Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

Lot’s Wife
MoNASH UNIVERSITY student MAGAZINE - CLAYTIN!!!
ISSUE SIX - 2015

What’s more
brilliant then a
Monash degree?
Writing for Lot’s Wife!
We’ll publish anyone.
Lot’s Wife is a student-run
publication, written by people
just like you.
If you’re a writer, artist, cartoonist,
illustrator, or just a plain-old narcissist,
we want to publish you! (First timers welcome)
Drop by the Lot’s Office on the 1st
floor of Campus Center, or send an
email to: msa-lotswife@monash.edu

Monash Student Association (Clayton) Incorporated
ANNUAL ELECTIONS
Monday 21 September - Thursday 25 September 2015
NOTICE OF ELECTIONS
Nominations for the following positions will open at
9am on Wednesday 19 August 2015 and close at
5pm on Friday 28 August 2015.
Positions to be elected
Office Bearer positions:
President
Treasurer
Secretary
Disabilities and Carers Officer
Education (Academic Affairs) Officer
Education (Public Affairs) Officer
Welfare Officer
Women’s Officer
Male Queer Officer
Female Queer Officer
Environment & Social Justice Officer
Indigenous Officer
Activities Officer
Lot’s Wife Editor/s
Monash Student Council and Committees:
Monash Student Council (5 General Representatives)
Women’s Affairs Collective (5 Members)
Student Affairs Committee (10 Members)
National Union of Students:
7 Delegate positions
These elections are conducted using optional preferential
voting, and in accordance with other provisions as required
under the MSA Election Regulations (eg. only women can vote
for the Women’s Officer position).
Nomination forms will be available at the MSA office, or by
telephoning or writing to MSA, or via the internet at www.msa.
monash.edu/elections
Nominations open at 9am on Wednesday 19 August and
close at 5pm Friday 28 August 2015.
Copies of the regulations governing the election are
available from the MSA office or via the internet at
www.msa.monash.edu/elections
All students wishing to register for SMS and email alerts of
matters relating to the elections should email their contact
details to the Returning Officer from their student email
account.
Voting
Polling for the MSA elections will be 21 – 24 September
2015, with the polling times and places as follows:
The main polling place will be open in the Campus Centre
foyer
Monday 21 September
Tuesday 22 September
Wednesday 23 September
Thursday 24 September
foyer
Monday 21 September
Thursday 24 September
9.30am – 4.30pm
9.30am – 6.00pm
9.30am – 4.30pm
9.30pm – 4.30pm
Remote polling will be open in the Hargrave-Andrew Library
11.30am – 2.30pm
11.30am – 2.30pm
And at the foyer 21 Ancora Imparo Way (Yulendj Indigenous
Engagement Unit)
Wednesday 23 September 11.30am – 2.30pm
Postal votes are possible for those students unable to attend
the election in person. Applications will be available online or
at the MSA.
Candidates’ Forum
One or more Candidates’ Forums may be held in the
lead up to the Annual Elections, in line with the Election
Regulations.
Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the position of Organiser
for any Candidates’ Forum may be received by the Returning
Officer in writing from 9am on Wednesday 19 August until
5pm Friday 28 August 2015. Any such EOI must include a
student’s name, student number and contact details and
should be submitted to the locked box at the MSA front
counter.
Gillian Davenport
Returning Officer
3 August 2015
msa.returningofficer@gmail.com

Editors
Bill Molloy
Claire Rowe
Jarrod Verity
Design
danielle Natividad
Timothy Newport
Politics
Bree Guthrie
Hareesh Makam
Kirsti Weisz
Tom Clelland
Student Affairs
Julia Pillai
Kristin Robertson
Rosie Boyle
Science & Engineering
Alisoun Townsend
Kathy Zhang
Arts & Culture
Emily Neilsen
Kelly Pigram
Lisa Healy
Photography
Carina Florea
© Lot’s Wife 2015, Monash University Clayton, Victoria
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.
Lot’s Wife condemns and will not publish any material
that is racist, sexist, queerphobic, ableist, or discriminatory
in any nature. The views expressed herein are
those of the attributed writers and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the editors or the MSA. All writing
and artwork remains the property of the producers and
must not be reproduced without their written consent.
Contents
3
Editorial
4
oB Reports
Politics
8
Bronwyn Bishop
9
ALP National Conference
10
Your Political Correctness
is Problematic
12
500 Word Challenge
14
Animal Welfare Laws
15
The Story of ‘Boat Politics’
Student Affairs
18
Winter Blues
19
Electronic Cheating
20
Mental Illness at Uni
21
Fossil Free Monash
22
Protesters confront
Christopher Pyne’s book
launch
24
Some degree of
Uncertainty
25
‘Cheap Eats’
24
Event Schedule
Science &
Engineering
28
Broken Hill Geological Field
Camp
30
What’s Up doc?
31
Puzzles
32
Autonomous Weapons
34
Renewable Sources
35
Internships
36
Mysteries of the Human
Body
Arts & Culture
38
Education: Adam Goodes
39
Intersectionality &
Feminism
40
Is it true love?
41
Cecil the Lion
42
Celebrities and Crime
44
Festival Guide
46
Gig Guide
47
Art Showcase

EdIToRIAL 3
Editorial
Imagine the shock as you touch down at Tullamarine Airport -
fresh from a month-long trek in Europe - to find that you owe
the government $848.85 because you forgot to pay tax for
one of your jobs. This was the awful news that awaited Claire
as she returned from her decadent trip that she couldn’t
really afford. A couple of weeks later, Claire sat in the Lot’s
Wife office eating her quinoa and roast vegetable salad and
mused over how she was going to be ever able to repay her
debt when she has to buy daily essentials such as craft
beers, pay for her six monthly repair of her Italian boots and
of course, buy her ‘ancient grains’.
What a classic fuck wit of an Arts student. She probably
deserved that slap in the face from the ATo.
Unfortunately Claire’s predicament was not a particularly
unique one, it is a well known fact that university students
enjoy the following; a) backpacking in Europe and b) not
paying taxes. over the mid year break the vast majority of
university students have their newsfeeds clogged up with
pictures of friends in Europe and when classes resume, have
those same friends penning martyred posts about how they
have no money or job.
However Bill and Jarrod were an exception to this as they
were far more savvy with their funds. For instance, Bill’s mum
managed all of his money and Jarrod had invested a large
proportion of his savings in various solar energy companies
across Australia. It was for this that, in light of the financial
demise of their co-editor, Bill and Jarrod decided to lend a
hand of assistance to Claire.
Throughout the weeks that followed, the editors spent
an extensive amount of time devising ways in which funds
could be raised to repay the debt. After a notable politician
had recently released a book of his ‘achievements’, a belief
was ignited that anybody can write a autobiographical book
these days. A proposal for a memoir on the 21 years lived
by Claire - ‘My Story: a tale of hardship, intelligence and
finding myself’ - was devised but rejected by all of the major
Australian publishers.
Someone had also come up with the idea of offering
helicopter rides between campus and the synchrotron for
weary blue permit holders at, what they thought, was a
reasonable price. However, given the high price already
paid for these permits, students were unwilling to shell out
any more money and were obviously a little nervous about
being shamed in the mainstream media in light of recent
controversies regarding air travel.
Such controversies were among many of the issues tackled
in the editors’ sixth edition of Lot’s Wife. Josh Zuzek examined
the domino effect caused by Bronwyn Bishop’s travel
expenses, Kathy Zhang explored the dangers and ethics of
autonomous weapons, Julia Pillai explained why your political
correctness is problematic, and Timothy Newport recounted
his field trip to the Australian outback. Plus the regular
puzzles, Art Showcase, and event listings were included.
Anyway, the purpose of this rather self indulgent editorial
unnecessarily written in the third person, in past tense, was
for the editors to inform their readers as to a slight change
in the nature of Lot’s Wife. After various fund raising ideas
were tossed around and then rejected, one final decision was
ultimately reached. Faced with no other options, the editors
made a decision that is universally dreaded by all editors.
After a ferocious bidding war between multiple interested
parties, Lot’s Wife was sold in a split buy between two major
corporations. For $848.80. So grab a cool, refreshing, Coke,
and enjoy a copy of Lot’s Wife. Independent. Always.
Afterword
The ‘events’ stipulated above is both a combination of fact and
fiction. Lot’s Wife has not actually been sold and remains to be in the
tight grip of the Monash Student Association. Mr Molloy, Ms Rowe
and Mr Verity never took any action in order to raise funds of any
kind for any particular purpose. Ms Rowe did however go to Europe
and it is to the belief of this author that she does in fact owe the
Australian Taxation Office $848.80 and will never forget to pay her
taxes again.

4
oB REPoRTS
OB Reports
For every report not submitted, a picture
of from Claire’s European holiday has been
inserted for the enjoyment of our readers.
We didn’t want to waste all that space.
President
Sinead Colee
Looking for a healthy snack while on campus, but finding
it to be of extreme difficulty? Its cool - the MSA has you
covered! From now on the MSA will be bringing you Free Fruit
Fridays each and every week during semester. Having study
snacks that can sustain you through a long day of classes is
important! You’ll be able to find a bunch of magical orange
fruit bowls all throughout your MSA spaces very soon.
There is plenty happening at the MSA at the moment. Just
check out all of the reports that follow mine; the semester
ahead is jam-packed! I’m especially looking forward to
events such as Blue-Stockings week, Misfits Ball, Clubs and
Societies Awards night, the Activities department’s Boat
Cruise, Stress Less Week Puppies and the National Union of
Students protest against cuts to Higher Education funding
just to name a few!
Lately I’ve been working on many different projects -
namely organising Stationery Stations (stationery supply
hot-spots around campus) and assisting the university in
looking into better parking options for staff and students at
the Clayton Campus.
Got a suggestion for something you’d like to see happen on
campus? No worries! Flick me an email at president.msa@
monash.edu I’ll see what I can do. Have a great semester, y’all
Education (Academic Affairs)
Amelia Veronese
Hi everyone!
I hope the semester is going well for you all. Remember, if
you feel like you should withdraw from a unit or more and
that you would cope better with a reduced load you can do so
before the initial census date on Monday the 31st of August.
don’t forget! Peer Support has begun and will be running
up until Week 12 this semester in the John Medley Library.
Peer Support runs every Tuesday-Thursday from 10am-2pm
for students who want to improve their English Language in
assignments. So, if you have upcoming assessments and
need assistance with English language proficiency or know
someone who does, come along to a drop-in session. More
information can be found on these websites:
http://monash.edu/students/conversational-english/
http://msa.monash.edu/peersupport
Lately, the disabilities and Carers department and I
have just submitted our proposal based on the support we
received from the Equal Access campaign to the university.
Thank you if you signed our petition, we are hoping that the
university will adopt an opt-system of lecture recordings or
a policy that makes exceptions for students with disabilities
and student carers who do not have their lecture recorded.
Stay tuned for the outcome of this campaign.
Until next time, happy studying!
Secretary
Daniel King
Treasurer
Abby Stapleton
Claire with Pimms at Trafalgar square.
Brighton - weather was lovely, approx. 32 degrees
Education (Public Affairs)
Sarah Spivak & Mali Rea
Mali and Sarah have been industriously preparing for the
August 19 National day of Action as well as the Bluestockings
Week panel and trivia night. For the panel, we’ve organised
speakers Celeste Liddle the National Tertiary Education
Union Indigenous and Torres Straight Islander officer , dr.
Rae Frances the dean of Arts, Jeannie Rea the President
of the NTEU and dr. Swati Parashar lecturer on feminist
international relations. We’ve also held two successful
Monash Education Action Groups where we planned
strategies to tackle deregulation. Get involved and come to
the NdA! Like our ‘MSA Education’ page for more information
on how to get involved.

oB REPoRTS 5
Environment & Social Justice Officers
Lauren Goldsmith & David Power
‘over the holidays the ESJ collective had an inspiring
experience at the Students of Sustainability conference in
Adelaide on Kaurna countriy, learning from environmental
activists from all over Australia. Members also attended the
southeast Fossil Free Universities convergence, in which
every Fossil Free campaign in the state was represented,
where activists honed their campaigning skills and learned
from the successes of other groups.
It’s an exciting time for the environmental movement,
with the University of Warwick in the UK (Monash’s partner
university), recently committing to fossil fuel divestment.
With the movement growing globally at a fast pace, we’re
hoping Monash will take the opportunity to become the first
Australian University to take a stand and fully divest from
the fossil fuel industry.’
Queer Officers
Viv Stewart & Jarvis Sparks
Claire in Versailles, having fun.
Welfare Officers
Rebecca Adams & Jesse Cameron
Heya Monash!!!
Here is hoping that you are all settled back into the regular
grind of the semester. We know that you have it in you to kick
butt!
Us Welfar-ians have been hard at work getting preped
for the coming semester. After just rounding off the second
semester book fair we are getting especially for week 4 of
semester. Boy oh boy do we have some treats for you! Yoga!
Free Food! Healthy Eating Workshops! More Free Food! Plus
the return of the Welfare Ball, renamed as the Misfits Ball! It’s
only $10, and you get a whole heap for it!
Best of luck for the semester and we will see you around!
Jesse + Bec
Women’s Officers
Ellen Flach & Sophie Vassallo
As the semester rolls on we’re busy making things bigger
and better as we continue through the second half of the
year! We’ve been working on a whole range of eclectic things
over the last few weeks. our discussion groups are back
and running weekly in the women’s room, our consent
campaign has started popping up around campus and Blue
stocking week (by the time this is published) will have come
and gone! But that doesn’t mean that we’re not working on
more and more amazing projects! We are still accepting
submissions for dissent, our annual department publication,
with this year’s theme being ‘future’; somewhat apt as this
year we’re moving to a completely digital format. We’re also
currently promoting the National Union of Student’s ‘Talk
About it Survey’ which aims to gather information about
the experiences and hurdles of women students in higher
education. on top of that we’re also working on bring back
skill shares for semester two and have been working with
the Queer department to bring back Q2 - a group for queer
and questioning women - for semester two. There’s heaps to
look forward to in the Women’s department :) As always, the
women’s room, and all our events, are open to all people who
identify as or with women and we hope that your uni days are
going well!
Disabilities and Carers Officer
Andrew Day
Well after a rejuvenating break we’re back at you with more
this semester!
We’re running a morning tea event on every Tuesday at
10:30 so feel free to come along and help yourself to some
free nibbles and drinks.
We’ll also be hitting the pavement for the National Union of
Students National day of Action on August 19 - we’ll be there
to protest the Abbott Govt. and its plans for Higher Education
which would see generations of student carers and students
with disabilities locked out of the tertiary education system.
Feel free to come along for the fun!
If you’re interested in hearing more feel free to like the
facebook page and send us a message, we’re always glad to
hear from you.
Activities Officers
Tahnee Burgess & Jake Krelle
Hey dudes,
Looking forward to semester two, activities is back running
hump days every Wednesday on the Lemon scented lawn
feeding hungry students so come down and see us for a free
snag! This semester you can look forward to our "boat that
rocks" boat cruise in week 6 with drinks starting at $1.50, an
intimate comedy evening later in semester, oktoberfest in
week 7 and of course AXP which is coming back with more
awesome drink specials, cocktails and fun! Keep your eyes
peeled for a few on-campus activities such as box wars and
jumping castles for some between class fun!
Cheers.

6
CoVER EXPLANATIoN
Bees? Bees!
Cover artwork by
Timothy Newport
This cover was inspired by the striking exterior structure of the new
Green Chemical Futures building in the Science precinct. It seems
to have divided the community: half think it looks like a spaceship,
the other like a beehive. Oh, and presumably someone out there
appreciates the elegance of the design, but at this point I think
they’re afraid to speak up.
Compositionally, I took inspiration from classic sci-fi illustration,
with panoramic views of hundreds of spaceships docking. The
background was inspired somewhere between "Come Visit Sunny
Whatever" and the propaganda posters of the post-war Soviet Union.
I then proceeded to make an absolute mess of the whole thing, but
hey, it turned out alright.
The building itself really does look like a honeycomb structure: I
wouldn’t be at all surprised if local bees did confuse the building for
a giant hive!

