Urgent call for fire wardens
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QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778
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Big band sound comes to Carseldine
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Sailing in
‘uncharted’
waters
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Queensland University of Technology Newspaper • Issue 189 • May 4, 1999
By Andrea Hammond
The Federal Government had jeopardised Australia’s future as a knowledge-based society by eroding education and research incentives, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley told staff and students recently.
Speaking at QUT’s Carseldine campus, Mr Beazley fired a broadside at the Howard Government’s removal of industry tax concessions for research and development, as well as the huge cuts in public education funding.
The Labor Party was bogged down in an agenda not of its own choosing: a fight about the extent to which consumption and income should be taxed under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said.
“It is interesting for accountants, and it does have substantial impact on fairness and equity in our community, but one thing it is not about, and that is what sort of society we are going to be in the future,” he said.
Mr Beazley spoke to staff and students on April 19 at a meeting jointly convened by the Centre for Community and Cross-Cultural Studies, and the Centre for the Study of Ethics.
Education policy was being formulated by idealogical “pea brains”
in the Howard Government, working to a 1970s agenda set after a series of reviews under the Whitlam Government, he said.
“Our education system has essentially been structured by Whitlam or anti- Whitlam since the ground rules were laid down in in the 1970s, and you either say the rules are good or the rules are bad,” Mr Beazley said.
He said policies such as the proposed Voluntary Student Union legislation reflected Liberal Party politicians’
“vehement dislike” of the students that they remembered when they were students themselves.
“I’m hoping that it (Voluntary Student Union legislation) will be beaten in the Senate. We’ll certainly do our level best to ensure that that happens,”
he said.
N urses fly to aid outback
By Amanda O’Chee
Q
UT has sent 80 final-year nursing students to rural Queensland in a bid to cut the shortage of medical staff in the bush.Students are working in hospitals, community care centres, medical practices and with the Queensland Section of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) of Australia.
A third of all final-year nurses are doing clinical practice in the bush.
QUT nursing lecturer Sheree Smith, who runs the rural practice program, said virtually all nursing students would go to the bush if they could afford it.
But, unlike medicine, physiotherapy and other health professionals, there is no Commonwealth or State funding available for nursing undergraduates to study clinical practice in the bush, Ms Smith said.
“This program gives nursing students the opportunity to work in a rural environment. If students have never experienced working in the bush, it’s not in their frame of reference and so they don’t even consider the bush as a career option when they graduate,” she said.
“A barrier at the moment is simply that there are no funds available for undergraduate nurses to go to rural areas, even though funds are available for most other health professions.
“Many students have jobs to support themselves through university, and to go to the bush they give up the job and
income for the four-week rural clinical placement.”
She said the school was working on a research proposal to provide some funding for the travel expenses of students.
QUT nursing students are stationed at the Royal Flying Doctor Service’s bases in Brisbane, Cairns and Rockhampton.
The RFDS celebrates its 71st birthday on May 15 and will hold a fund-raising appeal from May 10 to May 16.
Ms Smith said final-year nurse Anthony Baker, who was completing his clinical practice with the Brisbane base of the RFDS, had benefited from working with patients who were being treated for a range of conditions.
“The special skills Tony has learned revolve around aeromedical transportation,”
she said.
“This includes caring for a very diverse population in various stages of ill health and the provision of that care in a differing air pressure – which may impact on the physiology of the patient – and using high-level assessment skills.”
Beazley hits at
education
‘erosion’
QUT student nurse Anthony Baker and senior flight nurse Maree Cummins with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) of Australia.
From left: Dennis Chan and Peggy Yeoh from International Student Services, Education Minister Dean Wells and exhchange student Lauren McElwee at the welcome ceremony for international students.
QUT students were among 70 international students personally welcomed to Queensland by State Education Minister Dean Wells at a lunch at Parliament House in April.
Mr Wells said the “increasing internationalisation of Queensland tertiary education” benefited local and overseas students as well as universities.
“The value of shared knowledge and cultural experiences should never be underestimated, both in a more formal context and in the situation the students find at university,” Mr Wells said.
Queensland universities teach 9,000 students from 50 overseas countries.
Warm words of welcome
QUT mid-year intake strong
QUT will welcome about 800 new part- time and full-time students in 30 bachelor-degree courses next semester.
More than 150 postgraduate students will also commence their studies.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said some students with an eye on stronger long-term employment options would elect to study two bachelor degree courses in just a year longer than a single degree.
“These students like to combine complementary courses from two different faculties, giving them a broader skills base for when they graduate,”
Professor Gibson said.
From the Inside ... by David Hawke
QUT is celebrating 10 years as a university. Of course we’ve been around for a lot longer under other names going right back to 1849.
A word from the Vice-Chancellor
New wave of architecture
By Andrea Hammond
T
he shortage of fire wardens in many QUT buildings could dangerously hinder evacuations in real emergencies, fire protection officer John Hudson has warned.Buildings with the most serious shortages were the multiple storey S, D, C and Z blocks on Gardens Point campus, where many floors did not have any wardens assigned to them at all, he said.
It was especially important to have fire wardens stationed in the large buildings as many staff and students were reluctant to evacuate buildings unless they could see flames or smell smoke.
“We have to raise the awareness of the general staff and the students that
Shortage of fire wardens
‘could hinder evacuations’
they must treat every alarm as genuine, and they must comply with what the fire wardens and the building wardens tell them to do,” Mr Hudson said.
“We must emphasise the fact that just because people cannot see flame or smoke doesn’t mean it’s a false alarm.
“We don’t only evacuate the buildings for fire. We could have a gas leak, we could have a chemical leak, we could have a terrorist running around in our buildings.
We evacuate for many reasons.”
Mr Hudson said he hoped to recruit three fire wardens for every floor in each building, to ensure there would always be at least one person per floor.
“A lot of people are reluctant to take it on, because they think it’s going to be time-consuming. Training sessions are only about three hours once a year.”
In the past, some part-time lecturers had not taken evacuations seriously.
“But they are responsible by law. Not QUT law – Australian law. We need to make them aware that they are legally obligated to evacuate the area.”
Mr Hudson said Z block needed approximately 45 building floor wardens to evacuate it correctly and had only about 20. The new D block needed about 10 fire wardens and only had about four in the entire building.
