For the first time, scientists have proven that cannabis harms the brain. But the same study challenges previously-held assumptions about use of the drug, showing that some brain irregularities predate drug use.

Professor Dan Lubman, from Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and Monash University, along with a team of researchers from Melbourne University have conducted a world-first study examining whether these brain abnormalities represent markers of vulnerability to cannabis use.

“Previous evidence has shown that long-term heavy cannabis use is associated with alterations in regional brain volumes,” Professor Lubman said.

“Although these changes are frequently attributed to the neurotoxic effects of cannabis, no studies have examined whether structural brain abnormalities are present before the onset of cannabis use until now.”

To fill this void in present studies, Professor Lubman and his team recruited participants from primary schools in Melbourne, Australia, as part of a larger study examining adolescent emotional development.

Of the 155 original participants who underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging at age 12, 121 completed a follow-up survey measuring substance use four years later. It was found that by age 16, 28 participants had commenced using cannabis.

“This is an important developmental period to examine, because although not all individuals who initiate cannabis use during this time will go on to use heavily, early cannabis use has been associated with a range of negative outcomes later in life,” Professor Lubman said.

Their findings revealed that youth with smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes, part of the frontal lobe of the brain, at age 12 were more likely to have initiated cannabis use by age 16. The volumes of other regions of the brain did not predict later cannabis use.

“Given the lack of research in this area, we hypothesised that pre-drug use differences would be consistent with the structural abnormalities that have been found in studies of heavy users,” Professor Lubman said.

“What we found is that only the OFC predicted later cannabis use, suggesting that this particular part of the frontal lobe increases an adolescent’s vulnerability to cannabis use. However, we also found no differences in brain volume in other parts of the brain that we have shown to be abnormal in long-term heavy cannabis users, confirming for the first time, that cannabis use is neurotoxic to these brain areas in humans.”

The OFC plays a primary role in inhibitory control and reward-based decision making; previous studies of adolescent cannabis users have demonstrated subtle deficits in problem-solving, attention, memory and executive functions.

“In adult cannabis users, decreased activation of the OFC has been associated with faulty decision-making, suggesting that a reduced ability to weigh the pros and costs of one’s actions might render certain individuals more prone to drug problems,” Professor Lubman said.

“These results have important implications for understanding neurobiological predictors of cannabis use, but further research is still needed to understand their relationships with heavier patterns of use in adulthood as well as later abuse of other substances.”

This research has been published online in Biological Psychiatry, the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry.

For the first time historians, researchers and students of Asian studies have online access to one of the world’s most significant archives of Cambodian history.

The archives are digitised versions of documents, photos, music and journals from the personal collection of the former King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk (1941–55 and 1993–2004). Sihanouk bequeathed part of his personal archives to the University in 2004.

Senior Asian Studies Librarian Dr Aline Scott-Maxwell said the addition of the digital files to the library’s catalogue further enhances the research resources offered by the University.

“The physical collection has already attracted a lot of interest so we anticipate the digital archives will only increase the interest,” Dr Scott-Maxwell said.

“We have had inquiries from film-makers, film studies specialists, musicologists, historians and international relations researchers, as well as members of Melbourne’s Cambodian community.

“By digitising the files it will also offer, for the first time, the chance for many Cambodians to access a very important and turbulent period of their country’s history through the eyes of their King.”

The Norodom Sihanouk Archival collection contains a significant part of the King’s personal archives: books and journals, including some written by the King; documents, correspondence and photographs relating to his political activities; more than 300 visual documents on film, video and DVD; film scripts, photographs and documents relating to the King’s own film-making activities; and sound recordings and published music scores of compositions and songs by the King.

“The King entrusted his personal archives to only two international institutions – Monash and the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in France, reflecting the University’s reputation as a leading educational institution of Asian studies in our region,” Dr Scott-Maxwell said.

“We are very grateful to the King for making this significant donation to our collection.

“We are also grateful to Ambassador Julio Jeldres, former private secretary to the King and current PhD candidate in the Monash Asia Institute, who facilitated the original donation and, most recently, has assisted the Library with inventorying and describing the collection.”

The Norodom Sihanouk Archival Collection forms part of the Asian Studies Research Collection which includes the David Chandler Cambodia collection, a major archival collection on modern Cambodian history; some of the personal papers of the former Australian Ambassador to Cambodia (1962-69), the late Noel Deschamps, and the William and Sarah Thomas collection of photographs. It is housed on the lower ground floor of the Sir Louis Matheson Library.

“The addition of the Norodom Sihanouk Archival Collection has further enhanced the University’s Asian Studies Research Collection. We now have one of the best archival collections on Cambodia in the world,” Dr Scott-Maxwell said.

The digitised archive is now available on the Monash University library’s website in the ARROW e-repository.

Nobel Prize winner, Professor Akira Suzuki and one of the ‘fathers’ of Green Chemistry, Professor Paul Anastas, will lead discussion on the future of green chemistry at a major international conference in Melbourne today.

Hosted by Monash University and the Asia-Oceania Green and Sustainable Chemistry Network, the Third Asia-Oceania Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry (AOC-3) will feature many of the world’s foremost researchers, industry leaders, educators and government representatives.

Conference Chair and Director of the Centre for Green Chemistry, Monash University, Professor Milton Hearn said the attendance of world-leading experts such as Professor Suzuki and Professor Anastas underlined the importance of the three-day event.

Professor Suzuki, of the Catalysis Research Centre, Japan, was jointly awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He will use the first plenary lecture of the conference to discuss his break-through formulation for chemical synthesis, Suzuki Coupling.

Professor Anastas, currently Assistant Director US Environmental Protection Agency and one of the most eminent green chemists globally, will discuss breakthrough developments in the design and application of the next generation of benign chemicals.

Professor Hearn, himself a pioneer in green chemistry research, said the conference would feature presentations from more than 250 green chemistry experts.

“This is a unique event for Melbourne, and Australia, and a great opportunity for our scientific community to stand alongside and share ideas with the world leaders in green chemistry,” Professor Hearn said.

“And the importance of green chemistry cannot be overstated. The research undertaken in this field will have an essential role in reducing the environmental and social impacts of the chemical industry. Of the 80,000 or so industrial chemicals used commercially, more than 90 per cent are produced from fossil fuels. In a carbon-aware economy this will have to change. Sustainability is the goal and Green Chemistry is the means.”

AOC-3 will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from Monday 5 December, until Wednesday 7 December.

Scientists have discovered new ways in which the malarial parasite survives in the bloodstream of its victims, paving the way for the development of novel drugs to treat the deadly disease.

The research, published today in Nature Communications, was led by Professor Christian Doerig, newly-appointed Head of Monash University’s Department of Microbiology and Professor Andrew Tobin at the University of Leicester in the UK.

According to the World Health Organisation, malaria currently infects more then 225 million people worldwide and accounts for nearly 800,000 deaths per year. Most deaths occur in Africa where a child dies every 45 seconds of the disease.

Transmission of the malarial parasite, Plasmodium, occurs through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito.

Professor Doerig conducted the research at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology in Glasgow, Scotland and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland before transferring recently to Monash.

“We have shown that a group of enzymes called protein kinases are crucial to the survival of malaria parasites in the human blood stream. If we stop these protein kinases from working then we kill the malaria parasites,” Professor Doerig said.

“We are now looking for molecules that will prevent the protein kinases from doing their job. These drugs will provide a new way of killing the malaria parasite.”

Professor Doerig said malaria was difficult to treat because the parasite quickly develops resistance to new drug treatments.

“There is already evidence that the parasite is developing resistance to the most recent front line drugs”.

Professor Tobin said the research would help counter the adaptability of the parasite.

“This certainly is a big moment in our fight against this terrible disease that mainly affects the world’s poorest people,” Professor Tobin said.

