Poetic disturbances

LOT’SWIFE

EDITION 8 2013

4 LOT’S WIFE EDITION 8 • 2013

ThanksTo all of those who have contributed to the creation of Lot’s Wife 2013, writers, sub-editors, photographers, artists - your work is the life-blood of this magazine. To our printers - Streamline - in particular Catherine and Jim (sorry for all the late night phone calls). To our friends and families for putting up with us dissappearing into the nebulous of ‘layout week’ once a month. To our friends in the MSA (you know who you are) for keeping sane in this chaos and to you, our readers, for giving the magazine a purpose.

CONTENTS

Lot’s Wife Student Newspaper est. 1964. Monash University Clayton, VIC.

Lot’s Wife does not condone the publishing of racist, sexist, militaristic or queerphobic material. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or

the MSA. Submitted articles may be altered. All writing and artwork remains the property of the producers and may not be reproduced without their written consent.

T: 03 9905 8174

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© 2013 Monash Student Association. All Rights Reserved.don’t look back.

Cover ArtJasmine Roney

5. Letters

6. Editorials 8. National Affairs 18. International Affairs 20. Student Affairs 32. Science 36. Music

42. Film & TV 46. Performing Arts 52. Creative Space 56. Culture

National Affairs: Thomas Clelland and Elizabeth BoagInternational Affairs: Carlie O’ConnellStudent Affairs: Hannah Barker and Ioan NascuScience: Caitlyn Burchell, Shalaka Parekh and Nicola McCaskillMusic: Dina Amin, Augustus Hebblewhite, Leah Phillips and Steven M. Voser

Film & TV: Ghian Tjandaputra and Patricia TobinPerforming Arts: Christine Lambrianidis and Thomas AlomesCreative Writing: Allison Chan, Michelle Li and Thomas WilsonCulture: Hannah Gordon and Christopher PaseOnline News: Julia GreenhalfWeb Design: Choon Yin-Yeap and Jake Spicer

Section Editors

As you read this paper you are on Aboriginal land. We at Lot’s Wife recognise the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations as the historical and rightful owners and custodians of the lands and waters on which this newspaper is produced. The land was stolen and sovereignty was never ceded.

No ThanksTo Christopher Pyne, for wanting to bring back VSU.

To trail mix, for being so boring, but so addictive (the cranberries are good

though).

ApologiesIn the last edition of Lot’s Wife, an untitled poem was incorrectly attributed to

Marcus Littlewood. The author was Aiden Parisi.

LETTERSTo the weary Lot’s editors,

I thank you for your excellent editorship of Lot’s Wife this year—as

well as everyone else who has contributed. The space occupied by Lot’s may

have shrunk along with the cutting of funding, interest in print media and

infiltration of Host Scheme, but Lot’s Wife still punches above its weight,

particularly at the likes of Tony Abbott.

This year has seen Lot’s initiating a special edition that challenged

University management’s iron fist as well as building action against cuts to

Higher Education. With close to 10,000 views, Lot’s ‘Monash is my store?’

video now forever floats as an independent ship, rocking against a sea of

bullshit corporate Monash PR videos on YouTube.

With threats to student union funding on the horizon and an already

limiting reliance on procuring advertising, it’ll be up to students to hope-

fully come out in force—as they have previously—and defend an independ-

ent newspaper that they like lots.

- Anonymous.

Dear Lot’s,

Having been a regular fixture of the Monash student media land-

scape for quite some time, people often approach me with a wide variety of

opinions on the state of student media affairs. Sadly, by far the most voiced

opinion I receive is an expression of disdain over the content of Lot’s Wife.

Some of the comments I’ve heard include “too much politics”, “boring and

trivial”, “lefty rag”, and remarkably, even “dangerous”.With this in mind,

and as a former editor of Lot’s Wife, I feel that there is a rather blunt and

obvious point that I feel is my duty to make. The articles you want to read

can only be published if they are written and submitted.

You’ll notice that this letter is addressed, “Dear Lot’s”, but I am not

writing this to the magazine and its editors. I am writing it to you, the

reader, because you are the ultimate author of Lot’s Wife.

Student media is a remarkably unique opportunity to push bounda-

ries, whether they be personal, political, professional or, in the case of an

overworked and under appreciated editor, physical. It is a blank canvas

for creatives, and an opportunity for any student to opine and wax lyrical

about current affairs. It can be fun. It can be serious. It is a forum for truly

free speech, and a platform for those of us who are only just beginning to

find our voice.

Monash University has a proud history as a forward-thinking institu-

tion, and the student body is well recognised as a vanguard of progressive

student politics in Australia. And despite being derived back in 1964, the

Lot’s Wife’s motto, Don’t Look Back, is an ongoing testament to that legacy.

Honi Soit, the student publication at the University of Sydney, drew

massive public interest and controversy when it recently published a col-

lage of vulvas on its front cover. In doing so, they raised significant ques-

tions about the status of female genitalia in society and censorship. Why

is the labia somehow more taboo than its male counterpart? What con-

stitutes supposed ‘good taste’ in a modern society? And why on earth do

talkback radio hosts seem to care so much?

Last year, a student reported on their experiences as an intern at the

Herald Sun in Farrago, the student publication at the University of Mel-

bourne. What was initially intended to be an anonymous reflection on

a journalism intern’s experience, and how it clashed with their ideology

and ideas of respect, became an astounding demonstration of media in-

dustry culture. Media outlets poured derision and vitriol over the student,

which aside from bringing the intern’s opinion to a far greater audience,

essentially illustrated the student’s core concern about respect through the

very published responses and comments that formed their horrific public

immolation.

Whether you personally agree with the politics and motivations be-

hind these articles and actions is irrelevant to the argument behind this

letter. What, however, does remains true in all these scenarios is that they

have raised issues that were vitally important to discuss. They have, in

their own way, pushed the boundaries of journalism not only hard enough

to pierce the fabric of the industry status quo, but also the sphere of public

consciousness.

“Progressive” isn’t simply a synonym for left-wing. It is not simply a

political term. It is a word that by its definition demands momentum, yet

it does not specify which direction or in which capacity that momentum

is required to take. Experimentation with the journalistic form holds just

as much merit as the strict and formulaic writing that is often taught in

lecture theatres and tutorials.

Push the boundaries, whatever you perceive them to be. Challenge

the status quo. Challenge yourself. And don’t look back.

- Bren Carruthers, Lot’s Wife Editor, 2012.


EDITORIAL Every so often I sit down and flip through

old editions of Lot’s Wife – from 1964

when it was founded, to last year when my

involvement began with the publication of

some shitty poetry that I found on my blog

from year 10. It was past deadline – which

I thought was pretty serious business – and

I still hadn’t submitted anything to one of

the previous editors, Mell, after promising

I would. Give me a break. And if I find out

you’ve been rummaging through editions

of Lot’s Wife 2012 in some craven attempt

at bringing my name into disrepute by

showing the poems to all your mates,

there’ll be hell to pay.

But perhaps creepier than finding old poems that I wrote is read-

ing through editions from the past decade or further back and realising

that many of the issues we’ve encountered this year as editors appear to

be on a constant feedback loop. Florence and I may have been the first

Lot’s Wife editors to produce a video as part of a campaign against federal

government attacks on education, but we certainly weren’t the first to

encounter the problem. Similarly, diatribes against student political bod-

ies and the importance of tearing this magazine away from it all featured

heavily in final editorials over the years. What can we write that hasn’t

been written before? Sometimes there’s no greater existential crisis than

reading through history and realising you’re not special.

The point is I’m filling space. Happy New Year everyone! Now give

me my last pay check.

But seriously, what’s next? What do I do with all this horrendous

free space left in my editorial? Write about Abbott? The protests in Bah-

rain? Miley? The human organ harvesting industry in Eastern Europe?

Against my better judgement, I think I’m going to weigh in on this

student government stuff. Unfortunately, if general student sentiment is

anything to go by, by doing so I’m part of the problem, not the solution.

At least that’s what the voter turnout statistics seem to suggest, with only

about 2,500 students on a campus of around 28,000 choosing to vote dur-

ing MSA election week.

For a number of reasons, not least because they had the most cam-

paigners around the traps during election week, the majority incumbent

party of the MSA, Go!, pretty much managed a clean sweep of the

elections this year. As of 2014, Go! will have had control of the MSA for

nine years, but that barely captures the full extent of their influence over

the union throughout the years.

While the ticket has no doubt overseen important changes for stu-

dents, their rule hasn’t been without controversy. Some of this has been

written about this year (some would say ad

nauseum), and to illustrate exactly what I

mean when I allude to the historic recur-

rence that transpires in student politics

when it comes to shadiness and the abuse

of power, let’s take a look back to Lot’s

Wife in 2007.

In an article published in their fifth

edition, the editors at the time accused

(with a stat dec as proof) MSA Executive

of bribery and corruption in the previous

years’ elections. The then-MSA Executive

saw fit to censor the piece, citing a clause

in the MSA constitution which states

that the executive can refuse to print Lot’s Wife if material is considered

‘potentially defamatory’. The article was not considered defamatory in the

legal sense (as confirmed by independent legal advice) but as it criticised

members of the administration, the editors were forced to “water [the

article] down” before the edition went to print. They were subsequently

told the Executive would be vetting all further editions for the year.

In more recent memory, members of Go! have registered deceptive

‘feeder’ ticket names (2010 and 2012) in elections in an effort to elimi-

nate competition, and hired a factional associate to oversee the 2010 poll.

I’m not bringing this up to be petty. It would be unfair of me not to

acknowledge that the other major tickets, Switch and Left Hook, don’t

have significant flaws. But this isn’t federal politics. There is no Opposi-

tion to challenge the behaviour of the ruling group. It stands to reason

that the administration, in the context of a student union, will stand up

to more criticism.

A friend of mine made an interesting point with regard to how this

ticket has been able to twist the politics in its favour and weather the en-

suing shit storms relatively unscathed. Students, she said, are in an out of

their degrees in a matter of three or four years, and in that time (roughly

90% of them, if we’re going by this year’s election results) pay no atten-

tion to what goes on in the union. Hardly anyone’s left to give a shit.

In the context of student politics, how people perceive you is para-

mount, and I think that negative perception of the union and its major

players contributes to student disengagement. Negative perception can

render a cause or institution a dried up husk of what it could be, no mat-

ter how noble its ideology.

The 1996 Lot’s Wife article that we republished that addresses

student apathy (pages 24-25) is a grim reminder that we all have a role to

play in engaging students – not just Lot’s Wife editors and contributors,

but student politicians and other hangers-on alike.

MATTHEW CAMPBELL

7LOT’S WIFE EDITION 8 • 2013

Another month, another edition; only this month’s Lot’s Wife is a little

bit special, being our last for the year. I can’t really describe the feeling,

knowing this is the last editorial, the last stint on InDesign, the last trip

to the printers and then we will hand over the reins.

I could write a thesis on the trials and tribulations of my year in the

Lot’s Wife office, but I won’t. As Matthew so wonderfully articulated in

his first editorial, the office has proven to be “alternately, an asylum; a

home-away-from-home; a precipice and a constant source – in sporadic

yet equal amounts – of joy, rage and wonder”. Eight months later and I

couldn’t sum the year up more eloquently.

With the looming threat of further attacks on education, the

possibility of the privatisation of HECs, the capping of places, and the

life-blood of the MSA – the Student Services and Amenities Fee – fac-

ing the razor blade, we need a strong fighting student union. But just as

importantly, we need strong, independent student media that is open to

criticising the government, the university administration and even the

student union when needed.

Worryingly, the process for becoming editor of Lot’s Wife is also

highly political. Encouragingly, Matt and I were elected on an independ-

ent Student Media ticket, meaning we came into the job without having

been elected on one of the main political tickets. This was only achiev-

able as we were endorsed by them all – essentially elected unopposed.

Having been recommended by the previous year’s editors, both having

written for Lot’s that year, we came into the job with experience and im-

portantly, not as a member of any political ticket. Had we run indepen-

dently but against candidates running on tickets, we wouldn’t have stood

a chance – the party machine too powerful.

While I have been criticised for being politicised over the course

of this year, which eventually culminated in aligning with a ticket and

running in this year’s elections, I think it is a disservice to the magazine

to say that we have been ‘biased’. If you look back over past editions you

will see work from those of varying political persuasions, representing

almost every group who contested the elections. You must also keep in

mind that as editors we can only publish what has been submitted.

Unfortunately our attempts at maintaining the independent Stu-

dent Media ticket, this year, failed.

While I am not suggesting that electing editors on a ticket ensures

a magazine that shies away from the important issues and refuses to think

critically – you need only look to last year’s editors who were elected on

a ticket but produced a magazine of the highest quality – I do think we

should work towards a system which does not make editorial independ-

ence such a pipe dream.

So what do I suggest? To be honest, I just don’t know. Every pos-

sibility I have thought about has some drawback. In my research for this

editorial I asked student media types from around the country how it

works at their publications. The results were incredibly varied.

At the University of New England in Armidale NSW, for example,

editorial candidates are appointed by a panel made up of the current

year’s editors and others involved in student media. According to current

editor, Sarita Perston, this is “so as to appoint the most capable appli-

cants not the most popular, and also to avoid politicisation”.

In stark contrast to this, at the University of Newcastle, the Media

Officer (and editor-in-chief of Opus) is a voting member of the Student

Representative Council. They are elected in general elections and thus

position is highly politicised, the editor’s vote on council becoming hotly

contested between the different factions.

While the concept of an interview based application process is

appealing on face-value, in the sense that selection would be based on

merit, I worry that the process could too easily fall into a pattern of

cronyism and jobs for mates. And having a vote on council? Well that’s

essentially being the government and media at the same time. Not a

good combo.

If we look to ANU, the editors of Woroni are elected in an election

separate to that of their student union. In fact, student media at ANU is

an entirely independent, incorporated entity, having separated from the

ANU students association in 2010. The problem with this, though, is

that without the support of the union, Woroni becomes dependent on the

university for funding – perhaps even more problematic, especially when

issues of censorship come into the game.

A middle ground must be found, whereby student media is still a

part of the student union, but with separate elections. Or maybe editors

could be restricted from running on political tickets, with a separate

ballot paper.

Next year will be the magazine’s 50th birthday, an achievement,

considering the number of student publications that folded when VSU

was introduced. It seems a fitting anniversary to look at these issues, and

perhaps make some changes.

This year has been one helluva ride, and it wouldn’t have been the

same or possible without a few people who I have to mention. Thank

you to Mell and Bren, for never leaving, keeping us company in the

office and helping out when times got tough. Thank you to our team of

trusty sub-editors, in particular Chris and Hannah, for their dedication

and excellent editing skills over the entire year. To Mum, for picking me

up from uni at 2 in the morning and making us amazing food packages

to tide us through layout week. But most importantly, to Matthew, I

couldn’t imagine this job without him and despite all the ups and downs,

he continues to make me chuckle more than anyone else I know.

I wish the new editors well. It’s a crazy job, but incredibly fulfilling.

And I farewell you, readers, thank you for reading.

EDITORIAL FLORENCE RONEY

8

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

LOT’S WIFE EDITION 8 • 2013

The Abbott government is poised to finalise a

highly secretive international trade agreement

with serious implications for Australian

democracy.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is

a proposed free trade agreement between 12

countries, including Australia, Canada and

the United States. Formal negotiations for the

agreement commenced in March 2010 and

independent news sources are reporting that

it could be signed by the Abbott government

before the end of October.

The TPP has been widely criticised for its

secretive negotiations, restrictive intellectual

property provisions and, of perhaps the greatest

concern, investor-state dispute settlement

(ISDS).

ISDS refers to a provision in an

international trade agreement allowing foreign

investors to sue the national governments of

member countries whose policies harm their

investments. Historically, only other national

governments were able to enforce such

agreements under international law.

While it appears that ISDS leads to greater

government accountability, there are a host of

serious problems with ISDS. According to a

2013 United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development report,

“Concerns with the current ISDS

system relate, among other things, to

a perceived deficit of legitimacy and

transparency; contradictions between

arbitral awards; difficulties in correcting

erroneous arbitral decisions; questions

about the independence and impartiality

of arbitrators, and concerns relating to

the costs and time of arbitral procedures.”

Unpacking this statement, ISDS lacks legitimacy

because it exists outside the formal court structure

and its safeguards. It lacks transparency because

arbitral decisions frequently remain hidden from

the public; sometimes even the dispute itself is

kept secret.

There are contradictions between ISDS

decisions because arbitrators are not required to

follow past decisions and because the procedural

rules used to resolve disputes can differ from one

dispute to the next. Erroneous decisions cannot

be corrected because there is no appeal process.

The independence and impartiality of

arbitrators has been questioned because the

parties choose them; they are not independent

like judges. Defending an ISDS claim made by a

foreign investor can cost governments millions

of dollars, often after a lengthy and expensive

battle through the ordinary court system.

But despite the litany of problems,

ISDS decisions can have profound effects on

government policy and societal wellbeing. In a

submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs

and Trade in 2010, Dr. Kyla Tienhaara from

the Australian National University wrote that

there has been an “explosive increase” in ISDS

in recent years, impacting “sensitive issues such

as access to drinking water, mining development

on sacred indigenous sites, health warnings on

cigarette packaging and restrictions on the use of

dangerous chemicals”.

To illustrate the power wielded by foreign

corporations over national governments through

ISDS, take a recent example. The Northern

American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a

free trade agreement between the United States,

Canada and Mexico that contains an ISDS

clause.

In 1996, the Canadian government passed

a law prohibiting the importation of MMT, a

fuel additive associated with various health and

environmental side effects. Two months before

the law came into effect, Ethyl Corporation, a

US company whose subsidiary imported MMT

into Canada, filed a Notice of Arbitration on the

Canadian government under NAFTA.

Ethyl Corporation sought over US$251

million in damages, plus costs. The Canadian

government initially fought the case, before

later agreeing to settle. Under the terms of the

settlement, Canada agreed to reverse the MMT

ban, pay Ethyl Corporation’s legal costs and issue

an official statement declaring MMT safe.

Experts believe the Canadian government

settled to avoid the risk of huge damages if it

was unsuccessful. The back down did not come

TRADE DEAL TO HAND POWER TO FOREIGN

CORPORATIONS

James Brooks

“The TPP has been widely criticised for its secretive negotiations, restrictive intellectual property provisions and, of perhaps the greatest

concern, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).”

9

NATIONAL AFFAIRS


without a cost though: MMT continues to

be added to fuel in Canada. There have been

dozens of cases like this under NAFTA and other

free trade agreements throughout the world.

The potential for huge damages to be awarded

without any avenues of appeal or judicial

safeguards forces governments to surrender

to foreign corporations with no democratic

legitimacy.

Australia is not immune from corporate

bullying through ISDS either. Since December

of last year, plain tobacco packaging laws have

been in force throughout Australia. Before the

legislation even entered Federal Parliament,

Philip Morris Asia Limited, a Hong Kong based

company, commenced the first ever ISDS claim

against the Australian government. The claim

was made under the ISDS clause of a 1993

investment treaty between Australia and Hong

Kong.

The precise details of Philip Morris’ claim

are unknown as the case is being conducted in

secret; however, experts believe Philip Morris

alleges the Australian government’s legislation

amounts to an expropriation or unauthorised

taking of Philip Morris’ intellectual property,

namely the trade marks it used to display on its

packaging.

What’s significant about this case is that

it arose even after the High Court of Australia

upheld the legality of the legislation, in a case

brought by several tobacco companies last year.

Time will tell whether Philip Morris succeeds

in its latest attempt to undo one of the most

significant pieces of public health legislation in

Australia in recent times.

ISDS was a hot topic in Australia in

2004 as the Howard government completed

negotiations with the United States over the

Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement

(AUSFTA). The US government had sought an

ISDS clause but public opposition in Australia

led to its removal from the final version.

Subsequently, the trade policies of the

Rudd and Gillard governments explicitly ruled

out ISDS clauses in future international trade

agreements. On the eve of the 2013 federal

election though, the Liberal Party released its

trade policy, declaring that it “remain[ed] open”

to ISDS clauses in future.

Trade and Investment Minister Andrew

Robb has been cagey about whether the TPP

will include an ISDS clause. Many experts are

concerned about the softening of Australian

trade policy under Abbott though; particularly

given how close Australia is to signing off on the

TPP.

The ongoing Philip Morris case is proof

that ISDS can threaten important public health

and environmental legislation benefiting all

Australians. It’s not just the experts who should

be worried about Australia’s current trade policy.

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard attends the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) meeting at the ASEAN Summit at Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on 20 November 2012.

Tony Abbott is set to finalise the controversial free trade agreement soon.


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Anthony Taylor

The proposal for a freeway from Clifton Hill to Parkville (and then to

the Western Ring Road) may not seem immediately relevant to transport

in Clayton. However, the size of the project means it has significance

for all of Melbourne, even all of Australia. This

is because approximately $8 billion would be tied

to the project. The sheer amount of Victorian

Government funding needed will preclude the

implementation of other policies and infrastructure

projects across the state.

The commentary and developments regarding

the East West Link proposal affirm, amongst many

other things, a key lesson about transport policy in

Victoria. The lesson is that there is an inner suburb-

outer suburb divide in Melbourne, which extends

to community response to transport policy; and

complementing this, there is a public transport-

private (ie. motor) transport divide. There is certainly a complex and

fascinating relationship between these two binaries which is played out in

the media and is also evidenced by actors: politicians, transport bureaucrats,

the road lobby, inner-city activists and so on.

It is difficult to intelligently explain why there is such a divide in

community response (or lack thereof) to transport projects. The answer

which is often parroted would be that it is simply “hipsters” or “inner city

lefties” who protest road projects; meanwhile, the

“battlers” in the outer suburbs don’t have time for

such bullshit. They have long hours and bills to pay,

and cars are the only practical way of getting around.

Sadly, the next move of the Hun-style argument is

to convince people in outer suburbs that, since it is

only the privileged city dweller who protests roads,

the best they can and should expect is a new road.

However, the overwhelming investment in private

motor transport, and concomitant urban sprawl over

the past 50 years can also do some work to explain

the differing responses to road projects in inner and

outer Melbourne.

Every time a new freeway is built in this city, it sharpens the divide

between the way transport works in Zone 1 and Zone 2. The impact of a

new freeway, regardless of where it is built (leaving aside local impacts), is

not so dramatic for those living in Zone 1. There remains a choice between

“Where inner Melbourne expanded with the provision of good public transport, and

then cars augmented this later, in Zone 2 it has only ever been cars. In Zone 2, then, a new freeway further entrenches how necessary a

car is to get around.”

Linking east and west, dividing inner and outer Melbourne

CONSEQUENCES IN ZONE 2

NATIONAL AFFAIRS


the full range of public and private transport options, and a new road will

simply augment or adjust this in a small way. Where inner Melbourne

expanded with the provision of good public transport, and then cars

augmented this later, in Zone 2 it has only ever been cars. In Zone 2, then,

a new freeway further entrenches how necessary a car is to get around.

Much of post-1950’s suburban Melbourne, in contrast to much of Zone

1, has been built with the provision of minimal “charity” public transport

services. The layout of more recent suburbs actively discourages walking or

cycling as modes of transport even for short journeys.

People are forced into these circumstances to invest in private

transport. In outer suburbs there is endemic car-dependency: 4-car

households, higher percentages of income spent on transport, social

isolation for non-drivers and no alternatives to avoid traffic congestion.

This leaves outer suburban communities in a bind, as the best short

term policy they could expect from the government is an ease on traffic

congestion.

A better long term transport policy for all of Melbourne does not

receive support in outer suburbs because people in outer suburbs are

economically bound to the current policy direction in a way those in the

inner city are not; there is no “choice” if you live in the outer suburbs.

The smooth functioning of people’s day-to-day lives is reliant on private

transport. To that extent, the Herald Sun prognosis is correct. One only

has to look at local community responses to recent major road projects

in outer suburban Melbourne including East Link (running parallel to

Stud Road) and Peninsula Link (running from Frankston to Mornington

Peninsula) in comparison to the ongoing local community response to

East West Link to see this inner suburb-outer suburb dynamic at play.

While East Link saw a few small scale protests on environmental grounds,

recently protesters in North Carlton attempted to stop preparatory

drilling work for the East West link. There have also been reasonably

large petitions, public meetings, rallies and strong stances from local

government against the project. The reasons for this response have

included that is likely to aggravate traffic congestion, preclude funding

of other (public) transport projects, impact on local residents and on

parkland, and that the business case has not been officially released.

This dynamic can partly explain the impressive shadiness of the

unreleased East West Link business case. Infrastructure business cases

always have a political dimension; in this case, the Liberal government is

clearly staking its political fortunes on the appeal of this road in suburban

Melbourne. As such, the business case reportedly includes long-term

or peripheral factors which are not usually used to judge the economic

benefit of a road project. The lack of a robust and politically neutral

business case for this project must raise serious doubts independent of

one’s view on other arguments made in this article.

The construction of the East West Link is crucial for suburbs like

Clayton: East West Link is about the entrenchment of car-dependency

in Zone 2, much more than it is about the loss of inner city parkland

or noise pollution. If the East West Link goes ahead, the consequences

will certainly not include money for a train to Clayton campus for at

least another generation, and (probably) not even for some modest bus

network improvements.

Keep an eye out on https://www.facebook.com/ptua.vic for updates.

Image: Chris Star, Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport (YCAT)


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

On October 12 a counter rally took place in opposition to the annual

anti-choice ‘March for the Babies’. This was attended by hundreds

of people from a vast range of groups: feminists, socialists, first time

protesters, unaligned progressives and other concerned people who would

prefer Abbott keep his hands off their bodily autonomy.

A new bill (dubbed ‘Zoe’s law’) which aims to define a foetus of 20

weeks gestation or more as a “living person” is currently being debated in

NSW Parliament, so the demonstration couldn’t have come at a better

time.

Unsurprisingly, right-wing media coverage of the protest has

misrepresented pro-choice activists as ‘barbarians’ (I’m pointing at you,

Andrew Bolt!), committing all manner of unspeakable ‘savagery’ such as

wearing ‘profane’ T-shirts and ‘destroying balloons’. The horror! Channel

9 falsely reported that Liberal MP and March for the Babies organizer

Bernie Finn was ‘assaulted’, when in reality he was simply on the

receiving end of a harmless, wayward egg.

Quite frankly, Chief Fucktrumpet Bernie Finn deserved to get egg in

his hair.

Anti-choice marchers were certainly not protesting ‘peacefully’.

In fact, the very premise of ‘March for the Babies’ is not a peaceful

one; it entails an attack on our right to make our own choices about

what we does with our bodies, it shames those who make the innately

personal choice to end a pregnancy, and it harks back to the disgusting

and archaic idea that a woman’s sole purpose is to produce and nurture

children in a life of domesticity. This was by no means a peaceful espousal

of a ‘different point of view’; this was blatantly a parade of anti-woman

bigotry, complete with rosaries and rubber fetuses.