7 7
PoLITICS
Politics
ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE NATIVIDAD @dnat
ARTICLES BY
Josh Zuzek
George Kopelis
Julia Pillai
Kirsti Weisz
Hareesh Makam

8
POLITICS
BY JOSH ZUZEK
(Insert witty BRONNY-related Headline here)
(Insert Hilarious BRONNY-Related Meme/Memes Here)
The unimaginatively named ‘Choppergate’ scandal has only
served to highlight just how stupid politicians think we are.
The now former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop chartered a
helicopter for the 100km trip from Melbourne to Geelong at
taxpayer expense in November 2014 for a Liberal Party event
at the Clifton Springs Golf Club. The trip originally cost
taxpayers $5,227, but the shambolic fallout cost Bishop her
job as Speaker and has left her considering retirement from
politics altogether.
Bishop is renowned for her passion for politics, and is
the longest-serving female politician in the history of the
Australian Parliament. However, her conduct as Speaker
did nothing to restore the reputation and standing of the
Speaker following a tumultuous period for the office after the
scandals surrounding Peter Slipper.
Her refusal to apologise and repay the questionable
expenses - insisting repeatedly that the charter was "within
the rules" – stunk of hubris and arrogance, making the media
portrayal of Bishop as self-entitled, and the Tony Abbott-led
administration as increasingly out of touch all the more
accurate as the days rolled by.
Upon reflecting on Bishop’s reign as Speaker,
commentators have struggled to name a more partisan
speaker in the history of the Parliament. Indeed, she
continued to attend Liberal party-room meetings, unlike
many of the speakers who preceded her.
"I mean to be impartial," she told the Parliament shortly
after taking up the position. "The comments that I have made
about attending party meetings is simply that I am a Liberal
– but we don’t deal with tactics and I wouldn’t be part of that"
in this chair I will act impartially."
As of July, Bishop had booted 400 MPs from parliament
– 393 of them Labor members. The number of ejections is
a record, and could have easily been higher had the former
Madame Speaker been as keen to throw out Coalition MPs as
she was members of the Opposition.
Furthermore, Bishop racked up a greater overseas travel
expenses bill than any of the three previous Speakers in her
first year in the job, tallying nearly $300,000 in expenses.
She also ranked as one of the highest spenders in
Parliament in the period from July 1 to December 31, 2014,
with total expenses adding up to just under $400,000.
During that period, Ms. Bishop spent more than Federal
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, and only $12,000 less than
Barnaby Joyce, whose Agriculture portfolio obviously requires
a lot of travel.
The manner in which Bishop eventually fell on her sword –
"Seemingly determined to
simply say nothing until
the problem went away – a
popular tactic for the Coalition
apparently – both Abbott and
Bishop went to ground and left
commenting on the brewing
storm to other MPs."
despite the best efforts of her and the Prime Minister to avoid
the metaphorical sword altogether - only goes to further
highlight the shortsighted nature of politics in our country
today. Seemingly determined to simply say nothing until
the problem went away – a popular tactic for the Coalition
apparently – both Abbott and Bishop went to ground and left
commenting on the brewing storm to other MPs. It was only
after the controversy threatened to get out of control that
Abbott voiced his displeasure, despite still supporting his
political mentor.
"She has been a strong servant of our country, she has
been a good servant of the Coalition and so she does have my
confidence but like everyone who has done something like
this, inevitably, for a period of time, they are on probation," he
said a week after news of the charter flight first came to light.
Of course, Bronwyn Bishop isn’t the only politician to
get caught cheating the system – a system that has come
in for widespread criticism of late by commentators and
politicians alike.
Already this month has seen Tony Burke – one of Ms.
Bishop’s most vocal Opposition critics – come under fire for
claiming $6,500 to fly his family to Uluru in 2012, as well as
Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young who claimed $3,000 for
a party at the 2015 Sydney Mardi Gras.
The difference between Bishop and the ever-growing
number of other transgressing politicians is that while
others realised their mistake, apologized and repaid the
money promptly, Bishop continued to deny any wrongdoing,
digging herself a deeper hole and ultimately forcing the hand
of her strongest backer the Prime Minister.
Politicians think we’re idiots. Maybe we are – after all, we
did elect Tony Abbott.

POLITICS 9
The ALP National
Conference Explained
BY GEORGE KOPELIS
Bill Shorten’s public approval rating may be at its lowest, but
within the Labor Party he has never been stronger following
July’s National Conference. The leader of the federal ALP
negotiated between the numerous but disorganised Left
factions and his traditional powerbase in the Right to pass
some symbolic but politically important motions. In doing
so he was able to cement his position as leader, while onetime
leadership contender Anthony Albanese found himself
leading the defeated motion to drop boat turn backs.
Four policies Shorten will be congratulating himself for
passing are:
Supporting the Coalition’s asylum seeker boat turn back
policy, while doubling (over 10 years) the humanitarian
intake to 27,000 people each year.
Reaction: The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre called for
Labor to increase the humanitarian intake to
27,000 immediately, close Manus Island and
Nauru processing centres and drop turn backs,
but welcomed its plan to abolish Temporary
Protection Visas.
Allowing Labor MPs a conscience vote on same sex
marriage until after the 2016 election, when support for
same sex marriage will become binding.
Reaction: Australian Marriage Equality national director
Rodney Croome said Labor’s policy of a free
vote on same sex marriage would increase the
pressure on Tony Abbott to provide the same
guarantee for his own party.
Aiming for 50% of Australia’s energy to come from
renewable sources by 2030, through an emissions trading
scheme.
Reaction:
The Clean Energy Council said the "ambitious"
50% target was great news for the renewable
energy sector, and that the industry looked
forward to working through policy detail with
Labor.
A 50:50 gender balance in parliament by 2025.
Reaction: Two female Liberal MPs said more women
were needed in the Liberal Party, but proposed
different ways to achieve this. Sharman Stone
said the party needed to adopt similar quotas
to the Labor Party in pre-selection contests,
while Kelly O’Dwyer argued non-binding targets
for female candidates would be more effective.
Shorten’s opening speech to National Conference also
outlined traditional Labor values around jobs. He promised to
have the next generation of submarines built and maintained
in Australia and also said the free trade agreement with
China would maintain "Australian safety standards,
Australian wages and Australian jobs".
Predictably, Labor’s adoption of turn backs has been
criticised by the Greens and dismissed by the Liberal Party.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Labor was no
better than the Coalition where asylum seekers were
concerned.
"Labor had an opportunity today to stand up against the
cruelty of turn-backs and the suffering of refugees on Nauru
and Manus Island, but sadly they failed," she said.
The Liberal Party, on the other hand, seized on Labor’s public
disunity over boat turn backs. Many Labor MPs had made
public statements for or against the policy leading up to the
National Conference.
"It (the turn back motion) has not removed the baggage of
the Rudd and Gillard era; if anything it has drifted further to
the left," the party said in a media release.
Bill Shorten would disagree with both assertions. He is
attempting to position the Labor Party closer to the centre
of political debate, still leading the way with progressive
policies but with the political experiences to avoid more
radical ideas.
In renewable energy this is most apparent. Shorten has
been mentioning Labor’s support for an emissions trading
scheme, but has highlighted the 50% renewable energy target
in recent weeks. This is his plan to reduce any Coalition
smear campaigns about a resurgent carbon tax, and to
encourage greater public support for mainstream policy.
"If Mr Abbott wants to make the next election a contest about
who has the best policy solution on climate change, I’ve got a
three word slogan for him - bring it on!" Bill Shorten told the
party faithful at National Conference.
That’s not the only slogan Shorten used at National
Conference. He finished his address by stating how Labor
was ready to "advance Australia". Co-opting the national
anthem isn’t a particularly original idea, but it shows Shorten
is positioning himself as a progressive yet mainstream
alternative Prime Minister.
The Labor leader needs to act decisively to increase his
approval rating from a dismal 27% in July’s Newspoll – Tony
Abbott now has a higher rating (at 33%) than Shorten for the
first time. He can take some satisfaction in seeing the Labor
primary vote at 39%, which is usually an election-winning
percentage. Leading up to the 2016 election, expect sustained
promotion of the four main issues emerging from National
Conference, but also traditional Labor campaigns based
around safeguarding jobs.

10
POLITICS
BY JULIA PILLAI
Your Political-Correctness
Is Problematic.
If you give me a sensible reason why I should
say or do something in a different manner
to ensure the safety and comfort of people
of a minority group, I’d take heed. In fact,
as a member of such groups, I understand
how important these things can be. The term
political correctness is somewhat jarring.
It tends to be used by the far right to mock
anyone with some form of human decency;
and usually political correctness is just that -
human decency. However I’m beginning to see
how so called ‘political correctness’ deviates
from protecting or ensuring the safety of a
minority group, and more about moralitypolicing
and agenda pushing in political
spaces; ultimately undermining the actual
purpose of using certain language or behaving
in a certain way.

POLITICS 11
The Tumblr page ‘Your Fave Is Problematic’ is a perfect
example of how political correctness can be undermined.
The blog’s purpose is to name celebrities who have done or
said something that is offensive or inappropriate. Reading
through the site, there were some outright awful things that
celebrities have done which they should be accounted for.
However, there were also cases where they called out actions
that happened while an actor was in character, which may
not be their actual opinions. There were also times where
actions are perhaps in a bit of a grey area, or missteps that
were likely to be a genuine mistake. We shouldn’t necessarily
excuse them for such missteps, but I find the concept
of labelling somebody as ‘problematic’ concerning. Sure,
someone may do or say something that is inappropriate
or problematic- does it make their entire existence
‘problematic’- not necessarily.
I also found myself asking, who are these people who run
this Tumblr? What authority do they have to decide who
is and who is not problematic? If it turns out that the 6
anonymous individuals who run the site are all cis-gendered,
white, straight, non-disabled, middle class, and otherwise
‘privileged’ people, I’d be disappointed. Despite how much
the blog stresses that they exist for the safety of minority
groups it feels more like the moderators (and followers) of
the blog are concerned more about their personal status,
ensuring that they have some moral high-ground, rather than
genuinely fighting for the safety of a minority group. And
frankly, I’m not keen on these people fighting my fights for
me.
Cultural appropriation is a highly discussed issue, and we
have a tendency to assume that there is a general consensus
on issues, when there may not be. This can certainly be
alienating for People of Colour who have ideas and opinions
may vary to the mainstream. There are certainly cases of
general consensus - Native American inspired headdresses is
a great example. However there is discourse and dissent with
many other issues in different communities- and this is not
a bad thing. An example of where there may not be a general
consensus is the Bindi. In her 2014 Huffington post article,
Anjali Joshi argues;
‘We can’t accuse non-Hindus of turning the bindi into a fashion
accessory with little religious meaning because we [Hindu’s] have
already done that... the 5,000 year old tradition of adorning my
forehead with kumkuma [coloured powder traditionally used to
adorn the forehead] just doesn’t seem to align with the current
Bindi collection in my dresser designed to perfectly complement my
outfit. I didn’t pick up these modern day Bindis at a hyper-hipster
spot... This lot was brought from the motherland itself.’
Furthermore, the debate is not just about who can and
cannot wear a bindi- there are other arguments to factor
in, and these arguments generate a range of questions;
how do we define a Bindi? Is any kind of jewelled stick-on
accessory worn on the forehead a Bindi? Is it possible to have
any accessory on the forehead, without any appropriation?
Are there different rules for non-Hindus wearing traditional
Bindis (ie, kumkuma powder Bindis) and modern Bindis?
This is not to say that the opinions of those who say that
it’s inappropriate for non-Hindus to wear Bindis are invalid.
However to say that there is a consensus on this issue, and
every facet of this issue is incorrect, and it’s important to
acknowledge that there is a wide range of issues in the
community. Dissent about issues like this isn’t unhelpful
either, these discussions are important for minority groups
to discuss what is important, what is inappropriate and so
forth. And let’s be honest- minority groups having general
consensus on these issues, any minority and any issue, only
favours members of privileged majorities who want to fit into
a moral high-ground for the sake of their own political status.
Finally, content or trigger warnings. Personally I think that
these warnings when used correctly are fantastic. Not only for
people who may have specific mental health triggers, but for
mainstream audiences these warnings are helpful for people
to choose what they want to read (if someone is having a
bad day, they might not want to read an article with a trigger
warning). However I have seen how these warnings have been
misused or overused, which unfortunately renders these
warnings meaningless.
I feel that the key issue is context and audience- if you are
sharing an article in a group that is a space for people who
are affected by particular issues, or if it’s a group of people
from a specific community, use as many trigger warnings as
you want. If you are sharing something with a mainstream
audience, use these warnings sparingly.
Overuse is dangerous. I’ve definitely had times where I
have read something that was perhaps more heavy than
I thought it would be with a warning which I overlooked,
because that warning had been overused. The issue is that
the meaning behind particular warnings can be incredibly
vague. For example, a warning for ‘murder’ could mean
anything from someone saying that they were murdered, a
vague discussion about murder the weapon and situation, or
graphic details of a murder and possibly images of the crime
scene. For mainstream audiences, the reactions to these
discussions will vary from something they are desensitized
by, to something that is completely shocking.
The other concern (usually from right wingers) is if
trigger warnings be used as a way to censor opinions; it’s
an awful thing to admit, but at times they can. It is not the
intent of such warnings, however these warnings can be
misused- which does threaten unbiased reporting. Similarly,
it’s about context and audience. It’s entirely appropriate to
warn for homophobia and transphobia in a safe space for
LBGTIQ people, or for a magazine or paper that particularly
caters to that niche, however it pushes the censorship line
a little when warnings for generally disgusting opinions
(homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism) were to be used in
the media more broadly, it would certainly threaten unbiased
reporting, even if these opinions are generally, and rightfully
rejected.
So now you can ask yourself; is your political-correctness
problematic? Political correctness done properly means
ensuring that everyone can participate in discussions safely,
that everyone has an informed choice to even join such a
discussion, and that this discussion is diverse. Political
correctness should be about human decency, and being kind
to others, it should not be about political gain, or ensuring
that you have a reputation of being a ‘nice person’.
BY JULIA PILLAI

12
POLITICS
500 Word Challenge
BY HAREESH MAKAM
For
Essential to
Australia’s
Financial Woes
Increases to income and corporate tax hurt, they can damage
household budgets and they can leave citizens in precarious
financial positions. However, the GST is a regressive tax and
by that token does not nearly harm the spending patterns,
investment and budgets of ordinary people and companies.
Have you ever seen or spoken to someone who does not buy
essential and non-essential goods or services because of a
10% surcharge due to GST? No. It’s farcical to even ponder a
world where anyone (poor or rich) would re-configure their
spending patterns because of a 10% tax on the things they
purchase. If you follow that logic, and most people do, then
by extension a 5% increase in the GST and the broadening
of its base to include all goods and services seems fair and
harmless to any income earner on the street.
First of all our budget predicament is to a large extent
serious. Those who tell you that a AAA credit rating, and
having the lowest debt to GDP ratio in the OECD are signs
that our fiscal position is solid are gravely mistaken. This is
because they have a lack of understanding of the Australian
economy. Our economy is two speed – we rely on banking
and finance industries to stabilize and hold our economy
together while another industry stimulates private economic
growth. However, in recent times we have seen mining dying
out, manufacturing die while agriculture is decomposing in
it’s grave. Furthermore, very few foreign investors want to
confidently support a country in economic transition that
promotes a weakening currency and houses high wages and
taxes. We are becoming as Keating calls it an ‘industrial,
economic graveyard’. As a consequence, government
revenue has sharply fallen, debt has increased and we will be
experiencing a fiscal crisis if we do nothing in the short-term.
The solution in the short term is more government revenue
– but more money for the states in particular.
According to CPA Australia, broadening the base and
increasing the GST to 15% would add $42.5 billion in the first
year to state coffers and an extra $27 billion dollars every
following year. The increase and broadening alone would
offset the government’s $80 billion cut to schools and
hospitals and provide more long-term economic stability
"Have you ever seen or
spoken to someone who does
not buy essential and nonessential
goods or services
because of a 10% surcharge
due to GST? No."
to State budgets, which are also facing a hit. Moreover,
this rise in the GST intake would allow the Commonwealth
to reduce income and corporate taxes as the fall in
government revenue (by this decision) would be offset by
states becoming more fiscally independent. This will allow
the Australian economy to be more competitive, encourage
investment and stimulate job growth into the future because
as has been previously mentioned non-regressive taxes hurt
the finances of people the most and therefore lead to less
confidence and growth in the market.
Overall, the GST and its reform will provide us with $100
billion a year (25% of federal government revenue) whilst
staying regressive and harmless to household budgets and
spending patterns. It is by virtue, a policy which herald’s
great benefit for relatively little pain. That readers, is the
fundamental essence of good public policy. But it is only the
start of the tax debate.

