Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue No 145
More pay for shiftworkers
Page 3
Mums learn new ways to
‘talk’ to their deaf children
Inter-Faculty carnival —
see back page
Some parts of the program are already being trialled by the Monnington Centre in Melbourne and the South Australian Department of Education.
“Textbooks for deaf education are all written from a hearing person’s perspective and are based on what we learn about the language development of hearing children,” Professor Mohay said.
“For example, the books will tell mothers to sit in front of the child where the child can see her — but we found that deaf mothers don’t do this.
“Deaf mothers sit behind the child and they curve their bodies around the side, so the child can see them and feel them at the same time.
“The deaf mother will let the child know that she is there by touching them: by letting them feel her legs behind them or she might just gently rub her fingers down their back.”
Professor Mohay said deaf mothers always ensured that their children were looking at them when they wanted to communicate.
“We found that deaf mothers start training their child from a very early age to look at them — they wave their hands in front of their face, or they have their own special ways in which they tap the child on the shoulder or arm,” she said.
“Deaf mothers will never grab the child’s face, which is what you sometimes see hearing parents with deaf children doing.”
Deaf mothers also reduced the need for their children to interrupt play activities when they wanted to talk to them, Professor Mohay said.
by Andrea Hammond
QUT researchers have devised a unique program to help mums communicate more easily with their deaf toddlers.
The home- and preschool-based project trains mums to use techniques that deaf mothers use intuitively with their children.
School of Early Childhood Associate Professor Heather Mohay said 95 per cent of children who were deaf had hearing parents.
“Deaf parents do not have difficulty communicating with their children but hearing parents who have deaf children have major problems,” she said.
“There is a huge breakdown in communication, starting when the children are just little babies — often before the hearing loss is diagnosed.
“We have looked at what deaf mothers do and have found they have lots of strategies which hearing mothers just do not use.
“They are mostly intuitive things. Some of them are quite simple, but they are really quite alien to hearing mothers.”
Six Brisbane families with deaf children from 12 months to three years will begin weekly home workshops with deaf
“trainer” mothers from April 15.
The sessions will be backed up with fortnightly play workshops and video- taped assessment at the Yeerongpilly Preschool Special Education Development Unit.
Professor Mohay will travel to the United States in August to discuss repeating the program, believed to be the first of its kind, at the Rochester Institute for the Deaf in New York.
Deaf toddler Robbie Burrows learns the sign for bird from teacher Leonie Miller (left) and his mum Marion Burrows
Continued on page 2 The ability of the Coalition
Government in Queensland to sustain proposed tax cuts has been called into question by QUT economist Associate Professor Marc Robinson.
Professor Robinson said cuts in grants to the states outlined by the Howard Government — coupled with a State policy position forbidding borrowing for social infrastructure in areas like health
— would undermine the feasibility of the proposed cuts.
“I believe the new Government has a very serious problem and I believe it will be accentuated greatly by the much-worsened financial position for the states which will result from the policies of the new Howard Government. It will undoubtedly make substantial cuts to state grants,” he said.
“Under those circumstances, I don’t see how Queensland’s Coalition Government will be able to deliver on its campaign rhetoric in the area of social infrastructure without massively resorting to private infrastructure proposals — which, in the long term, are usually more expensive for taxpayers — or tax increases.
“I don’t think the Coalition’s policy of cutting taxes now is at all sensible and I believe they will be forced to raise taxes because of the pressure from Commonwealth cuts.
“To be coming into office and implementing tax cuts runs the risk of making them look foolish when, as I think is inevitable, they have to start jacking up taxes in the not- too-distant future.
“It may even be as early as this year’s State Budget, depending on how severe the immediate Commonwealth cuts are.”
Professor Robinson said the Queensland Government was suffering from much the same obsession with debt which, he said, contributed greatly to the recent downfall of the Goss Government (see story page 2).
He said the Goss Government sowed the seeds of its own demise by refusing to use debt to fund spending in key areas like health, transport and economic infrastructure, despite rapid population growth.
“The recent statement by State Treasurer Joan Sheldon indicates there is less inflexible thinking in certain respects, but the new Government is still fundamentally stuck on the idea of no borrowing for social infrastructure,” Professor Robinson said.
“With this policy in place, the Queensland Government is staring down the barrel of the same infrastructure crisis which helped them wrest power from Labor.”
— Tony Wilson
Sheldon’s tax cuts
questioned
Hanson invited to sit in on ATSI class
Continued on page 4 Outspoken independent MP for
Oxley Pauline Hanson would have difficulty avoiding the accusation of bigotry, according to an expert in Australian studies from QUT.
But while Dr Adam Shoemaker, a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities, said such an accusation could reasonably be levelled in the face of Ms Hanson’s selectivity in singling out benefits paid to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, at the same time he extended to her a special invitation to attend one of QUT’s regular classes in Aboriginal and Islander studies.
Ms Hanson ignited a furore in the lead up to the March Federal election when she said the entitlement of indigenous people to certain benefits
amounted to discrimination against white people. The comments led to her being dumped by the Liberal Party as its candidate for Oxley which she won by a landslide in the subsequent March 2 poll.
Unrepentant about her earlier remarks, Ms Hanson recently branded the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) a “selfish minority group”.
Dr Shoemaker said that, amid the controversy which surrounded Ms Hanson’s continued comments, the point had been lost that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continued to be the most disadvantaged and marginalised group in the community.
April 16-29, 1996
Shortage of wardens
‘dangerous’
Page 5
Diversity Week on show
Page 14
Page 2 INSIDE QUT April 16-29, 1996
Vice-Chancellor’s comment
by Tony Wilson
A misguided obsession with eliminating debt may well have cost the Goss Government power in Queensland according to a QUT economist.
Associate Professor Marc Robinson said the obsession with debt led to an infrastructure crisis which gave the Coalition the key weapons for its election campaign.
“The Goss Government wedded itself to a policy of zero debt as the mainstay of its financial management strategy,” he said.
“I believe this was an over-reaction to the financial irresponsibility apparent under Labor governments in Victoria and South Australia in the 1980s.
“In Queensland there were two net results of this ultra-conservative policy
— firstly, there was an infrastructure crisis as funding for capital projects dried up with the health system being the most powerful example. Secondly, the Goss Government was forced to resort to a range of accounting subterfuges in order to maintain the illusion of a balanced budget.”
Professor Robinson said a reasoned analysis of Queensland’s economic position revealed the folly apparent in the Goss debt zealotry.
“In Queensland you have population growth at twice the national average.
It’s like having a large family — you need a bigger house.
“If you take the Goss line of not borrowing for housing — then the whole family ends up living in a caravan in order to remain financially prudent.
“It is patently crazy at an individual level and it is no more sensible at a State level.
Debt obsession brought down Goss Government – economist
generations with unfair debt. This is true if you are borrowing for current expenditure, but it makes no sense if you are borrowing for capital expenditure that will continue to generate benefits into the future.
“If you pursue the no-debt policy then what future generations will inherit is an infrastructure crisis — and that is evident even now.”
