Lot's Wife Edition 3 2017

Lot’s Wife 

edition three

SHOULD I HELP? 

Everyone is a bystander at some point. Being a bystander is simply 

witnessing inappropriate or harmful behaviour. In these sitautions, 

it's easy to ignore it, or assume that someone else will help. But 

most of the time everyone else will be thinking the same thing. 

Even if you're not sure how to help, a lot of the time, trying to do 

something is better than doing nothing. 

MONASH 

SAFER COMMUNITY UNIT 

T: +61 3 9905 1599 

E: safercommunity@monash.edu 

monash.edu 

If you witness harmful or inappropriate behaviour, consider: 

'Is it safe for me to step in myself or should I call security? 

Remember, it's important to do the right thing, but your safety is paramount. 

'What kind of negative behaviour am I seeing?' Is it discriminatory? 

re they yelling abuse? Is someone being physically violent? Different 

situations require different intervention. 

 

'What can I do?' Should you calmly confront the person and explain why it's wrong? 

Should you comfort the person being affected? Should you call someone else in to help? 

'Can I support anyone else who is helping?' If someone has already stepped in, 

what can you do to back them up? 

ic 

For information, advice and support in a safe environment, please contact the Monash University Safer Community Unit on 9905 1599 or 

just dial 51599 from a Monash phone. The Safer Community Unit website also lists resources and links to external agencies 

http://www.monash.edu/safer-community

contents 

02/ 

the team 

04/ 

msa calendar 

06/ 

office bearer reports 

08/ 

wot’s news? 

jessie lu, joanne fong, cara dowe & victoria 

saunders 

10/ 

health & safety: interview with sam 

hatfield 

jayden crozier & selena repanis 

11/ 

trigger warnings: paramount or 

pandering? 

joanne fong & jesse thomas 

12/ 

the most efficient way to learn a 

new language, proficiently 

georgia cox & isabella toppi 

14/ 

all gender bathrooms: what they 

mean and why they matter 

d.s.a & kim tran 

16/ 

the sweet life, the real life 

devika pandit & audrey chmielewski 

18/ 

music in the shadow of genocide 

emina besirevic & nicole sizer 

19/ 

nostalgia for tradition 

john henry 

20/ 

what’s the deal with firefighters? 

nick bugeja 

21/ 

australia’s obsession with military 

spending 

jack young & elsie dusting 

22/ 

minor parties in australian politics 

jessica lehmann & leitu bonnici 

23/ 

what ever happened to the state of 

journalism? 

nick jarrett & kim tran 

24/ 

when the bank of mum & dad runs 

dry 

benjamin caddaye & lin abdul rahman 

25/ 

beyond her beauty 

dolly png & rachelle lee 

26/ 

the power of the protest 

chris di pasquale & angharad neal-williams 

28/ 

australia indonesia business forum 

2017 

andre nathaniel & patrick johannes kaihatu 

30/ 

the political battlefield: 

sloganeering and policy proposals 

alex niehof & john henry 

32/ 

the dutch general election 2017 

nick novicki & angharad neal-williams 

34/ 

what’s the matter with dark matter? 

austin luke & jesse thomas 

35/ 

human centred design: a socially 

responsible approach to engineering 

consulting 

cameron inglis 

36/ 

test your inner science nerd 

austin luke 

37/ 

dramathematicians: historic figures 

in the mathematical sciences 

rachael welling & julia thouas 

38/ 

science news 

science & engineering sub-editor team 

40/ 

self and sound: the music of phillip 

wilcher 

samuel bugeja & jessica macgregor 

42/ 

before where, perhaps what? 

nicole willis & sian davies 

44/ 

in conversation with client liaison 

raymond field 

46/ 

conflicted histories: a reflection on 

brook andrew’s ‘the right to offend 

is sacred’ 

linh thuy nguyen 

48/ 

coffee: the rise of modernity 

john henry & joanne fong 

49/ 

jim & julie 

shona louis & maria chamakala 

50/ 

relative size 

lauren castle & caitlin brown 

52/ 

sunset 

jaimee bennetts & leitu bonnici 

53/ 

the sea 

nathan nguyen & julia chetwood 

54/ 

dissent: msa women’s department 

constance wilde & baby with a nail gun 

56/ 

wot’s life? 

agony aunt 

57/ 

feature artist 

kerrie o’james

edition three 

lot’s wife 

the team 

Editors 

Emina Besirevic 

Nick Bugeja 

Sophia McNamara 

Rob Staunton 

Design 

Hana Crowl 

Student Affairs 

Caitlin McIvor 

Dylan Marshall 

Sophie Ng 

Devika Pandit 

Politics & Society 

Mollie Ashworth 

Benjamin Caddaye 

Jessica Lehmann 

Lachlan Liesfield 

Arts & Culture 

Tim Davies 

Nick Jarrett 

Clarissa Kwee 

Linh Nguyen 

Creative & Comedy 

Manon Boutin Charles 

John Henry 

Georgina Lee 

Shona Louis 

Elizabeth Yu 

Campus Reporters 

Cara Dowe 

Joanne Fong 

Jessie Lu 

Victoria Saunders 

Science & Engineering 

Tracy Chen 

Shreeya Luthra 

Isaac Reichman 

Rachael Welling 

Lot’s Wife is entirely run, written, illustrated, edited and designed by students. 

If you would like to get involved, we are always looking for new contributors! 

Say hi anytime: 

Lot’s Wife Office 

1st Floor, Campus Centre, 

Turn right at the MSA desk 

Or email us at msa-lotswife@monash.edu 

Advertising enquires: 

msa-lotswife@monash.edu 

Cover Art by Caitlin Brown 

Caitlin Brown is a Monash Fine Art student who enjoys dabbling in many 

different disciplines. She takes inspiration from both the world around her, and 

her inner self. She’s currently taking time off to work in the MSA, but no doubt 

about it nothing can keep her away from her art. You can follow what she’s up to 

on instagram @dankest_1. 

Section Art by Sam Allen 

Sam Allen is a second year Monash University student studying a Bachelor of 

Communication Design. She is an aspiring graphic designer, interested in print 

media and publication design. She also enjoys experimenting with textiles and 

all things tactile, often trying to incorperate these elements in her printed work. 

Fashion design fascinates her, especially designs that utilise alternative and 

unique materials. She would love to study something to do with fashion after her 

degree. Her very new and still developing design account is: samallen_design. 

Lot’s Wife Edition Three 

May 2017 

Published by Mary Giblin at Printgraphics, Mount Waverley, Victoria. 

As you read this magazine you are on Aboriginal land. Lot’s Wife recognises the 

Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations as the historical and 

rightful owners and custodians of the lands which this magazine was produced on. 

This land was stolen and sovereignty was never ceded. 

Lot’s Wife condemns and will not publish any material that is objectionable 

or discriminatory of any nature. The views expressed herein are those of the 

attributed writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the 

Monash Student Association. All writing and artwork remains the property of the 

producers and must not be reproduced without their consent. 

© Lot’s Wife Magazine 

Level 1, Campus Centre 

Monash University 

Clayton, Victoria 3800 

Design by Hana Crowl 

Hana is currently undertaking her final year of a BA in Communication Design. 

She has always been interested in the creative industry, experimenting with many 

fields before discovering her passion for graphic design, particularly enjoying the 

physical, tactile nature of publication and print. You can find her work online at 

hanacrowl.com or on instagram; @hana.crowl.

Hello to all Lot’s Wife readers. We hope everyone has had a good semester so far, and we thank 

you for picking up the magazine. The amount of feedback and involvement we have had from 

Monash students has been great. 

We want to use this editorial to speak to the importance of empathy and consideration for others. 

We live in times that are marred with imperfections – harmful wars, high instances of domestic 

violence, social isolation and ravaging economic inequality. Although there are goods that we all 

experience, many of the obvious ills in our society and the world are preventable (or at least our 

sense of idealism tells us that). Homelessness in such a rich country as ours is but one example of 

eliminable problems. 

While we are mere university students, we shouldn’t underestimate our powers to effect change. 

Every day presents us with an opportunity to make a mark; to smile at a bus driver, to ensure our 

environment is pristinely clean, to even have a conversation with someone who appears dejected. 

It is the small things that we do that cultivate a harmonious society. 

Once our university days end, our capacity to mould society will grow. Many of us will become 

leaders of our respective fields – teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers – and will wield a great deal 

of power to reconfigure what is often a cold, calculated and cagey social order. Recognising and 

using that power is of the utmost importance. Our generation can reverse the trend towards 

hatred, isolation and unashamed self-interest. 

Our turn to create a world that we want to live in starts now – and we think that can be achieved 

by the values of empathy, kindness and magnanimity. 

As cinema mastermind Tommy Wiseau said in The Room: “If a lot of people love each other, the 

world would be a better place to live.” We hope you all like Edition Three. 

Pages 54/55 feature Dissent, the MSA Women’s Department’s publication, organised by the 

Women’s Officers, Shreeya Luthra and Nikola Gužys-McAuliffe. In previous years, Dissent has been 

published independently by the Women’s Department, but this year, Lot’s Wife is teaming up 

with Dissent to reach out to a wider audience. The double spread in this Edition is brought to you 

in anticipation of Edition 5, the Feminist Edition. Edition 5 will feature a large amount of Dissent 

content, creating a space for women to express themselves, while showcasing the talent of female 

writers and artists at Monash. 

photography by daniel ffrench-mullen 

2-3

edition three 

lot’s wife 

MSA Calendar 

WHATS HAPPENING AROUND 

CLAYTON CAMPUS 

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 

01 02 

MSA WELFARE 

DEPARTMENT 

Mondays at 7.30pm 

in Wholefoods 

-Free Food! 

MUISS FREE 

BREAKFAST 

MUISS Lounge 

9am-11am 

YOGA 

Location TBA 

1-2pm 

03 04 05 

THE MSA 

BREAKFAST CLUB 

Airport Lounge 

8.30am 

HUMP DAY 


12-2pm 

Week nine 

08 09 

MSA WELFARE 

DEPARTMENT 


in Wholefoods 

-Free Food! 

MUISS FREE 

BREAKFAST 

MUISS Lounge 

9am-11am 

YOGA 

Location TBA 

1-2pm 

10 

THE MSA 



8.30am 

HUMP DAY 


12-2pm 

11 

12 

Week ten 

15 

MSA WELFARE 

DEPARTMENT 


in Wholefoods 

-Free Food! 

16 

MUISS FREE 

BREAKFAST 

MUISS Lounge 

9am-11am 

YOGA 

Location TBA 

1-2pm 

17 

THE MSA 



8.30am 

HUMP DAY 


12-2pm 

18 19 

Week eleven 

22 23 24 

MSA WELFARE 

DEPARTMENT 


in Wholefoods 

-Free Food! 

MUISS FREE 

BREAKFAST 

MUISS Lounge 

9am-11am 

YOGA 

Location TBA 

1-2pm 

THE MSA 



8.30am 

HUMP DAY 


12-2pm 

25 26 

Week twelve 

design by sam allen

student affairs 


4-5

edition three 

lot’s wife 

OBR 

Office Bearer Reports 

PRESIDENT 

MATILDA GREY 

Dear Readers, you’ve made it to week 9; congratulations! 

I hope you’ve been having a whale of a semester 1. Since 

you last picked up a LW publication, we’ve launched a 

couple of new campaigns. The women’s department 

is working hard to change the culture around sexual 

assault on campus by raising awareness, rolling 

out improved education and prevention programs 

and ensuring sufficient resources are provided to 

victims. Look out for their snazzy new publication 

and the events we’ll be running that will focus on this 

extremely important issue! We have also released a petition 

around parking problems at Monash. We desperately need your help to make 

changes to the current system, so PLEASE sign the petition and include YOUR 

experiences with parking at Monash, it can be found on our website or on 

the MSA Facebook page. A few weeks ago we launched a survey requesting 

feedback from students around the events, projects and campaigns that MSA 

departments run. To help direct the focus of the Office Bearers this year, please 

participate in the survey which can also be found online. You can enter the 

draw to win 1 of 50 MSA vouchers worth $10 each! We’ve also been working 

on establishing a Centrelink branch on campus, getting a free legal service up 

and running, and working with the Monash University International Student 

Society around an international student campaign. I wish y’all the best of luck 

in your exams, and hope you have a stellar winter break. Catch you in semester 2! 

SECRETARY 

JESSICA STONE 

I hope everyone enjoyed their well deserved mid-sem break 

and managed to finish all those assignments. Lot’s of 

exciting stuff has happened since LW Edition 2. I saved 

a student’s life, poor Dan almost had an asthma attack... 

if it wasn’t for the efficiency of Facebook messenger and 

the pharmacist on campus it would not have ended 

well. Would also recommend having lunch in the MSA 

Space, very spacious and great vibes. I wrote some more 

minutes (the most exciting thing ever). I also read Lot’s 

Wife and learned that monash is going BACK to Blackboard, 

since when did we want to be like Melbourne Uni??? Semester 1 

is nearing its end but before you get too excited about heading into that winter 

unit or flying off to a tropical paradise to escape the cold, Stress Less Week is 

coming up in Week 12, so look forward to puppies, petting zoos and putting 

aside all those exams woes and indulging in some self care. 

TREASURER 

CAITLIN BROWN 

Golly gosh this semester has flown past! I can’t work out 

where all the time has gone. I hope you’ve all been 

enjoying each department’s week and making use of all 

the lovely meals MSA gives you – for FREE, such as 

free food Mondays, Tuesday BBQ, Wednesday Brekky 

and BBQ’s! The MSA is grateful to all the support we 

get from students, and all our services are here to give 

back, so make sure that around when assignment and 

exam stress is weighing you down and make use of all 

these lovely free goodies! We’ve been busy building for the 

post budget rally to fight back against liberal attacks against 

women, student welfare, and students. Also, we’re planning a super chill Stress 

Less week to hopefully ease some of the pressures of study! I hope to see you at 

these events, you pass all your exams and win the lottery to pay off your student 

debt and run away to a nice warm island far away from cold dreary old Clayton! 

EDUCATION (PUBLIC AFFAIRS) 

COREY ROSEVEAR & JULIET STEEL 

Oh my golly gosh how are we already in Week 9?! We hope 

that all your assessments have been going well and that 

you’re also managing to have fun! This week is Radical 

Education Week, where events and workshops will be 

run by students on radical ideas and concepts. We will 

be running a forum on Free Education where, amongst 

other things, we will look at Australian history, free 

tertiary education around the world, and have some 

brilliant discussions. The Budget is also out this week, 

so look out for events and rallies surrounding it as we’re 

expecting further cuts to higher education. Our Activate 

Monash Leadership Program has so far been a great success, with speakers 

coming in to talk to our group about campaigning and effective strategies, as 

well as to help facilitate group activities. 

EDUCATION (ACADEMIC AFFAIRS) 

HARINI KASTHURIARACHCHI & RAPHAEL TELL 

Hi everyone! Where has the time gone?! This semester 

is absolutely flying by but that hasn’t stopped Ed-Ac 

from working towards ensuring that your education 

is equitable and accessible. Since we last spoke, we 

have been quite busy working towards making the 

APC process a more fair process for students where 

all procedure is followed, which we have realised does 

not always occur. We have met with various university 

administrators to determine what is the best course of 

action to take and we are hoping to become more involved 

in the training process of academics who sit on the panel! 

Moreover, we are currently working towards creating some multimedia 

resources which will be distributed to students to raise awareness. 

Excitingly we have also conducted our first Academic Affairs Committee! 

We have a strong committee of highly enthusiastic students and we have 

identified a lot of problems that exist within faculties and we are hoping to 

work with ADEs and our student representatives to alleviate some of these 

problems. Moreover, Ed Ac has also contacted the library administration to 

discuss whether it is possible to have popular text books stocked in a higher 

quantity in the libraries to make them more accessible for students. If there are 

particular units or textbooks where the compulsory texts are unavailable at 

the library please contact us (harini.kasthuriarachchi@monash.edu or raphael. 

tell@monash.edu) and we can get in touch with the library administration on 

your behalf to see if this can be resolved! 

WELFARE 

NICHOLAS VIRGO & PATRICK STEPHENSON 

Hello all! To new students this year, we hope Semester 1 has 

been all you ever dreamed of and more. To all other students, 

R.I.P us. Semester 1 has been going swimmingly for the 

Welfare Department (quite literally during the campus 

floods – never forget). Thus far we’ve been busy cooking 

up a storm every Monday night for our regular Free Food 

Monday events, which have been a success insofar as we 

haven’t poisoned anyone... yet... as far as we’re aware. 

We’ve also been working hard to promote the National 

Day of Action, a student protest that occurred in cities all 

around the country on March 22nd. The rally in Melbourne was 

a success, with students from across the state coming together to fight back 

against proposed changes to welfare payments, cuts to penalty rates and the 

ongoing train wreck that is the Centrelink automated debt-recovery system, 

among other things. Looking ahead to the rest of the semester we plan to 

continue to fundraise for the expansion of Asylum Seeker Scholarships offered 

by the university, collaborate with other MSA departments on an awareness 

campaign around student mental health, and try with all our might to fix the 

bloody campus Wi-Fi. Fare well amigos!

ACTIVITIES 

SEAN GLASS & SARAH HARRIS 

Activities are here to relieve the stress of week 9! We have 

been welcoming live music every week on campus so we 

invite you to come on down on a Wednesday at 1pm 

for some music and a snag. Our committee members 

have been working hard every week to bring even 

more sausages to you guys than ever before! We are 

debuting our brand-new karaoke night this semester 

so grab some mates and practise in the mirror with a 

hair brush. From all of us at Activities, hope you enjoyed 

your Easter break and caught up on your studies. 

INDIGENOUS 

JAYDEN CROZIER & BRYDA NICHOLS 

Hey all! It has been an exciting past few weeks for the 

Indigenous department at Monash. Feels like we’ve 

been in the hot seat! With the National Close the Gap 

Day having passed during March, it has given us an 

opportunity to reflect on the fact that there is still a 

lot work that needs to be done. We are currently in 

the process of coordinating with external Indigenous 

organisations here in Victoria to assist in the promotion 

of programs and campaigns surrounding Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander health and education. Additionally, 

the Indigenous department will be campaigning heavily 

for the introduction of justice targets to the Closing the Gap Strategy. It is 

important that the issue of justice and incarceration is addressed in order for 

all other areas to improve. After all, it is more likely that an Indigenous youth is 

incarcerated rather than studying at a TAFE or University. We look forward to 

mounting this campaign and adding our voice to this important conversation. 

WOMEN’S 

SHREEYA LUTHRA & NIKOLA GUZYTE 

The Women’s Department’s projects and events are well 

underway at this point in the year. After having a 

stellar women’s week with plenty of workshops, guest 

speakers, food and friends we’re now heading into the 

second half of semester. Students have reached out 

to us about various campaigns and initiatives they’d 

like to see, so negotiation with the university as well 

as preparation on our side has been the main focus. 

Our collectives have well and truly kicked off with the 

Women of Colour Collective (WOCC) party at Wholefoods 

and Q2 (queer and questioning women) dumplings in week 

6; these collectives meet weekly so if you’re interested come down to the 

women’s room and check out times! Contact the women’s department at msawomens@monash.edu 

for any questions! 

DISABILITIES & CARERS 

NAWAMA GREEN & MELANIE LOUDOVARIS 

Firstly, the D&C department wants to thank all those 

involved in our department week. A big thank you 

to those that gave us ideas, the students that ran 

workshops, and a certain office-bearer who helped 

immensely with events. We will be taking the 

discussions had in this week into our future 

campaigns and events. We are working on a guide to 

accessibility for MSA events and campaigns. We are 

excited to continue working with other departments 

on events and campaigns including work around queer 

mental health, carer awareness and much more! 

ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL JUSTICE 

TESS DIMOS & JASMINE DUFF 

We have had a great couple of weeks of resistance. We joined 

students from across Australia in marching to ‘Make Education 

Free Again.’ The government spends $10 billion on subsidising 

the mining industry but students pay thousands each year in 

fees, Centrelink payments are increasingly difficult to access 

and now our penalty rates are being taken away. So we’ve 

been a part of the National campaign fighting for a free 

education! We have taken part in blocking the deportation 

of asylum seeker Saeed*, who the government is attempting 

to send back to danger in Iraq. We help check cars and try to 

stop him being taken to the airport. Australia’s refugee policies are 

some of the worst in the world, we all need to be part of the resistance. We have 

also organised forums on mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex, 

and on climate change and capitalism, for students to discuss and debate these 

key issues. If you want to get involved send us an email at msa.enviro@monash. 

edu. *not his real name 

QUEER 

ANDREA DUVAL & DENISE ATZINGER 

We’re looking to a strong start to the year, Trivia Night was 

super fun. Our contingent to the Melbourne Queer Film 

Festival to watch Women Who Kill (hilarious film, would 

recommend) had fun. Karaoke night had to be postponed 

due to the heavy rain in Week 4, but like rainbows, we 

aren’t deterred when everything is awful.We will prepare 

to get more active in campaigns and advocacy as well. 

Our goals are to keep you entertained, informed and well 

fed (we advocate low sodium diets). Also, Sir John’s Bar 

has finally completed it’s All Gender Bathroom! Come visit 

your QOs, we are stressed and there’s only so much time we can 

spend with each other. We have a pet fish in our office. Also we cleaned the 

office recently, so there’s space on the couch. 

PEOPLE OF COLOUR 

JASMINE NGUYEN & KAPIL BHARGAVA 

The People of Colour Department has had an exciting start 

to the year. It has been heart-warming seeing the People 

of Colour Collective grow with our weekly PoCnics and 

frequent catch-ups. Week 5 saw the very first People 

of Colour week. The week kicked off with a catch up 

in the bar along with a few rounds of bingo (chocolate 

prizes included). On Tuesday, we held a midnight 

screening of ‘The Sapphires’ on the big screen, enjoying 

great company and great pizza. On Wednesday, we had 

the pleasure of hearing from the People of Colour Leader’s 

Panel featuring Tim Lo Surdo from Democracy in Colour, Lisa 

Do from the Dual Identity Leadership Program, Haania Amir Waheed who 

is an exchange student and slam poet, and Jayden Crozier who is the MSA 

Indigenous Officer. The stimulating discussion covered many topics such as 

the difficulties people of colour face as well as a discussion on the incredible 

skills PoC offer and the strength we possess together. On Thursday, we learnt 

about the importance of intersectionality from five amazing activists: Amy 

Bartholomeusz, Denise Atzinger, Sarah Xia, Shreeya Luthra and Nawama 

Green. We heard how women of colour and queer students of colour, while 

being silenced by much of society, have also been empowered to help those 

around them speak up against the social injustices and racially fuelled hatred 

in our communities. The week ended with a PoCnic, smiles and a stronger and 

ever-growing PoC Community at Monash. 

student affairs 6-7

edition three 

lot’s wife 

Wot’s News? 

Jessie Lu, Joanne Fong, Cara Dowe & Victoria Saunders 

Body of Former Monash Student Found 

Near Campus 

A man has been found dead, near a stairwell in 

the garden of the Rusden House apartments located 

adjacent from Monash Clayton campus. The body 

was discovered partially under a bush, near the rear 

car park entrance at 9:20am on Friday the 14th of 

April. Police say that the body may have been there 

for hours. At the time of writing, the case is being 

treated as a homicide as they believe a weapon was 

used. The victim, said to be of Asian appearance and 

aged in his late 20s to early 30s, has been identified as 

a friendly accountant who enjoyed playing basketball 

and keeping fit. It is understood that the man’s parents 

are flying from China to Melbourne to attempt to 

find answers to his death. His heartbroken family 

have asked not to disclose the victim’s name until his 

relatives residing overseas have been notified. A postmortem 

had been carried out on the day following 

the finding. The homicide squad was seen dusting 

for fingerprints, searching drains for the weapon and 

seeking any information from locals. Footage from the 

apartment complex’s CCTV cameras may find useful 

in the investigation. The murderer is assumed to be 

at large. Rusden House is primarily used as student 

accommodation. Police and the victim’s family are 

appealing to anyone with any information of the 

incident or who may have been in the vicinity, the 

night before the discovery. Crime Stoppers can be 

reached anonymously on 1800 333 000 or at www. 

crimestoppers.com.au 

Postgraduate Students Call for 

Transport Concessions 

Students are calling on the Victorian Government 

to offer concession public transport to all full-time 

domestic and international postgraduate students 

through the #FaresFairPTV campaign. Currently, 

Victoria is the only state where all postgraduate 

students are ineligible for student concession tickets 

when using public transport. The campaign has been 

organised by a coalition of five student associations, 

including the Monash Postgraduate Association 

(MPA) and are currently undertaking postcard and 

email writing actions to inform MPs of the importance 

of postgraduate student concessions. The Fare Fair 

PTV campaign can be followed through their website 

or social media channels and students can support the 

current initiatives at the clayton MPA office. 