POLITICS 13
This month’s issue:
Should we raise GST?
Against
The GST should not
be increased
BY JULIA PILLAI
The current state of the Goods and Services Tax in Australia
is by no means perfect; there are still controversies over
exemptions, and lack of exemptions (such as the GST on
sanitary pads and tampons... grr) which seriously need to be
fixed. Nonetheless, I think that a 10% tax on non-essential
items is firm, but fair tax. Exceeding 10% however, is quite
regressive.
We must remember that the GST is a tax that everyone
pays, regardless of age, income, if you are on welfare or if you
aren’t on welfare. It is true that for some of us, an increase
to 15% or even 20% is fair for our situations, but it probably
isn’t fair for many others. While this tax is for non-essentials
we must remember that things that are considered ‘non
essential’ are still important. These include things like
clothes, soap, shoes, fuel, Myki fares, laundry powder,
tampons, gas and electricity bills, things that are far from
luxury items. Obviously, an increase of GST will mean that
these things will be at least 5% more expensive, and this does
increase the cost of living for everyone including people who
may already be struggling financially. This could mean more
people on welfare, less people paying tax. We must also be
aware of how the fear of the cost of living rising will affect
consumers. When people have to pay at least 5% on many
products- which as established earlier, are not necessarily
luxuries, they have less money to spend on other products.
Yes, I know that the ‘age of entitlement’ is over, however, in
order for the economy to work, we do need people to spend
money on non-essential things, perhaps not helicopter rides,
but the more people buy things, the more people have jobs
selling things, the bigger the economy, the more money
the government has, the more the government can spend
on helicopter rides industries that will build Australia, the
more people get jobs, they get money, they spend the money,
#capitalism. Retail therapy is important...for AUSTRALIA and
a 5% increase on a sizeable amount of things people actually
buy might make them spend less.
Ultimately, the issue with a GST increase is that there are
fairer ways to increase government revenue. It’s somewhat
concerning that a GST increase is the first thing that the
"While this tax is for nonessentials
we must remember
that things that are
considered ‘non essential’ are
still important. These include
things like clothes, soap,
shoes, fuel, Myki fares..."
government is looking at- what about taxing corporations
that ruin the environment, what about making sure that
large companies don’t evade taxes (looking at you IKEA...I
KNEW that diabolical flat-pack furniture wasn’t the only
reason why you are so affordable... sneaky), and for the heck
of it, perhaps making sure our mate Gina is paying her share
too. Increasing the GST is a last case scenario; reviewing
other taxes, and making sure that people are paying
them is more important. Who knows after doing that, the
government might have just enough money for us all to get
helicopter rides, GST free. They are very essential.

14
POLITICS
BY KIRSTI WEISZ
The conflict of interest
plaguing animal welfare laws
Harrowing stories from Australia’s live export trade often
feature in the news or circulate via social media. These
stories, which are usually presented in the form of heartwrenching
images or ear-piercing videos, demonstrate an
incomprehensible level of cruelty.
One of the most recent clips from Vietnam, where
Australian cattle were being slaughtered with
sledgehammers, was deemed ‘too shocking’ to release
publicly.
Shatha Hamade, a live export investigator for Animals
Australia, not only examines the evidence included in the
formal complaints to the Australian government, but also
witnesses the stories first-hand. She goes overseas to
investigate whether exported animals are handled according
to Australia’s regulations.
In one particular investigation in Kuwait, Shatha was
documenting the illegal sale of Australian sheep in a
notorious livestock market. As she stood and documented
two men putting trussed Australian sheep in the back of a
van, she rested her elbow on the boot of a Toyota Camry to
stable her focus. It was a stifling hot day.
It wasn’t what she heard or saw that startled her, but what
she felt. As she leaned on the boot, she felt frantic kicking.
There were sheep stuffed in the boot.
When asked how she handles witnessing animal cruelty,
Shatha said “when you are in the field, you have to keep
reminding yourself that you are there to document their
plight, to give them a voice, so that their suffering will not be
in vain.”
Not too long ago, the Voices for Animals Bill 2015 was
reintroduced into the Senate by Federal Greens Senator Lee
Rhiannon.
The bill proposes to establish an Independent Office of
Animal Welfare that will, among other things, monitor and
implement regulations concerning the live export trade.
Currently, the Department of Agriculture is responsible
for the welfare of animals exported overseas. However, an
inherent conflict of interest exists as the Department is not
only responsible for animal welfare but also for ensuring the
interests of industries that use animals.
The main animal welfare framework that regulates the live
export trade is the Export Supply Chain Assurance System
(ESCAS). It was implemented following the 2011 public outcry
about the systematic cruelty occurring in Indonesia. ESCAS
allow the Department of Agriculture to hold Australian
exporters responsible for breaches such as when the animals
are taken out of the supply chain.
Now, four years later, very little has been done to
penalise exporters or individuals for these breaches
despite continuing cruelty. While blaming the industry for
transgression may not be the ultimate solution, a greater
focus on detecting and preventing breaches is needed.
Animal welfare frameworks are often plagued by this conflict
of interest, whether in the context of food, entertainment or
science. But how can we enshrine an unbiased approach to
animal welfare?
Broadly speaking there are two main philosophical
approaches to regulating animal welfare. The current
approach aims at working within established systems to
improve the treatment of animals because, like humans, they
can experience pain and suffering. It attempts to balance the
interests of animals and humans to ensure the best outcome
is achieved. However, seeing as animals cannot voice their
opinions, it can lead to their exploitation because an industry
which uses animals may sacrifice animal welfare to ensure
productivity.
An alternative approach sees animals as autonomous
beings that are subjects of rights and therefore cannot be
used as a means to our ends. Adopting this perspective
generally rules out the use of animals which means that the
live export trade cannot continue.
Exporting animals overseas not only contributes
financially to Australia, with $1.4 billion revenue since 2013,
but also employs approximately 10,000 people. So banning
the trade is a massive step that may sacrifice the interests of
the industries involved; a step we may not be ready for.
So, what can be done to balance these interests?
Great support has been shown in the 21st century for animal
protection. It is often referred to as the :next social justice
movement.: Having a system that isn’t properly enforced
undermines its purpose. We know the reports from overseas
reveal cruelty and our aim should at least be to alleviate
it. However, instead of rectifying flaws in the system, the
Department reduced the red tape in the processes to lessen
the burden placed on relevant industries.
We may not be able to find anyone who takes a completely
objective view but perhaps an Independent Office for
Animal Welfare - in charge of monitoring and reviewing
these regulations - can provide a voice to the animals most
vulnerable to our systems of law.

POLITICS 15
The Past, Present and Future Problems:
The story of ‘boat politics’ in Australia
BY HAREESH MAKAM
Since the turn of the century, the asylum seeker issue in
Australia has become a controversial and gripping problem,
which has for the most part created media frenzy. The
international community has shown themselves to be
incapable of addressing this issue and therefore it has
fallen at the feet of many national governments which all
adopt differing policies. Granted, it is a complicated topic
for states mainly because of the difficulty countries face
in balancing the humanitarian responsibility they have to
legitimate refugees as well as the economic interests of
controlling population growth and public welfare spending.
However, in this country the politics of dealing with this issue
has been both successful and disastrous. Therefore, it is
only appropriate to discuss this by venturing into the past,
analyzing the present and identifying future obstacles.
To tackle the growing asylum seeker concern, the Howard
government implemented the Pacific Solution, which
involved defence forces intercepting refugee boats off the
coast of Australia and placing them within detention centres
in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, where they would await
processing to determine their refugee status. According
to government documents this policy led to a substantial
decrease in boat arrivals. In the seven years, before the
Pacific Solution there were 14,565 boat arrivals to Australia.
In the seven years after, there were only 288 arrivals. This
shows an 80% reduction in boats and possible deaths at
sea. Furthermore, this policy allowed the number of people
in detention to reduce because boat arrivals were drastically
slowing down and processing was becoming quicker and
more efficient. By the time Howard left office there were
only 400 people in immigration detention compared to the
more than 3000 who were there when the Pacific solution
was implemented. Once Labor returned to government
they scrapped these policies saying that they were ‘costly
and ineffective.’ The ‘compassionate immigration policy’
introduced by Labor was seen as being too weak and enticed
people smugglers to send hundreds of asylum seekers on
leaky, crudely constructed boats to Australia. By January
2012, there were over 13,000 people in immigration detention
in this country. It is estimated that 1,200 people died while
attempting to reach Australia by boat. You could say that
by repealing effective immigration policies the Labor
government under Rudd and Gillard ‘encouraged’ the deaths
of these people. If it wasn’t for parliamentary privilege, in
normal circumstances, these governments would have been
charged with more than a thousand counts of manslaughter.
But alas, those who died will never receive justice.
Enter, the Abbott era. The Liberal Party won the 2013 Federal
election on the promise to ‘stop the boats’. Regardless of
whether you agree with the policy or not, it is one of the few
promises that Abbott has come through on in an otherwise
torrid term that has seen his popularity plummet. The
introduction of Operation sovereign borders has stopped
boat arrivals into this country by dissuading people
smugglers to send asylum seekers to this country. That has
in turn stopped drowning and death at sea and has made it
easier for offshore detention centers to process the existing
asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. As a result, the
number of people in immigration detention in Australia and
offshore has reduced by more than 50% to less than 6000
and the number of children in detention has reduced by 90%.
On paper, the government has seemingly solved this issue
and it is almost a certainty that the number of people in
detention will come to zero if these policies are retained by
future governments. Should the Prime Minister be praised for
this?
The short answer is a resounding ‘no’. The media has
continued to attack Abbott for his successes in regards
to this issue because of the fact that he is desperately
unpopular and has more or less become ‘the public punching
bag.’ It even got to the point where the Human Rights
Commission, in November 2014 introduced the National
Inquiry into Immigration detention, which criticized the
government for their handling of this issue.
The past and present have been difficult times for Australia
in regards to boat politics. However, by now we should have
learnt that it is tough border laws, which stop drowning at
sea and ensures that immigration into this country grows
not through illegitimate but legal channels. That can only
be beneficial for this country. However, media attacks stand
in our way from achieving effective immigration laws. I’m
fearful, that a government lacking in political will will repeal
the Abbott government’s effective policies. If this happens
then it will show that we have not learnt on this issue. It is
time for us to start teaching the international community
how to run effective immigration policies, instead of being
lectured to by those with a political agenda.
Hareesh Makam is a member of the Liberal Party

16
ILLUSTRATION BY CHLOE BLYTHMAN
Monash Student Association
Student Rights
When things go wrong...
Level 1, Campus Centre
(Next to MSA Reception)
21 Chancellors Walk
msa.monash.edu/studentrights
• Unit Failure (Exclusion)
• Discipline
• Grievance
• Special Consideration
...and you need to understand your options.

17 17
PoLITICS
Student Affairs
ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE NATIVIDAD @dnat
ARTICLES BY
Carina Florea
Matthew Edwards
Rubee Dano
Lauren Goldsmith & Rhyss Wyllie
Mali Rea
Georgia Cox

18
STUDENT AFFAIRS
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY Carina Florea
Winter Blues
on Campus
As winter continued to unleash its
relentless tirade of misery and rain on us,
Monash’s inaugural Winterfest invited
students, staff, friends and family to join
together for a week of good food, music
and entertainment which helped us
through the cold winter nights.
The first night of Winterfest opened with a wide selection
of food trucks and music on display as Monash lit up with
fairy lights and the warm, inviting glow of The Chalet that set
the scene for the night’s fantastic line up of blues and jazz
artists featuring Movement 9, Clare Bowditch and The Black
Sorrows.
Reworking the music of Amy Winehouse in their own
twisted way, Movement 9 recreated popular songs such as
‘Valerie’, ‘In my bed’ and ‘What is it about men’ giving us a
taste of their new EP ‘May we never meet again: The music
of Amy Winehouse’. Singer Elly Poletti’s soul drenched voice
was supported by the talented sounds of former Monash
music school graduates performing beautiful trumpets
and saxophone solos and jazz harmonies. In a slowed down
version of ‘Back to Black’, Movement 9 retained the bare
bones of the original and moulded it into their own unique
style, heavy with sorrow and passion.
The night continued with a lively performance by ARIA
award winner and Offspring star, Clare Bowditch. Stripped
down from her usual 12 piece band, Bowditch was joined on
stage by long-time friend and collaborator, Monique Donatina
on piano, they took the time to feature the world debut of
Bowditch’s new song ‘Don’t go’. Engaging the audience from
the get go, Bowditch began by posing the question, "What
was it when you were 5 years old that you wanted to be?" Be
it an author, astronaut, receptionist or a spy, her set took
those childhood dreams and created a set that spoke truths
about love and war, of boredom and courage that urged the
audience to choose their own life adventure and chase their
dreams.
To finish the night, The Black Sorrows took to the stage to
deliver an energy packed set that got people up and dancing
in the Chalet. The Black Sorrows are no stranger to the stage,
as a band that has been together for 32 years counting, it
was clear that after all this time, they still absolutely love
performing and the joy was infectious as they delivered
crowd favourite "Shape I’m In" and finished off the night with
a cover of Van Morrisons "Bright Side of The Road" to end the
nights festivities.
Winter Blues was only the beginning of Winterfest, and was
followed by more events like the mid-winter carnival on the
Wednesday and a comedy night on the Thursday featuring
Tommy Little and Nazeem Hussain. With food trucks, live
music and a snow zone throughout the week, it proved to be
an event not to be missed.

STUDENT AFFAIRS 19
Electronic Cheating
Universities are increasingly fearful of electronic cheating as
desperate students strive for guaranteed results.
Regulatory measures against plagiarising and cheating
on assignments, essays and exams have increased
after students were caught breaching academy integrity
standards in the past year.
The Age’s Glenn Mulcaster reported that Curtin University
in Western Australia recorded 651 incidents of plagiarism last
year – the equivalent of 2 plagiarism
incidents per 1000 student unit
enrolments.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Education
Jill Downie said it was difficult
to judge whether plagiarism had
increased or whether text analysis
systems like Turnitin had made
breaches easier to find.
"There is a consistent pattern of an
increasing numbers of plagiarism
being reported each year... this trend
may reflect continued improvements
in the detection and reporting of
cases," Professor Downie said.
But as students become more
desperate to succeed, and expanding
digital networks make the flow of
information more easily accessible,
methods of cheating have become
more sophisticated and difficult to detect.
From using ‘spy kits’ to communicate with accomplices
via Bluetooth during an exam to printing fake drink labels
with answers or formulas, it may not be that students are
actually cheating more – just the means in which they do it
are becoming more devious and difficult to detect.
There are even tips available from the suppliers of these
devices, and thousands of YouTube tutorials, on how to cheat,
and how to make sure you don’t get caught.
Monash University Council Regulations states that
possession of unauthorised materials is a discipline
offence. These materials include electronic devices such as
mobile phones, smart watches, electronic dictionaries and
calculators for certain faculties.
The current penalty for possession of these materials,
attempting to cheat, or cheating ranges from a $300 fine to
suspension or even exclusion.
Anxiety and fear can rise to peak levels as deadlines and
exams loom just around the corner. It’s the story of every
university student’s life – and it often drives some to cheat in
order to succeed.
A report by Fairfax Media found that thousands of students
last year enlisted a Sydney company called MyMaster to write
essays and assignments, as well as sit online tests.
"But as students
become more
desperate to succeed,
and expanding
digital networks
make the flow of
information more
easily accessible,
methods of cheating
have become more
sophisticated and
difficult to detect."
One request lodged was for a 6000-word human rights law
research assignment at the University of New South Wales,
worth 70 per cent of the student’s overall grade.
The cheating occurred throughout the state’s university
system, with almost 1000 assignments paid for by students
studying courses from law and economics to philosophy and
astronomy.
Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson
said universities were aware of
services like MyMaster looking to
exploit students seeking an easy path
to success.
But how can universities stop online
cheating?
The MyMaster essay scandal has
raised the profile of a new student
society aimed to raise academic
integrity standards at Sydney’s
Macquarie University.
The Academic Integrity Matters
student group was set up last
year as a chapter of the University
of California San Diego’s AIM
organisation.
55 per cent of the students surveyed
at Macquarie said academic integrity
was a serious problem, and many
agreed to join a student-led group to
help renew trust in the system.
One initiative the AIM ambassadors promoted was an online
learning module, Academic Integrity for Students, which
complements the support module that helps students plan
study habits. The modules are not compulsory.
Macquarie University is the first Australian university to
have a student-led academic integrity campaign, and was
also one of the universities that were most affected by the
MyMaster scandal. Over 131 requests were made by students
at Macquarie, with $25,815 spent on essays and assignments
across the campus.
Monash University students, however, spent $848 on the
service – roughly equating to about 13 students among the
65,006 students enrolled across all campuses.
The problem isn’t as widespread at our university, but it
is a problem nonetheless. It represents a group of reckless
students who will do whatever it takes to pass their course.
Universities are putting more effort into identifying and
deterring plagiarism and online cheating, but more needs to
be done to promote academic integrity among students at
universities across Australia.
And if you’re going that far to guarantee your success,
you’re probably better off studying in the first place.
BY MATTHEW EDWARDS

