The Brisbane-based university that’s just made a surprise entry into Australia’s top ten for research, QUT, is facing a tough scramble to stay there – thanks to uncertainties of the global economy.

Its new battle is to get the best research students, the high achievers that universities world-wide compete for, and will set aside big budgets to bring into the fold.

“These students are the power house of research activity”,  says Prof. Acram Taji, the Director of International Graduate Research.

She stresses the point that International Students are at the centre of the battle; Australian-grown talent alone has not been enough, and will not be to fill the growing demand for brain power and talent.

Six hundred of the university’s 1900 higher-degree research students already are International.

Acram Taji

“The intention is to increase the number of higher degree research students… to 2500. Why? Because that adds to our research intensity. One of the indicators is how many higher degree research students you have.

“In this criterion, we have scored 3.9%, whereas the Australian National University (ANU) scored 14.1% (meaning over 14% of their students are research students).  Melbourne  is 8.9%.

“The Vice Chancellor says I want this 4% to increase to 6% by 2015 or 2016.

“Higher degree research students are the ones who produce the quality papers; they help you to complete your research”, she says; adding too that while funded on scholarships, they come cheaper than ready-credentialled research associates or post-doctoral Fellows.

MONEY AND RESOURCES

Money and resources are at the core of this story of producing hard results in the search for knowledge, getting recognition for it, and building it up further.

The “top ten” for research are decided on from a very detailed audit of activities of the universities, carried out by the ARC, Australian Research Council, under a process it calls ERA – Excellence in Research for Australia.

It is meant as a descriptive treatment of what the universities do, not a competitive ratings system; but tell that for a hard chuckle, to the  executives, researchers and administrators who work zealously to get together their best outcomes and fit them to the exacting criteria.

Getting into the top ten is king status, positioning the leaders to attract more of the same – best funding, best researchers, best research students from around the world.

This time as expected, in the rankings announced on 31.1.11, the “Group of Eight” dominated the field: the eight (including the ANU and Melbourne University), being the oldest universities and therefore the best endowered with investment funds and gifts.

Then comes QUT now, the Queensland University of Technology, pushing into the last-available seat at top table — just behind the only other “outsider”, Sydney’s well-established Macquarie University.

“We have leap-frogged many of the other universities to be number ten”, says Acram Taji.

With 40 000 students QUT is hardly a minnow but as a product of the amalgamations of tertiary colleges in the 1990s, to form universities, it drives hard to make its mark.

A VERY AMBITIOUS UNIVERSITY

“It is a very ambitious university”, says Sharon Tickle, Acting Executive Director of International and Development, a division of the university contributing heavily to the ongoing campaign to bring in talent for the research effort.

She recounts the current struggle, recruiting students in a broad field of studies heavy with opportunities for research: the new creative industries, engineering, health, information technology, bio-technology, or science the long-term achiever.

Signing up students in other countries to undertake research doctorates can involve acts of diplomacy, like dealing with a central scholarships body in China that selects quality students through a very competitive process; doing business with agencies in India where there is no state funding body, or negotiating one-by-one with governments in the Middle East, able to give ample direct assistance to their citizens.

Yet the task is still more specialised, to make an exact fit between the program in Australia and the interest of students in a particular job of research – “the right kind of students for the right program”.

“PhD students go to quality, so it is a fight for quality”, says Sharon  Tickle.

“The challenge of the educational target set for QUT is difficult where the whole world is going for the same students … We are struggling in the competition.”

It was felt as a pity that the strong outcome for QUT, getting placed in the “ten”, came just as competition for top research students around the world, one of the key ingredients of success, became much tougher – thanks especially to the uncertainties of the global economy.

COUNTING THE SET-BACKS

What kind of extra difficulties have to be faced on top of proving that the research being done is of high quality, prestigious, worth joining in with?

Set-backs can come in multiples:

• The Global Financial Crisis of 2008, its effects just coming through now, as before that many families overseas already had money saved up for education abroad, for 2009-10.
• Bad economic impacts of natural disasters, whether in student “home” countries, or with the floods and cyclones in Australia, affecting everything from part-time jobs to available houses or rents – and the reputation of the country as a place to live.
• Possible residue from claims of “racist” attacks on students, mostly in Melbourne.
• The currently strong Australian dollar, up by as much as 17-60% against major currencies, over the past year – reflecting the resistance of the Australian economy to recession, but undercutting much outside trade.
• Government revision of visa entitlements restricting the range of studies from which students can obtain continuing visas to work in  Australia, notably in skills areas like hairdressing.

Those problems come out hardest in the big and popular market for education in Australia at the lower level of schools and colleges, and  undergraduate university degrees.

Enrolments from overseas have crashed in universities around the country, costing them heavily in fees because students in those courses pay their own way.

In any survey, more than 50% of International Students express some intention to stay on and live in Australia after completing their studies; so changes in entry policy (like a tightening on visas for Indian students in 2010, eased to a degree this year) affect attendance.

The troubles are being felt even at the higher level, among the sought-after research higher degree students looking to do a doctorate.

QUT as 2011 got under way experienced a check in its confident march to greater things; and in the struggle against competition talked about by Sharon Tickle, figures for new Doctor of Philosophy students were sluggish.