Confusion Over Changes to Exam 

Cancellations 

In the lead up to Semester 1 exams, Examination 

Services have sent out an university wide email 

notifying students of a change to Exam Policy, 

which now bars students from applying to cancel an 

exam if they attend it. From a direct interpretation 

of this email, if a student starts to sit an exam but 

is adversely affected by exceptional circumstances 

or illness, students are advised to attempt to finish 

their exam. This is because, according to the email, in 

“most circumstances” they will no longer be eligible 

for special consideration. Previously, students were 

able to apply to cancel their exam if they were unfit 

to complete their exam due to illness or other serious 

cause, provided that they informed an exam invigilator 

they were unable to complete the exam and intended 

to apply for a deferred exam at least 30 minutes before 

the scheduled end. If the cancellation request was not 

granted, the result of that examination would then be 

final. 

In current eligibility criteria for special 

consideration, published on the Monash website 

and Special Consideration Deferred final assessment 

application form (March, 2017), students who are 

“unfit to attend or complete an end-of-semester 

examination” due to acute illness or exceptional cause 

may apply for deferred final assessment. Examples of 

accepted causes of acute illness include severe asthma 

or severe anxiety or depression. 

The official Monash University procedure, 

Assessment in Coursework Units: Adjustments to 

Assessment Procedures, effective 20th March 2017, 

states in section 2.3 that students may be granted 

special consideration and deferred assessment if 

they are affected by a short-term or acute illness 

or exceptional circumstance, even if it is in an 

examination. Section 2.48 states that “students who 

attend and attempt part of the exam are not eligible 

for a deferred examination” and also includes the 

ineligibility for deferred final assessment for students 

who complete their final examination. Section 

2.48 goes on to state that “the Dean of the unit 

teaching faculty may approve a deferred exam due 

to exceptional circumstances”, rendering the original 

exam results void. This directly contradicts the 

previous sentence. These discrepancies in policy that 

have been ambiguously communicated, may leave 

students confused and misinformed. 

This change may be in response to perceived abuse 

of this mechanism by students ill-prepared for the 

exam, only realising their lack of preparation after 

starting the exam. Special consideration applications, 

however, are required to be “genuine and made in good 

faith” as well as have “genuine, well-attested evidence”, 

which would seem to deter unentitled students from 

seeking this avenue. 

The MSA Education (Academic Affairs) department 

has responded to the change with great concern. They 

have pointed out that the new ‘Assessment Procedures’ 

were not in line with the recommendations made 

by the Learning and Teaching Committee that were 

agreed to in a meeting of the University’s Academic 

Board. They provide provisions for students who were 

affected by exceptional circumstances or acute illness 

during an exam to receive special consideration or to 

sit a deferred exam. They also outlined the conflicting 

positions in the ‘Assessment Procedures’, specifically 

in regards to the aforementioned sections 2.3, 2.24 

and 2.48, reassuring students that they are seeking 

clarification on policy inconsistencies and advocating 

for students who may be unfairly disadvantaged. 

Wholefoods Gets Eftpos 

Monash Wholefoods has finally introduced Eftpos 

machines on its 40th anniversary, enabling students 

not carrying cash to purchase from there. Wholefoods 

has been in operation since 1977 as a student-run, notfor-profit 

vegetarian restaurant that operates from 

a base of volunteers. The Wholefoods Collective is 

the decision making body using “consensus driven 

decision making procedures” that allowed Eftpos 

machines to be installed. The Wholefoods Collective 

explained the reasoning behind the decision, which 

was driven by financial factors, since the restaurant 

faced adverse market conditions in the last year, with 

many new food outlets opening and their renowned 

balcony stairs removed as part of the Northern Plaza 

renovations. It was also driven by the fact Wholefoods 

is a division of the MSA, which uses the Commonwealth 

Bank (Commbank) for day-to-day banking. As such, 

they have to use the same bank. Wholefoods Collective 

are opposed to banking with Commbank, to giving 

them 2% of each Eftpos transaction due to their “wellestablished 

track record in funding fossil fuels, and in 

land grabs that perpetuate human rights violations”. 

In Australia, the Commonwealth Bank is currently the 

2nd largest funder of fossil fuels at $20.5billion behind 

ANZ at $23.4billion. Banks with no current record of 

funding fossil fuels include Bendigo Bank, Delphi 

Bank, IMB, ME Bank and the Bank of Queensland. 

This year, however, with a new Investment policy, the 

MSA has divested $5 million from Commbank into 

a managed fund partaking in ethical investments. 

In order for Wholefoods to stay “financially viable” 

in an increasingly cashless society, and due to the 

MSA’s divestments, Wholefoods has introduced 

Eftpos since“the logic of convenience sometimes has 

to win over the logic of resistance”. Wholefoods still 

encourages people to pay cash and are pushing for an 

ethical bank to open on campus in the future to fully 

divest from funding fossil fuels. Fossil Free Monash is 

an organisation aimed at campaigning the university 

to divest their investments from fossil free companies. 

Wholefoods has been involved in their campaigns. 

Petition to ‘Fix Parking’ 

Monash Student Association has launched a 

petition regarding the parking situation at Monash. It 

calls for carpooling fees to be abolished, cheaper fines, 

expansion of free parking closer to Clayton campus, 

and “more affordable parking permits and daily 

tickets”. The MSA argues that permit and ticket prices 

continue to rise while students struggle financially, 

labelling parking costs at Monash as “ridiculous”, 

whilst parking spots for those even with a permit 

are highly competitive. They also propose that the 

carpooling fee inhibits its intended effect: to reduce 

carbon emissions by reducing the number that drive 

alone and that the current infringement system has 

not only very expensive fines but also unfair processes, 

highlighting the rigid appeal process. The cost of the 

yearly Blue permit, selling out very early, rose from 

$400 to $405 this year. 

New Software for Online Tests 

A new custom internet browser that ensures 

students do not cheat, is being trialled for faculties 

introducing closed book online assessments. The 

Respondus Lockdown Browser disallows students 

from accessing any other materials, programs or 

functions on their computer whilst completing certain 

assessments. The assessments are only accessible via 

Moodle by way of this full-screened software. There 

is also a webcam feature, the Respondus Monitor, 

which records the student for the entire length of the 

assessment. This feature requires that students do not 

leave their device for the entirety of the assessment, 

including for any bathroom breaks, and even to not 

write any notes on scrap paper as that may be deemed 

‘suspicious’. Whether this is used or not will depend 

on the discretion of each examining faculty, however 

in this trial period, it is currently being employed for 

assessments. Installation of this software requires 

a computer with certain requirements, including a 

webcam and microphone for the monitoring software. 

Regardless, students will be catered for with an on 

campus facility, in case they are unable to use the 

software on their own computers. 

According to Monash eSolutions, the primary 

purpose of the Respondus Lockdown browser is to 

“increase the integrity of the conditions” in which 

online examinations and quizzes take place, especially 

in light of their increased prevalence and onlineonly 

courses. By using this software, Monash is 

attempting to stamp out academic dishonesty and 

collusion with an “alternative to a ‘traditional’ inperson 

invigilated exam”. In introducing this software

to students, Monash has emphasised the “ethical 

academic community” in which students belong to, 

“that is committed to upholding high standards of 

honesty, fairness and academic integrity”, which is 

fundamental for the “online learning and assessment 

environment”. Monash is also quick to point out that 

over 300 universities worldwide and 16 domestic 

tertiary education institutes employ the same 

software, including the University of Melbourne and 

the University of Sydney. Along with indications 

from the lack of large capacity lecture theatres in 

the new Teaching and Learning and Biomedical 

Sciences Buildings, this software that enables for even 

greater proliferation of online assessments shows the 

radically changing way that Monash envisions their 

delivery of teaching. This software was recently used 

for the first time for students studying Medicine, in 

the Year 1 and 2 mid-semester tests. This was partly 

due to lack of available space on campus for the inperson 

assessments as well as future proposed changes 

to the structure of assessment for the course. It was 

implemented successfully to varying degrees; some 

students had no problems whatsoever, whilst others 

experienced timer errors causing the software to shut 

down, internet connection problems, or issues with 

being unable to use the bathroom in the assessment 

period. Most issues faced by students could be resolved 

by the Medicine E-Learning or Respondus support 

teams, however some students will be forced to resit a 

revised test. The primary benefit from the new format 

has been that students have been able to receive 

almost immediate feedback from Moodle itself, being 

able to review the questions and their answers in their 

entirety. So far, the online assessments will not be 

extended to end of semester examinations and it has 

been suggested the Respondus Monitor may not be 

used in the future to allow for bathroom breaks. 

Berwick Campus Closure Forces 

Students to Move 

The cessation of teaching at Monash’s Berwick 

campus, scheduled for the end of 2017, has compelled 

many students to transfer to either Clayton or 

Peninsula campus to complete their Monash degree. 

Final year Education students and those studying 

the Bachelor of Business Administration are the only 

students able to finish their degree at Berwick. The 

closure has been attributed to low enrolment rates 

for the limited range of courses offered at Berwick. 

Despite efforts to grow and develop the campus 

over the past 20 years, only 1,600 students studied 

there in 2016. After a partnership with Victoria 

University to take over the campus fell through, 

Federation University Australia came forward to take 

responsibility for the campus, planning to deliver 15 

courses across 4 faculties. Monash sees the transition 

as a positive move for the local community, as 

Federation University is offering a greater range of 

courses, more suitable for the area. Monash is instead 

focusing its growth on other campuses, promising a 

new campus MasterPlan for the Peninsula campus. 

While this is a sustainable decision in the long run, 

for students currently studying at Berwick, or those 

who have only recently received and accepted an 

offer to study there, this is extremely frustrating. 

Students who had transport and housing situations 

arranged in order to study there will now be forced 

to uproot and base their lives around a completely 

different campus. Hopefully, with the transition this 

year, Berwick students will be able to adapt to this 

sudden change with minimal impact to their study. In 

certain circumstances, students may be able to receive 

special consideration through a hardship claim for the 

transfer of their home campus. 

MSA Feedback Survey 

Monash Student Association (MSA) has launched 

a feedback survey, in order for Monash students to 

directly voice their concerns. Responses will be used by 

the elected Office-Bearers to inform their actions and 

shape their projects, services, events, campaigns and 

support they provide throughout the year. Students 

must be logged in to their my.monash account to fill 

out the Google Form that is available through MSA 

channels, such as their website and Facebook page. 

Respondents will be entered in a draw to win 1 of 50 

$10 MSA vouchers available for use of MSA services. 

In addition to the elected positions, other MSA 

departments include Sir John’s Bar, Student Advocacy 

and Support, the John Medley Library and Host 

Scheme and Volunteering. 

Concerning Satisfaction Rates at Group 

of Eight Universities 

Data just released from the Federal Department of 

Education shows that students at private universities 

have rated the quality of their experience at university 

the highest of all Australian universities. The 

Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) 

from Student Experience Survey (SES) indicate 

that students from 6 of the Group of Eight (Go8) 

universities are less satisfied with their education 

than the national average with 80% of students rating 

the quality of their entire educational experience as 

positive. Bond University and the University of Notre 

Dame had the highest approval ratings, slightly above 

90%. Edith Cowan University was the most highly 

rated public institution with the satisfaction rate of 

85.7%. Students from the University of Queensland 

and Monash University were the only ones from Go8 

to be more satisfied than the average, with Monash 

scoring just above at 80.4%. Students at the University 

of Technology, Sydney (UTS) have the lowest 

satisfaction score at 72%, with a drop in the rating 

consistent with a change last year from semesters to 

trimesters and lectures to interactive tutorials. Other 

universities, including Monash, are expected to adapt 

their learning and teaching approaches similarly in 

a largely transformative time for many teaching and 

learning departments at universities, moving away 

from a predominantly lecture based teaching method. 

Penalty Rates Cut 

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed 

down its 4 yearly review of modern awards after 

29 days of hearings and over 5,900 submissions, 

resulting in proposed penalty rate cuts in hospitality, 

restaurant, fast food, retail and pharmacy industries. 

This will affect workers that are not under an 

Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. Sunday rates have 

been cut across the board by 25-50%, bar for casuals 

in the hospitality industry or level 2-3 employees 

in fast food. Public holiday loading rates have also 

been reduced for workers across the 5 industries by 

25% except for casual restaurant workers. The public 

holiday penalty cuts will come into effect on 1 July 2017 

with Sunday rate cuts to be implemented at a yet-tobe-determined 

date after transitional arrangements, 

likely within a year. Early/late night loadings will also 

be altered for Restaurant and Fast Food employees, 

reducing the time frame in which they are applicable. 

FWC recognised that the employees affected were 

relatively low paid and that their living standards 

would be reduced, however justified their decision 

as the primary purpose of penalty rates were to 

compensate for the disutility of the days or times 

affected. The Liberal government has been accused 

of appointing a series of conservative members to 

the FWC. The decision has been highly criticised by 

unions, think-tanks, the Labor party and the former 

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor, Bernie Fraser, 

arguing almost 1 million workers would receive huge 

pay cuts, unfairly affecting the most disadvantaged 

employees, increasing inequality and accelerating the 

“mass casualization of the Australian workforce”. 

Campus Report 

Stalking StalkerSpace 

We all know and love Monash StalkerSpace, the 

place that provides Monash students with all the 

memes and banter they could ever need. The page is 

a way for students at Monash to feel connected and 

part of a community. However, many students are 

upset with a recent increase in negative posts and 

comments on StalkerSpace. There have now been 

numerous reports submitted to Facebook of offensive 

and aggravating behaviour occurring on StalkerSpace. 

This includes trolling - the act of posting inflammatory 

material online, in order to provoke or insult others. 

A small number of individuals and groups have 

unfortunately used this online space to spread 

disrespectful messages to many. It comes as the trend 

of trolling and cyberbullying increases everywhere, 

particularly in educational environments. The rise has 

been linked to the anonymity that the internet can 

provide. The safety of sitting behind a screen, rather 

than being face to face, means that it is a lot easier 

to insult someone,. On StalkerSpace, the issue may be 

exacerbated at times from those who are not student 

but rather there to join in on the ‘trolling’. There have 

been consequences for people expressing extreme 

views on public forums on the past; a recent example 

is Kurt Tucker, who expressed on a Facebook post that 

he would have joined the Nazi Party in Germany in the 

1930s. Tucker is a prominent member of the Young 

Liberal National Party (LNP) in Queensland, and after 

media outlets reported his comments, he has now 

resigned from all party positions after a statement of 

apology. 

So what can we do to save our beloved space from 

this troubling minority? While there are options, none 

of them are guaranteed. When Deakin University 

had a similar problem several years ago on ‘Deakin 

University StalkerSpace’ (DUSS), it led to the switch 

to their current, private group. Those who wish to join 

must submit a valid Deakin email address, which is 

then approved by the administrators. This restricts 

those who join just to promote offensive behaviour. 

Otherwise, another option is to report an offending 

post to the administrators, which is a fast way to have 

something you find insulting removed. However, this 

is a method that is often not considered or is done too 

late for it to have any impact, especially as the admins 

of the group cannot constantly moderate every post. 

Some students or now ex-students that have been 

a part of the group for many years have expressed 

ambivalence at the transformation of StalkerSpace 

into an increasingly negative space, arguing that the 

group goes through cycles. 

Sexual Assault and Inappropriate 

Conduct on the Rise 

Apparently nowhere is safe now for uni students, 

and young women, no matter if it’s on the train or 

bus on the way home from class, or staying back 

at uni studying in the library, minding your own 

business. Recently there have been reports of at least 

two sexual assaults in two separate incidents by the 

same unknown man. The first incident occurred last 

November. As the 21-year-old victim was travelling 

by train, the perpetrator got on at Carnegie Station 

and sat next to her before sexually assaulting her. 

The same man is believed to have sexually assaulted 

another victim, a teenage girl this February on public 

transport. In other news, it has been alleged that a 

middle-aged Asian man exposed himself on the lower 

level of the Hargrave Andrew Library. Both alleged 

offenders have not yet been apprehended. 

Students Shave For a Cure 

The Monash Residential Committee’s first event of 

the year,The Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest 

Shave, took place on March 20th out on the College 

Green. The aim of the cause is to raise awareness for 

Leukaemia, of which 35 people are diagnosed every 

day. Participants volunteered to have their hair dyed, 

cut or shaved or their bodies waxed. Approximately 80 

spectators enjoyed some quality music and a free BBQ 

whilst watching the participants. The total amount 

raised was an incredible $6,153.65, an increase on last 

year’s figure, which will go towards to support blood 

cancer research. 

student affairs 8-9

edition three 

lot’s wife 

health & safety: 

interview with 

sam hatfield 

article by jayden crozier 

artwork by selena repanis 

Sam is a Safe at Work organiser at the Victorian Trades Hall. His role 

is an important one: to ensure that work conditions in Victoria are safe 

and tenable for workers in a variety of industries. In an industrial climate 

where occupational health and safety (OH&S) is shunned for the sake 

of ‘efficiency’ and profit, Sam and his team are vital in the community. 

After all, everyone deserves to have a safe workplace. 

What is OH&S? 

Rather than answer this with a technical definition, in simple terms, 

OH&S is the ability to go home from work to your family and your 

friends in the same condition that you left. People often get bogged 

down talking about the technicalities and policy of OH&S. But at the 

end of the day, going home healthy to your loved ones is what it all boils 

down to. 

It’s the core of what unions are ‘about’. 

Why did you take an OH&S position at Trades Hall? 

Every right we have under law in regards to safety at work has been 

fought for and won by the union movement. I was a union delegate 

and Health & Safety Representative in my previous job. We had to 

fight with management and negotiate to get every safety protection 

we had. The position at Trades Hall was a step out of my comfort 

zone, but still allowed us to campaign for change at high levels within 

WorkSafe, the union movement, and the Government. We help to create 

safer workplaces by building the capacity and confidence of Health and 

Safety Representatives, and also by helping to assist injured workers and 

migrant communities. Trades Hall is the place to be for creating real 

change at the moment and I’m super lucky to be a small part of a such 

diverse & active team. 

What are the most important rules that govern OH&S (The Hierarchy)? 

1. Your boss must provide a workplace that is safe and without risks 

to health. As a worker, you have some responsibilities too, such as 

following reasonable instructions and not recklessly endangering others. 

But at the end of the day, your employer has the ultimate duty to keep 

you safe at work. The hierarchy of controls is a great one to remember. 

Your employer must identify and control risks first by: 

‘Eliminating the risk at the source’, e.g by not undertaking that task. If 

this is not possible, then your employer must try to reduce risk by: 

Substituting, e.g. erecting a barrier or scaffolding to stop falls from 

heights. If this is still not possible then your employer must then look 

at: 

Engineering Controls, e.g. asking whether machinery can reduce risks, 

such as a scissor lift for work at heights or a trolley for manual handling 

tasks. If it is still not possible to reduce risk then: 

‘Administrative Controls’ can be used, e.g. using a sign or procedure. Your 

employer can reduce risk further by issuing PPE. 

‘PPE’ such as Hi Vis vests are the least effective way of controlling risk 

at work. Sure, you should wear it if your employer requires you to do so, 

but that is not the only thing your employer should be doing to keep you 

safe. They must look at reducing risk in all of the other ways mentioned 

(Eliminate, Substitute, Engineering Controls, Administrative Controls) 

before they even look at giving you a safety vest! 

2. Your employer has a duty to provide appropriate training and 

supervision to do each task. The “just have a go and let me know if 

you have any problems” attitude just doesn’t cut it. There are horrific 

cases of serious injuries and fatalities when this attitude is adopted. 

Massive penalties for employers apply where appropriate training and 

supervision have not been provided. 

3. You have the right to be represented. If you don’t have elected Health 

and Safety representatives in your workplace, you should talk to your 

colleagues about it. Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) have 

legal powers that allow them to raise issues and fight for health and 

safety on the job. These include the power to write an enforceable 

notice asking your employer to remedy an OHS issue or otherwise 

WorkSafe will get involved. They also have the power to “Cease Work” 

if there is a serious, imminent, or immediate threat to Health and Safety. 

Contact your union or Trades Hall today if you need help with the 

process of electing HSRs. 

4. You have the right to compensation if you are injured. So many 

people don’t report injuries. Even though it may feel minor at the time, 

injuries may turn into something more serious, leaving you unable to 

work for a period of time (e.g. back injury). It’s very important to report 

injuries. You can also lodge a workers injury claim for compensation. 

Speak to your union, as they can help you with this process. 

5. Finally, always ask questions if you’re unsure about something. If 

you’ve been asked to do something that you think is unsafe: stop work 

and ask someone for help. You have the right to refuse unsafe work. 

‘Stand Up, Speak Out, Come Home.’ 

How does OH&S relate specifically to young people? 

Young people are much more likely to be injured at work. In the past 

year, there have been a number of fatalities involving young people. 

A 21-year-old French backpacker fell 13 floors to her death on a Perth 

construction site. Worse yet, her employer sent her family a letter in 

response that blamed the young woman for the accident. A 17-year-old 

also fell to his death whilst installing a glass ceiling on the new H&M 

retail building in Perth. Accidents happen in all industries, and not just 

construction. What we have found is that statistically, young people are 

overrepresented in injuries of all kinds. The important message that I 

would give to all young people specifically is that you have the right to 

be properly trained, inducted, and supervised. Always ask a question if 

you’re unsure. There is strength in numbers, and joining your union and 

being active about knowing and asserting your rights is the best way to 

stay safe at work. 

What keeps you motivated to deal with OH&S issues and continue to educate 

others about OH&S? 

I used to work on the docks as a wharfie, one of the most dangerous 

industries around. Unfortunately I saw too many serious accidents that 

left people badly hurt, missing limbs, or worse, killed. No one should 

ever die at work. Period. A mate of mine, Tony ‘Hollywood’ Attard, was 

killed at Toll Shipping in 2014. He was run over and squashed by a trailer. 

I’ll never forget the look on the faces of his wife and kids or how bravely 

they spoke at his funeral. That should never happen to anyone. They still 

deserve to have their father and husband at home with them. They were 

robbed. Thinking about them is what keeps me going. OH&S can be a 

dry subject at times but it is so important to keep working at it and get 

it right.

trigger warnings: 

paramount or 

pandering? 

article by joanne fong 

In a time where the tension between the politically 

correct progressives and conservatives is at a high, one 

issue that may not immediately come to mind is trigger 

warnings. So, what even are trigger warnings? Are they just 

a meme, an overused joke of how sensitive and wrapped 

up in cotton wool our society has become? Or are these 

warnings legitimate tools that are essential for allowing 

those who have experienced trauma to avoid further 

distress? 

Monash has become the first university in Australia 

to implement a “trigger warnings” policy. 

This involves a “pilot program” of 15 of Monash’s course 

outlines to contain warnings of potentially emotionally 

distressing content. The topics of this content range from 

the discussion of sexual assault, violence, domestic abuse, 

child abuse, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide; the list goes 

on. Although this program is seen by many as progressive, 

to others this initiative is seen as unnecessary and even 

harmful. Trigger warnings are nothing new or innovative, 

originating on Internet forums and communities, used 

mostly to warn people who have experienced trauma of 

some kind, about potentially harmful content. These 

warnings give people the choice whether to engage or not 

with material that could be distressing. 

A mere warning to help those who struggle or have 

experienced trauma feel safe doesn’t sound completely 

irrational and outrageous, right? Well apparently it 

does, according to many giving backlash against this 

motion. Those against this implementation, have the 

sentiment that “life is potentially inevitably, [and] regularly 

emotionally distressing,” as stated by Newcastle University 

Associate Professor, Marguerite Johnson. To her and many 

others in opposition to the movement, having warnings 

before traumatic materials means that universities and 

educators are simply not preparing students for the real 

world. There are no trigger warnings in “real everyday life” 

and if students can’t cope with these issues cropping up in 

course material, it will just make it worse for them when 

they come into contact with these issues spontaneously 

through unfiltered experiences in life outside the classroom. 

Additionally, there are fears of censorship and the loss 

of freedom of speech due to “triggering” controversial 

materials being hidden away from students. Some believe 

that having the option of opting out of these topics 

will discourage freedom of inquiry and expression and 

discussion about controversial topics. 

These reasons seem well meaning, however, if trigger 

warnings did have the potential to destroy, censor and 

hide all intellectual and educational nuance as we know 

it, why has a similar warning system been widely accepted 

and non-controversial for decades? We have "warnings" 

before TV shows and movies in the form of advisory ratings, 

from G to PG all the way to R 18+. Advisory warnings are 

important in making sure media that contains potentially 

inappropriate topics (sexual themes, nudity, profanity, 

violence etc.) does not get consumed by those too young 

or who would otherwise prefer not to. These warnings are 

an accepted part of our culture, so why is it so hard and 

even offensive to accept similar warnings before classes or 

readings, a brief “advisory” rating, that is not too different 

from an MA 15+ rating stating “coarse language, parental 

guidance recommended.” 