20
STUDENT AFFAIRS
By Rubee Dano
On Having a Mental
Illness at Uni
It’s not a big deal. I’ll deal with it. It’d sound stupid if I told
anyone I was struggling; they don’t grant special consideration
just because you’re feeling sad or because you’re stressed about
assignments. It’s not worth telling anyone about it.
These may be some of the thoughts that run through your
head if you were suffering a mental illness. Mental illnesses
such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and others, can
make everyday activities incredibly difficult, which means
that a task like seeking help could seem impossible. It is not
uncommon to downplay the seriousness of a mental illness,
or to dismiss it and not recognise it as a problem, when in
reality it is as real a medical condition as any other.
According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics, every
year, one in five Australians will experience a mental health
condition. According to Beyond Blue, of those aged sixteen
to twenty-four, one in sixteen will experience depression and
one in six will experience an anxiety disorder, and one in
four young people in Australia is currently suffering from a
mental illness. These statistics are overwhelming, when you
think of how many people are in your typical lecture cohort
or even your weekly tutorial. The number of people, according
to the stats, that are potentially suffering a mental illness
is exceedingly high; it might be one of your classmates, or a
friend, a family member, of even yourself.
Mental illness has faced a lot of negative stigma in the
past, however according to Beyond Blue, young people are
now ranking mental illness as one of their highest concerns
(outranking the environment, bullying, employment or
education). Despite the soaring numbers in young people
who suffer from a mental health problem, this development
is a good thing. It means that we are wising up to the impact
of mental illness, and the importance of treatment.
At uni, it’s not as hard as you would think it is to get help.
Whether it’s for yourself, or for a friend, there are plenty of
options that might be able to help. The Better Health Victoria
initiative suggests that while you can encourage a friend or
family member to talk, you cannot solve their problems for
them. It is important to remember that it isn’t your fault if
somebody close to you has a mental illness. While you can
help, but you can’t force them to seek help or get better, you
just have to be a mate and help them as much as you can.
If seeking help is something that they want to pursue, the
Monash Disability Services office is a good place to start.
The Disability Services office is responsible for handling
long-term arrangements regarding any disability or health
condition that impacts upon your studies. In the instance
of mental health for instance, they can potentially provide
you with more flexible deadlines and class attendance
requirements, however every individual case is assessed
independently. Their other services include counselling,
which is available at the health centre on campus at no
charge for students, the SMART program, which helps
students cope with study and exams, and a mindfulness
program aimed at reducing stress and anxiety. All of these
options can provide a great environment for talking through
issues and learning to cope with the difficulties of having
a mental illness, as well as working towards overcoming it.
Monash Health also provides students with free access to
doctors, who might be able to recommend further treatment
or assistance if needed.
The Disability Services office stresses that each case is
treated on an individual basis. This goes not only for how
cases might be dealt with at university, but for mental illness
in general. One person’s experiences of depression might
be entirely different from someone else’s, and it does no
good to compare yourself to others in terms of your mental
health, because this can lead to downplaying a problem
because ‘someone else has it worse’. Everyone is different,
and everyone copes with difficult times in their own way,
but one thing is consistent amongst everyone and it is that
mental illness is a serious issue. It is a big deal, even though
you might think it sounds stupid or that nobody would care,
which are common thoughts to have.
If you, or anyone you know, might be suffering from a
mental illness, one of the first things that you can do is
simply to talk to someone. This can be anyone, from a friend
or family member, to a counsellor or a doctor. There are
so many resources out there for people seeking help, and
though deciding to get help is incredibly hard, it really is
worth it.
You can contact the Disability Services
office at 9905 5704 or register online.
Beyond Blue has an extensive list of ways to seek
support on their website (www.beyondblue.org.au),
from immediate support to planning long-term goals.
If you need someone to talk to right away or if you
feel like you might be in danger of harming yourself,
Lifeline offers 24 hour counselling services at 13 11 14.

STUdENT AFFAIRS 21
Fossil Fuels:
Monash’s Dirty Habit
Fossil Free Monash is a group on campus
dedicated to ending Monash University’s
investments in fossil fuels. We believe
that as a leading university it is Monash’s
responsibility to lead the way in divesting
from fossil fuels.
BY LAUREN GoLdSMITH & RHYSS WYLLIE
Who are we?
We are a group of Monash students interested in making
Monash the first Australian university to fully divest from
fossil fuels. We range from undergrad to postgrad, from arts
to engineering and are always looking for new people to
join our crew. We’ve been around since first semester and
are already more than halfway to one of our goals of getting
2,000 student signatures supporting divestment. There is a
fossil free group at most Australian universities so we’ve got
a strong and friendly network to work with and bounce ideas
off. our belief is that it is hypocritical for Monash to talk of
‘greening up’ their act while still profiting from fossil fuels at
the expense of the environment.
Why fossil fuels?
Fossil fuels have been the building block of the modern
world’s development but cannot be part of our future if we
want a livable planet. There are currently enough fossil fuel
reserves on the books of the world’s major companies to
raise global temperatures by 6 degrees by the year 2100
which would be catastrophic for the economy, our society
and particularly those most disadvantaged. This would mean
our continent would be ravaged by more bushfires, heat
waves and drought, many other smaller, poorer islands would
be submerged and people’s livelihoods destroyed. Fossil
fuels are the greatest threat to the earth’s survival and are
part of a reckless attitude towards our use of the planet and
its resources. While fossil fuel companies reap the profits
of ruining the climate, we pay more in terms of preventable
diseases, natural disasters and crop failures. They’ve
privatized the profits and socialized the costs and they must
be delegitimized and stopped. As coal prices drop below half
of what they were 3 years ago it’s more important than ever
to dismantle this damaging and selfish industry.
What is divestment?
Monash has a $1.2 billion endowment fund which it invests
in many different industries including fossil fuels. The aim
of our campaign is to pressure Monash University to divest
from fossil fuels, which means taking its money out of the
industry. divestment as a tactic is not purely designed to
impact on the industry’s finances, but more importantly
is directed at delegitimising the fossil fuel industry and
removing their social license to pollute for free and destroy
the climate. The global divestment campaign against fossil
fuels has achieved some success, with more than $50
billion divested by over 200 institutions. When institutions
like universities, churches and cities say they will not profit
from the fossil fuel industry and their destructive practices
it sends a powerful message in support of climate action.
divestment has been used against the tobacco industry
and most famously against apartheid South Africa in the
1980s. The latter campaign began on college campuses and
in churches before being taken up by cities, foundations and
finally the U.S. Government in 1986 with the Comprehensive
Anti-Apartheid Act. The fossil fuel industry is immensely
powerful and divestment aims to chip away at their social
and economic power to allow for real, positive change
towards a livable planet.
If you’re interested in getting involved
or want to find out more then chuck
us a ‘like’ on facebook
or email enviro-msa@monash.edu
Lobbying and campaigning is not all we
do so stay tuned to the FB page for fun
events and opportunities throughout
the semester.
Lauren Goldsmith and Rhyss Wyllie are the
Environment and Social Justice officers
Illustration by Janet Zhu

22
STUDENT AFFAIRS
By Mali Rea
Protesters Confront Education Minister
Christopher Pyne at the Launch of His Book
‘A Letter To My Children’
Disclaimer: This article is the interpretation of the events that unfolded at
Christopher Pyne’s recent book launch by a witness present on the day.
In the midst of his attempts to push through some of the most
unpopular legislation of the current Liberal government, Christopher
Pyne thought it would be a good idea to write a book, launch it at a
bank, and make tickets for the free event on the internet.
Continuing the trend of confronting Liberal politicians
whenever possible, the National Union of Students (NUS)
organised a protest outside the event’s venue and many
activists also registered to get a ticket. In an unpredictable
turn of events, all the student activists who registered had
their tickets ‘refunded’ in the days leading up to the launch.
I presume, a Liberal staffer might have spent a few hours
googling us all.
It’s pretty obvious Pyne sees no difference between a
private company and a public institution, going by his
choice of location, NAB Bank. For him everything should be
in the free market. The book launch reaffirmed the fact that
they see no inherent value in education and are trying to rid
himself of the responsibility of funding higher education.
The protest began at the Bourke Street entrance of the
NAB building, where we created a line to stop Liberals from
attending the event. If they wouldn’t let us in, we weren’t
going to allow anyone else in either. After hearing from many
student activists and the National Tertiary Education Union
(NTEU) National President, we decided to go up to the more
prominent entrance near Southern Cross station. As we came
up the stairs, some protesters ran towards the revolving
doors attempting to get in to the event. In an act of collective
strength the protesters filled the segments of the revolving
door trying to get in. This is where the unnecessary police
aggression began.
Many of the students who attended the protest felt that
mainstream media treated them unfairly. Elyse Walton,
who appeared in many images accompanying news articles
claimed that "We were not ‘rabid’ or ‘aggressive ...it wasn’t
until the fleets of police arrived that the peaceful rally turned
violent." She also felt that the police acted in a very hostile
manner and said that they had sworn at the group.
I felt that the unnecessary amount of police and their
aggressive attitude made the situation quite confronting. It
concerns me that this was the first protest many students
would have attended and as a result, may be reluctant to
engage in student activism again. The police reaction made
you feel as if you were doing something wrong by trying to
stand up to a government trying to destroy the Australian
higher education system. I believe that police behaviour at
the protest showed that the police were there to intimidate
student protesters, instead of ‘keeping the peace’.
When the mainstream media heard that a window had
been broken, they immediately assumed it was protesters
who broke it. However, from my memory of the day, by that
point there were only police and a few protesters left in that
particular door, while the other was full of protesters and
police pushing both ways. One article suggested the police
broke the window to get through and remove protesters.
Having watched the situation unfold, this makes far more
sense to me.
There was only one arrest at the scene, a member of our
very own Monash Education Action Group. It seemed to me
like the police decided they should arrest someone as a
warning to the protesters or some sort of power play. As far
as I could tell, she was only chosen as she was one of the last
protesters left in the revolving door after the police attempted
to remove them. She was released later and charged with
resisting arrest, a dubious claim by my opinion.
This was not the only protest that interrupted Pyne’s visit
to Melbourne. On the Thursday he had a public appearance at
La Trobe University, where about 60 students staged a protest
outside under severe surveillance by security there. The
lecture theatre Pyne was speaking in was on the outside of
the building, which meant you could peek through the blinds
and hear him, so protesters made plenty of noise. As Pyne
left, protesters chased his car away. However, the first car
was a decoy! The protest at La Trobe was a great example of
how quickly students can come together when they hear their
number one enemy is on campus.
Our next opportunity to protest Pyne is the August 19.
The National Union of Students have organised a National
Day of Action protest against the deregulation of fees,
funding cuts and long waits for Newstart.
Join fellow Monash students for a BBQ on Menzies Lawn
at 12pm on the day before. We travel to the city via free
buses provided by the MSA.
Mali Rea is the Education (Public Affairs) Officer at the MSA.

24
STUDENT AFFAIRS
By Georgia Cox
Some Degree of uncertainty?
My dad still wants me to become an accountant, but I can’t
count. In seeking the answer to one of the big questions in
life - is my Arts degree worth it? - I went to the ‘Arts in the
Real World’ held by Monash during July. Upon hearing of this
event Dad laughed, "it’s funny, the name; Arts in the ‘Real
World.’" Probing him I inquired "Why?" to which he responded,
"because, well, is there really such thing as Arts in the real
world?"
So an arts degree is a waste of time, right? Monash held
the event because, sadly, that is the overwhelming sentiment
held in our society. While most Arts students tend to enjoy
studying their discipline, many fear that they
won’t find a decent career after 3 years of
arduous study and paying back $20,000
that they don’t actually have. Students
of Law, Commerce, Engineering –
pretty much any discipline other
than Arts – laugh scornfully at the
supposedly imminent demise of
the Arts graduate.
In response to this trend,
Monash designed the conference
to remind students that the
world could not function solely
with accountants, doctors, lawyers,
bankers, computer technicians, and
so forth. People tend to not only forget
that the Arts are important, but also that
we actually need the humanities disciplines
in our society. It should seem obvious, really;
humans need the study of humanity in order to progress
as a community.
Jan McGuinness a journalist, editor and news producer,
as well as a professor at Monash’s school of Media, Film and
Journalism, reminded students that we live in "a changing
and ambiguous world" where we need to continue to make
connections between humanities and contemporary issues.
As an Arts graduate and the vice-president of the
organisation Humanities 21 (humanities21.com.au), Jan
advocates for people to "stop apologising for their Arts
degrees". Humanities 21 aims to educate the corporate world
about Arts graduates and seeks to build bridges between
them and newly graduated Arts students. The not-for-profit
organisation boasts a database of 150 academics, hosts
events, exhibitions, seminars, and posts e-newsletters, to
project to students, academics, and businesses what’s going
on in the world of the humanities. Their underlying idea is
that, "if businesses are on board, jobs will follow".
Professor Rae Frances, the Dean of Arts at Monash,
is also passionate about the Arts because people need
to understand "what it means to be human in its many
"People
tend to forget not
only that the Arts are
important, but also that we
actually need the humanities
disciplines in our society. It
should seem obvious, really;
humans need the study
of humanity in order
to progress as a
community."”
dimensions". She highlights the necessity of understanding
why humans "think and act the way they do; how they
express themselves intellectually, artistically and socially;
how they interact with each other and with technology and
the natural environment."
We tend to forget that an education in an Arts field teaches
students to be analytical and flexible, which is so important
because "almost every problem has a human dimension as
well as a technical one," Professor Frances explains.
An Arts degree offers breadth by delivering training in
many skills including research, analysis, critical thinking
and ultimately communication, which, according
to the Dean, are "extremely useful in the
modern workplace and highly valued by
employers."
Refreshingly, she envisions that
the Bachelor of Arts qualification
will become more popular in the
near future. The generic and broad
skills that the BA teaches are
becoming increasingly soughtafter
because the nature of
work is changing so quickly, so
adapting to new situations and
workplaces is vital in order to apply
knowledge in ever-changing contexts.
It is exactly because the BA is such
a broad degree that students can seek
broad vocational experience. Rather than
restricting you to one domain of work, an Arts
education will widen your "Real World" prospects.
As globalisation will continue to steadily advance thanks
to the increasing rates of digitalisation, tourism and
migration, students will need to adapt to participate in
a global workforce in order to attain the best possible job
prospects. The BA fills the gap of international experience
and intercultural skills that is often lost in more vocationalfocused
disciplines.
So what should you do if, like me, you can’t count, fathom
the idea of chemistry, or fall asleep at the idea of studying
torts? Professor Frances encourages students to take
advantage of Monash’s offerings of international study
experience. Likewise, being such a large university, the
networking opportunities at Monash are boundless. Whether
you study another language, criminology, politics, literature,
or behavioral studies within your Arts degree, "accessing
another culture and world view", as Professor Frances puts it,
will ultimately open your eyes to the world beyond university,
and expand your version of the real world.
In the meantime, at least my dad will continue to teach me
all he knows about Excel spreadsheets.