Pro-choice activists were both verbally and physically abused

by the anti-choice side. Pro-choice activists were labelled as ‘whores’

and ‘harpies’, and told that we were murderous ‘baby killers’ and that

we are ‘going to hell’. We were told that our bodies were not our own,

and strange rubber embryos were shoved in our faces in what we can

only assume was a pathetic attempt to shame us for believing that

we can decide our own fate. Several people involved in the rally and

confrontation were physically hit by anti-choice marchers, including

one of the writers of this article being punched in the face by a man in

a cowboy hat. This demonstrated that not only do these people want

to prioritise a bunch of cells over living people with free will, they

were actively engaging in violence against women, as a number of us

experienced at the rally.

The pro-choice side was led by a diverse range of people standing up

for the rights of uterus-bearers, but it was fantastic to see women’s voices

take centre-stage.

Comparatively, the anti-choice demographic was composed

overwhelmingly of white, middle-aged, middle-class men.

This largely privileged bunch should have no authority over what

reproductive choices we make, especially with regards to an issue that

effects working class individuals the most, and people from rural and

remote areas with lessened access to abortion both financially and

geographically. Anti-choice bigots have no respect for agency and the

ability for us to determine if, when and under what circumstances we

shall raise children.

Shame on Andrew Bolt and the Herald Scum. Shame on Channel

9 and their predictable, biased media coverage. Most of all, shame on

anti-choice bigots calling themselves ‘pro-life’ when they are clearly only

concerned with birth, not quality of life, or human rights and bodily

autonomy.

Anti-choice troglodytes have recently been emboldened by the

election of the most outwardly anti-choice Prime Minister in living

memory. Over the next few months and years, those of us who support

women’s rights must continue to come together and fight to protect the

rights that our feminist forerunners won for us decades ago. We must

continue to fight against legislation like ‘Zoe’s law’.

Lauren Goldsmith & Shannen Bethune

ANTI-CHOICE BIGOTS CRACKEDMuch like the egg splattered on Bernie Finn’s face


It’s a scenario that is far too familiar to the Australian public. On October

3, a small, barely seaworthy vessel sunk off the coast of a remote island,

with at least 360 people dying in their quest for refuge and asylum. On

October 11, another shipwreck occurred, this time claiming 34 lives. Yet

these scenes occurred half a world away. That remote island is the Italian

island of Lampedusa, around 110 kilometres from the Tunisian coast.

From Eritreans, Somalis, Ghanaians and Syrians, to Iranians,

Vietnamese, Sri Lankans and Afghans – it’s a sound reminder to Austral-

ians that our country is not the only one facing an influx of desperate,

displaced peoples. The two theatres of exodus are remarkably similar,

with Italy having already seen around 30,100 migrants arrive from across

the Mediterranean this year, up from 10,380 in 2012, whilst Australian

saw 25,541 arrivals in the 2012-13 period, up from 8,311 in the previous

year. Yet one can’t help but note that, just like Lampedusa, the European

response to this tragedy is also half a world away.

Upon the news of the Lampedusa disaster, Italian Prime Minister

Enrico Letta tweeted that it was ‘an immense tragedy’, and announced a

national day of mourning. Pope Francis called for the use of abandoned

Catholic monasteries and convents to house the influx of refugees. And

the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres,

was quick to commend the Italian Coast Guard for their swift response

to the disaster. The greater European response as a whole has also been

quite positive, with the European Union, an organisation on the financial

brink, immediately submitting €30 million in financial aid for the refu-

gees. Earlier this year, Sweden remarkably offered sanctuary to millions of

displaced Syrians.

Comparatively, in August, whilst the public was pre-occupied

with the Federal Election race, the UN’s Human Rights Committee

found Australia guilty of almost 150 violations of international law. The

Australian Government’s latest program, Operation Sovereign Borders,

is laughably named, as it pours hundreds of millions of dollars worth of

funding and infrastructure into Papua New Guinea and Nauru: spoils

which are virtually impossible for the leaders of those financially strapped

nations to reject. The Australian Government is now the largest employ-

er in Nauru. It’s a strange new mutation of neo-colonialism: supposedly

buying Australian sovereignty by getting other nations to sell theirs.

“We won’t be discussing operational matters”, Immigration and

Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison says ad nauseum, in one of his

weekly Operation Sovereign Borders briefings – the only avenue through

which information about the crisis can now be sourced. ‘Operational mat-

ters’ appear to include the nationalities of asylum seekers, living condi-

tions in facilities, incidences of self-harm and the health and wellbeing

of those held in camps. In the most recent briefing, Morrison was forced

to concede – but only with considerable prompting – that medical staff at

Manus Island needed to be removed for their own safety on October 18.

He refused to make any further comment, other than to pass the buck and

suggest it was an issue for the PNG Government to deal with.

The incident at Manus Island is, at the time of print, a national

secret.

The sad truth is that the asylum seeker issue in Australia is little

more than a political weapon. “Stopping the boats” was a pivotal platform

for the Coalition in this year’s Federal election, but there is no doubt that

this is a bipartisan issue. Immediately upon the formulation of the Papua

New Guinea agreement, the former Rudd Government spent millions in

advertising the new regime. “If you come here by boat without a visa, you

won’t be settled in Australia”, was scrawled across all major newspapers

for weeks, in what can only be described as a demonstration of action

to the Australian people, as the sales of Australian newspapers in such

exotic departure points such as Malaysia and Indonesia is somewhat low,

to say the least.

The most terrifying aspect of this myopic pursuit for short-term

political gain is the precedence it sets for the pacific region well into the

future. With effective global action on climate change unlikely, a massive

crisis looms on Australia’s doorstep. Many pacific island nations are at sig-

nificant risk of either being severely depredated or completely decimated

by rising sea levels, erosion, and changing environmental conditions, and

Australia may well be facing a massive influx of environmental refugees

in the decades to come. As the main safe haven in the region, it will be

an issue that Australia will be required to address – and there will be no

option for return.

The manipulation of the asylum seeker affair is the marque of cow-

ardice rather than leadership. The true measure of a leader is to do what is

logical and right in the face of opposition. Former deputy Prime Minister

Tim Fischer virtually destroyed his political career when he ensured the

Australian Government passed gun control legislation in 1996, placing

human lives over his popularity. Sadly, it is impossible to think right now

that anyone with any real power in the two major parties would be willing

to make a similar stand.

The refugee and asylum seeker issue will not simply go away through

mistreatment and secrecy. It breeds contempt, and dehumanises us as a

society. With the lack of support of an organisation like the European

Union in our region, this situation requires Australian leadership, not

populism. Both Australia and the people seeking our assistance deserve it.

Image: UNHCR

Bren Carruthers

HUMAN TIDES


HOMELESS AND ACCESS TO SOCIAL SECURITY

The homeless can face impediments in accessing entitlements under

the Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) and therefore some of those facing the

greater financial struggles are denied help that could have been afforded

to them.

To make a claim from Centrelink, a person must establish their

identity using “100 points” worth of evidentiary material. These include

birth certificates, driver’s licences and passports. Individuals who are

suffering from primary homelessness, that is they have no conventional

place of residence and rather take shelter in public places such as parks

and streets, most often cannot meet these criteria or struggle to do so and

the process delays their ability to receive assistance as quickly as possible.

A former identification system used to allow a person to rely on three

documents, one of which could be a letter from a youth or social worker.

The reintroduction of this system would make it easier for homeless

persons to establish their identity because they do not have access to the

range of documents that others have.

The Newstart Allowance is a Centrelink payment for the

unemployed. In 2012 there was a Senate Committee into the adequacy

of the allowance payment system for jobseekers and others, the

appropriateness of the allowance payment system as a support into

work and the impact of the changing nature of the labour market.

The Australian Council of Social Service has called on the Federal

Government to increase the new start payment by $50 in line with the

findings of the Senate Committee. A Salvation Army report found that

7% of single parents seeking emergency relief from the Newstart system

were homeless and yet single parents have lost around $60 - $100 per

week under recent budget cuts.

The Social Security Act does not mandate a minimum wage and

those who cannot earn a livelihood are not guaranteed payment; the

Special Benefit for individuals in this situation being at the discretion of

Centrelink. Furthermore, activity requirements are normally imposed on

the Newstart Allowance. These requirements are normally conditions of

job-seeking and they must be fulfilled before payments will be made. For

an individual struggling to find accommodation, these conditions may

not be imposed at the right time and may hinder rather than help the

individual.

The lack of a fixed address can also make it difficult for

correspondence about benefits and conditions to be communicated

to individuals. A lack of literacy and numeracy skills in the homeless

population means that some may struggle to understand correspondence

when they can receive it. It has been recommended by Philip Lynch and

HOMELESSNESS IN AUSTRALIA

Phillip Liberatore


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

the Australian Human Rights Commission that Australia Post develop a

system where homeless individuals can elect to have their correspondence

directed to a post office of their choice and that post office workers can

be trained to go through the letters with individuals to ensure they are

receiving all their entitlements and correspondence.

Once identity requirements and activity requirements are made less

restrictive and correspondence mechanisms are made more accessible

then homeless people should be better able to claim their entitlements

and build a foundation for a stronger economic future.

THE RIGHT TO VOTE AND HOMELESSNESS

The Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic has said that the homeless are among

the most disenfranchised demographics in Australia. Voting in Federal

elections is a legal obligation under the Commonwealth of Australia

Constitution Act 1900 and the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth).

It is estimated that around 70,000 homeless people were eligible

to vote in 2007 but were not enrolled. In other words about 64% of the

homeless population was of voting age. It is not compulsory for a person

with no fixed address to vote in Federal elections but they do have a

right to vote. Voters without a fixed address are called itinerant voters.

Itinerant voters can enrol in a division:

a) where they were last eligible to be enrolled, i.e. the last place they lived

for at least one month

b) where one of their next of kin resides, if they have not been previously

eligible to enrol as per above

c) where they were born, if the neither of the former options applies to

them

d) where they have the strongest connection, if none of the former

options apply.

An itinerant voter is defined by Section 96 of the Commonwealth

Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) as someone who is in Australia and has had no

real place of living (which is a broader concept than permanent address)

in a subdivision for at least one month. An application must be made

to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to enrol as an itinerant

voter.

A significant number of homeless persons access crisis

accommodation, much of which is funded by state governments and

various charities, when they are in serious need of immediate shelter. Data

suggests that homeless persons who lived in crisis accommodation stay

on average for 56 days; well over the maximum amount to be eligible to

enrol as an itinerant voter. However they also cannot enrol as an ordinary

voter because they have no permanent or fixed address. This is an

anomaly in the law that needs to change. Such an anomaly does not exist

in the voting provisions for Victoria. Section 3A of the Electoral Act 2002

(Vic) allows persons living in crisis accommodation to enrol as itinerant

voters no matter how long they have stayed there. The Homeless Person’s

Legal Clinic has recommended that the one month restriction be

extended to six months to allow for homeless persons who do move into

crisis accommodation to be able to enrol as itinerant electors.

For some homeless persons fear of being fined for failure to vote

may deter them from enrolling. Itinerant voters will not be fined if they

fail to vote and this fact, along with the enrol options listed above must

continue to be communicated to them. If an itinerant voter fails to

exercise their right to vote then they may be taken off the electoral roll.

This practice should cease because it increases the risk a homeless person

will be disenfranchised when they do attempt to vote in the future.

In addition to location requirements, a voter must meet the proof of

identity requirements under section 98AA of the Commonwealth Electoral

Act. First priority is given to providing a driver’s licence number. Failing

that, the person can have a prescribed enrolled elector cite a prescribed

document and sign on the enrolment that form that they have done so. A

prescribed document includes, but is not limited to, a passport or a birth

certificate. These criteria are restrictive for homeless people, particularly

as those facing primary homelessness and secondary homelessness

(moving between various, temporary forms of shelter such as living in

crisis accommodation or coach-surfing with friends or relatives), and do

not have access to such identifications.

The identification criteria are also problematic because prescribed

electors are people of the professional classes, including lawyers, police

and nurses and some homeless individuals do not have connections with

these individuals and cannot afford to see them. Some may also not feel

comfortable approaching these individuals. The Commonwealth Electoral

Act does not allow Centrelink cards to be used, and yet this is one source

of identification that most homeless individuals have access to.

During the 2013 Federal parliamentary election, the AEC ran

a trial program to encourage more homeless people to participate in

democracy. Mobile polling booths were set up in community centres in

three electoral divisions in Western Australia in the week leading up the

general polling day, allowing individuals living in homeless shelters to

enrol without a fixed address. This trial is expected to lead to nationwide

changes in coming elections. Whilst these changes look likely to increase

the number of homeless persons enrolling to vote, the changes argued for

in this article must also be undertaken in order to reach those homeless

persons who do not live in homeless shelters or community centres. The

Victorian Electoral Commission has initiated a community engagement

program to better educate homeless persons’ about their rights and the

AEC should follow suit.

Article 21 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of

Human Rights 1948 states that everyone has the right to take part

in the governance of his country directly or through freely chosen

representatives authorised by universal and equal suffrage. The homeless

must not be forgotten when democratic opportunities come along in

Australia.


On October 9, Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read finally submitted to his long

battle with liver issues, and passed away. He was, to many, an archetypal

villain. A prolific stand-over man, he once claimed to have killed nineteen

men in his life, but was never sentenced for murder, instead spending a

good portion of his adult life behind bars for kidnapping, assault, arson,

and armed robbery.

Chopper was a man of significant, almost theatrical charisma. With

the crafted swagger of a larrikin “bloke’s bloke” persona, he became an

Australian icon, and a hero for the underclass. Australia, and Melbourne in

particular, has always had a curious fascination with criminal figures, quite

likely stemming from our convict past and to Australia’s most-loved folk

hero, Ned Kelly. Chopper was only too happy to exploit that fascination.

As a personality, he was so unique that Eric Bana’s remarkably accurate

portrayal in 2000’s film Chopper catapulted both Bana and Read to interna-

tional fame, and launched Bana’s Hollywood career. An impersonation also

helped secure Heath Franklin a comedy career.

Yet, one of Chopper’s most defining traits was his ability to inspire

fear in the hearts of the public, even in death. As I mentioned in passing

to friends that I would be writing this article on the life of Chopper Read,

reactions were largely of apprehension and concern.

I once, very briefly, crossed paths with Chopper on cold night in 2008

at the Leinster Arms Hotel, hidden away in the back streets of Collingwood.

At that time, news of his illness had just become public knowledge. Pausing

for just a moment to subtly analyse the hunched figure, I saw Chopper as a

sickly, jaundiced figure, so far removed from the caricature of him that ex-

ists in the minds of the public. Here was just a man… where was this myth?

According to his own accounts, Mark Read was once a fat kid living

in the suburbs of Melbourne, where he was routinely bullied by his peers

and beaten by his father. He became a ward of the state at the age of 14, and

spent his teens in and out of psychiatric care. His teens were spent swinging

between the dual pains of street fighting and electro-shock therapy. His

brutal upbringing was the catalyst for his life of crime.

In a twisted offshoot of vigilantism, he established his own moral

code, and began to target fellow criminals, recognising that it was far

more profitable, but also more importantly that his victims were far more

deserving of his wrath than the general public. He was particularly noted

for torturing drug dealers with blowtorches, and using bolt-cutters to avail

members of the criminal underworld of their toes, in a less-than-subtle

attempt to inspire them to pay their debts. It was these actions as a ‘head-

hunter’ that he became feared, first in the world of organised crime, then in

the public realm at large.

Years of incarceration followed. Between the ages of 20 and 38, Read

spent only 13 months outside prison walls. Whilst inside, he waged a relent-

less and savage prison war, famously asking a fellow inmate to slice off his

ears so that he could be transferred to the mental health wing of the prison,

so that he could retreat to relative safety. Yet, despite his violent past, Chop-

per walked out of prison for the final time in 1998 as both a more mellow,

mature man, and an accomplished best-selling author. On the birth of his

son Charlie, not long after his release, he wrote, “Fatherhood changed me. I

reckon I became a human being at 45, when I saw my first boy born… that’s

the moment I joined the human race.”

Now feeling truly human, he once again capitalised on the public’s

penchant for celebrity criminals, this time parlaying his fame into new

ventures: a comedy career, an endless stream of writing gigs, a terrible rap

album – even a children’s book, Hooky The Cripple. Grappling with more

serious issues, he also appeared in advertisements speaking out against

drink driving and domestic violence, and along with his film royalties,

the proceeds from those appearances were donated to charity in full. And

throughout his illness, from the initial diagnosis of Hepatitis C, until the

liver cancer and cirrhosis that cost him his life, he continuously rejected the

offer of a liver transplant, saying that he was undeserving, and didn’t want

one when it could be used to save another life. When once he boasted that

he had killed 19 men, in his final days he conceded that he had lied, and

had only killed “about four or seven, depending on how you look at it”, as

he allowed his hard man persona to fade.

Even in the criminal world, nothing is black and white, good and

evil. Chopper Read was a violent criminal and an admitted killer, and

no-one could ever condone or absolve him of his actions. But he was also a

victim of circumstance – a hurting child, a mentally ill teen, and a complex,

troubled soul. We can only hope that he, like his claimed victims, can

finally rest in peace.

Bren Carruthers

GOODBYE, MR. CHOPS


“The journey took two months… When I first

decided to come I knew how it would be. I’ve

seen a lot of terrible things in my life… For me

it was very normal. I was looking forward to a

future for my family, a future where I can go

to school. Without fear of shots, stabbing and

bomb blasts. I was very excited. It was short

lived.”

Sultan’s* story is unique and horrifying.

It is a story that must be told in the wake

of new government policy that threatens to

disrespect Australia’s obligation to engage in

international human rights treaties.

Sultan was born a Hazara Muslim in

Kabul, Afghanistan in April 1994.

Before Sultan was born, his parents lived

on the west side of Kabul.

“My family was inside their home when the

Taliban came.”

Sultan’s father was badly injured and after

a quick stint in hospital, they escaped to Afshar.

Then the Taliban came again.

On the 11th of Febuary 1993, government

forces entered Afshar and for 24 hours they

killed, raped, set fire to homes and took young

children as captives. 700 people were estimated

to have been killed or to have disappeared.

Sultan’s parents escaped the day before.

“From Afshar my parents went to our native

place in the Parwan Province. They were there

for a year and after that they went to Kabul and

I was born there in 1994.”

Sultan’s family moved many times during

those years, fleeing from the incessant threat of

the Taliban.

“I remember the bombs hitting a car in front of

us on the way to a village three hours away from

Kabul. It was full of people. There were lots of

bodies along the road. There was a little girl;

she was about my age at that time, alone sitting

next to her dead mum. She was crying.”

Even after the American’s came, violence

continued.

“My parents were worried about my future.”

“After that, my father spoke with a people

smuggler and he brought me to Australia.

“I was 15.”

From Malaysia to Indonesia, Sultan lay in

foetal position with no room to move.

“There was a piece of wood sticking into my

back for 21 hours.

After arriving in Indonesia, the people

smuggler arranged air tickets from Medan to

Jakarta.

“I don’t know how they did it without a pass-

port. In the airport the police came because

they knew we were illegal. They asked ‘do you

want to go to jail?’”

The policeman asked for a $2500 bribe for

their freedom.

“He said this in front of everyone in the airport.

I had only $100 with me. He took my mobile

phone, my money and he took some money

from everyone and then he left us and we went

to Jakarta.”

From Jakarta, Sultanboarded his final

boat, destined for Australia.

On the last day, the weather turned and

the conditions worsened. Food and water was

long gone and the boat’s condition was deterio-

rating quickly.

“Everyone was tired of crying. Everyone was

ready to sink.”

Eventually, after 14 days at sea, a plane

spotted the boat and called for the Australian

Navy.

“Then they took us to Christmas Island.”

“It was a very nice feeling when I first got

there... I had my own room. I had three meals a

day… They transferred me to Melbourne after

90 days. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I

didn’t know anything. I was thinking if I go to

the mainland I’ll be free. I’ll go to school. I’ll do

whatever I want.”

They transferred Sultan to the Melbourne

Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA)

for 11 months.

“It was like a fancy prison.”

“When we were going to eat we had to line up

in a queue. Every day was the same. There was

THE HUMAN VOICE OF ASYLUM

Arielle Milecki


NATIONAL AFFAIRS

nothing to do every day. For 11 months, every

day I was seeing the same people the same thing

was happening. I was really bored.

“Some people were hitting themselves, hitting

their heads on the walls, cutting themselves. I

didn’t do that but my body was very weak and I

was shaking. It was very warm at that time but I

was feeling very cold.

“I saved one of my friends’ lives. He tried to

hang himself. I called the security.”

After five months, Sultan’s application

was rejected. They told him it was safe to go

back to Afghanistan.

“If they really read my case, if they were really

honest, they would never reject me.”

So Sultan applied again.

“I asked my case manager once what was hap-

pening as I always did. She said they had made

a decision and we were waiting to receive it.

It took 3 months to get to me. I don’t know if

they were walking the decision from Sydney to

Melbourne.”

“Then I was rejected a second time.”

In seven days, Sultan would return to

Afghanistan.

“I heard later that no one with that particular

case manager had ever been accepted.”

“Pamela Curr came to see me from the Asylum

Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). She got

some extra time for me from Immigration and

got a lawyer to work on my case. The lawyer

appealed for us to the courts.”

Finally there was some positive news.

“They said Immigration had made a mistake…

Finally, I came out of detention.”

During his time in detention, Sultan’s

father was murdered by the Taliban. This forced

him to support his family by working exces-

sively, seven days a week.

Sultan was reunited with his mother, two

brothers and sister one month ago.

Sultan now works for the Salvation Army

on Manus Island where he is the bridge between

clients in detention and the Australian people.

This kind of help is welcomed as govern-

ment policy tightens and those in detention

further lose hope.

To put this in context, when Labor were

elected in 2007, Kevin Rudd altered or abol-

ished many of the asylum seeker policies put in

place by the Howard Government. Mandatory

detention was one of them. The new policy in-

troduced by Rudd dictated that people would be

detained as a ‘last resort’, rather than as stand-

ard practice. In August, a milestone of 50,000

‘illegal’ people had arrived in Australia since

Labor had been in office. It was only in July that

Kevin Rudd re-introduced off shore processing

as boat arrivals had sky-rocketed.

But since the Liberal party came into

power, Tony Abbott has said that no permanent

visas will be issued to those who come here ‘il-

legally’. Rather, temporary Protection Visas will

be issued to people classified as refugees in an

effort to deter people smugglers.

This policy was first proposed by Pauline

Hanson’s One Nation in 1998.

Andrew Robb, the Minister for Trade and

Investment has weighed into the debate, stating

that turning back the boats (by removing the

incentive for people smuggling) is important to

prevent deaths at sea.

The new Immigration Minister, Scott

Morrison, insists that “people need to know not

only will they not be resettled in Australia, they

won’t be settling in Australia after arriving as

they have been under the previous government

for months.”

Thus, the Abbott government’s plan is for

disruption and deterrence, detection and inter-

ception, off shore detention and then rapid re-

turn to their country of origin or resettlement in

a third country other than Australia wherever

possible. However Sultan’s story demonstrates

that, with violence continuing worldwide and

a lack of better options for refugees, prevalent

corruption in neighbouring countries, and

regular oversights by Immigration case manag-

ers, Abbott’s proposed procedures are proven

inadequate to deal with the issue at hand.

The temporary status of asylum seekers’

residency creates a deep uncertainty and anxi-

ety for their future.

Alison Halliday has fostered an Afghani

Hazara and has seen first hand the long term

emotional affects government policy has had on

asylum seekers.

Her foster son Jan Ali spent two months

on Christmas Island, two months in a Port

August detention centre and then one year in

MITA. He was just 15 years old.

In Port Augusta Jan’s mental and physical

health deteriorated.

“He, and the others, had no idea that it is a bit

of an Immigration Game.

“Very few asylum seekers are accepted with

their first application even if they can explain

all the suffering they have experienced, and it is

obvious that they tick the UNHCR criteria for

refugee status.”

Like Sultan, Jan was told Afghanistan was

safe and that he would be returned.

“This started the roller coaster that I see in

them all. Increasing anxiety, inability to sleep,

and inability to eat.

“My boy Jan still suffers sleep problems and

anxiety and depression, and he has a permanent

visa. He is extremely anxious about the safety of

his surviving family members.”

Jan’s case was reviewed by a Tribunal and

only then was he accepted.

This is the Tribunal that the Liberal Gov-

ernment have said they will get rid of.

Halliday thinks the government needs

to be spending greater amounts of money get-

ting people processed by UNHCR in transit

countries, and then sent to the countries that

will take them, including Australia.

“The other thing Australia should do is dra-

matically increase the refugee intake. We can’t

stop the world’s wars and the displacement of

peoples, but we can help by taking more of

these people.”

This seems unlikely with the rigid ap-

proach the government has already taken since

the election.

Sultan has mixed feelings about the coun-

try he now resides in.

“Australia is a good country. But if my country

didn’t have problems I would never come to

Australia. I love my country. I love my people.”

The future is hopeful for Sultan.

“I would like to travel. I am planning to go to

Brazil for the World Cup.”

For many, the future is much grimmer.

*Name changed at the request of the interviewee

Image: UNHCR

THE HUMAN VOICE OF ASYLUM

SUBHEADING


Almost three years have passed since Egypt’s Arab Spring began, but with

over 50 fatalities from protest clashes this month alone, it is clear that the

country is a far cry from the one protesters envisioned when they took to

Tahrir Square all those months ago.

In January 2011, Egyptians flocked to Tahrir Square in Cairo

to protest against then President Hosni Mubarak and the oppressive

government the country had been living under for decades.

With mobile phones in hand, the protests and their military backlash

were streamed live on social media around the world. Protests in Lebanon,

Oman, Yemen, Syria and Morocco began to ignite and with unrest already

bubbling over in Tunisia, it became a period of revolution for the region,

popularly coined the ‘Arab Spring’.

By the time I travelled to Egypt the following September, President

Mubarak had resigned months before. Beyond the bustling markets of

Cairo, the majesty of The Pyramids and the quiet villages the Nile curled

around, there remained the scars of a revolution. The charred skeleton of

a building stood next to the National Museum as a reminder of what had

passed. Tourists had all but depleted. Hour long lines of tourists eager to

enter The Pyramids no longer existed, with the few remaining visitors able

to walk straight in.

While the physical scars the city nursed were telling of what had

been, it was the people who were telling of what was to come.