By the first week of February acceptances of places offered to prospective scholars overseas, for the first semester of 2011, were down by 10 to 16% against the same time a year ago.

For the second semester, starting in July, an unofficial figure of 65%, so far, was being mentioned.

Among overseas students at that level there were 34 new commencements for 2011, against 45 in 2010; though the base stayed fairly solid, their total numbers enrolled having grown from 415 in 2009 to 453 last year.

Worrying for administrators of the program, tracking of the acceptance of offers of places by the university shows that it has not been keeping up with the usual rate – a further falling-off could happen.

GIVING NO GROUND

Not that the “very ambitious” university in the number ten slot will be giving any ground.

All universities being much in the same boat, QUT is shoring up its position by putting up funds for new student scholarships.

This year it has 75 students on full scholarships (a waiver of fees at $19-25000 p.a., funded by the federal government or the university itself, plus living allowance of over $18 000 p.a.); it also provides a waiver of fees to another 300 students, who can obtain living allowances elsewhere – such as International Students supported by organisations in their home countries.

It is expanding that support to increase the fee-waivers by 15% each year, up to 2015, capped at 500.

The reason for the concentration of effort gets back to the drive to be in the top bracket of research, and fulfil a general goal.

Ms Tickle: “It’s to provide solutions-based research on an international scale; researching global problems and real-world solutions, and with some discovery research; that is still what we do.”

The QUT Vice Chancellor, Prof. Peter Coaldrake, formerly the Public Sector Commissioner in Queensland, has declared for the managed approach, concentrated on the ARC indicators for getting recognition.

Says Prof. Taji: “We have a visionary Vice Chancellor who has lofty aspirations for our research ranking; he wants to see QUT’s research productivity (quality and quantity) above some of the Go8 universities.”

Moving to a new country to follow a vocation, and begin a new life, will be exhilarating and also daunting.

The high-flyers from more than 50 countries coming to Australian universities to study for a doctorate, and begin a career in research, are contributing to a national project here that’s at times struggling to expand.

Taken together with overseas students in high schools, colleges and Bachelor degree courses in the universities, they are  - as is well-known -  part of a huge industry.

They are also a key part of the drive towards a smart economy for the future, keeping Australia competitive in technology and discovery.

The students though have their own struggles, mixed in with the benefits they find in this country.

Among  those worries is a concern that something extra might be done by Australian universities, and academics, to become more international in their own culture.

They’re being called on also for a better effort to bring International  Students into the system, by giving them more of a  share of training and preparation as researchers and lecturers  – such as the national policy calls for.

It’s true that the government is committing more, to get the students to come.

The number of standard scholarship and living allowances paid to higher degree students  -approximately $40000 a year, including the fees- is set to double in the current five years leading to 2012.

About 2500 start each year on the scholarship, called the Australian Postgraduate Research Award,  set to rise to 3500.

The same amount is being offered, through a second set of packages, most often with the Australian government coming up with $20000 a year for fees, and outside sponsors, including sponsors in the students’ home countries, providing the living allowances.

It is common to find International Students in Australian universities making up nearly one-third of scholars doing higher-degree research.

Not that the students themselves spend their waking hours mulling over the problems of nation-building in Australia.

A NEW KIND OF COUNTRY

The first problem for them has been to find the right research project; obtain enough financial support, and then deal with the vagaries of a new kind of country and culture.

“I introduce students to the Australian way of life. I might show a film … You see the Australian students playing a lot of sports, and drinking beer, and then I show a picture of someone looking through a microscope, and then the Australians become serious … They work hard and will stay back and do long hours”, says Prof. Acram Taji, at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

As the university’s Director of International Graduate Research, the Professor says her overseas  research students are an elite pool, standing up well when compared with Australian  counterparts in tests.

That’s unsurprising given the competition the students have survived to get where they are, and major efforts being made by people like herself  worldwide to get them to choose a destination such as QUT.

“We spend a lot of time and energy on this”, says Prof. Taji.

“Our international profile is important; they can say, what kind of global university is it, if you don’t have international research students?”

As for the competition, the Australian university sector has  made sudden gains over 10 to 15 years, building up numbers of International Students, after going for a long time with relatively few.

“Australia was not such a world high performer, and then all of a sudden it had such a high income, something like $18-billion dollars a year, and a very large industry formed around International Students; so other countries, like the United Kingdom or the United States, have seen this, and the competition has now increased.”

SHOCK OF ARRIVAL, LANGUAGE AND LIFESTYLE

What kind of experiences do these sought-after high-flyers go through in getting their PhDs in Australia?

From the shock of arrival, to problems with language that might worsen instead of getting easier, as the research project demands more; to tough chances looking for a part-time job to make the living allowance go further, especially if it is a university teaching job that’s wanted; to perennial visa problems; the unpreparedness of many academics, in different Faculties, to cope with international students, or for that matter to deal with overseas cultures; even to some racial cat-calling off-campus; International Students are in the way of calling their experiences “a challenge”.

So says Linda Watterson, (Linda Hong Bin Watterson),who came to Australia in the mid-1990s as one of Beijing’s new entrepreneurs on the way up.

