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The Graduate Union August 2021 Newsletter

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AUGUST

2021

THE GRADUATE UNION NEWSLETTER


WHAT’S ON

ITALIAN CONVERSATION LUNCH

Tuesday, 3rd, 17th August 12:00pm – 2:00pm Dine while learning to speak Italian with an experienced teacher. Members $12.00, non-members $20.

BRIDGE NIGHT Wednesday, 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th August 7:15pm – 9:30pm Do you enjoy a sociable game of duplicate bridge? Register at reception. All levels of bridge players welcome. Player fees: Members $2, non-members $5. Food and beverages at bar prices.

AUGUST MONTHLY LUNCHEON

Wednesday, 4th August 12:00pm for 12:30pm start with Mr Michael Headberry. Dine in: Members $35, non-members $40. Virtual attendance: Members $10, non-members $15.

SPECIAL MORNING BREAKFAST

Tuesday, 10th August 7:30am - 8:30am Non-resident Members are welcome to join Resident Members for a hearty breakfast at Graduate House. Free for Resident Members, Non-resident Members $20.

WOMEN’S FORUM

Wednesday, 18th August 10:00am for 10:30am start with the topic Are we taking sufficiently into account the destruction of trees and vegetation in the context of development? The Women’s Forum group extends invitation to new members and welcomes new ideas. Discussions are held in an informal and friendly atmosphere. The group then adjourns for lunch in the dining room. The forum is free. All are welcome.

BOOK NOW: www.graduatehouse.com.au I (03) 9347 3428 I admingh@graduatehouse.com.au


CONTENTS 2021 ANNUAL APPEAL 4 Graduate House needs your support INTERNATIONAL DAYS 6 August FEATURES 10 3MBS Dante700 Festival 12 St Vincent’s Hospital’s CARE project 14 The 2021 Australian Graduate Women Research Fellows 18 Establishing Truth 22 There Will Always be Voices in this Place by Mary Wickham MEMBERS’ CONTRIBUTION 24 A Litre of Petrol by Life Member, Louis A Coutts 26 The Paintings of Marg Nicoll GRADUATE HOUSE NEWS 27 The Graduate Union Strategic Planning Day 2021 28 AAA Christmas Dinner 28 Christmas in July Lunches 29 Feedback GU COLLEGIATE 30 August Monthly Luncheon – Mr Michael Headberry 31 September Monthly Luncheon – Lin Bender AM INNOVATION 32 No, you’re probably not ‘addicted’ to your phone , but you may be using it too much ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEETINGS 35 Listings for June 2021 PROMOTIONS 36 Function Menu 2021 - Traditional Christmas 37 Christmas Summer Barbeque Menu 38 Graduate House – Affordable and safe accommodation for patients, hospital visitors and medical staff 40 Graduate House is Open and Safe — Meet Face-to-Face! 41 Graduate House Dine-in and Takeaway 42 Office Rentals 43 Room Types, Prices and Features 3


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ABN 556 10 664963 IARN A0023234B


2021 ANNUAL APPEAL

2021 A N N UA L APPEAL

Please give a Tax Deductible donation towards our 2021 Annual Appeal. Never has our need been greater. If you have not donated yet, please do so today. And if you have donated we thank you sincerely and ask that you consider an additional contribution. Your support is essential to our survival. For over a year we have been confronting unimagined challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of international students, as well as our own graduate students, have been prevented from fully pursuing their educational dreams. In its 110-year history, Graduate House has survived the economic and human effects of the Spanish Flu, and the First and Second World Wars thanks to the support and generosity of past members. Once again, we need in abundance their spirit of giving. Because of the impact of COVID-19 on our operations, we’ve implemented several measures. Here are just two: • We rent out office space for short or long periods. • We provide temporary accommodation for people supporting family members in nearby hospitals. At the same time, we continue to provide Graduate House operational activities to remaining students, graduates and members as part of our commitment to their wellbeing. We’re doing all we can, but we need you to donate now. With the Federal Government’s ‘Job Keeper’ program ceasing at the end of March 2021 we have ‘tightened the belt’ further, and our members of Council and its subcommittees (all of whom work on a voluntary basis) continue to meet regularly to provide strong and stable governance. Prudently, we have put ‘on hold’ our new building project – but only temporarily. We have had to lose several long-serving staff members. Those who remain have accepted reduced salaries, but their commitment is such that they are generously working longer hours to ensure that we can continue our invaluable work. We have a long history of graduates coming together to share ideas and innovate for the benefit of society. Your donation now will help us to do this into the future. Assist us to ride this difficult wave until we return to a sustainable ‘new normal’: providing accommodation and services in an academically, socially and emotionally supportive community for Australian and overseas graduates. Warmest regards and thanks you, The Hon Diana Bryant AO QC Mr Vincent Mirabelli President Chairperson of Council

To donate: go to https://bit.ly/3h6TdSy or navigate from www.graduatehouse.com.au to Give Here, Annual Appeal or Complete the form opposite and post to: CEO/Head of College, Graduate House 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, Vic 3053.

or call us on +61 3 9347 3428 for a donation over the phone. Email us at admingh@graduatehouse.com.au for an editable pdf to be sent as an attachment.

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INTERNATIONAL DAYS AUGUST IN TERNATI O NAL DAYS

1st August – National Tree Day

poverty, systemic removal, intergenerational trauma, dislocation from land and culture, and community disempowerment. This Day is celebrated by all Australians and particularly by the over 500 different First Nations groups, each of which has distinctive cultures, beliefs and languages.

National Tree Day was co-founded in 1996 by Planet Ark and Olivia Newton-John, and is Australia’s largest community tree planting and nature protection event. The ask for this Day is for one million new native trees and shrubs to be planted across the country. Each year, about 300,000 people volunteer their time to engage in the Day’s environmental activities and, particularly, to plant new trees. To get involved, find a site and contact the event organisers directly. Planet Ark arranges for Voluntary Workers Insurance to cover participants at registered public National Tree Day events and any registered public National Tree day activity taking place throughout 7th August – Jeans for Genes Day the year. Every one in 20 kids face a birth defect or genetic disease, such as cancer, cystic fibrosis and lifethreatening metabolic disorders – with 12 kids born with such every minute worldwide. On the first Friday of August each year, Australians unite on Jeans for Genes Day by wearing their favourite jeans, donating money and purchasing merchandise to support genetic research. Organised by the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), the Day is th 4 August – National Aboriginal and characterised by schools, workplaces and public areas becoming a sea of denim in a united stance against Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day childhood diseases and friends and colleagues try to The date 4th August was historically used to celebrate outdo each other by wearing the most bizarre outfits. communally the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families at a young age, without knowing their birthday – the Stolen Generations. In 1988, National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day was established to celebrate the children of our First Nation peoples to give children confidence, make them feel special and included and, particularly for those children who face ongoing challenges stemming from colonisation and such effects as discrimination, 6


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9th August – International Day of the 12th August – International Youth Day World’s Indigenous Peoples International Youth Day celebrates and makes There are approximately 476 million Indigenous mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions, initiatives Peoples worldwide, in over 90 countries – 6 and their meaningful, universal and equitable percent of the global population. Often lacking engagement. It recognises the importance of youth formal recognition over their lands, territories participation in political, economic and social life and natural resources, Indigenous People are and processes. Globally, here are 1.2 billion people often last to receive public investments in basic aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the services and infrastructure, and face multiple global population. By 2030 — the target year for the barriers to participate fully in the formal economy, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that make enjoy access to justice, and participate in political up the 2030 Agenda — the youth of today will be processes and decision making. While Indigenous adults and the number of new youth will be nearly Peoples own, occupy, or use a quarter of the 1.3 billion. The Agenda highlights how youth social world’s surface area, they safeguard 80 percent entrepreneurship can support young people’s of the world’s remaining biodiversity. They hold employment and development while helping to vital ancestral knowledge and expertise on how accelerate the implementation of the SDGs to adapt, mitigate and reduce climate and disaster risks. International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples marks the date of the inaugural session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations at the United Nations in 1982. Self-identification as indigenous or tribal is a fundamental criterion for determining the groups to which the provisions of the International Labour Organization’s 14th August – Red Nose Day Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries apply. Additional Red Nose Day aims to save little lives and support criteria that help to define Indigenous people families impacted by the death of a baby or child. The first National Red Nose Day was held in 1988, include: asking Australian to “get silly for a serious cause” — • historical continuity with pre-invasion and/or after a number of Sudden Infant Death associations pre-colonial societies that developed on their and groups had been formed across Australia. Of territories; approximately 300,000 births in 2018, there were • distinctiveness; 2,850 perinatal deaths, including 737 neonatal deaths • non-dominance; (deaths within 28 days of birth) and 2,118 stillbirths. • a determination to preserve, develop and The rate of sudden unexpected death in infancy transmit to future generations their ancestral (SUDI), which includes sudden infant death and fatal territories and identity as peoples in sleeping accidents, has decreased by 85% from 1989 accordance with their own cultural patterns, to 2018, largely due to education campaigns. The Day social institutions and legal system. is to raise money for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome • a strong link to territories and surrounding (SIDS) by wearing red noses and acting silly. natural resources; • distinct social, economic or political systems; and • distinct language, culture and beliefs.