“To avoid the catastrophic effects of widespread resistance to anti-malarial treatments, we need a continued pipeline of new anti-malaria drugs. Our discovery provides one avenue towards populating such a pipeline.”

Collaborators included scientists at the University of Leicester in the UK and a team from the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) working at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology in Glasgow and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

The research was funded by The Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, Inserm and EPFL.

The diverse cultural histories of China and Italy inspired the latest work to be added to Monash University’s Prato Centre art collection following the residency of distinguished Chinese oil painter Professor Cai Kequn.

The painting entitled the Dawn of Stone Bridge was featured in Professor Cai’s second and final exhibition, ‘East and West: Respecting Diversity’ during his residency at Prato.

Professor Cai, Vice-Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Design, Wenzhou University, and one of the directors of the oil-painting association in Zhejiang, spent three months at the Prato Centre. His work explored not only landscapes, but key symbols and cultural attitudes throughout the history of China and Italy.

Director of the Prato Centre, which this year celebrated its tenth anniversary, Professor Loretta Baldassar, thanked Professor Cai for the gifted work.

“Professor Cai’s work is not only beautiful but thought-provoking and highly-relevant in our region.

“Prato has the largest population of expatriate Chinese in Italy, many originally from Wenzhou. We are in a unique position to examine the tensions and opportunities existing between the two cultures,” Professor Baldassar said.

“The Chinese-Italian relationship has been well-explored at the Centre this year with an international conference on Chinese social and economic integration, and two symposia on Chinese in Prato and the Wenzhouese Diaspora.

“Professor Cai’s work perfectly complemented these academic events and his exhibitions were very well-received in the community. The artist hoped his exhibitions would contribute to cultural development and cross-cultural understanding and I think he achieved these aims.”

Professor Cai is the second artist-in-residence at the Prato Centre, following the late Dr Jo-Anne Duggan in 2010. His residency was an initiative of the agreement between Monash University, the University of Florence, Prato branch, Wenzhou University, and the Province of Prato which aims to promote social inclusion research, greater inclusion of Chinese residents in Prato, and student and staff exchanges.

Professor Baldassar said that despite having no shared language with Centre staff, Professor Cai, was highly productive during his residency.

“Special thanks to local student Miao Miao Huang, whose internship at the Centre was dedicated to the supporting the artist,” Professor Baldassar said.

Monash University will be producing a catalogue of Professor Cai’s work from his Prato residency.

By Professor Christian Jakob

Weather and climate models are sometimes thought of as complicated computer codes that scientists use in dark corridors to make doomsday predictions. In fact, every day, they save many lives and billions of dollars in property around the world.

How so?

It’s true that weather and climate models are sophisticated computer programs with more lines of code than many popular computer games. They require large supercomputers to make their predictions. However, they are not just scientific tools; they are used in making predictions every day. Literally every weather forecast and seasonal outlook today is based on computer models, which themselves are based on mathematical expressions of well-known physical laws.

Weather and climate models have underpinned a major societal revolution over the last three decades, one that has gone largely unnoticed by the public. Weather forecasts five days ahead are now as good as those three days ahead were 20 years ago, thanks in no small way to better models. Seasonal outlooks have become more and more reliable, not just in Australia, but all over the world, thanks to improved computer models of the atmosphere, ocean, and land.

Climate models, which now even include descriptions of some basic biology both on land and in the oceans, are regularly used to make projections of future climates. The evermore reliable model predictions on all those time scales have fundamentally changed the way individuals, companies, governments, and society as a whole are making weather and climate-related decisions.

The success in the science of weather and climate modelling has justifiably raised expectations by society. Predicting hazardous weather, be it associated with cyclones, hailstorms, strong winds or fire, is an important demand on the weather forecasting community. Most forecasts are model-based, leading to a direct demand for improved models.

Supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation decisions requires local and regional information on future climates, a devilishly difficult task for contemporary climate models. So naturally, continued investment in the science of weather and climate modelling should be high on society’s agenda. After all, at a very basic level it is the models that save the lives and dollars every day.

But all is not well in the world of weather and climate modelling. Behind any great computer code is a group of highly skilled and creative individuals – in this case weather and climate modellers. Being one is not an easy job, as it requires dealing with difficult subjects such as mathematics, physics and computer science, all at the same time. As a result, what we might call the ‘species’ of model developer has been in severe decline, here and around the world. So much so, in fact, that it was given ‘endangered species’ status at a recent meeting of 1800 climate scientists in Denver, Colorado.

How did this happen?

Model developers are first and foremost scientists. A significant reason for the decline in their numbers is the way we measure scientific success. Traditional measures, based on number of publications and number and size of grants, still determine who is deemed successful. Developing improvements in weather and climate models is a long and often arduous process, one that does not lend itself to many publications and one that many funding agencies – wrongly – do not consider blue-sky research and hence do not fund.

A second problem is that in the past, model development was largely the domain of national agencies; there was very little opportunity for involvement by academia. This has slowly led to a decline in suitably trained graduates who can take the place of the retiring pioneers of model development, those who built the first generation of weather and climate models in the 1970s.

So what can be done? Accepting model developers as being an endangered species is a first important step. It implies the need for intervention and change – in short, an endangered species program focussed on both improving the species’ habitat and breeding more of its members.

The model developer’s main habitat remains big national and international modelling centres (scattered around the globe). Our own national version of it is the Australian Community Earth System Simulator (ACCESS), a joint initiative of the Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO and the university community. The habitat is functioning, but not thriving, and it faces the same challenges faced world-wide: a decline in its key inhabitants due to below-par funding, scientific rewards systems that disadvantage model developers, and, as a consequence, little incentive for new inhabitants to move in. Major change and an injection of new funding will be required to make progress.

Growing the species from the ground up is the natural role for academia. This will require a much tighter relationship between academic institutions and national and international modelling centres. Jointly sponsored PhD scholarships including a fixed-term employment at the national centres, co-funded University chairs in model development and strategic relationships between academic funding bodies and national weather and climate centres are but a few of the possible ingredients of an endangered species program.

The scientific challenges in weather and climate modelling are amongst the most difficult in the fields involved; only the best and brightest will be able to overcome them. Functioning habitats will not suffice to attract them – only thriving ones will.

Better weather and climate models will save more lives and property and are necessary to support some of the most important decisions society has to make over coming decades. Building better models holds many scientific and computational challenges. Continued investment in this important scientific area both in Australia and worldwide is required if we are to meet society’s expectations. This is not an area in which we can afford to drop the ball.

Professor Christian Jakob is Deputy Director ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, School of Mathematical Sciences, Monash University

A version of this article was published on The Conversation.

As Australia stands on the threshold of implementing a carbon tax, a new book draws on research from different sides of the world to point the way forward for addressing the world’s environmental and energy concerns.

Energy and the Environmental Challenge – Lessons from the European Union and Australia was launched today at Monash University.

The result of an interdisciplinary conference hosted by the Monash University European and EU Centre at the University’s Prato Centre, the book brings together the expertise of noted Australian and European academics and practitioners.

Edited by Lillian Wylie and Professor Pascaline Winand, Director of the Monash European and EU Centre, the book examines crucial debates on key areas of concern including global warming, climate change and energy security.

“Energy and the environment are the two central pillars of any lifestyle we construct for ourselves and we are now entering a new phase of thinking about using energy in a sustainable fashion,” said Professor Winand.

“Global cooperation on how to best manage these concerns, at both governmental and civil society levels, is crucial to our future.”

As the world looks to a future beyond coal Energy and the Environmental Challenge presents the many multifaceted and complex issues that must be considered by business, scientists, non-government organisations and policy makers. In particular, the need to establish sustainable and secure energy markets.

Professor Winand emphasised that such an international collaboration would not be possible without the gateway to Europe provided by the Prato Centre.