In the lead up to the July 15 State election, the Goss Government implemented a last-minute spending rush in key campaign areas — such as health — which the then Treasurer claimed was funded by “cold hard cash”, a claim refuted by Professor Robinson.
“I don’t know if the former Treasurer was deluding himself, but when you look at where the money came from it was anything but cold hard cash,” he said.
“Most of the funding for social infrastructure came from a dubious process in which corporatised Government assets were ‘recapitalised’.
“The Government looked at its corporatised assets — such as the Queensland Electricity Corporation — and saw that its debt-to-equity gearing was significantly lower than that of private enterprises.
“Government enterprises were encouraged to borrow money to increase their debt gearing which, it was alleged, would make them more competitive — the logic of which escapes me.
“These borrowings were then passed on to the government which claimed them as revenue and used them to fund infrastructure development.
“The Government was forced into this circuitous and deceptive ruse by its own debt policy,” Professor Robinson said.
From the Inside by David Hawke
Associate Professor Marc Robinson . . . over-reaction to financial irresponsibility elsewhere
“The point is that if your population is growing at a rapid rate, then you can afford to borrow more than a slow- growing state without any erosion of the financial position because the growth in your economy will generate the income down the track to service that debt.
“As long as you keep the proportion of your debt to State output at a moderate level and stop it growing out of control, as happened in Victoria, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Professor Robinson labelled the system of borrowing in the present to service future needs “intergenerational equity”.
“There is a widespread but profoundly mistaken idea that borrowing by states saddles future
. . . New ways to ‘talk’ to deaf children
Continued from page 1 in front of him or her, instead of making the child look up at her.”
Professor Mohay said it took hearing mothers a long time to learn the techniques to the point where they used them automatically.
“Hearing mothers read these strategies in books and they say ‘that’s obvious’, but they don’t do it, and that’s why we need to give them the video feedback,” she said.
“Then they can immediately see that they might have been talking when they were sitting behind the child, or that the
child didn’t see something they may have done, or the child looked at them and they forgot to respond. This program is not to teach sign language, it is simply to teach good communication skills. It doesn’t matter whether you are talking or signing.”
The two-year, $36,000 program is jointly funded by the Australian Research Council and the Queensland Education Department. It has also received support from the Victorian School for the Deaf.
“It is frustrating and a huge cognitive burden on the child if Mum is tapping them all the time,” she said.
“Deaf mothers have good ways of minimising that by placing their face or their hands so the child can see them, and the relevant object, at the same time.
“If the child is on the floor, the deaf mum will probably be lying on the floor with her face really close, or she will put her arms right around the child and sign
The important contribution of our part-time teaching staff
within universities. They have particular concerns and needs which must be understood and addressed, including access to facilities, staff development and appropriate conditions of employment.
At QUT, we have established a project to look at these needs using a survey, focus groups and selective interviews.
The project culminated in two conferences last month in which some 200 of QUT’s part-time teaching staff participated. The conferences gave part-time staff the opportunity to put forward proposals for improvements.
Some of the suggestions included an induction program for new staff, a special handbook or directory for part-time staff providing information about the university’s services and facilities, the development of a network for part-time staff and changes to the pay system.
The project team will finalise its report in May. The university will give close attention to its recommendations and will strive to ensure that part-time teaching staff receive the recognition and support due to them.
Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake Part-time teaching staff play an
important role at QUT, providing a bridge between the university and the professions, industry and government.
As befits a university which prides itself on the relevance of its courses and the employability of its graduates, QUT makes substantial use of part-time teachers, employing around 1,800 such staff across the faculties in various lecturing, tutorial and other teaching roles.
However, all too frequently part-time teaching staff can feel undervalued and marginalised
Public responds well to schizophrenia project
There has been an initial good public response of volunteers for a QUT research project into aspects of schizophrenia.
Over the past few weeks, the
$50,000 project has been seeking 60 volunteers who consider themselves in recovery from schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness affecting around 1 per cent of the population and is thought to be an interaction of biological, psychological and social causes.
It is normally first experienced in early adulthood and may impact on the quality of life throughout adult life.
To date people’s accounts of their recovery from schizophrenia have not been systematically studied.
The chief investigator on the QUT project, Dr Barbara Tooth, said those who volunteered would be interviewed and the factors they found helpful to their recovery identified.
Other members of the research team are Ms Helen Glover, Mr Sirous Momenzadeh and Dr Kalyanansundaram.
Dr Tooth said past research suggested the course of the disorder was more variable than first thought and the outcomes more positive.
Traditionally, she said, schizophrenia had been viewed as a serious mental illness, which had a poor prognosis, leading to progressive deterioration.
She said this view had influenced the types of services and interventions believed to be appropriate.
However, more recently there had
been much controversy about recovery from schizophrenia among mental health professionals.
Longitudinal studies reported in the late 1980s indicated a recovery or significant improvement rate of between 46 and 68 per cent of patients.
A recent review of the outcomes of studies conducted this century showed about a quarter of patients completely recovered and another 40 to 45 per cent made a social recovery.
However, patients’ accounts of what recovery meant for them and the factors they considered had led to their recovery had not been systematically analysed, Dr Tooth said.
She suggested there would be a number of major benefits which would flow from the project.
The aim, she confirmed, was to provide a comprehensive account of individual cases of recovery which might provide useful insights into factors that influenced the variable nature and course of the disorder.
She noted that schizophrenia sufferers had commented on the importance of recovery stories in restoring, promoting or maintaining their hope.
“Hope for people with mental illness is extremely important,” Dr Tooth said.
She said it would also increase understanding of recovery which had significant implications for not only former sufferers, but for health professionals, policy makers, health service providers and the wider community.
— Noel Gentner
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is seeking comments from a broad range of academic and research staff on a number of issues contained in its latest newsletter.
While the council recently sent copies of its newsletter to ARC grant and award recipients, it
has also established a web page on the Internet to reach a wider audience.
The information contained in ARC’s newsletter is available at h t t p : / / w w w . d e e t . g o v . a u / p u b s / a r c . h t m a n d r e s p o n s e s a r e required by Friday, April 19.
ARC calls for electronic
feedback from researcher s
A DVERTISEMENT
Japanese nutrition declines as Western diets bite
The Japanese people’s legendary reputation for good health and longevity is under threat from a nationwide trend towards high fat diets, according to a visiting professor.
Professor Takashi Hayakawa of Gifu University recently told staff and students attending a QUT School of Public Health seminar the Japanese diet was changing rapidly.
“The amount of fat is increasing and the amount of carbohydrates — and, therefore, dietary fibre — is decreasing,” Professor Hayakawa said.
“While it is well known that Japanese people have the longest life expectancy and a low incidence of coronary heart disease at the present time, such dietary trends are of concern
— particularly in relation to the type of fats consumed.”
Professor Hayakawa’s main interests are in the role of the B group of vitamins in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and amino acids.