STUdENT AFFAIRS 25
‘Cheap’ eats
Clayton campus
edition
of recent times, there has been murmurs amongst elite food
circles that Melbourne’s Monash University’s Clayton campus
is set to become the new ‘go to’ food destination akin to
Lygon street and Smith street, due to the high quality in food
types on offer to the staff and students at the campus. The
university prides itself on the diversity within the cuisines on
offer which range from gourmet Italian pizza to vegan curries
to asian stir fries to fresh fruit. Renowned food critic Clarissa
Williams ventured to the university’s beloved ‘campus centre’
to explore the various cuisines on offer.
Grain Express
Grain Express, which prides itself on the healthy foods it
offers (grains = good for you), is one of the last restaurants to
close on campus each night. This makes it a perfect choice
for those who enjoy spending their spare time hanging out
in Clayton late at night by themselves and watching video
games on youtube in the airport lounge. Walking through the
entrance transports one to the serenity of Saigon, Bangkok,
Singapore with the vast range of cuisines on display in a
similar manner to those in oliver-Twist-orphanage-esque
setting.
Eftpos? No.
Child friendly? No, Grain Express impose a similar Lynch’s
style ‘strictly no child zone’
Gluten free options? STAY AWAY IF GLUTEN INToLERANT.
Wholefoods
Nobody makes a wheatgrass infused chai macchiato with
soy milk and honey quite like the baristas at wholefoods.
The Wholefoods restaurant has been in the campus centre
since the 1970’s but has recently witnessed a mass increase
in their customer base after being vegan became cool. The
restaurant is lined with the original furniture stained with
dahl made in 1973 and you can always rely on Leonard Cohen,
First Aid Kit or Tame Impala to be playing from the stereo.
Eftpos? They pay in love.
Child friendly? Naturally.
Gluten free options? Cardboard is complimentary to all
celiacs.
Convenience Store
A secret gem on campus for all your fresh foods needs. The
existence of the Campus Centre convenience store renders
the Vic Market completely redundant as the vast array of
fresh produce would be sufficient enough to supply a family
of five for an entire week. The best thing about the store is
that you can always bet on your favourite fruit and vege being
there everyday; exactly two rock hard avocados that should
be ready to eat by the year 2030, four carrots and three
‘juicing’ apples.
Eftpos? Yes, minimum 150 dollars.
Child friendly? Yes.
Gluten free options? What’s gluten?
Peri Peri
Peri Peri’s quarter chicken and chips combo is to die for -
literally. don’t let the constant rumored cases of salmonella
deter you, Peri Peri is home to the best chips on campus. The
secret is the chef’s light touch with adding flavour. Lightly
dusted with enough salt to stave off an army of slugs.
Eftpos? Yes.
Child friendly? Yes.
Gluten free options? Yes.
The Kitchen
Mysteriously closed since last semester either for mass
renovations of interrogation by the department of Health and
Human Services.
Eftpos? N/A.
Child friendly? N/A.
Gluten free options? N/A.
BY CLARISSA WILLIAMS This is, of course, satire. Nothing in
this article is factual in anyway.

26
STUdENT AFFAIRS
Event Schedule
Month Week Date Event Club Time Location
Thu 20th Seminar MOVE 15:00 TBD
Month Week Date Event
Mon 24th
Club
Weekly Talk and Discussion
Time
MPS
Location
13:00 TBD
Type
AUG
SEP
AUG
SEP
4
Mon 17th Weekly Talk and Discussion MPS 13:00 TBD Weekly Event
Mon 17th Mon Weekly 24th Board Game Weekly Nights Board Game Nights MBS MBS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk 13:00 Engineering Weekly Hall Event 2, 23 College Walk
Tue 18th Tue Gender 25th Equality in AGM Leadership + Trivia Seminar SNAPS MOVE 18:00 South 1 Lecture Theatre 17:00 TBD Academic Event (Guest Speaker/Networking)
Wed 19th National Day of Action MSA -­‐ Education (Public Affairs) 12:00 Menzies Lawn, then State Library Other
Thu 27th Pathways & Careers to Social Change (PCSC) EWB 17:30 16 Rainforest Walk Clayton (S1-­‐S4 Foyer)
Wed 19th Trivia Night BIO 18:30 Sir John's Bar Trivia Night
Fri 28th Corporate Dinner CCA 18:00 The Langham -­‐ Alto Room
Thu 20th Seminar MOVE 15:00 TBD Academic Event (Guest Speaker/Networking)
Mon 24th Sat Weekly 29th Talk and Discussion Cosplay Chaos MPS MPC 13:00 & SAMA TBD 11:00 16 Rainforest Weekly Walk Event (East side of Bld. 25)
Mon 24th Weekly Board Game Nights MBS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk Weekly Event
Sun 30th Robot Line Following Competition MECC, MAMEC & SMEE 12:00 Engineering Halls, 23 College Walk, Building 60
Tue 25th AGM + Trivia MOVE 17:00 TBD Trivia Night
5
Mon 31st Weekly Talk and Discussion MPS 13:00 TBD
Thu 27th Pathways & Careers to Social Change (PCSC) EWB 17:30 16 Rainforest Walk Clayton (S1-­‐S4 Foyer) Academic Event (Guest Speaker/Networking)
Fri 28th Mon Corporate 31st Dinner Weekly Board Game Nights CCA MBS 18:00 The Langham -­‐ Alto Room 13:00 Engineering Academic Hall 2, Event 23 College (Guest Speaker/Networking)
Walk
6
7
8
Mon 17th Weekly Talk and Discussion MPS 13:00 TBD
Mon 17th Weekly Board Game Nights MBS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk
4
Tue 18th Gender Equality in Leadership Seminar SNAPS 18:00 South 1 Lecture Theatre
Wed 19th National Day of Action MSA -­‐ Education (Public Affairs) 12:00 Menzies Lawn, then State Library
Wed 19th Trivia Night BIO 18:30 Sir John's Bar
5
6
Sat 29th Mon Cosplay 31st Chaos Poetry Slam MPC & SAMA MOVE 11:00 16 Rainforest Walk (East side of Bld. 25) 16:00 TBD Other
Sun 30th Robot Line Following Competition MECC, MAMEC & SMEE 12:00 Engineering Halls, 23 College Walk, Building 60 Other
Wed 2nd Yule Ball 2015 MM 19:00 Leonda by the Yarra, Hawthorn
Mon 31st Weekly Talk and Discussion MPS 13:00 TBD Weekly Event
Mon 31st Mon Weekly 7th Board Game Weekly Nights Talk and Discussion MBS MPS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk 13:00 TBD Weekly Event
Mon 31st Mon Poetry 7th Slam Weekly Board Game Nights MOVE MBS 16:00 TBD 13:00 Engineering Performance/Arts Hall 2, 23 College Walk
7Wed 2nd Yule Ball 2015 MM 19:00 Leonda by the Yarra, Hawthorn Ball/Cruise/Party
Tue 8th Psychology Research Seminar SNAPS 18:00 Lecture Theatre S4, 16 Rainforest Walk
Mon 7th Weekly Talk and Discussion MPS 13:00 TBD Weekly Event
Mon 7th Wed Weekly 9th Board Game Boat Nights that Rocks Cruise MBS MSA 13:00 -­‐ Activites Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk 19:00 Dock 9, Central Weekly Pier, Event Victoria Harbour, Docklands
Tue 8th Mon Psychology 14th Research Weekly Seminar Talk and Discussion SNAPS MPS 18:00 Lecture Theatre S4, 16 Rainforest Walk13:00 TBD Academic Event (Guest Speaker/Networking)
8Wed 9th Boat that Rocks Cruise MSA -­‐ Activites 19:00 Dock 9, Central Pier, Victoria Harbour, Docklands Ball/Cruise/Party
Mon 14th Weekly Board Game Nights MBS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk
Mon 14th Weekly Talk and Discussion MPS 13:00 TBD Weekly Event
Mon 14th Mon Weekly 21st Board Game Weekly Nights Talk and Discussion MBS MPS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk 13:00 TBD Weekly Event
9
Mon 21st Mon Weekly 21st Talk and Discussion Weekly Board Game Nights MPS MBS 13:00 TBD 13:00 Engineering Weekly Hall Event 2, 23 College Walk
9 Mon 21st Weekly Board Game Nights MBS 13:00 Engineering Hall 2, 23 College Walk Weekly Event
Thu 24th Disney Party 2015 Disney 20:00 Oakleigh Bowls Club
Thu 24th Disney Party 2015 Disney 20:00 Oakleigh Bowls Club Ball/Cruise/Party
Mon 28th Mon Monash 28th Model United Monash Nations Model Conference United Nations MIAS Conference MIAS 9:00 Menzies Building, 20 Chancellors Walk 9:00 Menzies Building, Academic Event 20 Chancellors (Guest Speaker/Networking) Walk
MID SEM MID BREAK SEM BREAK
Tue 29th Tue Monash 29th Model United Monash Nations Model Conference United Nations MIAS Conference MIAS 9:00 Menzies Building, 20 Chancellors Walk 9:00 Menzies Building, Academic Event 20 Chancellors (Guest Speaker/Networking) Walk
Event Types
BIO -­‐ Monash Biological Society
& Commerce Association
BIO -­‐ Monash Biological Society
Ball/Cruise/Party
CCA -­‐ Computing
BBQ
Disney -­‐ Monash Disney Society
CCA -­‐ Computing & Commerce Association
Without Borders
Academic Event (Guest Speaker/Networking)
EWB -­‐ Engineers
MAMEC -­‐ Monash Aerospace Disney -­‐ & Monash Mechanical Disney Engineering Society Club
Other
BBQ
MBS -­‐ Monash Boardgames EWB -­‐ Engineers Society Without Borders
Weekly Event
Mechatronics Engineering Clayton Club
Performance/Arts
MAMEC -­‐ Monash Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Club
Muggles
Trivia Night
Other
MECC -­‐
MM -­‐ Monash
MOVE -­‐ Monash Overseas MBS -­‐ & Monash Exchange Club Boardgames Society
* Please double check event details with club in case of changes
MPC -­‐ Monash Photography MECC -­‐ Club Mechatronics Engineering Clayton Club
MPS -­‐ Monash Philosophical Society
MM -­‐ Monash Muggles
MUST -­‐ Monash Uni Student Theatre
SAMA -­‐ Society of Anime MOVE and -­‐ Manga Monash Appreciation Overseas & Exchange Club
Event Types
Ball/Cruise/Party
** To enter events in the Calendar for Semester 2 check club emails around late June!
Academic Event (Guest Speaker/Networking)
Weekly Event
Performance/Arts
Trivia Night
* Please double check event details with club in case of changes
SMEE -­‐ Society of Monash MPC -­‐ Electrical Monash Engineers Photography Club
** To enter events in the Calendar for Semester 2 check club emails around late June!
SNAPS -­‐ Students' Neuroscience & Psychology Society
MPS -­‐ Monash Philosophical Society
MUST -­‐ Monash Uni Student Theatre
SAMA -­‐ Society of Anime and Manga Appreciation
SMEE -­‐ Society of Monash Electrical Engineers
SNAPS -­‐ Students' Neuroscience & Psychology Society

27 27
PoLITICS
Science & Engineering
ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE NATIVIDAD @dnat
ARTICLES BY
Timothy Newport
Courtney Baker
Kathy Zhang
Farah Ibrahim
Riana Samuel

28
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
By Timothy Newport
Broken Hill Geological
Field Camp 2015
Or How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and
Love the Rocks
Full disclosure: I fucking hate rocks.
I don’t like looking at them, I don’t like thinking about
them, I don’t like learning about them.
If I could get a card that would allow me to avoid any and
all rocks for the entirety of my existence on this tragically
rocky planet, I would gladly trade several digits (monetary or
anatomical) for one.
Which puts me in an awkward position of being a
Geosciences major.
I’ve stumbled into this ironic hell by means of shortsighted
subject choices, trying too many times a subject I
was fated to fail, and just plain-old laziness. Geology seemed
the easiest subject to major in, or at the least the most fun
(thanks Marion Anderson), so I stuck with it through to 3rd
year.
Barely scraping through 2nd year and first semester this
year, I was utterly resigned to banging my head against a
wall until graduation. The subject matter bored me to tears,
the practicals were difficult and confusing, and I just didn’t
care about my grades. If it weren’t for great lab partners and
occasional field trips, I probably would have just dropped out
altogether.
I chose my 3rd years subjects by the following criteria:
what combination of units allows me to graduate the fastest?
Amongst the choices made was "ESC3180: Field Mapping", a
winter semester subject composed of a 3 week field camp in
the desert, looking at rocks.
"Sure, whatever," I thought. I didn’t care what I did, as long
as I didn’t have to come back for another semester.
The day of reckoning arrives, and I show up to Robert

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING 29
Blackwood Hall at 7am, collapsing under the weight of my
own camping gear. I load my stuff on to the bus, and exist
in a trance-like state for the next 14 hours, travelling to
Silverton, NSW, where the camp was located.
The first sign that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore was when I
was informed that because the camp was so far west, it was
actually on South Australian time. Finding my way back to
consciousness, I somehow manage to change my watch.
Getting blood back into my feet and hopping off the bus,
I’m met with dark plains and moonlit hills, like I’m about to
audition for the latest Wolf Creek sequel. Quickly pitching my
tent and hopping into sleeping bags, I assure myself that this
camp won’t be as bad as I think.
I was... right? The next 19 days were a whirlwind of hiking,
drinking, and to my surprise, learning! When I came back to
camp after the first day, I was convinced that I’d spent the
past 2 years under a rock, as opposed to learning about them.
Within a week I was identifying minerals like I’d been doing it
my entire life!
"Tourmaline! Sillimanite! Another fucking QUARTZ!" I was
having a blast. All of the things I’d learnt in my major up until
now suddenly meant something and not only that, but I was
building on and applying that knowledge to the real world
too? This was not what I signed up for, but I was loving it.
There may have been another contributing factor to my
enjoyment: every night we... imbibed far more than was really
necessary. I think my liver is still on strike, but when you’re
looking at rocks for 8 hours a day, some distraction was
appreciated. The campfire helped as well.
When the time came to get back on the bus, I almost didn’t
want to leave! Finally, it had all come together, and I actually
understood geology! But on the bus I got, and I swear I got
stupider for each kilometre we got closer to Melbourne.
Pulling into Monash, I don’t think I’d know a quartz if it hit me
in the eye.
Now semester has started, and it’s back to learning about
rocks in the lecture theatre. Now it’s even worse, though,
because I know I understand this stuff! I know I can do it! But
lectures are just so boring... If only we could just get out into
the field again!
It’s alright, though. At least I got to understand this stuff at
least once before I graduate. Plus, I had a great time! I mean, I
was hungover for lots of it, but that’s how you know it’s great,
right?
I suppose the take-home message here is that, sometimes,
you just need to learn a different way. Or be supplied with
copious amounts of alcohol, or something. Don’t ask me, I’m
just a geologist.
PS. I lied in the title: I still hate rocks.

30
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
BY CoURTNEY BAKER
What’s Up Doc?
Daniel Newman completed his undergraduate and
Honours degree at the University of Queensland where
his work studying attention in humans was awarded
the McElwain Prize for the best research thesis in
Psychology in the state. Currently doing a PhD in
cognitive neuroscience at the Bellgrove Laboratory at Monash University, his research will
add to our understanding of the neural systems governing spatial attention in humans.
So tell me a bit about your field of research?
I’m doing research on attention in humans. It’s in the field
of cognitive neuroscience. We look at different explanations
for different attention abilities in humans. So my Phd is
about the ‘state vs trait’ influences on attention where state
influences might be how much sleep you’ve had, whether
you’ve had any stimulants like Ritalin or caffeine. Trait
influences on attention include genes or connectivity in your
brain, so white matter or structural connectivity.
What got you into that field of research?
In 2008 I started an undergrad in psychology at the
University of Queensland and I loved that. I thought back
then that I would become a clinical psychologist, but then
throughout my degree I became more and more interested
in neuroscience. I did my honours in the Queensland Brain
Institute which was focused more on cognitive neuroscience
with humans and so I decided to get into neuroscience with
a Phd.
What, in your opinion, makes psychology different to all
other sciences?
The fact that psychology is very broad. I’m doing biological
psychology and I’m actually publishing in neuroscience
journals. Something like molecular biology has certain
boundaries whereas something like the studying the human
brain might actually use something from molecular biology.
Do you find that doing a PhD is quite stressful and if so
how do you deal with that?
Yeah it can be really stressful so my way of dealing with it is
just working hard and getting the work done because once
it’s done you’re not stressed anymore.
But it’s not all work and no play, even with the all-consuming
task of completing a Phd. daniel gets plenty of help from his
colleagues in dublin where he has visited twice during his
PhD.
What was the purpose of going to Dublin?
The project I’m working on is running here and at Trinity
College in dublin. The purpose of me to go over there was
actually to learn some analysis techniques from them
that I couldn’t learn here. I did two stints in dublin; one for
two weeks and the other for a month. The second trip was
work for a month and then my girlfriend came over and we
travelled around Europe.
Do you have any advice for undergrad students going into
postgrad?
Firstly, you have to love it and the reason you have to love it is
the limited number of spaces in research for a large number
of people. So basically you’re going to have to work really hard
doing long hours of difficult work for not as much money as
you’d get in other fields. So if you’re going to do this you’ve
got to love it because otherwise why would you do it?
Do you feel like your Honours prepared you for a PhD?
definitely, in my particular case it definitely did. I don’t think
that’s always the case, the lab you’re in and the project you’ve
got in your Honours varies a lot. In my case it prepared me
well. I definitely recommend Honours to just get a little taste
of research and then if you really love that then I recommend
getting into research. But if you’re unsure then I would
definitely advise against doing a Phd. You have to be fully
sold on it and really motivated if you’re not fully sold and
motivated at the start then you definitely won’t be by the end.
What skills did you develop through Honours that
prepared you for a PhD?
Initiative, the ability to search for answers when you come up
against a problem. Rather than waiting for someone to solve
it for you you’ve really got to go and solve it yourself. That’s a
big part of why I was successful in Honours. That’s the best
thing I learnt from Honours is if you want to do well don’t
wait for somebody else to do it for you, go and work it out for
yourself. Actually, between the end of my third year and the
start of Honours I also did a Summer Research Scholarship.
That’s a great idea. They pay a little bit of money to take
the pressure off so you can do that over summer instead of
having a part-time job. I definitely recommend that.
So according to daniel if you’re thinking you want to get into
research a Summer Scholarship is the best way to ‘get a
taste’. An Honours year is a great way to follow and if by this
point you’re still hooked on research then a Phd is for you.