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19th August – World Humanitarian Day World Humanitarian Day commemorates humanitarian workers killed and injured in the course of their work and acknowledges all aid and health workers who provide life-saving support and protection to people most in need. The Day marks the 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, which killed 22 people, including the chief humanitarian in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. In 2019, humanitarian aid meant that:

upheld. Feeling forgotten and neglected once the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack fades, has profound consequences. Few Members States have the resources and capacity to fulfill the medium and long-term needs required for victims to fully recover, rehabilitate and integrate back into society. Victims can only recover and cope with their trauma through long-term multi-dimensional support, including physical, psychological, social and financial, in order to heal and live with dignity.

The primary responsibility to support victims of • 28.9 million children were vaccinated globally terrorism and uphold their rights rests with Member against measles; States. The United Nations has an important role in • 6.9 million children (6 - 59 months), pregnant supporting these States to implement Pillar I and IV and lactating women with acute malnutrition of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy through were newly admitted for treatment globally; standing in solidarity and providing support to • 32.2 million people were provided with access victims, capacity building assistance, establishing to safe water for drinking, cooking and personal networks and offering support to civil society hygiene; organizations, particularly victims of terrorism • 92.6 million children and caregivers worldwide associations, and encouraging Member States to accessed mental health and psychosocial support; promote, protect and respect the rights of victims. The United Nations has been working to provide and resources and mobilize the international community • 42.0 million livestock were reached with to address the needs of victims of terrorism. vaccination and treatment campaigns. In 2019, 483 aid workers were attacked, which lead to 125 deaths, 234 wounded and 124 kidnapped in a total of 277 separate incidents across, predominantly, Syria, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Central African Republic (CAR), Yemen and Mali. 23rd August – International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is celebrated on the 23rd August  of each year. This Day was designated by 21st August – International Day of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific Remembrance and Tribute to the and Cultural Organization) to memorialize the Victims of Terrorism transatlantic slave trade. st The General Assembly established 21 August as It marks the date of a 1791 uprising in Santo Domingo the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) that played to the Victims of Terrorism. This Day is to honour a crucial role in the abolition of the 16th to 19th century and support the victims and survivors of terrorism, transatlantic slave trade. This Day is to inscribe the and promote and protect the full enjoyment of their tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all, to human rights and fundamental freedoms. consider the historic causes, methods and Victims of terrorism continue to struggle to have their consequences of this tragedy, and to analyse the voices heard, their needs supported and their rights interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, 8


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Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean. Unfortunately, however, modern slavery continues – 40 million people are estimated to be severely exploited by other people for personal or commercial gain, such as making our clothes, serving our food, picking our crops, working in factories, or working in houses as cooks, cleaners or nannies. One in four are children, and near 75 per cent are women and girls.

30th August – International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances On 30th August each year, organisations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International observe the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances where they play an active role in raising awareness that enforced disappearance is a crime and should not be used as a tool to deal with situations of conflict.

An enforced (or forced) disappearance is when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organisation, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate and whereabouts, with the intent of depriving them of all rights, including the right to: • recognition as a person before the law; 29th August – International Day against • liberty and security of the person; • not be subjected to torture and other cruel, Nuclear Tests inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Nuclear weapons testing began in 1945 and nearly • life, when the disappeared person is killed; 2,000 tests have subsequently been undertaken. • an identity; On 2nd December 2009, the 64th session of the United • a fair trial and to judicial guarantees; Nations General Assembly declared 29th August the • an effective remedy, including reparation and International Day against Nuclear Tests through the compensation; unanimous adoption of its Resolution 64/35. The • the truth regarding the circumstances of a Preamble of the resolution emphasizes that every disappearance. effort should be made to end nuclear tests in order to • protection and assistance to the family; avert devastating and harmful effects on the lives and • an adequate standard of living; health of people. • health; and The resolution in particular calls for increasing • education. awareness about the effects of nuclear weapon test International Day of the Victims of Enforced explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the Disappearances recognises enforced disappearance as need for their cessation as one of the means of a global problem that is largely the product of military achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world. dictatorships perpetrated in complex internal conflict The resolution was initiated by Kazakhstan together situations, especially as a means of political repression with several sponsors and cosponsors to of opponents. It is also to observe the International commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Nuclear Test Site on August 29th 1991. Enforced Disappearance by eradicating the practice of enforced disappearances and the harassment, illtreatment and intimidation of witnesses of disappearances or the relatives of persons who have disappeared.

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DA NT E A U G U S T 2 0 2 1 - S E P TE M BE R 2022

700

3mbsdante700festival.org.au 10


3MBS DANTE700 FESTIVAL Meet Margot Costanzo, lawyer, and Karen van Spall, mezzo soprano, the co curators of the 3MBS Dante 700 Festival. Margot is one of the producers and presenters of 2 hour programs in the Illuminations series every Thursday night on 3MBS. She also presents the Divertimento program on midday Thursdays. Karen is a technical producer. Between these two people, they have five degrees. We will leave you to work out who has what – a law degree (Honours) a masters in law, an arts degree majoring in Italian and German, a music performance degree, all from the University of Melbourne and an MBA in Arts Management from RMIT.

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The Love that Moves the Stars during September in venues around Melbourne; With the State Library, an opportunity for everyone to explore Dante holdings of books and art works from the State Library and the NGV until 31st July 2022. For the duration of the State Library exhibition, the opportunity to listen to the whole 10 hours of the Dante in Music presented by Margot Costanzo and technically produced by Karen van Spall streamed from the website at your leisure.

The Festival website is still being finalised, but you This Festival has been spun out of the five part, 10 can enrol now for one or more of the free Lectures at hour 3MBS Illuminations series Dante in Music. CO.AS.IT., 189 Faraday Street Carlton. It commemorates in lectures, broadcast, live Briefly, the dates are: performance and a 10 hour Illuminations series, • 10th August 2021, from 6:30 to 8:00pm - Margot the 700 year poetic contribution of Dante Alighieri Costanzo, Why Should the General Reader Care through his great work the Divine Comedy. Through about Dante? this Festival, you too can celebrate the inspiration found in this work by Listz, Rachmaninoff, Granados, • 24th August 24 2021, from 6:30 to 8:00pm - Dr Simon West, The Poetic Beauty of Dante  Tchaikovsky and Verdi to mention just a few great composers.

• 31st August 2021, from 6:30 to 8:00pm - Dr Petra Kayser and Dr Anna Welch, The Dante Collection The Festival offers something for everyone: from the National Gallery of Victoria and the For the merely curious or the informed Italophile Holdings from the State Library of Victoria a Lecture series called Out of Exile that explores the Divine Comedy, Dante’s poetic achievement and the • 28th October 22021, from 6:30 to 8:00pm - Diana Glenn, The Women of the Divine Comedy art that it inspired.  The lectures will take place during August at CO.AS.IT in Carlton, Covid permitting.  To find out more  about lectures and to book, go to: For regular 3MBS listeners and new listeners a Broadcast Festival between September 13 and September 19 with live to air performances, the most famous musical works, and interviews from the curators, performers and experts; For live music lovers - live performances of work inspired by the Divine Comedy in a program called

https://www.coasit.com.au/events/eventsarchive/804-costanzo-2021-0 To stream the Dante in Music series, or to read more about Festival events, go to: https:// www.3mbsdante700festival.org.au

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From left to right: Emma Martin (CARE Project Officer), Lena Argyropoulos (Administration Assistant, Fairfield CRC), Laura Trumble (Physiotherapist, Fairfield CRC), Michelle McConnell (Physiotherapist, OAHKS), Carolyn Page (CARE Project Lead) and Katherine Roberts-Thomson (CARE Project Dietician).

ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL’S CARE PROJECT St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne was successful in obtaining grant funding from the Victorian Department of Health and Human services in 2019 to pilot a model of care to improve the outcomes for people with hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA).

for community based care means that specialist outpatient clinics in tertiary hospitals provide the majority of services to patients that have been identified by GPs as requiring additional expert assessment and management. This pathway Hip and knee OA is highly prevalent and poses currently results in significant delays in accessing a significant burden at both the individual and appropriate care. societal level. Long delays to access specialist Multiple national and international guidelines clinics for patients, are endemic in major clearly outline the evidence-based, non-surgical hospitals in Victoria. Limited alternative options management that all people with hip and knee 12


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OA should be offered (NICE UK 2014, RACGP 2009). However, it is reported that up to 57% of Australians do not receive appropriate care and support for their hip and knee OA (Runciman et al. 2012).

In late November 2020, the clinic was able to start transitioning back to face to face reviews albeit with a number of precautions in place to ensure the community’s ongoing safety. Pictured on page 12 is the team involved in the project at St Innovative models of service delivery are required Vincent’s Community Rehabilitation Centre in to more effectively meet peoples’ needs and ensure Fairfield in April 2021. comprehensive, integrated evidence-based care is Over a nearly 18-month period, this clinic saw delivered more systematically. 500 patients. A qualitative evaluation of this The St Vincent’s project, titled CARE (Community project indicated that the clinic filled a critical Arthritis Rehabilitation and Evaluation), is gap in patients’ understandings of the options aimed at developing a centre of excellence for the they have, beyond just surgery, to manage their management of hip and knee osteoarthritis from hip and knee OA. Less than 10% of the patients the initial GP referral through to accessing the seen in the clinic required a surgical review which right care in a timely and co-ordinated approach. was co-ordinated in a timely manner. We are currently exploring options to sustain this new A specialist clinic called Osteoarthritis Hip and model of care in St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. Knee Service (OAHKS) was set up in St Vincent’s Community Rehabilitation Centre (CRC), located If you have hip or knee osteoarthritis, make sure in Kew and Fairfield. The OAHKS model of care you talk to your General Practitioner about the was introduced to many Victorian tertiary-based non-surgical options available to manage your hospitals over 15 years ago. The aim of the OAHKS condition. For more information about arthritis, was to improve access to specialist assessment current research projects and ways to get involved, and assist in the prioritisation of patients for joint we recommend visiting the Musculoskeletal Australia website: https://www.msk.org.au/ replacement. As part of our community-based OAHKS clinic, If you would like further information about we developed a clinical role to help patients the CARE project, please direct your queries to navigate the options available and improve access Carolyn Page at the following email address: to appropriate non-surgical care for their hip and OAHipandKneeService@svha.org.au knee OA. Appropriate non-surgical care would cover the four key domains of managing hip and knee OA, that is: exercise, knowledge of the disease, nutrition and pain management. The community-based OAHKS has been operating since February 2020. Not long after commencement of this project, the COVID-19 pandemic hit which threatened to stall a number of projects across the state. However, with support from St Vincent’s management and access to appropriate infrastructure, the project was able to continue via telehealth. From March 2020 to late November 2020, patients were seen exclusively via telehealth and they were able to receive their initial assessment in the Community OAHKS, discuss and review options for non-surgical care and commence non-surgical management of their hip or knee OA. 13


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THE 2021 AUSTRALIAN GRADUATE WOMEN RESEARCH FELLOWS

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Australian Graduate Women (AGW), in existence since 1920, is the national voice of graduate women working through initiatives in education for the advancement and wellbeing of women and girls. Each year, AGW calls for women undertaking PhD research at any Australian university to apply for AGW Research Fellowships and financial assistance. The Research Fellowships are named in honour of two remarkable graduate women.

Georgina Sweet (1875-1946) was one of the founding members of our membership association in 1911 (then called Melbourne University (Graduates) Association) and the founding President of Graduate Women Victoria in 1920. Holding three degrees from The University of Melbourne, a Bachelor (1896), Master (1898) and Doctor (1904) of Science , she undertook zoological research until retirement in 1924. Georgina was the University’s first female associate professor and member of Council; and was awarded an OBE (1935) for her significant contribution to her discipline and to many organisations (Australian National Research Council, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society of Victoria, the Field Naturalists’ Club, Lyceum Club, Young Women’s Christian Association [YMCA], Pan-Pacific Women’s Association).

Barbara Hale (1924–2013) held two Master’s degrees - one in English from the University of New Zealand, and another in Librarianship from Sheffield University (UK). Barbara was the first woman to serve on the Senate of the University of Western Australia (UWA). After a career as a senior UWA librarian (1961-1984) she contributed significantly to AGW (then named Australian Federation of University Women) and After a competitive nationwide application and Graduate Women WA. comprehensive evaluation process, the two

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Barbara Hale Fellowships were awarded to Thuc Hao (Halle) Quang and Lauren Alesi, and the Georgina Sweet Fellowship was awarded to Yao (Jackie) Lu.

The funds from the AGW Fellowship will enable her to apply and validate the task she has developed within a new clinical cohort, patients with Parkinson’s disease. In the words of one of her referees “By taking this transdiagnostic approach to investigate symptoms that are common across different neurological and neurodegenerative disorders, her research will have greater impact and add significant value to the field of neuropsychology.” To carry out her project she will spend five months working in inter-institutional collaboration with Dr Trevor Chong at the Monash University’s Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, which has ongoing experience with patients with Parkinson’s disease and expertise in reward-based decisionmaking research.

Barbara Hale Fellow, Thuc Hao (Halle) Quang, holds a Bachelor’s degree (with Honours) in Psychology and Education from Ho Chi Minh University of Education in Vietnam and an MSc in Brain and Mind Science from the University of Sydney. As a current Scientia PhD candidate at the School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Halle’s research investigates how and why people with neurological disorders have reduced motivation and apathy, a condition that can seriously affect quality of life for patients and for their carers. Her current research has developed a behavioural paradigm - the Gift Collection Task - to characterise whether patients have apathy because of reduced sensitivity to intrinsic reward (i.e., lack of interest and enjoyment in the activity per se), or extrinsic reward (i.e., lack of perception that the activity can bring some benefits such as income and respect), or both. Understanding this could lead to better treatment methods and outcomes. 16

Barbara Hale Fellow Lauren Alesi, is a doctoral candidate at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, within the department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University. She also completed her undergraduate studies at Monash University, receiving her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in 2019. Her Honours project – which focussed on characterising the impact of emerging cancer


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therapies on ovarian function – ignited her stop ovarian damage from occurring in the passion for research and motivated her to pursue first place, would revolutionise the landscape of her doctoral studies. oncological fertility preservation. Lauren has a keen interest in female reproductive biology and fertility. Her PhD project is focussed on preserving fertility and endocrine health in female cancer patients. Utilising a mouse model, her research investigates a novel pharmaceutical fertility preservation technique which hopes to be the first to simultaneously preserve fertility and prevent premature menopause from occurring, with promising results already shown in her pilot studies.

Georgina Sweet Fellow, Yao (Jackie) Lu, completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Adelaide and a BSc (Hons) at the Florey Institute at The University of Melbourne.