At the end of the day, whether you agree with trigger 

warnings or not, you have to stop and think; do they 

really affect you? Just a sentence or two at the start of a 

reading for your unit or a few words of warning from a 

lecturer before they dive into a class. Trigger warnings do 

not equate to censorship or selective teaching, to stem 

the flow of information and education to youths, and stop 

the promotion of discussion and debate. Rather, their sole 

purpose is merely to serve as a polite “hey you might not 

want to read/hear this if…” or “look away/prepare yourself 

for this topic”, a simple quick heads-up. Trigger warnings 

are not censorship, to pander or coddle easily offended 

millennials, but to allow individuals to have a choice in 

the material they engage with, to decide the best course of 

action for their own personal mental or emotional health, 

not yours. 


10-11

edition three 

lot’s wife 

the most efficient way to 

learn a new language, 

proficiently 

article by georgia cox 

artwork by isabella toppi 

If one more 22 year-old tells me it’s too late 

to start learning a language, I’m going to 

smack them. My grandma started learning 

Spanish at the ripe old age of 64. Granted, she 

doesn’t have work or Instagram to consume 

her time, but I have met so many young people 

who yearn to learn another language, yet 

whinge for lack of time. I say, if you have time 

to watch Netflix, read the newspaper and do 

your grocery shopping, you have time to learn 

a language. Here’s why… 

A turning point for me in this endless 

procrastination battle was the realisation 

that, although you can set temporal goals for 

making improvements, there really is no end 

point for learning a language. You can’t say, 

“I’ll take Russian lessons for three years and 

then I’ll be fluent”. It’s not that black and white. 

Esperanto maybe, but that’s a whole different 

ball game. The reality is you will never speak 

as well as a native, but the trick is to learn 

efficiently so as to incorporate it into your 

everyday life. 

First off, immersion is key. Don’t waste your 

time lingering around the language for five 

years and wonder why all you can say is “una 

cerveza por fis”. Sure, being able to order a beer 

in Mexico is useful, but what’s the point when 

you can’t communicate beyond that? I know 

a guy who, hoping to compliment a girl in a 

club on her makeup – which is bizarre and a 

mistake in itself – accidentally told her, “me 

gusta tu mantequilla”, which means, I like your 

butter. 

Rather, you have to jump right into the 

language, surrounding yourself with it in as 

many ways as possible. It’s not enough to say 

you’ll read ten pages of a foreign book a day, 

or watch the nightly news on France24. You 

need to integrate the language into your banal 

quotidian activities. 

So here are a few tricks I’ve picked up: 

Lists: for example, don’t write “carrots, milk, 

eggs” on your shopping list. Write “Karotten, 

Milch, Eier” or whatever it may be. Do the 

same with to-do lists and reminders. 

Movies: here is that excuse you have all been 

itching for, to watch Netflix without the 

associated guilt. Watch movies and shows in 

your second language. Better yet, watch movies 

you have already seen, without the subtitles 

(although I would not recommend watching 8 

Mile in German, Rabbit just isn’t the same). 

Music: discovering songs you love in your 

second language is so effective because you 

listen to them repetitively, which is the best 

tactic for instilling words and phrases into 

your long-term memory (Don’t tell anyone 

but reggaeton is the real reason I picked up 

Spanish.) Again, Swiss-German rap hasn’t yet 

proven so sexy though. 

Reading and watching the News: you’ll learn 

so much if you follow a story you already 

know the general gist of. We all know Trump 

wants to build a wall - read about it online in 

your new language, as you already know the 

context. Judging people in other languages 

adds an extra spice to your life you never even 

knew you were missing. 

Cooking: find recipes online in your new 

language, and follow them. The repetition will 

help you learn vocabulary, which will help you 

write your foreign shopping list. Never forget 

the word butter again, not even in the club. 

Find a foreign lover: self-explanatory. Get rid of 

them as soon as they can speak English better 

than you can speak your chosen language. 

Secondly, finding a balance between active 

and passive learning is crucial. So often I meet 

people with a decent knowledge of another 

language but are fearful to actually speak. They 

know all the grammar rules, extensive vocab, 

and are fine listening in on a conversation, but 

when it comes to actually communicating, 

they get stuck. This reflects that they have 

only learnt passively, and haven’t been given or 

embraced the opportunity to actively use the 

language. 

Being able to communicate effectively, 

whether written or verbal, is a two-way street. 

You’ll be so much more efficient if you practice 

active and passive learning equally. Don’t 

expect to become fluent just by sitting on your 

arse playing Duolingo. Go out of your way to 

get in touch with a native speaker, and speak 

to them! The chances are you’ll be able to help 

them with their English in return. Exchange 

Trump articles in your respective languages, 

bond over your festering hatred. 

Third, old habits die hard. Don’t set yourself 

up for setbacks down the road; make an effort 

to master correct pronunciations from the 

beginning. The best way to pick up proper 

pronunciation is by listening carefully and 

mimicking, in the same way we learn our 

mother tongue as kids. It’s also important 

to actively correct yourself aloud when you 

recognise that you’ve made a mistake, so as to 

imprint the sounds in your memory. 

To a native speaker, it doesn’t matter how 

broad and sophisticated your vocabulary is if 

your pronunciation is rubbish. Nobody will 

take you seriously if you can’t pronounce 

paella. The same goes for accents. Somebody 

once asked me if I thought written accents 

were important. I asked him, “¿tienes 22 años 

o tienes 22 anos?” One means, ‘are you 22 years 

old?’ while the other means ‘do you have 22 

anuses?’. 

Speak with as many people as possible, as 

much as possible. Repeat conversations, 

however trivial they may be. Repetition is key. 

Tell every one of your classmates about your 

difficulty finding a park. Offer to be the one to 

order the beers at Oktoberfest - no matter how 

sloppy you get you’ll always be the master at 

demanding “mehr Bier bitte!” 

Moreover, let those you speak with know 

you’re not going to be offended when they 

correct your mistakes. Most people hold back 

from correcting foreign speakers’ mistakes 

because they still understand what we want to 

say. This is all well and good until you realise 

you’ve just told a 9-year old, “tu vas te coucher 

bien ce soir” (you’ll f**k well tonight) instead 

of you’ll sleep well tonight; or asked them “bist 

du kalt?” (literally translated as are you cold? 

but interpreted in German as are you dead?). 

Lastly, don’t hit a plateau. Once you’re at a 

stage where you still make mistakes but can 

effectively communicate in day-to-day life, 

you’re at a pivotal point. Upon realising we 

can get our point across without too much 

hassle, most people become lazy, losing the 

motivation to improve. If it’s become too 

comfortable, you’re doing something wrong. 

So speak more, read more, watch more Netflix. 

Learn how to say merry-go-round; multifaceted; 

occultism. Go to a foreign country and 

get lost within the culture, and convince your 

grandma that there’s never been a better time.

student affairs 12-13

edition three 

lot’s wife 

all gender bathrooms: 

what they mean and 

why they matter 

article by d.s.a 

artwork by kim tran 

Hey. Hi there. I’m a trans person, and I go to uni with you. 

We’ve probably been to the same classes together, walked 

past each other in the campus centre, tried to navigate the 

ever-changing maze of construction together. Turns out 

we have a lot in common. We study (ha), go to Sir John’s 

(procrastinate) and do try to decide exactly which of the 

myriad of meal opportunities to grace with our presence 

(procrastinate!) together. 

You see, while we do a whole bunch of things 

together, my every day is very different from yours. 

When I wake up in the morning, I have to decide how 

many double takes I can manage throughout the day, 

whether I’m ready to #bemyself or if I’m going to take a 

time out and ‘fit in’. Not many of my TIGD (Trans, Intersex 

and Gender Diverse) peers have that choice. Some of us 

are hypervisible, and some of us are perceived as utterly 

invisible – which does not make us any less TIGD than our 

peers. Crash course: TIGD includes anyone who is gender 

diverse, transitioning, non-binary, genderfluid, genderqueer, 

occupies space in a myriad of different genders that exist 

in different cultures all over the world or is overall just 

not cisgender. ‘Cis’ = people who identify with the gender 

assigned to them as a tiny shrieking infant by the doctor 

that helped birth them. (Turns out that the soul-crushing 

cuss word that Piers Morgan – cultural icon and treasure of 

a generation – fears the most is actually just a really benign 

descriptor). 

I’m trying to figure out whether or not I should change 

my name, and whether it is worth the hassle, the strange 

looks, the confused asides and sometimes even the outright 

hostility. I usually go through my day trying to consider 

whether it is worth correcting people when they misgender 

me (Are they going to be cool? Weird? Angry?) and deciding 

whether it is worth arguing with those who know my 

pronouns but choose to ignore them anyway. I prepare 

my bottled smiles for the friends who do know but slip up 

sometimes (it’s ok) and how to fish them back out of the 

dark hole of self-flagellation they fall into when they do 

misgender me. 

I’m used to being talked about like a hypothetical, mythical, 

far away unheard of concept rather than a real being of 

flesh and bones that walks amongst you every day, sits with 

you in tutorials, swears under their breath with you when 

Boost is full to bursting. And when you’re used to being 

talked about, talked over, or talked to as if you don’t really, 

truly exist, it takes a toll. I’m trying to find the right balance 

between earnest and endearing without coming across as 

bitter and flippant. 

So, as I have covered in my charming monologue above, 

living as a trans or gender diverse (in any way) person in 

our society is not easy. There are, however, ways to make 

the hardships a little less painful, at least until society 

actually finally manages to understand and accept us. One 

of these is the whole reason I am writing this article on 

Gender Neutral Bathrooms. 

I was a part of a long line of students who worked really 

hard with the Ally Network and so many others to make 

this a reality. Particularly, the hard work put in by both 

Diversity and Inclusion and Buildings and Property was 

paramount in seeing these works through. Nevertheless, 

this took up the majority of my headspace last year. So 

yes, while you were going about your day I was probably 

thinking about toilets – and while this may seem like 

carefully crafted glib aside, it’s the only way I know how 

to introduce something I am forced to think about more 

often than I should. In truth, I start my day the same way a 

family with small children starts a road trip (Has everyone 

gone to the bathroom? Yes? Go again, just to make sure!). 

This is because I try my damndest not to have to go into a 

gendered bathroom during the day, for many reasons I’ll go 

into. 

You may have noticed that there are a couple of genderneutral 

bathrooms dotted across campus now, the most 

significant one being in Sir John’s (I’m choosing to maturely 

ignore all the potential toilet humor in that one). With all 

this change going on, I’m here to explain what exactly is 

happening and most importantly, why these bathrooms are 

needed so much. 

As the name may hint at, all-gender bathrooms are 

bathrooms that people of any gender can use - and this 

finally includes any gender identity that isn’t covered by the 

binary definitions of just (cis) male and/or (cis) female. The 

moment this gender binary is the only framework we use, 

not only do we exclude a whole bunch of people who just 

don’t fall into that category (a very bitter me) but there is 

suddenly an expectation of how those who use the female 

bathrooms present as well as those who use the male 

bathrooms. We suddenly push a whole lot of presumptions 

on people who just want to use the bathroom! 

Now, to properly highlight how much these bathrooms 

are needed, let me paint you a picture that so many noncisgendered 

folks go through every day: 

When gender-neutral bathrooms aren’t available, going to 

the bathroom to simply pee (or poop. Both. Like a champ.) 

is an activity fraught with second-guessing, emotion and 

anxiety. Every time I choose one of two doors, I feel like I 

>>

suddenly need to either choose to hide my transness and 

do what is ‘expected’ from someone who looks like me or 

whether I should put myself in a position that will be either 

highly uncomfortable or even dangerous. 

Trans students often have to endure a whole range of 

reactions when entering gendered bathrooms. Results may 

vary from the person who attempts to politely stare us 

out of the room as they wash their hands, to the friends 

trying their least to hide their laughter from us. Let’s not 

forget the helpful pal who tries to redirect us to the ‘correct’ 

bathroom and let’s really not forget the ones who use direct, 

outright hostility, anger, threats and violence to remove 

us from where they think we don’t belong. That’s a lot of 

payout for simply wanting to use the bathroom. In fact, 

TIGD people are more likely to experience disproportional 

vilification and violence in a bathroom. And even if it 

doesn’t happen that one time or even that day at all, the 

threat is always there. I can never approach gendered 

bathrooms with ease or without worrying if today is 

another day that entering a door is seen as an act of 

aggression from me. 

There is also the problem that walking through one of 

those doors is suddenly a public statement. I can see the 

‘female’/’male’ sign. So can you. And everyone else around 

you. As such, the moment I take one of those doors, I am 

either lying to myself and others about my gender for their 

comfort (in turn, affecting mine) or outing myself when 

I wouldn’t be perceived as belonging to the gender of the 

bathroom I’ve dared to breach. So even if everyone in the 

bathroom is lovely and I don’t have to worry about their 

reactions (or I have the bathroom entirely to myself and can 

poot as freely and loudly as I want to) I am still coerced into 

publicly declaring something about myself. Now, if we also 

think about how there are many wonderful people out there 

who don’t identify -anywhere- along the gender binary 

(Also me. Turns out gender is complex!), suddenly they have 

the choice between a lie, and another lie. Non-binary peeps 

*don’t* have a bathroom if there are only two gendered 

ones. Can you imagine not having a bathroom? 

‘discourse’ is transmisogynistic – it affects trans women 

disproportionately and is antagonistic in a way that is so 

specific to a group of people that already undergoes an 

inordinate amount of both symbolic and actual violence in 

society both historically and in the present. 

However. None of this means that these should be seen as 

the ‘other’ bathrooms. Anyone who is cis, please do still use 

these bathrooms. In fact, we go right back to how using 

certain bathrooms is outing if these bathrooms are only 

ever used by gender diverse people. Let’s not do that. These 

are not suddenly the bathrooms that people who aren’t cis 

have to use. Part of the reason we worked so hard for these 

bathrooms is to normalize this concept and have more 

gender-neutral bathrooms around the place. We want these 

to be normal bathrooms. Speaking of normal – we still fully 

promote people being able to go to the bathrooms they 

should have access to. For example, trans women should 

be able to use the women’s bathrooms without fear. And 

anyone who tries to say differently is entirely full of shit. 

Note: This article is written from only one perspective with 

input from many people. Not all of our experiences are the 

same, and not all experiences can be covered with the depth 

they deserve in a short article. 

We are a diverse, wonderful group of people who deserve 

respect and safety in the same way you do, and these all 

gender bathrooms go a way to achieving that. 

The MSA Queer Department runs an autonomous TIGD Caucus - 

if you would like to be added, get information on how to navigate 

Monash as a TIGD student, or simply meet others and share your 

experiences please get in touch with us on our Facebook page at 

facebook.com/MSAQu/ and for more information regarding 

LGBTIQ matters at Monash refer to monash.edu/lgbtiq. 

This article could not have been written without the valuable input 

of Theodore Murray, Justin Jones Li, the Queer Affairs Committee, 

TIGD Caucus, the Ally Network and so many more amazing Queer 

Peers. 

Now, the only way to help us out and avoid this whole 

shitstorm (heh) is to give us bathrooms we can use safely. 

Having all gender bathrooms at Monash is not only an issue 

of inclusion, but also one of safety and wellbeing for gender 

nonconforming students. With the current discourse 

on bathrooms reaching a terrifying, trans-antagonistic 

crescendo, it makes a huge difference to actually have the 

choice to go somewhere where I won’t have to experience 

any of the above consequences for being a human. While 

I am writing all this from my perspective, I would be 

remiss not to acknowledge that the majority of this 

student affairs 14-15

edition three two 

lot’s wife 

the sweet life, 

the real life 

article by devika pandit 

artwork by audrey chmielewski 

University is one of the most important stages of an individual’s 

life with ‘student life’ regarded as the most memorable part of Uni 

memories. Similar to Melbourne coffee culture, student life is a distinct 

culture that Monash University translates as: ‘Joining clubs, making 

new friends, getting involved with opportunities on campus and in 

general, cherishing shared experiences’. Over tacos and tequila at Sir 

John’s Bar, I discovered that Uni and the student experience keeps 

improving with each successive year. Better, in terms of adjusting to the 

grind of Uni life, starting and submitting assignments on the same day 

(possible, but not advisable), achieving HDs without a single textbook, 

laughing at innocent jaffys, knowing the cheapest everything on and 

around campus… the list is endless. As students, we tend to graciously or 

sometimes grudgingly accept all that is served on our plate during these 

4 or so years. However, I wish to address several niggling problems that 

lurk beneath the facade of a vibrant campus experience. Let us remove 

the rose-tinted glasses for a while and explore the academic and nonacademic 

issues that we experience, but rarely ever discuss (Stalkerspace 

memes do not count as discussion). 

Studying at Uni is equivalent to a full-time workload. Lecture recordings 

are a lifesaver, especially for those who work/cannot make it to class, but 

even then, the stress of managing assignments is enough to unnerve 

a fifth year student. Sleep schedules are often the most abused among 

students because as Aster explains, “one can get so much work done in 

those hours” instead of wasting time. The casual attitude towards one’s 

body and its needs frightens me, because we are not as invincible as we 

believe. A study at Washington State University discovered that 55% 

of young adults aged 18-29 wake up feeling tired and craving more rest. 

Along with sleepiness, decreased concentration and subsequently lower 

grades, sleep deprivation is also linked to increased alcohol and drug use. 

Fuelling the sleepy and stressed student culture is the need to work 

to survive through exorbitantly priced degrees. Third year Arts/Law 

student Tash considers this a challenge, “weighing up between doing 

lots of hours at a job to live comfortably or sacrificing paid work to 

give myself more time to focus on Uni”. A friend working part-time at 

an administrative job shares that there is always too much pressure to 

compromise, either by means of a rushed assignment or taking a day off 

to study for an exam. We speak lightly of stress, but it suffocates us for a 

whole semester. 

Other contributing factors include a fickle Eduroam, Moodle tantrums, 

pricey textbooks and parking permits that chew away at our thin 

wallets. Denise adds that there is a huge gap between lecture and 

tutorial questions, and having to teach oneself 50% of the unit is not 

exactly an enjoyable experience. Red Dinosaur considers dealing with 

inter-culturally incompetent staff as a struggle. Skipping lectures, feeling 

demotivated and discriminated against are just some of the problems 

that arise when teaching staff fail to engage in an approachable and 

patient manner with their students. 

Lack of motivation is another common but often overlooked issue. It 

could occur for a variety of reasons: disliking a course or feeling lost, not 

feeling adequately challenged, being distracted or facing what I refer to 

as a ‘Students’ Block’. This is emotionally draining and numbing, because 

wanting to give up on study amidst the heavy workload is a dangerous 

phase. A possible solution is seeking professional assistance if need be, 

but most students choose not to. ‘I don’t think it would make much 

of a difference’ is a common misconception. Suffering in silence never 

helps but when the problem itself is not addressed the way it should be, 

silence is inevitable. As students, easy service accessibility is a primary 

concern, which is why Monash University’s move to cut counseling 

services in 2016 faced much flak from the student community. It is 

hypocritical: extensive promotion of mental health awareness and 

mindfulness on campus and ‘R U OK?’ Day, all while slashing mental 

health services students need, but are hesitant to actively seek. 

Stressing over one’s ability to find meaningful employment 

post graduation is almost a rite of passage for final year 

students. 

I asked many students what they thought about their career prospects 

and an answer worth mentioning is – “It takes a lot of time to prepare 

oneself for a decent job these days”. I wonder if Uni really prepares us 

for the real world; are we just faces waving the same white paper in an 

overcrowded job market? A growing proportion of students share the 

realization that Uni is a dreary cycle of ‘eat-study-sleep-repeat’. Not 

much is happening on the work front. Sure, we have Career Connect, 

Career Expo, Career Gateway… yet, ‘career ready’ is not a term in our 

dictionary. As such, there is a need for more faculty-based networking 

events and I propose these should not be left only for the final year. 

Introducing new students to possible options and the right people will 

certainly go a long way in boosting their confidence, given that we live 

in an age of ‘whom you know is more important than what you know’. 

More surprising is that even with Monash Student Association (MSA) 

Host Scheme Camps, faculty led peer-mentoring programs and other 

social events, many students are still not aware of their options. In a 

Moodle poll conducted last year, several students said they had not 

heard of Summerfest. This is discouraging given the heavy advertising 

and promotion that Monash undertook to publicize the weeklong event. 

Perhaps Monash could benefit from introducing a platform listing all 

kinds of events happening on campus, which would allow students to 

be informed about their choices. Seeing the events on offer, it is possible 

that students will be more likely to attend events which they know are 

popular among their peers, simply explained through the FOMO (Fear of 

Missing Out) effect. 

Much is desired and much can be done. University doesn’t have to be 

difficult. Student life is to be savored and it is small but significant 

changes to university administration and policy that can help us make 

the most of our time here. I can only reiterate what both our motto 

and Sir John Monash have already established: We are always learning, 

and it is our responsibility as students and as staff, to enrich and equip 

ourselves to ensure we offer our best to one another. 

*Names of students have been changed.

politics/society 


16-17

edition three 

lot’s wife 

music in the shadow 

of genocide 

article by emina besirevic 

artwork by nicole sizer 

Dressed in formal black tails and a white shirt, the 

musician took his place. Taking a deep breath, he looked 

around himself, the light peaking in from the looming walls 

catching his watery eye. He took a bow and sat on the stool 

with his cello between his legs and let the soft melody of 

Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor fill the air. 

However, this renowned musician did not play in a concert 

hall. Nor did he look out at a captivated audience, a sight 

once so familiar. Vedran Smajlović sat in the ruins of 

Bosnia’s National library in Sarajevo where 22 people had 

died the day before. Against the challenge of sniper bullets 

whirling around him, he played in the heart of sorrow. 

Smajlović was the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera 

and also played in the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the 

Symphony Orchestra and the National Theatre of Sarajevo. 

However, in early 1992 following the breakup of the former 

Yugoslavia, life changed for everyone in the Balkans. The 

ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Serbian Nationalists 

entailed intimidation, forced expulsion and the killing of 

the Bosnian Muslim civilization. Houses and apartments 

across Bosnia were systematically ransacked or burnt down 

with civilians being rounded up into camps, beaten or 

killed in the process. The capital city of Bosnia, Sarajevo, 

was held under siege for 44 months, the longest siege in 

the history of modern warfare. The Serb forces situated 

themselves in the surrounding hills of Sarajevo, creating an 

inescapable ring and inflicting suffering on civilians to force 

the Bosnian authorities to succumb to Serb demands. The 

European city that had escaped two World Wars with only 

minor damage became more murderous by the day. 

On May 27 1992, a mortar shell fell and killed 22 people 

who had queued up at one of the few remaining bakeries. 

Smajlović, who lived close to the bakery and assisted the 

wounded, was appalled by the disarray of body parts and 

rubble. Neither a politician nor a soldier, the sense of 

powerlessness that blanketed the city began to exhaust the 

musician. 

in graveyards, at funerals and at other sites where shells had 

taken the lives of Sarajevo’s citizens. Sniper fire persisted 

and mortars persistently rained down, but Smajlović 

continued to play and the people continued to gather and 

listen. In the daily ordeal of finding food and water amid 

enduring shelling, Smajlović’s music became a symbol for 

both hope and peace. His performances, whilst varying in 

shattered locations, remained constant throughout the 

siege. 

Sarajevo became a skeleton of the thriving, accomplished 

city that it was. It became an unrecognizable wasteland of 

blasted mosques, museums, churches, hospitals, libraries 

and sports stadiums, punctured by rockets and fractured 

in animosity. The unprecedented callousness of the war 

challenged the expectations of everyday life. Indeed, 

events and preoccupations of civilian existence, which 

appeared so compelling under ordinary circumstances, 

begin to appear trivial when compared to the death and 

destruction that war brought. This abrupt loss of meaning 

was perilous. Yet, it was those like Smajlović who reached 

for an anchor amid the chaos, however small, that were 

able to carry themselves back to the stable, reasoned life 

that they led before. It is this hope that is created, however 

faint and hesitant, that reminds people of a treasured past 

and encourages faith in a future. If nothing else, it is a 

subtle way in which the citizens of Sarajevo reclaimed their 

humanity in a city which attempted to steal it away from 

them. 

Smajlović once proclaimed, ‘You ask me am I crazy for 

playing the cello? Why do you not ask if they are crazy for 

shelling Sarajevo?’ 

If it is crazy to bring hope into a city engulfed in distress, 

to create a sense of harmony when division systematically 

fissures reality, and to encapsulate the suffering of people 

with a delicacy that words could not exude… then perhaps 

crazy is what Sarajevo needed. 

However, determined to reclaim the humanity in a city 

ravaged by brutality, Smajlović turned to his cello. For the 

next 22 days, his elegy echoed amidst the destruction, 

striking chords in the hearts of those listening that went 

beyond what language could. He played not only for each 

person killed, but for each person who had lost someone, 

or perhaps lost a bit of themselves in the banal terror. He 

continued even after commemorating these victims to play

nostalgia for 

tradition 

article and artwork by john henry 

Invoking a tradition can also obfuscate the fact that 

other systems of thought can independently come to 

similar conclusions. It credits too much towards a specific 

creed, and too little to the power of others to come up 

with their own thoughts in different circumstances. For 

example, it’s reasonable to suggest that Christianity was 

not radically innovative in many of its moral tenets; 

celebrating the ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’ can disguise this 

fact. The ancient world that preceded and coexisted with 

the Christian tradition was a remarkably fertile epoch of 

different opinions, and like today, the public and written 

discourses did not consist of a simple monolithic consensus. 