“Since 2001 the Prato Centre has provided the University with an alternate avenue for research and education. This upcoming publication embodies the manner in which Prato can facilitate the achievement of international collaborations that other universities find difficult to achieve,” said Professor Winand.

The Prato Centre supports a cross-disciplinary, multi-campus, multi-nation approach to education that enables the University to build a rapport with institutions, governments and cultural organisations across Europe. It also provides students with an avenue to study overseas.

At the launch of Energy and the Environmental Challenge, Dr Graeme Pearman presented an informative and engaging keynote speech exploring the risks of climate change and its relation to energy futures. Dr Pearman is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Monash Sustainability Institute and is the former Chief of the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research.

By Professor Greg Bamber

It is possible that it has been baiting the water with blood to attract the sharks.

At the recent Qantas annual meeting, shareholders endorsed the current management strategies and huge pay increases for chief executive Alan Joyce. This is odd as Qantas’s share price has fallen under his watch. Further, Qantas is in conflict with several of its key stakeholders: the government, passengers and important parts of its workforce.

The grounding of the Qantas network precipitated travel disruption and much discussion about the causes of the chaos. Now the chaos is past, what will be the outcomes of the current industrial relations process? In answering this question, we should keep in mind other questions about Qantas.

Fair Work Australia gave Qantas 21 days in which to negotiate settlements with the unions that represent its international pilots, licensed engineers and baggage handlers.

The claims of each of these unions are different, but a common aspect is that each has concerns about income and employment security. Therefore, they are all seeking agreements that include reassurance about such matters, while Qantas aims to cut costs by more outsourcing in Australia and overseas.

In most cases, parties to industrial relations claims would prefer to reach settlements by negotiation. This gives them more ”ownership” of the settlements than if an arbitrator imposes a settlement, with the risk that an imposed outcome is one that neither party would have wanted.

However, since relationships have sunk to such a low level of trust, we are unlikely to see quick negotiated settlements between Qantas and all these unions.

If Qantas and the unions do not settle these disputes by compromise and negotiation, Fair Work Australia will arbitrate. The tribunal is skilled at evaluating the arguments and making appropriate decisions. Earlier decisions have constrained outsourcing in some circumstances. Nevertheless, arbitrators are generally reluctant to make decisions that prescribe detailed management strategies.

Hence, it is unlikely that Fair Work Australia will prevent Qantas from restructuring. Nonetheless, if it is to thrive as a world-class airline, Qantas has to rebuild relations with its various stakeholders, not least its workforce.

Trust is even more important in a service-sector business like an airline than in, for instance, remote mine sites. Mining companies have deployed aggressive industrial relations tactics with parallels to Qantas’s recent approach. (Interestingly, Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford led similarly aggressive industrial tactics when he was chief executive of miner Rio Tinto.)

In contrast to mines, however, airlines are customer-facing enterprises, where staff work close to the immediate customers.

Many Qantas staff feel they are being treated unfairly, for instance, because the CEO was given a big pay increase at the same time he was asking the rest of Qantas to cut costs. If staff think they are being treated unfairly they are unlikely to invest much discretionary effort. They are less likely to give exemplary service to customers. Customers who get poor service are more likely to take their business to an airline that provides better service.

Southwest Airlines is one of the world’s most admired airlines in terms of its staff and customer relations. Southwest offers low fares and excellent customer service. Southwest sees its workforce as a source of value, rather than merely as costs to be cut.

Virgin Australia has been trying to learn from Southwest. Qantas, too, could learn much from Southwest, if its aim is indeed to improve its industrial relations. Let’s hope that this is its aim.

Perhaps, however, Qantas has another aim: to induce a takeover bid. If so, this would follow the example of the former Qantas chief executive and board. Four years ago they supported an unfortunate attempt by private equity funds to buy Qantas. This could now be easier to achieve than then; Qantas’s share price has fallen greatly since then. Its chairman is also an adviser to private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

If private equity funds bought Qantas, the new executive team’s industrial relations tactics would make Qantas’s recent tactics look mild. The New Qantas would also sell many of its assets, including those that it inherited from Australian taxpayers. This could involve the sale of Jetstar and the Frequent Flyer scheme, resulting in fewer services for rural areas.

Might Virgin Australia then become the national flag carrier? Its rhetoric is about creating more jobs in Australia, rather than offshore!

Professor Greg Bamber works in the Department of Management. He is a co-author of Up in the Air: How Airlines Can Improve Performance by Engaging their Employees.

This opinion piece originally appeared in The Age.

The Australian Government’s National Long-Term Tourism Strategy states that ‘the future of tourism will depend on ensuring the industry provides compelling and sustainable experiences to consumers’ and that the value of natural, cultural and heritage assets is ‘likely to become increasingly  important as consumers actively seek sustainable and authentic tourism experiences’.

In past decades Australian tourism policy was directed towards stimulating demand; to encourage people to visit Australia or for Australians to explore their own country. But now, investment in a well resourced, attractive tourism product is viewed as essential to differentiate Australia from the international market, as well as meeting the greater expectations of the consumers’ experiences.

This challenging context for tourism in Australia means that an examination of the current and future state of cultural tourism in the nation has never been greater.

Monash University’s Australia and International Tourism Research Unit (AITRU) will assist in the examination at a public lecture on Cultural Tourism in Australia: A National Conversation.

Presenters Dr Richard White, University of Sydney, Associate Professor Louise Johnson, Deakin University, Dr Tim Winter, University of Western Sydney and Mr Mark Wang, Deputy Chairman of the Museum of Chinese Australian History will discuss what changes are needed for the cultural tourism industry to develop and survive.

Director of the AITRU, Dr Keir Reeves said this seminar is a timely opportunity for those with an interest in the challenges that currently beset all developed destinations in terms of changing markets and demand.

“Those who attend the lecture will gain considerably from our presenters experience in the cultural tourism industry here in Australia,” Dr Reeves said.

“I highly recommend anyone with an interest in Australian tourism to attend this event – it is a conversation the industry needs to continue for its ongoing survival.”

The lecture will be held on Thursday 10 November, 2011 at the Museum of Chinese Australian History, 22 Cohen Place, Melbourne from 5.30 – 7pm.

RSVPs are required by Monday 7 November, 2011 by calling Amber Thomas on (03) 9905 4073 or emailing amber.thomas@monash.edu.

This event is free, however places are limited so reserve your seat asap.

The last few years have seen a pronounced drop in the number of young women who pursue study and a career in information communication technology (ICT). But thanks to an innovative project called Digital Divas researchers are hoping to reverse the trend.

The collaborative project between researchers from Monash University’s faculties of Information Technology and Education, and Swinburne and Deakin universities has seen the development of an innovative program with the aim of increasing the number of girls who pursue a career in ICT.

Monash University’s Associate Professor Julie Fisher said that while young girls enjoy at using many ICT applications in the early years of secondary education, minimal numbers follow through with academic study at VCE and tertiary levels or take up employment opportunities within the industry.

“The number of young women entering the ICT workforce has been dropping for a number of years,” Associate Professor Fisher said.

“The Digital Divas project has been developed with the aim of helping to reverse that trend and convince female students that an ICT career or course is an attractive option for their future.

“It is aimed at girls in years eight, nine and ten, and since its first trial in 2008 ten schools have offered the girls-only elective designed by the research team.”

Research has found that girls are less likely to be interested in ICT where co-ed courses are offered; boys tend to dominate the discussions and activities, while in single-sex classes girls are happy to explore and discover together.

Each of the schools involved in the project run girls-only ICT classes covering the three components of the Digital Divas program: the curriculum, informal mentoring by female university students studying information technology (IT) and regular presentations by women working in ICT.

One of the first aims the program tries to do is break down the myths many girls have of ICT industry.

“It has been interesting to see that a majority of the girls at the start of the program have the same stereotypical image of a person working in IT,” Associate Professor Fisher said.

