

all surfaces.

Graduate House is the ideal place to live – we are clean, safe and take care

of you.

We adhere strictly to the 2 metres physical distancing rules.

We have online ordering and cashless transactions for all

purchases.

Contactless hand sanitisers are positioned conveniently throughout

Graduate House.

GU Face Mask - New Colours in stock!Reusable and DurableAvailable for purchase at Graduate House Reception and online at www.graduatehouse.com.au/product/face-masks

Made with three layers of breathable fabric.

Outerside layer — stout durable 100% drill cotton fabric with a strong diagonal bias in the weave.

Internal layer — unwoven fabric, 100% breathable filter.

Innerside layer — the inside fabric is a strong and sturdy 100% cotton fabric.

Additional pocket to insert another filter for added protection.

Fits snugly but comfortably.

Secured with elastic bands around the ears.

Easy to handwash and dry overnight.*Postage not included

$ 20.00

each*

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• Single room private bathrooms

• Double room private bathrooms

• Stella Langford large/medium apartments

• Double rooms with separate lounge and private bathrooms

• Barkly Place and Barry Street apartments

Room Types, Prices and Features

• 7 breakfasts, 5 dinners

• Bed linen

• Weekly housekeeping

• Wifi

• Utilities (electricity, gas, water) included in rent

• Short term accommodation – one night, a few weeks

• Long term accommodation – months, semesters, years

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a PhD student needing access to the library

a Masters student needing to do experiments in the lab

a visiting professor giving a series of talks to colleagues

part of a small group that is returning to campus for face-to-face classes over a few days

a lecturer returning to campus for two days of face-to-face assessments and tutorials

a medical or allied health student on a clinical placement

a clinician working, teaching and researching at the hospital

an international student seeking a safe, warm home

a regional student seeking to live in Melbourne with students of different disciplines and countries

Stay at Graduate House because you are ...

GU PROMOTION

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GU COLLEGIATE

Monthly luncheon

Telephone (03) 9347 3428

Email admingh@graduatehouse.com.au

Venue Graduate House 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053

Cost$5 Virtual (Online)

wednesday, 5th August 2020 12:20 log-on for 12:30pm start

We are fortunate to welcome MS Ambassador Dr Kate Cherry to our Monthly Luncheon.

MS Ambassadors are inspirational volunteers who are either living with multiple sclerosis (MS) or caring for someone who does.

Dr Kate Cherry, a consultant physician, has been living with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis since 2002. She cleverly manages her MS and career by working part time, keeping fit by exercising most days, volunteering when time allows and maintaining a wellness lifestyle.

Although not glad to have MS, Dr Cherry celebrates the positives that have accompanied this change to her life. She has made some wonderful friends in the MS community, and found improved quality of life by rearranging and prioritising what is really important to her. Once she stopped focusing on climbing the “ladder of success” she discovered the view is just right from where she is!

As an Ambassador, Dr Cherry shares her perspective from both the patient and the health professional side of the hospital bed. Those involved in health care, from students to seasoned professionals, will all benefit from the profound insights Kate can offer.

Online Only Event

Due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, the Monthly Luncheon will be an online-only event. A connection fee of $5 per person is applicable.

To book, please ring or email us, and a link to the Monthly Luncheon will be provided.

We recommend that you connect 10 minutes before the event to ensure that you are able to view the presentation and that, for question time, your speakers and microphone work properly.

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Wominjeka (Welcome)

The Victorian State government has announced a landmark Stolen Generation Redress scheme to address the trauma and suffering caused by the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.

Announced by Premier Daniel Andrews, and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gavin Jennings, in March, the scheme will see $10 million invested towards a range of redress options.

“This is about delivering members of the Stolen Generation the recognition, respect and support they deserve; and acknowledging how deeply damaging this policy was for so many,” Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gavin Jennings said.

Premier Daniel Andrews recognised the scope of the redress. “We say sorry, but the words are not enough – redress is about tangible support for people who are still suffering, many years on from this horrific policy.”

“Despite the wrongs done to them, Aboriginal children, families and communities remain strong in their cultural heritage and identity – and we will be guided by their voices as we take action to right these wrongs.”

Redress options will include counselling support, payments, and funeral or memorial funds. The funding may also go towards assisting survivors in tell their stories and in ensuring that they are supported in making redress applications.

Acting under past state laws, Victorian authorities previously forcibly removed

many Aboriginal children from their families, creating what is today referred to as the ‘Stolen Generation’.

In 2018, a survey found many Stolen Generation members still suffer health, social and economic disadvantage, with up to 70 per cent relying on welfare and more than half living with disability or a chronic health condition.

Such a scheme was one of the key items raised at the first meeting of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, which was set up by the Andrews Labor Government to negotiate a framework for treaty.