Shiftworkers deserve more pay says expert
by Noel Gentner
He works with eminent biochemical nutritionist Professor Haruhito Tsuge at the Gifu University laboratories and has evaluated the Vitamin B6 content of the Japanese food supply.
“The role of Vitamin B6 in protein and carbohydrate metabolism is reasonably well understood,” he explained.
“In the laboratory we try to unravel the role of Vitamin B6 in fat metabolism — it seems to have a significant role to play in the synthesis of some of the essential, longer chain polyunsaturated fatty acids.”
Professor Hayakawa has also worked with two other top Japanese biochemical nutritionists, Professor Kazuo Iwai of the Kyoto University and Professor Satoshi Innami of the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
He visited QUT for 10 days before starting a five-month stint investigating resistant starch with Dr David Topping of the CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition in Adelaide.
— Andrea Hammond
Campus quickies
When the visual effects team from the hit Australian movie Babe strode onto the stage at the recent Academy Awards to collect the Oscar for best visual effects, QUT Academy of the Arts masters student Jane Maguire was in the audience cheering them on.
Ms Maguire was part of the Babe post-production team, spending 14 months as post-production co- ordinator on the worldwide smash Kennedy-Miller film.
The invitation to the Oscars came from the movie’s editors Jay Friedkin and Marcus D’Arcy with whom she worked closely.
“It was a real compliment to be invited,” Ms Maguire said, “and to know they have professional respect for me.”
Prior to the ceremony she said she thought Babe had a good chance of winning because of its universal appeal, but she could not be drawn on which categories.
“Even if it doesn’t win Best Picture, the film has been a success because people seem genuinely touched by the sentiment and the ideas it purveys,”
she said.
“The premise of Babe was to present an unprejudiced heart which appeals to a lot of people and strikes at a lot of current issues.
“The story and its themes break down barriers and people like that.”
Ms Maguire started her nine-year career in the film industry as an assistant editor on the Kennedy-Miller production The Year My Voice Broke.
Since then she has worked her way up through the industry ranks including various post-production roles for Kennedy-Miller classics.
These include the feature films Dead Calm and Lorenzo’s Oil and television programs Dirtwater Dynasty and Bangkok Hilton.
“Kennedy-Miller have very high standards as filmmakers,” she said.
“They push their teams to a high level of artistic excellence.”
She said that being surrounded by such accomplished people “always seemed to bring out the best in you”.
This year Ms Maguire has temporarily stepped out of the production scene to complete her Master of Fine Arts in directing at QUT’s Academy of the Arts.
“Editors, by their nature, are very closely involved with their directors,”
she said.
“This close association has given me great interest in directing as a craft.
“I’m concentrating on working with actors, the communication process involved and getting good performances from them.”
Ms Maguire is currently studying her craft with leading American theatre educator/director Robert Cohen, who is here to work on the QUT Academy of the Arts production of subUrbia. (see story page 7)
Postgraduate student on hand for ‘Babe’ Oscar win
QUT Academy of the Arts student Jane Maguire spent 14 months as post-production co-ordinator on the Oscar-winning film Babe
The number of employees working shiftwork in Australia is bound to increase, according to an international authority on the subject.
Organisational psychologist Dr Zander Wedderburn was in Brisbane late last month and addressed a seminar organised by QUT’s Australian Centre in Strategic Management and the Faculty of Business Research Advisory Service.
Dr Wedderburn — who is head of the Heriot-Watt University Business Organisation Department in Edinburgh — said any Australian company with capital-intensive plant would have to use that equipment to its best productivity potential.
“Most industries are under pressure from world markets and global competitiveness and Australia is well aware of this, being close to Asia and its competitive pressures,”
Dr Wedderburn said.
“You either have a declining economy because of the competitive lower-wage economies in Asia or you use your existing capital plant and equipment to its best advantage and that probably means morning and afternoon shifts for employees.”
He said that, in most countries, shiftworkers were a sizeable minority, generally around 10 to 20 per cent of the workforce.
The impact of shiftwork on individuals was not straight forward and, in many cases, was difficult to evaluate, he said.
Dr Wedderburn recently completed a study of the impact on shiftworkers at two factories in Britain.
“One factory had a large number of new employees on shiftwork and the other had people who had an average of 18 years’ experience of shiftwork,” Dr Wedderburn said.
“They thought we could not tell them anything, but there are several points where shiftworkers can learn.
“They drink a lot of coffee at night because they need to stay awake but when they go home to sleep, they don’t sleep too well.
“The same also applies to the drinking of tea and Coca-Cola because of the caffeine content. They should switch to decaffeinated alternatives five hours before sleep.
“Another is alcohol, which many shiftworkers believe helps them sleep, but it’s not a restful, refreshing sleep.”
He said a full report would be made to the companies in the near future.
Dr Wedderburn admitted he did not have all the answers on how to persuade shiftworkers to try new strategies for sleeping and eating. He said he hoped to carry out further investigations.
“There are many reasons and repercussions of the impact of shiftwork on people’s work, family and social life,” Dr Wedderburn said.
For this reason, he said, he believed shiftworkers were entitled to penalty payments.
“If you are working nights, you should work shorter hours or get paid slightly more or both,” Dr Wedderburn said.
He said penalty payments were justified for working hours outside the norm such as on weekends.
“Recently in Britain, one big super store cut its Sunday penalty payment from double time to time and a half for new employees,” Dr Wedderburn said.
“This has been quite controversial and has upset the unions.”
He said there was a trend in the United Kingdom where companies were buying out union membership and making individual contracts.
Dr Wedderburn said he saw a danger in this practice where hard- fought working conditions could be swept or nibbled away.
Mathematics professors are in the news at the moment making interesting contributions to higher education and the wider world.
Dr Tony Richardson is introduced on page 14 as a visiting professor. Professor Gavin Brown has been appointed as the new Vice-Chancellor of Sydney University. Our own Vice- Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson returns from Asia and Europe next week to review faculty and divisional performance and
annual reports. And then, of course, there’s that infamous and rather more dangerous maths professor, the unabomber.
***
Inside QUT journalists have encountered some dubious liberties taken with the English language of late: for example, “discussants”
meaning appointed participants in a discussion, and “detrain”, not as one might imagine from staff development, but from Queensland Rail — “detrain” meaning alight.
Page 4 INSIDE QUT April 16-29, 1996
Computer package
paves way to Montreal for Law lecturer
Q U T ’ s a w a r d - w i n n i n g C r i m s o n P a r r o t t e a c h i n g package will wing its way to M o n t r e a l f o r o n e o f t h e w o r l d ’ s m o s t p r e s t i g i o u s t e c h n o l o g y a n d l a w conferences.
T h e Q U T c o m p u t e r p a c k a g e i s t h e f i r s t o f i t s kind in Australia and will b e d e m o n s t r a t e d a t a n international conference in e a r l y J u l y b y F a c u l t y o f L a w s e n i o r l e c t u r e r I a n Wilson.
( T h e C r i m s o n P a r r o t package was designed and written by Mr Wilson and senior law lecturer Geraldine M a c K e n z i e , w i t h d i f f e r e n t aspects of its lessons written by several Faculty of Law staff.