Even if the protests weren’t being discussed specifically, everything

was referred to as ‘before the revolution’, or ‘after the revolution’. Even

from brief interactions, it was clear what a momentous split it was in their

timeline as a country. The struggle for democratic freedom was far from

over, but there was always hope that shone through; a sense of optimism

for the future that seemed to override the trepidation of how exactly they

would get there.

Fast forward to 2013 and for many Egyptians those rays of hope have

all but diminished.

President Hosni Mubarak had ruled over Egypt for 30 years, and after

his resignation the country entered a period of military rule. This military

rule concluded in June 2012 when member of the Freedom and Justice

Party (FJP – a party set up by the Muslim Brotherhood), Mohamed Morsi,

became the first democratically elected President. However the popularity

and legitimacy of the FJP and its leader quickly began to unravel.

Senior Lecturer at the Monash University School of Political and

Social Inquiry, Dr Benjamin MacQueen, explains that the declining

support for Morsi’s presidency cannot be pinpointed on any one fault.

“He broke four or five really important relationships that just

isolated him and his supporters. It was him, the party, and the ideological

supporters that were left in a bad economic situation, with the military

always wanting to get back at him because they saw him as an enemy from

decades back. So he fully isolated himself from that, and created this sort

of fervour,” Dr MacQueen says.

Coupled with this was Morsi assigning himself powers of legal

immunity from any presidential decision he made. All of these factors

culminated in the huge protests against President Morsi that were held on

June 30, 2013, the one-year anniversary of his presidency, resulting in him

being removed from power by the military the next month.

Since then, the country has reverted back to a military-run state, just

as it was in 2011 after the initial revolution. The difference is that this

time there is no decisive course of action.

Between August 14 and 18 this year, raids of sit-ins that supported

ex-President Morsi left over 800 civilians and security personnel dead. On

October 6, Morsi supporters clashed with police, leaving at least 53 dead.

“In terms of popular support, there’s no precise gauge as to where

sentiment lies. The protests against Morsi were massive, but there was a

negative motivation to wanting him gone, and not really a positive vision

of ‘we want this instead’,” explains Dr MacQueen.

“When you look at it, it’s no longer even about findings solutions, it’s

more about how can things be managed that mitigate the worst possible

outcomes. As bleak as that sounds, that’s really where the situation’s at,

at the moment.”

Until a suitable candidate to run for presidency can be found, the

military will continue to run the country. Considering Egypt is a nation of

90 million, 50% of which are on or below the poverty line, experiencing

a wavering economy and bloodshed on the streets, it will be no easy feat.

Ultimately, when the crowds filled Tahrir Square in 2011, they had

a list of demands that were well within reason. Stability. An accountable

and transparent government. A stable economy. A sense of certainty that

their children will be educated and employed.

Of course, these have always been hopes among the Egyptian people

for their country, but until the Arab Spring, they didn’t seem attainable.

Whether it is more crushing to come so close and miss an opportunity

that at the time seemed so ready to unfold, or whether it should be viewed

as a step in the right direction that has allowed for a more participatory

civilian front, remains to be seen.

Carlie O’Connell

EGYPT: THREE YEARS ON

SUBHEADING


The birth of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was hailed around

the world as a victory for international justice. It was hoped that its

creation would spell the end of impunity for individuals guilty of the

worst crimes known to the international community.

The ICC was created by an international treaty known as the

Rome Statute in 1998. The Court is historically unique as it is the first

permanent international criminal court. The court exercises jurisdiction

over three crimes; namely, war crimes, crimes against humanity and

genocide. Currently, 122 states are party to the Rome Statute with the

notable exceptions of the United States, China, Russia and Israel.

In spite of the admirable aspirations that lead to the foundation

of the Court it has been plagued with problems concerning state

cooperation, funding and legitimacy. The Court’s relationship with the

African Union (AU) and the 34 African states that are party to the

Rome Statute has been particularly problematic.

At an extraordinary summit of the AU, which took place on

the 11-12th of October, AU states considered the future direction of

their relationship with the ICC. The state parties declared that no

sitting government officials should be brought before the ICC, a direct

contradiction to the Rome Statute. They also requested that the ICC

defer the case against the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The long-term success of the Court depends on whether it can

resolve its issues with the AU and African states and regain legitimacy as

an arbiter of international justice.

One charge that has been consistently leveled at the Court is that

it is unfairly biased against Africans. All of the cases currently before

the Court involve individuals of an African nationality. The AU argues

that the ICC targets Africans and ignores atrocities committed in other

regions.

The AU’s argument ignores the fact that the Court may only

consider a case where the national court of the accused is unable or

unwilling to do so. This implies a situation in which a state’s judicial

system has either collapsed or sided with the accused. Arguably, this

occurs disproportionately in African states hence the overrepresentation

of African individuals at the Court. Indeed, four of the eight situations

currently being considered by the Court were referred by the state itself.

Nevertheless, the ICC should take the AU’s concerns seriously.

The declaration that no sitting head of state should appear before the

ICC severely limits its capacity to deliver justice.

In particular, two cases have incited disagreement between the AU

and the ICC. These are the indictments of Sudanese President Omar

al-Bashir and the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Al-Bashir was indicted in 2009 for his alleged role in atrocities

committed in Darfur following a referral of the situation to the ICC by

the United Nations Security Council. AU member states agreed to not

enforce al-Bashir’s arrest warrant if he were to visit their country and

they unsuccessfully petitioned the Court to defer the case. They argued

that the need to resolve the conflict in Darfur should take precedence

over justice.

The concerns of the AU bring to the fore the issue that sometimes

peace and justice are irreconcilable. From the AU’s perspective, the

indictment provides an incentive for al-Bashir to cling to power, as

amnesty is no longer a possibility. Should the international community

place more importance on the punishment of a few individuals than a

peace agreement that could resolve a long and bitter civil conflict? The

ICC has firmly decided in favour of this proposition; however perhaps

they should reconsider their position. In some situations, the ICC should

allow a society embroiled in civil conflict the chance to establish peace

before indicting those responsible for international crimes.

The ICC indicted the current President of Kenya, Uhuru

Kenyatta, in 2011 for his alleged role in the violence that followed the

2007 Kenyan presidential election. In response, the Kenyan National

Assembly passed a motion to withdraw Kenya from the Rome Statute

and petitioned the United Nations Security Council to defer the

case. Kenyatta has thus far cooperated with proceedings but there is

speculation that he will not appear at The Hague when his trial starts on

12 November 2013. The fact that Kenyatta was democratically elected

whilst facing trial by the ICC shows that a majority of Kenyans do not

support the trial.

The ICC must improve its relationship with Africa if it is to retain

legitimacy as an international arbiter of justice. Just how this may be

achieved is difficult to determine. The ICC’s past attempts to establish

an African liaison office have been rejected by the AU but they must

persist. The Court must actively engage with African governments

to build relationships based on trust and understanding. In addition,

the Court must recognise that in some situations peace must is more

important than justice.

Tamara Preuss

THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND AFRICAN STATES: A Troubled Relationship


In 1989, the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) introduced the now

iconic slogan “If you drink, then drive, you’re a bloody idiot.” It’s a clever line

with a serious message and since it’s introduction, the Victorian road toll has

almost halved. TAC slogans have now been visible on billboards, newspapers

and TV commercials for more than 20 years, battling to keep road safety at

the forefront of public consciousness. Appearing amongst the never ending

stream of adverts for Coca-Cola, McDonalds and other big brands, the TAC’s

relentless campaign is a prime example of advertising and marketing being

used to positively impact society.

The marketing industry is not often associated with campaigns that

benefit the public, like those produced by the TAC. Rather, the word ‘mar-

keting’ tends to conjure images of shady men in suits finding ways to sell

consumers things they don’t really want or need. This criticism was well ar-

ticulated by American Professor of Economics Colston Warne, who in 1961

described the industry as being focused on “the manipulation of human per-

sonality into profitable molds.” There is an element of truth to this perspec-

tive, but is it really fair to dismiss the whole marketing industry as a cesspool

of trickery and greed?

Colin Jevons, Associate Professor in the Monash University Depart-

ment of Marketing and course director of the Bachelor of Business, doesn’t

subscribe to the view that marketing is evil. “Marketing is misunderstood,

it has done a bad job of marketing itself,” he says, speaking from his corner

office overlooking the city. Jevons comes across as quirky, affable and a little

idealistic. He has years of experience in the market research industry and, as

a respected academic, has developed strong opinions about the potential for

marketing to be an agent of positivity in society.

Jevons is on a mission to eradicate “the assumption by good people

that they don’t want to do marketing because it’s what bad people do.” In

his opinion, if more good people put more energy into marketing things

ethically and in the public interest, then society would be the better for it.

He believes that if intelligent and passionate young people had skills in

marketing, they would be better equipped to have a significant impact on

the world.

In Jevons’ opinion, the process of marketing is amoral rather than

immoral; a skill set that can be used equally to do good or bad. “Market-

ing isn’t the problem,” he says, “it is an effective means of encouraging

Samuel Blashki

HOW TO MARKET ‘MARKETING’

In conversation with Colin Jevons

STUDENT AFFAIRS

voluntary behaviour change.” The basic psychology of marketing involves

discovering the underlying desire of a consumer. Once a marketer knows a

consumer’s desire, they can then create the perception that their product

fulfills that desire. Smirnoff doesn’t sell vodka, it sells a wild party lifestyle.

Tiffany & Co doesn’t sell diamonds, it sells elegance and class. The TAC

doesn’t sell cautious driving, it sells avoidance of the danger and embarrass-

ment of an accident. Jevons argues that there’s nothing inherently wrong

with this process of persuasion. Rather, he believes that putting marketing

skills in the hands of more ethically minded people could significantly

improve society.

If more people knew how to ‘sell’ a charitable cause or social move-

ment they are passionate about then they could, in Jevons’ opinion, signifi-

cantly increase their chances of instigating social change. It’s true that the

most successful Australian charities and social movements have strong brand

identities; Oxfam, World Vision and Red Cross are all instantly recognis-

able across Australia. In 2010, environmental organisation Greenpeace used

ingenious marketing strategies to pressure global food giant Nestlé into no

longer using palm oil as an ingredient in Kit Kat chocolate bars. The produc-

tion of palm oil leads to rainforest destruction and the death of orangutans,

so Greenpeace created a parody advertisement in which a Kit Kat package

contained dismembered orangutan fingers in place of chocolate. With the

right marketing approach, Greenpeace managed to attract significant public

attention and successfully pressure Nestlé into making major changes to their

supply chain.

While the premise of socially responsible marketing is positive and

inspiring, the issue remains that the vast majority of marketing money is

spent by private industry in pursuit of profit, without giving thought to ethi-

cal considerations. Nestlé not only owns the brand Kit Kat, but also weight

loss company Jenny Craig. It’s disturbing to realise that the company has a

massive vested interest in consumers yo-yoing between unhealthy eating and

dieting. An even more worrying example of morally questionable marketing

is that of the tobacco industry. In 2012, an investigation by British newspa-

per The Independent found that “tobacco firms have taken advantage of lax

marketing rules in developing countries by aggressively promoting cigarettes

to new, young consumers, while using lawyers, lobby groups and carefully

selected statistics to bully governments that attempt to quash the industry

in the West.” These are just two examples of corporate behemoths at their

worst, using marketing might to drown out the voices of common sense and

basic morality.

Jevons accepts that marketing is often used as an agent of greed, but

he doesn’t believe that this negates it’s positive potential. “Most is done

by corporations for profit” he concedes, “but it can be used for the public

benefit as well.” Whether marketing is being used to reduce drink driving,

encourage donations to charity or save orangutans, Jevons makes the case

that the art of persuasion is essential to getting good things done on a large

scale. The world is full of people with good ideas waiting to be heard, but

succeeding requires the tools to get people to listen.

HOW TO MARKET ‘MARKETING’


STUDENT AFFAIRS

I begin my trudge across the Menzies lawn

toward the campus centre and rain immediately

soaks through my Chinese-fabricated canvas

jacket. The air sits heavy and surprisingly still

in the Clayton wind tunnel; the humidity

would otherwise be a portent of a storm to

come, but the rain is already here with trenches

dug. The rhythmic squelch of my leather boots

and disjointed wonderings about which class I

am actually here to attend occupy my already

limited attention span. As I enter the warmed

confines of the Campus Centre I am suddenly

accosted by a young, sweaty man whose

enthusiasm is jarringly at odds with the maudlin

weather outside.

‘Hi mate! Just wanted to grab a minute of

your time to talk about the reasons to vote for

Go! in this year’s MSA elections!’

His sudden appearance, which was

probably not all that sudden, has me off guard

and reeling, frantically combing my mind for a

response that will avoid the impending tirade.

I meet his eye and manage to garble

something to the effect that I am a senior

‘The kids are turned off from politics, they say. Most of ‘em don’t even want to hear about it. All they want to do these days is lie around on waterbeds and smoke that goddamn marrywanna... yeah, and just between you and

me Fred that’s probably all for the best’. – Hunter S Thompson

Thomas Clelland

FRAGMENTED NOTES FROM A DEPRAVED WEEK IN THE MSA


STUDENT AFFAIRS

biology professor and therefore cannot vote.

His hands frantically wring his t-shirt back and

forth and his mind feverishly tries to reconcile

the image in his head of a stately old biology

professor and the dishevelled and wet youth

standing before him. I take advantage of the

ensuing pause and make my escape across the

hallowed white masking tape on the worn

carpet. Apparently it is election week.

My usual tact in election week involves

blending in with the wallpaper and avoiding

the manically enthusiastic advances of comers

from all sides as if they were infectious. The

Clayton gods had different plans for me this

year, though, and I immediately came face to

face with one of the head honchos of Clayton’s

own resident career antagonists, running this

year on a ticket heavy-handedly dubbed “Left

Hook”. He frantically began to inform me of

the fascist undertones of the bigoted policies

of the other ratfuckers running in the election,

and though I don’t really align politically, it’s

hard to ignore someone so honest in their

fervour that they will walk around in red all day

yelling at passers-by. Our discussion progressed

and eventually it was time for consummation

via how-to-vote card, which was forcefully

thrust into my hand without my consent. At

this point I noticed something odd, though.

There were candidates for Left Hook, the most

ardently anti-establishment party on campus,

running on the ticket of Go!.

‘It’s because it’s strategic, it’s nothing

ideological. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,’ he

assured, his eyes glinting in a way that made me

think that he probably realised it was a little

fucked up, too.

That was enough to pique even my

interest. What does that say about these parties,

leagues apart on the political spectrum, willing

to compromise their principles and dive into

the mud together for just a sniff of political

gravy?

Throughout the week, almost

unintentionally, I began to find out other

things about this year’s election that made that

first fetid whiff seem like just a precursor to

something more.

The MSA elections have, in recent years,

revolved around the incumbent juggernaut,

Go!. Holding the high majority of office bearing

positions in the Monash Student Association,

they are well equipped, influential, and

numerous. The campus crawls with an army of

feverish blue shirts, and among their ranks are

without doubt a few future career politicians.

By sheer numbers alone they overwhelm

competing tickets and feed on their carcasses.

Maybe jumping into their sleeping bag isn’t so

incomprehensible after all.

‘They’re everywhere. It’s like an empire.

My advice is just not to fuck with them,’

remarks another friend of mine whose political

libido, like my own, is satisfied by observation.

He has a flair for the dramatic, but the tone

of the conversation still implored me to learn

more. We sat undercover as it rained, shooting

the shit, and he eventually mentioned the

extension of the Go! tentacle into my very own

Lot’s Wife.

Some of the most powerful laws in

society aren’t law at all, but convention.

They’re not written in black letter, but they

still carry weight in the mass respect they

inspire. An example is that, in our democracy,

the government shouldn’t really meddle in

the affairs of the media. This idea is already a

little bit hobbled at Monash, as Lot’s Wife must

submit requests for money to the MSA, like a

griping child to a parent. In fact, Lot’s has to ask

for permission to spend the money generated by

the magazine itself via advertising. Journalistic

independence isn’t dead, per se, but it’s taken

a hell of a beating. Add to that the fact that

Go! also decided to install their own choice of

editors, rather than following convention and

accepting the endorsements of the previous

editors for the position, and journalistic

independence at Monash is lying in a gutter

outside the Nott in a pool of blood and shards

of glass, spitting out teeth and trying to work

out which way to crawl home.

Admittedly, my own affection for the

publication and the ideals of a democracy might

be colouring my language. Maybe I should have

slept more before writing this. Maybe having

state run media at Monash will result in a fair

and balanced approach to reporting. That’s

actually not a bad mantra: fair and balanced.

They should use that.

Maybe I should just vote for Free Beer.

They sound like they have solid policy.

‘Yeah you would vote for Free Beer,

wouldn’t ya.’ my friend continues. I think I’m

being lambasted.

‘That’s part of the empire, they get idiots

like you to vote for that stupid stuff on the

Feeder Tickets and it just consolidates the

empire.’

I am out of my depth, but I’ll have a

go at this. The “Feeder Tickets”, like “Free

Beer” and “Free Parking” are like your friendly

neighbourhood white supremacy party in the

following ways: they’re on the periphery, and

only crackpots and people who don’t care

will swing them a vote. However, behind

closed doors they have a creepy preference

deal that moves these votes gained in apathy

and boredom to a mainstream political party,

like the ALP. Or like Go!. As far as I can tell,

another layer was just added to the continually

thickening plot and I am really out of my depth.

I spent the rest of my Tuesday alternately

seething and forgetting. By the end of the week,

it’s clear that Go! has prevailed, with some of

the Left Hook candidates dragged in on their

shirt tails.

Don’t look to me for a pronouncement of

what it all means or what happens from here.

The fog cleared and for an instant I saw the real

layout of the city. All that I really know is that

a lot more goes on behind closed doors in our

windy abode than I previously thought.

‘Ah, don’t worry about it bro. We’re

gonna be out of here soon and then it’s not our

problem.’

Maybe my doomsday ramblings aren’t

really necessary.

Maybe that decaying odour is actually just

from that dodgy sushi place.

Thomas Clelland is not a member of any political

party on campus.

“What does that say about these parties, leagues apart on the political spectrum, willing to

compromise their principles and dive into the mud together for just

a sniff of political gravy?”

26

STUDENT AFFAIRS

This piece and image originally appeared on page 10 of Lot’s Wife

Edition 6, 1996.

I know it’s a cliché, but if I had a dollar for every time someone made a

despairing remark to me about student apathy, I’d be a rich woman. And

to continue in the vein of my high-brow introduction, I will quote those

masters of satire and cynicism, TISM; “I’m interested in apathy.”

Apathy is regarded as the bane of student activists and student poli-

ticians everywhere. It is defined as insensibility, indifference and mental

indolence. Its tangible manifestations include lower voter turnout during

student elections, small rallies, ignorance about education/social issues,

and inquorate Student General Meetings. Apathy also laid the perfect

foundations for the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism. Gov-

ernments and University Administrations rely on student apathy to push

through regressive and undemocratic changes to higher education policy.

During the recent media frenzy attracted by the closure of Lot’s Wife,

many journalists noted the lack of passion and activism amongst students

of the 1990s. If we rewound the clock by thirty years, the loss of a student

newspaper would have generated mass outrage and probably militant ac-

tion by the student population – a far cry from the comparatively muted

protests of our generation.

Apathy is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. When people say

that students don’t care, don’t understand, don’t want to know, they are,

by implications, saying that we should not bother with them, that to

expend any energy on a particular issue would be a waste of time. But if

students are written off as apathetic, they are never given the opportunity

to prove themselves otherwise, and so the cycle continues.

Often saying that students are apathetic is just a way of avoiding the

hard work needed to get a campaign off the ground. Some people say that

the issues are too complicated, that students won’t understand, or that

you can’t expect students to get their head around them. I believe this

is selling students short, and it says more about the people who articu-

late those theories than it does about students themselves. Such people

have no faith in student organisations. After the first Student General

Meeting for the year at which an overwhelming (but inquorate) majority

voted that the Monash Student Association withdraw from the funding

agreement binding it to compliance with Voluntary Student Unionism,

it was said by many office-bearers that students didn’t know what they

were voting for, or understand its implications. Partly, this reasoning was

a justification for ignoring the SGM motion and largely avoiding the

difficult issues it raised. It was also a thinly veiled attack on the group

of activists who worked very hard to make the SGM happen, and to

ensure that students did understand what was going on. Ironically, these

office-bearers have internalised the notion of apathy, a thing which they

constantly complain about, and then use as a weapon against students,

to either undermine something they have done or decided, or to deprive

them of the information they need. Such reactions from our student

association facilitates a deeper, more hardened kind of apathy amongst

students – cynicism.

In many instances, the people who complain about

student apathy are the ones in a position to do

something about it. Stu- dents need

to be inspired, informed and

treated like intelligent

adults rather than sheep to

be herded into polling booths

during election week.

Any person who is

involved with

the student

associa-

tion has

a respon-

sibility to

work actively

for, and more

importantly,

with students.

Yes it can be an

uphill battle,

and it is often a

thankless job, but

if the MSA lacks

the support and the

interest of students, it

is a grave dug not only

by Kennett’s anti-

student unionism

THE APATHY MYTH

Nicole Rodger


STUDENT AFFAIRS

legislations, but by a litany of office-bearers who failed to use their posi-

tions in a constructive and inclusive way.

Another theory penned in 1969 by C. Davidson, is that “apathy is

the unconscious recognition students make of the fact they are power-

less”. There is probably some truth to this; many students of the nineties

seem to have internalised this notion of powerlessness on a more con-

scious level. They merely throw up their hands in despair when some-

thing goes wrong, as if that is justification for why they failed to show any

interest in the issue or the thing in the first place. However, all is not lost.

Power is relative. We may not be able to kick Jeff Kennett out of Spring

Street (and you thought we was going to decriminalise marijuana – suck-

ers), but we do have the power to storm the rotunda when he makes his

annual visit to Monash. Students have won concessions on reforms in the

past, through lobbying and through direct action on the streets and in

universities. The most important thing we have is the power to question,

to criticise, to challenge and to learn. We don’t just have to be passive

pawns in a game played by student political hacks or politicians of the

State and Federal variety.

So are we Monasharians really irretrievably apathetic? We rarely

get more than one bus load (usually only half a bus) of students going to

rallies in the city. But on the other hand, Monash has a proud tradition of

highly attended Student General Meetings with usually at least 300 and

a few times in the past few years over 1000 students participating. This

SGM culture is the envy of office-bearers and activists at other campuses

who can only marvel at it, as for example at Melbourne Uni and RMIT

they’re lucky to get 200 people to an SGM.

Many Monash students walk around this campus as if blindfolded,

they don’t look at posters, they don’t get involved in extra-curricular ac-

tivities. And they don’t read this newspaper. That’s their loss. But I know

from experience that if you approach any given group of people or any

individual with something concrete to say, or for them to do, the majority

do take some form of interest. So those of you subscribing to the apathy

theory, get out there and give others a reason to take notice. To those

who would put themselves in the apathetic basket, pop the bubble that

your life is and you never know what you may learn or who you will meet.

We may not be about to have a revolution, and Monash has certainly

changed a lot since its radical hey-days in the late 60s and early 70s, but I

like to think there is hope for us yet.

In 2013?Florence Roney

It might seem strange that we would choose to re-publish an article that

was written nearly 20 years ago. But if you have had much to do with stu-

dent politics in 2013, the resemblance outlined in Nicole Rodger’s piece

to our current situation at Monash is striking; it feels like it could have

been written last week.

As the 2013 Lot’s Wife Editors, Matt and I have worked on several

political campaigns over the year. It is easy to get disillusioned and

frustrated when the students around you don’t seem as passionate, or as

pumped as you are for a cause. I remember working towards the National

Student Strike on May 14th, and feeling utterly perplexed: why wouldn’t

every student see what is happening and feel the dismay? More attacks

on education! (In the form of the $2.3 billion cuts to Tertiary education

by the Federal Government). Didn’t they want to fight for themselves? Is

‘student apathy’ the reason?

The ideas that Rodger touched on, all those years ago, still seem so

pertinent. On a campus of 28,000 students, the fact that MSA member-

ship is less than a third is saddening, but really, not all that surprising.

As she argues, by dubbing students ‘apathetic’ - the catch-cry of student

politicians (myself included), we are essentially giving up, not providing

the opportunity, nor the tools for students to become involved in activism

or politics on campus.

So what should we make of the situation in 1996? How do we

compare? Unfortunately, the strong Student General Meeting (SGM)

culture that Rodger describes has all but disappeared. In the last eight years,

the MSA has held only two SGMs (meetings open to all Clayton students

to vote and direct how the MSA should function) both of which were held

this year after immense pressure from student activists. I was a part of the

organising group for the first SGM, and it was heartening to see around 400

students turn up, despite the lack of recent precedence. But again, in the

context of 28,000 students it is not all that impressive.

MSA elections, typically with a voter turnout of around 10 per cent

of the student population, are another example of this ‘apathy’. But hav-

ing campaigned during election week, speaking to hundreds of students, I

would argue that it is not so much that students are apathetic, disinterested

or lazy, more that they are simply not informed. While I got my fair share of

unconvincing “already voted” rebuffs, I found that if you took the time to

talk to students, discussed ideas and issues with them that are important to

you and your campaign in an adult and clear way, most would be interested,

and willing to talk.

I think this is the crux of the issue. How we (as student activists/

politicians/journalists) interact with the broader student body needs to

reflect that students are not stupid, or apathetic, or ‘right-wing bigots’.

Positive campaigning, that does not involve tricking students into thinking

their classes have been cancelled, or sitting in offices waiting for students

to come to you, is important. But really, information is the key. From

Rodger’s piece, it is clear that the cycle has been around for a long time, but

if students are informed, engaged and treated as capable of making critical

decisions, rather than as an apathetic mob, we may just be able to turn this

cycle around.

Florence Roney is current Lot’s Wife editor. She ran with the political ticket

Switch at the 2013 MSA elections, unsuccessfully.


STUDENT AFFAIRS

To the untrained (non-ticketed) eye, the Monash Student Association

(MSA) represents a maternity ward that fosters and prepares for the birth

of student politicians; outgoing presidents, office bearers and loose sup-

porters fall into simultaneous Labor (get it!?) around week 9 of semester-

two each year, and without fail, a fresh-faced new president pops right

on out. Through the sea of primary coloured t-shirts that persuaded,

argued and battled with you to cast a vote - a new president, Ben Knight,

was elected.

It is difficult to fathom at first glance that Knight is in fact old

enough to be in University, let alone president of one of Australia’s largest

Student Unions. Go!, primarily a Labor Left ticket, has held power in the

MSA for the past 8 years and Knight, 21, has quickly climbed the ranks

from Education (Academic Affairs) Officer to President within a year.