“It is as a middle-aged male who does programming. The program aims to challenge this image and open the girls’ minds to the possibility of pursuing a career in ICT.

The curriculum aspect of the program involves a range of modules that allows the girls to learn about ICT through real-world applications of graphic programs, video-editing, games development and data analysis.

The girls also have access to Expert Divas – female students from both Monash and Swinburne universities’ faculties of Information Technology – who provide informal mentoring. The Expert Divas work in the classroom with the girls and well as acting as ongoing role models.

A valuable component of the program is the regular classroom presentations by young women working in a variety of areas within ICT industry to show the diverse career paths available.

“From the girls’ post surveys analysed so far, we are seeing a change in attitude, with many finding that participating in Digital Divas has broadened their understanding of ICT,” Associate Professor Fisher said.

“We aim to track the programs impact on the girls’ attitudes towards ICT and ICT careers as they complete their Year 11 and 12 studies and beyond to see if they are heading into a career in IT.

“But only time will tell if we can reverse the decline in the number of girls pursuing ICT careers.”

The research team believe the Digital Divas program will stimulate girls’ interest in ICT and associated careers, and can be easily integrated into a school’s curriculum.

The Digital Divas project is funded through the ARC Linkage project scheme and industry partners the Australian Computing Society, Victorian ICT for Women Network and the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

With the number of people aged over 65 in Australia expected to almost double by 2040, the issue of workforce ageing is becoming increasingly important.

In December, Monash University will host an Older Workers and Work Ability Conference, where the Federal Treasurer, The Honorable Wayne Swan MP, will present a keynote speech.

Designed to explore the issues surrounding workforce ageing – and the policy, economic, social and cultural responses required to address them – the conference will bring together leading experts from government, business and education in Australia and around the world.

During the two-day conference, Mr Swan will be joined by The Honorable Kate Ellis MP, Minister for Employment Participation and Child Care, and Ms Susan Ryan AO, Australia’s first Age Discrimination Commissioner.

Conference director Professor Philip Taylor, Director of Research and Graduate Studies at Monash University’s Gippsland campus, has spent more than two decades researching in the field of age and the labour market.

“Workforce ageing is a growing concern in developed and developing economies alike, and the involvement of both the Treasurer and Minister for Employment Participation shows the significance the issue presents to the Australian Government,” Professor Taylor said.

According to Professor Taylor, workforce ageing is a critical issue not just for governments and policymakers, but for major employers across all sectors of industry, and one that needs an immediate response.

“Beyond a much greater number of older workers, our workforce is ageing faster than our general population, especially in vital areas such as health and education,” Professor Taylor said.

“While universities are responding as best they can, this will not be enough by itself to meet Australia’s future workforce needs, and unless we can prolong the working lives of current workers, we face significant risk of not being able to meet future demand and face ongoing, increasing skills shortages.”

Professor Taylor said the University’s conference would consider how this issue could be addressed through measures including the prolongation of working lives, age management, work ability over the life course, skills maintenance and changing perceptions of older workers.

“Often, and particularly in the private sector, there is an incorrect assumption that older workers are somehow less productive than their younger peers, but this couldn’t be further from the truth,” Professor Taylor said.

“Most research shows that productivity does not decline with age, and that older workers bring a degree of experience that actually adds to overall productivity levels.”

Monash University’s Older Workers & Work Ability Conference will be held at the Rendezvous Hotel in Melbourne from 12 to 13 December 2011.

For more information, visit the Older Workers & Work Ability Conference website.

Volunteering to support others in need is a rewarding experience for all involved. In the disability sector, volunteers can provide additional friendship and support to families and children who need a helping hand.

For third year Bachelor of Occupational Therapy student Megan Dal-Ben, who studies at the Monash University Peninsula campus, volunteering has provided her with life skills and an irreplaceable friendship with 10 year old Francesca Lachman, who has been blind since birth.

“I had been working as a disability support worker for over a year when I realised that there are a lot of barriers that prevent children and their families from obtaining the full support that they usually need.

“By volunteering with Extended Families, I have been able to provide flexible support, and also develop a great friendship with Francesca. It’s been amazing watching her gain confidence and independence over the time we’ve spent together,” Megan said.

Her position with Extended Families is Megan’s first volunteer experience. She was attracted to the organisation because they make the effort to match volunteers with a child that has similar interests, with the aim to provide friendship.

Because of Francesca’s disability, most of her life is spent interacting with adults. Megan, 21, is young enough to be close to Francesca in age but old enough to be sensitive to her needs.

“It’s all about pushing her boundaries. Given that occupational therapy is my background, I help her learn new things and develop skills so she can become more independent. It’s a great experience for me to be able to use the skills I have learnt from university and apply them in a real life situation,” Megan said.

Francesca’s parents are dedicated to improving the quality of life for the blind. They have been the driving forces behind a new specialist school for vision-impaired children that will open next year in Berwick.

Seminars outlining the school’s activities will be held at the Nossal High School, within the grounds of Monash University Berwick campus at 6pm on Saturday 5 November and 10am on Sunday 6 November.

For students interested in volunteering within Monash University, visit their career opportunities site.

By Professor Sarah Joseph

The ‘Occupy’ movement has swept the world in the last five weeks, as seems appropriate in this year of demonstrations by people tired of a clapped-out status quo.

Of course, the Occupy movement is quite different to those that overran Tahrir Square or who now bravely withstand the bullets of the Syrian state.

Yet economic downturns, coupled with extreme inequalities (whether it be between political elites, their cronies and the masses; or between economic elites which dominate economic and political space, and the ‘99 per cent’), are a key factor in all of the protests in this epic year of discontent.

The Occupy strand of protest seemed to start in New York with Occupy Wall Street, but protests in Greece (over austerity measures), Spain (mass youth unemployment) and Israel (rising costs of living) were earlier precursors.

The Occupy crowd’s main beef is with the inequities wrought by disproportionate global and local corporate power, a grievance underscored in the US where former World Bank Economist Joseph Stiglitz has highlighted how the top one per cent in that country control 40 per cent of wealth and 25 per cent of income.

However, that narrative is supplemented by other gripes, some of which are very general, some of which contradict and some of which seem quite ‘fringe’.

Beyond that, their ‘demands’ or ‘solutions’ are unclear. This lack of an articulated manifesto has attracted much scorn, the idea being that unless they tell us what they want and how we get there, they should shut up and get out of our way.

But that’s not a fair criticism. Surely one can have a sense that the current system is unwell without having all of the solutions to fix it.

If you can’t validly protest the status quo without knowing exactly how to change it (particularly difficult for those without power who are most likely to be dissatisfied), that’s a playing field designed to entrench ‘the way it is’ (whether one likes it or not).

Instead it is surely legitimate, as is happening with Occupy, to start conversations on change, whether they result in concrete steps or not. Part of the point of Occupy is to get people talking about political and economic systems and the possible need for change, and in that respect it is probably succeeding.

The unwieldy nature of Occupy is partly due to its lack of leadership, a phenomenon that it shares with the demonstrators of Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria et al.

It may be a function of how social media has been used to galvanise and organise the protests – there is no central hierarchy but there are many who are spreading the word, even to those not attending which expands the conversation.

A desire for inclusiveness has let many into the tent, and why not? It all adds to a new conversation which is not dominated by the ‘same old’ powerbrokers.

(By the way, the sneering criticism that protesters are hypocritical for using technology misses the point: one can be unhappy with ‘bad’ capitalism and greed, and use an iPhone).

So what of Australia and local Occupy protests? Sure, the economic problems and inequalities are not as bad here.

But does that matter? Can’t people express solidarity with the millions protesting overseas? Can’t they complain about disproportionate corporate power in Australia?

After all, a proposed mining tax was widely attacked for the government’s failure to consult adequately with big miners and was then fundamentally altered in accord with their demands.