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING 31
Puzzles
Puzzle
1
Puzzle
2
Puzzle
3
Puzzle
4
Honour Roll
Success, fame and glamour can all be yours! Simply submit the
answers to msa-lotswife@monash.edu and you’ll get your name
published on this page in the next issue!
Issue 3 Issue 4
Max Zadnik
Christopher E orrell
William Molloy
Sarah Spencer
Christopher E orrell
Max Zadnik
Lucas Azzola
Issue 5
Christopher E orrell
Max Zadnik

32
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
BY KATHY ZHANG
Autonomous Weapons:
A Call to Arms
With special thanks to
Gavin Kroeger and Jessie Crossman
Honda’s ASIMO, a Humanoid AI
Over 1,000 artificial intelligence (AI) experts, researchers
and tech luminaries have signed an open letter calling for "a
ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful
human control". Not to be confused with automatic
weapons, these weapons are able to select and fire upon
targets without any human intervention. Released at the
International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence on
28 July, signatories include Professor Stephen Hawking,
Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
The letter aimed to prevent a "global arms race" in the
development and deployment of AI systems. Described
as the "third revolution in warfare" and the "Kalashnikovs
of tomorrow", autonomous weapons may be suited for
assassinations, subduing populations or selective killing.
The raw materials required for construction are cheap and
easily obtainable, meaning it is possible for them to be massproduced.
Experts suggest the technology may be mature
within decades, but scientists and researchers involved
have "no interest in building AI weapons" or "tarnish[ing]
their field". While they may make battlefields safer for
humans by negating the need for new weapons, the potential
repercussions of autonomous weapons are profound.
A weapons system is defined by four functions: trigger,
targeting, navigation and mobility. Depending on the
technology and programming, weapons are given varying
degrees of autonomy. Precision-guided munitions like the
Maverick missile include infrared, laser and television
seekers. This affords them autonomous mobility, triggering
and navigation. Targeting, however, may be decided using
a preselected set of coordinates or data. Targeting and
triggering often require some intervention by a human
operator, such as programming targeting criteria or pulling
the trigger.
Currently, the US Department of Defence defines a semiautonomous
weapon as one that "is intended only to engage
individual targets or specific target groups that have been
selected by a human operator". Yet this definition invites
several questions. It does not define the identity and role
of the operator, the target selection process and criteria,
or the nature of engagement. The extent of the operator’s
involvement must be considered, and how meaningful
human control of the machine is.
Furthermore, with current technology it is possible for
semi-autonomous weapons to resemble something more

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING 33
fully autonomous. They could easily have autonomous
navigation and mobile capabilities. With advances in AI,
targeting software could even be dynamic. Systems could
use a set of training data and efficiently learn while deployed,
then make their own decisions. Other targeting technologies
include facial and image recognition software. But what of
the triggering system? When, if ever, do we allow the machine
to make the call?
Take facial recognition software for instance. Facebook’s
experimental DeepFace algorithm is able to identify human
faces with 97.35% accuracy regardless of lighting or position.
This is almost as accurate as the human capabilities, which
score 97.5%. While this accuracy rate may seem high, we have
to wonder if we can ever entrust a machine with the task of
deciding whether someone should live or die if there is even a
2.65% chance it will make the wrong call.
Similar questions are currently being raised of the U.S.’s
drone program. Created in the name of eliminating terrorism
by Bush in 2001, Obama dramatically expanded the program.
As autonomous weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
have the advantage of replacing soldiers, risking fewer U.S.
lives on the battlefield. However, the program is not only
widely criticised for its lack of transparency but also the high
number of civilian casualties. Since 2004, drones have killed
approximately 4,000 Pakistani people alone, 1,000 of them
civilians, including children.
Drones reveal several other flaws in our use of autonomous
weapons. Nobody knows how accurate the intelligence,
the data, or the machines themselves are. Nobody knows
whether or not the machine can then make the right call.
Nobody knows whom the machine might kill. And if and when
that happens, nobody will know whom to blame if meaningful
levels of human intervention and control are not defined. It
might be the programmers who select the targeting criteria,
the operators responsible for the machine, or the one who
signs off on the order. Whether it’s the judge, the jury, or
the executioner, we have to ask ourselves: who will we hold
personally accountable for the taking of a human life?
The use of UAVs and assorted autonomous weapons leads
us to question how they change the reality of warfare. While
their use removes humans from the battlefield, this also
removes the atrocities of war, allowing us to distance, excuse
and desensitise ourselves from what should be recognised
as a human tragedy. Additionally, some worry that machine
initiated attacks will lower our threshold for warfare.
"Personally, I believe warfare needs to stay horrific and
brutal. We need it to be so to ensure we only fight wars
as a last resort," says Toby Walsh, Professor of Artificial
Intelligence at UNSW and NICTA, and fellow signatory to the
letter. "Politicians have to see body bags coming home and
be prepared to justify why they risk the lives of our sons and
daughters."
Without regulating these weapons we face dire
consequences, perhaps even the ‘end of the human
race’ as Stephen Hawking warns. We must maintain
meaningful control. Experts are exploring the possibility
that the weapons might be taught to differentiate between
combatants and civilians. Lawmakers question whether they
abide by international humanitarian and human rights laws,
whether they can function ethically.
Consequently, the possibility that this technology might
be upon us within the coming decades necessitates such
a letter and the consideration of pre-emptive policies.
Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is one such group calling
for prohibition. These issues were also discussed during a
Human Rights Council session in April 2013, where questions
such as: "in what situations are distinctively human traits,
such as fear, hate, sense of honour and dignity, compassion
and love desirable in combat?" and, "in what situations do
machines lacking emotions offer distinct advantages over
human combatants?" were considered.
While many countries raised concerns, a ban was opposed
by the UK. "Is a ban on technology which has yet to be full
developed to maturity an appropriate course of action?
I suggest not," said Dr William Boothby in a separate
interview. A retired RAF air commodore and lawyer, Boothby
was responsible for ensuring that newly acquired weapons
conformed to the UK’s international humanitarian law
obligations.
Aside from weaponry however, AI has many more
applications and moreover, benefits. While fully autonomous
weapons rely on AI technologies, they are not one and the
same. In the simplest terms, an autonomous weapon is
able to make a decision. AI on the other hand, is far more
dynamic, and able to emulate more complex human
cognitive processes such as reasoning, problem solving and
planning, among other things. While a mathematical model
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that
computers will be incapable of human consciousness and
emotion, Hawking suggests that, "Humans, who are limited
by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be
superseded."
As of July, the Nao robot created by French company
Aldebaran Robotics passed a self-awareness test. They
were given a riddle, and in order to answer it, had to show
understanding of the question, recognise its voice as distinct
from other robots, and then link this back to the original
question to show self-awareness. Additionally, in June,
computer programme "Eugene Goostman" passed the Turing
test, albeit mildly unconvincingly. The Turing Test assesses
a robot’s capacity to mimic human thought and speech in
a conversation. It should be noted that each of these tests
are inherently flawed, however. A robot may be specifically
programmed to emulate both of these functions.
Robots may also be used to automate industrial processes,
increase productivity and perform tasks too dangerous or
impossible for people. AI technology from Honda’s humanoid
robot ASIMO may be used in disaster response. Yet despite
the increasing intelligence and application of robotics and
AI, any responsible programmer will ensure their machine
has safeguards. ASIMO is programmed to shut down should
it attempt to build itself. Asimov’s laws of robotics stipulate
that: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow
humanity to come to harm." So while robots may replace us
and take our jobs, there’s no need to worry about them taking
our lives.
That is, unless they learn how to reprogram and control
themselves.

34
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
By Farah Ibrahim
Renewable Energy
A Sector
in Research
and Development
Because carbon emissions are causing climate change...
Because we need to wean ourselves off foreign oil...
Because fossil fuels are going to run out in the next hundred years...
Because drilling for oil sometimes causes spills...
What do the four statements have in common? They’re
reasons for investing in renewable energy.
On June 29th, Bill Gates announced he is going to invest $2
billion over the next five years in renewable energy.
Last year, worldwide investment in renewables increased
17 per cent, according to the Frankfurt School-UNEP
Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy
Finance.
The hunt for the energy of the future is on.
Solar Energy
"Solar Energy is most attractive because the sun will
never disappear", says Professor Yibing Cheng from Monash
University. He has been researching solar panels for the past
10 years and believes that solar is the energy source of the
future.
It is abundant and can be used in land-locked countries.
Solar energy is synonymous with silicon solar cells.
However, the iconic, black panels we see atop rooftops and in
solar power plants, are "not commercially competitive", says
Professor Cheng.
The production of silicon wafers and silica sand used
in these panels are expensive. So is their installation and
maintenance.
The challenge of the solar energy sector is to make solar
panels more economical. For Professor Cheng, this means a
new type of solar energy - the printed thin film solar cells.
Based on wet solvents and ink, these solar cells can be
printed.
Professor Cheng hopes this new technology will do for solar
energy what the printing press did for newspapers: make
them so cheap and easy to produce that solar panels would
be as common place and accessible as your daily newspaper.
Currently, silicon based solar cells dominate ninety per cent
of the market. In order to compete with that, the new thin
film solar cells would need to be more than three times more
efficient.
These new solar cells are not in their infant stages of
development. Flexible, polymer solar cells are out in the
market, but have the same problem- too expensive for mass
production and not very efficient. Plus they’re not printed
and would not bring about the revolution that Professor
Cheng envisions.
To make solar energy the powerhouse energy of the future
that Professor Cheng has in mind, there would have to be
a flurry of new technologies of printing, capsulation, solar
panel materials and solar cell structures.
Biofuels
Biofuels, since they come in liquid form, are seen as an
easier a substitute for fossil fuels.
Bioethanol can be substituted for petrol and biodiesel for
petroleum diesel.
Biodiesel is available in blends, according to the Biofuel
Association of Australia. B100 is biofuel on its own. B5 is five
per cent biodiesel mixed with petrodiesel. It does not need
to be labelled as a biofuel when sold. A blend of 20 per cent
biodiesel with petrol diesel is not available for commercial
use.
However, biofuels have been criticised for taking resources
away from agriculture. Land and water that could be used for
food crops or for feedstock are diverted for biofuels.
Algae-based biofuels remedy this, explains RMIT University
professor Aidyn Mouradov. Algae grow in saline, brackish or
wastewater. Thus, it doesn’t need agricultural land.
It can also be produced quickly. Algae are fast growing and
take eight to twelve hours to double their biomass.
EADS Airbus has tested algae-based biofuels for jet-fuel.
However, it is not yet currently available for commercial use.
Commercially and practically, fossil fuels dominate the
markets.
In 2012-2013, about 72% of Australia’s electricity was
produced by black and brown coal, according to the Energy
Supply Association of Australia. Meanwhile, the renewable
energy from wind and hydro sources took up 11 per cent.
Despite this unfortunate fact, the future looks brighter, with
investment in renewable energy overtaking investment in
fossil fuels in that same period.
Image Courtesy of:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/basf/4837267013/

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING 35
Internships
Quite a few positions
are open at the moment!
Best of luck!
Company Where When Looking For Length Paid? Apply
PwC
Adelaide, Brisbane,
Canberra,
Melbourne,
Newcastle, Perth,
Sydney
Summer
Engineering
Students
3-8 Weeks Unspecified before mid August
Aurecon
GE
KPMG
Hatch
Suncorp Bank
Deloitte
Brisbane,
Melbourne, Sydney
Brisbane,
Melbourne, Perth,
Sydney
Adelaide, Brisbane,
Canberra, Hobart,
Melbourne, Perth,
Sydney,
Wollongong
Brisbane,
Newcastle, Perth,
Sydney, Townsville
Brisbane,
Melbourne, Sydney
Adelaide, Alice
Springs, Canberra,
Darwin, Hobart,
Melbourne, Perth,
Sydney
Summer
Summer
Summer & Grad
Positions
Summer
Summer
Grad Positions
Engineering
Students
Engineering
Students
Engineering
Students
Engineering and
Science Students
Engineering
Students
Engineering
Students
3 Months Unspecified before mid August
3 Months Unspecified before mid August
8-12 Weeks Unspecified before August 23
3 Months Yes before August 23
10 Weeks Yes before September
- Yes
before September
2
CBA Sydney Summer All Students 10 Weeks Unspecified from July
Orica
Adelaide,
Gladstone, Mackay,
Melbourne,
Newcastle, Sydney,
Townville
Summer
Engineering
Students
3 Months Yes from October
Jane Street
Hong Kong,
London, New York
Northern
Hemisphere Winter
Eng/Science/IT
Students
2-4 Weeks Unspecified Unspecified

36
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
By Riana Samuel
Mysteries of the Human Body
What causes bad breath?
Bad breath, or halitosis as it is medically known, is an age
old problem for almost everyone. 85% of cases are due to
bacterial microflora of the mouth producing nasty smelling
compounds such as hydrogen sulphide (think rotting eggs)
and methyl mercaptan. Studies done on patients with
halitosis found the types of bacteria in their mouths differed
to those in the control patients. Even though these bacteria
do not cause disease, a patient’s poor breath can have social
or psychological effects on their health. Even though bacteria
are the main cause, there are other factors such as eating
or drinking certain foods such as garlic or alcohol, smoking
and gastrointestinal or lung disorders. The best thing to do
as a preventive measure is good oral hygiene or a suitable
mouthwash.
What causes body odour?
Everyone’s sweat is actually odourless (I’ve tried telling my
mum this fact but she doesn’t believe a word). What causes
our own unique odour is a mixture of diet, gender, genetics,
health, medication, and mood. These factors affect the type
of substances that we excrete in our sweat, which are then
metabolised by various bacteria on our skin surface. Now this
may seem like an outlandish idea to anyone who has had a
whiff of clothing worn during any form of physical activity,
but our individual odours are actually a way for picking a
suitable mate. The MHC class of proteins which are so critical
to immunity have an effect on what odours we find attractive.
Potential partners with immune systems most different to
us will smell more attractive than one who has an immune
system which is more similar. For those who want to improve
their body odour, not much can be done except improving
overall diet and hygiene.
Why do pregnant women experience cravings?
Pregnancy is one of the most important times in a woman’s
life when many important changes are taking place, yet no
change is more disconcerting than watching a pregnant
woman wolfing down a bowl of ice cream and pickles or some
other absurd combination of culinary delights. As to why
women crave weird combinations of foods no one knows for
sure, but there are a few theories. Firstly, scientists believe
the fluctuation of female hormones such as oestrogen and
progesterone cause cravings; based on the fact that women
can crave foods they had no affinity for prior to pregnancy.
The second major theory is that cravings are the body’s way
of indicating that there is some nutrient deficiency present,
and compensates through craving foods that will correct
this deficiency regardless of their combination. There is
also some research to suggest that a naturally occurring
substance in the body, endogenous opioid peptides (EOPs),
modulate our longings for food. Studies on pregnant women
show heightened levels of these peptides. Normally, cravings
during pregnancy are not harmful however some women do
crave items that are not foods and could potentially cause
damage. This is medically termed pica, and can include
things like dirt, paper or coal.
Why do you get a lump in your throat when you’re sad?
We all know the feeling, watching a particular sad film or
during a wedding when we get a sensation that something is
lodged quite firmly in our throat. Scientists have a name for
this phenomenon: globus sensation. The globus sensation
is an exaggerated awareness of the muscle spasm of the
oesophagus. For most of us it is a normal response to
emotions such as sadness, panic or anxiety; however for
some it can indicate underlying pathology like inflammation
due to gastrointestinal reflux or depression.
Why do most men go bald with age?
Baldness in general is caused by a wide variety of factors, but
for the purposes of this question the focus is on the type of
hair loss that can reduce grown men to tears: male pattern
baldness or androgenetic alopecia. Contrary to popular belief,
baldness is actually caused by oversensitivity to circulating
male hormones, in particular dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
DHT is a powerful sex hormone and promoter of hair growth
on the body and face, however it adversely affects hair on
the head. This is done by the gradual process of follicular
miniaturization, until eventually hair shaft width is so
diminished that all that is left is fragile fuzz-like hair or even
complete lack of it. There is some dispute as to why baldness
actually occurs in an evolutionary sense, although one theory
is generally accepted. This theory states that baldness is
a sign of enhanced social status and maturity but with
reduced physical threat, which could be more appealing to
females searching for a long term partner to raise offspring
until adulthood. Today baldness is seen as something quite
the opposite, and although some men adapt to the change
well, there are others for whom there are many social and
psychological problems. However baldness will affect all
of us, male or female, to some extent so we might as well
embrace it!