First impressions of Knight are soon diminished as we settle into bean-

bags and drink coffee at Wholefoods. His tone of voice is much more

calm and controlled than mine and I joke about my joining the MSA

paying his salary, he is quick to correct me in between sips of his latte, “as

President I will work about 50 hours a week and receive a very modest sti-

pend, for the enormous amount of work I will be doing,” he says. Despite

Knight’s baby-faced mien his professionalism and credible intellect shines

through within the first five minutes of the interview.

As the incoming MSA president at a time where the tertiary educa-

tion sector is facing the largest cuts to funding and casualisation of staff

in over a decade, Knight is all too aware he has his work cut out for him.

The MSA’s relationship with University management and outgoing Pro

Vice-Chancellor Ed Byrne has been testy at best and Knight seems vague,

if not slightly weary to confirm his strategy to strengthen relationships

with management and the new Pro Vice-Chancellor for 2014.

“We have to make sure that we retain our integrity, our collabora-

tions and conversations with the University, while making sure it doesn’t

override the fact that we do represent students. I have told the university

in discussions that we are looking to work with them in a manner that

brings benefits to students. And that means there may be protests on

campus and we will be speaking out not in their favour a lot of the time,”

he says.

Go! and its office bearers have been criticised in the past, particu-

larly after the NTEU picket at the beginning of semester two, for a lack

of solidarity and unity endorsing a ‘whole-union’ approach to stop the

cuts and supporting university staff with industrial action outside of their

education portfolios. Ben, a member of the Monash Education Action

Group was quick to retort such assumptions and assured me, “I’ve already

sat down with incoming OB’s. It’s something you have to prioritise over

politics; we have to critise the ALP, criticise the LNP and all independ-

ents attacking unions and education because if we don’t, we can’t build

for a movement we’re expecting from a very regressive government.

Working together collaboratively is key,” he says.

Knight stresses collaboration and maintaining integrity are

paramount in Go!’s direction for 2014, “we come through with ethical

values,” he says as I prod him for answers about Go!’s pragmatic stance

on running non-Go! members for the Environmental and Social Justice

(ESJ) portfolio.

The ESJ office-bearers oversee and raise awareness for environ-

mental and social justice issues within and outside Monash University.

Preference deals were made for the ESJ position between Go! and Left

Hook, a ticket comprised mostly of Socialist Alternative members. Left

Hook members have taken a hard-headed, grass-roots approach to the

cuts campaign and many others, in contrast to Go!’s more bureaucratic,

lobby-style techniques.

If history between the two tickets is anything to go by, the marriage

could be somewhat dysfunctional. Under the direction of Knight, Go!

must ensure that they are working together in placing priority on the cuts

campaign and various others next year. He shakes off my suggestion of

dysfunction with a smile as we rearrange ourselves on the floor.

Knight’s approach to interview questions is remarkably measured

and sincere. He tells me he is from a financially disadvantaged back-

ground in Tasmania and unionism has run in his family for generations

IN CONVERSATION WITH MSA PRESIDENT ELECT :

BEN KNIGHTLouise Mapleston


STUDENT AFFAIRS

– compelling him to run as President for 2014. One of the running plat-

forms of his election was the introduction of ‘Household Goods Services’

to provide free rental of lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners and whipper snip-

pers for students who couldn’t afford to invest in these items long term.

I told Ben that those items were too practical and that he should lobby

for either a massage parlour or monkey helpers to carry our books from

lecture to lecture. Chuckling he replied, “I really would love to imple-

ment monkey helpers within the MSA but I’m afraid it’s not very ethical

and could create an internal coup and could compromise the values of the

organisation generally.”

Ben’s passion for equity in education and student services is admira-

ble. The necessity for strong, ethical leadership from an MSA president

has never been so imperative at Monash University, as we enter a term

under a national Liberal Government set to attack higher education and

its resources. Ben Knight is locked in for a hard and hopefully rewarding

term as President. And it wouldn’t be kosher unless I posed the question:

Will Ben and his team transform into ‘Knights’ (*cringe*) in shining

armour quick enough to defend Monash from extreme cuts to our much-

valued resources and staff?


STUDENT AFFAIRS

President: Freya Logan

Hi all, After two years we’ve come to my last

Lot’s Wife report ever! As your MSA President

this year and your MSA Secretary last year

I have had both great times and not so great

times representing you all. It’s been a great

learning experience, and I encourage anyone

who has thought about getting involved with

the MSA to absolutely do it.

At the moment we are launching the

MSA Host Year program which will help bring

the MSA to the wider student body by aiming

to create 1000 student hosts. As a Host Year

volunteer you can help students with faculty

concerns, direct them to the MSA and listen

to any concerns that you may have. I am very

proud to have helped lead this project and I

am excited to see it in action next year!

The past year has been so wonderful and

I have a lot of people to thank, Ben Zocco and

Sam Towler for being a great executive team,

and Ben Knight who has been an outstanding

Education (Academic Affairs) officer and will

be a brilliant President. Everyone else will

know who they are and know how much their

support and putting up with me meant.

Good luck with all your exams and have

a great summer break!

Treasurer: Samantha Towler

I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in feeling like

we’ve hit the hectic point of the year. Budget

Process is in full swing and between reviewing

submissions, consulting with departments and

pouring over bottom lines it can feel like there

just aren’t enough hours in the day. The MSA

“Stress Less” Petting Zoo was a huge success,

and hopefully gave everyone to chance to take

a break and play with some adorable animals!

While Budget, projects and the continual

day-to-day are keeping me more than busy, a

big part of this time is beginning the handover

process with next year’s Treasurer Sinead and

the 2014 team who I know will do an amazing

job, and who I am delighted to work with over

the next few weeks.

Secretary: Ben Zocco

I can barely believe that this is my last report

to Lot’s Wife – a lot has happened since my

first report more than nine months ago! I have

spent much of the last few weeks working on

finalising the projects I have undertaken this

year, including the policy review and strate-

gic planning, which will continue right until

the end of the year. It’s great to see that the

students of Monash, in their enduring wisdom,

have once again elected a fantastic group

of office-bearers to lead the MSA next year.

Congratulations to everybody who was elected,

including my successor, Sarah Christie, who

I now have the pleasure of training up over

the course of the next few months – I have no

doubt that she will do a fantastic job as MSA

Secretary for 2014. I would also like to thank

the current office-bearing team for being such

a vibrant and hard-working group. In particu-

lar, to my fellow Executive members Freya

Logan and Samantha Towler – it has been

humbling to work alongside two dedicated and

passionate student representatives. I wish eve-

ryone good luck with the upcoming examina-

tion period, and, as always, if you wish to know

more, please feel free to contact me!

Education (Academic Affairs): Ben Knight

For the final time this year, hey everyone! My-

oh-my this year has flown by.

If you read the last Lot’s edition you

would have seen that the MSA was successful

in gaining a trial for after hours library access

during SWOTVAC and exams – a massive

win! The Matheson will be staying open until

2am to trial the demand for study spaces after

12am. If you wanted later library hours, make

sure you utilise the extended service to show

the University how much students need this

service.

One of the last few academic projects

that I’ve be working on for the year relates

to fair assessment procedure – enforcing and

amending. Currently we’re collaborating with

the University to create a better and more

effective exam-feedback process. Make sure

you know what your assessment rights are, and

if you have any questions, email me at ben.

[email protected].

Also, congratulations to Nicholas

Kimberley who is the Education (Academic

Affairs) Officer-elect for 2014. Best of luck!

Adios!

Education (Public Affairs):

Sarah Christie & John Jordan

So here it is, the final report! What a year it

has been! For us here in the Ed (Pub) office

it’s hard to believe that it’s almost over. 2013

has been a massive year for education on

campus. We have run campaigns around the

cost of parking, 24 hour libraries, the state of

women in higher education, international and

postgraduate concession cards, the spiralling

cost of higher education, produced a guide

to university life, run the campaign against

the cuts to Higher Education alongside the

Monash Education Action Group, and much

more. It has been a fantastic year - we have

met so many fantastic activists, we have

spoken to so many inspirational students

making the most of university, and of course

we have cooked many sausages. We have

had such a great year, and we hope you have

MSA OFFICE BEARER REPORTS


STUDENT AFFAIRS

too. Lastly, a huge congratulations to Thomas

Green and Declan Murphy who were recently

elected as your Education (Public Affairs)

Officers for 2014 - we know they will do a

brilliant job and we can’t wait to see them get

started! Sarah and John xx

Environment & Social Justice: Rory Knight & Tamara VekichSeeing as this is the last report from us, we

want to thank all those who were involved

with ESJ this year and to encourage you all to

continue pursuing your passions for environ-

mental and social justice issues. Every little

bit of individual effort will ensure progress

continues, whether it’s signing a petition,

volunteering for a cause, or organising a move-

ment yourself! We are looking at wrapping

up this semester by perhaps organising a trip

to the Tarkine rainforest in Tasmania, which

is threatened by logging exploitation. If you

are interested, give us a shout! In other news

we have finished our cooking nights and will

be hopefully continuing at Wholefoods next

year too. If you are looking for causes to get

involved in or inspired by for the summer or

next year, drop us a line! Good luck for exams

and have a productive summer!

Male Queer: Asher Cameron Queer Affairs Committee elections were

on last week and I would like to congratulate

the 6 elected committee members for 2014!

Good luck during your term!!

Recently I’ve been continuing work with

Monash Equity and Diversity Centre on the

Ally Network pilot program, attending and

organizing the student panel and assisting with

the training package being offered to staff. For

those who don’t know, the Ally Network is an

education program for (primarily) staff to make

the university a more inclusive and supportive

place for queer students by making academic

and professional staff more knowledgeable

about queer issues and making queer allies more

visible on campus. The project will continue

into next year with the year pilot coming to an

end in September next year. After a (hope-

fully) successful evaluation, the program will be

rolled out across more faculties in future years.

I have also been liaising with Monash

Abroad to write a sexuality and gender presen-

tation for exchange students arriving in Aus-

tralia as well as Australian students departing

for overseas study. This will be introduced into

pre-departure programs in the next few weeks

and then rolled out into other sessions over

the next few months. Hopefully this will make

more queer students feel supported by Monash

University.

Thanks for a fantastic year, all the best to

Freddie in 2014!

Female Queer: Cam PeterThe MSA Queer Dept. has had an exciting

year. We’ve organised and run some of the most

well attended Queer Week and Queer Balls in

recent history, we’ve fundraised and sent record

amount of attendees to Queer Collaborations

and are looking forward to hosting Queer Col-

laborations next year.

Perhaps the achievement I am most proud

of, and one that is the most significant, is the

way our collective has grown and has come

to reflect the much greater diversity of our

community. We have successfully organised

a TISGD (Trans, Intersex, Sex and Gender

Diverse Caucus), as well as Dyques (a queer

women’s social group). This is in addition to

the forums, workshops, discussion groups and

resources we continue to provide to our collec-

tive, and provide spaces for voices of our most

marginalized groups to be heard.

Next week is Asexuality Awareness

Week and the MSA Queer Dept. is hosting an

‘Asexuality 101 + Mythbusting’ workshop in

the Queer Lounge from 1pm. We hope to see

you there!

Welfare: Alexandra BryantHi all! Sitting down to write my last report for

Lot’s is odd. A while back the department was

a part of R U OK? Day and of course as always

Free Food Mondays has run every week, well

except the week of the power outage that is.

With the final go in Week 12 planned to be a

bit more special than usual. I have to thank all

of the volunteers who have helped me week

to week, from the every week volunteers that

have helped all year to my fellow OBs who

have helped me out of tight spots.

The other semester long project has been

the NUS Student Mental Health Survey which

is aiming to get current data about the state of

students minds. It talks a couple of minutes to

fill out but every entry is more valuable knowl-

edge, you can fill it out online at: https://docs.

google.com/forms/d/1Qufi0vCWcxYH2Pbm_

yuknt5P3uixX1CxZXXv0N37EuE/viewform

I think the only thing I have left to say

is that if you need anything during the more

stressful period of exams, the door to the wel-

fare Office is always open.

That was a lie the last thing I have to say

is good luck to next year’s Welfare officers Paul

and Sarah who have amazing plans for next

year and who I know will do an amazing job.

Women’s Department: Edith Shephard & Sally-Anne JovicThe Women’s Department is slowing down

as we get towards the end of the semester,

and starting to prepare for next year. We’re

currently finishing off our Trigger Warnings

campaign, working with next year’s Women’s

Officers Edie and Zoe, and doing some house-

keeping activities to make the Department and

the Women’s Room all the better for next year.

As we’re currently in the planning stages of

next year’s activities, so we are looking for ideas

and suggestions for events, campaigns, and

activities, as well as volunteers! If you have any

ideas or want to get involved, please email us at

[email protected].

Activities: Amy Clyne & Eliza GaleFor our final Activities report of 2013, we’d like

to reflect on how our department has grown,

and had much fun along the way! From Surfin’


STUDENT AFFAIRS

MSA to Oktoberfest, from free yoga to AXP,

the department has had many great new lega-

cies added to it, which we’re sure will continue

on through the ages. More recently, we had an

excellent Oktoberfest, and sold out AXP II in

record time, with 1750 tickets gone less than

48 hours after they first went on sale. As 2014

looms, we’d like to thank every single person

who’s attended one of our events, our extraor-

dinary committee for their dedication and hard

work, and Amy for her tireless passion in mak-

ing Activities the best it can be this year. Let’s

hope 2014 will be just as great, and wish Eliza

and Sam luck for the year ahead.

Mature Age and Part Time (MAPS): Re-becca Doyle-Walker

As we wind up another successful year in

MAPS it’s a good time to reflect on what we’ve

done this year. We held two charity morning

teas and raised almost $200. We continued

with our popular morning teas almost every

week which were organised by our social

secretary Ange brilliantly. We also held several

lunches each semester which were always well

attended. There was also a Trivia night held

which was poorly attended but those that did

had a great time!! We were also able to send

three committee members to the MASNA

conference in September.

The annual election was recently

conducted and the 2013/14 MAPS Executive

Committee members are:

President: Rebecca Doyle-Walker

Vice President: Monique Bell

Treasurer: John Pollard

Social Secretary: Angela Schuster

Publicity Officer: John Storey

Committee Member: Paul Hague

Committee Member: Katherine Wozniak

The new committee is full of energy and

enthusiasm and looking forward to a fantastic

2014. A big thank you goes out to our outgoing

committee members Sascha Rouillon and Kade

Moore for their contribution to MAPS this

year.

But before then we are having our end of

year function on Thursday 24 October – the

details are in the MAPS lounge so we hope to

see lots of MAPSers there!!!

We’d like to take this opportunity to

thank everyone for supporting our division this

year, using our fantastic facilities and making

MAPS such as wonderful place. Good luck

with your exams, enjoy the summer break and

we look forward to seeing you all again next

year.

STUDENT AFFAIRS

AN OPEN LETTER TO MONASH UNIVERSITY SENIOR MANAGEMENT:Dear Chancellor Alan Finkel & Co.,

We were thrilled to hear that you have recently awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws to big businessman John Gandel.

Bold moves such as this are an important part of the Monash tradition of bequeathing honorary degrees on notorious and powerful figures such as that

awarded to Victorian State Premier Henry “The Hangman” Bolte back in the 1967.

Cementing Monash Uni’s world-class relationship with the private sector should be a priority in a difficult financial environment and we applaud you

and your Senior Management colleagues for your initiative.

However, while bestowing such a prestigious degree upon Gandel is certainly a step in the right direction, we think it is time for Monash to expand its

business relationships further. We believe that you need to be even bolder.

Now that we have cemented our close ties to Melbourne’s richest person, we think it’s time for Monash to go national and honour Australia’s richest

individual: Gina Rinehart.

Through sheer hard-work and brilliant entrepreneurship, Rinehart has been the key driving force behind the Australian economy for decades.

Her wealth far surpasses Gandel’s meagre billions, and a close relationship with her could provide Monash with a mountain of resources to potentially

fund increased salaries for our hard-working Senior Management team, consultants and lawyers who all do their best to keep Monash profitable in the

difficult circumstances of the 21st century.

It is important to note that Rinehart is not just about digging holes and selling coal. As the biggest shareholder of Fairfax media, she also stands for

diverse big business interests.

Moreover, Rinehart is 100% committed to expanding mining in our State. She owns almost 20% of Lakes Oil, which is planning dangerous but none-

theless exciting coal seam gas operations in Victoria.

Recently we saw Western Australian Universities put Monash to shame in bonding with Rinehart’s miner friend Andrew Forrest who gave them tens

of millions in donations for research.

In contrast, Monash has only been able to secure $5 million from two mining corporations for its new-fangled Division of Mining this year.

A relationship with Rinehart would complement Monash’s already existing partnership with the Coal Industry, which includes having former coal

mining boss Ian Nethercote on our University Council.

Potential degrees for Rinehart might include: Business, Economics, Politics or even Journalism.

In summary, Monash must expedite its relationship with Australia’s greatest mining hero, or risk falling behind other Universities. We implore you to

go more boldly.

Yours in brilliance,

Monash students everywhere


On October 18, three scientists responsible for breakthrough research in

agricultural biotechnology will be presented with the 2013 World Food

Prize, the most prestigious award in food security. The scientists are

pioneers of genetically modified (GM) food production, with links to GM

giants Monsanto and Syngenta. Does this spell the souring of The World

Food Prize, an organisation whose mission is to advance the quality,

quantity and availability of food that is nutritious and sustainable? Or is

there more to Monsanto than a monopoly on mono-strain seeds? This

development will undoubtedly further legitimise Monsanto’s exploits in

the realm of GM crops, a state of affairs that will no doubt exacerbate the

mistrust and hatred of protestors who have been taking to the streets in a

wave of international protests against Monsanto’s empire.

In 1992, biotechnology was defined in such a way that even

traditional processes like wine- and cheese-making, involving

the addition of cultures and bacteria to food, was considered bio-

manipulation. While there may be purists out there who see cause for

concern in these mainstream practices, the majority of Monsanto sceptics

would not blink at the ethics of a humble glass of wine. It is the much

narrower, modern definition of biotechnology that the Monsanto-hate

is directed toward. Modern biotechnology involves gene manipulation

via two mechanisms: selective breeding or breeding improvements; and

manipulation of genetic patterns.

Much has been done to demonstrate the immediate advantages

of GM food. Indeed, it is the very promise of contributing to the fight

against hunger that has earned Monsanto’s scientists the prestigious

food award. There is no end to the possibilities for nutrient enrichment,

weather resistance, drought tolerance, yield increases and reduction of

production costs that genetic manipulation could entail. There is even

the advantage of reducing the demand for other evil inputs: fertiliser

and pesticides. Is there scope to see GM as a lesser evil, and the ethical

ambiguity of genetic manipulation a worthy trade-off for reducing world

hunger? Clearly those responsible for the award of the World Food Prize

believe so; or at least their pockets do. But first there are many questions

clouding a coherent discussion on the matter which must be answered

first.

Genetic modification of crops began in 1996. The reception to this

practice has been polarised. The European Union has condemned GM

food, citing environmental risks and ethics as its reasoning. As a result,

China has also refrained from adopting GM crops, relying on entry into

the EU trade market for a significant portion of its agricultural revenue.

In contrast, the United States and other parts of the American continents

have embraced GM technologies. While much praise is directed at

the potential for GM crops to combat food insecurity where the risk is

greatest, it is contradictory at best to note that the majority of GM crops

reside in Canada, the USA and Argentina. Australia has acted cautiously

in comparison to the USA, but seems to be slowly following the path of

the US. A two-hectare GM wheat trial in central Victoria, scheduled

for 2013 to 2015, will be the largest of its kind. A decision looms as to

whether Australia’s farmers will endorse or reject GM crops. It will not be

possible to take a middle way in GM production, since the nature of GM

crops is that they produce higher yields, thereby crowding out traditional

farmers who refuse to adopt the technology.

Major uncertainties reside in the long-term ramifications of

GM crop use. A report by the World Food Organisation cites several

concerning potentialities, including unpredictable demand for water and

nutrients, undesired gene transfers and mutations, transfer and creation of

allergens and ecological break-down as a result of favouring certain food

sources over others. Current GM practices are characterised by a lack of

controls for potential environmental snowball effects, and little academic

research into the safety of GM. Monsanto has conistently blurred the

facts, utilising the data of pseudo-environmental research bodies such as

the Climate Corporation – founded to assist farmers to produce more food

with fewer resources – to keep allegations of unsustainability at bay.

While there are clear advantages of GM food, the sources of

Laura Aston

The World Food Prize, Monsanto and Agricultural Biotechnology

SCIENCE


SCIENCE

The fictional world of Westeros where Game of Thrones is set is subject

to unusual seasonal patterns. We’ve been warned: winter is coming, and

it could last generations. Seasons are mostly controlled by a planet’s tilt

towards the Sun, with Uranus’ North Pole pointed towards the Sun for

42 years and then away from it for another 42. Unusually long seasons are

definitely possible, but the seasons on Westeros seem to arrive unpredict-

ably and vary dramatically in length. Astrophysicist Greg Laughlin of The

University of California says a ‘wobbly’ axis like the one on Mars can vary

season length, but only makes gradual changes over thousands of years,

not the random fluctuations seen on Westeros. Laughlin has suggested

that if Westeros were part of a multi-planet system, with its orbit being

pulled out and affected by the planets around it, wild season change could

occur. Similarly, a group of graduate students from John Hopkins Univer-

sity in the United States have released a research paper concluding that

Westeros orbits 2 suns; yielding an irregular orbit, meaning it is impossible

to predict the length of seasons.

***

Another weather related phenomenon, the ice wall, seems harder to

explain from a scientific point of view. Over 200m tall and almost 500km

long, the ice wall is an impressive natural defence against the North.

According to Engineer Mary Alibert from the Ice Drilling Program Office

at Dartmouth College, “even at very cold temperatures, large ice masses

deform under their own weight,” let alone “hold its original shape for

thousands of years.” The ice wall is far too big to support its own weight,

with a slope needed to support a structure that high. This means the wall

would be 40 times wider than it is high – still an impressive structure but

slightly easier to scale. Once again gravity spoils all the fun, and with no

evidence to suggest gravity varies greatly between Westeros and Earth this

one has to be put down to the magic that helped create it.

***

The wildfire used in the battle at Blackwater Bay is strikingly similar to

ancient Greek fire, or the modern equivalent, napalm. Greek fire was used

by the Byzantines to sink rival ships, exactly as Tyrion did. Furthermore,

Greek fire was a closely guarded state secret, just as the Alchemist’s Guild

in King’s Landing controlled the creation of wildfire. While the makeup

of Greek fire was lost, it is most commonly believed to be petroleum based

like napalm. All these weapons are activated in two stages; firstly the

delivery of the flammable substances, and secondly a reactant to ignite

the fuel. George R.R. Martin makes his wildfire a little more dramatic,

its haunting green glow turning into an eerie explosive light show. This

colouring wouldn’t be hard to achieve, with compounds such as trimethyl

borate producing emerald flames and copper chloride providing the green

tinge to the liquid.

***

Incest. It appears to be one of Martin’s favourite plot drivers. One of the

sub-characters, Craster, is a wildling who continually reproduces with his

daughters. And their daughters. This means some of his daughters are also

his granddaughters, and sisters with their own mothers. A slightly less

confusing case is Joffrey Baratheon, said to be the love child of his mother

Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime despite the former being married

to king Robert Baratheon. Robert Baratheon has a host of bastard chil-

dren all born to other women, all of which take after his father in having

dark hair. Yet Joffrey has blonde hair (as well as his two siblings) like his

mother and uncle (father?). It is possible that while Robert has domi-

nant dark hair alleles (groups of genes), these may mask blonde alleles.

However, given none of his bastard children have blonde hair but all of

Cersei’s children do, the odds are stacked against him. That and the scene

where Jamie shows off his swordsmanship to his sister Cersei.

SCIENCE LESSONS FROM...

Chris Pase

public concern continue to be consciously ignored by Monsanto. This

lack of certainty surrounding the existence or nonexistence of long-

term environmental risks, which potentially outweigh the acclaimed

advantaged of yield-enhancing GM technology, makes it difficult for

the public to direct their outrage. Until such a time as Monsanto gives

me reason to believe – despite my antipathy of their ruthless crowding

out of small-holder farms and monopolisation of seeds – that the social

and environmental benefits of genetically modified food outweighed the

disadvantages then I would concede that there was no reason to reject

GM food production on the grounds of sustainability. Of course, this

would not justify its business ethics, but that is a topic warranting its

own discussion. Until then, I shall continue to employ the precautionary

principle with respect to my diet. Strictly local or organic puh-lease.

GAME OF THRONES


SCIENCE

Science was

my first love.

I was raised by

two scientist

parents in a

household

where father-

daughter

bonding time

involved

diagrams of

pathogens

and antibodies.

There was never a time that I remember wanting to be anything other

than a scientist, and my favourite childhood fantasy consisted of hanging

out in labs, curing various diseases and winning the Nobel Prize. As I

got older, though, I realised maybe there were areas outside of discovery

and research where science could do with a bit of work. My present day

ultimate fantasy is to be instrumental in a paradigm shift in society’s

perception of science. I don’t want to live in a world where politicians

that do not comprehend the basics of climate science make catastrophic

decisions, where the average citizen lacks the skills to distinguish between

pseudoscience and the real thing, and where young people are scared

or pushed out of studying science or considering it as a career. I’d much

rather these problems weren’t around for me to try and solve, so that I

could get back to more important scientific pursuits, like curing cancer or

tracking down the last unicorn. But since they are, in my last column as

science editor for Lot’s Wife, here are just a few of the problems I hope to

play a part in solving (should I ever manage to graduate from this place):

Education

Science should be the most exciting thing ever for kids. Science contains

the answers to their questions, the constant thrill of learning something

new, the sense of wonder at the world and universe. And while there are

some fantastic extracurricular programs for kids, it’s a testament to anyone

involved in science that they didn’t have all enthusiasm for the subject

smacked out of them early by the school system. Learning science should

be fun and exciting, not dull and rage inducing.

Science education in schools is a massive and complex issue. At the

heart of it, I think it’s vital that we acknowledge the fact that the majority

of school students do not study science in VCE. While it would be great

to change that, there’s little reason for students to take it at year 12 unless

they plan to study a science-based degree afterwards. So, let’s just work

with the assumption that most students will stop studying science for

good at year 10. That gives us up until then to give each student the skills

required to understand scientific issues in society and the media, to be

able to determine scientific fact from fiction, and even to feel comfortable

voting on these issues. I don’t believe the current curriculum can achieve

this.

The immediate reaction to science as a subject is often that it’s

just too hard - that it’s a field consisting only of geniuses and the average

person need not apply. I wish I could tell people who feel this way just

how many morons I’ve come across in my science degree, but I digress.