Adopting a come-and-go lifestyle between the two countries, she took up higher-degree study in Australia in 2006, and gives an overview of the feelings of fellow students arriving and finding their way.

“It’s a serious change in lifestyle; for example, for Chinese students they miss the streets with many shops; you don’t just go to the supermarket…”, she says.

Yet most are well prepared:

“They don’t really stress out as they are highly capable people; they do well as far as I can see.”

Ms Watterson’s business in partnership with her husband was importing Australian mining equipment into Australia; she admits to doing well with that, and has been studying to build on what she learned with a PhD – a study of entrepreneurship in China, in the Creative Industries Faculty at QUT.

Listing problems and plaints; like many others she puts command of English language high on the list, commenting that she has one friend who is “fully capable”, another who came good after two or three years, one other who “might be in trouble”, with most fitting into a general, improving pattern:

“For some their English is not good enough but … they are smart, and half-way through they pick up.”

A few academics who supervise these students will know both languages or at least know how to slow down when talking, easing the problem.

JOB PROBLEMS

Other worries, to Linda Watterson, include job problems.

Picking up casual work in a shop or restaurant, where the pay can make for an “easier life”, is a problem, although the university itself does help out with work on campus.

There is also, however, a bigger problem, where advanced level students want to do some teaching of younger students.

It is important to prospective academics to get such experience, as an entry in the resume for an academic post — especially in a country where official policy is to boost up its higher education and research by recruiting talent from overseas.

“I have heard in some Faculties it is different; we were never offered teaching work; only “English”  students got this, or some Europeans.

“Language should in a couple of years get to a state where you can maybe  do some teaching .

“The university is not very good at giving the students jobs like a research assistant’s job”, she says.

Moving on; do students encounter racism?

Not so much, to this seasoned observer.

A friend was spat at by a passer-by, sometimes students are told to “go back where they came from”, but it is little enough for them to “just ignore”

EASY PLACE, EASY PEOPLE TO KNOW

Bonnie Liu, (Lui Rui – Bonnie), also from Beijing, graduating with her doctoral degree in 2011, has much the same story,  three and a half years after coming to Australia to continue studies based around  independent television production  in  her home country .

“Here the whole world is accessible, and the pattern of life is pretty good”, she says.

“As a pretty independent person I found it easy to fit into life here, the people are easy to know and the multicultural environment is good.”

The hard part would be at the start, when most students are looking for help; and there were one or two incidents, mostly brushed aside, like trouble with a bus driver over handling change, leading the students concerned to make a complaint.

“I could not say if it was a race thing; it is really for individuals; I know some people get trouble, others do not”, says Bonnie Liu.

Getting ahead at the university seems more of an issue, with again the International Students’ complaint about a chance to build up expertise on the teaching side:

“We can’t get enough jobs … like I could not get many tutorials to teach. Most of my friends in the United States as PhD students got more teaching to do straight away.”

As for being a student here and then a graduate from Australia; students generally receive good benefits, and  at the end the degrees have good standing — an advantage if working in  China and other places.

“I am pretty happy with that”, she says.

THREE YEARS ON THE BEACH?

“Doing a PhD in Australia, the biggest thing you have to explain in Germany is if you are going to lie on a beach for three years”, says Falk Hartig, half way through a PhD at QUT, a German journalist now studying overseas cultural policies of China.

Like Bonnie Liu he has discovered an Australian degree has good value.

It will sound more “international” than the thousands of “Doctor” credentials being earned back home, and he found Australia  was also a better location to do Asian studies than Europe, where there was less choice in his field.

Speaking and working in English was not a great problem, where “you realise your level”.

More of a problem was the high level of rents, difficult for students without good scholarship support, along with exchange rate movements that mean a more expensive Australian dollar.

Falk Hartig says he has no experience of racial trouble apart from hearing of late-night incidents where overseas students might be under some threat in the city; at times he’s had “feeling” of unease where drunks were around, and has decided there could be problems for young non-Australian women out after dark.

Yet that should not deny one prime attraction of the country when choices are being made:

“The image is relaxed. You can have a good life… It is more relaxed than the United States or England.”

He endorses the concerns of others about access to teaching experience needed for an academic career.

“After three years without a teaching record for getting a job afterwards , there will be no job, so people  will just leave the country.”

PLUSES AND MINUSES

University managers know the list of positives and negatives well.

“We are not internationalising our home-grown academics by and large”, says Sharon Tickle, the acting  International Director at QUT.

She points out that aside from spending very limited time working abroad or learning languages, academics even when taking short-term trips for conferences will concentrate on Europe of the United States, not farther afield — culturally or otherwise.

While opportunities for cross-cultural training courses are taken up by staff, says Acram Taji, “there are academics who have done their degrees, and post-doctoral work at the same university, and then applied for a lectureship at the same university …”

Academics recruited from a non-Australian, and non-English speaking background can be a balance against that, and give the university access to different angles on learning and life.

University teachers in their turn have their trials with students coming out of a different culture, especially with language; most estimate they need to put in twice as much time, in intensive supervision, with non-English speakers – time not recognised or compensated for by their employers.

That extra work, Ms Tickle will admit,  is “a challenge for the supervisors.”