Jackie is currently a PhD student at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University, where she previously worked as a research assistant in the Molecular and Translational Drug Discovery laboratory her referees there having described her as “an In her fellowship project, Lauren hopes to accomplished laboratory scientist”. obtain the vital information to optimise the The focus of her PhD research is to understand dose of this newly-available drug for maximal the molecular mechanisms of activation of ovarian protection against chemotherapy. This a promising receptor protein as a potential will be achieved through collaboration with target for treating schizophrenia. She seeks to experts at Monash University who specialise provide a molecular explanation of how some in metabolomics, so that she can learn to use small molecules can confer their antipsychotic expensive and highly specialised techniques that activity for the development of new drugs for the extend beyond the skillset and expertise that she treatment of schizophrenia. and the Ovarian Biology Laboratory currently possess. The work undertaken in this fellowship With the development of cryo-electron project is critical for the research and development microscopy (cryo-EM) imaging, high-resolution of this new fertility preservation strategy. A images of receptor protein structures have pharmaceutical option such as this, which could become increasingly accessible. Jackie will use the Fellowship funds to access a world-leading cryoEM facility at the University of Tokyo. She will also be able to participate personally in imaging sessions, thereby learning new skills associated with cryo-EM (sample preparation and screening) and creating career-enhancing networks within the structural biology community. The Georgina Sweet fellowship will provide the backing to accelerate breakthrough drug discovery and the career of a future scientific leader.

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ESTABLISHING TRUTH

The following gives extracts from a presentation entitled Establishing Truth given by our previous Chairperson of Council, The Hon Gaetano (Tony) Pagone QC, to Victorian school principals who were undertaking a Masters Project on Leading Learning that Matters. In his various roles – as lawyer, advocate, judge, academic and Chair of a Royal Commission – the search for answers or the right outcome had not required that what be established is truth. Australia’s legal system is built upon the doctrine of the separation of powers. It is the role of the courts to resolve disputes by the application of preexisting, and known, rules of law to established facts. That process – different from the search for truth – involves a resolution of disputes where the parties have control of the issues to be resolved and of the evidence to be relied upon to resolve the issues by reference to objective standards and by an impartial and independent decision maker. The system is based upon a balance of competing values designed to produce fair outcomes and leaving it to the parties, who have an interest in the outcome, to produce the evidence upon which they wish to rely, consistently with those rules, for the outcome they seek to obtain. Cases frequently do not have a single correct answer either in fact or in law and the judge will need to explain why one view is preferred. As explained by Sir Owen Dixon, a decision of the court will be “correct” or “incorrect” or “right” 18

or “wrong” to the extent that it conforms with legal principles which are applied according to standards of reasoning that are objective and, of course, which are not adopted arbitrarily or personal to the judges.i The decision maker must be independent of the parties to ensure fair outcomes and to give confidence in the outcome. The parties to a dispute need to feel that the person deciding the dispute has done so without an interest in the outcome. A losing party is entitled to be confident that the loss is not due in any part to the personal or private advantage of the judge. The public needs also to be confident in that, and is the means by which there can be confidence in the law and compliance with it. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman identifies many of the unconscious influences in our decision making which frequently produce incorrect outcomes. For example, an incorrect statement printed in bold type is more likely to be believed than the same incorrect statement printed in ordinary type. Unconscious biases affecting decisions are also at play in reference points when judges and decision makers make such diverse decisions as imposing custodial or monetary penalties, and award damages. A study in 2015 concluded that judges were likely to be affected by numeric reference points when deciding sentences and assessing damages. The researchers concluded that judges


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the battery life is described as 120 minutes rather than 2 hours. People say they are willing to pay 126 euros for a cellphone with an advertised battery life of 6 days, but only 102 euros for one with a battery life of 144 hours. Movie watchers state that they would prefer a movie rental plan that offered 7 movies per week for $10 per week over one that offered 9 movies per week for $12 per week; but their preferences reverse when the plans were multiplied out into a whole year; that is, they preferred a plan that offered 468 (9 x 52) movies per year for $12 per 364 (7 x 52) movies per Scale distorts judgments and preferences. A wide week over one that offered iii range of studies have documented such effects. year for $10 per week. Consumers prefer rewards programs that are Some predispositions are so embedded in our denominated in thousands of points rather than intuitions, times, culture and context that their hundreds, even though the units are set arbitrarily. distorting effect may be hidden from our ability to Stock splits increase share value, even though they consider, discuss or alter them. We should doubt have no effect on a firm’s true worth. Travelers who the confidence we have today in what we take for have to translate their currency of higher value granted when we look back on past expressions. into one of lower value (such as when Americans A few examples from a 1960 publication on use pesos) tend to overspend. Similarly, American advocacy intending to give reliable insight into consumers express less willingness to pay for a silk the evidence of female witnesses may illustrate tie as the nominal denomination of the currency the point: in which the item is priced increases. Workers are As the chief motive for exaggeration springs from happier with a 5% raise in a time of 12% inflation an innate love of the marvellous, and as this love, than with a 7% salary cut in the face of 0% inflation, like all others, is most remarkable in the softer sex, a even though the two are economically identical. prudent man will, in general, do well to weigh with Gamblers treat a 5-9 in 100 chance of winning as some caution the testimony of female witnesses. higher than a l in 10 chance. People planning for a This is the more necessary, in consequence of the wilderness trek state that a battery for a GPS device extensive and dangerous field of falsehood which is needed to guide them will be more reliable when opened up by mere exaggeration.iv

imposed shorter sentences when assigning sentences in months rather than in years, and awarded higher amounts of compensatory damages when informed of a cap on the amount that could be awardedii even though these influencing considerations were logically irrelevant to the decision. Being influenced by the scale of measurement can have a distorting effect in judgments and human choices in a wide variety of circumstances. As was stated by the researchers in the 2015 study:

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FEATU RE S

“A woman has always an advantage over counsel. In the first place she is so everlastingly on the fidget that it is difficult to put any question whatever to her; in the second, she never sticks to the point and will not be kept to it; in the third place she is a woman, and has the sympathy of the Court. If, further, she is clever and pretty, as long as jurors are men, she must be invincible.”v

bias), but it may be a useful reference point against which to evaluate other evidence.xii Some decisions may also require a degree of subjective judgment in which unconscious factors will inevitably play some part. Sentencing requires an “instinctive synthesis”xiii which involves taking into account all of the relevant factors to arrive at a single result giving due account to all.xiv

Examples of this kind are bountiful. In 1947, for example, the New South Wales Conservation and Irrigation Commission refused to consent to the transfer of an irrigation-farm licence to a naturalised Australian of Italian origin in part for the stated reason that experience was said to have shown that “as a general rule Italians [were] not good farmers under irrigation methods”.vi

The legal profession is often seen as another barrier to ascertaining truth by rules which may seem to suppress what may bear upon the truth. Though one of Shakespeare’s characters proclaimed “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”xv, the basis of those rules, and of the regulatory supervision of the profession, are intended to assist in the ascertainment of the best and fairest outcome rather than the suppression of “truth”. The rule known as lawyer and client, or legal professional, privilege, for example, prevents disclosure of confidential communications between lawyer and client made for the purpose of giving or receiving legal advice but its role is to further the interests of justice not to impede it. We have heard much about that rule, and of the consequence of its breach, in the public discussions concerning Lawyer X. While acting as a lawyer to a number of people suspected, and charged with, serious criminal offences this person was also engaged as a police informer: what was told in confidence for the purpose of legal advice and defence to criminal charges was being conveyed to the police and prosecuting authorities.

The risk of being inappropriately influenced by unconscious reference points which we carry with us are at play at the very heart of the common law system of proof by oral testimony. There was a time when the law excluded evidence being given by the parties to a dispute because of the fear that it was unreliable and likely to be false.vii We also inevitably make judgments about people, about the reliability of what they say, and we form impressions about them based upon their appearance and demeanour. The demeanour of a witness is part of the evidence upon which decisions are made, and a standard text book on the law of evidence expressed the view that a court may be more disposed to believe a witness who “gives evidence in a forthright way, unperturbed under cross-examination”,viii although a moment’s reflection might lead us to reason that not to be a reliable position to adopt bearing in mind that the hallmark of a confidence trickster is of having an impressive demeanour.ix Other distorting effects include the bias which comes from hindsight, framing, egocentricity and the tendency to treat the probability of a hypothesis given the evidence as the same as, or close to, the probability of the evidence given the hypothesis.x What is important for the application of the law is the “construction of a satisfactory road towards to the truth”xi (to adopt the view expressed by a psychotherapist in a different context), rather than to see the road as unacceptable because of the defects. Thus, for example, evidence of a price paid after a date may not be proof of the value at the relevant date (and may be an example of hindsight 20

The purpose of the rule is not to conceal truth and, indeed, the rule cannot be relied upon if the confidential communication is made for the purposes of furthering illegality. The lawyer must be engaged in a professional capacity and not participate in illegal transactions.xvi The rule, rather, is intended to assist in achieving the best outcome in litigation, and in the general administration of the law, by maximising the candour in discussions between lawyer and client so that the lawyer can give the best and correct advice in the full knowledge of the facts and circumstances of the client. The alternative would be for the client to withhold facts when seeking legal advice and assistance for fear that what was said could be disclosed to others. That would necessarily distort the administration of the law by distorting the basis upon which legal advice and assistance was given.