A teacher who’s scared of teaching science to a classroom of students

who are scared of learning science does not exactly make for a magical

learning experience filled with wonder and joy. The risk of not adequately

educating school leavers is far greater than people just not understanding

how super cool science is. The endgame is where a person who refers to

carbon dioxide as “weightless” is elected as Prime Minister.

The Media

I don’t want to blame the so-called singular entity of ‘the media’ for

perpetuating myths and shitty pseudoscience, since it can only reflect

what’s already around and what people want to see. It’s a vicious cycle

when those reporting science in the media do not generally have a sci-

ence background, and those reading it do not generally have the skills

A SCIENTIFIC MANIFESTO:

THESE ARE MY HOPES AND DREAMS

Nicola McCaskill


SCIENCE

to determine what is reliable information and what is bullshit. It bothers

me a little when people (both in science and in the media) are pleasantly

surprised that I am studying science and journalism because I want to be

a science journalist. It’s more standard practice for someone to start out

in one field and slowly merge into the other. With that in mind, I think

we really do need to push harder for quality science journalism, to benefit

both the science community and the general public.

The main issue I have with the mainstream media’s reporting on

scientific issues is that of false balance. In journalism classes, it’s drilled

into us from the beginning that we should always give equal weight to all

sides of a story. For the most part, this is the essence of fair reporting, but

when it comes to science, all sides of the story do not necessarily have

equal veracity. When the overwhelming consensus among climate scien-

tists is that climate change is driven by human activity, and you find one

crazy loon with a PhD who disagrees, giving both sides equal time is

not balance – it’s misleading. When immunologists agree that

vaccines are beneficial and very rarely harmful, and one mother

believes they cause autism – without any evidence to back her

up – giving that one person a platform from which to give

their baseless opinions is genuinely harmful to the com-

munity. It is part of a journalist’s job to determine

whose opinions are valid and deserve to be heard

by the wider community. It’s their job to

distinguish between truth and fiction,

not to perpetuate absolute lies

under the guise of journalistic

balance and integrity. The

only way to improve this is to

improve the general standard of

scientific literacy, both in the media

and throughout the general public.

Women

This is not an issue I want to dwell on, since anything I have to say about

it has probably been said before. There does seem to be the general idea

floating around that, simply because it’s the year 2013, sexism in science

is no longer a thing. This kind of thinking is a logical fallacy if there ever

were one.

An observation: in first year laboratories, female students tend to

doubt themselves. They ask their supervisors if they’re doing the right

thing at every step. They double, even triple check their measurements. If

something goes wrong, they blame themselves. Male students tend to be

overconfident. They don’t read the entire practical before starting, they

rush their measurements, and if they’re unsure, they just try it anyway. If

something goes wrong, they blame anything – the equipment, the materi-

als, the practical, the demonstrator – but themselves. I don’t think this

is surprising in the least. Whether you notice it or not, multiple studies

have shown science is a gender biased subject. Teachers and parents tend

to encourage boys in maths and science, believing they have some natural

aptitude in those, whereas girls get more encouragement in English and

the arts. Given the amount of pressures and social cues telling young

women that they are not naturally talented at science, it stands to reason

that even those who have chosen to study it at university have internal-

ised these ideas – in stark contrast to young men, who have never had

their natural scientific ability questioned.

Growing up, I felt a distinct lack of the presence of a female role

model in science. Any woman whose work I did admire seemed to get

screwed over, anyway – Rosalind Franklin as a prime example. The more

I learn about the history of science, the more I see that there actually

were a number of absolutely brilliant women doing incredible work over

hundreds of years – it’s just that their presence tends to be erased in the

way history is remembered.

Science is not an easy field for women

to enter. It is inherently difficult, for

example, to return to research

after a woman takes any consid-

erable break to have children.

This is due to the nature of how

science works and not any kind

of insidious action by the

patriarchy, but it’s enough to

put many brilliant women

off. Whether we like it or

not, we also have to realise

there is still a general cul-

ture of sexism within the scientific

community. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes less

so, but I do believe nearly every woman in science will

have felt it at some point. Indeed, the next guy to imply I’m

only where I am because I want to find myself a ‘rich husband’

is getting a test tube to the face (as if a research scientist is going to be

raking it in, anyway).

It is absolutely vital to me to do my best to become a visible,

positive female role model for other young women thinking of entering

science. Whilst there are some amazing women doing fantastic work in

science communication, I think it’s high time one of us achieved the

mainstream success and recognition of people like Dr. Karl, Brian Cox

and David Attenborough. I want a future where being female is not any

kind of barrier to becoming involved in science.

Finally, I want to thank any readers that I may have had over the

year, everyone who’s contributed their fabulous stories, and the amazing

team at Lot’s Wife I’ve gotten to know and love during my time as science

editor. It’s been an amazing experience and I’m so, so grateful for having

been able to share my passion with you all.

38

SUBHEADING


Lady Gaga has always positioned herself as an eccentric artist following

in the footsteps of David Bowie, Michael Jackson and Madonna. With a

debut album entitled The Fame, it comes as no surprise that Gaga is in-

fatuated with celebrity culture and pop culture prominence. In the most

recent phase of her musical career, Gaga is attempting to cement her

legacy through the marriage of art and music. Citing the work of artist

Andy Warhol, Gaga, 27, is setting out “to alter the human experience

with social media” and to “bring art culture into pop in a reverse Warho-

lian expedition” to be henceforth known as ARTPOP.

The movement known as pop art began in Britain during the mid-

1950s before being appropriated by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and

Andy Warhol. Flourishing in a new setting (the New York

art scene), the movement began to steer the concept of

‘culture’ away from elite groups through its use of imagery

from popular culture, such as advertising, news and ordi-

nary, everyday objects. The elements of irony and kitsch

utilised in this new art form can be seen in Andy Warhol’s

most famous piece, Campbell’s Soup Cans. This utilisation

of found objects and images is similar to the work of the

European Dada movement in the 1910s. Constantly refer-

ring to Warhol as an inspiration for her outlandish videos and fashion,

Gaga has her own creative production team, the Haus of Gaga, which is

modelled on Andy Warhol’s Factory.

From an early age, Gaga immersed herself in the world of art,

writing a thesis on the work of Damien Hirst and the New York-based

photographer Spencer Tunick. Now Gaga is beginning a new movement

that depicts classic and modern art in popular culture to educate the

masses about the power and history of art. Tunick recently expressed his

approval of the singer’s use of her “phenomenal success.” He declared

that “any time there is a new perception within the mass culture, there is

growth and enlightenment. Whether it’s through museums, mass media

and, in Lady Gaga’s case, music, the inclusion of depth and art into a

viral expressive mass outlet like pop music is invaluable in the expansion

of new ideas.”

Tunick said Gaga’s involvement would “bring a new perception or

an experience of the avant garde to a mass audience… [and] any artistic

intervention into the masses will only move societies in borderline

conservative countries to have more acceptance towards human rights

issues, women’s rights and artistic freedom. Art cannot change the world

within a bubble. It takes artists like Warhol, Koons and Abramovic to

make strong waves of change in conservative societies.” And it is these

very artists that Gaga has worked with to integrate the spheres of art and

music.

Famed artist Jeff Koons designed the cover for Gaga’s upcoming

album, ARTPOP. The artist created a sculpture of Gaga in the same

ilk as his previous work entitled Michael Jackson and

Bubbles, a 1988 series of three life-size gold-leaf plated

porcelain statues of the sitting singer cuddling Bubbles, his

pet chimpanzee. Depicted as the goddess Venus, Gaga is

seen giving birth to Koons’ The Gazing Ball, which looks

like an ornament coloured globe. This portrayal of Venus

was altered by Koons in a similar manner as Edouard

Manet – the father of modern art – did to Titian’s Venus

in his painting Olympia (1863). Whereas Manet brought

the image up to date by turning Venus into a hooker, Koons has done it

by transforming her into a pop star. The background images of the cover

take inspiration from Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, which portrayed

the goddess of love emerging from the sea as a fully-grown woman, and

Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, which portrays the battle

between chastity (Daphne) and sexual desires (Apollo).

Gaga’s foray into the artistic world was announced through her

work with Serbian artist Marina Abramovic. Respected as the ‘grand-

mother of performance art’, Abramovic seeks to promote the preser-

vation of long durational work. Gaga immersed herself in this work

by participating in the Abramovic method, which is designed to train

artists for physical endurance. “She is a hardcore student.” Abramovic

said of Gaga. “I had to blindfold her, and she was in the forest [naked] for

three hours, eaten by mosquitoes and spiders, scratched by the bushes. It

Fabrice Wilmann

“ARTPOP could very well have a revolutionary impact on the

way art is viewed and shared in the

modern world”

ARTPOP:Warholian Gaga


MUSIC

was quite incredible.”

Gaga’s growing fondness for depicting art in music videos, which

was already apparent in the use of Botticelli’s Venus in ‘Judas’, is even

more pronounced in her latest video ‘Applause.’ Directed by Inez and Vi-

noodh, the video includes references to the aforementioned Venus, War-

hol’s depiction of Marilyn Monroe, the black swan, and John Galliano’s

2009 fashion show. Gaga has also injected her music and presence into

the world of films, appearing in Robert Rodriguez’s 2013 film Machete

Kills. A trailer for the film utilises a new Gaga song, ‘Aura’ that infuses

Spanish instruments into EDM production by ‘Clarity’ DJ Zedd.

Slated for an 8 November release, ARTPOP could very well have a

revolutionary impact on the way art is viewed and shared in the modern

world. Through mass appeal, Lady Gaga is uniting fashion (meat dress),

art, music, technology (social media) and performance into one globally

shared experience. The inspiration of Andy Warhol is well noted in the

lyrics “pop culture was in art, now art’s in pop culture in me.” With the

veneration of art as her ultimate goal, ARTPOP looks likely to fortify the

legacy of Lady Gaga as a true artist.

Recently dubbed ‘The New Queen of Alternative’, 16 year-old New

Zealand native Lorde revealed in an interview with Billboard Magazine

her desire to remain an enigma to the world. With the release of her

debut album Pure Heroine, and the mounting success of singles ‘Royals’,

‘Tennis Court’, and now ‘Team’ across the world, Lorde is positioning

herself as the antithesis of the modern archetypal pop star.

In her cover feature with the magazine, she disclosed that “in a

perfect world, I would never do any interviews… and probably there

would be one photo out there of me, and that would be it.” Lorde,

real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor, prefers the impression of mystique,

believing that “mystery is more interesting.” This aspiration has never

been more pronounced than in this day and age, where over-sharing on

Twitter, Instagram and Facebook has left little to the imagination. Lorde

astutely recognises that “people respond to something that intrigues

them instead of something that gives them all the information —

particularly in pop, which is like the genre for knowing way too much

about everyone and everything.”

In this way, Lorde can be seen as the anti-Miley Cyrus. The latter

has established herself as a constant presence in the media spotlight

since her provocative and poorly executed mash-up performance of ‘We

Can’t Stop’ and ‘Blurred Lines’ with Robin Thicke at the 2013 Video

Music Awards. This has been followed expeditiously by a disturbing

music video whereby she rides naked on a wrecking ball and seduces

a sledgehammer, a series of highly sexualised photo shoots with famed

photographer Terry Richardson, an apparent break-up between former

fiancé Liam Hemsworth, a bevy of interviews and music performances

and a recent – completely unprovoked – attack on celebrity victims of

mental illness (Amanda Bynes and Sinead O’Connor) that resulted

in all-out warfare with pop icon O’Connor. Many people see Cyrus’

behaviour as an attempt to annihilate the association with her eternal

good-girl alter ego Hannah Montana, whilst others just view it as a

cry for attention and a marketing ploy to bolster sales. It seems clear

however that all this inflammatory behaviour is simply a way to hide the

fact that Miley Cyrus has no real lasting talent.

In the comparatively small number of interviews that she has

done, Lorde has revealed only morsels of information that provide us

with a snapshot image of who she truly is; an obsession with reading as a

child, how writing short stories since the age of ten has helped with her

song writing, and her love of electronic, pop and hip-hop music. “You

can step into Kanye’s world and it’s like you being there,” Lorde muses,

admitting that she wants to make a “sweet, really cool rap song” in the

future. The singer also proclaimed her love of Nicki Minaj and Miley

Cyrus’ current hit ‘Wrecking Ball.’

Lorde’s live performances also display her rapport with simplicity.

Performing her song ‘Royals’ (a #1 hit on the U.S. Billboard charts) on

Good Morning America, the singer simply stands and delivers her lyrics

with conviction. Dressed in simple, one might say ‘old-lady clothes’,

the only movements are that of her hands, which seem to flow and

bounce eerily to the beat of her music. This performance underlines

Lorde’s immense talent, not only as a singer-songwriter, but also as a

true performer and captivating entertainer. These two attributes are not

always so easily intertwined, something that was made all too obvious

through Lana Del Rey’s largely criticised performance of ‘Video Games’

on Saturday Night Live.

Having shattered the record for longest weeks on the alternatives

song chart (a record previously held by Alanis Morisette’s 1995 classic

‘You Oughta Know’), Lorde has immersed herself in a torrent of

worldwide success and critical acclaim. However, it seems as though the

talented singer has managed to preserve her down-to-earth Kiwi persona

and not fall victim to the hazards of the music industry. Lorde has

remained true to her introverted self, presenting only a glimpse into the

brilliantly complex passages of her mind and of her young life.

Fabrice Wilmann

THE MISTIQUE OF THE ARTIST:Lorde

SUBHEADING


Meet Jen Kingwell. Born in Darwin, raised in Canberra and now based

in Melbourne, Kingwell is gearing up for the release of her first single

off her debut solo EP, The Lotus Eaters, due for release early next

year. ‘Kissing in Tutus’ is a bold declaration of resistance and love

in the face of war and chaos and Kingwell is only a few weeks away

from releasing it at the Empress Hotel in Fitzroy. Formerly known as

one-half of the indie-cabaret sensation The Jane Austen Argument,

Kingwell will be joined on the night by her new band, The Garland

Thugs. Sitting inside her cosy flat – complete with Film Noir artworks,

scattered keyboards, an overstuffed bookcase dedicated to Jazz music

and an adorable black pussycat named Maceo – Jen openly discusses

her new tunes, The Jane Austen Argument, her nostalgia for Casio

keyboards, her fascination with Greek mythology and her upcoming

collaboration with Neil Gaiman – yes that Neil Gaiman.

It all started with a Casio keyboard. You know the one – that basic

beginner’s instrument with the “cheesy backing tracks.” Laughing, Jen

recalls her first instrument, the first medium that really kicked off her love

for music. She even wrote her first song on it: a country love ballad. How

old was she? “I was six,” she cackles. How cute. After graduating from the

school of Casio, Jen went on to study classical piano, a study that evolved

into the dream of wanting to play professionally. After high school, Jen

was accepted into the Canberra School of Music. However, halfway

through her degree, she dropped out. Her heart wasn’t in it anymore and

she had lost her perseverance. “I didn’t have the disposition to stay in a

music room by myself for eight hours a day, pumping out classical tunes.”

She then did the polar opposite and began a degree in Electronic Music

and Interactive Multimedia, where she stayed until graduation.

With a degree under her belt, Jen then took her boyfriend and bike

to Central Europe, where she rode the streets, sightseeing. After do-

ing a few odd jobs here and there, she returned to Australia, moved to

Melbourne in 2006 and went back to school to study a Masters of Com-

munication.

It was at RMIT where she met Tom Dickens, a cabaret aficionado

who was in desperate need of a pianist for his upcoming show. They

formed a duo and started performing under the name ‘Tom and Jen,’ a

temporary title that was officially replaced with ‘The Jane Austen Argu-

ment.’ Did the name come to them whilst arguing about Miss. Austen

perhaps? Laughing, Jen replies “I’m a huge Jane Austen fan and Tom can’t

stand reading her. He is under the impression that all her novels are about

doilies and balls. We needed a name and Tom came up with it – I don’t

know if he had been thinking about it for a while or if it just came to him

– but we were at the pub and he was like ‘How about The Jane Austen

Argument?’ and I was like ‘That’s a terrible idea!’ but it somehow caught

on.”

A blend of cabaret and indie folk music, Tom and Jen were taken

under the wing of the infamous Amanda Palmer, a kinship that led to the

duo supporting Amanda on her Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under tour in

2011.

After three years together which saw the release of two EP’s and one

LP, Somewhere Under The Rainbow (recorded in Seatle last year), Tom and

Jen separated with the motivation of beginning solo careers. Will we be

seeing The Jane Austen Argument again? “Absolutely! We haven’t offi-

cially stopped doing stuff.” So it’s like an indefinite hiatus? “Yep, exactly.”

In saying this, Jen emphasises the importance of moving away from

the Jane Austen sound in her solo release. “I wanted to pursue something

that wasn’t necessarily right for The Jane Austen Argument. I want to

explore different sonic possibilities and weave in electronic elements. I

want to push the limits of a three-minute pop song and I want to work

with other musicians that are pushing the limits of their instruments.”

So what can we expect from the single launch with new band The

Garland Thugs? Jen answers with a big smile, “Apart from the audience

thinking ‘That was a fucking killer show!’ they can expect killer songs,

a killer band and a really intense set with real audience connection. It’s

also going to have a really lush, rich orchestral feel. Chad Blaster, my

drummer, brings this real hip-hop element in, so there’s a real hard groove

in there.” The band also features Jess Keeffe on electric cello and Adam

Rudegeair – Jen’s partner – on bass.

The single in question, ‘Kissing in Tutus’ is an ode to radical love in

60 minutes with Jennifer Kingwell

Dina Amin


MUSIC

the face of revolution. Jen’s poignant lyrics focus on the powerful image of

love as a tool of resistance. The words are supported by a beautiful piano

composition, a string section and light percussion. An anarchist’s anthem,

‘Kissing in Tutus’ celebrates infinite, universal emotion in a chaotic and

uncertain reality. The idea came to Jen when she was recording The Jane

Austen Argument’s debut LP in Seattle. “We lived in Seattle for around

six weeks and it was just when the Occupy Wall Street movement was

kicking off. It was really inspiring to see this totally like, complete grass-

roots swelling of resistance. I was really fascinated. The single came to me

because I had the idea of this power of people who come together to resist

something and want to change something rattling around in my head.”

When she was at University, Jen was also a radical cheerleader for the

G20 protests, another image of resistance that inspired the theme of the

single. One particular image of the G20 protests stands out. “A while ago,

I discovered a photo – which I haven’t been able to find since – of me and

my partner at the time kissing in the street in our tutus. I just remember

one of the cheerleaders saying that that was her favourite moment from

the whole thing.” The beauty of ‘Kissing in Tutus’ is further solidified by

this deeply personal recollection.

While ‘Kissing in Tutus’ sees its official launch on Friday October

25, Jen’s debut solo EP, The Lotus Eaters, teases us a little more with its

release date. Expected in March, maybe even early April, The Lotus Eaters

takes its title from a much-loved story which Jen discovered as a child.

The Lotus Eaters, a short retelling of Homer’s original story of the same

name from his classic, The Odyssey, tells the tale of what happens to Od-

ysseus’ men on a small island dominated by lotus plants. These plants are

narcotic and cause the men to become stoned, happily content in their

apathy. By using Odysseus’ men as a metaphor, Jen’s EP is fundamentally

about overcoming obstacles and temptation, avoiding indifference and

lethargy and being enlightened about a specific purpose, “waking up from

a dream that is keeping you down.” Funnily enough, most of the tracks

off the new EP came to her in a dream, hence the essential themes of the

record: Dreaming and awakening.

Before we round up our interview, Jen lets slip of a little teaser that

is only mildly exciting: “One of the tracks on the EP is going to be an in-

strumental improvisation to a spoken word piece that I wrote and which

Neil Gaiman will narrate.” Seeing as Mr. Gaiman is married to Jen’s good

mate Amanda Palmer, this collaboration really doesn’t come as a surprise.

Oh man, March/April is too far away, what a tease.

Jennifer Kingwell will be launching her brand new single ‘Kissing in

Tutus’ at the Evelyn Hotel on Friday October 25. Her debut EP The

Lotus Eaters will be released next year.

‘Alaska’ is the latest single from Melbourne’s Animaux (pronounced

an-ee-mo) produced by John Castle and Rosce James Irwin (The Cat

Empire). The band of seven know how to pull a crowd, after countless

packed out residences at The Evelyn over the past year or so. Tonight’s

gig was no exception, with the band comfortably selling out The Workers

Club a week before the show. Come 9pm, bodies’ filled the band room

to its stylishly exposed wooden rafters, and there was a distinct feeling of

relaxed excitement among the masses.

Supporting acts included self-proclaimed ‘progressive cosmic soul’

band Ghost Orkid, and eight-piece folk troupe Velma Grove. There was

a bit of a sad vein through Velma Groves set, as it was the last show for a

few members of the band. Nonetheless, the optimistic bunch played songs

from their debut album, Older, with enthusiasm. The lush vocal har-

monies they produce live are beautiful, led by vocalist and banjo player,

Maxie Roberts, with an Angus Stone-esque tone.

Animaux hit the stage and BAM, a huge force field of happy sounds

filled the room for the solid hour-long set. You couldn’t help but be taken

along for the ride with the boppy, carnival-sounding sax and trumpet in-

teraction on ska soaked ‘Paradise’ and the popular ‘Lie To Me’ and ‘Wave

Of Change’ had fans singing along. Mid-set they covered American

sisters, Haim with a gutsier version of ‘The Wire’.

Animuax’s infectious tunes had people crowd surfing, jumping on

mates’ shoulders, and dancing uncontrollably. They ended their set with

the new single ‘Alaska’ featuring the best percussion instrument going

round, the cowbell. Before coming back for more in an encore shortly

after, they rounded up the night with a huge rendition of ‘Questions &

Exclamation Marks’. With members of Velma Grove and the audience

jumping up on the tiny stage and playing whatever instruments they

could find, or just dancing along with them.

After the euphoric set, Animaux, Velma Grove and Ghost Orkid

members mingled with punters and friends, while most just headed to the

bar to rehydrate.

Animaux launch their EP Vale Street at The Northcote Social Club on

December 5th with Albert Salt, and are also playing at this years Inca

Roads Music Festival, Nov 29 - Dec 1.

Live @ The Workers ClubLeah Phillips

ANIMAUX

42

SUBHEADING


Cut Copy’s fourth album, Free Your Mind, is a psychedelic dance record,

a radical celebration of youth counter-culture and the forms of cultural

practice which develop in and around the club. I spoke to Dan Whit-

ford and Mitchell Scott about their upcoming album, recording in Dave

Fridmann’s upstate New York studio, and being ‘bros’ with Alexander

Skarsgard.

Lot’s Wife: I saw your D.J set with World’s End Press at Pony on

Friday – it was great! How does it feel to play in smaller, local venues

back in Melbourne?

Dan: I guess we spend so much time now overseas, touring, that coming

home can be a bit strange sometimes, it feels sort of like coming back

down to earth.

Mitchell: It can be quite funny. It’s just the way it works. It’s pretty cool

to be able to catch a tram to the venue, or to do a show that doesn’t rely

on any sort of grand effects, or big staging and lighting designs – you have

to win over a smaller crowd right from the start.

Dan: And the music that we like are more underground and niche, so

they’re the kind of shows that probably we would have grown up going

to, enjoying electronic dance music live, so I guess it’s cool that we get to

do smaller shows that are a bit more targeted, rather than playing in big

arenas every time. The experience is different.

LW: I feel that Melbourne’s music scene in the last few years has been

particularly dynamic and interesting - how do you think it has changed

since when you were starting out as a band?

Dan: I think it’s changed each time we do a record, or each time we

come back from touring. In that sense we have quite a unique perspective

on how Melbourne’s music scene is constantly evolving. In terms of the

music that we make, when we started there wasn’t really anyone pushing

the boundaries of electronic music – now there’s quite a lot of people do-

ing interesting dance music, both on a larger, more commercial scale and

a smaller one. The underground scene when we first started was really just

‘indie’, so I feel that the possibilities are a lot more open now.

LW: I find what is interesting about Cut Copy’s sound is that you guys

have this dance, clubhouse, electro-pop vibe, but you infuse your mu-

sic – explicitly so on this latest album, although it’s certainly present in

In Ghost Colours and Zonoscope – with a somewhat spiritual sensibil-

ity.

Dan: I guess the spiritual aspect is subjective; everyone has their own

thing which resonates with them. Making this new record, for me, one

of the things I found interesting was the power of dance music – and the

sub-cultures surrounding it – to bring and unify people who otherwise

wouldn’t have that much in common together, on a dance floor, or in that

environment with the music when you’re there in that moment. As a

band, we’re trying to get back to the basics of what dance music is about,

what it’s been about since the 60s, 70s; the acid house days.

LW: In your press release, you spoke about counter-culture revolu-

tions and youth movements as a theme of the album. What is the idea

behind Free Your Mind?

Linh Nguyen

AN INTERVIEW WITH

CUT COPY


MUSIC

Dan: I’m not sure when we first became aware that there was this the-

matic link between the tracks as we were writing the new record. Part of

our approach to working on this record is trying to channel a time when

music existed more in the real world; the notion of music as a medium to

push youth culture out there to actually do things, and make the world

better, even becoming a catalyst for social change. That’s not necessarily

what we expect that to happen with this record, I don’t think you can

pre-engineer that kind of thing – it’s more just a celebration of that idea,

that ethos. I feel the way people receive and explore music nowadays has

become disengaged; it’s too easy and readily available.

LW: Where did the idea for placing huge billboards displaying the

phrase “Free Your Mind” – in remote areas of the Californian desert,

Chile, Western Australia, Mexico City, Wales and Detroit – come

from? It’s a very inspired concept.

Mitchell: I guess that’s another extension of having things exist in the

real world, in contrast to having things available on cue and on demand

in a virtual space. We had this idea of people making this mini odyssey,

trekking out into the desert or where ever to listen to our new track - it

was putting this challenge out there for people to go out into the wilder-

ness and actively experience our music. Of course it was an advertising

experiment as well. Tim had always wanted to put a billboard in the

desert when he was an art student, and as a band we wanted to do some-

thing which could cover the corners of the globe. Partly, it came from a

place of thinking that if we could put a billboard in Sydney or Melbourne

– that’s what our record label had the budget for – if we could take that

away, and do the opposite instead, and put our billboards in the most

remote, the worst ‘advertising’ locations. Rather than having a billboard

telling you to do something, or buy something, our billboards essentially

tell you nothing – it doesn’t even tell you what it is about. In essence, we

use the internet to drive people to the billboard, and flip or subvert that

relationship around.

Dan: It’s also a reflection of where we are at in this moment in time. I

think, as a band, we had become a bit bored of the way new tracks were

being premiered – things just came and went in the space of 24 hours.