37 37
PoLITICS
Arts & Culture
ILLUSTRATION BY DANIELLE NATIVIDAD @dnat
ARTICLES BY
Anna Zhang
Cassie Spry
Emily Neilsen
Elyse Walton
Lisa Healy
Chloe Blythman
Grace McKinnon
Brodie Everist

38
ARTS & CULTURE
By Anna Zhang
Education:
An answer to the
Goodes saga
The situation with Adam Goodes has provided us with
an opportunity to reflect on our cultural competence as
a nation. Although Australia appears to pride itself on its
multiculturalism, we have found ourselves at odds with
the ideal because of the lack of a rigorous formal cultural
education system.
The response - and more concerning - the even split
between those who view the booing as racist, and those who
view it as part of the game, represent something far more
disturbing; our state of affairs with regards to how we view,
understand, and treat Australia’s first people.
The Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity,
developed by Milton J. Bennett of the Intercultural
Development Research Institute, helps us explain this issue.
According to the scale, our responses to ‘difference’ are
indicative of our cognitive evolution. At the beginning of this
scale is "denial of difference" where individuals view their
culture as the only ‘real’ one. As an individual’s cognitive
abilities develops along the continuum, they move through
the stages of defence, minimisation, acceptance, adaptation,
and finally integration. Once, the individual reaches the stage
of integration, they are able to develop empathy towards
other cultures.
When explained through this model, the curious element
of a fairly even split between those who view the booing as
racist, and those who view it as part of the game, becomes
less than curious. In fact, it indicates that the majority of
participants in the debate speak from a place of "denial",
"defence" or "minimisation". This suggests that as a nation,
we are still in the first three stages of cultural evolution.
Therefore, it is an almost fruitless endeavour to find
common ground on an issue of culture and race, especially
as the majority of our population think from a place of
cultural illiteracy.
However, the identification of this issue provides us with
an opportunity to tailor our education system to facilitate
cultural competence.
We could begin by looking to our neighbours for guidance.
Although New Zealand’s system is far from perfect and has
a long way to go with redressing the inequalities of the past
and present, we can still learn a thing or two.
Where New Zealand have succeeded is engaging in a
rigorous formal cultural education from the time children
begin school, what struck me the most when I arrived in
Australia was the silence in everyday vernacular with regards
to culture. It wasn’t that people were unwilling to discuss the
issue of their missing history, but the fact that people were
unaware of their missing history. The ignorance and genuine
lack of care for Australia’s first people comes from a place of
not knowing.
By addressing this gap in our cultural education, we will be
better equip to respond to cultural differences and move to a
place of respect and empathy. So that when we find ourselves
in the rapture and craze that is Australian football, and our
fellow neighbour decides to express his cultural identity, we
are able to respond to him with admiration, respect and a
curiosity to learn.
Sports, and in particular, Australian Football has
historically been a vehicle that inspires social change. Think
of the day in 1993 when Nicky Winmar drew the line against
racism. He had the courage to not only stand up against the
racial abuse that was directed at him, but symbolically, he
also challenged the injustices that his people have been
subjected to for generations. In response, the AFL instigated
the Racial and Religious Vilification Act in 1995. It was the
first of its kind in Australian sports, but more importantly,
years later, the Victorian government followed suit and in
2001 implemented the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
So here we find ourselves a decade later in 2015 where
sports has been used as a platform to discuss social
change. Adam Goodes has provided us with an opportunity
to truly reflect on the foundation on which our country is
built – injustice and silence. Will we take this opportunity to
reconcile with Australia’s first people, the oldest continuing
culture on the planet? Do this, and we may find that our
country’s culture will become richer for it.
Would we continue booing if we truly understood the
continuing racism and disadvantage experienced by
Aboriginal Australians? Would we continue booing if we knew
of our dark and uncomfortable past?
As the late Nelson Mandela said, "Education is the most
powerful tool which you can use to change the world."
I am hoping that we have the humility to see our
misgivings, the courage to stand for what’s right and the
vision to create a future based on values of justice, empathy
and community.

ARTS & CULTURE 39
Intersectionality and Feminism
The Taylor Swift/Nicki Minaj
Twitter Debate
BY CASSIE SPRY
"The intersection of forms of
discrimination are important
for all women to discuss as
discrimination often does
not happen in isolation. The
problems that Minaj faces as
a woman are not necessarily
separate from the problems she
faces as a person of colour."
Taylor Swift’s response to Nicki Minaj’s tweets calling out
racism in the VMAs sparked a fierce debate about which of
the two feminists was in the wrong. All Swift accomplished
was to derail Minaj’s valid points about discrimination in the
music industry. This situation has shown the importance of
intersectionality in feminism.
The ‘feud’ started when Minaj tweeted her anger for being
overlooked for many awards she believed she deserved
nominations for in the 2015 VMAs. She said ‘If I were a
different "kind" of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for
best choreo and vid of the year as well’ and also tweeted
‘When "other" girls drop a video that breaks records and
impacts culture they get that nomination.’
But when she tweeted "If your video celebrates women with
very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year",
Swift believed Minaj was personally attacking her and her
video ‘Bad Blood’ rather than the racism and sizeism in the
industry.
Regardless of whether Minaj was talking about Swift or not
(it’s more likely she was talking about Miley Cyrus’ infamous
video ‘Wrecking Ball’), Swiff should not have made it all about
her. Minaj was talking about something bigger than any
one artist; she was talking about the structure of the music
industry and how it rewards white women over women of
colour.
Taylor Swift demonstrated that she is a textbook white
feminist by making the issue about women in general
instead of engaging in how racism affects female artists.
Many people feel personally attacked by the term white
feminism, but it doesn’t refer to every feminist who is white,
but rather to a method of feminism. It is the type of feminism
that focuses on issues that affect white, middle-class,
straight, abled, cis women, and ignores how different types of
discrimination can intersect.
In this instance, white feminism meant prioritising the
experiences of sexism above the experiences of racism
through Swift saying "maybe one of the men took your spot".
Intersectional feminism looks at the experiences of people
who face more than one form of discrimination and
oppression; such as transwomen, disabled women, nonheterosexual
women, religious women, and especially women
of colour, and how they are often discriminated against
differently because of their overlapping identities.
This is crucial in a political discussion that has historically
been dominated by cis white women who have purposely
excluded women of colour for decades.
In the fight for voting rights in Australia, white women
fought for their own suffrage while still standing firmly
against Aboriginal women’s (and men’s) right to vote.
The Commonwealth Franchise Act (1902), which suffragettes
celebrated so joyously had a clause specifically prohibiting
"aboriginal native[s] of Australia Asia Africa or the Islands of
the Pacific except New Zealand" from voting, unless they were
already enrolled to vote in their state elections.
Even in the cases where they could vote, it was strongly
discouraged and many were kept ignorant of their rights.
It was not until 1965 that Aboriginals across Australia
had the right to vote. This could have been avoided if more
suffragettes included indigenous women when they were
advocating for their own rights.
In light of a history of exclusion of women of colour in
feminism, it is particularly important that they have a voice
now and are not overshadowed by white women who insist
in only discussing issues that affect all women and who
use ‘solidarity’ to derail important discussions about the
experiences and discrimination of women of colour.
The intersection of forms of discrimination are important
for all women to discuss as discrimination often does not
happen in isolation. The problems that Minaj faces as a
woman are not necessarily separate from the problems she
faces as a person of colour. Discrimination can occur from
both of these parts of her identity at once.
By making the issue about her, Swift robbed Minaj of
the opportunity to have a productive discussion on the
discrimination that she faces in the music industry and she
robbed her from being able to educate more people on how
the intersection of race, gender, and body type affects her
and many others.

40
ARTS & CULTURE
By Emily Neilsen
Is it real love?
The Bachelor is a show that takes 25 contestants (‘hot’, single
females) who compete to win the love of one man who has
been deemed a suitable and eligible bachelor. These females
all live together and are gradually eliminated (read: dumped)
not by text message, not in private, but on national TV in front
of all the other contestants. The Bachelor gives everyone a
rose except for the girls who failed to win his heart. The rose
will deteriorate a few days later – a perfect symbol for the
result of most relationships on The Bachelor. With Australia
joining in on the fun, Network Ten is currently screening the
third season and have announced the next season will be The
Bachelorette. Hilariously, the Bachelorette will be a girl from
the last season who was left broken hearted.
Let’s examine what has made you get to the point of
auditioning for this show. Going to bars, joining social groups
and talking to strangers didn’t seem to work, so instead
you’ve decided to be on a show where you will have a 1 in 25
chance of winning the affection of a man you may not even
be interested in. But with competition comes the need to win,
and being in it for the long haul could see you go on some
pretty amazing dates. Skydiving or a trip to Thailand? Any
type of date you want is possible. While these could be the
best fun of your life, any date after that probably won’t be
the same. Once you’re away from the cameras and forced to
deal with every day life together, that’s where the real drama
happens. That’s what the show hasn’t quite figured out – how
to keep the relationships going.
The show draws comparisons to Playboy Mansion. You have
the Bachelor, you have the hot girls who fawn over him, and
you have the money. Is it wrong that the two are so similar?
That’s up to you to decide.
But one of the biggest similarities is, admittedly, it’s
thoroughly entertaining. I get angry when I see the girls vying
for the same guy. I want to throw things at the screen when
they make the girls go through the rose ceremony, and I think
it is a ridiculously unrealistic way to find love. But it’s the
perfect excuse to hang with your pals, drink lots of wine, and
complain about your love life and vow to never audition for a
show to find love.
It’s entertainment; it’s not real life. So if you plan on
finding someone in real life, maybe stick to the good old
simple dating tactics, unless you feel like a touch of drama
is needed in your life. What would really make it interesting
would be to see a bisexual person as The Bachelor/
Bachelorette. We’d have to wait for Australia to legalise gay
marriage for that to happen though, so that’s another battle
in itself.
Hey there sexy, I heard you’re
still a single pringle and
haven’t found your perfect
someone yet. The television
industry has a solution for
you. The Bachelor.
Before you do audition,
please consider the side
effects: extreme jealousy,
feelings of insecurity,
humiliation during and
after the show has aired,
a tarnished reputation (or
sometimes a better one if you
play your cards right) and
low self-esteem... unless you
win.
Until then, we rely on Sam Wood, this season’s Australian
bachelor. In terms of his love life, no one knows the result
yet. In terms of the viewers, it has so far served as a reminder
to not take love too seriously. Or at least the love we see on
TV. Good luck Sam, and please don’t make me hurl another
pillow at the screen for not eliminating Sandra.

ARTS & CULTURE 41
Cecil the Lion and the
Debate on Hunting
BY Elyse Walton
For the past couple of weeks, my newsfeed has been flooded
with reports of the shooting of Zimbabwean Cecil the Lion by
an American dentist and big-game hunting enthusiast. The
controversy attracted international attention, resulting in
major backlash from conservationists, celebrities, politicians
and global and social media. Cecil’s story has reignited a
debate on the flourishing business of African trophy hunting,
the sport of killing wild game and keeping heads, antlers
and pelts as souvenirs, and the industry’s effects on wildlife
conservation.
Walter Palmer allegedly paid $55,000 to professional
hunter and guide Theo Bronkhorst for the opportunity to kill a
lion. Cecil was lured a kilometer from Hwange National Park,
Zimbabwe’s largest game park, and shot with a crossbow. On
July 1, 2015, 40 hours later, Cecil was tracked and killed with
a rifle.
Cecil’s ruthless killing has sparked global outrage.
Palmer’s 1.1 million dollar Florida home has been vandalized.
After having his personal details posted online and
numerous hate messages and death threats, he has gone
into hiding. The online petition "Justice for Cecil", demanding
the Zimbabwean government cease issuing hunting permits
for endangered animals, has over 900,000 signatures. The
president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, has called for Palmer to be
tried and hanged. Big name celebrities have been extremely
vocal about the issue, from Jimmy Falon to Mia Farrow.
Initially I was delighted to see a call for action for lion
conservation. With less than 30,000 left in the wild, the lion
population has dropped an estimated 30% to 50% in the past
20 years alone. Over 665 lion carcasses are exported from
Africa annually and the industry generates approximately
$613 million to South African reserves. Multiple studies have
concluded that trophy hunting negatively impacts African
lion populations, including the Oxford University research
study on the impact of hunting on Hwange National Park, of
which Cecil was a subject. Of the 62 lions studied, 34 lions
have died during the study period, 24 of those deaths as a
result of sports hunting.
Many hunters and researchers argue that trophy hunting
is beneficial to wildlife conservation as its substantial
revenue funds conservation initiatives and assists African
communities. However, this argument was disproven by
the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s 2013 report
demonstrating that trophy hunting only accounts for 0.27
percent or less of the GDP of each African country in which
it’s conducted.
The history of hunting runs deep with colonialism and it
"The history of hunting
runs deep with colonialism
and it is a ritual of white
dominance. When Britain
invaded Africa around 1870,
British sportsman often used
their ideas of "fairness" to
distinguish themselves from
Indigenous hunters."
is a ritual of white dominance. When Britain invaded Africa
around 1870, British sportsman often used their ideas
of "fairness" to distinguish themselves from Indigenous
hunters. Imperialist American president Theodore Roosevelt,
was an avid big-game hunter, and firm believer in eugenics.
Cecil himself is named after Cecil Rhodes, the founder and
colonizer of Rhodesia.
Today, trophy hunting remains a "white man’s" sport
throughout southern Africa. Professional hunters are
often white men willing to pay thousands of dollars to kill
endangered animals, which they are able to afford thanks
to their large disposable income. With over 70% of the
Zimbabwean population living below the poverty line, most
aren’t able to afford the "luxury" of hunting. Many hadn’t even
heard of Cecil at all, despite reports of him being the most
famous lion in Africa.
That’s when I realized the campaign to avenge Cecil was
also displaying the presence of colonialism today. Why
aren’t Westerners concerned about Zimbabwe’s staggering
poverty rate? Why isn’t there continual media coverage about
the human rights violations at the hands of Zimbabwe’s
authoritarian president Robert Mugabe? Of all the issues to
tackle in Zimbabwe, which one deserves the most attention?