“I cannot praise the building wardens and floor wardens enough – they are extremely responsible people and they do an excellent job,” he said.
QUT staff interested in finding out more about becoming a fire warden should contact their Campus Administration office.
Following the introduction of QUT’s Student Charter, next semester’s timetables and course unit abstracts are due to be available for students on the university’s website by May 17.
The Student Charter states students can expect to have access to unit abstracts by week 11 of the semester preceding enrolment. Students will be able to access a description of each unit’s content,
including assessment procedures, a list of reference texts and contact details for that unit’s co-ordinator. The abstracts are usually co-ordinated by faculty administration officers.
May 17 deadline for next semester’s timetable
QUT Library, in collaboration with Griffith University Library, has launched a new Internet resource to make it easier for students to gather high quality subject material.
InfoQuest is a web-based subject gateway offering a systematic and precise method of retrieving authoritative and appropriate Internet and electronic library resources.
The new system pools the knowledge and expertise of the two universities’
reference librarians.
InfoQuest, known as a “local gateway”, lists freely available Internet resources and sites and the Libraries’
electronic subscriptions, all of which have been evaluated and selected by subject librarians.
QUT Director of Library Services Gaynor Austen said the library had applied traditional skills of information organisation and delivery to the new electronic information environment.
“While I don’t think there’ll ever be such a thing as a ‘one-stop-shop’ when it comes to finding information, InfoQuest certainly simplifies it,” said Ms Austen.
She said subject gateways were not new and many had been developed to overcome the limitations of Internet search engines by providing a structured approach to locating Internet resources.
InfoQuest was designed as a useful local gateway to quality-controlled resources relevant to QUT and Griffith students. QUT’s Sarah Fredline and Griffith’s Peter Reis co-ordinated the project with librarians from both institutions working in subject teams.
The project was first tested in semester one last year.
For more information on how to make use of InfoQuest, contact the Information Desk at your branch library or your school liaison librarian.
Colleen Ryan Clur
Library offers new Internet resource
Griffith University librarian Janice Rickards, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake and director of QUT Library Services Gaynor Austen at the InfoQuest launch.
Looking for volunteers ... QUT fire protection officer John Hudson.
The Student Administration Department’s Students’ Complaints Hotline is now in operation.
Student Administration Department director Ray Morley said a hotline contact network had been established throughout the university.
Students with concerns are asked to call 3864 3864.
Hotline service
At the opening of the new architecture and design building at Gardens Point last week, I mentioned a recent press article about architecture in south-east Queensland.
The author of the article argued that our region was now witnessing a renaissance in architecture as clients and architects became less beholden to the crasser forms of commercialism and more oriented to aesthetic and environmental values.
I hope QUT, which is experiencing a surge of building and landscaping activity at the moment, is playing its part in this renaissance.
In the past, higher education institutions have been responsible for many functional buildings that 20 or 30 years after completion are now glaring examples of ugly modernism.
We have our share of such buildings, particularly at Gardens Point. But I am very proud of the way in which we have improved the built environment of our campuses over the past 10 years.
The new buildings next to the freeway at Gardens Point, for example, combine the best of functionalism in providing high-tech teaching and
office space with an aesthetic dimension in their internal and external appearances.
We are also combining the new with the old in interesting ways through projects such as the built environment precinct at Gardens Point and the A block courtyard at Kelvin Grove.
QUT will continue to respond to its responsibilities in improving our built environment.
Professor Dennis Gibson
‘Do I need a special degree to be a pea-brain education policy maker in Canberra?
’‘Farmer Kim says it is
only an elected condition.’
One of QUT’s oldest surviving graduates, 96-year-old Walter Kerrison, opened the university’s new architecture and design building – D block – recently.
Times have changed markedly since Mr Kerrison graduated with a Diploma of Architecture in 1925 from the former Central Technical College, which now forms part of QUT’s Gardens Point campus.
He told guests at the opening that in the past architects had needed “dream time” to think through their ideas, and this applied just as much today.
The $10million building was designed as a meeting place, exhibition site and a source of inspiration for Brisbane architects, interior and
industrial designers, landscape architects and planners.
Head of the School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design Professor Gordon Holden said the school would feature lunchtime guest lecturers, exhibitions and a permanent display of historical designs and photographs.
“We want the centre to be accepted by the professional community as ‘the’
place and for people to drop in during lunch,” Professor Holden said.
“The concept was designed so that when people in practice think about architecture, interior and industrial design and landscape architecture and planning, they think of us as where discussion happens in the city.”
Wise words at opening of showpiece building
Walter Kerrison opened the new architecture and design building.
By Amanda O’Chee
M
edia coverage of drugs in sport is often biased and is sometimes based on racist and nationalistic agendas, say QUT lecturers.The media tended to downplay, under-report and even ignore stories of suspected or proven cases of drug usage by Australian athletes, whereas they sensationalised drugs scandals surrounding foreign athletes, they said.
Deputy head of the School of Media and Journalism Helen Yeates and part- time lecturer Andrea Mitchell examined media coverage of drugs in sports at a public seminar on April 30 called Who’s Sorry Now? Drugs, Sport and the Media.
Ms Yeates said Australian media was no different from media across the globe
Coverage of drugs in sport ‘biased’
in the way it played upon the international rivalries. She cited the harsh media treatment of foreign female athletes, such as Chinese swimmer Shang Yi.
“We find there’s a bias towards our clean-cut Australian image. It’s as if the media is dedicated to creating that image,” Ms Yeates said.
“Media tends to have a convenient, selective memory in relation to the drugs-in-sport debate. The east-west controversy is part of that.
“The media hypocrisy in Australia regarding drug-taking by the unrepentant Chinese athletes during the 1998 World Swimming championships in Perth was exposed when the media played down Australian swimmer Richard Upton’s severe reprimand and
fine after banned substances were detected in his urine sample in April 1998.
“Seemingly racist, ethnocentric and sexist assumptions and bias may validly be traced in some of the media coverage,” she said.
Ms Mitchell said the US media had contributed to the culture of secrecy during the 1992 Olympic Games, when scant attention was given to the two US athletes who were among a total of five athletes who tested positive in drug tests.
While Ms Yeates praised the efforts of investigative journalists to “scratch the surface” of the drugs-in-sport issue, she said deeper analysis was needed of the political and structural factors influencing drug use.