In contrast, a few years ago the army was sent into Aboriginal communities without the same mainstream concerns over appropriate consultation.

Most cities overseas that have experienced Occupy protests have not forcibly evicted them, as occurred last weekend in Melbourne and Sydney.

Critics railed that the protesters were somehow harming others’ rights. The evidence of the detrimental impact of small camps (even smaller in the daytime as many protesters worked) in an often moribund square in Melbourne and in a very large square in Sydney, is anecdotal and equivocal.

Sure, some found them irritating, but I suspect that feeling was balanced by the curiosity and inquiry the protests prompted in others.

And the predictable laments of violence by politicians miss the point that no violence occurred before the evictions, and they fail to identify just who was perpetrating the violence during the evictions.

It’s not ‘violent’ to fail to obey a police officer: it’s called civil disobedience, a historical phenomenon for which we should all be grateful.

As for the idea that the protesters have had a week to have their say so it’s time to go, The Australian was right to point out that the meter does not tick on free speech and assembly.

And the time should not vary according to whether the powers that be agree with or understand a particular protest.

Certainly, Melbourne mayor Robert Doyle’s motivations seem partially driven by his inability to comprehend what the protests are for, with that puzzlement convincing him they must be wrong and ‘bad’.

In contrast to Occupy Sydney and Melbourne, Clubs Australia has been bellowing its anti-pokies message for well over a week: so it makes a difference that it can pay?

And the conversations at the Occupy protests seem more likely to be enlightening and edifying than the tedious ‘debate’ that dominates our current Federal Parliament, where politicians hammer the same old soundbites (‘stop the boats’, ‘toxic tax’, ‘Julia lied’, ‘people smugglers’ business model’) … for far, far longer than a week.

Professor Sarah Joseph is the Director for the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law.

This article has previously appeared on The Conversation.

Simplifying one of the most complex value-added tax (VAT) systems is a challenge researchers from Monash University have taken up with relish. And what they have come up with has been published in the prestigious Journal of Asian Economics.

Monash University researchers, Drs James Giesecke and Tran Hoang Nhi from the Centre of Policy Studies, Faculty of Business and Economics have developed a framework for economy-wide modelling of value-added tax (VAT) systems.

“The Vietnamese VAT system is arguably among the most complex in South East Asia. Six countries in this region have a VAT system, but only Vietnam’s VAT system has more than two rates,” Dr James Giesecke said.

“It was important that while looking at ways to simplify the VAT system, the resulting framework had to maintain the government’s tax revenues and its poverty objectives.”

The VAT was introduced in 1999. Initially, it was levied at four different rates of zero, five, 10 and 20 per cent, with many discretionary exemptions. Since then, the government has simplified it further, reducing the number of rates to three (zero, five and 10 per cent), and decreasing the number of discretionary exemptions, however it is still relatively complex.

“It is generally known that the more complex a tax system, the higher the costs to the economy,” Dr Tran said.

“A complex system creates anomalies in production and consumption by distorting relative prices. It also adds to the compliance and enforcement burden. For example, businesses producing both VAT and VAT-exempt goods have to distinguish inputs used to produce VAT goods from those used to produce VAT-exempt goods, because only the VAT paid on the former can be reclaimed from the tax authorities.

“By using a dynamic comprehensive analytical model of the Vietnamese economy we were able to work out a VAT tax regime that would give the Vietnamese government the same revenue while improving economic efficiency and reducing tax collection costs.”

Drs Giesecke and Tran used their model to investigate a core VAT simplification program in which all discretionary exemptions are removed, and all VAT rates on non-exports equalised at a single revenue-neutral rate – 8.3 per cent. This delivered real consumption gains in the order of 0.25 per cent per annum.

“As rice is the staple food in Vietnam, we also investigated an alternative tax regime that excluded rice from our otherwise general program of VAT simplification. The revenue-neutral uniform tax rate becomes slightly higher, at 8.5 per cent,” Dr Tran said.

“Poorer households wouldn’t be disadvantaged as they would be under our core simulation of comprehensive rate equalisation and exemption removal. The real consumption gains would be only slightly lower at 0.23 per cent per annum.”

By developing the model, Drs Giesecke and Tran now have the perfect tool to further assist in the analysis of other policy issues in Vietnam.

By Dr Craig Thorburn

‘Don’t Californicate Oregon [or Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Montana, etc]’ was a popular slogan in the western United States during the 1960s and ‘70s, a repudiation of the mindless, haphazard development of land that had by that time already transformed southern California into ‘the world’s biggest strip mall’. A similar groundswell of sentiment now seems to be spreading across the jungles and villages of Papua New Guinea. The developmental demon in this case, however, is not California-style urban sprawl, but Indonesia-style forest exploitation.

At issue is the widescale transfer of title to millions of hectares of densely forested land from customary local ownership to the state through a mechanism known as lease-leaseback, and then into the names of landowner companies, which in turn contract developers to construct roads and develop ‘agro-forestry projects’.

According to articles published in The Age on 14 and 15 October this year, more than 5 million hectares of forest – around 11 percent of the country – has so far been alienated via this mechanism. It has triggered public outrage, expert alarm and the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate charges that most of these leases are merely a front for unregulated logging.

As such, Papua New Guinea appears poised to repeat the experience of Indonesia’s logging boom of the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, during which an estimated 64 million hectares of tropical forest – roughly 40 percent of the country’s total forest cover – fell to the chainsaws and bulldozers of rapacious crony conglomerates. Throughout this period, the rights of millions of Indonesians whose livelihoods depended on these forests – and whose ancestors had successfully and profitably managed these forest ecosystems for generations – were sidelined, ignored, suppressed and even criminalised.

Papua New Guinea is widely regarded as a bastion of biodiversity. Over 97 per cent of land in PNG is under customary title, and the vast majority of Papuans depend on the forest for their food, livelihoods and shelter. The legal framework for customary land ownership in PNG was established in the Land Groups Incorporation Act 1974 (LGIA), a product of the self-governing but pre-independence era of PNG, later further strengthened in Schedule 2 of the Constitution of Papua New Guinea.

The act does not allow customary land owners to alienate land to non-customary owners. There has been significant pressure, from various bodies including both the Australian government and the World Bank, to reform land ownership systems, on the premise that customary title is an impediment to development. This, despite research by ANU scholars that shows food and cash crop production by smallholders on customary land has grown steadily over the past 20 years, while the plantation [estate] sector has been in decline.

In 2007, the PNG government passed two new laws enabling the registration of customary land. Grassroots organisations have been struggling to thwart enactment of this legislation, fearing that communities will sign away their rights for tiny sums of money or enticing gifts. However, it now appears that this campaign is moot, as millions of hectares of crucial forest lands have changed hands through the lease-leaseback provision, which has been in existence since the passage of the 1974 Land Act.

In March 2011, a group of environmental and social scientists, natural resource managers and NGO staff from Papua New Guinea and other nations met at James Cook University in Cairns to discuss the future management and conservation of Papua New Guinea’s native forests. The group endorsed the Cairns Declaration on the need to halt the granting of Special Agricultural and Business Leases (SABLs). A Commission of Inquiry in Port Moresby has initiated an investigation of 72 SABL contracts, to determine whether lease developers are loggers trying to bypass forestry laws and that a majority have – in the words of the inquiry’s brief – acquired their rights “without proper knowledge and involvement of the landowners”.

What impact any of this might have on curbing the lease-leaseback juggernaut remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, at a recent meeting on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) held in Nagoya, Japan, Greenpeace presented PNG government delegates with the Golden Chainsaw Award – a dubious honour usually reserved for illegal and destructive logging companies. Greenpeace and University of PNG reports estimate that at current levels of logging, by 2021, 83 per cent of the nation’s commercially accessible forests will have been cleared or degraded. It appears that the ‘Indonesianisation’ of Papua New Guinea’s forests is well underway.