We can therefore find Stoic sentiments that resemble 

Christian ones, despite the lack of historical connection 

between the two creeds. 

Conservatives are fond of invoking the ‘Judeo-Christian 

tradition’ as the source of Australia’s liberal democratic 

principles, but it’s important to bear in mind that this 

can be somewhat misleading. Although it may not be 

intentional all the time, this appeal to tradition tends to 

credit Christianity and Judaism too much by implying great 

originality and downplaying the secular sources of modern 

values, particularly from antiquity and the Enlightenment. 

It’s important to bear in mind that ideas are common 

property, and that we don’t need to constantly refer to a 

certain historical tradition, religion, or philosophical creed 

for normative guidance in public discourse. We can choose 

and ignore what we like from a diversity of sources. We 

don’t need to slavishly imitate a certain tradition, as every 

idealised historical period contains its own idiosyncrasies 

and defects that bear little relation to contemporary 

needs. I remember a recent episode of Q&A where a 

panellist suggested that we should uphold the principles 

of Athenian democracy in public discussions. I question 

whether this nostalgia is helpful or constructive. Stripped 

of its romanticism, there are many unappealing facets of 

Athenian democracy: its exclusivity to adult freemen, its 

propensity for attracting demagogues, and its key role in 

the death of Socrates. It would be far clearer to simply 

advocate more generic ideals like ‘rationality’ or ‘free 

public discourse’, rather than obscuring discussions with a 

selective nostalgia. Using historical examples can be fun, 

and it can possess great illustrative value, but it can also 

unnecessarily complicate a discussion as much as it can 

clarify. 

The impressive divergence of ideas in antiquity is well 

expressed in the classicist Runar Thorsteinssen’s book, 

Roman Christianity and Roman Stoicism: A Comparative Study 

of Ancient Morality. Delving into classical texts from the first 

and second centuries. Thorsteinssen’s findings suggest that 

a minority of pagan philosophers were already grappling 

with some of the ideas typically imputed to the Christian 

tradition only. The later Stoics specifically make some 

striking anticipations. For them, humans were equal by 

nature, as they all played a part in the spiritual principle 

that structured the natural world. Philosophers such as 

Epictetus (50-125 A.D.) prescribed universal philanthropy, 

even towards those that have caused injury to you. Stoics 

like Musonius Rufus (25-100 A.D.) criticised the idea of 

vengeful payback in favour of forgiveness; he also advocated 

virtue as entailing ‘love, goodness, justice and benevolence, 

and concern for the welfare of one’s neighbour’. 

These strictly pagan perspectives sound pretty familiar, 

despite the fact that they were arrived at independently 

from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Although there were 

enormous differences between the two creeds – compared 

to Christianity, Stoicism was more optimistic about human 

nature and pessimistic about life after death – there 

still remain some eerie resemblances. Of course, I’m not 

suggesting that we should become followers of the Stoic 

tradition. That would be absurd, and it would require some 

incredibly selective reading, as the philosophies of Stoicism 

can frequently appear sour, puritanical, self-righteous, and 

unreasonably demanding. We have the luxury of choosing 

and rejecting what principles are best for our society, and 

we can therefore pick and choose what we like without 

idealising one tradition or another. 

politics/society 18-19

edition three 

lot’s wife 

what’s the deal with 

firefighters? 

article by nick bugeja 

There is no doubt that you would have heard about the 

current dispute between the United Firefighters Union 

(UFU) and the Country Fire Authority (CFA). It seems 

unlikely, though, that you have been given a true account 

of the dispute, as the media and public discourse has been 

marred by misinformation, distortion and an aversion to 

simple fact. 

Prevalent have been the claims of an unsubstantiated, 

‘ghoulish’ union takeover of the CFA, as well as the 

unfounded mischaracterisations of a ‘war’ on volunteer 

firefighters. The main peddlers of these anti-union 

sentiments have been the Liberal party and the Murdochowned 

press. In June of 2016 alone, The Herald Sun 

published more than 70 articles that, in no uncertain terms, 

condemned the UFU. Somewhat shockingly, however, 

inaccurate reporting of this dispute has not been confined 

to the Murdoch papers. 

The whole dispute arose from attempts to renegotiate an 

EBA (Enterprise Bargaining Agreement) for CFA career 

firefighters. Rather than secure the same terms on which 

past EBA’s had been established, the UFU rightfully sought 

to demand more of the CFA management. A crucial aspect 

of the UFU’s negotiations was the demand to make it 

official policy for seven firefighters – career or volunteer 

– to be dispatched to a fire. In the current firefighting 

climate, it is common for four or even three firefighters to 

attend a fire. This is a woefully inadequate number that 

imperils the individual safety of the firefighters, as well 

as posing a danger to rural communities at large – as low 

firefighter numbers at a fire will decrease the likelihood of 

containment or extinguishment. 

The UFU’s stance is supported by the advice of firefighting 

experts – seven firefighters is widely held to be the 

minimum number in order for fires to be properly dealt 

with. It is indubitably within the interests of UFU members 

and the wider community for the CFA to mandate this 

policy requirement. Nevertheless, right-wing commentators 

such as Andrew Bolt are deploring the union for their 

proactivity, attempting to divide career and volunteer 

firefighters by spreading mistruths about the union’s 

proposal. The main misnomer disseminated is that seven 

career firefighters must be at a fire before a volunteer can be 

dispatched. This is a patent lie, because there are many CFA 

stations with only volunteer firefighters. 

Similarly, part of the alleged ‘union takeover’ is the fact 

that the UFU is pushing for quicker response rates in rural 

areas. Currently, firefighters are able to respond significantly 

quicker to call-outs in metropolitan and some suburban 

spaces compared to rural and country areas. From an 

economic standpoint, this reality does not make a whole 

lot of sense. Victorians from all across the state pay similar 

amounts for the fire service levy, yet those in more urban 

areas receive a better service. In some cases, residents in 

CFA territory actually pay more. For example, a resident 

in CFA territory pays approximately $181.80 per annum 

on property with a capital improved value of $600,000. A 

resident in MFB territory with the same capital improved 

value pays about $140.40 per annum for a more efficient, 

effective service. 

In general, it seems pretty uncontroversial to say that 

acting to increase the speed of firefighter response time is a 

good thing – it will mean that fires can be more effectively 

contained and extinguished. Lives and homes will be saved 

as a consequence. 

Those who are unreservedly ‘anti-UFU’ in their sentiments 

do not only display an absence of critical thought, but also 

an embarrassing moral indifference. A constant criticism 

made of the UFU and career firefighters is their ‘underappreciation’ 

of the work of volunteer firefighters. Make 

no mistake: the UFU and career firefighters recognise the 

importance of volunteer firefighters in rural areas. They put 

their lives on the line for their community in the same way 

that career firefighters do. 

In a purely logical world, it would be the Liberals and 

conservatives who would be seen as unsupportive of 

>>

volunteer firefighters. They see no problem, and in fact 

encourage, the exploitation and overwork of volunteers, 

who have other jobs and personal matters to which to 

attend. It appears that the Liberal Party and right-wing 

commentators hope for the day when the sole responsibility 

to extinguish bushfires is imposed on volunteers. This is 

hardly fair. 

Not only is this ultimately detrimental to volunteer 

firefighters, but also to the community at large. Intrinsically, 

volunteers are not able to respond in the same capacity and 

with the same consistency as career firefighters, who are 

stationed at their CFA station in anticipation of a fire or 

emergency situation. By no means are the UFU advocating 

divisions between career and volunteer firefighters, but 

rather a harmonious and well-balanced allocation of career 

and volunteer firefighters in CFA areas to combat the everincreasing 

dangers of fires, bushfires and emergencies. 

It seems a pertinent question to ask: why is the right-wing 

so ardently against the UFU and career firefighters? 

An obvious answer to that is because conservatives 

blindly despise unions. The UFU to them represents a 

counter-productive and ‘thuggish’ body trying to deny CFA 

management their holy right to exercise autocratic power 

over its workers. Indeed, any piece published by the Herald 

Sun on the UFU seems to descend into ad hominem and 

unedifying character assassination – compelling us to 

resent the UFU on the sole basis of it being a union. 

What the whole media circus surrounding the UFU 

exposes is the worst of conservative ideology: its myopia, 

its obstinacy, and its tendency to encourage ill-feeling and 

loathing. Rather than adopting a balanced, nuanced view 

of the dispute, conservatives have lambasted the UFU for 

putting its members and the community first. 

Another reason for conservative castigation of the UFU 

and its members is because of their power as activists. In 

the 2014 state election, career firefighters ran a successful 

campaign to throw the Napthine Liberal government out 

of office. This was in response to unremitting attempts 

by the Napthine government to cut fire services and cut 

the number of firefighting jobs available. The campaign 

was entitled ‘Put the Liberals Last’, as firefighters across 

the state actively doorknocked, made calls and distributed 

flyers to make the community aware of the dangerous 

consequences of not respecting our state’s firefighters. The 

hard work and societal standing of Victorian firefighters 

meant that there was an overwhelming swing away from 

the Liberal party. Expectedly, this prompted a kneejerk 

response from the Liberal party and conservative 

commentators, characterised by lie-laden attempts to 

delegitimise the UFU and career firefighters. 

The inaccuracy with which the UFU and CFA dispute 

has been reported is genuinely saddening. It represents a 

new low for the Liberal party and conservatives at large. 

Firefighters are altruistic and great people who contribute 

so much to our community – not only fighting fires, but 

responding to tragic emergency situations such as car 

wrecks and drug overdoses. It is about time that we start to 

laud firefighters and their representatives as heroes in our 

community. 

australia’s obsession with 

military spending 

article by jack young 

artwork by elsie dusting 

Defence spending in Australia is soaring, but all the while, foreign 

aid is being slashed. Is this good for the security of Australia and the 

region? Does the military even effectively achieve its stated goals? 

The 2016 Defence White Paper outlines an additional $29.9 billion in 

funding for defence from 2016 to 2025-2026, with the defence budget 

reaching $42.4 billion by 2020-2021 (2% of projected GDP). The main 

goals of the Australian military in the coming years are predominantly 

focused on the protection of Australia's borders from people, weapon 

and drug smuggling by crime syndicates as well as preventing fishing 

in Australian fisheries. The paper also discusses at length the military 

modernisation expected in our region – although that modernisation 

is not expected to be directed at Australia. The increase in funding will 

mostly be used to fund new manned and unmanned aircraft as well 

as better marine vessels. The paper ties the stability and prosperity of 

Australia’s neighbors, in particular Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, 

Indonesia and Pacific Island countries in the South Pacific with our 

own prosperity. The real question is whether the measures taken by the 

military will result in stability and prosperity in our region. I think they 

won’t. 

$42 billion per year is a lot of funding. Is stopping neighboring countries 

from fishing going to make them more stable and prosperous? Will 

stopping their refugees from coming here make them more stable and 

prosperous? The reality is that defense is almost always used for short 

term economic gain and ironically, for attack. Finding examples where 

this is not the case in history is difficult. 

Increasing funding in one area of government naturally requires cuts in 

others. In the 2015-16 budget Australia's foreign aid was cut by $1 billion 

(around 20%). In the 2016-17 budget foreign aid spending fell another 

$224 million. The lack of spending in respect of foreign aid by first world 

nations is sad and disappointing. Especially when you compare it to the 

enormous, reckless amounts spent on military apparatuses. 

It is my understanding that what promotes stability and prosperity 

are things like access to health care, food, water, education, shelter, 

electricity and employment. It seems that the Defence White Paper is 

good for one thing – identifying threats. However its solutions are poor 

at best. If Australia, or any first world nation for that matter actually 

fixed the problems in the developing world, there would be far fewer 

threats to defend against. The UN estimates that for an extra $1.7 billion 

in funding for increasing immunization coverage against influenza, 

pneumonia and other preventable diseases, around 1 million children’s 

lives could be saved. The cost of military spending is more than 

economic. It costs lives. 

The countries which Australia used to give foreign aid to will suffer 

greatly and needlessly as a result of increased military spending. 

The developing nations will suffer needlessly as a result of the first 

world’s seeming inability to help anyone but themselves. The domestic 

population needs to demand that our government do its part to end 

unnecessary and horrific global suffering. These issues are complicated 

and difficult to solve, but that does not mean we shouldn’t try. 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

minor parties in 

australian politics 

article by jessica lehmann 

artwork by leitu bonnici 

Disillusioned youth and disengagement with politics is 

nothing new in the Australian political scene. Political 

power and consequently huge aspects of our lives are 

dictated by either the Liberal and Labor parties. Thus, the 

feeling of representation of your own unique views can 

often fall short across all the policies in only two parties. 

The trend to support minor political parties, for example 

the well-known ‘One Nation’ and the ‘Greens’, has led to a 

shift in the balance of power in the Senate. However, there 

are many other minor parties that can be seen to push an 

agenda more closely aligned with your own. 

Firstly, let's break down how exactly the government is 

formed and how your vote informs its structure. Australian 

political power, and our votes, are reflected in two houses. 

The House of Representatives is where the government 

is formed. The Senate acts as the ‘house of review’ and 

has the power to approve or reject decisions made in the 

House of Representatives. If one political party holds 

majority of power in both houses they can fast track any 

legislation they like. Therefore, as the people in the Senate 

keep everything in check, a diverse and balanced Senate is 

essential for a strong democracy. 

There are 57 political parties in Australia, yet the Labor 

and Liberal parties deluge much of the Australian media. 

Thankfully, there exist many varied parties pushing forward 

and offering other ideals that can help espouse your views 

and opinions to shape the Australia you want. By voting in 

minor parties this opposes the “two-party system” which 

exists, and is strongly perpetuated by the mainstream 

media, in Australia. 

Here three minor Australian political parties will be 

explored in detail to widen your perception of politics. 

As Plato once said: “One of the penalties for refusing to 

participate in politics is that you end up being governed by 

your inferiors.” 

Recently the technology driven political party ‘Flux’ has 

been formed. Flux operates through an app and you are the 

operator behind the politician. The user is given a vote on 

every bill put before Federal Parliament and can use that 

vote either; 

1. immediately on the issue at hand; 

2. by giving it to a trusted third party to cast on your behalf; 

or 

3. by saving it for an issue you care more passionately about 

later. 

Flux representatives completely give up their autonomy 

and vote per the people utilising the app. This is a marked 

change from politicians back-flipping on campaign ideals, a 

la Malcolm Turnbull on same sex marriage, or running for 

election to boost their own career. There are flaws in this 

system with the potential for people to flood the app who 

are aligned strongly with certain preferences. However, it 

is a strong step in ensuring politicians are accountable to 

the individuals who voted them into power it allows the 

everyday Australian to gain control and have a voice in the 

political arena. 

The Art Party is the only art focused political party in the 

world and does not identify as either left or right wing, 

but rather aims for a culturally creative and diverse society. 

What distinguishes the Art party from other political 

parties is this specific emphasis on one area of reform – the 

arts. Having members of political parties in the Senate 

from minor parties, such as the Arts party, who focus on 

one particular area, enables issues that are varied to be 

acknowledged. Other issues that do not directly relate 

would then be considered in relation to the ethos of the 

party. For example, if a bill on housing affordability reform 

were brought forward, the Art Party would hypothetically 

analyse it in relation to the community and culture of the 

arts and then vote. This would lead to a senate which is 

balanced and representative of varied public voices. 

Another minor party representing a key area that the 

government traditionally struggles with is the Science 

Party. Focused on technological advancements and the 

growth of a positive and thriving future for all Australians, 

the Science Party advocates for public healthcare and 

policies based on intelligent evidence-based research. 

A major point of difference of the Science party is their 

support for a secular government to ensure justice and 

liberty of beliefs. 

After the Senate reforms of 2016, we could envision future 

Senates comprised of minor parties. It is easier than ever 

before for the minor parties to represent smaller factions 

of the community, leading to a diversity of political voices 

having their say on the way our country is governed. The 

future of Australian politics could be in your hands if you 

consider varied parties rather than the big two of the Labor 

and Liberal parties. Your voice could finally be represented 

on issues important to you.

what ever happened to 

the state of journalism? 

article by nick jarrett 

artwork by kim tran 

Thanks to social media, we live in an age that is 

simultaneously the best and worst environment for 

journalism and reporting that there has ever been. We 

have access to countless sources of news that spring up 

instantly after global phenomenon, political debate and 

sporting achievements. All it takes is a few swipes of a 

finger and you can have a general knowledge about any 

known topic in existence. We are better informed than ever 

and yet we are also exposed to vindictive, biased journalism 

masquerading as truth. That isn’t even to mention the ‘fake 

news’ which is slowly saturating our Facebook feeds and 

has even infiltrated such administrations as the White 

House. 

Journalism today is not typically based on objectivity, but 

rather is designed to catch and hold our attention and 

therefore sell its publication to us. In the same way little 

rewards hook us to games, or small cliffhangers keep us 

attached to our TV screens, journalism is twisting headlines 

to the flashy and scandalous in an attempt to draw us (and 

our clicks) into a story we would otherwise ignore. Look 

no further then to recent U.S. election cycle to identify the 

media’s thirst for such drama. Donald Trump and Bernie 

Sanders both had their campaigns globally advertised, as 

media companies such as Fox News, CNN and BBC (just 

to name a select few), bit onto controversial information 

they knew would cause a stir and attempt to outdo other 

reporting stations. Every time Trump spoke he was belittled 

and laughed at by left-wing and central media factions 

as a racist and a fascist. When Bernie took to the podium, 

he was deemed a communist by right-wing and centrist 

parties, fueling the memory of terror that communism 

instilled in the twentieth century. However accurate these 

assessments may have been, these journalists collected 

every bit of drama they could find and often blew it into 

erroneous conjecture. Sanders’ planned health care reforms 

were not ‘revolutionary’ and Trump’s move to tax foreign 

imports weren’t always racially motivated, but that doesn’t 

matter because there is a story to sell and outrage as 

currency. 

public over her performance, Collins obtained an angle he 

thought would entice readers and ignored an objective 

journalistic approach. It is a sad reality that journalism 

has become corrupted to the extent where the traditional 

method of reporting fact has been lost in favour of being 

able to sell drama and debate, but only look at the effect of 

social media and one can understand why. 

You no longer need to work at leading media outlets to 

broadcast news. All too often, we are told about various 

world events from any random bystander who happened 

to be there. So where does that leave the journalist? They 

can’t be the first to report the story (someone else has 

done that) so they need to find a new angle and many are 

unscrupulous in how they manufacture it. 

Now I enjoy news as much as any other, and I am almost 

solely reliant on social media and the internet for supplying 

world events and the occasional Married at First Sight 

update, but increasingly I am becoming more cynical over 

this system of contemporary journalism and reporting. 

After all, there are only so many times I can stomach 

walking into a full-blooded family dinner table debate 

armed to the hilt with what turns out to be misguided 

information and the spread of fake news. 

The system of journalism that we have is 

corrupted and flawed. But, given the nature of our 

technological era, maybe that is just the reality we 

have to accept. 

So desperate is the state of modern-day journalism to 

sell a story, journalists don’t always attempt to hide their 

motives in finding new angles. In February 2016, following a 

performance by Beyoncé at the Superbowl Halftime Show 

– journalist Alex Collins from the BBC asked on Twitter for 

someone ‘who [could] say that it was inappropriate that her 

performance was political.’ For the record, the ‘controversial 

performance’ of Beyoncé was of Formation which alluded 

to the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. 

Collins, instead of asking for an array of opinions from the 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

when the bank of 

mum & dad runs dry 

article by benjamin caddaye 

artwork by lin abdul rahman 

I love Melbourne. It’s a pretty special place. Dubbed as 

Australia’s cultural capital, it doesn’t disappoint in its vast 

offerings. Don’t just take my word on that: the international 

community feels the same with Melbourne being the most 

liveable city for six years running. I can’t think of anywhere 

else I’d rather call home, and I’m assuming a lot of you feel 

the same way. However, despite my love of the city, I am 

seriously worried about my future ability to do so. 

Let’s get things straight; we as university students and 

future graduates are in a far better position than a lot of 

other young Melburnians. In spite of this, I am genuinely 

concerned that I’ll never be able to own a home; instead I 

will be forced into a lifestyle at the perpetual mercy of a 

duplicitous landlord. 

The statistics are pretty frightening. In 1980, the median 

house price in Melbourne was a pittance at $40,800. Today 

that figure stands in excess of $700,000. Even after taking 

into account inflation over the past three decades, that is 

still an absurd increase. To afford even an average home 

in Melbourne’s leafy inner suburbs, you’d need to have an 

income in excess of six figures. On top of that, it would also 

require a massive saving effort to come up with a deposit 

large enough to avoid mortgage lenders insurance, and to 

cover the associated stamp duty fees. 

The picture is pretty bleak. 

So the question I ask myself is, what the hell is the 

government doing to address this systemic issue? 

The Andrews Government 

To the credit of the current State government, they’ve 

actually done something about it. The recent package 

of changes included no stamp-duty on properties under 

$600,000, a saving of up to $32,000, and a doubling of the 

first-home owners grant for regional purchases. There is 

also a trial program whereby the government supplies 

25% of the full purchase price, essentially footing the cost 

of a deposit. The government then retains a 25% interest 

in the property that they recoup when it is sold. This 

goes to the heart of the issue, because coming up with a 

large deposit for a property is often the biggest barrier to 

homeownership. 

Despite the strides made, there are still structural issues 

that aren’t addressed by these policies. If the government 

were to roll out the input equity policy, they would be 

massively at the mercy of any future housing market 

collapse, and it could potentially put taxpayer dollars in a 

precarious position. 

The Opposition 

Leader of the Opposition Matthew Guy has also put his 

mind to the issue, coming up with a sensational, agile 

and very innovative Nine-Point Plan for addressing the 

crisis. His ideas mainly revolve around helping out those 

‘charitable’ development companies by reducing barriers to 

development to increase supply. He’s also noted the need 

for jobs to be located outside the CBD and for better public 

transport links. 

While (as much as it pains me to admit it), he is on 

the money when it comes to spreading employment 

opportunities and public transport access, Guy’s actions 

tell a very different story. The vicious opposition to the 

Andrews governments public transport investment shows 

that his party isn’t interested in investing for the future. He 

should be criticised for focusing primarily on development 

rather than access, as it is clear from the number of foreign 

buyers in Melbourne that there is supply, just that it’s going 

to investors rather than young buyers. 

The Federal Government 

This is more than a state issue, as is made clear by the fact 

that housing unaffordability in Sydney is rivalled only by 

Hong Kong. This would lead one to suppose that the Federal 

Government would also make concerted efforts alongside 

the States to address the issue. Well, to see the reality of 

this, let’s look at a couple of Ministerial statements. 

The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. (Now just prepare 

yourself for the sheer idiocy of our nation’s leader.) He 

suggested that young people should tap into the ‘bank 

of mum and dad’ and get them to shell out to help their 

kids enter the market. Now unlike some politicians or 

demagogues, where a small loan of a million dollars is but 

a phone call away, the clear majority of young Australians 

simply cannot rely on their parents to fork out $120,000 plus 

for a deposit. Let’s not overlook the fact that Malc was able 

to buy his first home in inner Sydney’s Newtown WHILE a 

student for the equivalent of $82,000, and then sell it three 

years later for FOUR times as much. 

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has suggested that 

if you don’t like house prices in big cities, you should move 

to Charleville. Now without passing comment on what I’m 

sure is a charming rural town, the idea that young people 

should make such a life-altering move, (in this case, a cruisy 

742 km from Brisbane), is nothing but ignorant. 

Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, (and the man 

responsible for addressing housing affordability), Michael 

Sukkar suggested that the first step to getting into the 

housing market was to get a ‘highly paid job’. That’s a 

ripper idea, thanks Minister. I’ll just go down to my local 

supermarket and get a job, getting paid a good base wage 

>>

and penalty rates…. Oh wait the government just stood by 

as penalty rates were cut and the minimum wage is at an 

almost un-liveable level. How can this be an acceptable 

view to hold? Highly paid jobs don’t exactly grow on trees, 

and they are increasingly more difficult to acquire with 

unemployment at almost 6 percent. 

But enough of exposing the hypocrisy of the current 

Federal Government. What we need are leaders who are up 

to making the hard, unpopular choices. As the Senate Select 

Committee into Housing Affordability notes, there are ‘tax 

system incentives which have encouraged investment in 

second and third properties’. Negative gearing needs to be 

severely limited, and foreign investment in residential real 

estate needs to be put under far greater control. That’s an 

unpopular position, and I’ll admit that. 

However, it is clear that the trajectory of the market 

is upwards, and it has a real potential to create a 

stratified class system in Australia. 

Young people will be forced into a lifetime of expensive 

renting, with the older generations leeching their capital 

and preventing them from saving. With prices remaining 

so high, getting that first property would be all but a pipe 

dream. 

beyond her beauty 

article by dolly png 

artwork by rachelle lee 

With a crisp British accent, an aura of confident intelligence and a 

much-envied physique, Emma Watson is a darling of the big screen. 