HELPING, AND HIGH MAINTENANCE

Prof. Taji  lists a pro-active set of measures to assist students who are, she says, both valuable resources and “high maintenance”.

Strict English language standards are applied, she avers, denying that research students are being “let through” with weak language skills, though it is said to happen at the lower levels — post-secondary or undergraduate courses.

She says the university gives incentives to Faculty administrators to contribute to payment for editing of students’ final work, to polish the language.

Other aid is organised, from student buddy systems to pastoral care in case of personal crisis.

A special problem for the International Students is that they need a new visa if extending their three-year study period; Australian students can go to four years, if needed, without such trouble.

On jobs, the Professor agrees that the off-campus casual jobs market can be tough on overseas students because of the play of cultural nuances and language, though many jobs are organised within the university itself.

Neither of the executives approached here could rate trouble with racism as a lead problem for International Students.

Sharon Tickle, returned from a visit to India where part of the task was to talk through the late-night bad experiences of students in recent years, mostly in Melbourne, said International Student organisations had been asked, and had reported few immediate concerns.

Acram Taji could recall complaints being registered, though ultimately being accepted  by all parties involved as due to “misunderstandings”, not racialist attacks on students.

“We do offer very comprehensive training to educate International Students on Australian culture, and vice versa”, she says.

“But we have not had problems with students coming in to complain that there are people who are racists.”

Higher education as investment for Australia, and its universities, is a life commitment for the thousands of rather young people  – most in their twenties – who check out the country as the place to make their first main contribution to knowledge, and change their name to “doctor”.

Talking to most brings out a simple theme: it will have its difficulties, but for persons of talent the place and its people have much to offer, and both parties look to be finding ways to make the investment turn out well.

The writer: Lee Duffield was for many years a journalist, editor and overseas correspondent with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He teaches and carries out research in Journalism at QUT. A Europe specialist, he is the publisher of EUAustralia Online.

The executive director of the Australian Coal Association, Ralph Hillman, said governments were making serious investments in renewable and clean energy production.

“People are working on all these technologies because everyone can see climate change science is real and we are facing a carbon constrained future, “ he said.

Mr Hillman said coal industries were working towards methods to address carbon emissions and they have Coal21 Fund, which is dedicated to carbon capture and storage technologies.

“Coal is going to have to address its greenhouse gas emission via carbon capture and storage, which is central to a global solution to climate change,” he said.

Energy ‘boost’

Australian Conservation Foundation climate change campaigner Phil Freeman said the survey results released in September would hopefully spark renewed action to promote clean energy.

“What we need next is a boost for the emerging clean energy technologies like large-scale solar, geothermal hot rocks and tidal and wave power,” he said.

Urban and Regional Planning and Sustainability lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, Mellini Sloan, said it was significant the survey shows an overwhelming majority of people in both areas care.

“It’s a great challenge for young engineers and it certainly seems like it’s a direction that we are going in,” she said.

“It’s quite exciting”.

‘Expensive to perfect’

The Zero Carbon Australian 2020 Stationary Energy Plan said it was “technically feasible, practical and economically attractive” to have 100 per cent renewable energy in Australia in 10 years.

But Mr Hillman said both renewable energies and cleaner traditional methods would be essential to meeting future energy demands.

Mr Hillman said renewable technologies were expensive and took time to perfect and these costs would transfer to consumers.

However, Mr Freeman said electricity prices would continue to increase regardless of whether or not the energy was being produced by renewable or clean energy sources.

“[Electricity prices have] already doubled in the last 10 years and that’s got nothing to do with clean energy policies or putting a price on pollution,” he said.

The estimated increase outlined in the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan would be an “affordable” $8 per household each week.

But Mrs Sloan said whether homeowners would find this a reasonable amount they are willing to pay was still hard to tell.

“Eight dollars doesn’t sound like a lot but if you are strapped financially [it may be hard],” she said.

Queensland Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Stephen Robertson was not available for comment on the issue.

Energy efficient measures

However, Mr Freeman said there were many measures homeowners could take to reduce their energy usage and there energy bills.

“It’s a smart hip-pocket move to think beyond the next electricity bill, invest some time and money in smart technologies like solar hot-water and better insulation, that will reduce energy use,” he said.

The Queensland GreenHome Guide said the top five things to do to reduce energy were:

• switch to green power;
• install solar hot water system;
• heat and cool homes efficiently;
• have an energy efficient fridge;
• and do not leave appliances on stand-by.

Sustainable communities

Meanwhile, master plan communities, which offer shared lifestyle centres and self-contained communities, are taking great steps towards becoming more environmentally friendly.

Future master plan community, Rochedale Estates, south of Brisbane’s CBD, began construction this month and will have recycled water for gardening and flushing toilets and 5,000-litre water tanks standard in each home.

The homes are also designed with the housing orientation in relation to sun and wind patterns in mind, which Mrs Sloan said was sensible and could help reduce energy usage.

Brisbane Lord Major Campbell Newman said Rochedale Estates had made outstanding developments in water sensitive design and efficient use of power and water.

“This is a significant master plan community that’s finally on its way,” he said.

Peter Brown CEO of FKP, the property and investment group behind Rochedale Estates, said a great amount of environmental work was done because purchasers appreciated it.