Dr Craig Thorburn is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography and Environmental Science and Coordinator of the Master in International Development and Environmental Analysis at Monash University.

By Dr Zareh Ghazarian

The passage of the carbon tax through the lower house of the Australian parliament was greeted by cheers and jeers. Supporters of the carbon tax were heralding the vote as one of Australia’s greatest reforms while those who opposed the scheme have marked it as a dark day for the country.

Notwithstanding the hyperbole that has accompanied the debate thus far, the passage of the bills signals a shift in the Australian political landscape.

For Julia Gillard, this was a rare triumph. As Prime Minister she has been on the back foot ever since forming minority government in 2010. This successful carbon tax vote may allow her government to appear more in control of the policy agenda than they have over the last year.

The win may also diminish leadership speculation within government ranks. After all, by passing the carbon tax, Gillard was able to achieve what Rudd could not. Rather than appear to be a ‘lame duck’, Gillard has the opportunity to position herself as a prime minister who can actually govern and introduce significant reforms.

The passage of the bills may also impact on Tony Abbott. As Opposition Leader, he has been a master of highlighting the perceived shortcomings of the Government. By positioning himself as a clear opponent of the Government’s agenda, Abbott has attracted significant support from those concerned with the implications of a carbon tax.

Now the debate moves to another level. The carbon tax may no longer be the central issue in the Australian political debate. With the scheme to be introduced in 2012, the Government will have ample opportunity to stress its potential benefits to the electorate. They may also have a number of other policy ‘victories’ over the coming period and thus take the heat out of the carbon tax debate.

If there is such a change to the landscape and the opposition continues to invest heavily in opposing the carbon tax, Tony Abbott may appear to be obsessed with this single issue. This may be off-putting to those voters who have (or will) come to accept the introduction of the scheme. Furthermore, Abbott’s promise to repeal the changes may provide a sense of uncertainty, something industry groups will not appreciate.

While the major parties continue to focus on the pros and cons of the carbon tax, the Greens may consolidate their role in Australian politics. By exercising its power in the Senate, the party can take credit for its role in introducing measures that seek to reduce emissions.

Despite these changes to the political debate, it remains unclear as to how voters will respond. Opinion polls have clearly shown that voters have been uncomfortable with the Government’s proposal and have supported the Coalition. But now the bills have been passed by the parliament. Upcoming opinion polls will show whether the government has been able to claw back support or whether voters have already made up their minds.

Dr Zareh Ghazarian works in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University. He is the co-author, with Dr Nick Economou, of Australian Politics for Dummies.

No other continent on Earth has undergone such radical environmental changes as Antarctica.

According to a new book, Frozen in Time: Prehistoric life in Antarctica, by Dr Jeffrey Stilwell from the School of Geosciences at Monash University and John Long from the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles County, Antarctica has gone from paradise to polar ice in just a few million years, a geological blink of an eye when we consider the real age of Earth.

In its transition from rich biodiversity to the barren, cold land of blizzards we see today, Antarctica provides a dramatic case study of how subtle changes in continental positioning can affect living communities, and how rapidly catastrophic changes can come about.

Frozen in Time presents a comprehensive overview of the fossil record of Antarctica framed within its changing environmental settings, providing a window into a past time and environment on the continent.

It reconstructs Antarctica’s evolving animal and plant communities as accurately as the fossil record permits.

From the story of how fossils were first discovered in Antarctica to modern day expeditions through remote sites, Frozen in Time presents a clear guide to the palaeontology of Antarctica. The publication provides an overview of the discovery and exploration of the continent to contemporary issues of heritage and preservation including the major impacts of climate change.

The book looks specifically at the age of fish and ferns, giant amphibians and hairy reptiles, volcanic lakes and early dinosaurs, when giant reptiles swam in southern seas, killer birds, giant penguins and early mammals.

Jeffrey Stilwell is a Senior Lecturer and Leader of the Applied Palaeontology and Basin Studies Group in the School of Geosciences at Monash University. Dr Stilwell is also an Honorary Research Associate at the Australian Museum, specialising in ancient greenhouse Earth environments and equator-to-south-polar ecosystems.

Dr Stilwell is the author of five monographs and more than 60 peer-reviewed research papers, including many on the fossil record of Antarctica. He has participated on five major expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula and Transantarctic Mountains/McMurdo Sound.

John Long is an Australian palaeontologist and the Vice President of Research and Collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He has authored some 26 books, including The Rise of Fishes and Feathered Dinosaurs. His research has focused on the early evolution of fish, especially from Australia and Antarctica.

Frozen in Time: Prehistoric life in Antarctica (248 pages, illustrated, RRP $69.95) is published by CSIRO Publishing and will be available online and in bookstores from October 2011.

Scientists have discovered a mechanism that causes an aggressive type of lung cancer to re-grow following chemotherapy, offering hope for new therapies.

The study, conducted by an international team of researchers from Monash, Stanford and John Hopkins universities, represents not just the potential for new drugs, but a novel way of approaching cancer treatment.

Professor Neil Watkins, of the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) led the Monash research team of Dr Luciano Martelotto, MIMR, and Associate Professor Tracey Brown of the Department of Biochemisty and Molecular Biology.

Professor Watkins said while many current cancer treatments and trials focus on shrinking existing tumours, this research had a different focus.

“Some aggressive types of cancer respond very well to chemotherapy, but then the real challenge is to stop the tumour coming back. That’s what we investigated.

Lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer-related death in Australia. Between 15 and 20 per cent of lung cancer cases are an extremely aggressive type known as small cell lung cancer (SCLC) that usually responds well to chemotherapy, but regrows and is then less responsive to the treatment.

The study showed that the regrowth of SCLC cells could be blocked by a drug that targets growth signals, which, in healthy cells, control organ development and repair.

Professor Watkins said that blocking the signalling pathway, known as ‘Hedgehog’, could form the basis of new SCLC treatments.

“This discovery gives us important clues for designing new treatment approaches. By using drugs to inhibit the Hedgehog signalling, we should be able to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and reduce the risk of cancer relapse,” said Professor Watkins

The latest study will feed into and change the focus of trials already being conducted at the Monash Medical Centre, located next to MIMR.

Dr Vinod Ganju, a medical oncologist at the Monash Cancer Centre, said conventional trials, focusing on tumour shrinkage, would not be useful in realising the potential of blocking the Hedgehog pathway.

“Based on this research, we need to change our approach. We will re-design our clinical trials to test how these new therapies can improve patient outcomes following chemotherapy,” said Dr Ganju.

“Our relationship with MIMR means we can make this happen relatively quickly and take immediate advantage of this research breakthrough.”

The study, supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Victorian Cancer Agency, was published today in the prestigious journal, Nature Medicine.

Victoria’s picturesque rivers, streams and adjoining land have been and remain in a state of decline, however following the release of new research, the states’ waterways are set to be improved through the rebuilding of natural vegetation.

Victoria is unique in that it still has significant areas of riparian land, or land that is surrounded by natural water resources, in public ownership, however nearly 80 per cent of the total length of Victoria’s rivers is in moderate to very poor condition.

Riverside Rescue, a new report involving Monash University researchers, which was commissioned by the Victorian National Parks Association, has renewed concerns about the poor condition of our rivers.

One author, Professor Sam Lake from the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University, said while most riparian zones in Victoria are damaged, restoration projects have shown positive results.

“There are many reasons for riparian land degradation, but some of the main factors in Victoria include land clearance, livestock access, and the invasion of exotic plant and animal species,” said Professor Lake.

Cattle grazing around riversides has resulted in the banks becoming destabilised, leaving these areas prone to erosion.