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The public interest in seeing justice being Endnotes administered properly also explains the duties i Sir Owen Dixon, “Concerning Judicial Method,” Jesting Pilate which lawyers sometimes have to put aside (2nd edition), (1977), 155. personal values or personal preferences when ii JJ Rachlinkski, AJ Wistrich and C Guthrie “Can Judges Make deciding to act for, or when acting for, a client. Reliable Numeric Judgments? Distorted Damages and Skewed The duty of a barrister is to “promote and protect Sentences” (2015) 90 Indiana Law Journal 695. fearlessly and by all proper and lawful means the iii Ibid, 716. best interests” of the clientxvii without regards iv RK Soonavala, Advocacy: its principles and practice dealing to the barrister’s self-interest or to any personal with the art of advocacy, (Tripathi, 1960), 731, quoting Taylor, consequence.xviii We can all feel more confident in Evidence, s54. the correctness of outcomes if we know that lawyers v Ibid, 732, quoting from 20 Monthly Law Journal 224 (India). agree to act for clients without prejudgment of the vi Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission v Browning merits and morals of their clients or of their case: (1947) 74 CLR 492, 495. it justifies our confidence in knowing that lawyers vii See W.S. Holdsworth Charles Dickens as a Legal Historian are putting their client’s position independently, (1929, Yale University Press) 132 -135. viii dispassionately and fairly in the client’s interest. J.D. Heydon, Cross on Evidence, (Lexis Nexis Butterworths, Articulating reasons for decision, and thereby becoming aware of potentially distorting unconscious biases, is fundamental to making fair, impartial and objectively defensible decisions. Awareness of the factors that influence decisions enables those factors to be dealt with appropriately. The role they play, if any, in a decision needs to be articulated in reasons for the decision. The discipline of providing reasons for decisions is the law’s means to bring to light those factors which explain how or why a decision is made. It is also the means by which the decision maker explains both why and how a decision is the best on the law and evidence rather than, perhaps, the identification of the much more elusive truth. Plato in The Republic had thought of the ideal government as one by wise and superior “philosopher kings” who knew what was good for the people and, therefore, were not themselves subject to any control over their commands or decisions. Aristotle, on the other hand, postulated as superior a government based upon law and reason. In the Aristotelian view there is removed arbitrary passion in favour of common rules and principles. It is by the recourse to reason and to justification that we seek to ascertain, if not truth, at least a defensible basis on which to base decisions. We cannot remove all of the obstacles in the way of ascertaining truth, but we can reduce their impact and, perhaps, best approach an approximation of the truth we would like by having to justify what we do by reference to principles beyond the mere existence of power, and by reference to material which is reliable and is tested transparently and fairly to those affected.

7th ed, 2004), 56 [1285].

AM Gleeson QC, Discussion Paper presented to the Gunn Club, Sydney, c.1980, 5 (the author is indebted to Mr Stephen McMillan of Counsel for providing a copy of this paper); see also AM Gleeson QC “Judging the Judges” (1979) 53 Australian Law Journal 338, 344.

ix

C Guthrie, JJ Rachlinski, AJ Wistrich “Judging by Heuristics; Cognitive Illusions in Judicial Decision-Making” (2002) 86 Judicature, 44.

x

DW Winnicott, Thinking About Children (Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1996) 7 (said by the author about science rather than the law); see also Judge William Young, “Quality of Justice – Myth or Reality” (2017) 23 Commonwealth Judicial Journal 9, 12-13.

xi

McCathie v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1944) 69 CLR 1, 16; Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Harris (1980) 30 ALR 10, 18, 19 and 25. xii

xiii

R v Williscroft [1976] VR 292, 300.

xiv

Wong v The Queen (2001) 207 CLR 584, 611.

Henry VI Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2, l59, Dick the Butcher to Jack Cade.

xv

Leary v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1980) 47 FLR 414, 434–5 (Brennan J).

xvi

Butterworths, Halsbury’s Laws of England, vol 3(1) (2005 reissue) 3 Professional Practice and Conduct, ‘Duty to the lay client’ [510].

xvii

xviii See Rondel v Worsley [1969] 1 AC 191, 227 (Lord Reid); Tombling v Universal Bulb Company, Limited [1951] 2 TLR 289, 297 (Lord Justice Denning); Abse v Smith [1986] QB 536, 546 (Sir Donaldson MR); Tuckiar v R (1934) 52 CLR 335.

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THERE WILL ALWAYS BE VOICES IN THIS PLACE FEATU RE S

The Academy of Mary Immaculate is a Roman Catholic girls’ secondary school situated on Nicholson Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1857 and is the place of the first Mercy Convent in Melbourne (and on the east coast of Australia). On 20th April 2021, this Convent was entrusted into the care of the Academy of Mary Immaculate ‘for the furtherance of the Ministry of Education’. This date marked the 164th anniversary of the opening of the Academy - the first Catholic feepaying secondary school for girls in Melbourne - by Mother Ursula Frayne, leader of the first community of Sisters to settle in Melbourne and the first Sister of Mercy to set foot on the shores of Australia, in Perth, Western Australia in 1846. The following is a piece by Mary Wickham rsm, poet and past teacher, who had been commissioned to write a reflection for the occasion, and is entitled ‘There will always be Voices in this place’. There will always be voices in this place, voices of prayer and promise, sounds of laughter and longing, plain speaking truth and tales of need and beauty. There will always be voices in this place, Voices that belong to hearts learning mercy, Hearts that are at home here, one with its history and purpose. At first it was the fresh air of the farms of Fitzroy, in a settlement a mere twenty or so years established, Flinders Street Station a couple of years old, 22

the great Cathedral and Exhibition Buildings not yet built, and these two rickety, leaning houses watched a city change: the Victorian edifices the gold rush ushered in, the ambiguous scrapers of the current sky, as successive peoples escaped from war and strife, the varied cultures and races seeking life, that made this city great. All the while the Women lived here, spinners of kindness and culture, singers of hope and of spirit, an eclectic mix of the fit and the frail. The city spread, the needs beckoned, their responses diverse and innovative, while monarchs, mayors, bishops and baristas– the generations–flourished and fell, one to the next. The women lived and grew old here, dispersed each morning just out the door or along the tramlines, at end of day gathered back in by the house for sustenance, and for the unique companionship of the affiliated. The women knew the seasons of the spirit and the phases of the body, they braved the loneliness and loveliness of their vocation that had brought them from as far as Ireland, and as close as the suburb adjoining.


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Their span has known almost breakneck change, former customs now quaint and curious, new ways asserting and evolving, wars and wonders, diseases now unseen and diseases terribly new, Titanic the event and its movies, Charles the Dickens and the Darwin, Brahms to Beatles, Dame Nellie to Dame Edna, Phar Lap and Ned Kelly, Olympics and Westgate Bridge, the disasters and triumphs of the city within earshot, the great dome and the spires, the hospitals and theatres, chalk to computer, costumes medieval to modern, horse to steam to petrol, moon landing, climate changing: the teeming, tumultuous life of the city.