It was put together with t h e e x p e r t i s e o f Q U T ’ s Computer Based Education U n i t a n d t h e E d u c a t i o n a l Television Unit.)
Mr Wilson is one of only 50 people worldwide invited to the biennial Substantive Technology in the Law School a n d L e g a l P r a c t i c e conference.
All conference delegates a r e e n g a g e d i n i n n o v a t i v e u s e s o f c o m p u t e r - b a s e d education in teaching law.
But only 15 delegates — including Mr Wilson — have been asked to give a paper at t h e 1 9 9 6 M o n t r e a l conference from July 4-6.
“Crimson Parrot and the p e o p l e w h o b u i l t i t a r e b e i n g r e c o g n i s e d a s b e i n g right up there with the rest of the world in computer- b a s e d e d u c a t i o n , ” M r Wilson said.
“In Australia this package is unique, there is nothing to compare it to.”
M r W i l s o n s a i d a “ r e a l t e a m e f f o r t ” b y Q U T h a d e n s u r e d t h a t t h e p a c k a g e would be showcased to the world at large.
He said his paper would f o c u s o n t h e i s s u e s a n d p r o b l e m s i n d e s i g n i n g multimedia computer-based education.
“ I ’ l l b e d e m o n s t r a t i n g f e a t u r e s o f t h e C r i m s o n P a r r o t a s a n e x a m p l e o f quality outcomes.”
Mr Wilson said more than 1 , 0 0 0 s e c o n d - , t h i r d - a n d f o u r t h - y e a r Q U T l a w s t u d e n t s u s e d t h e multimedia tutorial package t h r o u g h c o m p u t e r workstations in the library and Faculty of Law.
The package was designed around a fictional fight in a b a r c a l l e d t h e C r i m s o n P a r r o t , h e e x p l a i n e d , a n d covered evidence, criminal l a w , c i v i l p r o c e d u r e a n d succession.
H e s a i d i n t e r a c t i v e tutorials allowed students to view the fight, move to the s u b s e q u e n t c o u r t r o o m drama and access the judge’s rulings and feedback.
T h e y a l s o s e r v e d a s primary sources of relevant law cases and statutes, he added.
T h e C r i m s o n P a r r o t p a c k a g e w o n t h e 1 9 9 5 Q u e e n s l a n d I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y a n d Telecommunications Award for excellence in education and training.
— Andrea Hammond
Life Science explores Fijian fish options
by Noel Gentner
It’s banned, it’s considered a pest in Queensland and it’s the subject of a research project being conducted at QUT.
It is the fish tilapia but, with a touch of irony, QUT researchers are helping to develop an aquaculture industry based on tilapia for the Department of Fisheries in Fiji.
Researchers at the School of Life Science recently completed the first stage of the project which has been funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Project leader Dr Peter Mather said the first stage took three years and support was now being sought from the ACIAR for a second stage of the project.
Dr Mather said one of the big problems in Fiji was that people relied on marine fisheries to provide significant amounts of their protein.
However, he said, marine fisheries had declined drastically owing to overfishing and, to a lesser extent, pollution and exploitation by other fishing nations.
A large proportion of the Fijian population also lived inland and had limited alternative protein sources apart from fish.
“We are looking at trying to develop a system to supplement the demand on marine fish protein with freshwater fish,” Dr Mather said. “We took two directions, using genetic markers to characterise the tilapia strains, to examine their strain quality and to determine how different they were from each other.”
He said the school’s studies had showed that tilapia strains in Fiji were relatively pure and had not been compromised by introgression of genes between stocks.
“The second direction involved field trials in conjunction with the
Department of Fisheries in Fiji which involved integrated and non-integrated farming systems,” he said.
Dr Mather said the research identified a Thai strain commonly known as Nile tilapia which would do best under Fijian conditions.
He said the Nile strain was a relatively rapidly growing freshwater fish with three or four crops possible from a single pond a year.
“The strain has a three- to four- month growth cycle from fingerling to 200 to 300 gram weight,” Dr Mather said.
“The fish require very little pond maintenance and they can utilise basically whatever resources are available from unfertilised ponds to pelleted feeds.”
Fijian authorities were also investigating the possibility of using former rice paddies as tilapia ponds.
A United Nations-funded rice paddy project on coastal flats proved to be a failure.
A considerable amount of time, effort and money was used to produce rice only to find they could import it from South-East Asia at half the cost of production.
“The rice paddy fields are basically lying as waste land,” Dr Mather said.
The second stage of the tilapia project will involve taking the Nile strain through genetic selection.
Dr Mather said the process would entail selection of the best growth performers over a five-generation period for a controlled study and, at the same time, maintain an unselected group for comparison purposes.
“These sorts of experiments have been very successful in changing the characteristics in animal husbandry and, in recent years, have been very
successful with salmon in Scandinavian countries,” Dr Mather said.
“Norwegians have achieved a 60 to 70 per cent improvement in growth response for salmon through selective- breeding programs.
“Aquaculture species which have not had a long history of exposure to genetic improvement provide good opportunities to record big gains in productivity over relatively short timeframes.”
Dr Mather said Fijian authorities had visions of tilapia fisheries providing a significant proportion of fish protein in the next 10 years.
He said they also believed there would be an opportunity to set up an export market in whole or filleted tilapia which were acceptable for eating in both Eastern and Western nations.
Despite being outlawed in Queensland tilapia may represent a future economic boon for Fiji
comments were not bigoted when, against all the evidence, she held fast to the belief that indigenous Australians received a raft of special benefits from the government.
“No matter how much you say it, some people prefer to believe in a myth, rather than embrace the truth,” Dr Shoemaker said.
“So when Pauline Hanson states, for example, that Aboriginal people get‘special treatment’ because they get Hepatitis B shots that no-one else received for free, she is just dead wrong.
“Anyone with children knows that all vaccinations — for diphtheria, tetanus and so on — are absolutely 100 per cent free.
“Ms Hanson fails to see that the reason indigenous children are automatically offered the Hep-B vaccination is because more than 30 per cent of Aboriginal babies have contracted the disease in recent years.
“But anyone else in the community who is at risk will also be given the same shot free of charge — regardless of race.”
Dr Shoemaker said Ms Hanson’s inflammatory comments appealed to a level of ignorance in the community about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and entitlements in general.
“Her argument is like someone saying that elderly people have unfair privileges because doctors recommend that they should have influenza shots. If that is
‘special treatment’, we should have more of it, not less!
“If you took Ms Hanson’s argument to its logical conclusion you would do away with age pensions, disability allowances and repatriation hospitals for returned service people.
“All of these are groups which receive unique entitlements.”
Dr Shoemaker said that, while it was never desirable to incite racial conflict, Ms Hanson’s comments had at least helped bring the issues into the public arena.
“The only positive thing you can say about the whole affair is that her actions have brought these issues out of the closet.
Now these things can be dealt with directly rather than having them simmering away in the background.”