“Research in many parts of the world including Australia has found that by excluding livestock, sheep and/or cattle from riparian areas and reintroducing native flora and fauna, water quality could potentially improve, therefore increasing the resistance and resilience of native species.

“We have seen improvements in areas that have begun the restoration process, and over the next couple of years we will potentially see large-scale positive results in and around the riparian zones of our experiment,” said Professor Lake.

While riparian land may only makes up a small area of Victoria’s landscape, it represents a substantial proportion of the remaining native vegetation in many rural districts, housing a large number of animals and plants that are not found elsewhere in the state.

The findings in Riverside Rescue show that well-managed riparian land can result in better water quality and healthier habitats for aquatic species, plants and animals.

The Victorian Government recognises this problem and the positive effects of healthy riparian land, and in 2014 they will have the opportunity to remove grazing licences along the state’s publicly owned riparian land and get cattle and sheep out of our river systems.

This report was a collaborative effort between the Monash University School of Biological Sciences, the Arthur Rylah Research Institute, the Monash Water Studies Centre and the Environment Defenders Office.

Monash University has jumped more than 60 places in the Times Higher Education magazine World University Rankings and now sits at 117.

Vice Chancellor Professor Ed Byrne said the increase highlighted the University’s commitment and dedication to the highest level of academic performance and excellence.

“Monash University’s motto is Ancora Imparo – ‘I am still learning’ – and it is in this spirit that the whole of the Monash University community is dedicated to continual improvement in our educational and research performance.”

“This increase sees Monash consolidate its place in the top one per cent of universities worldwide. For Monash to be ranked so highly is a testament to the hard work and world class calibre of our staff.”

“We have improved strongly in the research income category. This has not only been reflected in the THE rankings, but also in the ARWU rankings (which focus heavily on research performance indicators), in which Monash has moved up by nearly 70 places in the last six years.”

Monash University also improved its ranking in the two other major international league tables in 2011 – moving up one place in the QS World University Rankings to be ranked number 60 in the world and achieving our best result ever in the Academic Ranking of World Universities compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The University has moved up by nearly 70 places in the last six years and, in the latest round, now sits at the top of the 151-200 band, estimated at 159th in the world.

For further information see the Times Higher Education website.

We’ve all heard the tales of the apparent end of the world in 2012. Life will cease to exist according to ancient oracles who predicted the future. But even though it has been dismissed as a hoax by scientists, there’s still hysteria surrounding the 2012 apocalypse.

New book 2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse by Dr Joseph Gelfer of Monash University, brings together for the first time a range of scholarly analyses on the 2012 phenomenon grounded in various disciplines including religious studies, anthropology, Mayan studies, cultural studies and the social sciences.

“This book will show readers how much of the 2012 phenomenon is based on the historical record, and how much is contemporary fiction. This collection brings a much needed academic rigour and documentation to a subject of rapidly increasing interest,” said Dr Gelfer.

While there is no scientific evidence that anything will happen, there is a frightening wave of hysteria in today’s world which is propelled by excess material on the internet, as well as Hollywood movies, such as 2012. There is also a seemingly never ending wave of natural disasters sweeping the world.

“People read into these natural disasters as being linked in with the 2012 prophecy and take it very seriously. We have not even hit the greatest spike of interest in this yet, but once it happens, we may well see things that are of a bigger magnitude than Y2K,” said Dr Gelfer.

2012: Decoding the Countercultural Apocalypse will reveal to readers the landscape of the modern apocalyptic imagination, the economics of the spiritual marketplace, the commodification of countercultural values and the cult of celebrity.

The interest surrounding this topic from diverse religious groups and other communities has also drawn a lot of attention. Some extreme religious leaders have taken the idea to a whole new level, with safe houses being made in alternate countries for their congregation.

Now only time will tell, as we begin to enter the last closing year before we experience what will be either a profound leap in human history or, less dramatically, just another mark in time.

Many who hear the term world cinema believe it to be a broad but simple category. It has become over the years a synonym for art house with subtitles, or an easy way of denoting everything that isn’t Hollywood.

Throwing the common definitions of art house and world cinema in the bin and bringing true meanings and high quality films into the public domain is the aim of the exciting World Cinema Now conference.

For Associate Professor Adrian Martin, School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, and organiser of the World Cinema Now conference, world cinema has a more literal meaning; it refers to art cinema that we are not seeing in our theatres anymore.

The biennial conference, sponsored by Monash University’s Research Unit in Film Culture and Theory has been described by Associate Professor Martin as timely.

“In this brave new digital world in which so much more is available, we are worse off. The standard of art house cinema has dropped dramatically. This conference displays Monash University’s dedication to reintroducing this important art form back in to the wider community,” said Associate Professor Martin.

Topics of World Cinema Now include the use of YouTube video in feature films, the musical An American in Paris as key to understanding the globalisation of film culture, cinema and the Armenian genocide, Singapore co-production, contemporary Chinese documentaries, new Turkish cinema, and a third wave of holocaust films.

And the focus is not confined to art house. Keynote speakers will be discussing a range of topics from American martial art stars in action movies to contemporary political cinema. World Cinema Now is taking place in a climate in which art house cinema has to become more competitive, and more pro-active to stay afloat.

Film culture in most places has been slow to emerge from its Anglo-Euro-American habits and biases, even though the past two decades has given us one remarkable new cinema after another. World Cinema Now invites international film scholars, critics and practitioners to present their thoughts on World Cinema as a contemporary and historical formation.

Today is your last day to see World Cinema Now which finishes today at 6pm at Monash University, Caulfield campus. To view the full program visit www.worldcinemanow.com.au

By Dr Rémy Davison

Will Greece default and exit the Eurozone?

The best-case scenario is a managed, orderly, partial default with the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a fund created in 2010 to manage Eurozone bailouts, assuming the role of a ‘mini-IMF’, backed by the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt.

The EFSF has only about 300 billion euros left in the kitty, and the IMF is scraping the bottom of the barrel with $US384 billion.

If we were talking about foreign currency exchange markets, the EFSF and IMF’s capital would amount to less than six hours trading.

Global markets are betting on the much-vaunted, widely-rumoured figure of up to 3 trillion euros that the Eurozone members are expected to provide for a more muscular EFSF. But the real question is: how the hell did we get into this mess? And who’s going to clean it up?

My name is Bond… short-term bond

The most obvious sign of trouble is Greece’s short-term and long-term bond yields. If you bought a one-year bond today, with yields at 114 per cent, you’d double your money in 12 months.

Athens’ 10-year bonds are not much better: in May, Greek notes paid around 16 per cent. Now it’s 25 per cent and counting. Not even Venezuela, not the market’s favourite People’s Republic, churns out numbers like this.

But there’s worse news. Central banks are still (slowly) buying Greek bonds, but the Bank of Finland is getting bearish and is demanding partial collateralisation to back up what is largely viewed as worthless paper.

Conversely, commercial bank purchases of Greek debt now barely register a pulse on the market ticker, primarily because the reinsurance rate for banks is rising. In plain English, banks have to pay a premium to insure their bond purchases against default.

Right now, it costs over $6 million in insurance to buy a five-year, $10 million Greek bond. And that’s not good business.

Why Greece shouldn’t leave

If Athens was compelled to exit the Eurozone – and no EU legislation exists currently to make this possible – the results would be catastrophic, not only for Greece, but for the EU and, by extension, the entire global economy.

What would be gained? Greece could revive the dramatically-devalued drachma, but confidence in the entire Eurozone would be shattered.

The logic goes like this: if the EU cast asunder a small economy on Europe’s southern periphery, why should markets believe that the other PIIGS economies (Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain) would be treated any less ruthlessly?

German chancellor Angela Merkel points, unsurprisingly, to the ‘domino’ effect of even one exit from the Eurozone. It may not be the end of the world for the Eurozone if Greece leaves, as one of Merkel’s ministers put it unhelpfully, but it would be the end of the Eurozone.