There is peace and promise in the uncharted future: who can say where the Spirit will drift? Who will sing? Who will sing? You? Will you sing? Yes, I will sing We will sing. Eras begin, new history is ready for the making, and fresh songs will shift the air. Hope lilts and faith lifts, as new melodies of mercy are begun and sung, and sung and sung *** Retrieved 30th June 2021 from https://www. mercyworld.org/f/45074/x/97381cfd16/ami_fd_ a6_cover.pdf

The noble elms that line the streets have seen the seasons through and grown old with the women. The newer choices have made their choice rare, their paradoxical success in enhancing life for women has narrowed the number in their own house. Instead of choirs there are small ensembles still singing, Spirit blowing where it wills. There will always be voices in this place, and hearts will be learning mercy. Eras pass and songs come to an end. There is sadness, a deep grief of the world turning. They leave, the last of the line to call it home, and one history is finished. A wistful but grateful Amen we say. But the bones of the one who began it–they stay. The old walls weep and the spirits whisper their stories: it has been a fine time. 23


MEM BE RS’ CO NTRI BUT I ON

A LITRE OF PETROL by Life Member Louis A Coutts

I found myself in an outer suburb of Melbourne and pulled into a petrol station to fill my tank. There was a car in the first bowser set and I pulled in behind it and started to fill up. The driver of that car returned from the payment counter and got into his car and drove away, leaving the space in front of me. Then a small old looking car drove in from the opposite direction facing my car and stopped at the bowser. My immediate thought was “how am I going to get out, with that car facing me?” A lady alighted from the car and as though she read my mind, waved to me and with a pleasant smile and said something to the effect of “Don’t worry”. She placed the nozzle in the tank, and I kept filling mine. A minute or two later, I saw the lady return to her car from the payment counter, get in and drive off. I was still filling my tank. It occurred to me that she must have only put one or at the most, two litres in her tank.

from hand to mouth in this rich country Australia. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to live on the financial edge. I was then reminded of the story of the woman in the supermarket with her child, who was buying stuff for the evening meal. At the check out counter, she had to stop the check out clerk because she didn’t have enough money for everything she had in her basket and had to hand some stuff back. The guy behind her then told her not to hand the stuff back as he would pick up the cheque for the balance. If I had been more attentive, I would have told the one litre lady to fill her tank and I would pick up the cheque. But she had gone.

I then went into the shop to pay, only to discover that I had left my wallet at home and didn’t have any money. Sadly, that is not the first time it has happened to me and I am almost certain it won’t be the last. But I couldn’t get that lady out of my mind and wondered how many more people in this rich Do you know, I felt terrible? The poor woman must country simply don’t have enough for their day-tohave had to watch every cent and must be living day needs. 24


M E M B E R S’ CO N T RIBUT IO N

There is something wrong, not only in this country but throughout the world. I remember once in Washington State in Northwest USA, passing a caravan park. It was not a tourist park. It was a place of old broken down caravans where people lived. I saw a little girl, sitting forlornly on the step of one caravan looking vacantly at the surrounding dirt and gravel which were her horizon. The USA for heavens sake where Jeff Bezos can afford to build a space craft so that he can spend a few minutes a hundred kilometres above the earth. What a toy. I wondered how many toys this lonely child had in her caravan home.

And then of course, there are the refugee camps of people trying to escape from terror. These camps are a redefinition of poverty and deprivation.

There is plenty of money in the world to go round but it is in the pockets of the very few who use it to buy expensive toys and to make more money. In this rich country, Australia, there are children who go to bed hungry. If this is a product of our socalled economic model, there is something wrong with the model. I really don’t know the answer but then all the money in the world is in the hands of so few and there are so many in need. What seems to be missing is enough love to ensure the needy I remember travelling across Siberia which is in a don’t go hungry and that decent women can fill country run by a guy who has just built a billion- their tank and buy enough at the supermarket to dollar holiday home on the Black Sea. Village after feed their family. village in Siberia consisted of broken down ancient small houses made of timber. The streets were unmade with huge gouge marks left after vehicles had travelled over them in the winter. Kids playing in those unmade streets which was their horizon. 25


MEM BE RS’ CO NTRI BUT I ON

Railway Bridge, Harcourt 2001 — Marg Nicoll

The City’s Oldest Restaurant 2004 — Marg Nicoll

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G R A D UAT E H O USE NEWS

THE GRADUATE UNION STRATEGIC PLANNING DAY 2021

A big thank you to all who participated in the Strategic Planning Day on Saturday, the 10th of July. Members of Council, and of its subcommittees and working parties, met to plan for the medium to longer term future of The Graduate Union.

The concluding session was facilitated by the President,TheHonDianaBryantAOQC,andresulted in the listing of key strategic recommendations to be considered in greater depth by Council over the remainder of the year, particularly with respect to The day began with a keynote address from the alternative revenue sources and directions for the Chairperson of Council, Cr Vincent Mirabelli, terrace redevelopment. on the day’s theme of ‘Purpose and Identity’. This The pandemic presents many challenges and many was followed by a panel of the subcommittee opportunities for our 110-year-old Association. chairpersons who each presented key priorities This strategic planning day proved to be positive, (on behalf of their respective subcommittees) for productive and forward-thinking. It was reassuring inclusion in the 2022-2024 Strategic Plan which is to have intelligent and generous experts from a now under development for release early next year. wide range of relevant disciplines and sectors come A second panel of Council members then presented together to work cooperatively, professionally and on key features of the longer-term, ten-year G-House comprehensively to develop solutions and guide and G-Union Master Plans. us forward. We are indeed fortunate to be in such capable hands.

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G RAD UATE HO USE N EWS

AAA CHRISTMAS DINNER On 14th July, the Australian Asian Association (AAA) held their Christmas in July dinner in the Stillwell room which was beautifully set up, complete with bonbons and trimmings that added to the Christmassy atmosphere. The dinner was attended by 18 guests who enjoyed a happy evening of festivity and cheers.

The Australian Asian Association Christmas In July dinner celebration

CHRISTMAS IN JULY LUNCHES It was a welcoming sight to see a full dining room at lunchtime on Wednesday, 14th July. Members and their guests, and groups from organisations were seen enjoying the Christmas themed lunch thoughtfully prepared by the GU Culinary team..

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G R A D UAT E H O USE NEWS

FEEDBACK “Dinner was so good last night. The turkey, the pudding and the chowder were excellent. I would like to commend the Chefs for the delicious meal served. I am so grateful. Unfortunately, in this world when there is something good that happens, people don’t mention it but when it is bad feedback people are quick to point it out” - Dr Alan Bond (Resident member) This is just a note to thank you and your staff for hosting such a wonderful occasion as this “Christmas In July” lunch. Not only was the food wonderful, but the kitchen staff were so friendly, cheerful and helpful that my guests were so impressed. The thick tasty chowder delighted me especially and I will be able to invite my friends back with confidence that they will enthusiastically accept! The turkey was moist and tender. Great vegetables ... indeed nothing could be faulted! The friendly, helpful attitudes were evident everywhere and extended by all the staff and this really made the day so pleasant. The dining room was filled with very happy and delighted members and friends. No losing weight this Christmas! My thanks to all concerned. - Darren Room (Life member) Organising our event at Graduate House was a very easy process from initial online enquiry, to first inspection and on-site meeting with other organisers. Graduate House did everything they could to make the process easy for us, and were most accommodating before and during the event. The function room was very suitable and we were able to bring in decorations and move the furniture to suit the needs of the participants. The food, in terms of quality and quantity was just right. It was very simple finger food, with quite a few choices. The staff were incredibly helpful at every point of our event. And yes, we would recommend other groups and organisations to hold their meetings, functions and conferences here at Graduate House. - Nadine Fisher, Private Event 29


G U COL L EGI ATE

Monthly Luncheon W E DN E SDAY, 4 T H AU G U ST M IC HA E L H E A DB E R RY

Michael is a foundation student of Monash University and heads up the Alumni Group named The Monash Pioneers, comprising students from the first five years (1961-1965). His professional life included the cofounding of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies at the David Syme Business School at Monash University and, from 1995 to 2014, Managing Director of Retail Synergy Group Pty Ltd. Michael is a member of Military History and Heritage Victoria, the Spirit of Australia Foundation, an Affiliate Member of Box Hill RSL Sub-Branch and a recognised authority on Sir John Monash. In 2013 he initiated the Sir John Monash Sculptural Project at Monash University and chaired the Project Board. The statue by Peter Corlett OAM was unveiled by the then Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Alex Chernov AC QC, in April 2015.