He said he would be interested to see whether Ms Hanson would be willing to attend a class in Aboriginal and Islander studies at QUT.
“I understand she would be very busy at the moment but, to me, that would be marvellous. It would show she was open to change and she would be learning something from the experience.”
— Tony Wilson
“This is a point that no-one can dispute,” he said.
“Yet the really disturbing aspect of her campaign for office was the way in which she exploited the issue of this amorphous amount of money allegedly spent on Aboriginal people.
“In outback communities, much of this is spent providing basic services and infrastructure we take for granted everywhere else in Australia. This includes the provisions of schools, health care, sewerage and electricity which are funded through ATSIC and would not be provided any other way.
“She has missed this point entirely.”
In fact, Dr Shoemaker said, it was difficult to see how Ms Hanson’s
Continued from page 1
. . . Member for Oxley invited to sit in on ATSI class
The repercussions of the recent beef scare in the United Kingdom could have some short- to medium-term positive effects for the Australian beef industry if opportunities are seized, according to a university academic.
However, Dr Mark McGovern, an economics lecturer in QUT’s School of Marketing and International B u s i n e s s , w a s c r i t i c a l o f t h e Australian beef industry’s lack of p o s i t i v e a c t i o n i n r e l a t i o n t o potential increases in beef exports to Europe.
“Australia has some of the highest- quality beef in the world and we are selling it as if it’s junk food,” Dr McGovern said.
“If the Australian beef industry is to take advantage of this British Mad Cow Disease outbreak, they will have to get their act together far more than they have at the moment.
“So far, there have been comments from the Deputy Prime Minister through to the Cattle Council of Australia that there are quotas in
place in Europe, but there does not s e e m t o b e a d r i v e , a r e a l determination to capture some of the market.”
Dr McGovern said quotas were t h e r e f o r t h e c o n v e n i e n c e o f Europeans and if there was a genuine shortfall there would be no problems with quotas.
“ W e n e e d t o b e c o m e m o r e organised and really start to be serious about selling our beef rather than just sit back and hope the Europeans will be kind with the quota system,” Dr McGovern said.
He said the beef industry kept talking about marketing but it did not seem to believe in its own product.
The image of Australian beef needed to be promoted as a premium product.
“Australia does not use growth promotants and is essentially free of major diseases,” Dr McGovern said.
“It is best placed of all suppliers to increase beef sales in Europe.
“A sharply focused Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation
should be up there promoting our beef to take advantage of the British problems.
“But we are not really taking advantage of it.
“Basically, let the politicians talk politics but we need a commercial push from within the industry.
“Meatworks themselves could probably go directly to the British market and I think some of the more astute meatworks will do that and be in there selling their product.”
Overseas reports show that the disease was first noted among dairy cows in Great Britain in 1985.
Dubbed Mad Cow Disease by the B r i t i s h P r e s s , b y 1 9 9 0 B o v i n e Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) had claimed the lives of just under 20,000 cows.
The British Government has conceded the deaths of at least 10 people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), an incurable brain disease, were likely to be connected to the consumption of beef products infected with BSE.
Dr McGovern said another important factor was consumer confidence.
He said consumer confidence had to be restored in Britain otherwise people would reject beef, no mater where it came from.
“Vegetarian groups will argue eating beef is bad and, of course, some are pushing this line because they believe it, and the Mad Cow Disease has reinforced their opinion,” he said.
Dr McGovern said he doubted whether the present situation in B r i t a i n ’ s b e e f i n d u s t r y w o u l d influence world beef prices to a significant extent.
There could be some short-term benefit, he said, but it would not t u r n a r o u n d t h e f u n d a m e n t a l problems of the industry.
“In terms of marketing quality, hygiene and food security, Australia could — if it got its act together — become the preferred supplier to the world in a couple of years, rather than just another meat exporter,” Dr McGovern said.
— Noel Gentner
Opportunities from UK beef crisis fail to stir locals
A VERTISEMENT
Fertility research may hold key to cancer questions
c o n s u m e r , t r a d e u n i o n a n d activist networks.
“ T h e c o m m i t t e e ’ s j o b i s t o provide two-way communication between these networks and the N R A , ” P r o f e s s o r H a z l e h u r s t explained.“This means that the N R A w i l l t a k e a c c o u n t o f c o m m u n i t y i n t e r e s t s a n d c o n c e r n s a s i t m a n a g e s t h e National Registration Scheme.
“On the other hand, committee m e m b e rs wi ll wo r k t o en sur e their own networks are better informed about the NRA and get a real chance to influence the way agricultural and veterinary chemicals are regulated.”
He said the committee’s terms of reference were specifically to:
T h e b o a r d o f t h e N a t i o n a l R e g i s t r a t i o n A u t h o r i t y f o r A g r i c u l t u r a l a n d V e t e r i n a r y Chemicals (NRA) has appointed QUT Humanities head Professor Cameron Hazlehurst as the chair f o r i t s n e w C o m m u n i t y Consultative Committee.
Professor Hazlehurst — who h a s a s t r o n g b a c k g r o u n d i n communication, public service and universities — chaired the f i r s t f u l l m e e t i n g o f t h e committee in early March in Canberra.
He said other members of the NRA’s Community Consultative Committee were drawn from a r a n g e o f f a r m i n g , r u r a l w o m e n ’ s , e n v i r o n m e n t a l ,
which is potentially life-threatening for pregnant women — and can result in birth defects. About one in eight pregnancies suffer from varying degrees of this condition.”
Dr Harvey said the actions of these two genes could become a focus for identifying causes of infertility.
“An improper relationship between embryo and womb could well be one of the major causes of infertility — we really don’t know the cause of 60 per cent of infertility cases, but it may be related to this.
“It would be good if we could find out those factors which control these two genes and identify the level of expression of MMP-9 and TIMP-3 in infertility cases and in cases of over- invasion by the baby’s placental cells.
“Perhaps we can find a way to regulate the process to ensure a successful implantation.”
Dr Harvey said it was his collaboration with cancer researchers that provided the stimulus for his research.
Couples around the world with infertility concerns may benefit from research being undertaken at QUT.
Dr Mark Harvey, a researcher from the School of Life Science, has identified two genes — one given off by the embryo and the other by the uterus — which control the implantation of the embryo into the womb.
“My work has essentially shown the importance of these particular genes.
One is expressed by the embryo to produce a protein called MMP-9 which allows the embryo to burrow and another in the womb which produces an inhibitor called TIMP-3 which stops the embryo from invading too far,” Dr Harvey said.
“If there is insufficient expression of the first gene, pregnancy does not establish. If there is too little of the second, the embryo can invade too far, resulting in a placental cancer.
“Sometimes the embryo burrows in enough to establish but not really deep enough. This results in a range of diseases including pre-eclampsia —
“An implanting embryo invading the womb actually behaves in the same way as a cancer. The trophoblast cells of the baby’s placenta are actually the most invasive cancer-type cells we know of.
“It’s nice to do work on implantation because it is the only model where we know that we have these cancer cells which get turned off. This can give us an insight into the behaviour of cancer cells and how we can inhibit them from spreading.”