“Within limits buyers are willing to pay a premium for [more sustainable housing],” he said.

Related Links:

• Queensland GreenHome Guide – Australian Conservation Foundation.
• Media Release Survey – Australian Conservation Foundation.
• Zero Carbon Australian 2020 Stationary Energy Plan.
• Ezy Green – Brisbane City Council and The Queensland Government

Water quality not improving for Brisbane's surrounding areas. Source: Sebastian Sinclair

The latest report on water quality has shown only slight improvements.

The Healthy Waterways report is released every year and this year, results on 400 sites across the south-east of the state show little change.

The data has been compiled by the Queensland and local governments, research organisations and community groups.

President of Wildlife Queensland Simon Baltais said there is room for improvement.

“They should be repairing the riparian areas. There should be re-vegetating of any cases. Until they do that, the problem is only going to continue,” he said.

The Ecosystem Health Report Card scores catchments and estuaries on a scale from A to F.

The program manager for science and monitoring at Healthy Waterways South East Queensland, Piet Filet, said urban waterways are struggling.

“All of our urban freshwater streams have continued to struggle for their scores because of legacies of impacts over the last 100 years,” he said.

He said storm water and flooding do impact on the quality of our water.

“Storm water is always part of the impacting process on our waterways and what we have seen in the last 12 months is a mixture of run offs from both rural and urban areas,” he said.

Information released over a 12 month period shows the Moreton Bay area jumped from D to a C rating.

The Oxley, Redlands and Lower Brisbane River catchments have again scored an F rating.

Engineering academic Dr. Les Dawes said environmental projects need more funding to improve the quality of waterways.

“The problem with the State Government and local governments is that they don’t have the man power or the money to do this sort of stuff,” he said.

He also said urban developers can help improve water systems.

“I think developers also have to take responsibility, to make sure that there’s lots of guidelines produced for what we call water sense of urban design in any new residential development.”

Mr Baltais said urban areas are by far the worst contributors to contaminating the quality of water.

“Comparing hectare to hectare urban areas are by far the worst contributor of nitrogen phosphorus in silt into the system,” he said.

He said better partnerships between communities, local authorities and developers are crucial to improving the region’s waterways.

“Until we actually understand that if we want a healthy community and a healthy economy, you have to have a healthy environment.”

One in four Australian children are overweight or obese. Photo: Ellen-Maree Elliot

A producer has defended an advertisement to highlight the problem of childhood obesity that equates parents giving their children junk food to injecting them with heroin.

Precinct ad agency managing director and producer Henry Motteram says his agency created the ad to “spark discussion” and was “happy to be the enemy”.

“I don’t think we would have got a quarter of a million hits in two weeks if we hadn’t done something shocking,” he said.

“I know the analogy towards heroin and junk food is very strong – but both kill.

“Junk food kills a lot more people than heroin does in this country every year.”

Mr Motteram says the Breaking the Habit ad was made for “purely philanthropic” reasons.

“What we’ve done is drawn attention to something that really needed attention drawn to it,” he said.

‘Hard-hitting’

Cancer Council NSW nutrition program manager Colleen Glasson says the ad’s concept is “very hard-hitting” but she has “major problems” with it.

“We all need to eat – we don’t all need to take heroin,” she said.

“It’s okay to have a little bit of junk food – it’s not okay to have a little bit of heroin.”

She says one in four Australian children are overweight or obese.

“Many of those children will grow up to become obese adults, increasing their risk of chronic diseases, like certain cancers, heart diseases and diabetes.” she said.

“It’s a huge problem.”

Unhealthy food advertising

Junk food advertisements directed at children are self-regulated by two separate bodies, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and the Quick Service Restaurant Industry (QSRI).

Both bodies have voluntary “initiatives” that outline guidelines for responsible food advertising to children.

A report compiled by the University of Sydney and the Cancer Council found there was a significant reduction in “non-core” food advertising to children by AFGC signatories between 2007 and 2009.

However, the report found the voluntary nature of the self-regulated codes limited their effectiveness and did not “adequately protect children”.

Ms Glasson says there ”are a lot of loopholes”.

She says although parents need to be educated about the link between too much junk food and obesity, the “real problem is the environment and the volume and the nature of unhealthy food advertising for children”.

“Everywhere they turn, children are being confronted by junk food ads,” she said.

Stronger regulation needed

Ms Glasson says the Cancer Council believes self-regulation does not work.

“The government needs to impose stronger regulations on junk food marketing to children,” she said.

She says restrictions need to:

• Be effective for children under 16 years old across all media;
• Have a standard definition of unhealthy foods across the board;
• Be effective for whenever children are watching television (for example, the children peak viewing time of 6-9pm);
• Restrict pervasive marketing techniques (for example, no promotional characters, sporting figures or premiums);
• Be monitored by an independent statutory body;
• Have meaningful penalties for non-compliance.

However, a spokesperson for the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing says they take childhood obesity “very seriously” and are taking steps to address it.

“Food marketing is but one element of what is a complex challenge in addressing obesity,” the spokesperson said.

“Effectively tackling this issue in Australia will require collaboration across industry, the community, families and individuals.”