Our attention span has become so short. As individuals, we are also sus-

ceptible to that, and what’s always stuck for me are things which have an

interesting idea behind it. So this allowed us to have some fun with new

concepts, and hopefully capture our audience’s attention as well.

LW: I know for your last album, Zonoscope, you shut away in an

industrial warehouse for a few months. What was the process behind

creating this new record? How was recording and working with Dave

Fridmann in New York?

Dan: Like last time, we set up our own space – it wasn’t a big, abandoned

warehouse like the last one, it was more suited to-

Mitchell: This one had heating.

Dan: It had heating, it had carpet -

Mitchell: It was still all our own gear, so in that sense it was a similar

concept –a space where we could just record by ourselves.

Dan: We spent a couple of months doing that, and then once we got

things to a certain point we went across to the U.S to work with Dave

Fridmann in his studio in upstate New York. It was this sort of self suf-

ficient artist commune; a house in the middle of the forest which had a

studio on the ground floor and living space upstairs. I guess the idea is that

any band that goes there, stays there and lives there. It was something we

had never done before, and it was a cool way to finish the record.

Mitchell: It was actually really funny, imagining bands like ‘The Flaming

Lips’ or ‘MGMT’ actually living in the same tiny shared living space. The

whole idea is that it’s supposed to be like a communal, collective camping

experience, so bands who were uncomfortable sharing rooms together, or

wanted to be divas, – well, they’re not the bands Dave wanted to be work-

ing with.

Dan: It’s quite hilarious though, because they were essentially kids

bedrooms. It was great for us – cooking meals together, going grocery

shopping together. It was like a sharehouse.

LW: So I saw the film clip for ‘Free Your Mind’ – I thought it was

absolute genius, simultaneously hilarious and disturbing. What was it

like working with Alexander Skarsgard?

Dan: Yeah, I think there are a lot of people in the same boat, including

us. We met him when we were touring the last record. He came to one of

our shows in Rio, and the promoter was like – ‘you have to meet this guy’,

so this massive Swedish man comes in and tells us how much he loves our

music. It was strange, having this guy who was obviously much more fa-

mous than us, coming in and telling us how much of a fan he was. But we

hung out with him after the show, and we just became bros after that, and

became really good friends. So when we came to be doing another clip,

we contacted him to see if he would be interested, and he was psyched. It

was really just another chance for us to hang out.

LW: You guys are touring at the end of the month – the U.S, and around

Europe, promoting your new album. How does this album differ to your

previous ones?

Dan: For this album, part of my inspiration was getting back to Mel-

bourne, and re-immersing and reconnecting with my life. I guess I fell

back in love with the idea of underground music, the scenes and sub-

cultures, and we tried to connect that with our love of old school acid

house, early rave culture, and dance music.


FILM & TV

Alas, for many of us, the time remaining in this semester marks our last

weeks as university students. The final hurdle of major essays and exams

will be a bittersweet experience for some, and perhaps it will venture

towards the usual terrain of the exasperated dread for many. Later on

this year, we are rewarded for passing our exams with a piece of paper

that indicates our past few years of academic achievement. But what

next? Graduating is terrifying, and the “aimless grad” is an aspect we can

all identify with. While that honours option or post-graduate degree is

looking strangely inviting at this time, maybe it would be best to grimly

confront the daunting notion of the “real world” with a little wisdom

from the movies.

How I Met Your Mother’s Josh Radnor writes, directs and stars in this film

as Jesse, a jaded 35-year-old college admissions officer who visits his alma

mater. The almost-romance storyline between Jesse and a bright, young

drama student named Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen) takes the forefront of the

film, but most strikingly and endearingly, Liberal Arts displays the struggles

of romanticising the past. Sure, your university experience was a blast, but

leaving university has made you a different person and the community

you were once part of is no longer there. The addictive pull of nostalgia

also horrifyingly applies to many twenty-somethings of today (I’m looking

at you, Instagram user who tags #nostalgia on #ThrowbackThursday).

Liberal Arts earnestly shows that reminiscing the past is common for all

of us, but perhaps looking towards the future really isn’t that bad either.

Also, from the title alone, Liberal Arts gives reference to great works of

literature from Romantic poets to David Foster Wallace, which is a huge

treat for English majors. However, the film is fairly problematic in its

portrayal of women (it fails the Bechdel test, for one), but as a delightful

take on university, books, love and life, Liberal Arts is still a pretty great

movie for any grad.

In a post-Girls world, the storyline of white, twenty-something girls who

are scrambling to find stability in their life is becoming increasingly stale.

But Frances Ha reassuringly shows that while modern life can be difficult,

it can also be quite lovely and, oddly enough, fun. This black-and-white

flick follows New Yorker Frances (Greta Gerwig), an aspiring dancer,

who has trouble with money and maintaining friends. Frances is a like-

able protagonist, and she is the kind of person that eats cereal for dinner

and thinks it’s fine (we’ve all done that at some point). At one point,

desperate for cash, Frances returns to her former college to help out with

orientation and lives in her old dorm. It is a briefly poignant moment that

questions if there is any real growth or change, for Frances or otherwise,

from undergraduate to “adult”. Frances’s character plainly shows that how

you encounter your problems as an adult is really quite similar to what you

are doing now. Frances remains hopeful throughout, which could come

off as naïve, but it certainly becomes the best way for her to confront her

problems. The film also has a John Hughes moment: an unexpected musi-

cal number where Frances dances down the streets of New York to David

Bowie’s Modern Love. Frances Ha carries a sense of optimism and charm

that Girls struggles to have, and the film is enjoyable for any graduate who

wants a peek into the future; the world of a twenty-something.

As cliché as it seems, The Graduate is arguably the perfect movie for the

modern graduate. This 60s classic consists of a timid, indecisive graduate

facing the troubles of an ailing society. The themes of the film revolve

around the social anxieties and stark generational differences of a pre-

Vietnam America, but it can easily be applied to contemporary society.

Dustin Hoffman plays Ben, a college graduate returning home in Los An-

geles. He is unsure about the future, feels alienated, and appears to have

no plans for his life. Ben is eventually exploited, manipulated, seduced

(both literally and figuratively) and betrayed by a corrupted older genera-

tion, symbolised by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). The generation gap

of the sixties is evidently encapsulated with Ben’s attempt to find a way

to live his life, and his parents’ and Mrs. Robinson’s decadent Californian

lifestyle. The Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack, of course, is remarkable.

The memorable closing scene, featuring ‘The Sound of Silence’, is deeply

haunting, and it precisely expresses the younger generation’s journey

towards an unpredictable, ambiguous future. The Graduate captures the

uncertainty that comes with youth that is undeniably relevant to our

world today, and to every modern graduate too.

Honourable mentions: An Education (Lone Scherfig, 2009), The

Breakfast Club (John Hughes, 1985).

MOVIES FOR THE MODERN GRADUATE

Liberal Arts (Josh Radnor, 2012)

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, 2013)

Patricia Tobin

The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)

45

SUBHEADING


Do you believe in Magic?

Well, no, of course not, silly fool. The point is not to believe in

the magic, but to be entranced by the trickery behind the illusion. To

deconstruct the process and make visible the deception would benefit no

one past the initial amusement, thus making miserable geezers of us all.

Now You See Me is the latest comeback (or, if you’d like,

redemption) for director Louis Leterrier of Transporter fame and Clash

of the Titans shame. The scene opens with four self-assured, practiced

magicians/tricksters: J. Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), the illusionist; Merritt

McKinley (Woody Harrelson), a mentalist; Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher),

an escapist and Jack Wilder (James Franco the younger, Dave) as a

sleight-of-hand pickpocket – all being recruited by a brooding, enigmatic

hooded figure to be part of some kind of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

gang. The assemblage is inexplicably titled ‘The Four Horsemen’ (so I

guess they’re more like Adult Magical Ninja Horses).

Things get interesting for the AMNH as - now famous and funded

by insurance mega-millionaire Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine) - they

seemingly rob a bank in Paris and distribute the spoils to their supposedly

underprivileged Las Vegas audience (via bombastic cash storm). Needless

to say, this is all rather suspicious, and before anyone can say ‘alacazam’

the Horsemen are arrested and interrogated by FBI agent Dylan Rhodes

(Mark Ruffalo) and his new partner Alma Dray (Beginners beauty

Melanie Laurent). Predictably, they reveal nothing, because one must

not dishonour the Magician’s Code, so Rhodes enlists the help of a

magic debunker with a mystical yet pretentious name, Thaddeus Bradley

(Morgan Freeman). Spills and thrills and clashes occur, and what was

originally an innocent show becomes more thrilling when it appears their

tricks are no longer working to their advantage

Throughout the film, characters warn us with a heavy heart to avoid

“com[ing] in closer, because the closer you think you are, the less you’ll

actually see.” In order for the film to establish some kind of believability,

the director must navigate between what to portray, and what to leave

to the imagination. Two fundamental questions need to be asked: Can

it balance realism without losing the – for lack of a better word – magic

of film? To spend the entire film explaining how each trick was executed

would be a bore (and perhaps not even a movie), but to then leave

everything unexplained and for the audience to fill in the gaps is lazy

and unrewarding. There is only so much one can expect from suspension

of disbelief; in return for turning your brain off the film must deliver

something worthwhile.

So, does the film achieve this tricky equilibrium?

A quick glance through recent reviews suggests the negatory, with

many finding the logical leap within the mechanics of the heist too much

to handle. Though this is understandable, it is unfortunate that many

have lost the ability to appreciate (or consider themselves too superior

for) popcorn flicks; isn’t magic itself inconsequential and, at the end of

the day, insignificant?

No, I’m not advocating the perpetuation of the mindless, money-

churning monster that is the current Hollywood movie-making culture.

And yes, just because you want to turn your mind off and escape doesn’t

mean you can. However, this is different to the critics purposeful hyper-

scrutiny. It ruins the enjoyment of the film (which is rich coming from

an aspiring film critic) when one refuses to forgive the minor flaws. It’s

okay to hate these films when you really can’t overlook all the gimmicks

(which is why the seasoned critics, already overexposed to many films like

this a year, cannot tolerate so well). But this film, I feel, has more to offer

in return than people realise. You’ll just have to let yourself appreciate the

magic.

Part of the reason it was harder to notice the film’s misgivings and

cheesiness was the acting. The ubiquitous beauty of Freeman’s melodic-

money-making voice does not require reiteration, and Michael Caine is

Michael Caine. Your arguments are invalid, and so are his adversaries’.

Each word he says, no matter how clichéd or expository in nature, is

a universal truth. You, the audience, are the one who is clichéd and

expository.

And that’s my point entirely. You can definitely notice the long-

winded exposition necessary for the audience’s understanding. And yes

you can criticise its lack of subtlety (though be kind, magic tricks are hard

to explain!). But Freeman’s delivery was so natural and perfectly adapted

to the character that in the end, it doesn’t even matter. You should only

notice the flaws because of poor movie-making, not because you are

anhedonic and hypercritical.

Do you need to believe in magic to like this film? No. But you do

need to give it a break. Go see it, now.

But not too closely.

Levi Truong

NOW YOU SEE ME


I recently saw the new Ron Howard film, Rush, in which a devastating ac-

cident is so well executed that it reminded me of an even more affecting

moment on film that, too, has the brutal antagonism of sport as its central

tragedy. In Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood’s most important film as

director, we see the thirty-something Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank)

rise from persistent wannabe to boxing champion, only to see her fall in

an aggravated incident which was at once beyond her control and seem-

ingly inevitable. Both films work incredibly well to show us the flimsiness

of safety in two ridiculously dangerous sports, but they do so in different

ways. Rush positions us to see the shakiness of the Formula 1 driver in

the heat of the moment, battling all the elements — the possibly faulty

mechanics of the car, the torrential weather, the sheer speed on the track

that makes it impossible for us to concentrate on anything — let alone

their competitors. Million Dollar Baby shows us a more direct situation,

where opponents tackle no one and nothing but themselves. The episodes

of these sports are equally electric, but boxing for me is the more terrify-

ing because there are no intermediary obstacles — nothing to distract the

players from their own violence, from the possibility of their own cruelty.

Eastwood, who plays Maggie’s boxing coach Frankie, is acutely

preoccupied with the idea of withdrawal. He is interested in knowing

when to call it quits, in playing a risky game carefully. But his pupils don’t

quite see it the same way — they’re more likely to see an exit from the

ring for want of safety as a kind of weakness, as surrender. But Frankie’s

regret about his perceived failures — both personal and professional — to

‘throw in the towel’ invariably informs his approach to coaching, and

ultimately makes his role in the film’s final moments all the more chilling.

In the early scenes, his most persistent reminder of the sport’s lasting toll

is former trainee and now-employee Eddie ‘Scrap-Iron’ Dupris, played by

Morgan Freeman (who also lends his magnificent voice to the film’s nar-

ration). Scrap’s partial blindness as a result of a fight where he just didn’t

give in leaves Frankie with the indelible feeling that he’s ruined people’s

lives. But the pressure from his students, who want nothing more than

to fight, just keeps coming — his most successful boxer even leaves him

because Frankie refuses to set him up for the big, but risky, champion-

ship fights. And Maggie, the rising amateur, constantly asks Frankie to

move her up the field as she stunningly dominates every match. Frankie is

always hesitant, but he succumbs in the end. The results are brutal.

It’s a careful trick of the film that we know, deep down, something

depressing is about to happen to Maggie. Frankie is too worried, too

paranoid about his influence over her for there not to be a significant

consequence. The engineering of the audience’s anticipation gives the

film its real weight and amplifies our eventual frustration, devastation and

acceptance about Maggie’s injury in equal measure. The altogether nega-

tive influence of Maggie’s family — first unsupportive, then indifferent

and ungrateful, and ultimately manipulative — certainly doesn’t help, but

it elevates Frankie’s role in her life, and we come to identify beauty and

tragedy in their relationship.

There is something disturbing and morbidly fascinating about box-

ing that has made it the most interesting sport as a subject for film. Many

great films, whether uplifting, depressing or some weird combination of

the two — including Scorsese’s Raging Bull, David O Russel’s The Fighter

and Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone — have explored ideas of heal-

MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004)Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring Hillary Swank, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman

CLASSIC FILM REVIEW

Duncan Wallace

FILM & TV

ing, injury and obsession through a vigorous focus on boxing as a sport

that can destroy its competitors. But these films also show us that these

competitors can be remarkable people — people with relentless determi-

nation, a fascinating appetite for combat, and overpowering self-belief.

Million Dollar Baby presents to us both the allure of the sport and a dark

caution about its frightening risks. We always see these things together:

scenes of Maggie’s charming and magnetic rise, performed impeccably by

Hillary Swank, interrupted by those of Frankie’s tormented reflections,

presented by that characteristic Eastwood expression. It should be said,

though, that Maggie’s (successful) fights are truly the most entertaining

and even comic scenes of the film. The film doesn’t downplay the ‘magic’

of boxing; it even goes to poetic lengths to explain it to us.

Scrap says the ‘magic’ about the sport lies in ‘fighting battles beyond

endurance, beyond cracked ribs … risking everything for a dream that

nobody sees but you’. Maggie clearly feels the same way, but her passion

for the sport is further founded in a kind of all-or-nothing choice. Maggie

sees boxing as her way out of everything. Her charming personality and

optimism is never enough to hide her deep dissatisfaction with her life

outside the sport. Eastwood sets up a decision where the allure of the

game is the trump card in Maggie’s decision. This is not to say that the

sport vitiates her career choices, but simply to stress that the film high-

lights something disarming about sports, even those which are the closest

to unrestrained physical combat — to fighting, pure and simple. And it

is Maggie’s attraction to the sport which makes the incident, arising out

of her opponent’s malicious conduct, all the more painful. To be sure, the

film makes us feel truly great anger about the opponent, but it equally and

soberly reminds us of an inconvenient truth: that this conduct is a deplor-

able, but maybe unavoidable, by-product of a sport premised on inflicting

physical injury.

Scrap is the only person who can rationalise the whole thing and

come to some sort of peace about it. He tries to comfort Frankie and give

him perspective about his sense of responsibility for Maggie’s condition.

Scrap’s thoughts give us a painful but honest account of the desperation

and joy with which Maggie and all boxers alike hope to find success in

their sport:

“It was because of you that she was fighting the championship of

the world. You did that. People die everyday, Frankie — mopping floors,

washing dishes and you know what their last thought is? I never got my

shot. Because of you Maggie got her shot. If she dies today you know what

her last thought would be? I think I did all right.”

The film presents this as a persuasive interpretation — a feasible

translation of the American Dream to boxing — but it doesn’t, I think,

give us enough cause to accept it outright. Yes, it shows us these pictures

of Maggie running up and down the beach, relentlessly training herself to

impress Frankie, but it also leaves us with Frankie as a deeply tormented,

‘lost’ man. It is a measure of the film that it doesn’t try to assuage our

moral qualms about Frankie’s final actions or to condemn our possible

sympathy for them. It simply leaves us in a position without clear answers,

and where, unusually, you might even find yourself watching all of the

credits, listening to the slow piano-chord soundtrack, trying to come to

terms with everything that just happened.

FILM & TV


PERFORMING ARTS

On 4 April, 1968, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last speech. We

know that on that night he went to stay at a motel where he is believed

to have formed an intimate relationship with a maid there. The following

day, he was assassinated on his balcony.

Katrori Hall came at this history with an imaginative gaze, creat-

ing a tale of that night based on what we know about the personalities

of those two figures. It’s a strange mix of fictionalisation and reality

which he turned into a play called The Mountaintop. Now, it hasn’t yet

been released here in Melbourne, but had a humble location in Theatre

503 in London before being noticed, and moved on to the West End to

receive critical acclaim. I hear good things about it, and it sounds like a

fascinating idea, but it’s hard to really appreciate this if the cast are being

so secretive about the plot. Under the direction of Alkinos Tsilimidos,

Melbourne Theatre Company’s Bert LaBonté and Zahra Newman are

bringing this work to the city in November, and I got them both to open

up where they could.

Newman, as polite and good natured as she was, went on to tell me

about just as much as a PR release will on this point: “It is a playwright

musing on ‘what if’, you know, or what would it have been like for – you

know, no one actually knows.” I turned my hand over to LaBonté: if it

was fiction, did he feel he was playing a character or King himself? When

so little is known about King’s personal life, how can you enter that

mindset?

Maybe it was the recitals doing it, but LaBonté answered back in

another American slanted voice: “I feel like I’m playing a real person and

I feel like the message that the playwright has given in the play is very

much based Dr. King’s own thoughts and ideas about where society needs

to be and needs to grow, and his struggles and his battles through that

whole period of time, and there’s a lot of factual information in the play

as well about things that had happened and trials and tribulations. I feel

like I’m playing the man. I feel like I’m playing the man going through

– not knowingly – the last couple of hours of his life and where he might

have been at that point in time. At times it can be kind of overwhelming

when you’re standing there and you’re saying particular words and you

can only imagine what that would have felt like for him to say, and it can

be really beautiful”.

And then I hear a few small details, and it’s cast on a stormy night.

There are incredibly intimate scenes which build up to its climax with

added flairs. King himself seems to be on a pedestal of greatness, regard-

less of the possible affair. One might think the play was in danger of

dehumanising their key star through the dramatic necessities of a play.

However, LaBonté has his only feelings about the role here. “The play

makes him more like one of us. Without giving anything away, you’ll see

moments of the man that we knew and we witnessed and we have footage

of now, but the play, most of the time, is about the man not many people

got to see – the human being not many people got to see – as opposed to

the ‘superstar’”.

It’s a superstar sized pair of shoes to be filled by an actor, and La-

Bonté admits that he didn’t take on the role without a sense of daunting.

“If someone asks you to play Martin Luther King, there’s a pretty simple

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t really matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live - a long life; lon-gevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to

go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

SEARCHING FOR THE MOUNTAINTOP

David Nowak


PERFORMING ARTS

answer to that one,” he says with a laugh before going into detail. “It was

a quick, ‘Yes’, and then it was a, ‘Oh, hang on. Ahhhh… No, of course.

Yes, of course I can do that.’ I mean, it’s a huge honour and a privilege

and … I’ve gone through the whole scale of crapping my pants, but it was

a no-brainer. When I read the script – I read the script over a year ago –

and I loved the message in the story. When I knew it was going to be with

Zahra, I had no qualms the whole time with taking it on.”

For co-star Newman, it was entirely about the merit of the script

itself: “… [R]eading the script, it’s very playful. When you read it, it’s kind

of like, ‘Oh, I really want to be doing that.’ I really … want to be engaged

in that story. So for me that was the biggest part in taking it on. And also,

knowing that Bert would be a part of it and knowing that we have a social

and a personal relationship just kind of blends itself to making something

like doing an intense two-hander about a famous public figure – the

friendship that we have – makes doing something like that much easier,

and makes it fun to kind of embark on”.

Newman herself has just come off of a successful run of Chekhov’s

The Cherry Orchard and admits that it has been a big change in gears

moving into this play. “I think the biggest shift really is the shift in energy

and how to focus energy … The Cherry Orchard was such an ensemble

piece and that was a large focus in how we made the work and ultimately

what ended up being on stage was very much driven by the ensemble and

having a group energy. This project, The Mountaintop, is more refined and

honed. In this one you have to have laser precision in where you direct

your energy … The Mountaintop [has] more given circumstances, more

specifics in terms of context, time, place, just where these characters are,

how they speak, there’s a lot more guidelines. It is quite a different charac-

ter. This character’s a lot more fiery and spicy. I’d say they’re a lot more in

control of their sexuality than Varia [her previous character] was.”

LaBonté himself has transferred from screen time on ABC’s Middle

Class Bogan and playing Rupert. “The whole thing’s been a big transition

for me,” he tells me. “Like Zahra was saying, we were both in quite large

ensemble casts, in kind of long, muscular types ways. But then we come in

to this, which is a lot more intimate, and … the intensity factor certainly

ramps up ten-fifteen degrees, because it’s just the two of us on stage and

it’s ninety minutes and it’s condensed and it’s got to run at a certain feroc-

ity so that it can continue to build and build and build into the climax of

the play”.

Little in the nature of context to work with, but there certainly

seems to be a lot of secrets hiding in the periphery. All I can say is that

it’ll be interesting to see the answers described on stage when we see the

play open on November 6.

Images: MTC Pam Kleemann

IN REHEARSAL...


PERFORMING ARTS

For the past thirty years, the Melbourne Fringe Festival has been a proud

supporter of independent arts and this year was no different. Melbourne

Fringe 2013 was a fantastic fourteen days packed with more than 3400

artists who performed, exhibited, explored and created a diverse range

of works in over 100 venues. This year's Fringe also entered the digital

realm, with the Digital Gardens initiative – a pop-up space that consisted

of an immersive multiplayer game designed by Wander, a Melbourne-

based gaming developer. Donning virtual reality headgear, players could

become a walking tree, a flying gryphon, or other characters to explore a

virtual world (I'd like to testify that it's not as lame as it sounds and was

in fact, really fun). Fringe Furniture, a design exhibition, included twice

as many works as last year, and presented refreshingly innovative works.

Melbourne Fringe also heralded the best in independent Australian

comedy, which included standup from Dave Callan, Adam Knox, Khaled

Kalafalla and my personal favourite, Luke McGregor. McGregor’s best

known for his awkward OCD persona, and his endearing performance was

utterly hilarious. Sketch comedy was not to be missed either, as the end-

lessly energetic Wizard Sandwiches won the Fringe 2013 People's Choice

Award. The Experiment clumsily meshed together different comic styles

into an alternative comedy club of sorts. The highlight was comedian

Oliver Clark, a pale caricature of a cheesy 70s TV presenter, reading love

poetry to a sandwich, only to become increasingly aroused and subse-

quently stuffing the sandwich down his pants. Comedy, eh? A more solid

comedy performance was Radio Variety Hour, a show that satirised a 1950s

radio experience with its bad sound effects and cliché “lady detective”

story pieces. Backed by a ten-piece band, Kai Smythe starred in Hairy

Soul Man, where he blasted through some righteous soul music. Smythe

was slightly lacking in charisma, but he ended the night with a hysterical

rendition of the viral hit, Ain't Nobody Got Time For That. Parodies of

popular culture appeared to be a common theme as well. Stephen Hall

pulled off quite a feat, doing a One Man Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones-

style, in Raiders of the Temple of Doom's Last Crusade. The most talked-

about parody of Melbourne Fringe was arguably Wolf Creek: the Musical.

With its low-budget props and amateur singing, the musical humorously

mocked the Australian horror film. Another personal favourite of mine

was Winter is Coming, a Game of Thrones parody that was highly absurd,

insanely manic and extremely funny.

Melbourne Fringe's cabaret performances were simply superb as well.

In Here Comes Your Man, MUST's Alex Roe played an assassin that dealt

with the grim matters of death, while still keeping an appealing touch

by singing the blues and, unexpectedly, Portishead. The notion of “girl

power” ruled, but not in a corny Spice Girls way, with Lady Sings It Better.

Defying gender expectations, the girl group took on the most misogynistic

songs by male musicians (Shaggy's It Wasn't Me, anyone?) and re-

invented them as a high energy, feminist cabaret. In A Singer Must Die,

Melissa Langton tells amusing stories and sweet lullabies of aspiration

in between her powerhouse performance of captivating songs. The 2013

Fringe Winner of Best Cabaret, This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things,

featured Gillian Cosgriff producing original songs on very relatable topics

for the modern twenty-something: drunk texts, disgusting ex-boyfriends

and social humiliation.

Never hesitant in exploring the unconventional, Melbourne

Fringe theatre was also truly memorable. MKA: Theatre of New Writing

presented startling productions, like the pulp-violence play Kids Killing

Kids, which won the Fringe 2013 award of Best Experimental Perfor-

mance. Also under MKA, Mark Wilson starred in Unsex Me, a riveting

gender-bending solo performance which culminated in a shockingly

disturbing scene involving a microphone. The Fringe 2013 winner of the

Tour Ready Award, FOMO, featured Zoe McDonald who played several

characters discussing social anxiety, the fear of missing out. McDonald

was an engaging performer, but the subject quickly wore thin. Innovation

in Theatre Award Fringe 2013 winner, Black Faggot was a bittersweet and

poignant production about homosexuality set in New Zealand's migrant

Pacific Islands communities. Spoken-word show Love in the Key of Britpop

followed Emily Andersen falling in love against a backdrop where the

Blur vs. Oasis battle is still very much alive. Lastly, A Chekhov Triptych

consisted of three of Chekhov's one-act plays. The show exquisitely re-

produced Chekhov's signature vaudevilles, with an undertone of pathos.

Without forgetting its compelling visual arts exhibitions, such as

101 Vagina Book, a decent range of live art including the award-winning

Confetti, and some pretty remarkable performances from the circus,

dance and kids, this year's Melbourne Fringe was definitely one of the

best. With such bold plays, engrossing performances and riotous comedy,

it is hard to imagine how next year's Fringe would beat this.