Her role as the witty, courageous Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise 

has made her a household name, and she knows it. However, what 

makes her stand out from her Hollywood counterparts is how she has 

harnessed her celebrity power to influence and effect change beyond the 

movie theatre. 

Beyond earning a comfortable living or honing her artistic talents, 

Watson’s heart is for a cause greater than herself: gender equality. At just 

twenty-five, she is the appointed UN Women Goodwill ambassador, and 

her speech at the launch of the HeForShe campaign in 2014 provokes one 

to pause and reconsider the word “feminism”. 

“Gender equality is your issue too,” she confidently states, as a direct 

address to the men in the audience. For “how can we effect change in the 

world, when only half of it is invited, or feel welcome to participate in 

the conversation”? To be feminist is not to be men-hating. It is as much 

about giving men the freedom to speak about their feelings, and for 

fathers to be recognised in the household, as it is about female political 

representation and closing the pay gap between the sexes. 

To further this cause, Watson has also started a Goodreads book club, 

Our Shared Shelf. This open online channel encourages active and 

dynamic public engagement on feminism and related issues. Titles so far 

have included Maya Angelou’s Mom & Me & Mom and this month’s read: 

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman 

Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Watson has certainly put much effort 

into keeping the conversation going. Take for example the one-hundred 

handwritten notes in hard copy books, hand-delivered, stashed away 

in corners of the London subway last year. One certainly wonders how 

many lucky commuters would actually heed the note’s advice to pass the 

book on after reading. 

With so much to her name, it easy to forget that Watson is also just 

another young adult, trying to find her way in the world. She is human 

too, just as vulnerable to the slings and arrows of hurtful comments. 

She admitted being particularly hurt by comments made by those she 

thought were her feminist peers over the recent Vanity Fair photoshoot. 

Is the act of baring one’s breasts for fashion modelling encouraging 

female sexualisation and objectification, or is it a daring celebration of a 

woman’s body? There are certainly no quick and easy answers, but surely 

we can cut our beloved “Harry Potter girl” some slack? It can’t be easy to 

juggle her personal and private lives—attending university (at Brown, 

no less), cherishing time with family and friends, while working (acting, 

modelling, activism), and managing her public image (most of us don’t 

have to worry about personal photos being leaked, or whether what we 

say affects the whole feminism movement). Being overly obsessed with 

the female body and beauty is a distraction from the real concerns she 

voices. 

With her compassion, sincerity and charisma, Emma Watson 

has come to represent issues far greater than herself. 

We would do well to look beyond the trivialities of magazine covers and 

listen to what she has to say, because it is something that matters to 

every one of us. 


24-25

edition three 

lot’s wife 

the power of 

the protest 

article by chris di pasquale 

artwork by angharad neal-williams 

The weekend of protests against President Donald Trump’s 

inauguration were the largest mobilisation in the history of the 

United States. Four million people turned out across the United States 

and globally, the five million people that turned out in over 60 cities 

from Berlin to Manila, from London to here in Melbourne – where we 

had about 6,000 show up to the State Library against Trump – were 

only surpassed in number by the anti-Iraq War protests of February 

2003, which brought out 15 million people. Since then, there have been 

protests to push back anti-choice bigots at Planned Parenthood clinics, 

airport occupations against Trump’s Muslim travel ban, marches outside 

the historic Stonewall Inn where Gay Liberation was born. This wave of 

protest against a newly elected president is unprecedented. 

Yet in my research for this article, I couldn’t help but notice a smaller 

but by no means insignificant protest that took place in the little city 

of Norwich in Norfolk County, England. At one point, Norwich was 

the second-largest city in England; however, that point was sometime 

during the eleventh century. These days, Norwich has a population of 

about 213,000, making it a quiet city favoured by Londoners wanting a 

weekend away from the big smoke. 

“Huge crowds gather in Norwich”, screamed the headline of the Eastern 

Daily Press to describe the February 1 Norwich protest against Trump’s 

Muslim travel ban, a now-defunct executive order that aimed to restrict 

the right of entry into the U.S. to the nationals of seven Muslim-majority 

countries. In all, about a thousand Norvicians showed up to the protest. 

Not much by our standards but considering the city has a population 

the size of Hobart, it would have been like 21,000 people showing up to 

our Melbourne anti-Trump protest. 

“Not my president” has become one of the well-known slogans of the 

anti-Trump movement, but that is literally the case for the thousand 

or so Norvicians who protested Donald Trump. But as Lottie Clare, one 

of the student organisers of the protest says: “It’s easy for us to criticise 

Trump in the UK and be focussing on the racism that’s happening in the 

States but it’s also happening here. The solidarity with people in the US 

really does matter and it’s about rejecting these ideas.” 

Protesting Trump can seem fruitless: he’s already been elected and 

besides, here in Australia, what he does doesn’t affect us and even if we 

wanted to stop it, we couldn’t. But the activists in sleepy Norwich saw 

the point in protesting Trump. So did the millions of others across the 

world who came out and continue to come out against Trump’s agenda. 

Protest is effective not only when it achieves an immediate outcome 

– as in the case of the airport protests that led to the repeal of Trump’s 

Muslim ban – but even when it doesn’t. The ordinary functioning of 

society begins to melt away in a mass protest, as participants are united 

by a set of demands or a common goal. A protest has the potential to 

expose the role of the police, the profoundly undemocratic nature of 

society, the collective power of those assembled: the point of protesting 

is not to appeal to the democratic nature of the powers that be but to 

change the ideas of those who take part, allowing them to imagine that 

another world is possible. 

For the late John Berger, a Marxist art critic, novelist and activist, to 

those who protest, the demonstration becomes a “metaphor for their 

total collective strength”. He wrote in his essay ‘The Nature of Mass 

Demonstrations’: 

“The demonstrators interrupt the regular life of the streets they march 

through or of the open spaces they fill. They cut off these areas, and, 

not yet having the power to occupy them permanently, they transform 

them into a temporary stage on which they dramatise the power they 

still lack… By demonstrating, they manifest a greater freedom and 

independence – a greater creativity, even although the product is only 

symbolic – than they can ever achieve individually or collectively when 

pursuing their regular lives. In their regular pursuits they only modify 

circumstances; by demonstrating they symbolically oppose their very 

existence to circumstances.” 

The idea that protest changes consciousness is important in 

understanding how a seemingly spontaneous movement against the 

newly elected Trump could have taken shape. Just as the seeds of 

Trump’s ascent can be found in the failure of the Obama years to live up 

to its promises of “change we can believe in”, so too can the origins of 

today’s anti-Trump movement be found in the protest movements that 

took place under Obama: Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter and the 

Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic Party nomination. 

Occupy Wall Street was a short-lived but militant occupation of 

Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in Manhattan, as a delayed response 

to the failures of government to respond adequately to the global 

financial crisis of 2008-9. This was a crisis that plunged millions into 

homelessness, unemployment and misery and yet the Wall Street 

bankers who caused the crisis on the whole got off scot-free. Black Lives 

Matter came to the world’s attention in 2014, after 18-year-old black 

man Mike Brown was gunned down by police in Ferguson, Missouri and 

that neighbourhood erupted in protest and riot against a racist state 

that continues to incarcerate and murder African Americans with total 

impunity. And Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont who until 2015 

was unknown to the world, overnight became a 74-year-old rockstar with 

his campaign to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. president on 

a platform of free college tuition, single-payer healthcare, an end to U.S. 

imperial wars and to institute a $15 minimum wage. 

None of these movements achieved their stated aims: Wall Street 

still makes decisions with impunity, African Americans continue to 

be killed by racist cops and Bernie Sanders is evidently not president. 

But all of these movements got scores of young people involved with 

activism, many for the first time. These movements raised the political 

consciousness of those people, challenging hegemonic ideas of what 

American society actually looks like, what the role of the American state 

is, the possibilities for running society outside the neoliberal orthodoxy. 

Without Occupy, Black Lives Matter or the Bernie Sanders campaign, 

we might not have seen the airport occupations, the anti-inauguration 

protests or the Women’s Marches. 

>>

But of course, people don’t go to protests to have their consciousness 

raised. We go because we want to win. We go because want to see a less 

racist, less barbarous, more humane society. In order to achieve that, we 

need to move beyond just protest. The election of Trump, the march of 

the far-right across Europe, the election of Pauline Hanson to the Senate 

in Australia, as well as the general rightward shift of mainstream politics 

show us that the right is organised. This means that left-wing people 

need to get together to impose on society our vision of what society 

should look like: free public transport, free education and healthcare, 

an end to wars for resources and profit, and end to multinationals 

exploiting the earth while our planet burns. This means that our side 

needs to get organised. 

As Berger wrote, that moment can be pivotal in changing that person’s 

worldview, for demonstrations are “protests of innocence”: 

“There is an innocence to be defended and an innocence which 

must finally be lost: an innocence which derives from justice, and an 

innocence which is the consequence of a lack of experience.” 

Attending a single protest, for all the layers of new activists getting 

involved in the movement against Trump today, can be the first step in 

losing that innocence. 

Chris di Pasquale is a member of the Monash Socialists and the LGBTI Officer 

for the National Union of Students. 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

australia indonesia 

business forum 2017 

article by andre nathaniel & patrick johannes kaihatu 

This semester, the Indonesian Students 

Association (ISA) of Monash will conduct 

one of their largest annual events, namely; 

the “Australia Indonesia Business Forum 

2017” (AIBF 2017). The main event of AIBF 

2017 will be held on the 6th of May 2017 at 271 

Collins St, Melbourne (Monash City Campus), 

with this year’s theme being: 

‘Opportunity’: “Foregoing creative and inspiring 

future leaders that seize to explore, expand and 

embrace opportunities” 

AIBF 2017 is held to encourage students to 

expand their knowledge and understanding 

beyond the course materials provided in 

the university. Additionally, AIBF 2017 also 

offers opportunities for students to discuss 

and interact with the guest speakers, which 

can provide an environment to build vast 

networking prospects. 

In general, the scope of activities in AIBF 2017 

can be grouped into 2 main segments, which 

are the Pre-events and Main Event: 

1. Pre-events: OPINDO (28 March 2017) 

2. Debate Competition (6 April 2017) 

3. Main Event: 6 May 2017 

OPINDO (Open Discussion for Indonesia) was 

held on Tuesday, 28 March 2017 at Monash 

University’s Clayton Campus, with the theme 

“OPPORTUNITY: IF YOU CAN'T FIND IT, 

CREATE IT”. The speakers invited for this 

event are Fiyona Alidjurnawan (Founder of 

PocketChange) and Darwin Wirawan (Founder 

of Williv Architecture). The 2 speakers shared 

their life experiences, as well as some insights 

on starting up their own firms from scratch. 

Fiyona remarked that her startup originated 

from a university assignment, whilst Darwin 

provided insight into the challenges he had 

faced upon his first arrival into Australia. After 

the guest speakers delivered their experiences, 

the event transitioned into an open Q&A 

session where participants discuss specific 

topics of their interest. This year’s OPINDO 

was a success, with participants filling the 

lecture theatre to full capacity. 

While previous AIBF pre-events held a 

Business Plan Competition, this year the 

committee pursued a different format. This 

is in the form of the Debate Competition, 

which was held on 6th April 2017 at Monash 

University’s Caulfield Campus. Four teams 

participated in this competition, with each 

team consisting of three members. These 

four teams represented Monash Uni + RMIT, 

RMIT University, Melbourne University and 

ISA of Victoria. This debate was held in the 

Asian Parliamentary System format, which is 

typically used for electoral debate in Asia. The 

competition also utilized a knockout system, 

where the winners of the qualification round 

faced each other on the final. The 3 guest 

judges were Ms. Made Utari Rimayanti, Ms. 

Dewi Ratih Naim, and Ms. Tina Lahur. There 

were three motions for this competition, with 

the first being ‘One’s level of education is 

effective in determining work opportunities’. 

The second motion was ‘Technological 

developments negatively affect the job market’. 

The final motion was an open motion, ‘This 

house would kill men’. The winners for this 

competition were the Monash Uni + RMIT 

team, which received a reward of $400 in cash. 

Main Event 

AIBF 2017 is held with the aim of providing a 

forum and platform to shape future leaders 

so that they can maximize their potential. 

Thus, AIBF 2017 will be held on the 6th of May 

2017 at 271 Collins St (Monash City Campus), 

and will bring in speakers with expertise in 

their fields from Indonesia and Australia. The 

Indonesian Students Association of Monash 

University hopes that by the end of AIBF 2017, 

participating students would be able to find 

ample opportunity in career and business, as 

well as the ability to develop aspirations that 

can have a positive impact on Indonesia. 

The main event of AIBF 2017 will be divided 

into two segments: class seminar and 

networking night. 

The class seminar sessions will include several 

smaller classroom sessions that are focused on 

specific topics where participants can choose 

based on their interests. This will culminate 

into the final session, where the smaller 

workshops will be combined into one large 

seminar class. The main objective of these 

class seminars is to facilitate the participants’ 

opportunity to learn as much as possible from 

the guest speakers who will be sharing their 

experiences. 

ISA of Monash University believes that the 

class seminar format will be effective in 

meeting the individual needs and interests of 

the participants. We believe that through this 

seminar, the participants will be inspired to 

create new ideas & innovations to be leaders in 

the future. 

The Networking night segment will be held 

directly after the class seminar sessions. 

Participants are encouraged to interact and 

engage in direct discussion with the speakers. 

Furthermore, Dinner and refreshments will 

also be provided for all participants during this 

segment. 

This year, AIBF 2017 will bring esteemed guest 

speakers such as Sofyan Djalil (Ministry of 

Land Affairs and Spatial Planning & Former 

Ministry of Finance), Tom Quinn (CEO 

of Future Business Council), Adam Stone 

(Founder & CEO of Speedlancer), Shishir 

Pandit (Chair & Director of Global Consulting 

Group), Christy Tania (Executive Head Pastry 

Chef at The Langham Melbourne), and many 

more. AIBF 2017 is aimed to give participants 

ample opportunity in other fields beyond 

business. Generally, AIBF 2017 will provide 

positive outcomes in terms of creating 

opportunity and courage in accordance to the 

theme of this year’s event. Furthermore, we 

also hope that every opinion and argument 

that will be brought forth, can be applied to 

real world situations for each participant.


edition three 

lot’s wife 

the political battlefield: 

sloganeering and 

policy proposals 

article by alex niehof 

artwork by john henry 

One of the clearest signs of political success and skill is 

the ability to argue and persuade; convince others that 

your plan is the best; that it will do the most good, or the 

least harm. Our evaluations of politicians manifest through 

our vote at the ballot box, and slogans play a significant 

part in forming our political views. 

The 2013 federal election will always be remembered for 

the many slogans that were regularly thrown around. “Stop 

the boats”, “stop the waste,” “repay the debt,” “lifters and 

leaners” and “scrap the tax” are all phrases imprinted in 

everyone’s mind. More recently we had “jobs and growth” 

from the Liberal-National Coalition and “save medicare” 

from the Australian Labor Party. A lot of these slogans 

were wildly successful – the Coalition won the 2013 with 

a massive majority and held on to form government in 

2016. Conversely, the ALP managed to almost return to 

government via the success of their slogans. 

But are the slogans truly persuasive, or is it just one policy 

idea being accepted by a larger portion of the public than 

the other? The answer to this can be seen in the change in 

perception and popularity of a government post-election, 

once the sloganeering and campaigning ends. To this end, 

we’ve often seen a dramatic fall in support; the Coalition 

poll numbers plummeted after both the 2013 and 2016 

federal elections. This trend is also evident in the recent US 

election – Trump’s popularity has nosedived since he came 

into office. In each case the decline in popularity coincides 

with the public’s realisation of what a party intends to do 

in office. 

Elections are won on the way an argument 

is presented, as opposed to the argument 

itself. In other words, spin works. But are 

some arguments, some ideologies, easier to 

argue than others? 

The higher prevalence and nature of slogans amongst 

conservative parties provides some insight. Not only are 

they much more prevalent amongst the right wing – in 

recent history there have only been two memorable ALP 

slogans, “Kevin07” and “Save Medicare” as opposed to 

countless LNP slogans – but they’re also more policy 

driven. In the recent US election Republican nominees used 

countless slogans such as “drain the swap,” “make America 

great again” and “build the wall,” most of which declared 

policy proposals. This is in stark contrast to Clinton’s 

“I’m with her,” which, like the Kevin07 slogan, was simply 

personality based. A question we must ask is: why does one 

political ideology have such different slogans to the other, 

and is one inherently better than the other? 

The answer lies in the variation of the complexities of 

political stances, arguments and beliefs. Consider the two 

major parties and their policies on asylum seekers. The 

Coalition’s argument is a simple “no boats”. There aren’t any 

exceptions, any limitations or any variations. When this 

policy is presented to the public, the Coalition only repeats 

the same words: “stop the boats.” Although, we are never 

given an explanation as to how this can be achieved beyond 

turning back the boats... 

They simply believe in preventing anyone who comes to 

Australia by boat from settling in Australia. Simple policy, 

even simpler slogan. Then there’s Labor’s policy. It’s a 

rather elaborate plan,including increasing funding to the 

UNHCR, increasing the humanitarian intake, speeding up 

processing of refugees, and abolishing temporary protection 

visas, amongst other measures. Try putting that one in one 

sentence, let alone a three-word slogan. The ALP could 

simply say they’re for a more humanitarian approach to 

refugees, but that doesn’t tell anyone much about what 

they will do. Nor does it inspire much of an emotional 

response. 

>>

The recent shift in mainstream right-wing parties to 

a much more extreme stance, away from centre-right 

ideology, has been widely discussed in both Australian and 

American politics. And this shift in stance has resulted in a 

shift in the method of argument and persuasion. But why 

has this been so successful? 

A lot of it comes down to emotions. People are emotional 

creatures, as we’re so often told. And emotion is most 

acutely felt regarding personal events and matters. It’s why 

people care infinitely more about a family member dying 

than a massacre overseas, despite the latter being a much 

larger tragedy. 

The same principle applies with politics. The ‘stop the boats’ 

argument played on the fear of refugees and the supposed 

links to terrorism and an attack on the Australian ‘way 

of life’. This fear was the same thing that resulted in the 

tolerance, and sometimes celebration, of Trump’s ban on 

Muslims and border wall policy, despite the complete lack 

of evidence that it would preserve security and the integrity 

of American culture. 

The most effective and simple way to present the arguments 

of truly centrist parties is for them to be headed by leaders 

that are great orators. They must have a strong ability to 

explain complex, nuanced ideas in a simple way that ensures 

that their benefits are easily understood and accepted. In the 

past, we had Keating from the left of centre and Fraser from 

the right of centre. Both took truly centrist stances, and both 

were popular. It has been done and it can be done again. And 

it’s incredibly important that these sorts of leaders return. 

Centrist politics is important for any nation. Extreme views 

are often formed without a basis in fact, are emotional 

and are detached from reality – often just like the leaders 

of parties who propose them. These views are reactionary, 

populist and inherently short term. All that’s needed is a 

leader who can express rational ideas to the public. Maybe by 

then we’ll finally see the death of the slogans like ‘jobs and 

growth’. 

Centrist arguments are much more nuanced and subtle. 

The aforementioned ALP refugee policy appeals to logic 

and reason; to putting emotions aside and considering a 

balanced policy proposals. 

This trend is evident in many other policy areas. The 

Coalition in 2016 campaigned by accusing Labor’s housing 

affordability policy of increasing taxes and taking money 

away from ‘mum and dad’ investors. The possibility of a 

party taking money from you naturally evokes a negative 

emotional response. 

This is in contrast to the ALP’s housing affordability policy. 

Their policy removes negative gearing for new investors of 

existing housing which will theoretically decrease demand 

for existing housing, thus slowing the rate of growth and 

improving affordability. Much more complex, much more 

logical and fact based, and much, much less emotional. 

Whilst campaigning for the 2016 election I heard countless 

voters express their fear that they’d lose their ability to 

invest. Clearly the emotional attack works. 

The absolutist arguments of non-centrist parties and their 

associated ease of persuasion exists in left wing parties as 

well. The Greens have made significant ground in recent 

years in the cosmopolitan capital city centres through 

their progressive absolutist stances. The proposal to abolish 

detention centres, as well as an immediate move to 100% 

renewable energy won a lot of votes for the party in recent 

state and federal elections. Again, emotional, ideological 

stances trump rational centrist arguments. 

So what can be done to improve the attractiveness and 

effectiveness of the centrist argument? Can anything be 

done? One obvious solution is to stick to what works, 

to go on the emotional argument. This is what the ALP 

did in 2016 with their ‘save medicare’ campaign. Simple. 

Emotional. Effective. However, this type of argument is 

only useful in opposition, once you’re in power people 

want solutions and fixes. Look what happened to the 

Coalition in 2014 when they couldn’t pull off the impossible 

combination of cutting taxes, not cutting spending and 

cutting debt. 

Another solution is to simply wait for the extremist parties 

to implode. Think One Nation’s self-destruction 20 years 

ago, and even right now. But this strategy isn’t guaranteed 

to be successful and it also takes time. 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

the dutch general 

election of 2017 

article by nick novicki 

artwork by angharad neal-williams 

On 15 March 2017 general elections were 

held in The Netherlands to elect the 150 

members of the House of Representatives. 

These elections have been interesting in many 

ways. The turnout was around 82%, which is 

the highest turnout since 1986, and a record 

number of 28 parties have participated. Also, 

the now outgoing government has served 

a full term, which has not occurred since 

2002. Furthermore, many people feared that, 

after the unexpected results of the Brexit 

referendum and the US presidential elections, 

The Netherlands would follow in the wake of 

the widespread right-wing populism in Europe. 

For a long time, the right-wing populist, anti- 

Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) was leading in 

the pre-election polls. 

Election results 

However, PVV did not win the elections. Its 

huge lead in the pre-election polls gradually 

crumbled and eventually, the conservativeliberal 

People’s Party for Freedom and 

Democracy (VVD) won the elections with 33 

seats. VVD has held the most seats since the 

general elections of 2010. PVV holds the second 

most seats (20), followed by the centre-right 

Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the 

social-liberal, progressive centrists Democrats 

66 (D66), both with 19 seats; the Socialist 

Party (SP) and the green liberal, centre-left 

progressive GreenLeft (GroenLinks) with 14 

seats. GreenLeft has achieved its largest victory 

in history. 

Then comes the Labour Party (PvdA), which 

suffered its biggest defeat in history. They 

ended up with not more than 9 seats, which 

is 29 seats less than in 2012. A popular reason 

for this defeat is that PvdA were punished for 

the outgoing government’s severe austerity 

policy, which it was a part of. The policy, 

characterised by huge cuts to health care, 

public service, the arts and culture sector, 

defence and immigration policy, was a result 

of the protracted economic recession in The 

Netherlands. It has been viewed by left-wing 

voters as counter to working-class values. 

After the elections, The Netherlands was 

flooded with euphoric coverage by Western 

media. Right-wing populism had supposedly 

been defeated in The Netherlands. However, 

the media was wrong. Right-wing populism 

has not been defeated at all. In fact, it is one 

of the winners of these elections. Compared to 

the previous elections, PVV has gained 5 seats. 

Although they most likely will not become 

part of the coalition government, it still is the 

second largest party. Furthermore, PVV could 

become the largest opposition party. In other 

words, they could significantly influence the 

political decision-making process. 

Formation of the government 

VVD’s victory means that they have the right 

to form a new government. The formation 

is usually a complex and time-consuming 

process. During the elections, VVD showed 

interest in collaborating with CDA and D66. 

After all, these parties share a common vision 

on important matters like economic affairs. 

Also, CDA and D66 have often voted in favour 

of VVD’s severe austerity measures during 

the previous government’s term. Furthermore, 

the three parties would need only one more 

party in order to obtain an absolute majority 

in both House of Representatives and Senate. 

Particularly in this respect, the formation is 

rather interesting. 

In my view, there are two parties most likely to 

join a coalition with the three aforementioned 

parties. The first is GreenLeft. Although not 

all three parties are equally content with the 

possibility of GreenLeft as a coalition partner, 

there are ongoing negotiations with them 

right now. D66 would be more than happy to 

have GreenLeft joining the coalition, because 

they support progressive policy in the area of 

sustainable energy, climate change and the 

EU. VVD and CDA however, would not be so 

pleased to collaborate with them, because of 

the significant differences on major issues like 

climate change. 

The second party, one I have not mentioned 

yet, is the Christian democratic, socialconservative 

Christian Union. They would be 

warmly welcomed by VVD and CDA, because 

it would benefit their pursuit of centre-right 

policy. To D66 however, it would be an eyesore. 

D66’s progressive view on issues like drug 

policy, prostitution, gay marriage, abortion 

and euthanasia is diametrically opposed to 

Christian Union’s conservative view on those 

issues. Furthermore, Christian Union does not 

have enough seats to put pressure on VVD and 

CDA in order to support D66. 

Ultimately, it seems likely that Christian Union 

will become part of the coalition government. 