42
ARTS & CULTURE
By LISA HEALY
Celebrities and the
Get Out of Jail Free card
Content Warning: Sexual violence and sexual absue
If you were asked, ‘What do Floyd Mayweather, Chris Brown,
Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski and Sean Penn all have in
common?’ what would you answer? No, the answer is not
that they are all (assumedly) worth millions and drive cool
cars and that their whole lives are well-documented for
us mere peasants to constantly view. The correct answer
is that each of these men, at some point in their careers,
have allegedly committed acts of violence towards others,
those being predominantly women. While we may remember
Chris Brown’s vicious attack against Rihanna, have some
inkling of an idea about just how crappy a human Floyd
Mayweather is and are constantly being updated on the Bill
Cosby saga, these men can still circulate in their glitzy and
glamorous world. Many of them do not receive the scrutiny
they deserve or are legally punished for their actions, and
if they are, most earn a slap on the wrist in comparison to
non-famous offenders and are sent back into the world of
fame. This is not to say that fame is the be-all and end-all
and I myself supporter of the ‘Just Say No’ campaign when it
comes to poisonous aspects of the celebrity world. Yet, when
these perpetrators’ actions are made public, society does not
react in the way that it should or that it would if it was your
average Joe committing the crime.
This may be because we hold celebrities up on a pedestal
and fail to view them negatively yet interestingly, if a celebrity
does do something wrong, it is occasionally regarded as the
utmost blasphemy and individuals outside the fame realm
often personalise the issue by acting as if the consequences
have somehow affect them. Going way back to the noughties,
when news broke that Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for
Angelina Jolie there was widespread outrage; albeit mostly
from gossip columnists. "HOW DARE Angelina steal Jennifer’s
man? What must have gone on behind closed doors? How
will Jennifer go on!?" And what has continued since is the
10-year long weekly update on Jennifer’s romantic life, with
important questions such as, ‘Will she ever find love? Is he
the one? Does Jen want children? Is she truly happy!?!!??!’
being asked. Celeb enthusiasts treated the divorce like Jen
was their best friend and Angelina was the wench from work
who was just so awful for stealing Brad. Of course, Brad didn’t
really do anything wrong, y’know, being the one married and
all. He just stood there looking pretty and that evil temptress
just swooped in and dug her claws into him. So why do we
‘pick and choose’ when it comes to what celebrity issues we
truly care about and consider worth our time and attention
and those that we are happy to sweep under the rug?
The case regarding Bill Cosby has seen one cat come out
of the bag, followed by another 46. People have come forward
to relate their experiences of date rape, sexual harassment
and abuse at the hands of the 77 year old pervert and his
Quaaludes. Some cases even stretch back to over 40 years
ago. Ex-America’s Next Top Model hard-ass judge Janice
Dickinson came forward stating that Cosby assaulted her
in 1982 and when she finally wanted to share the assault in
her 2002 memoir, Cosby and his lawyers pressured her and
the publishing company to remain hush-hush about the
incident. With the first allegations arising in the mid-2000’s,
it has been a long process for victims, who would presumably
have felt alone, ashamed and isolated in their experiences, to
finally speak out against someone who has been held in such
high regard by the public. And because of his persona, it has
been a long and arduous process for people to believe that
perhaps ‘good ol’ Cosby’ did commit these crimes. Many have
lampooned the alleged victims as money hungry nobodies,
hoping to destroy his career. Big name celebrities like Whoopi
Goldberg have stuck to their Cosby-supporting guns and
preached of his greatness. While there has been a great deal
of support for the alleged victims and celebrities and network
channels have been pulling the plug on their support and
airtime for the star, the Cosby debacle has shown a particular
reluctance by many to take the victims’ word seriously.
Then there is Floyd Mayweather, who actually likes
to spend his days being physically violent. Whether it’s
hitting a punching bag in training practice, trying to knock
out one of his opponents in the ring, or brutally beating
innocent women, it’s not a full day for the boxer unless he’s
somehow released his aggression in an extremely negative
fashion. Ruby Rose, who was once championed by people
everywhere has recently come under fire for posting a photo
on Instagram of her and Mayweather together, labelling
him ‘the champ’ and clearly demonstrating her support for
the boxer. While it is good we are having the conversation
about how celebrity endorsements of other celebrities with
disreputable histories (or present actions) can be extremely
damaging, there is a string of celebrities who have flaunted
support for Mayweather. Moreover, a surprising amount
of these supporters are women. Beyonce, along with Jay Z
both cheered for him at his game and Mariah Carey and
Nicki Minaj haven’t been afraid to take a few snaps with
him and act like bffls. What is most irritating is that all of

ARTS & CULTURE 43
‘Is it then possible to separate the man from his work? And if
we can, if we do decide to continue to support them and their
work, is there a possibility to find a balance? Or is it simply
unethical to demonstrate any support for these people who
have shown that they are simply unworthy of it?’
this completely contradicts these celebrities’ staunch and
purported feminist positions. Did they not think that by
showing support for this man they are then subsequently
supporting his string of domestic violence, which has been
public knowledge since 2002 and to which he has received
comparatively light jail sentences? Yet, surprisingly, when
the Mayweather v. Pacquiao boxing match took place earlier
this year, the focus laid less on his crimes - such as beating
his now ex-girlfriend in 2010 in front of their children - and
more on how he shouldn’t have won and Pacquiao was more
deserving. The boxing industry’s elevation of him, which
passively condones his actions and normalises them to
society, is just insulting to the people, and his children, who
he has brought distress and harm upon, as well as to anyone
else who has had to endure any similar form of abuse.
Is it then possible to separate the man from his work?
And if we can, if we do decide to continue to support them
and their work, is there a possibility to find a balance? Or
is it simply unethical to demonstrate any support for these
people who have shown that they are simply unworthy of it?
Because by being passive consumers and singing along to
the charming lyrics of Brown’s that "these hoes ain’t loyal"
is giving credence to these men and enforcing that as much
as we, as a general populace, think they are a typically awful
person, because they so happen to exist in the world of fame
and fortune, their work-related efforts account for much
more than their violent, abusive nature.
Fiona McCormack, a guest speaker at the Human Rights
Conference 2015 hosted by Monash’s Castan Centre for
Human Rights Law, spoke about domestic violence and
where this issue stems from. With 95% of domestic violence
perpetrated by men, the issue is largely a gender-based one.
Common factors listed by the media that are to blame for
abuse in the home include mental health issues, economic
stress, upbringing and environment, and alcohol and drug
abuse. While these can play a part in some cases, they
are not the ultimate driving force behind what is now one
woman a week losing her life due to domestic violence. Rigid
stereotypes, the status of women and violence supported
attitudes are often the catalyst for these behaviours and
if these perceptions of gender are not challenged, we are
therefore supporting these attitudes and propagating
ingrained beliefs and gender stereotypes. This mirrors our
perception of these male celebrities who have caused harm
to others. If we do not challenge their actions and if we
continue to support them by buying their albums, liking
their Instagram posts or simply ignoring their crimes, we are
allowing them to continue forth, untouched and unscathed.
Even the beacon of sagacity that is Pitbull has chipped
in his two cents on the Rihanna and Chris Brown fiasco in
2009, stating that "there’s her story, there’s his story, and
then the truth." That doesn’t actually deter from the fact
that the truth is not completely separate from their version
of events and that his comments make as little sense as
his vomit-inducing lyrics do. So their versions of the events
cannot intertwine with the truth? So maybe Rihanna fell out
of a moving car and that is how she came to look severely
beaten and bruised? And maybe Chris Brown just drove
his Lamborghini around town, flashing his high beams? By
Pitbull excusing Brown for his actions by labelling him as
a poor, young lad who "just finds trouble", the blame steers
away from Brown and his actions are seen as the result of
provocation from Rihanna.
Whether people wish to admit it or not, the world of
Hollywood and the like does have a profound effect on
society with people often using celebrities as a measuring
stick for their own actions. By demonstrating that men
who commit wrongdoings, hold misogynistic and harmful
attitudes towards women are allowed to succeed and have
undue support in their lives serves only to normalise and
perpetuate victim blaming.
Celebrities are not perfectly invincible creatures whose
worth transcends that of non-celebrities; they are humans
who make mistakes and need to be held accountable to the
same degree as anyone else. This belief that they are more
worthy and outside of the rule of law disseminates an elitist
attitude and is damaging to the outside community. We
need to stop victimising the perpetrator and de-victimising
the victim – it’s ignorant, offensive and destructive. It
conditions women to think that if they are made to be a
victim by the ‘uncontrollable whim’ or the blunt force of a
man, she is somewhat to blame and equally responsible
for his actions. We need to deconstruct the issue to
highlight just who a victim is and who a perpetrator is and
not cut corners about it. The more we build and generate
a supportive discourse, showing women they are not to
blame, the more we can work towards helping women who
are in these situations to try and seek help and to not view
themselves as the issue.

44
ARTS & CULTURE
BY GRACE MCKINNoN
Dank beats,
Cheap eats
Paradise
Capacity: 2,000
#
Lake Mountain VIC - Nov 28th to 30th
Camping - BYO - 18+
Tickets $150+bf - Available 1st of September
With over 56 acts over 3 days, performed in a luscious outdoor amphitheatre by day, and a
trance lighted indoor setting at night Paradise Festival in the epiphany of new age music
evolution. Perfect for those seeking a smaller camping festival with the electrifying energy of
Melbourne latest music.
Past artists: CC:disco, drunk Mums, Foreign/National, Rara
Meredith Music
Festival
Capacity: 12,500
@
Meredith VIC, Dec 12th to 14th
Camping, BYO
Tickets $320 - Available 5th of September
Meredith is all about ‘music, nature and nonsense’, built around a wildlife retreat this relaxing
environment is a woodland wonderland. With an essential mix of relaxation meets wild,
Meredith is the perfect opportunity to start your summer in the best possible way.
Past artists: The War on drugs, de La Soul, Augie March and Cloud Nothings
The New Year’s Holy Trinity
Falls Music and Arts
Festival @
Lorne, Vic - Dec 28th to Jan 1st
Capacity 15,000
Camping - 18+
Tickets $360 - Available September
9th
Falls Festival, need I say more? This jam
packed grunge, hipster central event is
home to Australia’s favourite local and
international acts. With over 50 artists
performing over 3 days this new year’s
festival is guaranteed to set you up
with a groovin’ year ahead.
Past artists: every triple j artist ever...
more specifically in 2014/15 we saw
the likes of Alt J, Asgeir, Cloud Control,
Milky Chance, La Roux, Kilter and
Northeast Party House
New Years On The Hill #
South Gippsland VIC - Dec 30th to
Jan 1st
Capacity 2000
Camping - BYO - 18+
Tickets $100, Available August
New years on the Hill encapsulated
48 hours of freedom. Great music and
great friends on a boutique farm“ who
could ask for more. Greatly known for
promoting upcoming artists, NYE on
the Hill brings together a colourful
bunch of people searching for ‘chill’
experience away from massive
crowds with the added benefit of new
electronic, indie, folk artists.
Past artists: The Smith Street Band,
Jackie onassis, The delta Riggs, Money
for Rope, Loon lake, Remi, Joelistics and
The darjeelings
Beyond the Valley @
Phillip Island, Vic - Dec 29th to Jan 1st
Capacity 5000+
Camping - 18+
Tickets $270 - Available October
Replacing Pyramid Rock, Beyond
the Valley brings together huge
international artists at this non-stop
festival. Perfect for you island goers
looking for a close to home camping
festival with same flare and excitement
as Falls.
Past artists: Rüfüs, Midnight
Juggernauts, Allday, Ball Park Music,
The Preatures and AlunaGeorge
# Boutique Festival @ Prominent Festival

ARTS & CULTURE 45
and Glitter Cheeks The definitive festival guide
My picks: NYE on the Hill, Rainbow
Serpent, Riverboat Music Festival
Unify
Capacity: 3,000
#
Gippsland VIC - Jan 10th to 11th - 18+
Camping Festival - BYO
Tickets $99, available October 2nd
Just a 10 minute drive to the ocean this mid-size summer festival features the latest and
greatest Heavy Metal acts. Not for the faint hearted, Unify provides the best of Punk, Metal and
Hardcore music to satisfy every festival punter.
Past artists: Thy Art Is Murder, Northlane, Amity Affliction.
Cool Summer
Festival
#
Mt Hotham VIC - Jan 15th to 17th
Camping - available
Tickets $82+bf, Kids under 16 free - available Nov 25th
This stunning boutique festival is perfect for those looking for a picturesque holiday with the
added bonus of an onsite music festival. Cool Summer is free from large commercial input
and sponsorship, and prides themselves on remaining independent. Flooded with incredible
unearthed acts you will be torn between sipping on cool craft beer, morning yoga, chairlift
rides, and of course... listening to some of the best new music Australia has to offer.
Past artists: delta Riggs, The Pierse Brothers and Bonjah
Rainbow Serpent
Festival
Capacity: 10,000
@
Lexton, VIC - Jan 22nd to 25th
Camping - BYO
Tickets $220 - All age event - Available July 28th
Rainbow Serpent is truly the home to the weird and wonderful. Freedom of expressions is
encouraged in all matters of the festival, whether in outfit, performance, onsite art and
collaborative projects. With over 10,000 punters, this intimate festival does not loose site of
the intention of the festival - art and love. I could not imagine a more fantastic way to spend
your hard earned cash at this exotic sensory mix spread over four days. Time to gather your
friends and buy a tent!
Past artists: Beats Antique, Amani Friend, desert dwellers and Christopher Lawrence
St Kilda Festival
Capacity: 45,000
@
Melb, Vic Jan 31st to Feb 8th
All age event - FREE!!!
Any Melburnian could tell you the iconic St Kilda Fest encompasses the essence that is the
Melbourne experience. From henna to heroin the 30 year old festival has seen it all. With
many shows suitable for families the event runs over a whole week to provide both local and
international acts, workshops and kids entertainment. Perfect way to stay close to home and
experience a diverse festival on the spectacular St Kilda foreshore.
Past artists: Remi, Japanese Wallpaper and Thundamentals
Riverboats Music
Festival
Capacity: 5000
#
Echuca, Vic - Feb 19th to 21st
Tickets $60 - $120 - All Ages - Available September 14th
don’t let this country festival fool you, Riverboats Music Festival hosts some of Australia’s
biggest names. Taking place on the Murray, this has soon become one of Victoria’s best kept
secrets.
Past Artists: dan Sultan, Sarah Blasko, Aldalita, Fraser A Gorman and Raised by Eagles

46 arts & culture
By brodie everist
Gig Guide
Want to have your gig advertised in the next gig guide?
Send the details to bceve1@student.monash.edu
Please include date, time, entry fee, address and a
1-2 sentence description of the band/music.
11
Aug
12
Aug
13
Aug
The Fabric
The Toff in Town - 252 Swanston St.
$11 entry
9-piece soul/funk band The Fabric play for their August
residency at The Toff. They are joined by Thando, Au Dre
and Sex on Toast.
The Jack Earle Big Band – Debut Album Launch
The Spotted Mallard – 314 Sydney Rd, Brunswick
Doors/dinner 6pm, showtime 8:30pm. $15/10.
At long last, The Jack Earle Big Band’s debut, self titled
album is ready to be released. Do not miss the exciting
opportunity to hear one of Australia’s most exciting
big bands, made up of some of Melbourne’s finest
musicians, play an entire albums worth (and more!) of
original compositions.
Live jazz with The Rookies.
The Rooks Return. 201 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Free – 8:30pm every Wednesday
The Rookies play jazz at Melbourne’s best speakeasy
style residency at Melbourne’s best little bar - The Rooks
Return.
Mingus Thingus
Paris Cat Jazz Club – 8 Goldie Place, Melbourne.
8:30pm $15.
Mingus Thingus return to the Paris Cat with their vibrant
interpretations of the music of Charles Mingus. Featuring
the musicality of great young jazz players such as Nick
McCusker, Stephen Byth and Daniel Mougerman, this will
be a swinging gig.
22
Aug
26
Aug
27
Aug
Papa G and the Starcats Music Video Launch and
Live Album Recording
The Gasometer Hotel – 484 Smith St, Collingwood.
A super huge event for soul and funk band Papa G
and the Starcats: launching their music video and
recording an album at the same time. Head to the
Gasometer that Saturday to be an audience in a live
album.
Movement 9
Paris Cat Jazz Club – 8 Goldie Place, Melbourne.
8:30pm $20
After the hugely successful release of their EP and
interstate tour Movement 9 return to the Paris Cat
for a night of their delicious blend of jazz, funk and
latin music.
Live jazz with The Rookies.
The Rooks Return. 201 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Free – 8:30pm every Wednesday
Lazercatz 2000 + Tululah + Jamil Zachariah
Evelyn Hotel – 351 Brunswick St, Fitzroy.
8:00
Three cinematic, jazz-influenced groups take
to the stage at the Evelyn to bring a mixture of
atmospheric improvisations and grooves coupled
with contemporary electronic performance.
18
Aug
The Fabric
The Toff in Town, 252 Swanston St.
$11 entry
9-piece soul/funk band The Fabric play for their August
residency at The Toff. They are joined by the Horns of Leroy
and The Jungle Crooks.
19
Aug
Live jazz with The Rookies.
The Rooks Return. 201 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Free – 8:30pm every Wednesday

ART SHOWCASE
47
Chloe Blythman
CHLOE BLYTHMAN
When it comes to my
designs, I don’t have much
of a system, mostly because
I like to be able to see what
my creativity can do. I like
my work to speak for itself,
so I generally don’t over
cluttering works as I think it
destroys it.
I do have one rule that I
stick by though, and it was
something I was taught
in year 11 by my Vis Comm
teacher when I first started
using illustrator. Start small
and build it up. Break it
down and define the shapes
of what you are attempting
to create. You can create
something truly unique with
this method.

48
ART SHOWCASE
CHLOE BLYTHMAN

ART SHOWCASE 49
CHLOE BLYTHMAN

Peer Support offers one-on-one sessions with trained facilitators to help
improve your English language in assignments
Bring your assignments along and get feedback on areas to improve your English language skills
Facilitators will provide you with tips and resources to improve your English language skills
No appointment needed, just come along!
The program will run throughout the semester,
in the John Medley Library (Campus Centre) on the following days:
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
10am – 2pm
10am – 2pm
10am – 2pm
msa.monash.edu/peersupport
EnglishLanguagePeerSupportProgram
For more information from Monash:
monash.edu/students/conversational-english/