Education environment

University of Sydney Associate Professor Dr Margaret Allman-Farinelli says encouraging an environment where children can make good food choices is just one aspect of combating childhood obesity.

“One thing is always education, perhaps for parents and communities as a whole, as to what constitutes a healthy diet,” she said.

Dr Allman-Farinelli says healthy food needs to be more accessible to busy families.

“It might be difficult to get public transport to and from getting the source of fresh food, but it might be only a walk to get some form of takeaway food,” she said.

She says community and local councils can improve and implement infrastructure like parks, footpaths and cycle ways, that are safe for children to use.

Dr Allman-Farinelli says everyone needs to pitch in.

“It’s not just a health issue – it’s an issue that goes across society if we’re going to be really serious about addressing it,” she said.

Related Links:

• Cancer Council’s website – Junk Busters
• 2010 International Journal of Pediatric Obesity: Industry self regulation of television food advertising: Responsible or responsive? – Joint research project by University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW.
• AFGC Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative Core Principles
• QSRI Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children

A survey found the number of applicants continues to drop, making it harder to find appropriate candidates. Photo: Tijana Jaksic

Some Australian recruiters say the way businesses handled the financial downturn is shaping jobseeker attitudes towards potential new employers.

Randstad Recruitment Queensland manager for accounting, banking and finance, Tarnya Lowe, says the number one concern of candidates is the stability of companies.

“They want to know the size of the business, the turnover and whether they made staff redundant in the last 12 to 18 months,”  Ms  Lowe said.

“They think that if they’re last on, they’ll be first to go.

“We had some businesses who probably didn’t do a very good job with their redundancy packages and how they dealt with those employees.

“We’re certainly seeing candidates say they’re not interested in working with those types of companies based on their own research and what the media has said about those organisations.”

Big brands, no trust?

Adcorp account director Bryn Griffiths, a Brisbane-based communications agency, says employees want to be comfortable with the brand they work for.

“What we’ve seen by the research that we’ve done, is that you mention the big brands of the world now and there’s no trust at all,” Mr Griffiths said.

“To be able to position your brand as a place that’s enticing for employment and to engage your workforce is certainly a trend that a lot of clients are trying to achieve.”

Majer Recruitment director Suzie Majer says some candidates are “feeling a bit worn down and taken advantage of”.

“You still hear a lot of people saying ‘they’ve let people go and haven’t replaced them so now I’m doing the job of two or three people’,” Ms Majer said.

Businesses ‘worried’

Ms Majer says businesses are still worried about the state of the economy following the downturn.

“I’d say everyone is a little bit tentative,” she said.

“Over the last couple of months the temp and contract market has been quite strong.

“That’s for various reasons, but one would be that they’re tentative maybe and don’t have approval to add to the head count.

“It’s also good for the client I suppose, if things pick up, then they’ve already had the opportunity to work with a candidate.”

But some recruitment agencies also say while candidates seek stability, businesses want flexibility.

Ms Lowe says many clients are looking at both temporary and permanent options when hiring new staff.

“It’s in their benefit at the moment to have that flexible workforce so if there is another downturn then that’s an easy process to go through,” Ms Lowe said.

“A lot of companies went through a lot of redundancy processes last year and they’re very costly to a business so they’re probably a little bit concerned about going back there again.

“But we also have people coming to us straight saying they want a permanent person to build the team.

“Because a lot of the teams have been really affected morale wise – so by adding new people to their teams it’s actually bringing confidence back to the employees.”

Permanent places dropping

The latest Quarterly Business Survey conducted by the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) found that, as a proportion of total placements, permanent placements dropped by 6 per cent to 11 per cent, while on-hired and contractor placements increased 19 per cent to 87 per cent.

The survey also found the number of applicants for positions continues to drop, making it harder to find appropriate candidates.

Martin Turner, the director of the Turner Group, says there are “very few good candidates around at the moment that aren’t working”.

“Most people with jobs are hanging on to them and candidates are being snapped up quickly,” Mr Turner said.

Recruiters ‘nervous’

Mr Turner says a lot of recruiters are still very nervous.

“The squeeze on an employment agency has been not just from the work not coming in like it was, but the work you are doing, your payment isn’t coming in for a very long time,” he said.

“If your clients aren’t paying you for 30, 60, 90 days then it’s going to affect everybody.

“Agencies went under who were owed a lot of money by companies that went under, so cash flow is king at the moment.”

Dance stage and food stalls: Roma St Parklands on October 17. Photo: Jin Kok

Set over six performance areas, there were performances by ethnic dance groups, ensembles, traditional instruments groups and well known cultural performers like The View from Madeleine’s Couch.

Multicultural Affairs Minister Annastacia Palazczuk said in an earlier press release the event would show Queensland had a strong multicultural identity.

She said people would experience many of the state’s 200 cultures at the festival.

Russian ensemble

Among the acts on the “Unplugged Stage” was the Russian folkloric ensemble Samotsevty, who performed at similar events such as the Mariner’s Cove Fraser Coast Cultural Festival in south-east Queensland and the National Folk Festival in Canberra in the ACT.

Domra player Vladis Kosse said the Russian ensemble was established in 2000.

“The members come from the five republics of the former USSR – Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,” he said.