He said the future of the research would lie in identifying the factors which controlled the actions of these two genes.
“The research could also influence the development of future contraceptives. No implantation means no pregnancy. We can look at controlling the factors, probably hormonal, which control the actions of the genes or we can look at targeting the genes directly.”
Dr Harvey’s research is being funded by a grant from the QUT Meritorious Grants Scheme. There is also a funding application pending with the National Health and Medical Research Council.
— Tony Wilson
Critical shortage of fire wardens poses safety threat
Mr Hudson was appointed as QUT’s first Fire Protection Officer in July last year, having earlier served as a professional firefighter with the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade for 15 years including a secondment with the Victorian Police’s Arson Squad.
Before starting at QUT, Mr Hudson also spent a number of years as the Fire Control Officer at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre at Wacol.
As Fire Protection Officer, Mr Hudson wears a number of hats at QUT.
He is responsible for recruiting and training floor and building wardens across the university, he has statutory obligations under the Workplace Health and Safety and the Fire acts to document fire incidents, he liases with architects to ensure buildings and
“Once they have the people out of the building, they are responsible for crowd control to ensure roads and access ways are kept clear for emergency services personnel. At no time are they ever to put themselves in any danger — that sort of thing is only for professionals.”
Mr Hudson said he needed people across the university to take on the role in a voluntary capacity, as volunteers were more highly motivated than people delegated to such a job.
“People have to undertake some initial training which lasts about four hours,” he said.
“After that, apart from their role during a drill or emergency, all that is required is a quick walk around their area once a month to check that fire- fighting equipment and emergency procedure signage is in order and that no new hazards have surfaced.”
Mr Hudson said it was important to check equipment regularly because in addition to routine wear and tear, theft of extinguishers had been a problem.
“Unfortunately there are some selfish, ignorant people who steal fire extinguishers for use in their homes or boats. Not only are they costly to replace, but their absence in an emergency puts lives at risk.”
Mr Hudson also needs staff and students to report all fires to him so proper action can be taken in high risk areas.
“My definition of a fire is anything that emits flame or smoke. This includes, for example, an electrical appliance shorting out,” he said.
“People may think this is insignificant but all big fires start as small ones and I would rather know where the small ones were occurring.”
by Tony Wilson
QUT’s Fire Protection Officer John Hudson is fanning the flames of fire awareness in a bid to make the university’s staff and students as safe from fire and other emergencies as possible.
And he is willing to use all tools at his disposal to get the message across.
Mr Hudson said one of his pet hates was people who failed to take fire drills and other emergency procedures seriously.
“Some people think drills are a waste of their time and actively subvert the process by hiding or flatly refusing to obey the instructions of floor and building wardens,” he said.
“What they don’t realise is that, under the provisions of the Workplace Health and Safety Act, those who fail to comply with a lawful instruction from a designated emergency officer
— and if it can be shown that this has led to an injury — can be up for substantial fines or, in extreme cases, even imprisonment.
“And rest assured that if I thought the situation was grave enough, I would have no hesitation in taking action to have offenders prosecuted.”
renovations comply with fire regulations and is in regular contact with the fire brigade and other emergency services to ensure they are familiar with the university’s campuses.
“It is quite a big job for one person and that is why I rely on floor and building wardens to be my eyes and ears on each campus,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there is a critical shortage of people to fill these roles. I think some people are put off because they don’t really understand what is required of them.
“First and foremost I want to emphasise that these wardens are not fire fighters. Their job is to evacuate as many people from their area of responsibility as quickly and safely as possible in the event of an emergency.
Fire Protection Officer John Hudson (right) …‘All big fires start as small ones and I want to know where the small ones are occurring’
Research by Dr Mark Harvey may unlock one of the riddles of infertility and offer insights into cancer treatment at the same time
Professor Hazlehurst said the new committee realised it could not possibly represent the entire community, but it would seek to progressively extend the reach o f t h e N R A ’ s c o m m u n i t y consultations.
H o w e v e r , h e s a i d , t h e C o m m u n i t y C o n s u l t a t i v e Committee’s existing links to organisations such as the ACTU;
farmers’, graziers’ and grain- growers’ associations; Landcare and land use groups; consumer groups; national, state and local e n v i r o n m e n t a l g r o u p s ; t o x i c c he m ic a l an d spe c i a l i nt e r e st groups; as well as rural welfare and support groups would be a useful start.
a n i m a l w e l f a r e a n d s o c i a l issues concerning agricultural a n d v e t e r i n a r y c h e m i c a l products;
• i n f o r m t h e c o m m u n i t y o f matters relating to agricultural and veterinary chemicals;
• r e p o r t t o t h e N R A o n t h e effects on the community of the use and misuse of agricultural and veterinary chemicals;
• recommend to the NRA further w o r k w h i c h m i g h t b e undertaken to resolve issues of community concern relating to t h e r e g i s t r a t i o n a n d u s e o f a g r i c u l t u r a l a n d v e t e r i n a r y chemical products; and
• advise on matters referred to it by the NRA.
• c o m m u n i c a t e c o m m u n i t y views to the NRA on scientific, h e a l t h , e n v i r o n m e n t a l , t e c h n o l o g i c a l , e c o n o m i c , Professor Cameron Hazlehurst
Hazlehurst chairs national chemical consultation committee
QUT’s Fire Protection Officer, John Hudson, can be reached either on
(07) 3864 5462 or via the central security monitoring station on
(07) 3864 5585.
Page 6 INSIDE QUT April 16-29, 1996
It’s time for class at the One Teacher School Museum at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus as education officer Dallas Langdon rounds up visiting Woodridge State High School students
Research team to track coal ‘cyclones’
Moët winner off to France
Brisbane artist and QUT graduate and tutor Judith Kentish has been named the 10th Fellow of the Moët &
Chandon Australian Art Foundation.
The prestigious fellowship, which i s a c c o m p a n i e d b y a $ 5 0 , 0 0 0 cheque, will allow Ms Kentish to spend a year painting in a studio located on the grounds of Dom Perignon’s abbey at Hautvillers in the Champagne district of France.
She leaves in June.
Ms Kentish was awarded the fellowship on the strength of Breath Carapace, her entry in the Moët touring exhibition. The work is constructed around a two-metre, 64- page, computer-mediated photocopy.
Ms Kentish graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Arts — Visual Arts with honours in 1992.
by Gina Pickering
QUT’s Signal Processing Research Centre (SPRC) is working to save Australia’s $10 billion coal industry big money by improving its process control systems.
Professor Boualem Boashash has just begun his $132,000 project with the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) and said he was delighted by the program’s prospects.
His initial funding proposal was upgraded by almost $50,000 at ACARP’s request.
The project aimed to improve the efficiency of coal processing plant, Professor Boashash said.
With trials to be conducted at the Idemitsu South Old Coal Co. near Ipswich, the SPRC will be supported by Dr David Hornsby of ACIRL Ltd
who originated the idea for the project.