BRING IT INTO FOCUS: FESTIVAL WRAP UPPatricia Tobin


PERFORMING ARTS

It’s Happening in the SpaceBetween My Face and YoursHannah Barker

There is theatre that

makes you want to see

more theatre. There is

theatre that makes you

want to perform more

theatre. There is theatre

that makes you want to

design more theatre. There is theatre that makes you want to write more

theatre. Izzy Roberts Orr’s It’s Happening in the Space Between My Face and

Yours is theatre that makes you want to do a little bit of each.

When a young woman named Jack goes missing from her inner-

Melbourne share house, her roommates are at a loss. They can’t contact

their friend. They can’t pay the rent. They can’t resolve their various

sexual tensions. They can’t deal with the vacuous RIP messages their

acquaintances are posting on Facebook. They can’t ride their fixies too far

at night, can’t roll their cigarettes, can’t fill the void. They can’t drink the

soymilk because the replacement roomie is relentlessly stealing it. Said

soy-thief can’t even describe the new musical direction his band is taking.

Meanwhile, the audience is sporadically confronted by a sullen-

faced Jack (Jennifer Speirs), back from beyond the grave to deliver

ever-more graphic monologues on her experience of death. The stage

is also flanked constantly by two ever-vigilant, ever-scathing ‘wolves’

(Tom Molyneux & Meagan Lawrie), who wait their turn to spit threats

and obscenities that embody the sense of fear permeating through the

story. Mesmerising and penetrative, they might be distracting were their

purpose not so emblematic.

Co-presented by MUST and Spare Room, It’s Happening ran as part

of the Fringe Festival at Sketch and Tulip Café/Bar in North Melbourne.

The upstairs space lent itself to the dingy rawness of the show. Precarious

piles of chairs in either corner of the stage sank into the brick backdrop

seamlessly, and the transformative door cum table cum bed looked as if it

belonged to the venue. Dim lighting threw appropriately eerie shadows

across the floorboards, and across an LED sign to one side of the set ran a

series of alternately lyrical and blunt observations relating to each scene

(because what’s a Fringe show without a bit of Brecht?)

First-time director Nick Fry, also responsible for the lighting and set

design, deserves commendation for his efforts, and kudos similarly go to

sound designer James Hogan, who successfully matched the audience’s

eardrums and heart rates with the characters’.

I’m not saying it’s the most polished piece of theatre – it’s not. Some

scenes were rather clunky, and some characters appeared two-dimensional

and under-developed. That said, the entire cast was infuriatingly attrac-

tive so I’m willing to suggest that these flaws were merely representative

of the kind of ungainly squalor and haughty individuals that every good

twenty-something share house encounters.

Reeking of poeticism and finesse, the script was penned by the

talented and charming Izzy Roberts-Orr, who, whilst gratified with the

production, promises to take the show back to the workshop for reinvig-

oration before a second season sometime in the future or so.

Surreal and visceral, It’s Happening in the Space Between My Face

and Yours is at its core an exploration of sex and death, à la hipsterdom.

The tagline says it best: “We love. We fuck. We live. We survive. We’re

afraid.”

Gouti: The God of Them All Hannah Barker

I honestly do

not have the

words to accu-

rately describe

the spectacle

that is Gouti:

The God of

Them All. A

two-hour long

combination of musical comedy and absurdist theatre, Gouti (pronounced

GOO-TEE) is a strange, boisterous adventure among the mythical Span-

ish gods. It’s as charming as it is peculiar, and probably broaches some

sincere issues to do with human eccentricity - but I just can’t be sure.

Performed at The Owl and the Pussycat in Richmond, in a cramped,

cement space (which is actually cosier that it sounds), Gouti’s cast mem-

bers outnumbered the audience on the evening I attended (other nights

were sold out, though). Despite the scale and flamboyance of the show,

the intimate setting played to its advantage, heightening its melodrama

and absurdism tenfold. It also allowed for close admiration of the array of

crude and colourful costumes.

MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEWS


PERFORMING ARTS

Gouti was written, composed and starred in by VCA graduate

Joachim Coghlan. The show was originally presented as part of Mel-

bourne Uni’s Mudfest in 2011. Back then though, it comprised a mere

single act. In its current manifestation, the story spreads across three

increasingly farcical parts. In the first we meet El Todopoderoso (Christo-

pher Nye), also known as The God of Them All, in his school for nursery

rhyme composition in Spain. Little Juan (Coghlan) is El Todopoderoso’s

prized student, and all is well amongst the gods. That is until Gouti

(Emily Brown) shows up with her raucously uncouth verses to usurp not

only Little Juan’s rank but also his wife Anita Bonita Maraca Alpaca

(Jessica Harris), and becomes co-God of Them All at the insistence of El

Todopoderoso (or something to that effect).

Following an odd battle in which Gouti and Little Juan each sum-

mon the protagonists of their rhymes, respectively the Triple-Breasted

Whore and a giant spider named Pepito (both marvellously constructed

puppets), and let them battle it out like Pokémon, Little Juan is banished

to New Zealand for the second act. There he meets Tharbor and Aranel

(James Brooks & Holly Sharpe), who suspiciously resemble certain elfin

characters from Lord of the Rings, and their friend Guimo (Christian Gil-

lett), who happens to be the New Zealand God of Them All and Gouti’s

twin brother.

After a further hour-and-a-half of baffling absurdity, striking operatic

composition, anarchic dance breaks and impossible subplots, Little Juan

and Guimo eventually return to Spain to resolve their differences with

The God(s?) of Them All in the only partially-scripted third act, and

they all live happily ever after – except for Little Juan, who is tragically

killed.

Scattered with references not only to Lord of the Rings and

Pokémon but also Sweeney Todd, Avatar, The Princess Bride, Wicked (The

Musical) and countless other anomalous pop culture fixtures, Gouti is tre-

mendously postmodern. But its interactivity and constant self-reflexivity

don’t distract from the sheer talent of the cast. There is more than one set

of remarkable, classically trained vocal chords among the ensemble, with

special mentions going to Nye, Harris, Gillett and Sharpe. Similarly, the

small orchestra, comprised of a piano, a saxophone, a flute, a guitar and

an accordion, offers a rather impressively composed addition.

My overall opinion of the show is quashed somewhat by the fact

that I still haven’t quite figured out what exactly I witnessed, but I did

leave with a head sore from befuddlement and a stomach sore from laugh-

ter, which I suppose can only be a nod toward Gouti’s narrative complex-

ity and comedic triumph. (Image: Raquel Betiz)

Worm HoleEmma Nobel

It takes a certain degree of

self-confidence for a per-

former to simulate having

sex with himself on stage

– never mind if he’s decked out in a blue Lycra suit and an aluminium foil

helmet. But Marek Platek says his suggestive show is all part of physical

comedy.

“I like to involve myself in the jokes and physically just go really over

the top.”

Worm Hole is Platek’s third show, performed at North Melbourne’s

Club Voltaire, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. The performance

centred on the adventures of a time traveller from a distant future, ruled

by Poland, whose actions inconceivably change the past, but not in the

way Hollywood blockbusters would have us imagine.

“Some people often have the idea of going back and changing things,

their mistakes or changing the past to make a better world,” Platek says.

Worm Hole tosses the heroic time traveller cliché aside. Platek’s un-

named character spends much of his time bragging about life in the future

and his only notable contribution is changing the price of dim sims.

“It’s quite funny because people will expect the show to be like Back

to the Future when Marty McFly goes back in time to save Doc Brown,

whereas I go back in time and change the past by accidently increasing

the price of dim sims. They go from 50 cents to 90 cents,” he says.

A fast food price hike is hardly irreversible damage, but travelling

back in time to meet, and have sex with, his past self, inevitably leads to

Platek nursing a broken heart.

But he dismisses the intimate moments with himself onstage as

worm hole-induced tangents, saying excessive time travel fried his charac-

ter’s mind. “There are a lot of tangents but I blame them on the worm-

hole, because one of the side effects of travelling through a wormhole, as a

use of time travel, is you come out with wormholes in your brain,” he says.

Even when armed with his exaggerated swagger, Platek’s character

was at times upstaged by his own obscenely skin tight, blue Lycra suit.

But the suit itself has a history: it’s featured in both of its wearer’s

previous shows. For Platek this was reason enough to bring the suit back

for his third stint at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

“My first show was called Adventures in the Blue Lycra Suit and I re-

ally wanted to bring that suit back because one of the characters in Party

at My House, my show last year, is called Domestos the Acid Fairy and he

wears the suit. People love the suit,” he says.

People might love the suit, but they also love Platek. He’s recently

acquired his first diehard fans, a young couple from Brunswick who attend

nearly every show. It’s a small following and his shows never sell out, but

the man in the blue Lycra suit isn’t fazed. Even when faced with an audi-

ence of just eight, he was unperturbed and began to jokingly spruik his

character’s new book, complete with an impressive mock cover.

In Club Voltaire’s foyer Platek is warm and engaging, happy to com-

pete with the loud screams heralding the show before his that evening.

It becomes clear how much time he has invested into Worm Hole when

Platek explains the popularity of the sci-fi genre, his speech is littered

with scientific terms and sci-fi jargon.

“There’s the theory of general relativity and all these scientific

formulas that show that wormholes can exist. Things like time travel,

parallel universes, warp speed and the speed of light. I think people’s


PERFORMING ARTS

imaginations can always relate to that as a really great basis for stories and

movies. You can do anything with sci-fi.”

“I’ve done a fair bit of research about time travel and parallel uni-

verses, but I didn’t want it to be too science-orientated,” he says.

It’s not easy juggling a full-time job with Fringe Festival commit-

ments, but Platek’s day job isn’t something you’d expect either.

“You’ve got to do everything; I’m my own producer and I work full

time as well...I’m a land surveyor, so I stand behind the instrument on

the tripod and I’m constantly talking to myself, just pushing buttons and

thinking up ideas for shows.”

Next year the stand up comedian, who earned his stripes hosting

trivia nights for six years, plans to employ his own producer and take

Worm Hole to the Melbourne Festival.

If you’ve ever wondered what those people with tripods on the side

of the road are doing, they’re probably writing comedy shows.

The ShedsKemal Atlay

Australian Rules

football is one of

the most watched

and most masculine

sports, and is one of

only few sporting codes in the country to not have an openly gay athlete;

the issue of tackling homophobia in AFL has long been a highly conten-

tious issue.

The Sheds, writer/director James Cunningham’s contribution to this

year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, attempts to address the homosexuality

in AFL and the wider world of sports.

This one-hour long three-man play depicts the story of Darren An-

derson (Patrick Chirico), the star player for the fictional Fitzroy Fighters

who comes out to the media with grand hopes of being accepted by his

teammates and fans.

“While the topic of how public figures ‘come out’ in the media and

how it’s received is something that interests me, locker room culture is

something that I love to observe and study” says Cunnigham on what

inspired him to write The Sheds.

“Men can act very different in the locker room.”

Set entirely within the confines of a locker room, The Sheds looks

at how Darren’s teammates Liam and Jimmy (Ludwik Exposto and Andii

Mulders, respectively) react to the news of his homosexuality.

Liam is the typical can-do-no-wrong team captain who openly

accepts Darren’s sexuality, whereas Jimmy is an irrational and mentally

troubled teammate who reacts with a mixture of anger, for not being told

by Darren earlier and jealousy, for his new media fame.

“If a player were to come out years after all the other players had

formed close bonds with him, then all the trust is broken, suspicion is

born, and many close fraternal bonds have to be rebuilt,” he says.

“Those friendships are built on trust, truths and courage.

“But coming out to the media is a different story.”

The issue of homosexuality in sports has long been very controver-

sial, especially in the media. Long have gay rights advocates espoused

ideas of equality, but it has been a slower process for these ideas to merge

with the mainstream values of society. This could be as sport has so long

been seen as highly masculine in nature.

With mounting pressure on all sporting codes to become more in-

clusive of gay athletes, there has also been much public debate surround-

ing the culture of sport and whether there is the support for gay players to

feel safe coming out

The low point of this ongoing debate was when former AFL player

Jason Akermanis, in a 2010 column in the Herald Sun, warned gay AFL

players who were thinking of coming out to “forget about it”.

There has, however, been some hope in the likes of Jason Ball, the

24-year-old footballer at the Yarra Glen Football Club in the Yarra Valley

Mountain District Football League who came out, first to his teammates

and then the media.

According to Cunningham, “Homosexuality in sports… differs from

sport to sport.

“The culture of diving was an open enough environment for Mat-

thew Mitcham to come out, but it would be very different for an AFL or

NRL player who wanted to do the same.”

Originally written as a screenplay with sixteen characters and the

intention of making it into a short film, Cunningham instead chose to

turn it into a stage play and had to eliminate a lot of elements to the

story.

“For the stage version I really wanted a private fly-on-the-wall

locker room experience, so I got rid of anyone who wasn’t a footy player,

like the coach and the players’ managers,” says Cunningham.

The cast was narrowed down to four people, but unluckily an un-

committed actor left Cunningham to remove a character altogether until

the cast was made up of “a protagonist, an antagonist and a narrator.”

The use of a narrator is somewhat perplexing and jarring, as it inter-

rupts the action and gives information that is unnecessary for understand-

ing the play.

The masculinity and testosterone-fuelled environment of the locker

room is conveyed through unrestrained bouts of swearing and unashamed

nudity. Loud and vulgar and, literally, in your face (an audience member

in the front row shielded her face when one of the nude actors had a faux-

shower right in front of her) the performance is a stark contrast with the

sensitive nature of the issue it addresses.

Unfortunately a cliché twist at the play’s conclusion seems to

counteract Cunningham’s intention of portraying the reactions of straight

males to news of their teammates homosexuality.

What promises to be a “controversial examination of mateship and

masculinity”, the ambitious and experimental The Sheds falls short of any

such expectations and fails to leave any lasting impression on the audience.


CREATIVE SPACE

I limped towards a couple of nearby ground cars and went around one of

them jiggling the doorhandles. The front passenger door clicked open and

I smiled, punched the air and clambered in. I pulled the door shut behind

me.

Inside it was dark. The windscreen and the car windows were

opaque with grime. A pair of fluffy dice dangled from the rear-view mirror

and a knife with dry blood on the blade lay on the dashboard. I grabbed

the knife and slipped it into my pocket, then unwound the pair of fluffy

dice from the rear-view mirror and threw them onto the back seat.

I leaned over and felt around underneath the steering wheel.

There was no ring of keys hanging out of the ignition. I sighed, sat back

and closed my eyes.

*

Something boomed in the distance and echoed nearby. I gasped and sat

up, listened for a moment. I pressed a button on the door beside me so

that when I jiggled the doorhandle the door did not budge.

I clicked open the glovebox. In it were a couple of manuals and

a plastic bag full of some small round objects. I pulled out the plastic bag

and pushed the glovebox shut and then laid the plastic bag on my lap and

tore it open.

The small round objects were stupe cartridges. I picked one out

and twisted off the cap and stared at the needle for a moment, and then

I pulled up my sleeve and felt a sting as I pricked my inner elbow and

squeezed the cartridge.

My arm tingled and went numb. The cartridge rolled out of my

hand. My eyelids drooped shut and my chin hit my chest.

Everything disappeared.

*

The next morning I was crouching next to a boulder in the middle of a

desert plain and the sky above me was grey and sunless.

A pair of headlights appeared on the horizon. It was a limou-

sine. It glided soundlessly across the plain and then slowed not far away

from the boulder and stopped.

A door on it opened and a man with a moustache stepped out.

He shut the door behind him and glanced around and then slapped the

roof of the limousine and watched as it turned around and started gliding

back towards the horizon.

The man took a lighter and a cigarette packet out of his pocket.

He slid out a cigarette and stuck it between his lips and then slipped the

cigarette packet back into his pocket. He raised the lighter.

‘Hey, you!’ I shouted.

The man lowered the lighter and plucked the cigarette from his

lips. He took a couple of steps towards where he must have thought I was

hiding. ‘Whoever you are,’ he shouted, ‘you ain’t supposed to be out here

DrifterJoshua Reinders

at this hour.’

I said nothing for a moment and then raised my voice. ‘I know,’

I said, ‘but then again neither are you.’

He shook his head and tapped the darkly glowing collar around

his neck. ‘I got the clearance, asshole. Curfew don’t apply to me.’

The man stuck the cigarette back between his lips and switched

on the lighter and then held the flame to the end of the cigarette. He

took a puff and blew out a plume of smoke. ‘You going to show yourself al-

ready,’ he asked, ‘or am I going to have to call down a couple pain-givers?’

I held my hands in the air and stood up and took a couple of

steps towards him. ‘If it’s all the same to you,’ I said, ‘I’d rather this busi-

ness just stay between us.’

He turned and looked at me. ‘What you doing out here, any-

way? Something got you tired of living all of a sudden?’

‘Something like that,’ I replied as I held out my wrists.

He took another puff of the cigarette and then flicked it to the

ground and grinded it into the dirt with the toe of his boot. ‘This the first

time you ever been caught?’ he said as he unlooped a pair of shackles from

his belt.

‘Yes.’

He grinned then and snapped first one shackle and then the

other onto my wrists. ‘You won’t feel a thing, really,’ he said. ‘You’ll just

wake up a couple days from now in one of them rehab facilities, maybe

with an ache in your head at the most—just like any other bender you

ever woke up from, only without all the fun parts beforehand.’

Tillie’s life—her life on Kangaroo Island—had been eleven years of un-

tempered blue: azure sky, cobalt sea and the iridescent blues of the bush.

From the beach, the seals bellowed on the sand, beckoned to Tillie, sing-

ing: Come to the water, come in the waves, come Tillie. She spent hours

in the surf every day on the other side of the island, away from their calls.

At night, from her bedroom in the Park Rangers’ hut—the closest hut to

Seal Bay—she fell asleep to their songs pouring through the garden with

the sea breeze, rusting all the hinges.

On the nights when it was most still, her Dad sometimes tiptoed

in, a silhouette against the hallway light, and they would steal out the

backdoor with Liam, the fly screen rapping shut behind them. They crept

on through the paperbarks and the eucalypts of the bush track, past the

banksias and the wattles on the dunes, until their feet squeaked against

The Structure of Sand

Amelia Moulis


the dry white sand glowing under the metallic light of the moon. They

would sit together at the top of the beach and feel the salt hitting their

pores and tightening the skin across their foreheads. With the high tide

lapping out across the shore, they watched the seal pups sleeping, wad-

dling, waiting for their mums to return with food and to rest with them.

‘You know, this colony has five percent of all the world’s sea lions,’

Dad whispered morsels of trivia. ’And eighty-five percent of the world’s

sea lion population is here in South Australia, that’s something to be

proud of, hey?’

Dad’s pride was endless; he’d never left Australia and he never

wanted to. He was a Park Ranger, the same as Mum. They’d met on the

island and had never before felt the need to leave the bay.

‘There’s one of the mums,’ Dad would say, animated

He pointed as the mums wobbled and tottered, rocking their flippers

up the shore to their pups and curling their necks around each other—

Hey there, I missed you—the mums gently licking the chocolate fur atop

the pups, combing stray hairs flat on their crowns.

‘Look kids, she’s been out fishing,’ he’d say as the pups greedily ate

the fish.

When they returned to bed, their bodies calm with the rolling tide,

specks of sand and broken shells were coarse across their skin. The frag-

ments fixed to their sheets, to their legs, and stayed there until the sheets

were washed and made fresh once again.

The sand of the desert was different to the sand of the sea. Desert

sand was chalky, the granules smaller and finer. On the road from Ad-

elaide to Alice Springs, where they stopped for a break, resting on the side

of the road, Tillie sat and ran her hands through the earth. The sand was

more silky than coarse there, and it ran between her fingers, in the gaps

from where her palm split off into five. The remains of the earth stuck to

her palms, gripped her skin, but when she wiped her hands on her shirt,

the particles turned to dust, red handprints smeared on her stomach,

vastly different to the harder, scratching sand of Seal Bay. The sand at

Seal Bay seemed more real to her; it turned your skin into a raw, blushing

red when you rubbed against it. You could feel it press into your skin, feel

it sting, as opposed to the artificial colour, the dyes of the desert, ready to

be wiped away.

The rains arrived the day after they got to Alice Springs. Tillie woke

early to the cool desert morning, dark shadows still draped over the room,

the air still. She slipped out from under her covers and over to Liam,

careful not to wake him. She stole a glance at Liam’s eyes, still closed, his

chest rising, falling. Tillie lay still beside him and tried to sleep but the

raindrops began to whisper above her head, louder, still louder, until they

were yelling into the room.

’Do you think about it much?’ Liam asked, barely audible above the

rain.

‘Think about what?’ Tillie asked, but she knew.

‘Home,’ he said, eyes still closed. ‘Dad.’

The door creaked open and the crown of Mum’s head appeared at

the door, her new husband behind her.

WRITING WISDOM: ZADIE SMITH

• When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time

doing this than anything else.

• When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it,

or even better, as an enemy would.

• Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences

or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you

leave on the page.

• Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the

things you can’t do aren’t worth doing. Don’t mask self-doubt with

contempt.

• Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.

• Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your

writing any better than it is.

• Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.

• Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away

from it, even the people who are most important to you.

• Don’t confuse honours with achievement.

• Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand — but tell it.

• Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being

satisfied.

PUBLISHING NEWS AND BLUES

Everybody, Ebooks! After JB Hifi started selling ebooks a few months ago,

it seems everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Similar to major chains in

the United Kingdom, Big W has started selling ebooks through Overdrive

and Google has launched ebookstores in New Zealand a handful of Asian

countries.

Ama-zing: Andrew Wylie, a literary agent who was in partnership

with Amazon, has outright told publishers to reject them. Asked in an

interview for New Republic what it would take for him to sell a book

through the retailer he said, ‘If one of my children were kidnapped and

they were threatening to throw a child off a bridge and I believed them, I

might.’ Harsh, but fair?

REFINING READS

Your choice. This may seem like a bit of a cop out, but truly the best way

to learn how to write better is to emulate the best. Get out your favourite

book, re-read it and find out exactly why. Write out the start of a scene

and try and finish it in a way that would remain consistent to the voice of

the author. Alternatively, read books recommended by friends and family

and work out why they love it. You can never read enough.

LITERARY NOTESThomas Wilson

CREATIVE SPACE

SUBHEADING

POETRYAcross the pale canvas, a stroke of deep red

The colour of the liquid that spills when we’ve bled

The orange follows on, not a second in advance

Twisting with the red, they merge and they dance

Yellow cascades down, filling in the gaps

The last remains of canvas it holds and it traps

Red, orange, yellow painted with such grace

Every inch is covered, not the slightest pale space

Then upon this image another colour creeps

The darkest of them all slowly and softly seeps

The black of the shadows created by the light

Draws pictures so familiar, all those in our sight

A solid heavy contrast against the radiant sky

Creatures of the land and even birds up so high

Trees, plants, flowers, natures little gifts

As the light below moves, and dances and shifts

It’s a beauty so exquisite, a wonder of the earth

One that can’t be matched in splendour or in worth

The beauty of the sky, when the sun says goodnight

As it slowly then descends and sinks from our sight

Just before it’s dark, before the darkness falls

Between the sun and moon, the sky loudly calls

Once a bare canvas, so still and so mellow

It is splashed with coloured paint, of red, orange,

yellow

SUNSET

Ravena Anjalee

THE RAINDROP SWIRLS DOWN FROM THE SKY

Balraj Singh Saini

The Raindrop swirls down from the sky

Riding on the wind’s stable curls –

The gentle tapping of the tender water

A giant rainbow beneath it unfurls.

The thrilling lights of the night-time sky

Play a game so queer.

The magic of the earth unfolds

To all who are eager to hear.

The drums of the sky remind us

That the world is very odd

The strong waves of the sea affirm

With its ever firm nod.

The globe is indeed a very strange place.

A place where you and I survive.

A place where love begets denial.

A place where foul’s in the jive!.

A place where one man struggles to walk

And another drives a car.

A place where people starve, but donate

Their money to wage a War.

A place where fair is only a color

But not a deed to man.

A place where lies fetch more amnesties

Than a thousand truths ever can.

A place where power defeats love

And hatred rules the day.

A place where man bequests treachery

And applies it in every way.

Indeed I wonder at the strangeness of the world.

I think but remain bemused.

I live in a place where things are loved,

But people? Oh, they are used!

This is not what we imagined.

This is not what we crave.

Perhaps a little light to the blind

Will usher a golden wave.

Thus we wait, you and I.

We wait till God looks awake.

One day, we believe, love will beat power,

And we’ll live again for each other’s sake.

Image: Marcus Littlewood

A life of revolution in dissent

And celebration of freedom in equality,

A destiny forged by fire

When it formed a symbol of humanity.

Poetic disturbances!

A life blessed with pain and agony

But ruled by hope.

An inspiration is born

From the womb of liberty.

Like a hidden volcano, they erupt

In spontaneity,

Where endless imaginations are mixed with fire.

Like a rampaging river, they flow

In glorious calamity.

Poetic disturbances!

Like lightning, they strike

And burn the cores of all hearts.

The castles of immorality collapse,

When the rhythms of the winds

Compel rogue waves to dance.

POETIC DISTURBANCES

Md. Roysul Islam

57

CREATIVE SPACE


RACHMAD IMAM TARECHA

PHOTOS IN FOCUS...


CULTURE

Last month, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal

became the 2013 champions of the U.S. Open

Grand Slam tournament. For winning the U.S.

Open Series, the two players each received

$3.6 million – the record for the largest prize

money paycheck for a single tennis tournament.

Even though Serena may be one of the

greatest champions of the sport, this parity in

prize money is unjust because, put simply, the

women’s tour at this moment in time is inferior

to the men’s tour.

The issue of equal prize money in the

sport of tennis has been the subject of debate

for decades. Whilst women have enjoyed equal

prize money across all four grand slams since

2007, recent criticism of this equality has been

building within the Association of Tennis

Professionals (ATP) and the wider tennis

audience.

The subject was brought into the spotlight

at last year’s Wimbledon tournament when

French player Gilles Simon, who sits on the

ATP council alongside Roger Federer, stated

that women’s tennis was not as entertaining as

the male equivalent. In addition, Simon argued

that this view was representative of the entire

men’s tour: “It’s not only my point of view, it’s

the point of view of everybody in the locker

room.”

Earlier this year at the Australian Open,

Simon’s compatriot Jo-Wilfred Tsonga expressed

his views on the topic of gender equality,

sparking serious backlash from his female

counterparts. He expressed his belief that “the

girls, they are more unstable emotionally than

us… it’s just about hormones and all this stuff.

We don’t have all these bad things, so we are

physically in a good shape every time, and

you are not. That’s it.” Tsonga’s comments are

evidently sexist in nature, and fail to grasp the

crux of the equality debate.