Traditional Russian costumes, which the ensemble make themselves. Photo: Jin Kok

Mr Kosse’s wife, Alla Ekzarkho, is the founder and artistic director of the ensemble.

Mr Kosse says his wife is the only “professional” in the group and with her background as a piano teacher, she organises musical arrangements and leads rehearsals.

“One of the main objectives of the group is to collect Russian folklore, preserve it and perform it,” Mr Kosse said.

“Usually some of the songs we find in recorded music, books with songs that are brought in from Russia … it is difficult to find the text of songs with musical notes so she [his wife] has to write in the notes.

“It is also necessary to divide it to different voices like sopranos, altos, tenors and bass.”

Mr Kosse says the ensemble has performed at the festival at least four times.

“It is really important and people [ensemble members] are proud that they represent the Russian culture and Russian folklore,” he said.

Another performer, Obertas Polish dancer Matthew Swiderek, said he was very nervous before taking the stage.

“It is my first time doing it at this time – I’ve only started dancing this year,” he said.

‘Excellent crowd’

Meanwhile, Tribal of Jubal managed to get the crowd on their feet and dancing to its fusion of Papua New Guinea traditional music and western tunes.

Tribal of Jubal performers in dressing room after the show. Photo: Jin Kok

Ben Hakalitz, founder of Tribal of Jubal said the crowd was excellent.

“I love the Brisbane crowd and it’s a real multicultural setting, so people come here to expect something different every time,” he said.

He says Tribal of Jubal was formed in 2007 and fuses contemporary Melanesia rhythms with Western music by combing traditional and Western instruments.

Mr Hakalitz said the Brisbane Ethnic Multicultural Arts Council (BEMAC) a sponsor of the festival, first approached them to come and perform.

“It’s great, it’s fantastic, it’s the first time we have done the show with this line-up,” he said.

“We usually have one section and a keyboard player but we could not bring them all in so we had to do a different set.

“Hopefully if they like this, we will come with a full band next time – three horns – trumpet, trombone and saxophone and a keyboard.”

President Dr Maria Tomasic said Australia must move forward from Kevin Rudd’s apology in 2008.

Indigenous groups rally for rights. Source: Emily Carter (used with permission).

“The apology two years ago was a very important thing and it had great significance to Indigenous people in Australia but unless it’s followed up with some real changes I think that it could end up being seen as a hollow gesture,” Dr Tomasic said.

Dr Tomasic has worked in remote communities.

She said the amendment to the constitution is part of a much needed multi-faceted approach.

“In terms of the constitution I think that recognising all Australians as equals will ensure Indigenous people don’t feel a sense of alienation and marginalisation,” Dr Tomasic said.

Aboriginal activist Sam Watson doesn’t see how changes to a federal form will help.

He said it’s ”unadulterated, boulder-dash and garbage.”

“Aboriginal people need very real relief in terms of health, housing, education and employment; we need a treaty to be signed that will acknowledge Aboriginal people as human beings and our very sacred connection to country,” Mr Watson said.

Despite the changes made to the Queensland Constitution which now includes Indigenous people, Mr Watson sees no improvements.

“Over the past 12-14 months since the constitution was changed there’s been an actual increase in the arrest rates, an increase in the incarceration rates for Aboriginal people and an increase in the death in custody rates,” Mr Watson said.

Psychologists like author Dr Pat Dudgeon agree with the college in challenging the constitution.

Dr Dudgeon believes the move would restore self-worth within the community.

“Having Aboriginal people included politically would acknowledge them as human beings, that they are part of this society and I think it would increase the collective of self esteem and the psychological participation within society,” Dr Dudgeon said.

Locals are annoyed by the fact that more roadworks are just around the corner. 

Local businessman Kim Rolph-Smith said the upgrade lasted as long as twelve months and could have been handled better.

“The construction for that high volume of water just wasn’t appropriate,” he said.

Residents are annoyed the road was destroyed so easily. Source: ABC News

“It took far too long, and now we’ve got another inconvenience for the locals for several months while they repair it again.”

“It’s just a shame, especially this time of the year.”

Mr Rolph-Smith said before upgrading the road, the council resumed land from a local family to alter the route.

“The idea was the bridge was to go across to Willunga Street, and then hook back into Rafting Ground Road, and that never happened,” he said.

“So there’s a block of land they resumed, wasting tax payer’s money once again and never used it.”

Reverend George Barnes from Brookfield Uniting Church said the upgrade was a big inconvenience to those attending services.

“It meant more time that they had to allow, because coming from Pullenvale, Anstead and even the other end of Rafting Ground Road it took them much longer to get to church.”

He said residents were angered about the first round of roadworks and is sure it will happen again.

“They will be, because they’re going to be disrupted in travelling to and from places,” he said.

“I know some of the business in Brookfield were severely devastated by trade during the period of the upgrade.”

Kim Rolph-Smith says residents warned the council before the upgrade went ahead.

“They were all warned by locals,” he said.

“It just wasn’t a sensible construction. It should have actually been a bridge and it was just too low.”

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman has called for a report from the council’s CEO into why the recent $4.3 million upgrade didn’t stand up to the floodwater.