He said initial research would concentrate on equipment called “dense medium cyclones”, where problems existed and solutions would be trialled.
At the moment, he said, the cyclones separate coal and impurities, but up to 2 per cent of the total yield — which, over time, can be worth millions of dollars — are lost in the process due to poor feed distribution between adjacent cyclones.
Professor Boashash plans to “listen in” to help find answers.
“Our research team will be recording the noise of the machines in order to predict how each is functioning, then we’ll build an analysing package which will not only let us know what’s happening in the machines, but will also be able to present it on a screen for users,” Professor Boashash explained.
This is the first time Professor
Boashash has applied electronics expertise to the mining industry.
Previously his expertise was more at home in the Australian Defence Force’s sonar technology area.
He also played a crucial role in developing algorithms for Australia’s over- the-horizon, early-warning radar system.
Professor Boashash admits there will be challenging problems to tackle before his team can successfully write the programs which will see coal processing improved.
“First we’ll need to separate the different noise and vibration components, then show their relationship in terms of coal quality, and then, once we’ve done that, we’ll have to build a system that will automatically extract these parameters and present them on-line in a user- friendly manner,” he said.
Academic staff and postgraduate students working in QUT’s SPRC will be used as research consultants on the project which could significantly change coal processing and profits for Australian industry.
“If you make an improvement of just 1 per cent in this industry it is worth millions because of the amount of coal that is processed and because there are more than 50 plants across Australia.”
Professor Boashash said he was 90 per cent confident about the success rate of his efforts and said he expected to have a prototype system built at QUT’s SPRC within a year.
“From there we will build an analysing package which will allow us to make on-line decisions based on what is happening during the process.”
High school students step back in time
Woodridge State High School students swapped pens and pencils for chalks and slates when they visited the One Teacher School Museum at QUT at the end of last month.
The Year 8 students took a trip back to the turn of the century when they attended a lesson in the authentic
country school with the museum’s education officer Dallas Langdon dressed in period costume.
After a session in the past, the 18 students looked to the future, with a tour of the campus and the library to see the latest in computer technology and CD-Roms. The students also visited the QUT rainforest and had a chance to
ask Education students questions about study and university life.
Organised by QUT School of Cultural and Policy Studies associate professor Sandra Taylor, the tour was conducted under the Network of Exchange — Universities & Schools (or NEXUS) program which aims to demystify university.
The One Teacher School Museum is always on the lookout for any period paraphernalia such as slates, copybooks or inkwells to enhance the museum’s collection. The museum will properly conserve any contributions.
E n q u i r i e s t o J o c ylen L ee o n (07) 3864 3695
— Andrea Hammond The information superhighway has
a new student-produced news service thanks to a dedicated team of QUT journalism students.
Students, academics and “net surfers” from all around the world can now access the QUT journalism student newspaper Communique Online.
The newspaper, produced entirely by final-year journalism students since the 1970s, has been published only in paper form until now.
Editor Shane McLeod said putting the newspaper online meant that a large number of people could find out what was going on at QUT.
“It means we’ve gone from a potential audience of 30,000 QUT students and staff, to more than 20 million Internet users worldwide,”
he said.
“And being one of Australia’s first student newspapers online means we are going into unmarked territory.”
Journalism lecturer Carolyn Varley said the small number of final-year journalism students this semester had forced a rethink about publishing regular hard-copy editions.
She said Communique would only come out once in hard copy this semester.
“Going online means that we can publish regularly and use the extra features of publishing on the World Wide Web — including hypertext links and colour photographs,” she said.
Communique is published every second Friday and features stories written by second- and third-year students as classroom assignments.
Editing, layout and design are finalised by final-year students who oversee the production process.
Journalism co-ordinator Associate Professor Len Granato said the School of Media and Journalism had embraced the Internet and World Wide Web as valuable educational tools.
“Our new web site contains l i n k s t o i m p o r t a n t p o l i t i c a l , government and social institution sources for our student journalists as they go about the business of gathering information for stories,”
he said.
• QUT Journalism’s web site can be found at
http://www.maj.arts.qut.edu.
au/jour/
• Communique Online can be found at
http://www.maj.arts.qut.edu.
au/jour/pubs/col/
Students publish
’Net news service
In its first step toward supporting family planning education in the community, QUT has taken a leading role in redeveloping a sex education course with the Family Planning Association (FPA).
Faculty of Education Learning and Development lecturer Tony Burton said QUT, in collaboration with FPA, had revised and upgraded the association’s sex
education course to the level where it met QUT’s requirements for a master’s-level study unit while fulfilling the association’s goals.
Mr Burton said the new course — which had been reshaped to specifically attract teachers who can have their coursework assessed and credited by the university — would be trialled in the break prior to second semester.
involved in assessment processes for the course, he said.
“I think it is important for QUT to be seen to be involved in community groups and their projects in order to help them e s t a b l i s h a c o l l a b o r a t i v e a c a d e m i c a n d p r a c t i c a l l y a p p r o p r i a t e p r o g r a m , ” M r Burton said.
— Gina Pickering
Sex education course lifted to tertiary level
“QUT feels comfortable co- delivering this course and it has given us exposure to a marketplace of students who may do a unit of family planning and claim 12 credit points towards a Master of Education,” Mr Burton said.
The quality of the new course would parallel any master’s degree offered by the university and he would continue to be heavily
by Emmeline Stacey*
A former beatnik-turned-world- leading-director is set to challenge QUT actors in their controversial production of the gritty New York stageplay subUrbia.
Director Dr Robert Cohen — described as one of the most influential theatre educators worldwide — is usually Professor of Drama at the Irvine campus of the University of Claifornia but is at QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus to work with Academy of the Arts students.
A former Fifties’ Beatnik and member of the Sixties’ “love generation”, Dr Cohen is directing third-year students in rehearsals of the hard-edged Eric Bogosian play which draws heavily on Nineties’ youth issues.
Originality being his trademark, Dr Cohen extends the traditional methods of acting by combining the dynamics of character relationships with character states and personalities.
Dr Cohen, a prominent author of theatre textbooks and theatre reviewer for Plays International, is known for his rigorous and active training schedules.
“This is a major part of the change in the way today’s actors achieve results,” Dr Cohen said.
Dr Cohen describes Bogosian’s controversial characters as
“burnouts” — youth with nothing to
Visiting director shares lifetime of experience with Academy students
fight for — in contrast to their Fifties’
and Sixties’ counterparts.
“Fundamentally, it is my goal to have it appear that the characters not only say the lines, but think them as well.”
Seven public performances of subUrbia will run from May 3 to 11 at
the Woodward Theatre, Kelvin Grove campus. Students pre-booking tickets through QUT Guild shops will only have to pay $6 a head (normally $10).
*Emmeline Stacey, a trainee UK journalist, prepared this copy for Inside QUT.