The Travelsafe Committee of the Queensland Parliament and QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety will host a special symposium on International Visitors and Road Safety in Australia on Friday May 14.
To be held at the Parliamentary
Joint symposium on visitor road safety
Annexe, the symposium will examine recent research findings as Australia prepares to welcome more than 4.6 million international visitors in the year 2000, many of whom will attend the Olympic Games.
Delegates are expected to include
Government and industry leaders from the areas of transport, tourism, law, insurance and medicine.
They will discuss the cause of accidents involving international visitors, the impact of such accidents, as well as preventative measures.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Northern Corridor Development) Adam Shoemaker with Federal Member for Petrie Teresa Gambaro (centre) and Carseldine Campus manager Elaine Harding. Ms Gambaro visited Carseldine recently to present the first instalment of a $4.5million contribution by the Federal Government towards a new $9million building for the Carseldine campus.
QUT has awarded honorary doctorates to Queensland business leader Graham Drummond and leading optometry educationist and researcher Professor Barry Cole during recent graduation ceremonies.
Mr Drummond, Chief Executive Officer of Allgas Energy Pty Ltd and Chairman of Sunsuper superannuation fund, was recognised for his significant contribution to QUT. He received his award at the Brisbane Graduate School of Business graduation ceremony.
He graduated from a QUT predecessor institution, the Central Technical College (CTC), with a Diploma of Civil Engineering in 1960 and later completed a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration at QIT in 1975.
Mr Drummond has provided strong support and advice to the university and is a member of the QUT Alumni Board, QUT Foundation Finance Council and
the QUT Foundation Management Committee.
“It’s important to maintain links with the university and more importantly, for the university to recognise it has an on-going obligation to keep alumni up to date,” Mr Drummond said.
“This award also recognises the CTC origins of the university. The university itself is a young university, but if you account for the other institutions, it goes back a long time.”
Professor Cole received his honorary doctorate at a Health graduation ceremony. He is from the University of Melbourne and has been a leader in optometry education and research in Australia since the ’60s.With a research focus on abnormal colour vision and visual ergonomics, Professor Cole was the driving force behind the creation of the National Vision Research Institute.
Amanda O’Chee
Two leaders receive honorary doctorates
QUT’s School of Optometry has scored a hat-trick of University Medals at this year’s graduation. Three out of the class of 31 optometry graduates were awarded with a medal for outstanding academic achievement at the April 21 graduation ceremony. Stephen Copeland, Christopher Layton and Eric Ting who achieved
exceptionally high levels of academic performance, scooped all the medals awarded to the Health Faculty.
Hat-trick for Optometry School
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson was awarded an honorary doctorate at the inauguration ceremony of the new University of the Sunshine Coast (USC)recently.
Professor Gibson was honoured for his contribution to the establishment of the new university.
QUT, which is celebrating its own tenth anniversary as a university this year, collaborated on the establishment of the Sunshine Coast campus.
In 1990, the Brisbane College of Advanced Education (BCAE) merged with QUT. BCAE had an office at Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, and after the merger, plans emerged for establishing a QUT campus on the Sunshine Coast. But strong local lobbying for an independent university emerged, and received support from Professor Gibson.
In 1994, the Sunshine Coast University College was established and affiliated with QUT. It was granted independent university status last year by the State Government and was renamed the University of the Sunshine Coast.
While the ties of an affiliation agreement have now been severed, the two universities are looking forward to a continued close relationship.
Professor Gibson’s honorary doctorate was conferred on him after an official opening ceremony and the installation of the new USC Cancellor, Ian Kennedy.
Addressing the ceremony, Professor Gibson said he was honoured to have received the award.
“The Sunshine Coast has cried out for a university presence for years, and USC is at the right place at the right time to take advantage of its status as the first university in the region,”
Professor Gibson said.
New uni
honours
QUT’s V-C
Big band sound at Carseldine
Peter Etheridge performed with the QUT Big Band at a Sunday concert held at the Carseldine Theatre in April. The QUT Wind Symphony also played at the event which attracted over 200 people.
Here’s a story film students are about to sink their teeth into: Rockhampton’s title of Beef Capital of Australia is being challenged by rival Casino. Film students from QUT met the political representatives from the two centres at Parliament House last month prior to a trip they will be making to Rockhampton where they plan to film a light-hearted documentary on this meaty subject.
Brisbane entrepreneurs set to take on the world
By Amanda O’Chee
F
our QUT MBA students will represent Australasia at the finals of an international competition to find the world’s most promising entrepreneurs.The QUT team recently won the Australia-New Zealand MOOT CORP Entrepreneurial Challenge, at which they had to develop a business plan for a new venture that was likely to succeed in the marketplace.
QUT’s successful students – Anthony Guy from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Stephen Chant from Ernst & Young, Paula Mowbray from the Department of Main Roads, and Michael Carter from Spinal Sensor Technologies – were praised for their entrepreneurial vision and business acumen.
The team developed a plan to capture the global market for compact electronic equipment cooling systems. They represented Jetfan Technology Ltd, which has designed a revolutionary fan- blade system created by Gold Coast inventor Terry Day.
Jetfans can be used in compact electronic equipment, cooling and ventilation systems, and domestic appliances, and are said to be more powerful, lighter and quieter, and use less energy than similar systems.
Academic supervisor Fletcher Potanin (second from left) with QUT MBA students Anthony Guy, Paula Mowbray, Michael Carter and Stephen Chant. The students will represent Australasia at a competition to find the world’s most promising entrepreneurs.
QUT’s head of the Brisbane Graduate School of Business, Professor Evan Douglas, who hosted the national finals in Brisbane, said the students would compete in the International MOOT CORP Entrepreneurial Challenge at the University of Texas at Austin later in May.
“The challenge is contested by many of the world’s most prestigious business schools and competitors typically
include Harvard, Wharton, Yale, Stanford and the London Business School,” Professor Douglas said.
“The competition aims to improve the quality of entrepreneurial education.
Entrepreneurial education is a vital component of MBA programs, such as the one run at QUT, because it is not just preparing people for management, it’s preparing people for management in the wilderness.”
Scouts recognise QUT student
By Noel Gentner
A QUT postgraduate student and member of Volunteers of Scouts Australia will be presented with a Certificate of Merit Award for good service to the youth of Queensland.