The consultation process will begin this year, with the scheme to begin in 2021.

The current government is supportive of self-determination, and is putting Aboriginal Victorians at the centre of decision-making, ensuring that they have control of their own lives and their own futures. The Scheme will exist alongside other initiatives supporting Stolen Generation members like Connecting Home Limited and the Koorie Family History Service.

“We can’t change the past, but this will make an enormous difference to the lives of so many Aboriginal Victorians who were so badly treated by their state and nation,” says Attorney General Jill Hennessey.

Find out more about the redress scheme at: www.premier.vic.gov.au/righting-past-wrongs-with-stolen-generations-redress/

Victorian government implements a redress scheme for stolen generation

FIRST NATIONS

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SDG GoalsMonash Sustainable Development Institute Chair says work towards goals ‘not enough’

As Chairperson of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and ClimateWorks Australia, Professor John Thwaites knows firsthand the difficulties Australia has to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Professor Thwaites is the Chair of the National Sustainable Development Council, the author group of the Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report 2018, one of the few independently compiled reports to track Australia’s advancement towards the goals. Our Newsletter previewed the report and its mixed results in our July issue, noting two SDGs – SDG 10: Reduced Inequality and SDG13: Climate Action – were not ‘on track’ to meet the goals by 2030.

Professor Thwaites says little has changed since the release of the report. “I don’t have any reason to believe there’s been much change

but we haven’t updated the data since then. We are planning to update the data later this year. Then we’ll be in a position to assess any major changes.”

The report is a good “snapshot” of how Australia is performing and was well received by the community. Looking at the changes over the 15-year period (from 2000-2015), Professor Thwaites says, “I don’t feel there’s enough of an awareness in the national government regarding the SDGs and targets. There are areas of the government, particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade where there is good knowledge of the goals but we have seen little indication that federal government departments are working towards the goals. At the state level we have different states working towards the goals, for example the Victorian government has built in the goals into Plan Melbourne... but unfortunately there is very little utilisation of the goals by the national government.”

Professor Thwaites says the SDGs are a good framework for a post COVID-19 future. “I think the SDGs are a really good framework for government and businesses to use, because they cover all the key areas needed post-COVID-19 such as a healthy environment, successful economy and fair society. One of the risks that we face in our recovery from COVID-19 is that we might be too narrow in our focus and not focus on our long-term challenges. Yes we do have to focus on getting jobs going again but we also need to focus on the long term challenges of climate change, inequality, Indigenous imprisonment rates and our declining biodiversity. And the goals give us a framework to make better and smarter policies to meet those challenges.”

Australia, like all countries, has its own key obstacles in achieving the 17 goals, he says. “It is partly will and partly capacity. The

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Professor John Thwaites.

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biggest challenge in Australia is that there are significant vested interests that are opposing strong action on climate change. We are the world’s biggest coal exporter, we have a very big fossil fuel industry and they have been pretty powerful in influencing the national government to weaken its response on climate action. I think that is our single biggest challenge.

“If we look at the public’s attitude we see very strong support for climate action. In the last four to five years, we see more and more people believe there should be strong moves on climate action. That hasn’t been taken up by the national government and I think that’s because the fossil fuel industry has been very effective in lobbying government. Also, within the national government there has been a rump of climate deniers who seem to wield disproportionate power.

“In terms of other goals – social goals – there seems to be much more willingness to achieve the targets but a lot of the problems are entrenched. The biggest equity challenge is around Indigenous inequality, where we have a very big difference in health and educational outcomes, employment outcomes, Indigenous imprisonment and deaths in custody. This problem has been seemingly unresolvable for many years. And it seems we are going to have to work a lot harder, and try new things from those we have tried in the past.

“The real issue is to secure agreement across Australia about the big issues and potential solutions to them. While we do have a good bipartisan approach to COVID-19, we don’t have that towards climate change or some of the other issues. And it’s the lack of national agreement and level of conflict about some of these that makes it very difficult to solve them.”

Professor Thwaites says there is no one silver bullet or single breakthrough to progress the SDGs. “There are going to be many factors for different goals. For climate change we know that there needs to be a greater level of bipartisanship and a need for business to put pressure back on the government for stronger action. But in other areas, we don’t have the solutions and the problems are harder and more deep-seated, like those of Indigenous inequality. I think we have to partner closely with the Indigenous community and work with them to devise solutions to change this dreadful inequality that we see in Australia.”

Looking to the future, Professor Thwaites says the broader community can do much to extend the work of the SDGs. “We at Monash are working on a project localising the goals, and when you run the goals and targets past the community, they are really attracted to them. Local community members are able to translate the goals to their local situation. And we are seeing people using the goals to plan a future for their local community. I think that’s a really positive opportunity because the SDGs are a set of goals and targets which people around the world have agreed represent a vision for a world we all want.”