Sir John is depicted in civilian dress in recognition of his lifelong legacy and multi-disciplinary achievements. In 2016, former Deputy Prime Minister the late Tim Fischer AC approached Michael to Chair the newly formed Saluting Monash Council in Victoria, a position he continues to hold. The aim of this Council is to secure an Honorary Field Marshal rank for Sir John. The presentation entitled “John Monash Australia’s National Possession” will summarise Monash’s life achievements in the disciplines of Engineering, Law, Science, Medicine, the Arts, Education, Business, Military Command and as a Community leader. The focus will be on his personal values, motivations, personality, humanism and behavioural style as elements in understanding John Monash, the Man (and a Founder of The Graduate Union in 1911).

12:00NOON arrival for 12:30pm start (Virtual attendance: 1:15pm Please logon by 1:10pm) Graduate House 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053 Online Booking: https://www.graduatehouse.com.au/coming-events/monthly-luncheon-2021-aug Phone: (03) 9347 3428 Email: admingh@graduatehouse.com.au Dine in Pricing: Members $35, non-members $40 Virtual Attendance Pricing: Members $10, non-members $15. Link provided during booking process.

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G U COLLEGIAT E

Monthly Luncheon W E DN E SDAY, 1 ST SE P T E M B E R L I N B E N DE R A M

Lin Bender was appointed Chief Executive of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust in October 2013.

Lin’s consultancy work has delivered a range of major projects. She has also established and implemented successful marketing strategies, She has had an extensive career in the not-for-profit business development plans and private giving sector including strategic development for the programs for national and state organisations. Victorian Government on the Melbourne Recital Centre Project, general manager of Radio 3MBS, Lin was awarded a Member in The Order of Australia in 2010, for services to arts administration national marketing manager for the Australia through executive roles and to the music Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) and general manager of the Melbourne International Chamber community of Melbourne. Music Competition (Chamber Music Australia).

12:00NOON arrival for 12:30pm start (Virtual attendance: 1:15pm Please logon by 1:10pm) Graduate House 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053 Online Booking: to be advised soon Phone: (03) 9347 3428 Email: admingh@graduatehouse.com.au Dine in Pricing: Members $35, non-members $40 Virtual Attendance Pricing: Members $10, non-members $15. Link provided during booking process.

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EXTRACUR R I CUL AR

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EXTR ACU RRICU L AR

EXTRACURRICULAR NO, YOU’RE PROBABLY NOT ‘ADDICTED’ TO YOUR PHONE , BUT YOU MAY BE USING IT TOO MUCH

Addiction is a term used to describe people who spend too much time on an activity or on something that is deemed detrimental to their health and wellbeing. From checking our phones repetitively, to playing with specific apps and texting, the modern culprit is excessive smartphone use. So how much is excessive? If you have dined in a busy restaurant and find yourself seated next to a group of friends, you may have noticed throughout your meal that they have spent the whole night hunched over their smartphones. They seem to have a meal together but are apart. This phenomenon is so common now that it even has its own buzzword, called phubbing - the practice of ignoring one’s companions in order to pay attention to one’s phone or other mobile device.

people, obsessively checking their phone has become a reinforced behaviour which fortunately could be broken without severe or long-lasting withdrawal effects. However, a small proportion of people may be more prone to behavioural addictions to their smartphone apps such as online gambling, playing video games continuously and social media browsing. Clinically speaking, you cannot become addicted to a device, but you can develop behavioural addictions to these smartphone functions. Is Social media to be blamed?

The behavioural impact of the use of smartphones for social media purpose can spans from obsessiveness such as engaging in and checking smartphone apps until they no longer provide In 2021, more than 3.8 million people own a rewarding adrenaline hit, to addiction. The smartphones and the average user spends around specific functional use of our smartphone is what five hours a day on phone activities. For most we need to look more closely at. An average user’s 33


EXTRACUR R I CUL AR

smartphone activities would be texting, reading For some, online engagement diversifies their social media posts, internet searching, watching offline social engagement, while others are unaware videos and phone calls that most of their life is now lived online. Social media rewards users via ‘likes’, emoji use and social engagement with a large audience. The more people respond to a post, the more we gain a sense of enjoyment that people are validating our thoughts or interests. Sometimes the rewards form a measurement of popularity, thus encouraging people to seek affirmation and acceptance in social settings. Before the rise of Facebook and Instagram, humans sought out one another via many settings for social engagement and social validation. So it’s no surprise that when we have the technology to extend our social connections into wider communities, and we do so without a second thought.

Is it time to put your Smartphone down? Many smartphone users are obsessed with their smartphone functions. But over time, they may find it less interesting and treat it like an engaging gadget or a replacement for a computer. In the meantime, we need to educate today’s young users about problematic internet use and help them understand why using functions on their smartphone can be potentially time-wasting and, at worst, negatively impact their mental wellness. This can be communicated in early childhood and reinforced throughout the developmental stages. As for adult smartphone users, here are a few simple tips for reducing your smartphone use: • Reduce the number of apps on your phone and keep only what you need and use most often. The fewer the icons on your home screen the better. • Turn off notifications and set your phone to notify you only for meaningful events to aid in your health and productivity during work hours. • Do not charge your phone next to your bed at night, as it is tempting to reach for your smartphone first thing upon waking.

Screentime Statistics in 2021

Career adults know they are unable to socialise all the time because of other demands on their time. However, for the younger generation, the social world is their priority, as it influences their identity development and so they seek validation outside friends and family. If you are concerned that you are always on social media, you may ask yourself: what do I gain from posting and replying online? Can I gain the same rewarding benefits from face-to-face social engagements? 34

• Be aware that instead of reaching for your phone during the day when bored, you can try a mindfulness breathing exercise to relax and clear your mind. To read more, go to : https://theconversation. com/no-youre-probably-not-addicted-toyour-smartphone-but-you-might-use-it-toomuch-89853


ACA D E M IC A N D PR O FE S S IO N A L D EVE LO PM E N T MEET INGS

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEETINGS The following groups f rom The University of Melbourne have convened meetings, workshops and events at Graduate House during the month of June 2021. Centre for Digital Transformation of Health(CDTH) Retreat Planning Meeting

Child and Community Wellbeing Unit - Optimise Qual Analysis workshop

Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions - Jobs Victoria Advocate Training Program

17th, 24th June 14 attendees

28th June 8 attendees

21st, 22nd, 23rd June 42 attendees

The patronage of organisation Members in charitable, not-for-profit, government and professional development sectors is acknowledged, as is that of our many Members who hold their functions at Graduate House.

Ladies Lunch Care Connect FBI Team Meeting

Melba Group

Melbourne Underground Rail Loop (MURL)

30th June 20 attendees

25th June 16 attendees

18th June 9 attendees

Per Capita Inc. John Cain FoundationLuncheon

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Phoenix Australia Board Meeting

16th June 26 attendees

22nd June 11 attendees

29th June 5 attendees

MEETINGS Rotary Club of Carlton Parkville

Slavery Links Australia Inc.

The Graduate Union Collegiate Events and Governance Meeting

22nd, 29th June 63 attendees

16th, 28th June 16 attendees

23rd, 30th June 22 attendees

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PROMOTI O NS

Function Menu 2021 Traditional Christmas Set menu for lunch or dinner Table service is 50/50 drop Entrée Smoked salmon with prawns, horseradish cream & lime vinaigrette (gf) Peking duck salad (gf) (df) Braised mushroom with creamy polenta (gf) (v) (vegetarian option)

Main Course Seasoned turkey breast with apricot and macadamia stuffing served with roasted root vegetables, gravy and cranberry sauce (gf) (df)

Rib eye fillet steak seasoned with rosemary and garlic served with roasted baby chat potatoes and red wine gravy (gf)

Roasted vegetable stack with saganaki (v) (vegetarian option)

Dessert Plum pudding with custard brandy sauce (v) Mixed berry pavlova (gf) (v) Summer fruit salad (v+) (gf)

Two courses $59.50 per person | Three courses $70.00 per person (GF) GLUTEN FREE (V) VEGETARIAN (V+) VEGAN (DF) DAIRY FREE 36


PR O M OT IO NS

Christmas Summer Barbeque Menu Set Menu for Lunch or Dinner Available from 1st November Until 16th December 2021 In the Graduate House Courtyard Main Course Porterhouse steak (gf) (df) Lamb chops (gf) (df) Gourmet sausages Tandoori chicken tikka thighs (gf) Vegetarian burgers (v) Grilled summer vegetable platter (v+) (gf) Onions (v+) (gf) Selection of summer salads (v) (gf)

Dessert Blueberry pavlova (v) (gf) Fruit salad and cream (v) (gf)

$62.50 per person. Minimum 15 guests (GF) GLUTEN FREE (V) VEGETARIAN (V+) VEGAN (DF) DAIRY FREE 37


PROMOTI O NS

Graduate House Affordable and safe accommodation for patients, hospital visitors and medical staff — Melbourne CBD Need a place to stay while having, or recuperating from, specialist medical or surgical treatment? Visiting a loved one in hospital? Consider Graduate House. Graduate House:

Patients

•

offers accommodation for patients, families, friends and carers;

Graduate House is suitable for: •

the period before full-stay admission;

•

is affordable, safe and trusted with friendly, welcoming and genuinely caring professional staff;

•

after discharge to recuperate and while arranging for transport home; and

•

•

is suitable for those from regional Victoria, outer metropolitan Melbourne and interstate;

out-patient consultations and treatments (cancer therapy; day surgery; dialysis, dental, mental health, etc.).