The presentation will be made to Peter Preston by the State Chief Scout of Queensland, His Excellency Major General Peter Arnison, AO at a ceremony at Government House on May 23.
Scout Association of Australia State executive officer Brad Richards said many people were unaware of the dedication shown by Volunteers of Scouts Australia who devoted their time and energy to assisting young people.
Mr Preston began his studies at QUT in 1992, obtained his mathematics degree, then honours, and is in the process of writing his PhD thesis.
At the age of eight, Mr Preston joined the cubs and during the next 10 years went through the ranks as a scout and
venturer.
After a short break he returned to the movement and has been a scout leader for almost six years.
“I like the outdoor activity, particularly the camping, rock climbing and bush walking,” he said.
Mr Preston said his involvement in the movement had not interfered with his studies unduly.
He had given up Wednesday nights for scout meetings and some weekends for camps.
Traditional Japanese performers visit Brisbane
Feedback sought on QUT ethics manual
With ethical approaches to research a growing concern around the globe, QUT is seeking input from staff, students and administrative staff working with human subjects as it finalises its web-based human research ethics manual.
The secretary of the University Human Research Ethics Committee Gary Allen said QUT had developed its own manual – which was available at http://www.qut.edu.au/draa/or/
uhreman.htm – for faculties, schools, university centres and other organisational areas.
“This manual is a reflection of the current legislative guidelines imposed upon all universities and, as such, it explains QUT’s particular research ethics arrangements, any other requirements and assists researchers to successfully negotiate the university’s research ethics approvals process,” Mr Allen said.
It also canvassed common research ethics issues for those working with human subjects.
Mr Allen said the changes likely to come from this final round of consultation would
probably be the last for some time, “unless there are further legislative changes”.
“Apart from wanting to determine whether any policy areas need reviewing, we’re seeking feedback on the way information in the manual is presented, its clarity and accessibility.”
Feedback was also needed on the most useful design for the manual.
Comments about the human research ethics manual need to be forwarded to Mr Allen – at [email protected] – before July 30.
Tokyo Inter-Arts performers Sumiko Tominaga, Miho Ashigaki and Hiroko Iwaki.
The Tokyo Inter-Arts group appeared in a special one-off performance in Brisbane, at the Academy of Arts’ Music Concert Studio in Kelvin Grove recently.
Presented jointly by the Academy and the Consulate-General of Japan, the performers demonstrated traditional and contemporary Japanese music.
The artists use instruments such as the koto, the shakuhachi and the shamisen and their aim is to promote understanding of Japanese music.
They performed Ochiba no Odri (dance of falling coloured leaves); Sekirei (a water wagtail), Shika no Tone (sound of the romantic calling of deer); Mizu no Hentai (various forms of water) and Haru no Umi (voyages).
Academy spokesperson Karen Willey said it had been possible to arrange the performance because of the good relationship which existed between QUT and the Consultate-General of Japan.
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By Andrea Hammond
D
r Sue Buzer is sailing in uncharted waters in her 10-metre yacht Merlot with a project to unearth unpublished descriptions of the Queensland coastline and reassess records kept during maritime voyages.Dr Buzer will leave her work as a lecturer in the School of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Survey behind her for six months in July for six-months of QUT Professional Development Program (PDP) leave.
Her program includes a trip to America to study more than 900 ship’s maps, logs, personal diaries, sketches, letters and official reports from American sailing vessels which include descriptions of the Queensland coastline from 1770 to 1840.
She plans to compile a database of environmental descriptions before embarking on part two of her PDP project: visiting the same locations and matching her own perspectives with those in the archival records.
The ultimate aim of the research is to provide a baseline environmental description of the coastline at the time that it was colonised by the British.
She will do this from Merlot with husband Andrew O’Dempsey, using a laptop computer and interactive charts, global positioning system, depth sounder, camera and wind measuring instruments.
“The one thing that makes it all possible is that Andrew is a surveyor/cartographer and I am a coastal geographer, so we work on it together as an effective team. For us it’s a labour of love, combining sailing and science,” Dr Buzer said
“We hope our work will not only provide a temporal environmental comparison, but will also resolve some of the anomalies that appear in various charts and other records.
“Nobody’s done this from a small boat before, looking at the land from the near-shore perspective. I’ve already started pilot studies in Moreton Bay and have been gradually moving up the coast to see how it goes.
“A big part of it is actually getting the technology together so we can record on a small boat. The other aim is to put together an inexpensive information collecting system out of things that most small boats have on board.”
Dr Buzer said she hoped to help establish a water version of the Beach Protection Authority which recruits volunteers to measure changes to beaches for long-term records.
“If we can have people on yachts and boats doing the same thing we’ll have this ongoing record of changes to our coast: environmental monitoring to identify problem and record
Voyage of discovery into past
changes, such as plankton bloom or oil spills, and to provide the authorities with an early warning system,” she said.
In the meantime, Dr Buzer hopes early American whaling boat logs will confirm her long-held suspicion that the American crews had contact with Queensland Aborigines long before official “first explorers” such as Matthew Flinders.
“Flinders actually mentions two or three whaling ships that he saw when he was cruising up our coast and emphasises the fact that the indigenous people showed no surprise when his ships arrived. The traditional view – certainly the one that is taught in our schools – is that Flinders was among the first to visit our coast,” she said.
Dr Sue Buzer on her 10-metre yacht Merlot ... ready to chart the Queensland coastline using a digital database of old ship’s logs.
Companies need to invest in training to prepare for working life overseas
By Amanda O’Chee
Australian business managers are being sent to China unprepared for the personal and professional challenges faced in foreign business operations, QUT reseachers have warned.
School of Management lecturer Dr Kate Hutchings and PhD student Rob McEllister, who has lived and worked in China for 10 years, have just returned from Shanghai.
Together they worked on a research project on how best to prepare Australian expatriates to work and live successfully in China.
Expatriates often faced enormous cultural changes when working in China, but they were unprepared for the difference in work and home life, they said.
Dr Hutchings said preliminary research showed that Queensland companies needed to better prepare their employees to work in new divisions or joint-venture companies in China.
“People are arriving totally unprepared on a personal level and a professional level,” Dr Hutchings said.