After all, they would benefit VVD and CDA 

more than GreenLeft would. However, in my 

opinion VVD finds itself in quite a dilemma. 

Although VVD and GreenLeft have many 

major differences that need to be bridged 

in order to form a government, it could be 

beneficial for VVD to accept GreenLeft. 

First of all, VVD would satisfy both D66 

and the many young voters that want to 

see things change. Furthermore, if VVD 

can make compromises with GreenLeft on 

a few major issues like climate change and 

sustainable energy, they can still implement a 

predominantly centre-right policy and satisfy 

their own constituency as well. This might 

reduce the risk of an unstable government and 

the risk of losing votes next elections. 

On the other hand, VVD leader Mark Rutte 

will have to deal with CDA and an influential 

conservative constituency within his own 

party. Both will not tolerate a coalition in 

which the influence of the centre-right parties 

could be impaired. Both GreenLeft and D66 

may hamper VVD’s and CDA’s intended centreright 

policy. 

VVD, CDA and D66 will likely form the next 

government. They are expected to be joined 

by either GreenLeft or Christian Union. At the 

present day, there are ongoing negotiations 

with GreenLeft, but it is far from certain 

whether those negotiations will result in a 

coalition agreement. The promptness of the 

formation depends largely on VVD’s readiness 

to make the decision. Will they accept 

Christian Union, so that they can implement 

a centre-right policy? Or will they face the 

challenge by accepting GreenLeft, which might 

impair the pursuit of a centre-right policy, but 

also benefit the government’s stability and 

VVD’s position in light of the next elections? 

As long as VVD does not make that choice, we 

will be kept in suspense.

science/engineering 


32-33

edition three 

lot’s wife 

what’s the matter 

with dark matter? 

article by austin luke 

artwork by jesse thomas 

Hang on, didn’t we read this article last time? 

No, last edition we learnt about the latest 

on anti-matter. Today, we’ll be exploring the 

intricacies of dark matter. 

To comprehend the concept of dark matter, 

one must first understand what matter is. 

Matter is anything that occupies space and 

has mass. Generally, to us, matter is made up of 

atoms. So what about dark matter then? 

In the early 1930s, Fitz Zwicky, an astronomer 

from the California Institute of Technology, 

discovered the gravitational effects of dark 

matter while studying the movement of 

galaxies in the Coma Cluster, a cluster of about 

1000 galaxies. Using Newton’s law of universal 

gravitation (a law that states that an object 

with greater mass will have greater gravity) 

and the virial theorem (an equation that 

relates the velocity of orbiting objects to the 

amount of gravitational force acting on them), 

Zwicky was able to calculate the total mass 

of the Coma Cluster by measuring galactic 

velocities. 

Zwicky also calculated the mass of visible 

matter in the Coma Cluster by measuring the 

amount of light emitted by the stars in its 

galaxies. He found that the mass derived from 

visible matter was significantly less than the 

previously calculated total mass. Considering 

the fact that gravity bends light, he further 

observed that light would ‘bend’ in places 

where there was no visible matter (hence no 

gravity) to ‘bend’ the light in the first place. 

These observations led Zwicky to coin the term 

‘dark matter’ to describe the missing (invisible) 

matter. 

Later measurements of individual galaxies 

also showed that there just wasn’t enough 

‘visible mass (stuff)’ in galaxies to produce 

the gravitational force required to hold them 

together. This again pointed to the existence of 

dark matter. 

Currently, the best evidence of dark matter 

comes from the measurement of cosmic 

microwave background. This is the radiation 

left over from the time of recombination in 

the Big Bang Theory, when the first hydrogen 

atoms started forming from electrons and 

protons. Simulations of the Big Bang and 

galaxy formation showed that without the 

extra mass of dark matter, galaxies and their 

constituents would have drift apart due to 

the lack of gravity (which we have learnt is 

proportional to mass). 

So what is dark matter composed of? 

The truth is, we don’t know. But the principle 

of supersymmetry (SUSY for short) might be 

able to help. 

To start, supersymmetry is a conjectured 

symmetry of space and time that relates two 

basic classes of particles which were previously 

thought to be unrelated. These particles are 

fermions (particles that make-up matter such 

as electrons and quarks) and bosons (particles 

that carry force such as photons and gluons). 

For a long time, fermions and bosons were 

considered to be two separate entities, each 

described by separate equations, the Fermi- 

Dirac statistics and Bose-Einstein statistics 

respectively. As such, we could only explain 

the relationship between particles of the 

same class, electrons and quarks, and photons 

and gluons, but not electrons and photons or 

quarks and gluons. 

But what if we had a single equation that 

could describe the behaviour of both fermions 

and bosons? And what if there was a single 

equation that could relate their individual 

behaviours? What then? 

There are two classes of particles: fermions 

and bosons. Within the fermions there are 

electrons (sub-atomic particles with a negative 

charge), and quarks (sub-atomic particles with 

a fractional charge and act as the building 

blocks for protons and neutrons). Within 

the bosons there are photons (particles that 

represent a quantum (portion) of light) and 

gluons (massless sub-atomic particle believed 

to bind quarks together). 

The black arrows describe the relationship 

between the constituents of each class 

(fermions and bosons) only. The addition of 

red arrows (supersymmetry) creates a new 

relationship that links electrons with photons 

and quarks with gluons, creating a relationship 

that binds matter to force. 

It was proven mathematically in the 1960s that 

supersymmetry was the only symmetry that 

could be added to the existing symmetries 

of Einstein’s theory without resulting in 

equations that may be inconsistent with our 

current world. 

So when supersymmetry is implemented 

into current equations a whole range of new 

particles will be predicted – particles which 

cannot be seen normally and will either be very 

heavy (hence degrade rapidly) or interact with 

matter abnormally. However, new particles like 

axions will have to materialise in the Large 

Hadron Collider (LHC) first. Once they do, we’ll 

be able to see if dark matter is composed of any 

of these unseen particles. 

Are fireworks going off in your head yet? How 

about one more dose? 

During the early 2000s scientists discovered 

that the expansion of the universe was neither 

constant nor decelerating but accelerating. 

Adam Reiss along with Saul Perlmutter and 

Brian P Schimdt were awarded the 2011 Nobel 

Prize in Physics for providing evidence of the 

accelerating expansion of the universe. This 

advancement was priceless to other scientists 

studying the outer reaches of space. 

Since the expansion of the universe is 

accelerating, scientists logically came to two 

possible conclusions: either gravity behaves 

differently in outer space or some kind of 

unknown energy is propelling this acceleration. 

Most scientists found the latter to be more 

plausible. They called this energy ‘dark energy’. 

According to NASA, 68% of the entire 

universe is dark energy, 27% is dark matter 

and everything we perceive as normal matter, 

including everything observed by our scientific 

instruments, accounts for a measly 5%. 

So for the record: we more or less know what 

matter is, and once supersymmetry is put to 

use we can understand dark matter. That only 

leaves us in the dark for the other 68% of the 

universe occupied by dark energy.

human centred design: a 

socially responsible approach 

to engineering consulting 

article by cameron inglis 

As I got off my plane and hit the dusty streets of Bangalore, I can’t 

say that I knew what to expect from the weeks ahead. The bumpy taxi 

ride to my hotel however, through a city alive with bustling streets full 

of cows and other honking traffic, gave me a brisk introduction to the 

Indian lifestyle. 

I found myself in India earlier this year, after travelling to attend a 

2-week long Humanitarian Design Summit run by Engineers Without 

Borders (EWB) Australia. By nightfall I was at the city’s busiest train 

station, where for the first time I could meet the other students 

attending the Summit with me. There were more than 40 of us, from 

universities all across Australia, trickling into the station wide-eyed and 

bleary from the many hours spent in transit. Together we then endured 

a rickety 12-hour train ride, sleeping on bunk beds through the night 

until we reached our destination in the town of Hubballi, Karnataka. 

This was where our Design Summit officially began. 

We spent the first couple of days exploring the town and adjusting 

to the local cuisine (and its effects on our digestive systems). Whilst 

Hubballi is considered one of the ‘smaller’ cities in India, it is home to 

nearly one million people – roughly a quarter of Melbourne’s population 

in an area one-tenth its size. Here EWB introduced us to the principles 

of Human-Centred Design and Appropriate Technology. 

Typically, when engineers are faced with a design task, they are 

hardwired to use an old, conventional approach – to look for what 

problems exist, and then to see what needs fixing. In contrast, the 

Human-Centred model encourages engineers to focus instead on the 

strengths of a community first, to allow existing opportunities for 

development to be identified and further built upon through their 

designs. Additionally, Appropriate Technology aims to use locally 

sourced materials to create practical, low-cost design solutions for 

communities. 

To practise using these methods, we were sent out in groups around 

Hubballi to discover how local people went about their daily lives, and 

use that information to create simple designs which catered to their 

lifestyles. While this sounded easy, we soon found it was far more 

difficult than we’d imagined. Some locals told us there was no need for a 

design, or that they preferred to use other methods to achieve the same 

function, promptly dismissing many of our ideas. It became clear to us 

that one day of merely observing their community was not enough – we 

would need to consult with locals further if we wanted to present them 

with good designs. 

Modern approaches like the Human-Centred model can help to counter 

some of the issues that emerge from traditional design methods, where 

well-intentioned programs can end up doing more harm than good to a 

community. Negative effects can often arise within the “voluntourism” 

industry where programs often attract volunteers looking to undertake 

meaningful work whilst travelling abroad. Despite their goodwill, such 

programs can inadvertently take jobs away from locals as volunteers end 

up doing the same work for free. 

photograph by cameron inglis 

There is also the risk that a program identifies an issue – such as the 

fact that a village has no water supply – and invests in building a topnotch 

water pump before packing up and leaving. Yet later, when the 

pump inevitably needs maintenance, there may be no locals with the 

specialised knowledge or tools to fix the technology. Or, locals might 

discover that their pump drains water out of a local river, which causes 

villages downstream to have problems watering their crops. These 

are the types of problems which can result from a failure to properly 

consult with communities and consider the long-term consequences of 

a project. 

In the next phase of the Summit, our group moved on to our homestay 

in the small quaint village of Nivaje, with a population of only around 

1,000 people. We were welcomed into the village with open arms and 

swiftly became immersed in the locals’ way of life; working the fields 

by day; eating meals cross-legged on the ground, and sleeping on hard 

concrete floors by night. 

The more time we spent amongst the locals, the more we were 

astonished by how tight-knit and resourceful their community was 

– they even had biogas chambers throughout the village. These large 

concrete chambers were being installed next to villagers’ houses, to 

allow locals to cook with the methane gas produced by cow manure as a 

cleaner, a more sustainable alternative to using conventional wood-fired 

stoves. The villagers were almost entirely self-sufficient too, growing all 

of the food and materials they needed to sustain themselves on their 

own land, and throughout our stay, we were shown how they practised 

rice farming and made their living – knowledge we could use to further 

improve our design concepts. 

As the Human-Centred model encourages volunteers to empathise with 

locals first, and gain a proper understanding of how their community 

operates before designing anything, we aimed to avoid many of the 

problems associated with ‘voluntourism’. We used the model to focus 

our time on asking the locals questions, including what aspects of each 

design they liked, what they felt could be improved, and whether they 

would use it in their day-to-day lives. 

After five incredible days in Nivaje our time ended with an emotional 

farewell ceremony, and we moved on to the larger town of Sawantwadi 

where we spent the last phase of the Summit finalising our prototypes. 

After presenting them back to our community leaders on the final day, 

we were pleased to find that they were mostly surprised and thrilled by 

our ideas. 

Through the Design Summit, I learned an awful lot about rural 

Indian communities and their way of life. I was provided with great 

insights into the different approaches that exist towards community 

development, and how collaborative design has the real potential to 

benefit engineering and many other professions alike. 

The locals’ kindness and hospitality towards visitors like myself 

allowed me to experience the vibrancy of Indian culture firsthand, and 

I certainly believe that the Design Summits run by EWB continue to 

provide students with a fantastic opportunity to learn and make great 

contributions toward disadvantaged communities across India, Nepal 

and Cambodia. 

photograph by lisa cheeseman 


34-35

edition three 

lot’s wife 

Test Your Inner 

Science Nerd 

Test Your Inner Science Nerd 

crossword by austin luke 

For solutions with more than one word, ignore spaces 

1 

2 3 

4 5 

6 

7 8 9 

10 11 

12 

13 14 

15 

16 17 18 

20 

19 

21 

Created with TheTeachersCorner.net Crossword Puzzle Generator 

*for solutions with more than one word, ignore spaces 

Across 

1. Force per unit area 

2. Scientific terminology for a first-year student 

4. Auroras in the southern hemisphere are known as Aurora _____ 

5. The protein found in horns, shells, feathers and beaks 

6. Geological feature formed between divergent oceanic boundaries 

8. What part of the brain controls body temperature, hunger, thirst 

and sleep 

10. What is the tenth digit of pi (starting from the first digit after 

the decimal point) 

11. Most stomach ulcers are caused by a(n) _____ 

15. There are 14 possible _____ crystal lattice structures in threedimensional 

space 

17. Plants ‘breathe’ through tiny openings in the leaves called _____ 

19. The first (non-human) animal to orbit the Earth 

Down 

3. A representation of 'Electroactive Shape Memory Polymers' in 

Batman Begins (2005) was in the form of a(n) _____ cloth cape 

7. What fast food did the nuclear physicist order for lunch? 

9. The symbol for the gas constant 8.31J/mol/K is _____ 

12. If you feel desire for your mother and jealousy and anger toward 

your father 

you have a(n) _____ complex 

13. The father of genetics is Gregor ______ 

14 . The proton counterpart in anti-matter 

16. A permanent deformation due to stress is also known as _____ 

deformation 

18. Scientist, engineer and father to Icarus in Greek mythology 

20. The most common element in the Earth’s continental crust 

21. The most slippery substance in the world which is used to make 

non-stick pans 

1. stress, 2. jaffy, 3. memory, 4. australis, 5. keratin, 6. midoceanridges, 7. fissionchips, 8. hypothalamus, 9. r, 10. five, 11. bacterium, 

12. oedipal, 13. mendel, 14. antiproton, 15. bravais, 16. plastic, 17. stomata, 18. daedalus, 19. dog, 20. silicon, 21. teflon.

dramathematicians: 

historic figures in the 

mathematical sciences 

article by rachael welling 

artwork by julia thouas 

Mathematicians have been handed the short end of the stick in 

history. Isaac Newton battled mental illness his entire life, Galileo 

Galilei was persecuted by the Church and spent his final days under 

house arrest, and Albert Einstein, who by all accounts led a perfectly 

pleasant life, is primarily remembered as a physicist. But through the 

years there have been more than a couple bad-ass m’fuckers in the 

mathematical sciences, reminding us all that scribbling away at proofs, 

and hemming and hawing in front of a blackboard can make for a very 

dramatic – and inspirational pursuit. 

Having too much fun: Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) 

Brahe was a Danish nobleman and scientist so well connected that 

he was, at one point, best mates with or related to every single person 

in the entire government of Denmark. A larger than life figure, his 

eccentricities didn’t stop there. As a precocious youth, 19 year old Brahe 

replaced his nose with a brass prosthetic after losing it in a duel over 

the validity of a mathematical formula. He also owned a pet elk, Brahe’s 

frequent stand-in at social engagements, who later died after drunkenly 

falling down the stairs. Not unlike his elk, at 55, Brahe himself died of 

a burst bladder from partying so hard he refused to leave the banquet 

table to relieve himself. While Brahe was an astronomer at heart, his 

dedication to consistent and accurate measurements and observations 

helped pave the way for the Scientific Revolution of the 17th Century. 

Predicting the future: Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852) 

Patron of the arts, a countess and a... programmer? From humble 

beginnings teaching mathematics as a very 19th century attempt to 

ward against her father’s ‘amoral tendencies’, Ada Lovelace is now 

credited with the basis for modern computers. In 1842, she was invited 

to translate a paper on computational engines from Italian to English. 

She upstaged the paper all-together with the appendices she wrote to 

clarify its convoluted mathematics. The algorithm in these appendices is 

now considered the first example of a computer program. Where other 

mathematicians saw no application for computers, Lovelace recognised 

that computation engines could go beyond number crunching, and 

be extended into programs that could write music, design patterns 

and transfer information. Ada Lovelace saw what no one else in the 

mathematical establishment of the time could see, and preempted the 

rise of modern computers almost 150 years in advance. 

Making herself known: Katherine Johnson (1918 - present) 

Perhaps the only name you may recognise, Katherine Johnson is an 

African-American mathematician and astrophysicist known for her 

invaluable contributions to NASA. Beginning in the 1950s, Johnson was 

initially hired as a ‘computer’ in a pool of woman labelled ‘Coloured 

Computers’. Johnston then worked her way up through NASA’s flight 

engineering department to become one of the most respected and 

reliable mathematicians at the agency. At a time when women, and 

especially black women, were barred from key planning meetings and 

left uncredited on reports, Johnson broke both of these barriers. She 

was unrelenting in her assertion that she belonged and was more than 

capable of the work. During her career, her calculations were not only 

responsible for determining the flight trajectories of key NASA missions, 

the first full Earth orbit and the Apollo 11 Moon landing, but they also 

ensured the safe return of the crew in the Apollo 13 crisis. Awarded the 

Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, and now recognised in major 

film Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson rose out of relative obscurity 

to become one of the most well-known mathematicians in the United 

States. 

Going to war with Mathematics: Alex Grothendieck (1928 - 2014) 

Starting his Dramathematician career young, a 12-year-old Alexander 

Grothendieck broke out of the Nazi internment camp, where he 

and his family were being held, with the express purpose of “killing 

Hitler”. After a tumultuous youth spent sheltered in the French 

countryside, Grothendieck suddenly grew to prominence among 

French mathematicians for his unmatched ability to revolutionise 

new mathematical concepts. An activist at heart, Grothendieck held 

an uncompromising anti-war stance which would inform his years to 

come. He refused a position at Harvard University because he would not 

pledge his allegiance to the United States Government; he gave seminars 

in the forests surrounding Hanoi to protest the Vietnam War, while the 

city was being bombed; and in 1970, he left the French mathematical 

school which was founded almost entirely for his work, when he 

discovered that it was funded in part by the military. While he died in 

relative obscurity in south-west France, Grothendieck’s passion for both 

his profession and his politics have led him to be remembered as one of 

the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century. 

Living for nothing else: Paul Erdős (1913 - 1996) 

Taking the phrase “suffering for your art” to the extreme, Hungarian 

mathematician Paul Erdős was so dedicated to mathematics that he 

eschewed Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs all-together and never bothered 

with friendships, marriage or a permanent place of residence. Yep, Erdős 

lived most of his life homeless, effectively couch-surfing from one 

prominent mathematician’s house to another, and penniless, donating 

the majority of his earnings not spent on travel to charity. However, 

Erdős’ love for mathematics bordered on single-minded obsession. 

He was known to frequently abandon conversations about nonmathematical 

subjects, and would apparently fall asleep at parties where 

mathematics was not the topic of conversation. But despite (or perhaps 

because of) this self-imposed vagabond lifestyle, Erdős published 

1,500 mathematical papers during his lifetime. As a testament to his 

dedication, this figure has yet to be surpassed. 

science/engineering 36-37

edition three 

lot’s wife 

Science News 

Science/Engineering Sub-Editor Team 

The end of aging in mammals may be 

imminent 

A paper published in the peer reviewed 

journal Cell may hold some answers to the 

questions of aging and whether it is possible 

to halt the aging process. Cellular senescence 

is the process by which cells within an 

organism age and decrease in function. 

The study explored ways of returning 

homeostasis to a mouse by preventing the 

ability of certain cells to age and forcing the 

body to produce new, healthy cells. They 

found that several qualities, such as fitness, 

fur and renal function were restored to 

healthy levels. 

Therapeutic possibilities of this new 

technology may be possible in the future and 

may have the potential to restore homeostasis 

in human tissue. 

Source: Cell 

Need a new heart? Try spinach! 

IN an upcoming paper to be published in 

the research journal Biomaterials, researchers 

detail how they were able to take plant tissue 

and use it to grow animal tissue. 

The challenge of manufacturing complex 

human tissue has always been at the 

forefront of bioengineering – in the paper, 

scientists detail how, through exploiting the 

similarities between plant vascularity and 

animal vascularity, they were able to use 

the already-existing scaffolding of the plant 

tissue to build animal tissue. 

The potential applications of this research 

are far and wide within tissue engineering and 

could provide cheaper, more environmental 

technology for tissue regeneration. 

Source: Biomaterials 

MIT Advances Super-Solid 

Technology 

A new state of matter known as a super solid 

has been created in an incredible display of 

current physics. The experiment, performed 

by researchers at the world renowned MIT, 

used lasers to force the well-understood Bose- 

Einstein condensate into this new state. 

This super-solid state holds features of 

both a superfluid and a rigid structure – like 

a solid. The superfluid characteristic of zeroviscosity 

(no self-stickiness) combined with 

the properties of a solid, could be the key 

to a more sophisticated understanding of 

superconductivity and other forms of energy 

transport. 

Source: MIT 

Ebola be gone! 

THERE may finally be an end to orallycommunicated 

Ebola for chimps with a new 

vaccine, as discussed in a biological paper 

published in Nature. 

The Ebola virus outbreak of 2014 saw 

widespread fear and panic of the deadly 

pathogen, but has since subsided and it has 

been contained. The general public, however, 

may not be aware that over one third of the 

world’s gorillas and chimpanzees fell victim 

to the virus. 

A new vaccine that would be administered 

orally may prevent future wildlife fatalities 

due to the disease, scientists say. 

Source: Nature 

The smell of rain may be more 

malevolent than you thought 

THE familiar scent of petrichor could be 

due to airborne bacteria and bio-aerosols, as 

explored in a new study published by Nature. 

This study also explores the possibility that 

this spreading of bacteria via rain could be 

the previously unknown mechanism behind 

microbe transfer to the atmosphere. 

The mechanism is thought to follow from 

small bubbles present in the rain causing 

the organisms to disperse upon rain impact. 

This study and the experimental methods 

developed during it will better enhance 

future study of bacterial transfer through soil 

systems. 

Source: Nature 

Find out your blood type in 2 minutes 

or your money back! 

PREVIOUSLY, it has been a difficult process 

to perform a quick and timely analysis of a 

patient’s blood type. With a newly developed 

assay, by the Third Military Medical 

University in China, doctors will be able to 

tell the blood type of a sample when needed 

in an emergency. 

By functioning based on the presence 

of specific red-blood cell antigens, the test 

is able to delineate between A, B and the 

antigen-lacking O. The test also identifies the 

presence of Rhesus factor (type positive or 

type negative). 

The previous difficulty of identifying 

blood type has caused a dependency on the 

universal giver, O. But with this new test and 

its 99.9 percent accuracy, patients can receive 

their specific blood type. 

Source: Science Translational Medicine 

artwork by maria volobueva

arts/culture 

arts/culture 38-39

edition three 

lot’s wife 

self and sound: 

the music of 

phillip wilcher 

article by samuel bugeja 

artwork by jessica macgregor 

Phillip Wilcher is one of Australia’s most industrious composers. His 

music, which includes over 100 works for solo piano, 60 songs, string 

quartets and solo pieces for flute, oboe and other instruments, draws on 

an eclectic range of cultures, images and emotions. It has the ability not 

only to transport the listener to places as diverse as, in pianist Jeanell 

Carrigan’s words: “a café in Paris or the top of mountain in Java,” but also, 

Wilcher hopes, to transcend such temporalities and “speak directly to 

one’s condition.” Amongst the variety, however, is a sense of unity – “the 

journey of a life seeking to know itself,” as Wilcher puts it. 

Musically, Wilcher’s influences are similarly expansive and the impact 

of classical composers, particularly J.S. Bach, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, is 

apparent. Even though Wilcher’s work is notable for its exploration of 

the East, through his utilisation of Japanese scales in ‘Haiga’, ‘Arabic in 

The Walls of Ukhaydir’, and ‘Egyptian in Ushabti’, there is never a sense 

of Wilcher compromising his own musical language. Imposing such 

strict rules on a composition from the outset might be construed as 

limiting, such as the Kumoi scale of the ‘Kumoi Prelude’ comprising only 

five tones. But Wilcher embraces this – “know your limitations and you 

can fly anywhere.” 

One senses that he is employing these musical tools to facilitate his final 

aim – to know himself – which solidifies Wilcher as a true individualist. 

“Everything felt second nature,” he said of the exercise. He also 

questions any notion of conformity to trends or labels – to do so “denies 

composers their truer sense of self by way of sound.” Consequently, there 

is an aspect of Wilcher’s music that is free flowing and self-evident. 

Wilcher’s journey began at just 14, when he became the youngest 

published composer in Australia. The piano composition, fittingly 

titled ‘Daybreak’, was printed by J. Albert & Son in 1973. Wilcher went 

on to study with the then-editor of the company, Franz Holford. He 

describes this meeting as one of the most important of his career, as 

it precipitated a professional association that would span seven years. 