Tourism in Australia

The Advertiser reports while Australia has recovered from the disastrous effects of the recession and our dollar is stronger than ever, many generation X and Y members have decided now is the perfect time to party Europe style and bask in the european sun with fellow Europeans who have stopped travelling here due to our increasingly stronger dollar.  

Australia prides itself on being a tourist’s dream with clear blue water, native animals, beaches and sunshine, but with our economy on the rise and our dollar stronger than ever, it’s turning people away from our country.

Australia is calling international tourists. Source: Olivia Noakes.

This is the biggest gap in the number of tourists arriving in and leaving Australia on record.

The number of Australians holidaying overseas was up 16 per cent while the arrivals only grew by three per cent.

As the Australian dollar remains strong our tourism sector weakens as more people are heading overseas with cheap airfares from an ever-growing number of competing carriers.

The Sunshine Coast

Queensland Tourism promotes the Sunshine Coast as a popular holiday destination for domestic and overseas travellers, with Noosa being one of its star attractions.

With the recent financial woes driving people overseas, Councillor Russel Green says it’s time to campaign energetically.

“Our own domestic market has certainly dropped,” Cr Green said.

“The tourism industry in Noosa is an $800m industry and many of our small businesses rely on the influx of tourists at peak season.

“We are still showing growth overall in our tourism figures over the last 12 months yet there were some segments struggling in comparison with the rest of Australia and our main competitors the Asia Pacific Rim,” he said.

In order to combat this, Tourism Noosa has created a new campaign with the aim to revitalise Noosa’s tourist brand.

The objective is to generate $1 billion in visitor spending by 2020 through luring Generation X and Y into relaxation mode.  Tourism Noosa CEO Steve Cooper said the campaign encourages thinking of the best holiday experiences and then tacks onto them – BY NOOSA.

“The world is changing but so is business and so are the many customer types that are emerging of that change,” Mr Cooper said.

“The key to this is recognising that the Generation X and Y are a different breed of cat.

“The way they seek information, the way they enjoy holiday experiences and the length of that experience they are looking for is continually evolving,” he said.

China: Driving the Australian economy

The ABS discovered the fourth largest number of tourists arriving in Australia in the last year was from China.

Financial Advisor Michael Goodwin said East Asia’s withdrawal from the international recession in 2009 was earlier and more vigorous than in other parts of the world.

He believes China is leading the global recuperation in industrial production and is helping Australia’s economy. 

He praises China’s trade relations and the boom of the mining industry for keeping our economy thriving.

“Australia coped quite well leading into the GFC due to previous strong government surpluses and strong mining exports to China therefore making it less volatile than other developed countries,” Mr Goodwin said.

“China is driving our country.

“If China got into trouble we would fall apart due to the mining industry and the exporting we are doing to China,” he said.

The Global Financial Crisis

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said the financial crisis was triggered by a liquidity deficit in the United States banking scheme; it has resulted in the failure of sizeable pecuniary institutions, the rescue of banks by national governments and downturns in supply markets worldwide. 

The ABS said the world economy is rising from the throes of a historically profound and synchronised recession aggravated by the convulsive worldwide monetary bubble. 

The consequences of the original bubble and the resultant disaster have been felt in almost every market whether or not it participated directly in the perilous behaviours that precipitated the boom-and-bust cycle.

The European Union

Financialmirror.com said the European Union (EU) had suffered most significantly including Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain (PIIGS). 

In early 2010, suspicions of a sovereign debt crisis developed concerning these countries. 

Stockbroker Rob Foote said this led to a crisis of confidence as well as the widening of bond yield spreads and risk insurance on credit default swaps between these countries and other EU members, most significantly Germany.

He said Greece is at the forefront of this crisis and the state of Greece’s public finances is a test not only for the country’s policymakers but also for other members of the European Union, particularly Germany whose economy is booming.

Mr Foote believes Germany should bail Greece out of debt as they are both members of the union.

“The european economy as a whole has reported quite strong growth figures in the second quarter of this year because of exports mainly from Germany due to the weak euro making their exports more attractive; the PIIGS have been growing at a much slower rate,” Mr Foote said.

“Greece doesn’t have many options and can only rely on the strength of the rest of Europe.

“They have had 20 years or longer of mismanagement of the economy and it’s not a recent problem and therefore Germany should be assisting Greece as they are all part of the European Union,” he said.

Could this mark the beginning of the end of the euro-era?

According to statistics published on the International Strategic Analysis website last year, Greece’s budget deficit reached 12.7 per cent of GDP.

Rob Foote said there were reported worries over whether the Greeks would act to cut their spending and deficits and this has caused paroxysms in the bond markets.

He said late last month the yield on ten-year Greek government bonds vaulted to 7.1 per cent, the highest since the country joined the euro area and about four percentage points more than on German bonds, the euro zone’s safest investment.

So what happens now? 

It’s hard to predict whether the European economy will remain slow to recover. 

Mr Foote said the financial sector is an abundance of questions and unknowns.

He said as the Australian dollar grows stronger, it could create a double-edged sword; Europeans will continue to stay home while Australians will travel. 

If Mr Goodwin’s views on China are correct one thing remains certain; this engine room of the world must not slow markedly as it would affect other world economies and leave the global financial market in limbo.