“There’s an assumption on the part of companies that people are doing the same job whether they’re doing it here or in another country, that if they have the technical skills they should be able to
work and live just as well in another country. The reality is that this just isn’t so.“
Shanghai is Queensland’s fourth largest- trading partner and is tipped to move into third spot in the near future. Dr Hutchings said the research on how to prepare business leaders to
work in China would have wide-ranging benefits to Queensland’s business community.
Mr McEllister said the research, which is similar to his PhD work, would have long-term implications for QUT’s business degrees in management and international business.
Kate Hutchings and PhD student Rob McElister ... managers are unprepared.
Fast-growing centre recruits new director
By Amanda O’Chee
QUT’s Centre for Public Health Research has recruited a new director as part of the phenomenal growth in its research activities.
Professor Beth Newman, from the University of North Carolina, joined the centre in February.
Recruited for her expertise in epidemiology and biostatistics, Professor Newman has conducted extensive research into cancer over the past 12 years, particularly into breast cancer and the genetic links of cancer.
Her appointment comes during a strong growth phase for the centre, which secured more than 15 new grants for 1999.
As director, Professor Newman will help maintain and enhance research quality and the centre’s productivity, and boost the recruitment of postgraduate students.
Although Professor Newman will continue her own research into cancer, she will broaden her work to include research on environmental health and other chronic diseases, such as arthritis.
“I have worked in the area of understanding disease causation. Why some people get certain illnesses and why others don’t,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s frustrating because we (the science community) have made limited progress. For example, we still don’t know why so many women get breast cancer.
“But it’s not depressing, because the work is meaningful and the people who participate in our studies are interested in why they got sick and want to prevent others in the future from suffering the same fate.”
Professor Newman said she “fell in love” with the Australian climate, country and “laid-back lifestyle” during a visit four years ago. The language, however, has caused her some difficulty.
“The biggest challenge is the language. Even though we (Australians and Americans) both speak English there are different connotations and different meanings,” she said.
“People would want to make an appointment and ask to check my diary. To me diary means my private journal, not my calendar.”
Professor Beth Newman.
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By Andrea Hammond
Q
UT staff and students have forged a unique overseas study program that includes a month-long, interdisciplinary trip to China working on real building and design projects.A group of 21 students from three schools within the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering undertook the study trip in November and December last year.
They are forerunners of what staff believe will be annual trips to China, and continued collaboration between QUT and several universities, including Zhejiang University and the Suzhou Institute of Urban Construction and Environmental Protection.
The trip was led by Professor Helen Armstrong and Dr Richard Margerum from the School of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Surveying. John Sturgeon from the School of Construction Management also joined the trip to help supervise 21 students from the six disciplines of planning, landscape architecture, surveying, architecture, industrial design and property economics.
Dr Margerum said the trip and the ongoing exchange had been the initiative of Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering Professor Weilin Chang.
The program had given students an opportunity to work with their peers as well as Chinese students, he said.
“A lot of things that they get out of the trip in their discipline areas won’t necessarily be things that they haven’t learnt before. But because the social, cultural and political system is so different in China, it’s more learning
By Amanda O’Chee
Women living in rural China are just as successful at running their own b u s i n e s s e s a s w o m e n i n o t h e r countries, a study by a QUT academic has found.
The surprise finding by Dr Bev K i t c h i n g , f r o m t h e S c h o o l o f Marketing and International Business, stems from the first in-depth research on businesswomen in China.
Her study found that the proportion of businesses run by rural Chinese women met the world average of female-owned QUT recognised some of its most
generous donors as Fellows of the QUT Foundation at a recent ceremony.
The awards recognise individuals who have donated more than $5,000 to the university, or organisations which have donated between $10,000 to more than $1million.
Corporate sponsors who have provided substantial support for the university’s research and education programs include: the Department of Public Works; Fuchs Australia; KPMG;
Rhône-Poulenc, and the Royal Brisbane Hospital and District Health Service.
The university also recognised the generous support of corporations such as Australia Post, as well as individuals who have donated money and artworks towards the establishment of the QUT Art Museum.
Sydney-based art historian and publisher Lou Klepac donated 57 artworks to the university from his private collection. Melbourne arts patron Diana Gibson donated a considerable amount of money towards the museum in dedication of her late grandfather Sir William Angliss.
QUT also recognised a substantial donation from Robert and Kay Bryan who have been benefactors to the university’s art collection for the past eight years.
The QUT Foundation raised
$2.8million last year.
By Noel Gentner
After more than three years away from QUT, Professor Anthony Maeder has returned to head the School of Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering (EESE).
Professor Maeder had worked in EESE in the Computer Systems Engineering studies area, before taking up a position as head of the School of Engineering at the University of Ballarat.
A Monash University graduate, Professor Maeder was educated in South Africa before moving to Australia.
Professor Maeder, who has been at QUT since February, said he believed the school could not rest only on its present strengths.
“The school has engaged in some of its current directions very strongly, and has made major commitments to them, and these should be sustained,” Professor Maeder said.
China study tour promotes new
understanding of complex culture
about how different approaches are used in different environments,” he said.
The students completed work on two joint projects with Zhejiang University during the trip.
One was a redevelopment of a traditional market area in a rundown canal neighbourhood in Hangzhou.
The second was restoration of a historic park and traditional temple on a nearby mountain, transforming it into a tourist site and community centre.
Dr Margerum said students needed to rapidly acquire an understanding of the Chinese land tenure system, land
administration, Chinese designs, housing requirements and culture.
Students were required to complete conceptual proposals showing the layout and design of the buildings, costs and infrastructure, and present them to Chinese university staff and students.
Dr Margerum said they came away with a new understanding of the importance of different cultures, attitudes and beliefs and how they impact on real projects.
“Another issue is really understanding issues of growth and sustainability – here we were dealing with a country that is
increasing in population by 14million people a year and having to deal with a lot of housing, economic development and employment issues,” he said.
“We talk about sustainability in our courses, but I think that seeing how these issues are really interlinked really hit home to students of all disciplines involved in the activities.”
Three lecturers from Zhejiang University arrived in April to work at QUT for several months. A second interdisciplinary China study program is planned for Built Environment and Engineering students in November 1999.
QUT students get down to work in panel discussions held during the study program in China.
Farm women mean business in China: study
businesses, which stands at a quarter to a third of all businesses.