What advice would Wilcher give to his younger self, or to any fledgling 

artists? “To seek their own truth.” This pursuit is clearly weaved into 

much of Wilcher’s works – the textures are highly refined, almost barely 

perceptible, as ‘The Likeness of Wind’, or weightless, as ‘A Storm of 

Petals’. Such economy says much of Wilcher and his individuality, which 

is marked by an absorption with music’s core elements. “But for melody, 

where would music be?” he asks. 

Curiously, another predominant feature of Wilcher’s oeuvre is his use of 

silence. In Wilcher’s music, as much can be conveyed in the absence of 

sound as in sound. The prolonged span of silence in his piece Cobwebs 

is more meditative and musing than, for instance, in Arabia, where the 

silence is agitated and restless. “I am a composer who prefers silence 

over sound.” says Wilcher. As much is evident – his music is unified by 

its transparency, forming a window into Wilcher, the man. 

His piano solo, ‘Continual Dew’, clocking in at just a minute and thirty 

seconds, is a fine representation of his skill in shaping sound and 

capacity to hone his craft. This leaves behind a clarity to his message, 

where the listener can linger over every note. It is music in its purest 

form, where nothing needs to be disguised and each individual work 

houses a fully realised, complete world. Wilcher said of ‘Continual Dew’, 

“If a composer can say in a little under a page what Beethoven or Mahler 

said in an entire symphony, who is to say who has written the largescale 

work?” That is not to say, however, that Wilcher’s music is confined 

to form or structure in any way. More sprawling works include layered 

piano suites, with such evocative titles as The Sphinx and the Sycamore 

or The Seven Etchings of Eos and two exciting Rhapsody Sonatas, which 

were distinguished in the Australian Music Teacher Magazine as an 

example of “Lisztian grandeur reborn.” 

So , with such an immersive and encompassing body of work behind 

him, what is the magic that Wilcher finds in music? The act of creation 

itself – when the music unfolds itself to him. “Electric” is how he 

describes that flash. “You are so alive. In that moment, genius happens 

to you.” What about the relationship between composer and performer? 

Wilcher cites the example of ‘Café Bijou’. Initially, Wilcher was 

unconvinced, but on hearing pianist Jeanell Carrigan’s realisation of it, he 

was captivated. “I love that performers can give of themselves to a work 

in such a way to make it their own; that they can even reveal something 

of myself to me I had not previously known; a measure that proves as 

much part of them as it is of me; that we are of each other.” 

The process of composition is also revealing to Wilcher. “Much of the 

music I have written seems to have come about through trying to write 

something else.” he acknowledges. The original idea is a springboard, 

which followed by a period of development and refinement, “way 

leading on to way,” as Wilcher suggests. What is the greatest challenge 

Wilcher finds in this process? “Finishing.” he responds. “Once I've 

started a piece and I am immersed in it, my senses are so heightened 

I do not want to let go of it. Even though I know I could well finish a 

piece within an hour, I will hold off on doing so for several weeks just 

to live ‘in the moment’ of it.” This is characteristic of Wilcher – stillness 

pervades his music, the feeling of being “in the moment” describes 

this very well. Here is another point that singles out Wilcher as a 

unique force and distinguishes his work from the ‘goal directed’ music 

of the past. Wilcher’s music is spacious, vast as well as insular; it is a 

celebration of the present, of the oneness of being – in this sense it 

possesses a universal truth. 

In recent times, Wilcher has turned his attention towards the written 

word. Has this change been jarring? Not so, says Wilcher: “Music and 

words are inextricably linked. Where once I turned to music to compose 

who I was becoming, I now turn to words to write of who I am. I treat 

words as I do music. They have a rhythm and a texture. Composers write; 

writers compose.” No publication bridges this gap more instinctively 

than The Poetry of the Preludes, in which Wilcher interprets the preludes 

of Frédéric Chopin through poetry. Other works include Divinity: A 

dialogue between the self and music at the source and a unique autobiography, 

Thinking Allowed, framed in terms of a “life in conversation with itself”. 

Wilcher’s words are as his music, thoughtful but never contrived, 

sensitive but never overwrought, introspective but never narrow. 

>>

There is one difference Wilcher recognises, though: “It is 

quieter composing words than it is writing music.” 

What does Wilcher hope listeners can glean from his 

work? “More than anything, I hope my ‘body’ of work – for 

better or worse – conveys my humanity; that my belief 

in Love, being the first act of creation means we are here 

to create through Love, is evident.” he replies. Whether 

Wilcher is composing a series of concert études for pianist 

Simon Tedeschi, or a work for oboe and string orchestra 

honouring Mozart’s death, his core belief sets his music 

apart from simply being considered part of the repertoire. 

His deeply personal journey constitutes, in itself, a vital gift 

to the world of music. Wilcher’s response to this concept is 

perhaps the most accurate representation of him: “There is 

no one more surprised than I that my music has received 

the reception it has; that performers have been so willing 

to put their name to my work and afford it some further 

credibility; the credibility of their belief in it. Needless to 

say, I am honoured and humbled by the attention my music 

has been given. But then, what has anyone's art taught 

them if not about humility, where to create is to enter an 

arena larger than self ? When "in the moment", one is also 

at the mercy of moment. That is humbling.” 

A full catalogue of Phillip Wilcher’s work can be obtained from 

the Australian Music Centre’s website and can be found in print or 

sound recording through Wirripang . 

arts/culture 40-41

edition three 

lot’s wife 

before where, 

perhaps what? 

article by nicole willis 

artwork by sian davies 

An inglorious search 

for the lost art of 

poetry disintegrates 

into more questions 

than answers. 

In my favourite bookstore I was recently recommended 

two novels by Ben Lerner, a fairly young yet acclaimed 

novelist, and, to my surprise, poet. Both the protagonists 

of his novels were also poets; young men positively gaunt 

with the prospect that they had, somehow, managed to 

become poets and writers despite being positive they had 

no idea what that entailed. The novels contained short yet 

powerful nuggets of poetry intermingling with prose. It 

was my first interaction with poetry outside of the Beat 

Generation which, from memory, never felt as though it 

held any contemporary relevance. The poems conjured a 

new world which still felt inherently truthful. 

These novels set me to wonder, where did 

poetry go? 

It turns out that the only thing more cliché than writing 

a terrible poem is to write about the declining state 

of “modern poetry”. In my research I blundered almost 

immediately into a 1991 essay by Dana Gioia, ‘Can Poetry 

Matter?’ that mourns the loss of poetry relevant to the 

general public. This article led me to more writing on the 

subject; ‘Is Verse a Dying Technique?” by Edmund Wilson, 

published in 1934, and ‘Who Killed Poetry?’ by Joseph 

Epstein in 1988. 

Plato argued in favour of banning poets from the Ancient 

Athens on the grounds that poets possessed no knowledge 

of truth. In 2013 Harper’s Magazine published Mark 

Edmundson's critique, ‘Poetry Slam Or, The decline of 

American verse,’ where he accused modern American poets 

of being “too hermetic even to overhear with anything like 

comprehension”. 

So, what have poets done, or not done, to encourage such 

a wholesale attack the length and breadth of society? I 

actually happen, fortuitously, to be good friends with a man 

known for scribbling down the occasional poem. I invited 

Lewis, my friend, English teacher and part time poet, over 

to chat. 

How, I asked, was our generation doing with the whole 

poetry shtick? In summary, he replied, we weren’t. “Our 

generation generally doesn’t really interact with poetry 

at all, unless you consider things like hip hop or the one 

Shakespeare play they read in high school.” 

But, I countered, this may not be entirely our own fault. It 

may be, as our generation is overly fond of pointing out, 

the fault of those that came before us. Maybe the previous 

generation just wrote terrible poetry? 

>>

“Look, maybe poetry is crap and maybe poetry has nothing 

to offer. Maybe a lot of people are well within their rights 

to disregard it, but I don’t think it’s fair to make that 

assumption, because the majority of people these days are 

not initiated into how to do poetry.” 

Perhaps one of the reasons that it is so easy to dismiss 

poetry is that it is hard. It is not something that comes 

naturally, as does reading a story, or listening to a song. It 

takes time, and studiousness, to reach any level of proper 

understanding. I had not gripped just how difficult poetry 

was, I think, until my poet friend said to me: 

It is hard to define, to read, and most of all, immensely 

difficult to write. “To write great poems takes a lifetime, 

you either need to be possessed by something that may 

be defined as genius or you need to develop that craft for 

years and years and years” he ventured. “Just because you 

can speak English and understand other people speaking 

English doesn’t mean you can understand poetry, doesn’t 

mean you can write poetry.” 

Creative writing is currently being axed from the VCE 

curriculum, so it doesn’t look like things are going to 

improve in terms of giving poetry a wider audience in the 

future. But could poetry be made relevant again? Could the 

current protest movements springing up around the world 

have a use for this art form that has been used to challenge 

political ideas for the last century? 

“You look at poets like Milton, or Gill Scott Herron, these 

artists were all very relevant in their time… they were also 

very politically motivated people and that relevance that 

their art had to the world at large would have impacted 

upon their success. Whether or not that could really be 

achieved in this day and age is tricky, because …. you need 

something new, and something that might be considered 

abstract. It would be tricky for poets to become relevant 

today in such a way, because in order to say something loud 

and proud you would have to forgo the abstract quality 

that the academy currently demands… It has gone to the 

abstract, it has gone to the esoteric.” 

But is it not more important to write poems that will mean 

something to someone, that are capable of translating 

human emotions and desires, rather than merely pursuing 

academic approval? 

“As a poet, I have never made any apologies that my poems 

are about things,” he laughs. “And they’re not often terrible 

subtle… But I do feel that because of that, I do cop criticism 

from the academy.” 

It all reminds me so much of wandering around a modern 

art exhibition, slightly befuddled, wondering when exactly 

the undoubtedly profound meaning of art was going to 

reveal itself to me? Was it all worth it? And for that matter 

was it even really art? 

Ben Lerner, the poet responsible for my piquing my interest 

in this whole mess, wrote an article for The Guardian where 

he suggested a possible answer; 

When we worry about the marginality of poetry, we are 

worrying also about the marginality of creativity in lives – 

ordered, as they are, by economic forces. 

So perhaps when we worry about poetry, we are worrying 

about creativity and art as a whole. In an era of conservative 

governments slashing liberal arts funding, insidious 

marketing schemes made to look like genuine creativity, a 

world in which everybody seems to be shouting and few 

seem to be listening, why should we not be worried about 

the state of real, genuine, human creativity? 

somewhere. It’s not really visible.” 

And does this make you fear that poetry will disappear? I 

asked. “I don’t think it’s going to, it’s just going to become 

a weird little minority interest. Which is strange because if 

you go back in time, it was the only game in town. Poetry 

was the only medium for anything.” 

So why are people always so worried about the state of 

poetry? “People like to worry about things… Poetry isn’t 

popular, it’s as simple as that. To make poetry popular again, 

it’s about making people want it. And how do you do that?” 

The discussion shifted to the problem with the abstract 

demands of the poetry elite (“it’s sterile, and bound for 

nowhere…”). When I mentioned my poet friend’s statement 

about receiving criticism for his poems being about genuine 

things, Groves laughed and responded; 

“It’s utterly insane. The whole history of human poetry… 

it’s about stuff. It’s a weird little cul-de-sac we’ve gotten 

ourselves into. There’s nowhere to go from here, like 

paintings in five shades of black.” 

“Were you here for our previous Vice Chancellor? Vile little 

man. Well he must have friends in publishing because 

Melbourne University published some things of his called 

‘poems’, and these were absurd. It had no content, no form, 

they were kind of brain farts like tweets from Donald 

Trump.” 

I came away from the interview feeling slightly better about 

the chances of poetry (and unable to get the imagery of a 

Trump brain fart out of my head). Peter had such a happy 

and joyous view of language and poetry that it was difficult 

not to feel a glimmer of hope; 

Language is such an intimate possession… Children love to 

play with language. Some people grow up and they kind of 

lose that, but most people don’t. Poetry is about the play 

principle. Poetry as an art is about playing with language. 

There are deep persistent roots there that poetry appeals 

to…Poetry as a political force is incredibly powerful, and 

maybe that is how it will plug into consciousness. Maybe 

Trump could be good for poetry. 

So in the end, I don’t know. I still don’t know where poetry 

is, or even what exactly it is. Even in its own little corner, 

I think poetry will prove to be resilient – at least I hope it 

will be. My own thoughts are apparently of little comfort 

here, so I found some from a much wiser soul for you 

instead; 

“Thoughts” (from Pooh Bear’s House) - A.A.Milne. 

I lay on my chest 

And I thought it best 

To pretend I was having a evening rest; 

I lay on my tum 

And I tried to hum 

But nothing particular seemed to come 

My face was flat 

On the floor, and that 

Is all very well for an acrobat; 

But it doesn't seem fair 

To a Friendly Bear 

To stiffen him out with a backet-chair. 

And sort of squoze 

Which grows and grows 

Is not too nice for his poor old nose, 

And sort of squch 

Is much too much 

For his neck and his mouth and his 

ears and such. 

To help resolve my unending questions, I went and 

bothered Dr. Peter Groves, a senior lecturer in poetry and 

literature at Monash. When I asked if he knew where 

poetry had gone, he responded: “It is happening in a corner 

arts/culture 42-43

edition three 

lot’s wife 

in conversation with 

client liaison 

article by raymond field 

Known for their patriotic fervour, irresistibly moveable 

tunes and piss-taking sensibilities, Client Liaison is a 

group that will need little introduction to a student 

readership. For a band that is so inseparably glued to 

their visual style, it feels particularly inelegant to conduct 

an interview over the phone. Monte Morgan, the group’s 

vocalist, is the sole voice on the other end of the line. It’s 

also telling of Client Liaison’s humility that they’d agree 

to an interview with a student publication at this stage of 

their career (Morgan also tells me he believes this to be the 

only interview the group has granted to the egregiously 

overlooked world of student media). 

In line with the group’s temperament and their fans’ wildest 

dreams, I ask: will they be filming the video for ‘Canberra 

Won’t Be Calling Tonight’ aboard the Prime Minister’s 

private Boeing? “That’d be pretty special,” Morgan responds. 

“We’ve got a bit of a plan for Canberra up our sleeve. We 

haven’t filmed it yet but we always had a concept for 

the clip before the song – we wanted to actually vacate 

Canberra’s capital and hand it back to the Indigenous 

owners of the land.” It’s a reminder that, for all their 

glamour and gloss, Client Liaison move in more thoughtful 

territory than a quick reading of their iconography might 

suggest. Theirs is a patriotism that is joyful and optimistic, 

yet infused with introspection. In their breakthrough 

track (and its accompanying video), ‘End of the Earth’, 

they offered up a smorgasbord of Australiana; but the 

group managed to avoid the tedious sight of thoughtless 

patriotism with their self-awareness. They asked, “This 

dodgy disaster of a culture/ Is it what we stand for?’ 

‘Canberra Won’t Be Calling Tonight’, the opening track of 

Diplomatic Immunity, is wonderfully outlandish, even by 

the standards of Client Liaison. The track’s most eccentric 

feature – an interlude of Kim Carr questioning Scott 

Morrison over the secrecy of Operation Sovereign Borders, 

in which Morrison responds with the defence of Public 

Interest – throws a singularly delicious bone to fanatics of 

the synthesiser, disco and Australian politics. Including the 

Senate Proceedings was, Morgan says, “adding to the drama 

of the idea of having diplomatic immunity.” Morgan also 

reveals that Harvey Miller has the distinction of meeting 

Kim Il-Carr: “His daughter is our friend so there’s a bit of a 

connection there.” 

Client Liaison have previously discussed the influence 

of various 80s plutocrats such as Kerry Packer and Alan 

Bond on their audio-visual project. I put it to Morgan that, 

while corporate excess and vice may have defined the 

social climate of that era, the current Australian ruling 

class contains its own equivalent symbols of commercial 

gluttony – Gina Rinehart is the example I give. Why then, 

the focus on a bygone era? He tells me that the group didn’t 

set out to specifically ground their music in a particular 

era. Addressing contemporary greed, he reveals that they’ve 

written a song about Rinehart entitled ‘Minehart’. Morgan’s 

insistent that the group’s objects of inspiration flow across 

time: “We celebrate these Steve Cairns or Steven Bradbury 

or, you know, Alan Bond, Kerry Packer, but they’re all 

Australian icons to us. I guess people often associate us 

with the 80s because of our song and identity but that’s 

just the sound that we like. But there’s also an element of 

looking back to your childhood and appropriating things 

that are in fashion or sound; things sound fresh when 

they’re given a nice gestation period.” 

If Client Liaison were an upstarting act in 2035, I ask, what 

cultural artefacts would they be championing? “It would 

be a motif or something,” Morgan says. He analogises their 

resuscitation of bygone trends to the world of fashion: 

“Something can really stand out and seems really fresh 

and then it becomes stale because everyone wears it, so 

you know you want to keep moving through new ground 

and often you do it by looking at things that have been 

forgotten. What happened to cargo pants, you know? 

We’ll probably be bringing the cargo pant back, something 

like that.” “Hopefully with that we don’t have too many 

dreadlocks and cargo pants,” one of the (hitherto silent) 

editors of this magazine responds. “You never know,” 

responds Morgan. “Right now I’m getting into the Byron 

Bay sound kind of Ben Harper vibe. Like, ‘what happened to 

that? That was my childhood; that was fun.’” 

The cohesiveness of Diplomatic Immunity, and the length 

of time that went into its creation, are what Morgan 

regards as the album’s greatest sources of pride. He notes 

his distinct fondness for the second half of ‘Off White 

Limousine’, which intensely spirals into otherworldly realms 

of funk (“makes me dance; makes me cry”). However, it’s – 

inevitably – the group’s duet with Tina Arena, ‘A Foreign 

Affair’, which generates the most discussion. Morgan 

explains that the track wasn’t initially conceived as a 

duet – let alone with Tina Arena as his partner, despite 

the shout out to her 90s hit ‘Sorrento Moon (I Remember)’. 

Arena’s participation was just a matter of surprise and good 

fortune: “It was just a wish we put into the air. Our manager 

caught wind of it and she got her manager and she liked 

the song; and she [Tina Arena] came in, and smashed it out 

in one day.” 

Maybe more so than any other feeling, the visuals and 

music of Client Liaison evoke an acute sense of nostalgia, 

and their tributes to a period that saw a renewal in our 

sense of national identity inspire an optimistic innocence. 

Beyond the group’s absurd flirtations with plutocracy 

>>

though, lies a grimmer reality – after all, many identify 

the financial and moral excess characteristic of the 1980s 

as the starting point for the void of economic misery into 

which so much of the Western world seems to be staring 

for the foreseeable future. Morgan agrees that there’s a sort 

of ironic obscenity to their popularity in light of this – but 

for him, of course, toying with the past is about something 

much more innocuous: “When I grew up the idea of office 

culture was so uncool that we’re trying to make the idea 

of the corporate travelling man fit. But you know, there’s 

elements as well that we also like to ground it with – 

something like Big Kev.” 

Morgan believes Client Liaison’s music is an outlet for 

escapism: “It’s really about fun; it’s about dancing and 

about a good time and letting go, and expressing yourself, 

being wild. We hope not to alienate anyone and hopefully 

people can see that there’s layered elements to what we’re 

doing – we’re not just celebrating riches like a lot of hip 

hop does, like, ‘I’m rich, look at me’, kind of vibe.” On excess, 

he continues: “It’s Trump era now, it might seem wrong – 

‘oh no you’re celebrating excess’ – but I think escapism in 

whatever form is highly potent you know.” The gruesome 

spectacle of Trump’s bragging about sexual assault shed 

a dark light on sexual misconduct in the masculinised 

world of high finance (not that the inexorably awful 

consequences of masculinised power weren’t already 

obvious to anyone with half an eye open), and I’m unable to 

resist pressing him on this point. Corporate male imagery 

has featured prominently in Client Liaison’s work, and I 

ask whether this imagery has lost some of its fun now 

that the most powerful man in the world is – as I put it 

– a corporate pussy grabber. “We don’t celebrate Trump,” 

Morgan responds. 

A brash demeanour and sunny dance music might be the 

first things evoked by Client Liaison’s name. However, 

moments of Diplomatic Immunity see the group take a 

more low-key approach to things. ‘Home’ evokes the wistful 

sounds of the Pet Shop Boys – a likeness I’m not the first 

to observe – and I ask if, in the future, they’d be willing to 

venture into less balmy territory? “Like a down to earth, 

homely vibe?” Morgan asks, and I answer positively. “Yeah, 

everything’s open,” Morgan tells me. He recalls that, when 

Client Liaison started out, comparisons were immediately 

drawn with the Pet Shop Boys, whose music Morgan 

wasn’t familiar with. He notes his recent conversion to the 

gloomy British duo: “They sort of seem like a reflection of 

us. Two guys in a kind of art school context; I’d like to call it 

art-school-electro which I can relate to”. That Morgan sees 

a similarity between the two groups is logical, yet curious. 

While both share an obvious penchant for extravagance, 

the Pet Shop Boys’ sombre subversions of masculinity 

are a far cry from the lad-friendly antics of Client Liaison 

(although maybe I’ve overstated the difference: Client 

Liaison recently performed at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian 

Mardi Gras Party, thereby ploughing into the Pet Shop Boy’s 

core demographic). 

To finish things off, I ask about the group’s evolving success. 

They started playing gigs in warehouses and their new tour 

is their largest and most theatrically ambitious – how does 

this, I ask, change their relationship with the audience? “A 

lot of it is dependent on the venue size and stage,” Morgan 

tells me. “This upcoming tour is a lot of theatres so we 

want, you know, a packed house but we still want a sense of 

intimacy. Different audiences bring different vibes as well. 

But we always try and outdo ourselves: take the theatrics 

to the next level; take the interaction between the band, 

the visuals and everything. But we like the idea of coming 

maybe next year or the year after do an intimate cog show, 

doing it like 5 or 6 tiny shows in every city because there’s 

always something special about that.” While Client Liaison’s 

growing success means there’s less opportunities for an 

intimate relationship with the audience, Morgan tells me 

there’s still occasions when the group is able to recapture 

a more personal feeling with their fans. “We still get that 

[feeling] when we go overseas or when we play country 

towns so we still have a varied style of performance.” 

Diplomatic Immunity is their latest album. 

arts/culture 44-45

edition three 

lot’s wife 

conflicted histories: a 

reflection on brook andrew’s 

‘the right to offend is sacred’ 

article & photography by linh thuy nguyen 

Artist: Brook Andrew 

Curator: Judith Ryan 

The Ian Potter Centre, 

NGV Australia, Federation 

Square 

Level 3 

3 March — 4 June 2017 

Free Entry 

“I dedicate this exhibition to those who wish to see clearly the histories and legacies of the 

often unseen. To the wealth of hidden memories, treasures, bodies and systems that sty in 

dark places, away from the light of so-called ‘light-giving’ civilisations.” 

Brook Andrew 

“Indigenous art has not yet fully escaped from the ethnographer’s classifying microscope 

and been allowed to speak to us on its own terms, to exert its power through metaphor as an 

undiluted expression of a particular culture… visual art is a universal language that is open to 

all peoples to use and appreciate. The European construct is anthropology, a discipline and a 

methodology masquerading as a science, which evolved in tandem with social Darwinism as a 

means of studying and classifying colonised peoples and pigeonholing them into hierarchies.” 

Judith Ryan, ‘The Raw and the Cooked: The Aesthetic Principle in Aboriginal Art’ 

SOVEREIGNTY 

My first encounter with Brook Andrew’s art was when I saw the recent 

Sovereignty exhibition at ACCA. His work is striking, visually and 

physically imposing – audacious, defiant, challenging. In the middle of 

the gallery space a giant globe hung above my head, striped like the back 

of a zebra. Every few moments the globe’s colour would change – pink, 

blue, green, white, purple – like a warm pulse emitting through the 

room, casting a faint glow in the gallery space. 

I found out later that this black and white patterning is a motif that 

reoccurs in Andrew’s art; it’s inspired from the carvings of Wirandjuri 

culture. This is one way tradition is refashioned in contemporary 

expressions. 

KILL PRIMITIVISM 

The Right to Offend is Sacred is a solo-exhibition that surveys Brook 

Andrew’s art practice over his 25-year long career. Above the entrance to 

NGV’s exhibition one is confronted with the text, in pink neon. 

The ‘primitive’ was, and continues to be, a colonial fantasy. European 

imperialism was imbued with a dual fascination and terror toward the 

savage, primitive ‘Other’; the alien, uncivilised races of barbaric lands. 

Across the globe, the colonised has been subjected to the dehumanising 

logic of classification – European methods of collecting, categorising 

and displaying – as a specimen to be studied. 

The first room in Andrew’s exhibition is dark; the walls painted black, 

the glow from a single line of neon that runs across the room the only 

source of light. The gallery contains what can only be described as 

layers of historical artefacts. A glass cabinet sits in the middle of the 

room; it displays books, newspaper clippings, maps, photographs. ‘THE 

PRIMITIVE MIND BOUGHT CLOSER TO OUR UNDERSTANDING’ is 

the title of one such historic work; it sits next to newspaper clippings 

and photographs of the atomic bomb testing conducted in remote 

communities in Australia during the 1950s’. 