Currency unions still make sense

The ball is now well and truly in Berlin and Paris’ court, as they, along with another 15 Eurozone countries, horse trade over who will pay to restructure the EFSF into a genuine regional monetary fund.

But France and Germany have the biggest bank exposure to Greek debt, and their banks will be forced to take a haircut and accept a partial default on at least a proportion of Greek debt. The magic number seems to be 50 per cent.

But a 50 per cent write-down for any bank holding Greek debt – and most of them are in the Eurozone – would also cast doubt on the asset basis of European banks, which have significant exposures to sovereign debt.

This is the type of malicious contagion that the EU will endeavour to avoid assiduously. And although Britain, as a Eurozone outsider, will not be compelled to contribute to a multi-trillion euro rescue fund, its banks would be exposed significantly to a partial Greek default.

The Bank of England may point out that British banks hold only £2.5 billion in Greek debt, but this is wholly misleading; the reality is that UK financial institutions could see more than £100 billion in potential losses as the City of London is deeply mired in the derivatives and debt underwriting markets.

If these begin to unravel, then the English Channel will be no barrier to the financial fallout.

The end of fiscal autonomy

Make no mistake: Greece is out of the fiscal autonomy business. Athens is finished as an independent policy maker. In future, Greece will face severe restriction in terms of its budgetary, banking or pension policies.

Every Eurozone country surrenders its monetary sovereignty when it adopts the euro, but retains considerable freedom to manage its own finances.

No longer. Although the much-mooted EU fiscal union is unlikely to come to fruition, the Greek tragedy augurs a new regime of constant debt inspections, fiscal transparency, external governance reviews and a raft of other accounting measures.

Berlin and Paris will be running Athens’ public finances from this point on, albeit behind closed doors, affording Greek politicians the polite fiction that they are still in charge of their own public policies.

And what of the mooted 3 trillion euros EFSF? This will allow the ECB to effectively print money and flood the market with euros in an attempt to stave off the impression that Italy or Spain might default as well.

The danger is higher inflation, and the markets are already punishing the euro exchange rate in anticipation of market saturation.

It’s essentially the same strategy the US has employed for decades:when in debt, print dollars. The problem is that Europe’s gamble depends upon a currency that is not the world’s reserve currency.

But high-stakes-all-in-poker is about all Europe’s got left. After all, as that baron of 19th-century banking, JP Morgan, well knew, you’re only gambling with other people’s money.

Dr Rémy Davison is Senior Lecturer in International Relations in the School of Political and Social Inquiry, and Associate Director of the Monash European and EU Centre.

An extend version of this article originally appeared on The Conversation.

With the Federal Government facing increasing pressure over asylum seekers, a timely report on Australian’s attitudes towards immigration and racial tolerance has been published.

Professor Andrew Markus, Pratt Foundation Chair in Jewish Civilisation at Monash University has authored the 2011 ‘Mapping Social Cohesion Report’ on behalf of the Scanlon Foundation and the Australian Multicultural Foundation.

Professor Markus, an authority on religion, race relations and demographic and attitudinal change in Australia, said the report showed a growing sense of distrust in government and fellow citizens, less individual connectedness and a weakening of communal organisations.

“Current trust in the federal government is low. In 2009, 48 per cent of people trusted the federal government to do the right thing for the Australian people ‘almost always’ or ‘most of the time’; in 2011, this fell to 30 per cent,” said Professor Markus.

“The asylum seeker issue contributes to this decline in trust. There is significant division over the policy that the government should be following.”

Despite this, Professor Markus said the findings showed most Australians are satisfied with their lives.

“The majority of Australians maintain a strong sense of belonging and pride in the Australian way of life.

“Most (89 per cent) of people are generally happy with their lives and they have positive attitudes towards social justice and participation. These are all fundamental factors for a cohesive society,” said Professor Markus.

The report surveyed 2000 people aged between 18 and 55 across Australia. A key aspect of the findings relates to Australians’ shifting attitudes towards immigrants, asylum seekers, overseas students and different ethnic groups.

Professor Markus said the detail of the report was socially useful, providing nuanced rather than one-dimensional responses to key social issues, such as acceptance of diversity.

Authored by Professor Markus since 2007, the Social Cohesion reports are part of a major longitudinal study of changing Australian attitudes.

The full 2011 Mapping Social Cohesion report is available  on the Faculty of Arts website.

By Dr David Nadel

When Collingwood plays Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final this Saturday afternoon it will be the first time that these teams have met in a Grand Final for nearly sixty years. In 1953, 89,060 people watched Collingwood defeat Geelong at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

In the 1950s the Victorian Football League (VFL) Grand Final was the climax of a tribal competition that occupied the city all winter and was as central to the soul of Melbourne as the Shrine of Remembrance, St Paul’s Cathedral, Flinders St Station, the Yarra River and the annual Melbourne Cup holiday. Almost everybody barracked for a football team and almost everybody knew at least one local footballer and/or his family.

In 1953 the VFL was the top Australian rules competition in Australia (and therefore the world) but it was confined to Port Phillip Bay, with eleven teams in Melbourne and one in Geelong. All twelve teams played on Saturday afternoons on their own individual grounds and represented local suburbs (and one provincial city). While some exceptional players came from the country or interstate, the majority were local boys and had probably barracked since childhood for the clubs they represented. The players received the equivalent of about $10 a match and all players and even the club coach had another full-time job.

Modern players are professional sportsmen on individual contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. For the very best players, advertising and sponsorship options can raise their pre-tax income to over $1 million dollars annually. The players are drafted from all over the country and very few are playing for the teams they grew up supporting. They are remote celebrities, admired but rarely known by their fans.

The competition, now called the AFL, includes 17 teams, spans all mainland states, and features matches played across the weekend. The television broadcasters, who have poured millions into the game, prefer that the most exciting and popular matches are held at night. In Victoria, the nine teams remaining in Melbourne share two large stadiums. The tenth Victorian team, Geelong, is allowed to play six games at its provincial home ground.

Australian football is the most watched team sport in the country, both in terms of attendance at matches and viewer ratings on television. Because the players are professionals and train six days a week and at least ten months each year, the game is played at a higher standard than ever before.

The fact that the all the matches are held at a handful of stadiums, all of which are regularly renovated with taxpayers’ money, means that spectators are watching the game in maximum comfort. Football has gone a long way from standing room in poorly terraced suburban grounds with antiquated catering and toilet facilities. It is a great spectacle, but is it still part of the tribal soul of Melbourne?

Several factors maintained the tribal nature of Australian Football for much of the 20th century. From 1925 to 1981 (the year in which South Melbourne was relocated to Sydney) the same twelve clubs competed in the VFL. This was a remarkably stable competition confined to one city.

Soccer leagues in Europe were national and promoted and relegated teams every year. American sporting competitions moved their franchised teams around the country. Even Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition dropped inner city teams and replaced them with teams from the outer suburbs virtually every decade. The stability of the Victorian competition allowed deep rivalries to develop.

Between 1915 and 1983 players were zoned to their local teams; this created closer loyalties both between the teams and players and also between the players and local barrackers. A restraint of trade case in 1983 ended zoning and was one of the key steps to creating the national competition. The VFL/AFL’s long-held policy of rationalising the number of grounds has improved viewing conditions and saved the clubs money but it has eroded a key aspect of the tribal nature of local football.

Saturday’s game will be a magnificent spectacle, contested between 44 highly skilled professional athletes. It will make huge amounts of money for the AFL, the Melbourne Cricket Club, Channel Ten, Foxtel and their advertisers and various catering companies. I doubt, however, that it will reflect the soul of Melbourne in the way that the 1953 Grand Final did.

Dr David Nadel is a lecturer in the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University and a contributor to The Australian Game of Football Since 1858, published by the AFL to celebrate 150 years of the game.