Find out more about the Monash Sustainable Development Institute: https://www.monash.edu/sustainable-development/sustainable-development

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

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InnovationResearchers discovering the past: ancient Aboriginal archaeological seabed preserved

Human history is being uncovered through new archaeological discoveries in Australian seabeds when water levels were much lower than today, uncovering the land where people once lived.

Archaeologists can only speculate about how people used those now-submerged lands, and if any traces remain today. A recent report in the journal PLOS ONE, was on the first submerged ancient Aboriginal archaeological site to be found on the seabed, in waters off Western Australia.

It is theorised that when people first arrived in Australia as early as 65,000 years ago, sea levels were roughly 80 metres lower than today. Fluctuating sea levels continued to fall as the global climate cooled. As the world headed into the last Ice Age, which peaked around 20,000 years ago, sea levels dropped to 130 metres lower than they are today.

Then between 18,000 and 8,000 years ago the world warmed up. Melting ice sheets resulted in sea levels rising and Tasmania was cut off from the Australian mainland around 11,000 years ago. New Guinea separated from Australia around 8,000 years ago.

This sea-level rise flooded 2.12 million square kilometres of land on the continental shelf surrounding Australia. Thousands of generations of people would have lived out their lives on these landscapes now under water.

Landscapes under water

Over the last four years a team of archaeologists, rock art specialists, geomorphologists, geologists, specialist pilots and scientific divers have been working on the Australian Research Council’s funded ‘Deep History of Sea Country Project’. Working in collaboration with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, it has worked to find and record

submerged archaeological sites off the Pilbara coast in Western Australia.

The team of specialists studied navigation charts, geological maps and archaeological sites located on the land to narrow down prospective areas before surveying the seabed using laser scanners mounted on small planes and high-resolution sonar towed behind boats.

In the final stage of research, a team of scientific divers conducted some underwater archaeological surveys to examine physically, record and sample the seabed.

Two underwater archaeological sites were discovered in the Dampier Archipelago. The first of these, Cape Bruguieres, has hundreds of stone artefacts, on the seabed at depths down to 2.4 metres. At the second site, in Flying Foam Passage, traces of human activity were discovered at a submerged freshwater spring located 14 metres below sea level, which included at least one confirmed stone cutting tool made from locally sourced material.

Research into these sites, consisting of environmental data and radiocarbon dating show these sites must have been older than 7,000 years when they were submerged by rising seas. The study shows archaeological

INNOVATION

Location maps of the study area and seabed sites.

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sites exist on the seabed in Australia with items belonging to ancient peoples undisturbed for thousands of years.

In Murujuga (also known as the Burrup Peninsula) this adds substantially to the evidence we already have of human activity and rock art production in this important National Heritage Listed place.

Our knowledge of ancient times in Australia comes from archaeological sites on land and from Indigenous oral histories. Still the first people to come to Australian shores were coastal people who voyaged in boats across the islands of Eastern Indonesia.

The early peopling of Australia occurred on land that is now under water and so to fully understand key questions in human history, as ancient as they are, researchers must turn to both archaeology and marine science.

These submerged archaeological sites are in danger of destruction by erosion and from development activities, such as oil and gas installations, pipelines, port developments, dredging, spoil dumping and industrialised fishing.

While international and domestic protections exist for such sites, difficulties exist with the protection of this site specifically. Internationally, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001) is adopted as law by more than 60 countries but is not ratified by Australia.

Similarly in Australia, the federal laws that protect underwater cultural heritage in Commonwealth waters have been modernised recently with the Historic Shipwrecks Act (1976) reviewed and re-badged as Australia’s Underwater Cultural Hertiage Act (2018), which came into effect in July 2019. This new Act fails to protect automatically all types

of sites and it privileges protection of non-Indigenous submerged heritage. For example, all shipwrecks older than 75 years and sunken aircraft found in Australia’s Commonwealth waters are given automatic protection.

There is scope for states and territories to protect submerged Indigenous heritage based on existing laws, but regulators have conventionally only managed the underwater heritage of more recent historical periods.

With the new discovery confirming that ancient Indigenous sites can be preserved under water, we need policy makers to reconsider approaches to protecting underwater cultural heritage in Australia. With the strong likelihood that many other submerged sites will be found in coming years, the challenge is to protect these archaeological sites now so that we can have a more complete account of our human past for the future.

Read the full story at: https://bit.ly/3feFiaX

Westward facing aerial view of Cape Bruguieres Channel at high tide (Photo: J. Leach); (below) divers record artefacts in the channel (Photos: S. Wright, J. Benjamin, and M. Fowler).

INNOVATION

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