Renowned US director Dr Robert Cohen shares some
characterisation tips with two of the final-year Academy drama students appearing in Eric Bogosian’s play subUrbia
Agreements certified by IRC
Enterprise bargaining agreements for academic and general staff at QUT have been certified by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
The 2 per cent salary increases provided for in the agreements, backdated to August 1 1995, will be paid in instalments, with the final instalment due in early May.
Matildas for Academy
Academy of the Arts drama lecturer Sean Mee last month received a p r e s t i g i o u s M a t i l d a A w a r d r e c o g n i s i n g h i s s u s t a i n e d contribution to Queensland Theatre for more than 20 years.
T h e M a t i l d a s a r e a w a r d e d annually by Brisbane’s print media theatre critics to theatre workers judged to have made the greatest contribution to the local scene over the previous year.
Q U T A r t s g r a d u a t e s A n d r e w Buchanan, Deborah Mailman, Liz Buchanan, Barbara Fordham and Elise Greig were also honoured for their contributions.
Education team to tackle curriculum leadership
Four staff members from the Faculty o f E d u c a t i o n ’ s S c h o o l o f Professional Studies have won a competitive tender to undertake research in the area of curriculum l e a d e r s h i p f o r t h e Q u e e n s l a n d Education Department.
The team — Associate Professor Bob Elliott, senior lecturer Ian Macpherson and lecturers Tania Aspland and Christine Proudford — will conduct their research on behalf of the Department’s Centre for Leadership Excellence.
QUT tops the bill at Arts
QUT students and staff feature heavily in a thoroughly modern r e n d i t i o n o f t h e 1 9 2 0 ’ s S a n d y Wilson play The Boy Friend.
The play, which opened at the Arts Theatre in Petrie Terrace on A p r i l 1 2 , f e a t u r e s G r a d u a t e D i p l o m a i n C o m m u n i c a t i o n student Kristy Wilson in the lead role of Polly (a part brought to life o n B r o a d w a y i n 1 9 5 7 b y J u l i e Andrews).
The public relations major is joined by QUT Academy of the Arts first-year student John Clifton who plays the swanky American, B o b b y , w h i l e s e c o n d - y e a r Academy student Bridget Boyle plays Lady Brockhurst.
Recent Business graduate Justin Thomson is in the all-singing, all- d a n c i n g c h o r u s , w h i l e s e n i o r lecturer in statistics Rodney Wolff i s m u s i c a l d i r e c t o r o f t h e production.
I n t h e o r c h e s t r a u n d e r M r W o l f f ’ s b a t o n a r e t h i r d - y e a r Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering student James Moody a n d f i r s t - y e a r S c i e n c e s t u d e n t Matthew Davis.
Directed by Len Crook, The Boy Friend will play evenings from Wednesday to Saturday until May 18. For further details, call (07) 3864 2344.
Expo to make most of workplace diversity
T h e E q u a l O p p o r t u n i t y P r a c t i t i o n e r s ’ A s s o c i a t i o n o f Queensland (EOPA) will hold its o n e - d a y E E O E x p o 1 9 9 6 o n Thursday, April 18.
Supported by QUT, the expo will be held in the auditorium and foyer of 111 George Street from 9 . 3 0 a m t o 4 . 3 0 p m w i t h a c o n t i n u o u s p r o g r a m o f f e r i n g access to good business practice d e m o n s t r a t i o n s , t r a i n i n g i n f o r m a t i o n , c o n s u l t a n t s , r e s o u r c e s a s w e l l a s t h e opportunity to network with other practitioners.
For more information, call (07) 3892 1211.
Aerobics champs vie for State title
Some of QUT’s fittest sportspeople will strut their stuff this Sunday at the Northern Conference University S p o r t s A s s o c i a t i o n ( N C U S A ) Aerobics Championships.
Q U T e n t r a n t s w i l l t a k e o n c o m p e t i t o r s f r o m o t h e r S t a t e universities in their bid to take out the title of NCUSA State Aerobics Champion at the event, to be staged at City Rowers Nightclub from 9.30am.
People interested in competing can contact Sandy Larsen at the Fitness Centre on (07) 3864 2945.
Students seek casual work
Q U T S t u d e n t G u i l d ’ s C a s u a l Employment Service has a database of students who are prepared to work a t s h o r t n o t i c e o n m a i l o u t s , furniture moving, data entry, child minding or just about any task.
For further details, call Sarah on (07) 3864 5508 or Ros on (07) 3864 5511.
In Brief
Former QUT Adjunct Professor of Architecture, Noel Robinson, reflects on his challenging international and local briefs including Japan’s tallest building in Osaka
Former adjunct professor expands Japanese horizons
by Tony Wilson
The citizens of the Japanese metropolis of Osaka will be able to enjoy a little bit of Australia in the heart of their city if the vision of Brisbane architect and QUT graduate Noel Robinson comes to fruition.
Mr Robinson recently presented a feasibility study for what will become Japan’s tallest building, the plans for which incorporated an Aussie-themed retailing and entertainment centre.
The plans allow for a 70- to 80- storey tower with a 600-room hotel and 45 storeys of offices to be set on top of an elevated park.
“Under the park will be the retail/
entertainment complex which will include a wave machine from Bondi Beach, possibly Australian flora and fauna and a food hall dispensing typically Australian fare, including meat pies,” Mr Robinson explained.
“We also plan to attract Australian retailers like Ken Done and to have an area for exhibitions and facilities to sell Australian tourism.”
The park upon which the building would sit would reflect the wide open spaces of Australia and represent a departure from traditional Japanese urban design, he said.
“The tower will incorporate three sky gardens which will be double- storey spaces where people can eat and relax, meditate and take in the view.”
Mr Robinson said the project was being developed for Japanese client Mr Takahashi by the Asia Pacific Design Group, a team of 11 consultants.
He said he was quietly confident of receiving a green light for the $1.4 billion project from his Japanese client.
“We have built up very good relationships with our Japanese clients and those relationships can count as much as experience when doing business in that market,” he said.
Negotiations are also being finalised on a number of other high-profile projects in Asia, including an airport and golf resort in China and a resort overlooking the Krakatoa volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Mr Robinson graduated from QIT in 1970 with a Diploma in Architecture and has been in private practice almost from day one. In 1975, he returned to QIT to complete a Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning.
In 1991, Mr Robinson was an Adjunct Professor of Architecture in QUT’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering and designed the O-Block complex on QUT’s Kelvin Grove campus.
Counselling available on QUT campuses
QUT’s Counselling Service offers confidential and professional assistance to students and staff in relation to a number of matters including:
• personal, relationship and family problems;
• stress management;
• academic and study difficulties;
• career decisions and course changes;
• QUT rules, procedures and policies;
• disability issues;
• finance; and
• cross-cultural issues.
Counselling staff are also available to consult with university staff regarding matters of student life and development.
At Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove, QUT’s Counselling Service is available between 11am and Noon and between 1pm and 3pm.
At Carseldine, the same service is available from Noon till 1pm.
Counselling appointments can be made by calling (07) 3864 2383 (Gardens Point); (07) 3864 3488 (Kelvin Grove) or (07) 3864 4539 (Carseldine).