“Although it (private business) was encouraged from the early ’80s, it only became legal in 1988,” Dr Kitching said.
“In that time farm women in rural China have reached the world average in terms of female-owned businesses.
“Rural women have found that the courtyard economy, or home-based economy – ranging from raising ducks and pigs to home weaving and dressmaking – is an area in which they can go into business and do it successfully.
“They find it easier to go into home- based businesses because they’re dealing with men who are relatives, whereas if they go into village enterprises they’re dealing with non-related men and in rural areas that’s very difficult.”
However, Dr Kitching, who presented some of her findings at a series of seminars at Harvard University and the University of New Haven earlier in the year, said that urban Chinese women found it much more difficult to break into business.
Women complained of enormous prejudice in the workplace and of struggling to juggle work commitments
with all the household responsibilities because their husbands did not shoulder any domestic duties, she said.
“In urban areas, women are finding that business is a way in which they can become independent, contribute to family income and also control their lives, but women are accused of being selfish and self-centred if they ignore their families and concentrate on their businesses,” Dr Kitching said.
Dr Kitching said China’s one-child policy meant it was crucial for the country to investigate the needs and experiences of local businesswomen.
Donors
recognised as Fellows
Plan slashes visa red tape
New school head expects a future of rapid growth in high technologies
Professor Anthony Maeder.
“However, we need to try to look into the future of engineering and, particularly, electrical engineering, which is changing rapidly with growth in high technology and communications areas.
“We need to aim our activities in directions which will bring us success in the future.”
He said the school already carried out a substantial amount of research in various electrical engineering fields, but there was a need to develop strengths in activities such as innovative teaching, international student attraction and multi- disciplinary collaboration.
Professor Maeder acknowledged that within many sectors of higher education at the moment, the future was uncertain and market forces needed to be understood.
“Like many other schools, resource restrictions due to funding are having an effect and we need to do some planning to take that into account,”
Professor Maeder said.
Ways of streamlining the visa process for international Indian students is being investigated by the Federal Government and QUT.
E a r l i e r t h i s y e a r Q U T w a s selected to participate in a Federal Government trial of Pre-Qualified Institutions (PQI) and succeeded with a bid to undertake the trial in India.
The co-ordindator of the project for QUT, Associate Director of A d m i s s i o n a n d I n f o r m a t i o n i n Student Administration Helen Cook, said the trial aimed to prove that reputable institutions such as QUT were able to enrol bona fide Indian students without requiring them to undertake lengthy processing by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.
By Andrea Hammond
O
verweight patients advised to lose weight by their doctors frequently embarked on inappropriate diets and overzealous exercise, say QUT Weight Management Clinic researchers.People who threw themselves into vigorous exercise after being inactive for long periods of time risked serious health complications, including musculosketal injury, Associate Professor Andrew Hills said.
The failure of diet and exercise efforts frequently led to psychological complications such as depression, confusion and a feeling of helplessness in the face of insurmountable problems, he said.
“Doctors will often suggest to people that they need to lose weight and they will identify a certain number of kilograms as the goal. Often, that in itself is difficult to achieve safely in the desired timeframe,” Professor Hills said.
“It is potentially an expectation that these people cannot meet without assistance, and that, coupled with a lack of experience of physical activity on the part of the individual, means that weight management is doubly difficult.”
The QUT Weight Management Clinic is currently conducting a campaign to alert South-East Queensland general practitioners and medical specialists of the problem and its consequences.
Professor Hills said the campaign would point out that the QUT Weight
Clinic extends helping hand to Qld doctors
Management Clinic offered the expertise of a variety of health professionals.
“We know that a lot of physicians – especially surgeons – constantly have the problem that it is absolutely necessary for their patients to lose weight if they are going to have an operation,” he said.
“But they don’t have a point of referral, apart from suggesting to patients that they go to one of the commercial weight loss outlets or make adjustments themselves.
“We maintain strong links with the referring practitioners and we want to add value to their ability to provide a quality service, recognising that as sole practitioners they may be limited in what they can do both in terms of time and expertise.”
Professor Hills is secretary of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity, as well as a member of the Government’s Advisory Committee for the Development of an Implementation Strategy for the Prevention of Overweight and Obesity.
He said QUT Weight Management Clinic staff were committed to improving the health and well-being of clients.
“Clients have a full assessment of their health status, abilities, likes and dislikes and from that we can judge how much work they can tolerate, and ease them gently and safely into an activity program that we can guarantee they will benefit from,” he said.
People interested in knowing more about the QUT Weight Management Clinic should telephone (07) 3864 5819.
By Noel Gentner
Live music from students is just one attraction planned for the new coffee shop, Beadles on the Quad, which will open on the QUT Kelvin Grove campus soon.
Coffee shop operator Matt Kesby said Beadles would be innovative in the range of food it would provide, types of coffee it would offer and entertainment for its patrons.
The name of the coffee shop was chosen after suggestions were invited from campus staff for the best title – the beadle is the bearer of the mace and leader of the mace in academic processions.
Situated facing the Quad between A Block and the library building, Beadles is part of a multi-million dollar construction project which includes the rebuilt community b u i l d i n g ( C bl o c k ) w h i c h w i l l provide a food court-style refectory, a new licensed student club and covered balcony due for completion this month.
Mr Kesby said the coffee shop would be able to accommodate more than 140 people.
“Initially the shop will be open for business Monday to Friday between the hours of 7.30am to 5.30pm, but there are plans to expand trading into the weekends and evenings,” Mr Kesby said.
He said an application for a liquor licence had been made and operating hours could be increased at a later date.
The Quad would be a coffee drinkers delight, with a “Barista” – an expert dedicated in brewing espresso coffee – employed at the shop, Mr Kesby said.
He said there was an art in making good coffee and The Quad would provide more than one blend of coffee beans on the premises.
H e s a i d c e r t a i n c o f f e e b e a n s w o u l d b e u s e d f o r w a t e r -b a s e d
Beadles on the Quad to open soon
espresso and other beans for milk- based coffee drinks.
“There will be a wide variety of food available, including Italian and Asian main courses and take-away meals,”
Mr Kesby said.
The Quad is to be the venue for staff to celebrate QUT’s 10 years as a university and 150 years of service. The 10/150 anniversary staff cocktail function will be celebrated on May 14, four days after the coffee shop is due to open.