•

has variable stay durations, from one to a few nights or weeks;

Schemes that subsidise patient accommodation: •

Victoria: Ph: 1300 737 073 https://bit.ly/3cgdEKp

•

is clean, with quiet rooms, and comfortable communal areas;

•

•

has breakfast and weekday dinners included, and delicious, healthy food;

Tasmania: Ph: (03) 6222 8225 www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/hospital/ptas

•

•

has car parking – secure and cheap with online booking/payment and contactless automatic car plate recognition; is within walking distance of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Royal Women’s Hospital, the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and St. Vincent’s Hospital; and

NSW: Ph: 1800 478 227 www.health.nsw.gov.au/transport

•

South Australia: Ph: 1300 341 684 https://bit.ly/3l65NTZ

•

Western Australia: http://bit.ly/3rJYeVq

•

Northern Territory: http://bit.ly/3eDuUfo

•

ACT: https://bit.ly/3etUzr5

•

•

is a tram ride to the Epworth and Alfred Hospitals. Alison and Richard Harcourt sent thanks to Graduate House for the hospitality they received during a ‘respite’ stay. “We appreciate the courteous and helpful approach shown by all members of the staff. All the comfortable and well-equipped apartments that we occupied faced on to University Square. “Thank you, Graduate House.”

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Visitors and Hospital Staff Graduate House is suitable for: •

parents with children in hospital;

•

families and friends supporting loved ones in hospital; and

•

carers, allied health, medical and NDIS support staff.

To make a booking or for any enquiries, please go to: www.graduatehouse.com.au/medistays/ or contact us on +61 3 9347 3428 or admingh@graduatehouse.com.au.


PR O M OT IO NS

Pricing (per night) Single and double rooms (without kitchens) as well as self-contained apartments are available. Prices range from $125 to $185. *for Members, prices range from $105 to $155

Royal Children’s Hospital Royal Women’s Hospital

Royal Melbourne Hospital

The University of Melbourne

Comprehensive Cancer Centre Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Epworth Hospital

Alfred Hospital

39


PROMOTI O NS

G R AD UATE HOU S E IS OPEN AND SAFE – MEET FACE-TO-FACE! Need a break from online video meetings? (Yes, it’s exhausting!) Craving real live person face-toface 3D interactions?

Graduate House has: • meeting and function services – flexible and tailored room configurations for 2 to >100 people;

Have your meeting or function face-to-face and safely at Graduate House; or book a table in our • ‘hybrid’ meeting capability – good audio, dining room and court yard for an informal meal video, technical support for in-person and/or and get together. online (Zoom, Teams, Webex, etc.) meetings; We are COVIDSafe and adhere strictly to, and • excellent catering and service – delicious have experience with, capacity limits, physical and healthy food*, friendly, welcoming and distancing, hygiene, cleanliness. professional staff; • membership options for greater affordability – a ‘Ritz’ experience but at a charity price; • car parking – secure and cheap with online booking/payment and contactless automatic car plate recognition; • accommodation – interstate and regional delegates can book to stay for a few nights in a clean, safe, quiet college room, with breakfast and weekday dinners included; and • offices to rent temporarily – to enable onsite event/function preparation. These singleperson well-ventilated spaces are clean, quiet and convenient. To make a booking or for any enquiries, please contact our Hospitality Manager, Rosie Ellul on +61 3 9347 3428 or rosie.ellul@graduatehouse.com.au.

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* Catering for events not held at Graduate House but within this education precinct may also be provided (subject to sufficient notice) – morning and afternoon teas, working lunches and grazing platters.


PR O M OT IO NS

Graduate House

Dining Room is now open for breakfast, lunch and dinner

GRADUATE HOUSE IS NOW AVAILABLE ON

DOORDASH, DELIVEROO, MENULOG AND UBER EATS DOORDASH: HTTP://BIT.LY/2NMWQZV DELIVEROO: MENULOG: UBER EATS:

HTTP://BIT.LY/3P8NK0N HTTPS://BIT.LY/3O01Z6W HTTPS://BIT.LY/397C9JI

41


PROMOTI O NS

Office Rentals Book a day, a week, a month – the hours you need! Offices are in the iconic Gladstone terraces on University Square. Close to public transport stops (trams, buses), and with on-site secure bike and car parking, they are a short walk away from Melbourne’s CBD, The University of Melbourne and RMIT. Separate single user offices are available. Each has a desk, a lamp, shelving and a cupboard. The majority also have a basin. This means no open plan spaces, no lifts and low numbers sharing washrooms and staff facilities – thus COVIDSafe! Booking your Office Space at Graduate House To ask about renting offices at Graduate House – a one-off booking or something more regular (e.g., two days a week) or longer term – please telephone or email. We have humans at the end of the phone (03 9347 3428) from Monday to Friday between 8:00AM to 6:00PM who will check availability on the spot and talk you through the options. If you call after hours, leave a message with your phone number and we will return your call on the next workday. We have a similar turnaround for emails to admingh@graduatehouse.com.au.

Offices are available between 8:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Friday. Minimum booking of one day. Subject to requirements, offices may be available at other times. Services included in the rental fee, and options that can be added: • reception services, including contact tracing records (included)

Indicative office rental fees:

• post/package receipt and inform services (included)

• 1 to 5 days = $85 per day

• Internet Wi-Fi^ (included, and with upgrade options)

• 6 days up to 3 months (90 days) = $70 per day

• casual meeting and breakout spaces (included subject to capacity limits and availability)

• 3 to 6 months (91-180 days) = $60 per day

• office services (e.g., printing, meeting scheduling, website) (option) • event/function areas and management (option) • breakfast, lunch, dinner and other catering (option) • café bar and BBQ facilities (option) • vending machine • regular cleaning and sanitising (included) • shower facilities (option) • secure bicycle shelter (included) * Car Parking fees apply (and are not included in the rent). ^ Standard Wi-Fi (suitable for web browsing and emails) is provided for free. Packages are available for the connection of additional devices and for higher speeds – contact us by phone (+61 3 9347 3428) or email (admingh@graduatehouse.com.au), or visit us at reception to ask about the costs for different plans.

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• car parking (option)* Get in touch! Phone: +61 3 9347 3428 Email: admingh@graduatehouse.com.au


PR O M OT IO NS

Room Types, Prices and Features The safest place to stay in Melbourne

• Single room private bathrooms

• Bed linen

• Double room private bathrooms

• Weekly housekeeping

• Stella Langford large/medium apartments

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

• Double rooms with separate lounge and private bathrooms

• Short term accommodation – one night, a few weeks

• Barkly Place and Barry Street apartments

• Long term accommodation – months, semesters, years

• Wi-Fi

Barkly Place and Barry Street

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THE GRADUATE UNION of The University of Melbourne Inc.

220 Leicester Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia Telephone: +61 (0)3 9347 3428 Australian Business Number: 55 610 664 963 Incorporated Association Registration Number: A0023234B

WWW.GRADUATEHOUSE.COM.AU


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The Graduate Union August 2021 Newsletter by Graduate House - Issuu