Whilst Simon’s view that “men’s tennis

is ahead of women’s tennis” is a re-emerging

view in the gender debate, the main point

of contention of gender equality is that at

the Grand Slam level, women do not play

best-of-five-set matches. At the lower levels of

the sport, both men and women play best-

of-three set matches, and in these instances,

equal prize money is warranted. The debate,

therefore, is not about gender at all, but rather

the differences in structure of the men’s and

women’s tours.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Andy

Murray recently reiterated this view, proposing

that women should play for the same number

of sets as men if they are to receive equal

prize money. Murray astutely recognised that

at one point in time, women did play for

the same duration as men: “Steffi Graf and

[Martina] Navratilova and those players were

unbelievable over five sets, and in great shape.

So it’s not that. That isn’t the issue.” The final

of the WTA Tour Championships was a best-of-

five-set match between 1984 and 1998 before

reverting to best-of-three, though only three

matches went the distance.

This highly contentious debate has

resurfaced at the most inopportune time for

the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), as

they are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the

‘Battle of the Sexes’ and the advent of equal

prize money for women at the U.S. Open.

The Battle of the Sexes was the title given

to a series of matches between male and female

tennis players in 1973. American Grand Slam

champion Bobby Riggs began this series of

contests when he challenged Billie Jean King

to a match, claiming that the women’s game

was inferior and that even at the age of 55, he

could beat one of the best women’s players of

that time. After King initially declined, world

number #1 Margaret Court faced off against

Riggs instead, losing in two sets. Four months

later however, King accepted Riggs challenge

and defeated him in straight sets (best-of-five

format), resulting in the U.S. Open becoming

the first Grand Slam to offer equal prize money.

BATTLE OF THE SEXES: 40 YEARS ON

The gender equality debate in tennisFabrice Wilmann


CULTURE

The Australian Open and French Open

followed suit in 1984 and 2006 respectively.

King’s win, whilst historic, and a crucial

proponent in acquiring equal money for female

tennis players, drew significant criticism, much

of which was based on the age of the players,

King being 26 years younger than Riggs at the

time. Furthermore, many people speculated that

Riggs threw the match, taking advantage of the

overwhelming odds against King to settle his

debt to the mob.

Several other ‘battles of the sexes’ took

place throughout the decades, the most notable

of which included the Williams sisters. During

the 1998 Australian Open, 203rd ranked male

player Karsten Braasch challenged Venus and

Serena, who were 17 and 16 years of age at the

time respectively, after the sisters had claimed

they could beat any male player ranked above

200. Braasch overwhelmed the sisters by a score

of 6-2 against Venus, and 6-1 against Serena.

The obvious disparities between the men’s

and women’s game, namely speed and power,

continued to inhibit equal prize money being

offered across all four Grand Slams. Despite

years of protesting by Billie Jean King and

other prominent female players, Wimbledon

continued to deny equal pay for female players.

The turning point came in 2006 when Venus

Williams published an essay in The Times in

which she accused Wimbledon of “being on the

wrong side of history.”

A notable part of her essay included

an acknowledgment that women “would be

happy to play five-set matches in Grand Slam

tournaments”, though this has obviously

not come to fruition. Venus Williams also

recognised the uniqueness of the sport of tennis:

“No other sport has men and women competing

for a grand slam championship on the same

stage, at the same time. So in the eyes of the

general public the men’s and women’s games

have the same value.”

In response to Venus’ cry for equality,

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and members

of parliament endorsed her arguments,

ultimately leading to the equal pay for female

tennis players at Wimbledon. Described as the

‘single factor’ that resulted in this momentous

change, Venus would then go on to become

the first benefactor of this equalisation of prize

money at Wimbledon, receiving the same

amount as men’s champion Roger Federer.

Another point discussed by the seven-

time Grand Slam champion in her essay is one

that has been challenged by many leading male

players. Williams pronounced that women

“enjoy huge and equal celebrity and are paid

for the value we deliver to broadcasters and

spectators, not the amount of time we spend on

the stage.” It is often argued that men’s tennis

attracts the most spectators. Tickets to men’s

finals, for example, cost more than tickets to the

women’s final at Wimbledon.

Many detractors from equal pay often

speculate that if the WTA were to organise

their own grand slams, separate from the men’s

tour, they would fail to raise the same amount of

revenue as the ATP. As it stands, female tennis

players benefit from the revenue brought in by

male tennis players.

Andy Roddick stressed that gender

issues should not be at the centre of the

debate; rather, he argued that tennis should be

approached from the point of view of a business.

“I’m sure there’s a way to figure out who people

are coming to watch,” Roddick said. “There’s

TV ratings to look at. I’m sure there are ample

numbers out there to dissect. As any business

goes, you look at those numbers and then

decide where it goes from there.”

Currently, men’s tennis is experiencing

a ‘Golden Era’ of accomplished players and

enticing rivalries. The ‘Big Four’, made up

of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray, are

consistently successful at the Grand Slams, and

their hard-fought battles often define Grand

Slams (Nadal and Djokovic’s almost six-hour

slugfest at the 2012 Australian Open is widely

regarded as one of the greatest finals of all time).

However, the same cannot be said for

women’s tennis. Even Serena Williams, who

recently won her 17th Grand Slam title and

is regarded as the best female tennis player of

our generation, has been unable to maintain

a consistent level of success throughout

the course of her career, though this can be

attributed to injury, family tragedy, and a lack

of interest in her earlier years. There have been

several one-Slam wonders over the past few

years (Ivanovic, Kvitova and Bartoli to name

a few), as well as players who reached the top

of the rankings without winning a Grand Slam

(Safina, Wozniacki and Jankovic). Spectators

constantly complain of the shrieking made by

Azarenka and Sharapova and the encumbering

grunting of Errani and Schiavone. More

importantly, there have been no compelling

rivalries to keep audiences interested.

This is only a representation of the current

state of tennis however. Men’s tennis was

regarded as particularly weak and uninteresting

in the period helmed by Hewitt and Roddick,

whereas women’s tennis enjoyed several periods

of enticing rivalries (involving Graf, Evert, and

Seles) in which a consistently high level of play

was maintained.

This shows that women’s tennis is capable

of catching the attention of tennis audiences

around the world. The emergence of the ‘Big

Three’ in women’s tennis (Serena, Azarenka,

and Sharapova) is definitely a step in the right

direction. As a result of the enthralling five set

showdowns between the ‘Big Four’ in men’s

tennis, however, competitive rivalries will

not be able to shine as brightly in a best-of-

three sets format, even if stability at the top is

established.

The WTA must realise that the format

of their game is the main obstacle in the

acceptance of equal prize money for women. By

slowly integrating the best-of-five sets format

into Grand Slams (first in finals, then filtered

down), women’s tennis will not only begin to

rival their male counterparts, but they will also

raise the overall level and appeal of their sport.

“This highly contentious debate has resurfaced at

the most inopportune time for the Women’s Tennis

Association (WTA), as they are celebrating the 40th

anniversary of the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ and the advent of equal prize money for women

at the U.S. Open.”

60

SUBHEADING


Since being published earlier this month, a study from the New School

for Social Research in New York has sparked claims that literary fiction

teaches its audience how to read minds, makes individuals better people

and even improves a reader’s soul. This is a worrying prospect: how will

the rest of the world survive when literary elitists can reach into peoples’

minds – like at the end of Chekhov’s The Seagull – and gauge how dearly

the people wished to murder every last character? Hopefully, with their

superior souls, these higher literary beings will bestow forgiveness upon

those poor, misunderstanding mortals. But, in fact, the study itself made

far less dramatic claims.

Social researchers Emanuele Castano and David Comer Kidd

published a study in Science on October 3 that supports the positive cor-

relation between reading literary fiction and performing well on theory of

mind tests. Theory of mind details the ability to attribute mental states

such as beliefs, intentions, knowledge and desires to oneself and to others.

The experiment required subjects to read ten to fifteen pages of ‘lit-

erary’ fiction, popular fiction, nonfiction unrelated to people, or nothing

at all. Literary excerpts featured American National Book Award winners

or short stories by Anton Chekhov or Don DeLillo, whilst somehow

navigating the distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art, which is itself

contentious and historically fickle. The popular works were selected from

Amazon.com topsellers, and nonfiction pieces were taken from Smithso-

nian Magazine and included ‘How the Potato Changed the World’.

Immediately after reading, the subjects completed five tests designed

to measure theory of mind, such as Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test

(RMET) where they were asked to match a strip of face to a correspond-

ing complex emotion. On average, subjects who were exposed to either

breeds of fiction scored better than those who read nonfiction or those

who didn’t read at all. Between the breeds of fiction, subjects who read

literary works scored higher than those who read popular works, yet the

absolute differences were hardly dramatic. For example, on the RMET

test, the literary group outperformed the popular group on average by

about two questions out of 36.

The researchers proposed in their conclusion that “…by prompting

readers to take an active writerly role to form representations of charac-

ters’ subjective states, literary fiction recruits Theory of Mind”. Theory of

Mind is an elusive and multifaceted social capacity, and the notion that

reading literary texts can mold one’s social aptitude in such a way is un-

doubtedly exciting. In commenting on the study, Louise Erdich, author of

The Round House, a text used in one of the experiments, exclaimed “This

is why I love science … [Because the researchers]found a way to prove

true the intangible benefits of literary fiction.” Nonetheless, these results

must be put into context. First, as scientists know, studies ‘suggest’ rather

than ‘prove’, and second, the benefits of literary fiction have been made

tangible in a host of other studies and essays.

In his book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker

explains how realistic fiction “… may expand readers’ circle of empathy

by seducing them into thinking and feeling like people very different

from themselves.” In the late 18th Century Humanitarian Revolution,

one such reader – a retired military officer writing to Rousseau about his

epistolary novel Julie, or the New Heloise – lamented, “Never have I wept

such delicious tears. That reading created such a powerful effect on me

that I believe I would have gladly died.” These comments seem especially

telling when reminded that the grieving reader must have had little-to-

nothing in common with the heroine, the sensitive and emotive Julie

(despite the reader’s uncanny ability to write like a sensitive female).

Further to this example, Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych was once

used in medical schools to teach students what it felt like to die, and

many other studies have been conducted to examine and support the

positive impact of long term reading on the capacity to empathise. The

current study even supports these earlier studies in showing a larger

disparity between theory of mind results separated along an ‘Author Rec-

ognition Test’, designed to ascertain how much literary fiction the subject

has read in his or her life prior to participating in the test. The Author

Recognition Test assessed each reader’s previous exposure to fiction and it

was a general finding in the study that a high recognition of authors led to

a significantly better cognitive performance.

This leaves us to wonder: why is this particular indicator of

short-term effects measured by this particular experiment apparently

so groundbreaking? The reality is that its outcomes appear to confirm

something many of us already know is true. Author Louise Erdich admits

that although “… it’s nice to be told what we write is of social value … I

would still write even if novels were useless.” And it’s safe to assume that

readers of literary fiction would still read, no matter if reading such pieces

was proven to have no effect whatsoever on their social or intellectual

competence. Thus it seems absurd that this study is having such wide

coverage. Those of us who write literary fiction know that our writing

affects readers in one way or another, and those of us who read it feel

the effect it has on us. So frankly, if you’re not a writer or a reader, then

you’re missing out no matter what science can ‘prove’.

Amelia Moulis

LITERARY FICTION UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

LOVE ADVICE WITH...

- The advice column with class -KARL MARX

Dear Karl,

My boyfriend can’t dance to save his life. the idea of taking him to a

dance party is mortifying. what do I do?

-Embarrassed GF

ps. I don’t think dancing classes will do much good.

Embarrassed GF,

Talk about ‘first world problems!’ If that is the worst thing that you can

fault him for, then he must be pretty swell. So, I presume you’re pretty

satisfied with his personality, looks, commitment to the struggle, and

charm. And yet you want more? C’mon!

Your feelings may be related to this recent phenomenon

in capitalist society today that I have noticed – it’s called ‘self-

improvement.’ It seems to be gaining popularity in many pulp books,

workshops and a general attitude to life that some people adopt. It

is as if it is no longer enough for everyone to just be themselves, but

must improve constantly and endlessly in every way. I think this is a

very dangerous idea that will never lead to happiness. Indeed, many

psychologists have come out to critique this trend as unhealthy.

Accepting others and ourselves and seeking understanding is

recommended as a better attitude.

However, psychologists miss capitalism’s role apropos self-

improvement. Capitalism must always grow, grow, and grow, like the

Hungry Little Caterpillar book you were perhaps read in kindergarten.

This is why capital always seeks new markets, produces new useless crap

for you to buy, and advertising becomes increasingly pervasive. Now we

are encouraged to feel dissatisfied with ourselves and others. We must

always grow, grow, and grow – not only must we earn more and buy

more, but now we must be more. We are made to feel that we must look

better (by buying new beauty products) or be stronger (by paying to join

a gym) or be thinner (by buying a magazine that describes a celebrity

fad diet) or be more talented (by paying to join some hipster class in art

or cooking). It is never enough, and even people who end up perfectly

moisturised, thin, muscular, wealthy and hip, never seem to end up

happy, as they are pressured to want even more. I believe dance classes

and such (unless you join them for fun, which of course is fine, but

frivolous) are merely another extension of this idea.

Whatever happened to accepting people for who they are? I have

often been quoted as saying, ‘From each according to his (or ‘her’ – I

just revised it) ability, to each according to her/his need.’ Most people

have since focused on the second half of the quote. But I also meant

that people should not get any less just because they might have

different abilities. So, maybe your bloke can’t jiggle his butt around

on the dance floor as well as some others – then I say, appreciate him

‘according to his ability.’

Do you mind if I tangent onto how self-improvement is

perhaps even more oppressive for women in capitalist society? Lately

there is this ‘Super Mum’ trope that you can see in ads everywhere.

It usually portrays a woman who seems much empowered because

she can work and cook and clean and mother her children and be

attractive all at once. Wow! An alluring idea, until you stop and

consider, ‘why should she work herself to death when it would

seem much easier and simpler to demand that men share some of

the burden of housework and parenting, and perhaps not objectify

women to boot?’ Yet advertising prefers to pressure women to

think otherwise. That way, business can sell lots more cleaning

products, cookbooks, beauty products, convenience and time-saving

products to women who feel they must ‘have it all’ or else they are

inadequate. This is part of the reason why some feminists, such as

Bell Hooks, argue that true gender equality is not possible within a

capitalist system.

So the pressure on men to be muscular, high-income earners,

and good dancers is nothing compared to the pressures that are

imposed on women today by capitalism and its insidious idea that we

all pursue self-improvement. Nevertheless, you would be nobler for

trying to overcome your embarrassment and letting go of your desire

to change your boyfriend. Love him for who he is.

Yours,

K. M.


It’s the first hot day of spring in Melbourne, a day when you’re willing

to overlook the dirty syringes littering St. Kilda Beach for a chance

to swim in the bay, and where the warm glow of the sun on your back

holds the potential for the first sunburn since March. Down the end

of a quiet residential street a crowd is gathering in a backyard of one

of the houses. In one corner of the yard a large, fort-like structure has

been erected and is providing shelter for a group of twenty-somethings

sprawled out on bean bags and old crates who pass around acoustic

guitars, clap sticks, a tambourine, and an electric bass. Opposite, past

odd clusters of chairs and a bin with a sign that reads “FEED ME”, a dog

kennel has been re-imagined as a table and become a gathering point for

others to stand about in conversation. Almost every single person holds

a cup of red, green, or white liquid in their hands from which they sip

intermittently. The centre of attention however, the reason why all are

gathered here today, is a large white trailer parked by the yard’s entrance

that is distributing these drinks. Within its four walls resides BlendCo.,

a superfoods blending company founded by three mates in their early

twenties that is preparing to lay siege upon Melbourne’s festival circuit

this summer. Today is their launch party.

In Melbourne, food is king. We host roughly 70 food events

annually, entice world-renown chefs and cooks to come see what’s on

offer, and are home to a plethora of markets selling food from all corners

of the globe. It’s an ideal breeding ground for innovative food ideas, a

characteristic that younger generations of Melburnians are embracing

wholeheartedly. There’s the Brulée Cart on St Kilda Road started up

by twenty-somethings Jack and Bart White who, at the ripe old ages of

13 and 15, were also owners of the Belgian Waffle Cart. After winning

$70,000 on Deal or No Deal, 23 year old Scotty Bradley created frozen

yoghurt chain Yo-Get-It; where if you can guess the correct weight of your

yoghurt, “yo-get-it” for free. There’s also Kinfolk Café on Bourke Street,

begun by Jarrod Briffa, 28, and Asuka Hara, 27, in 2010, that redistributes

its profits to four development projects based in Rwanda, Ghana, and

Australia. BlendCo. is the newest member to their ranks.

As increasing amounts of young entrepreneurs hit the scene, it’s

interesting to consider what the appeal is for starting up a business at a

younger age. For BlendCo. founders Mat Bate, 21, Morgan Cottee, 22,

and Charlie Maginnes, also 22, youth and inexperience are viewed as

strengths. Says Morgan, “we wanted to get involved earlier because we’re

motivated by passion and not influenced by the pressures that come with

older age.” Indeed the core beliefs driving their company are indicative of

their youth, encouraging risk taking and innovation on any scale.

These are beliefs that the boys have adopted into their own lives

as well; during founders meetings at Charlie’s parents’ house it’s not

unusual to find the trio shrieking and offering hi-fives as a member uses

a “big word” correctly. Despite the fun-loving atmosphere, however, at

the centre of their business lies a keen desire to see BlendCo. succeed.

Acknowledging their Generation Y heritage, the founders have embraced

the tech-savvy nature of their peers and drawn heavily upon the tools

of the internet to grow their company. Social Media networks such

as Facebook and Instagram have been indispensable in establishing a

BlendCo. following, and multimedia websites such as TED Talks are

regularly consulted upon for inspiration and education. One of the more

influential TED Talks the founders have viewed is Simon Sinek’s ‘How

great leaders inspire action’ in which Sinek stated that “people don’t buy

what you do but why you do it.” This has become a central notion in the

running of BlendCo. and is encapsulated in their motto “We Blend.”

Back at the launch, the party is in full swing. From forth the

BlendCo. trailer fly enviro-friendly cups filled to the brim with various

cocktails of health, thrust into the warm air and consumed eagerly by

the waiting crowd. The founders can be seen moving about in the yard;

Charlie is chatting with his Grandma, Morgan is running about with

some tools to fix the trailer’s yoghurt machine, and Mat has picked up a

guitar and joined the crowd of musicians in the fort. It’s an interesting

group gathered together in the throes of the late Sunday afternoon: a

mix of old and young, family and friends, health nuts and party people,

superfood smoothies and celebratory alcohol. Conversations on people,

health, food, experience, the past, and the future intermingle and rise up

into the spring air. Observing the scene in front of them, the founders’

nerves slowly ease into excitement for the oncoming festival season as

they examine the mixing pot of people and ideas they have brought

together. It’s their vision come to life. They’re BlendCo. and they blend.

THREE MATES AND A TRUCK

Annabel Pirrie

SUBHEADING


It has been three years since Amnesia: The Dark Descent both frightened

and delighted fans of the horror genre. Since then the gaming com-

munity has waited with bated breath for something, anything that can

deliver a horror experience that even compares to the visceral terror

that Amnesia provided.

In comes Outlast, a recent title by Red Barrel games. Red Barrel

has made a bold claim. They claim that Outlast qualifies as the “Scariest

Game Ever”.

That’s a big claim, but does the horror live up to the hype?

You play as Miles Upshur, a journalist investigating ‘Mount

Massive Asylum’ for corruption and wrongdoing. You spend the game

running from the mad and the monstrous, through blood soaked hall-

ways, and through corpse ridden corridors. In a similar vein to Amnesia,

there is no combat. You have only your trusty video camera to stand

between you and the horrors that wait. You need to rely on a mixture of

speed and stealth to survive. You’ll run. You’ll slam doors behind you to

delay pursuers. You’ll hide in closets and lockers. You’ll wait as a creature

searches for you in the darkness.

The core gameplay borrows much from Amnesia, while still intro-

ducing a bit of its own original flair. Like Amnesia, resource management

of your only light source plays a pivotal part of the gameplay. Instead of

a lantern, you will be relying on a night-vision camcorder. The camera

is vital for seeing in the dark, but quickly runs out of battery. You’ll soon

fall into a ritual of searching for batteries in every room, turning off your

camera when it is light, and turning it on when it is dark. Unlike Am-

nesia, however, you aren’t discouraged from looking at the creatures that

are out to slaughter you. Instead you’ll stare straight at them, bathed in

the neon-green light of your camera’s night-vision. You will see them,

but they won’t see you. The effect is a delightfully terrifying experience.

You’ll spend much of the game looking at horrible things in this way.

This gives the game an effect comparable to found footage horror films

such as the Blair Witch Project, the Spanish horror film REC or even

Paranormal Activity.

A lot of what Outlast tries to achieve is aided through its use of

atmosphere and sound. The environments have a strong, gritty atmo-

sphere. You’ll see mangled corpses, blood-soaked mirrors and messages

written in blood. The games graphics help assist this. I played this with

the graphics set to ‘Low’ on my mid-range laptop. It ran perfectly fine,

and still looked excellent. The character models are a bit bland, and

towards the end of the game you will notice some recycling. However,

you’ll spend most of this time staring at them from behind a night-vision

camera, which cleverly serves to mask the graphical flaws in character

designs.

The way your character moves, breathes and talks further aids this

effect. Your avatar, Miles Upshur, moves with a sense of corporality.

When sidling on a wall you see his hands. When you run and crouch the

camera shakes and bounces chaotically; when hiding Miles will hyper-

ventilate. And unlike many games, the protagonist’s arm stretches out

in full view of the gamer upon opening a door. Subtle touches like this

have the effect of making your in-game presence feel personal and real.

This corporality is mixed in with an excellent and highly intuitive

control scheme. When running away in a moment of panicked frenzy

Anthony Sarian

Has ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’ finally met its match?

GAME REVIEW: OUTLAST

GAMING


This is the last edition of Lot’s Wife for the year, and also my last video

gaming column. This has caused me to look back and reflect on what

I’ve written over the year. I established a purpose rather early on: to

embed video games in a more general cultural discussion. I wanted to

discuss video game news in a wider creative context. In doing so, I tried

my hand at New Games Journalism, an application of New Journalism

(see Wolfe, Capote, Thompson), using personal anecdotes, literary

techniques and creative analysis and then applying them to video games

(for a seminal and excellent example, Google ‘Bow Nigger’).

One theme that has repeatedly popped up throughout the year is

the justification of video games as a hobby. My first piece, titled Gaming.

A Bloody Waste of Time? was a quickly thrown-together defence in

response to a Facebook friend commanding people to “put down the

controller and read a damn book” (and presumably to get off his damn

lawn, too). It’s not something to dismiss lightly though, it’s important

that we should be analysing whether we are spending our time wisely.

Video games are a relatively new form of entertainment; it’s

no surprise to see a push against it. It has the disadvantage of being a

form of entertainment, and a ubiquitously popular one at that: resulting

in cultural doomsayers pointing their callused fingers at gamers’ callused

thumbs.

An argument that I find persuasive is the concept that video games

try and hook you in in a malicious way. It’s such a competitive market

that publishers would try anything to keep you coming back. League

of Legends, for example, gives you a bonus amount of Influence Points

for your first win of the day. In the context of gaming, this is a process

known as ‘gamification’: using regular, small rewards to condition you

to want more. While effective, the tactic feels dirty. Of course, other

media aren’t completely innocent. Cliff-hangers, pulpy twists, and wish-

fulfillment are found across books and film. But video games have more

direct access to our brains. You don’t see as many book addicts. While

it doesn’t mean we should outlaw video games, it does certainly require

more care.

Another argument is the idea that video games are a

predominantly solo hobby. Shouldn’t we spend our spare time building

and strengthening your interpersonal relationships rather than in an

unproductive time sink? Disregarding the fact that many people play

multi-player games with their friends, a lot of people play so they can

join in broader cultural discussion. Have you ever felt social pressure to

watch a TV show like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad? It’s the same

thing. Social groups are built around the discussion of this kind of stuff.

I know I’ve played games in the past just so I can feel included. Video

games are clearly not the only media we consume in private for the

purpose of public discussion. We’ve built our culture around these games

in the same way we’ve built our culture around books and movies.

It’s an ongoing dilemma in my head; the constant

questioning, rationalising, and perhaps excuse-making regarding the

time I spend playing video games. Recently I’ve found I use games as

more of a relaxation process with injections of ‘good feeling’, rather than

an exploration of artistic creativity. But that doesn’t mean I’m not taking

something away from the experience. My views have remained much

the same throughout the year: perturbed yet devoted. As I write this I

can feel the soft tug of my PC, luring me into some new, exciting and –

believe it or not – intellectually stimulating gamescape... Luckily I have

a community of likeminded friends with which to discuss the cultural

implications of gaming after this column reaches an end.

Farewell, dear readers.

Jake Spicer

you’ll find yourself easily and intuitively jumping, sliding and climbing

at the tap of a key. Hiding spots identify themselves to the player as they

approach with a subtle button prompt, aiding the player without ruining

the tension or atmosphere. A minute into the game and you’ll find your-

self effectively using your camera, reloading the batteries and turning the

night-vision on and off with complete ease.

Yet despite all of its clever game design, Outlast quickly outstays its

welcome. Although only a 6 hour game, after an hour or so of gameplay

Outlast will turn from horrifying and fun to dull and repetitive. Unlike

Amnesia, Outlast lacks subtlety in its horror. You’ll soon grow accustomed

to the sight of madmen suddenly leaping out at you and struggling with

you. Jump scares are everywhere. Jump scares may be fun the first few

times, but they quickly ruin the tension as the player becomes desensi-

tised to their effect. Soon you’ll find yourself responding with cynicism

rather than fear. The gory and blood soaked levels soon become tired

and cliché, as the levels barely vary in design or feel. A few novel expe-

riences and levels are thrown in, but for the most part each minute of

Outlast plays much like the last. When the ending credits roll, you’ll be

glad they’ve arrived.

Has Amnesia: The Dark Descent finally met its match? Not really.

Outlast has excellent game design, an intuitive control scheme and is

initially delightfully scary. The tangible and real effect of Miles’ body,

and the sounds of fear he emits, make the game feel real and terrifying.

Unfortunately, Outlast relies too heavily on ‘shock’ horror and jump

scares, and the levels soon grow repetitive and stale. At $19.99 on

Steam, you’re getting good value for your money. But its lack of subtlety

means that Outlast doesn’t live up to the title of ‘Scariest Game Ever’.

IS GAMING CULTURE, CULTURE ?


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