Coffee shop operator Matt Kesby ... bringing the art of making coffee to Kelvin Gove’s new Beadles on the Quad cafe this month.
Cutting edge designs of Italy’s most daring young architects were featured at an architecture exhibition held at QUT in April.
“New Italian Architecture” exhibition showcased the latest directions from the architectural “young guns” of Italy – traditionally heralded as the world centre for style and design.
The two-week exhibition was held in the Foyer Gallery of the new D block and was open to the public in April.
Featuring contemporary houses to fashion centres, forts and churches throughout Italy and Europe, the exhibition included photographs of completed buildings, as well as designs.
Architectural ‘young guns’ on show at QUT
By Cathy Stacey
QUT’s Faculty of Business will work closely with the businesswomen’s support and lobby group Enterprising Women this year.
U n d e r a n e w s p o n s o r s h i p agreement, the faculty will support Enterprising Women in return for services designed to assist students and staff.
The sponsorship follows successful joint career-development seminars held last year.
Enterprising Women is an initiative of t he Queensl and Cha mber of Commerce and Industry.
Faculty of Business Dean Professor Sandra Harding said the sponsorship agreement would allow the faculty to expand services to students
“As well as the career-development s e m i n a r s t o b e h e l d i n l a t e September, we will also work with Enterprising Women to present a number of other information and development sessions for students,”
she said.
Staff of the faculty will also benefit under the sponsorship agreement t h r o u g h t h e i r i n v o l v e m e n t i n Enterprising Women functions.
P r o f e s s o r H a r d i n g s a i d s h e expected the agreement to enhance t h e fa c u l t y ’ s a l r e a d y s t r o n g r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e b u s i n e s s community.
“The relationship is a logical one for us, because the faculty’s senior
Faculty works with Enterprising Women
management team has more women in key positions than ever before and women make up over 56 per cent of our student population,” she said.
Enterprising Women, the only women’s organisation in Brisbane o f f e r i n g a f o r m a l m e n t o r i n g program, is offering a free place on its program to a female QUT MBA student.
Mentoring has been identified as an important factor in the career success of women moving into senior management positions and opening their own businesses.
•Enterprising Women’s mentoring program for 1999 kicks off at a workshop in May.
The one-day workshop has been designed to be useful to women who are interested in seeking a mentor, even if they are not participating in the formal mentoring program.
Enterprising Women chairperson and workshop facilitator Lyn Thiele s a i d t h e w o r k s h o p w o u l d h e l p women understand some key issues in career development, including improving their visibility, building networks.
“It is designed to help women take control of their careers,” she said.
The workshop will be held on S a t u r d a y M a y 8 a t N o v o t e l , Brisbane. Lunch and refreshments are included in the workshop fee of
$85 per person.
To register, contact Mary Batty at QCCI on 3842 2244 by May 6.
QUT students and staff this week will try and swim “around Australia” without leaving the campus as part of Health Week 1999 which the QUT Student Guild Recreation Department is staging from May 4 to 9.
As part of the activities of the week, the Joint Sports Centre will be staging the
“Queensland Asthma Foundation Swim Around Australia for Charity” at the Gardens Point Sports Centre. The idea is to get participants to swim the equivalent of the circumference of Australia.
Joint Sports Complex Co-ordinator Karyn McClure said there were a variety of events in which students and staff could participate.
The Joint Sports Centre, the Fitness Centre at Gardens Point and the Recreation Department at Kelvin Grove will be staging activities to promote a healthy lifestyle.
“Swimmers can register themselves at the counter and donate a minimum of 40 cents for the swim and when completed notify staff of how many laps have been swum and that distance will be added to the ongoing total,” Ms McClure said.
Ms McClure said a “Pump Challenge”
had been organised for May 5, which would test how fit people were.
She said it would be held in the aerobics area of the Gardens Point gym and would be a full 90 minutes of exercises using weights and music.
An Open Day would be held on May 5 at both Centres at Gardens Point as well as the Recreation Department at Kelvin Grove where activities would promote a healthy lifestyle.
Big swim challenge
Professor Enzo Belligoi (right) outlines his thought on Italian architecture to Brisbane Consul of Italy Dr Antonio Alessandro (centre) and Professor Gordon Holden.
Organised by Ado Franchini from the Milan Polytechnic – considered Italy’s major architecture schools – the exhibition will travel the world.
The exhibition was opened by former QUT architecture lecturers Ken McBryde and his wife Stephanie Smith, who have worked in Italy.
The head of QUT’s School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design, Professor Gordon Holden, said the recently-completed architecture, design and planning building would enable the school to feature more international and national exhibitions, lectures and seminars during the year.
CENTRE FOR POLICY AND LEADERSHIP STUDIES IN EDUCATION
May 7 Globalisation and Education:
Mantras, Missionaries and Movements. Miriam Henry will discuss the impact and reaction of globalisation on education.
Noon–1.30pm. E416, KG.
May 14 Irony Deficiency and Social Research. Erica McWilliam will discuss the tension between traditional social sciences research and ironic research.
Noon–1.30pm. E416, KG.
TEACHING AND LEARNING SUPPORT SERVICES
May 5 Supporting Learning from Technology. Seminar discusses technological literacy and QUT tools to develop skills. 1–2pm.
V771, GP.
May 7 Understanding Photography.
Workshop covers theory and practice of effective
photography. 1–2pm. B428a, KG.
May 10 Lecturing Styles and Student Learning. Seminar examines lecturing styles from a student perspective. 1–2pm. E101, Car.
May 13 Multi-Media and Computer- Assisted Learning. Seminar demonstrates use of computers and multi-media for teaching.
1-2pm. V771, GP.
May 18 Designing Your Unit Curriculum. Seminar provides assistance in formulating and revising units and unit outlines.
Noon–2pm. S303, GP.
STAFF & STUDENT COURSES May 5 Staff Orientation Program.
For new staff or any other interested staff members who would like to know more about QUT. It is essential to register beforehand for the orientation program. Training Room, First Floor, K Block, KG. 8.45am- 12.30pm. Contact Human Resources Department on 3864 5610 or 3864 9605.
May 14 Cultural Diversity in the Workplace. Workshop on cultural diversity awareness and skills development. Must have completed Introduction to Cultural Diversity and
Communication, or equivalent.
9.15am–12.15pm. K108, K Block, KG. Contact Lilijana Simic from the Equity Section, on
3864 5601.
May 18 Working on Committees.
Workshop for women. 9.15am–
12.15pm. Owen J Wordsworth Room, S Block, GP. Contact Lilijana Simic, Equity Section, on 3864 5601.
Check out What’s On at http:// www.qut.edu.au/pubs/02stud/whatson.html Send your What’s On entry to [email protected] or (07) 3210 0474.
STUDENT GUILD
May 7 QUT Cup – Three on Three Basketball. Noon–4pm.
Basketball courts, Car.
May 9 AUS-North Championships Triathlon. 6am–Noon.
Mooloolaba.
May 9 AUS-North Championships Orienteering. 6am–Noon.
Springfield.
Recreation Courses.
Everything from Carlton and United Brewery Tours to whale- watching. Further details in the Semester 1 Recreation
Handbook. Contact Kirsten Fraser on 3864 5536 or Natalie Mulvihill on 3864 2928.
FROM THE ACADEMY
May 6-15 The Jungle by Louis Nowra.
8 pm. Woodward Theatre, KG.
Contact Karen Willey on 3864 3453. or
Jun 16-19 Dance Collections. 7.30 pm.
Woodward Theatre, KG. Contact Karen Willey at
[email protected] or on 3864 3453.
Aug 9-21 Cosi by Louis Nowra. Contact Karen Willey at
[email protected] or on 3864 3453.
SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS, CONFERENCES CENTRE FOR ACCIDENT RESEARCH &
ROAD SAFETY - Qld
May 9 -12 The Challenge of Integration – 3rd national conference on injury prevention and control. Carlton Crest Hotel, Brisbane.
http://www.nisu.flinders.edu.au/
aipn/3ncipc/
CENTRE FOR COMMUNITY AND CROSS CULTURAL STUDIES
May 6 Translating Culture:
Examining the International Movements of Australian Literature. Seminar by May Lara Cain. 12.30–2.30pm. C319, Car.
May 27 Here Come the Boys.
Seminar by Vivienne Muller.
12.30 –2.30pm. C319, Car.
CENTRE FOR MEDIA POLICY & PRACTICE May 25 Multiculturalism and Popular
Television. Seminar by Harvey May. Noon–1pm. B509, GP.
May 25 The Case of Mary Dean – Sex, Poisoning and Gender Relations: The Challenges of Writing Fictionalised
Biography. Seminar by Donna Brien. 2–3pm. B509, GP.
Inside QUT is published by QUT’s Corporate Communication Department. Readership includes staff, students and members of the QUT community.
Corporate Communication address: Level 5, M Block, Room 514, Gardens Point or GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001. Opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university or the editorial team.
Colleen Ryan Clur (editor) (07) 3864 1150.
Andrea Hammond (07) 3864 4494.
Noel Gentner (part-time) (07) 3864 1841.
Amanda O’Chee (07) 3864 2130.
Fax (07) 3210 0474.
Photography: Tony Phillips, Suzie Prestwidge Ads: David Lloyd-Jones (07) 3880 0528.
Our Internet site: http://www.qut.edu.au/
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Q
UT’s School of Human Movement Studies hosted the International Council for Sports Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE) in April.ICSSPE – which advises the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UNESCO on sport science and physical education – discussed genetics and performance, drugs in sport, exercise prescriptions and plans for a global commitment to boost school physical education programs.
ICSSPE vice-president Professor Tony Parker, who is head of QUT’s School of Human Movement Studies, said governments world-wide had increasingly cut physical education from schools.
“There’ll be an international consensus statement directed at governments around the world for discussion by ministers,” Professor Parker said.
International sports body gets physical in Brisbane
“The idea is to create greater awareness of the importance of physical education to our children.
“One of the problems is that most people connect physical education with sport, but sport is just one component of physical education.”
The global guidelines for physical education will be debated at an international summit in November this year, Professor Parker said.
Other international figures attending the meeting included ICSSPE president Professor Gudrun Doll-Tepper, who is a member of the International Paralympic Committee, and Professor James Skinner, from the United States, who specialises in genetics and performance, as well as exercise prescription for special populations, including patients with cardiopulmonary disease, osteoporosis and diabetes.
Head of QUT’s School of Human Movement Studies, Professor Tony Parker (fourth from left) meets with visiting members of the International Council for Sports Science and Physical Education.
Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett will present a free public lecture on Good Samaritan or Faust?
Wrestling with Technology in the 21st Century at QUT on May 5.
He will present the seminar in his role as President of the Australian Conservation Foundation for National Science Week.
Garrett to give free lect ure
Mr Garrett will pose the question: “Will the next century, touted as the century of biotechnology, be also the century of sustainability?”
The lecture will be held at 2pm in BLT1, B Block, Gardens Point campus.
All students and staff are welcome.
By Amanda O’Chee
A precedent-setting court case in which QUT lecturer John Cook was denied workers’
compensation has been instrumental in forcing changes to Queensland’s legislation.
Dr John Cook, from the School of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Surveying, lost his battle for workers’ compensation last year after he was run over by a motorbike on his walk to work in June 1997.
In a test case of the former Borbidge Government’s controversial changes to the WorkCover Act in 1996, the magistrate ruled Dr Cook ineligible for $277 in compensation for an ambulance bill because he partly contributed to the accident, excluding him from compensation.
The Beattie Government will bring in extensive changes to the workers’ compensation system from July 1. The Department of Employment, Training and Industrial Relations’ website says Dr Cook’s case illustrated the existing legislation could be
“extremely harsh on workers”.
“The change also removes the exclusion for compensation to a person who is judged to have either partly or wholly voluntarily placed him or herself at risk of injury during the journey,” the Department website says.
“This provision effectively disqualifies a person from compensation if they contribute in any way, even by way of inattention, to the injury.”
QUT case forces change to
‘harsh’ compensation laws
Dr Cook said the existing WorkCover virtually excluded everyone from workers’ compensation for travel to and from work, and that he was glad the legislation would be changed.
He said there was only a “moment of inattention” as he attempted to cross the road to the rear entrance to QUT behind Parliament House, and that his view was obstructed by kerbside bushes.
Fortunately, Dr Cook was not injured in the accident, attributing his lucky escape to years of judo training.
Dr John Cook.