REASSEMBLING THE ARCHIVE; REASSEMBLING HISTORY 

A central theme in Brook Andrew’s practice is the interrogation of 

historical archives, of challenging and subverting the hegemonic lens of 

Western anthropology. Andrew views this exhibition at NGV Australia 

as a large scale ‘museum intervention,’ an opportunity to excavate and 

explore ‘hidden or alternative narratives.’ Through the reappropriation of 

historical and ethnographic artefacts, Andrew engages with questions 

of representation in institutions and spaces such as the museum gallery, 

unseating the conventional ways in which Indigenous culture has 

been presented. He deconstructs and scrutinizes dominant Western 

narratives, placing Australia at the centre of a global inquiry into the 

structure and legacy of colonialism. 

“It’s an assembly of the archive…I wanted to bind complex histories 

together. It’s an assembly of histories.” 

Brook Andrew 

Andrew deploys, layers, and destabilizes the archive through his 

subversive montaging of images, histories, and methodologies. His 

art defies simplistic categorization, often interweaving different 

materials, processes, and images into one work. Andrew pushes the 

boundary of his medium, juxtaposing photography and video with 

text and collage, painting and print, sculpture and installation. This 

dynamic intermingling of different mediums often results in art that is 

unexpected and disobedient. 

(RETURNING) THE COLONIAL GAZE 

A series of ethnographic portraits sit on easels lined up in the middle of 

the second gallery; the faces of First Nations Peoples from around the 

world stare out at you, the visitor. 

The figures in the portraits are returning the gaze; they seem to be 

looking at you, looking at them. One is made hyper-aware of this 

act of looking – of being implicated within the colonial gaze itself. In 

this way, Andrew is inviting us to reconsider our own structures of 

understanding, our own practices of observation and interpretation. The 

exhibition forces us to examine our own position in relation to colonial 

history. 

PASTS/PRESENTS/FUTURES 

In his art practice, Brook Andrew examines how the legacy of historical 

trauma is manifested in the present, reframing historical narratives and 

interrogating our collective cultural inheritance. 

Andrew invites us to consider alternative ways of inhabiting and 

interpreting the world; of viewing the past, the present, the future. 

He merges and layers archives, images, and references in a non-linear 

fashion, weaving and suggesting alternative narratives than the 

dominant one we receive. The teleological ordering of knowledge, 

of history, and of peoples into distinct categorizations is a European 

colonial construct; Andrew challenges and subverts this mode of 

presenting the past. The Right To Offend Is Sacred demands engagement; 

it’s an exhibition that needs to be felt, experienced, and seen, in all it’s 

multisensory glory.

creative/comedy 


46-47

edition three 

lot’s wife 

coffee: the rise of 

modernity 

article by john henry 

artwork by joanne fong 

‘Just as Darwin discovered the law of 

development or organic nature, so Marx 

discovered the law of development of human 

history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed 

by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind 

must first of all eat, drink, have shelter 

and clothing, before it can pursue politics, 

science, art, religion, etc. …’ 

– Frederich Engels, 1883 

So begins Dmitri Gallo’s spirited and 

sometimes controversial history. Adopting 

the dusty Marxist thesis that ideas and social 

forces in history are ultimately at the mercy 

of economic and technological developments, 

Gallo suggests that the centre of world 

history is actually your morning brew. With 

characteristic energy (no doubt from indulging 

in his subject matter), Gallo puts forward the 

radical thesis that, “for the past three centuries, 

coffee has had the power to make and unmake 

the modern world as we know it.” 

Gallo’s story begins in 16th century Europe. I 

was somewhat disappointed that Gallo barely 

touches upon the coffee bean’s mythical 

origins, and its popularity in the Middle East – 

he neglects some good stories – but I suppose 

the book was already long enough at some 600 

pages. 

According to Gallo, it was the Venetian 

merchants that brought coffee from Turkey to 

the Continent. Originally a luxury commodity, 

it soon became more widely available across 

Europe, from 16th century England and the 

Netherlands’ roaring maritime trade, and the 

caffeinated military spoils from Turkey enjoyed 

by 17th century Austria. 

Wherever he looks in the past few centuries, 

Gallo sees coffee everywhere. Before the 

onset of the 18th century, Europe was already 

overcome by the coffee-infused ‘public sphere’, 

from the Parisian café, the Austrian Kaffeehaus 

and the ubiquitous London coffeehouses. 

These public haunts allowed the middle 

classes to remain informed of daily affairs 

through spirited discussion, and as a result 

coffeehouses became a refuge for dangerous 

ideas to percolate. Political radicals would 

assemble and conspire together, and it was no 

surprise that Charles II had earlier attempted 

to shut down all the London coffeehouses in 

1675. Gallo suggests that drinking alcohol and 

public discussions don’t mix well; coffeehouses 

provided people with greater energy to discuss 

new ideas at length, and with a newfound 

clarity. “I can only speak from experience,” 

says Gallo, “but when I drink cheap wine with 

my friends, I’m not up for discussions about 

restructuring the economy by the seventh 

glass… well, not a decent discussion, anyway.” 

Coffee allowed a portion of the London public 

to distance themselves from the ‘gin craze’ 

raging at the time, says Gallo, and talk soberly 

about modern affairs. 

Gallo quite rightly points out that the 

spread of coffee didn’t just influence the 

anonymous social scene across Europe. It also 

had an enormous impact on the intellectual 

figureheads of the 18th century Enlightenment, 

from the urbane coffeehouse discussions 

of Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe, to the 

pathological coffee addiction of Voltaire. Much 

is made of the fact that Bach composed a 

libretto on coffee addiction, titled Be Still, Stop 

Chattering (yes, really). Gallo makes a strict 

connection between Voltaire’s penchant for 

caffeine and his enormous output of writing: 

“…The man’s writings could fill 200 volumes. 

You don’t achieve that by drinking water.” 

Immanuel Kant, another coffee enthusiast in 

his time, receives the same treatment: “…It is 

manifestly impossible to stay awake unaided 

and read The Critique of Pure Reason. Imagine 

writing the thing.” 

Two-thirds into the book, and all these 

historical tidbits are finally cobbled together 

for Gallo’s grand thesis: “the development of 

the modern world would be inconceivable 

without the aid of caffeine. No coffee, no 

modernity.” Without coffee, intellectual chatter 

at coffeehouses and salons would have been 

cut short or entirely non-existent; without the 

widespread consumption of coffee, European 

bourgeois capitalism would have enjoyed 

less prosperity and power to undermine the 

older landed nobility; without coffee, the 18th 

century canonical writers would have written a 

quarter of their works; without coffee, seditious 

ideas that triggered the French and American 

revolutions would have perished at birth. “No 

revolution,” says Gallo, “means no Romantic 

reaction. Without coffee, we would have no 

Napoleon, and no conservative movement 

to inveigh against the destruction of the 

Bastille in France. Without coffee, our political 

landscape today would be unrecognisable. No 

socialism, no conservatism. No coffee.” 

By this point in the book, Gallo’s contention 

that he develops becomes extremely 

overwhelming. To my disbelief, he suggests 

in a footnote that he wants to start a new 

research program based on ‘Caffeinated 

Historical Materialism’. Exhausted, I flip over 

a few pages. Now coffee has become one of 

the most popular commodities by the 19th 

century, as the mid-19th century moralist 

campaigners prescribe tea and coffee over 

alcoholic beverages for the masses. Later 

still, coffeehouses begin to allow women’s 

admittance later in that century – he credits it 

as the dominant social force that puts women’s 

emancipation into motion. 

I had to put the book down for a while, but 

it had already incurably distorted my view of 

the world. Every morning, all over the world, 

there are millions servings of coffee that are 

consumed; would everything be different if 

that wasn’t the case? I am seized by a fresh 

paranoia as I try not to look at the regiments of 

coffee jars in the supermarket aisles. I pointedly 

avoid the cafés that plague and determine the 

intricate workings of Melbourne life. 

I pick up the book one last time. Gallo 

promised in the introduction that he would 

explore coffee’s role in contemporary world 

history – what, then, does he say? 

“It is clear that coffee has become the 

scaffolding that supports late capitalism. 

Without daily stimulation, entire workforces 

predicated on long, irregular and nightly 

hours would collapse. The workers, in their 

fatigue, would no longer sustain the hulking 

and swollen carcass of our technological age. 

We would have a revolution, but a slumberous 

one, where there is not a dictatorship of the 

proletariat, but a worldwide slumber. Industrial 

modernity would perish a quiet death.” 

I do not recommend this book. 

Published by Sidgewick University Press, Coffee: The 

Rise of Modernity is available at major booksellers 

at $39.99 in paperback (ISBN 0740700251).

jim & julie 

article by shona louis 

artwork by maria chamakala 

Staring, catatonic at the screen; before him, young men 

jumped and ran, crowds cheered their heroes on, and in 

his mind, he almost forgot that he existed on this brown, 

sagging couch. A shrill and electronic interruption of the 

phone jolted his spine straight and his heart all but stopped 

for that moment, before commencing its stuttering pace. 

And so the phone carried on and on. He gripped the side of 

the couch and the cushions below him firmly as he rose and 

began his way to the phone. He was almost halfway when 

the click of the answering machine preluded a smooth 

voice: “Hello, this is Julie calling from Media Reach Surveys. 

I was just calling to collect Jim’s survey results –” 

Jim grabbed hold of the phone and raised it to the side of 

his head, calling out, “I’m here! I’m here! Hello.” 

In the midst of her automatic answering machine spiel, 

Julie heard Jim. She started, unprepared for actual human 

interaction, “Oh! Hello, Jim. I’m Julie from Media Reach 

Surveys. How are you?” 

“Very well, thank you, just watching the telly, the Bombers 

are playing! And yourself?” 

She could hear the dust in his voice as it quavered and 

cracked after days of silence. Their eagerness to talk always 

made her uncomfortable. Most people, nowadays, slammed 

phones down on cold callers, giving a curt goodbye at most. 

She was guilty of this herself. And yet, these people that 

she called, these generous, waning people, were always so 

pleased to hear from her. “I’m pleased to hear that,” – her 

expression had plateaued two hours ago at a dull glare, but 

through the phone she sounded sweet – “Is this a good time 

to collect your survey results?” 

“Oh yes! I filled it out just as it arrived in the mail; I’ve been 

keeping it next to the phone since then.” 

Julie heard the rustle of papers and she knew that he would 

take a while to get to the page starting the survey itself. 

They always did; their dry and papery fingers fumbled and 

couldn’t turn the pages. 

“Hang on a minute, would’ya love? I just need to find my 

specs,” before his eyes, the numbers swam and drifted 

upstream. 

Jim hurried off to the bedroom to locate his glasses, his 

slippers scuffing the wooden floorboards. He settled back by 

the phone, heart racing, he gasped, “Are you ready?” 

Julie’s cheery reply spread a smile thick across his face: 

“Ready when you are!” 

“Steady! Go! 3 – 3 – 7 – 1 – 2…4 – 3 – 7 – 6 – 1 – I’m not 

going too fast for you?” 

“Not at all,” Julie sighed away from the mouthpiece. 

They almost never were. She kept her eyes fixed on the 

paper; the satisfaction of filling in each blank square was 

wearing thin. Each number corresponded to the rating of 

a show or a personality. She never knew which shows they 

liked or hated, because she never bothered to check; but 

she did know that box 72 got a 7, so he must have liked it, 

whatever or whomever it pertained to. 

And so for eleven minutes and twenty-three seconds it 

went on – Jim droning on from one end, and at the other, 

Julie hastily filling in blanks. Until, all at once, Jim, in the 

middle of a four, inhaled sharply and toppled over. The 

phone hit the ground and Julie, on the other end, jerked 

away from the noise and whilst the thud wasn’t distinctly 

human, what had happened was unmistakable. “Jim? ... Jim, 

are you there?” 

Through the line came the tinny voice of the footy 

commentator. Julie hesitated before calling out again. After 

a minute she lowered the phone and hung up. She looked 

down at the half finished survey and clutching the sides 

of the desk, pushed away from it, the wheels on her chair 

spinning into the carpet. Her tongue was rough against the 

roof of her mouth. Picking up the empty mug beside the 

phone, Julie left the room. 

She wandered through the narrow corridor. Glossy photo 

portraits of men in suits hung around and her shoulder 

twinged with the sensation of being watched. Their stares 

dropped away as the corridor opened up into a wide room. 

There was a white kitchenette off to the side, sticky dishes 

tottering in the sink, a bench and a coffee machine in the 

centre, and a corner of vending machines. The broadcasting 

station was always empty at the time of night that she 

worked. Julie poured herself a mug of hot water and dunked 

a tea bag into the steam a few times. As she turned back 

towards the corridor, a disgruntled South-East Asian 

lady came around the corner dragging a cart of cleaning 

equipment. The two exchanged fleeting smiles as they 

passed, the cleaner all but smearing her face with war paint 

as she approached the sink. 

Back at her desk, Julie dialled Jim’s number, she was greeted 

with a hollow beep, his phone was off the hook. On her 

left lay a stack of surveys yet to filled, on her right, the 

few that she’d already completed, and in the centre, Jim’s 

half-filled sheet. She could not move forward with the 

others with this one incomplete, however; she now had 

no way of completing it. She picked up her phone for the 

final time that night and dialled three numbers. Glancing 

down at the sheet, she relayed Jim’s address and details to 

the emergency services before packing up her things and 

heading out into the night. 

creative/comedy 48-49

edition three 

lot’s wife 

relative size 

article by lauren castle 

artwork by caitlin brown 

Life has a tendency to demand decease in its wake; there is 

nothing without cost. 

Relative size. Emi remembers learning the term in art class 

back when she was in high school. She remembers the 

scraggly hair of her teacher, and the weird mismatched 

hippy clothing she used to wear. Everyone said the art 

teacher was crazy. If you have ever had the misfortune 

to attend an art class on a ‘theory day’, you will be well 

acquainted with the disappointment you feel when will 

not be dipping crusty paint-brushes into ‘just good enough’ 

paint, smearing it onto large sheets of blank paper, being 

quiet with intense concentration, and listening to trashy 

pop songs on the crackly radio, which was eternally covered 

in dried-up Clag (for some unknown reason). These were 

the kinds of lessons she liked. These lessons were fun, 

they let her imagination run wild, enveloping her angsty, 

adolescent mind in a sensation that felt like peace. For two 

hours, each week, Emi could pretend that she was no longer 

a painfully ordinary sixteen-year-old, full of self-hatred and 

petty worries. In art class, students were transformed into 

tranquil, ageless beings. They were nothing but harmonious 

brains and dexterous fingers, and it was the best time, 

space, universe in the world. Well, she cannot speak for the 

other students really. At least, that’s how Emi felt. 

Theory classes, on the other hand, were a pain for everyone 

concerned. To this day, Emi has never met anyone who has 

expressed anything but complete disdain for the practise 

of art theory. “Have you got your books?” Our crazy art 

teacher would whisper, a vacant stare lingering passively 

on her wrinkled face. Sometimes she spoke so loudly that 

it was borderline aggressive. Other times her voice was too 

quiet, and Emi could barely hear her at all. This was one of 

those days. There was usually one smart-arse who would 

raise their hand. This was always followed by a domino 

of eye-rolls. Emi swears every art theory class she took at 

school was the same. Elements and principles - every time. 

It wasn’t particularly difficult; the art teacher would draw 

examples of all the art principles on the whiteboard, and 

the mass of half-hearted students would have to copy them 

down into their workbooks. Usually the back of an exercise 

book designated for some other subject, like English or 

Maths. There was no point having one specifically for art, 

considering the lack of written work required. 

‘Cropping’ was always accompanied by a drawing of an eye 

with the rest of the face left out. ‘Contrast’ was always two 

circles - one black, and one white. They were easy enough - 

it was just that nobody cared about this sort of stuff. Pupils 

were happy to meddle aimlessly with random stuff found 

while rummaging in the messy art cupboard, making their 

own discoveries and getting ink and glue all over their 

eager hands. ‘Juxtaposition’ was the theory term that was 

intriguing - the one Emi found just a little bit difficult to 

get her head around. The teacher always drew a wine glass 

next to what Emi assumed was a bottle of wine. No one 

got it. “I don’t get it” they would mumble as they copied 

the illustration, still annoyed that it was theory and not 

‘prac’. “Relative size” the art teacher would whisper back as 

she stared into space, batty as ever. Everyone said she had 

overdosed on Zoloft once, and that’s why she was so offbeat. 

“They define each other”, is what she said after a pause that 

was too long to indicate continuity, but her students were 

so used to her eccentricities of speech that they accepted 

this additional utterance without much thought. 

… 

Emi does not notice the ants, the microscopic organisms 

she destroys as she prances upon the smooth, white-grey 

footpath. She is the greater force; the bottle to the glass. 

Other people move around her on the pavement, and 

everyone subconsciously takes part in the subtle - but 

critical dance that must be performed in the presence of 

society. It is dependent on visibility, self-awareness, and 

on all of the participants knowing exactly where to stand, 

when to duck, and when to sway to one side. Everyone 

has their own special role; if you’re a child, you cling to a 

guardian so that their mobility is slowed. If you are small, 

but no longer a child, you weave in and out of the crowd, 

a master of stealth and adaptability. The entitled move 

ahead without thought, the disadvantaged make way for 

others. The more important a person feels they are, the less 

often they will assume the role of the chameleon. The less 

likely they are to mould themselves around others. The 

dance is dependent on the awareness we all have of relative 

size. Bottles of rich red wine plummet down the whitegrey 

footpath. Tacky plastic shot cups lurk at the edges. 

Everyone’s eyes are drawn to the tall sparkling champagne 

flutes, lithe and elegant, slight but noticeable. 

… 

The journey is short; her destination is close-by. 

The art gallery is the most majestic building Emi has ever 

laid her eyes on. The great, looming building diminishes her 

meagre body to a tiny cluster of biological matter. 

Emi often feels like there is so much art in the world that 

maybe it makes up for all the bad stuff. She likes being 

surrounded by things that humans have made - stuff that 

doesn’t really have a practical function, but that means 

something to people. It’s nice to think that not everything 

has to happen for the sake of progress. 

>>

When Emi enters her office, there is a large sculpture 

of - well, she isn’t quite sure to be honest. It looks like a 

massive bee - or a beetle perhaps. The sculpture is at least 

three metres tall, and must be as wide as her dinner table at 

home. It’s made of silver wire and coloured wool. Emi thinks 

it is a truly hideous creation, but gets to work assessing 

the work for curation. A child gawks at her through the 

state-of-the-art windows, that pose as walls but fail 

miserably. The downside of working at the gallery is the 

general preference for aesthetic over comfort and privacy. 

The child’s eyes flicker to Emi, and then to the giant bug, 

and back again. Emi, not one to be distracted at work, offers 

a grimace and resumes her assessment. She thinks that if 

the school-group tour guides weren’t so fixed on lecturing 

children on the theory of art (which no-one, absolutely 

no-one cares about - especially not little kids), then perhaps 

fewer students would ‘go missing’. 

… 

We are giants, but we are also mice. 

Never are we more minuscule, more insignificant and 

minute than when our bodies and minds unwillingly 

surrender to the terror of greater forces. 

As she arrives at the station after work, Emi is informed 

of an accident with the trains. Someone was hurt, and she 

cannot help but hear the noises - the sharp, loud cracking 

cacophony that must have sounded; the voice of a human 

creation claiming one of Emi’s own as its prey. She thinks 

of the giant sculpture, and the small child, her dinner table 

back at home, the art gallery and her own humble body. She 

thinks of the train, and the person it hit. 

And she thinks of the wine glass, and the bottle which is 

probably full of wine. 

And Emi is faced with her fundamental insignificance, 

demonstrated, symbolised, emphasised, by relative size. 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

sunset 

words by jaimee bennetts 

artwork by leitu bonnici 

As the boy sprinted through the trees, his body jolted 

with each heavy footstep as it hit the ground. He felt his 

heart pounding as if it were a drum and the blood rushing 

through his face like a heat wave. Although the piercing 

cold wind was beginning to cut his numb face, the boy did 

not care. He ran until he could not take a single breath more 

and collapsed under a canopy of trees. The leaves below him 

crunched under his weight, and his eyes fell shut as if a bid 

to soften the blow. When he opened them, he saw the clear 

blue sky peering through the branches high above him; with 

beaming rays of light bouncing mosaic patterns over the 

canopy. As he took time to simply be, he noticed a vibrant 

parrot sailing from branch to branch. How he longed to see 

what it could see! As he breathed in and out, he smelt the 

sweet sap of the tall sycamore trees towering over him. 

Amidst the silence, the boys’ serenity was abruptly 

disturbed by the sound of distant screams of laughter. After 

a moment of silence, he heard more laughter, just as robust 

as before. Curious, the boy rose from his bed of leaves and 

followed the sound. Although he was not typically socially 

inclined, the boy forgot all insecurities, emphatically drawn 

to the source of the disturbance. As he got closer to the 

sound, he noticed how joyous and carefree it seemed and 

his compulsion to reach it grew. And as it grew, his pace 

quickened. Before he knew it, the boy was once again 

soaring through the trees. He felt the familiar rush of blood 

coursing through his veins and his heart pounding heavier 

than ever before. 

The boy suddenly burst into a clearing in the trees and 

found himself surrounded by a group of three children he 

had never seen before. They stood frozen for a split second, 

startled by the sudden appearance of the boy, before one 

girl stepped towards him and offered her hand as if to say 

“welcome”. The boy looked at her, bewildered, for he had 

never experienced this companionship before. In a cloud, 

he felt an overwhelming calmness and trust he had never 

known and followed her without resistance. 

She gripped his hand tightly as she ran, so briskly that 

he struggled to keep up. The other children ran alongside 

them, all it seemed with the same destination in mind. The 

boy was running in the middle of the pack; in the middle of 

an act of unity. He was no longer on the outside looking in 

through the window. Someone had let him in. 

They kept running for what seemed like days to the boy, but 

he did not wish to tire. He watched his surroundings whip 

past him. The trees all blurred into a collage of greens and 

browns with the light mosaics dotting the surface. The air 

had become thin at the speed they were travelling, so when 

the pack finally slowed, the boy was relieved. They stopped 

and caught their breath in a comfortable silence. As the 

boy looked up, he saw they were standing below the most 

magnificent trees he had ever spied. They stood so tall and 

strong that he believed they never ended and their thick, 

sturdy branches reached so far outward they seemed to 

go on forever. More than anything, to the boy they looked 

inviting. 

When the boy looked back towards the earth, he saw 

that the other children had each chosen a tree and were 

beginning to climb. The girl turned and spotted him staring 

and waved him to her tree. Again, he obeyed. He felt an 

overwhelming desire for the tree, and the girl allowed him 

to feel comfortable in his need. And so, he climbed. And as 

he climbed, he noticed the vibrant parrot again as it soared 

past his nose and watched it disappear high above him. He 

felt his heart pounding as it did when he ran, and felt the 

blood rushing through his veins with such gusto he felt as 

if it launched him from branch to branch. He turned and 

watched the others climb their trees with the same air of 

liberation he felt. Their laughter rang in his ears and he felt 

the wind on his face more and more as he climbed higher 

and higher; until the entire sun shone on his face. 

The light was bright and warm on his skin. He squinted 

through the sun and looked around him to find each of 

the other children at the top of their trees alongside him, 

squealing with excitement as their skin glowed in golden 

sunlight. When he met the girl's eyes, she beckoned him. 

And as if they were connected, the boy knew what she 

wanted to do. But she did not look fearful, and the boy 

noticed that he too was not fearful. With a smile, the girl 

turned around; and in a blink, she had disappeared from his 

sight. He did not hear a noise, but rather a most beautiful 

silence. 

The boy looked up into the warm sun. He stayed for a while, 

and watched it slowly begin to set. Although he knew it 

happened each day, he felt as if today it was setting just for 

him. As it slowly melted into the earth, it surrounded the 

boy with deep oranges and pinks that extended as far as 

his eye could see. As he looked out, he felt free. He was at 

peace, yet had never felt more alive. He bathed in the still 

serenity that surrounded him and smiled. Throwing his 

arms back with careless force, the boy relished in the sun, 

and he flew. 

But the next day, unlike every other, the sun did not rise.

the sea 

words by nathan nguyen 

artwork by julia chetwood 

I thought long and hard before deciding to move the fifth 

pawn from the left two spaces forward. 

Then I waited as the wind of the sea blew at my long 

golden hair, whispering a soft apology into my ear. 

… 

I died some days ago with tears in my eyes – salty, bitter 

tears that threatened to overflow. Before I died though, 

my life was a utopian dream where animals from all walks 

of life lived together, each animal with its young by its 

side. But in my utopian dream, nothing was done to save 

those animals when my tears overflowed. So I cried even 

more when I saw the tides engulf the lionesses and her 

cubs, submerge the owls and her owlets and drown the 

turtledoves and her squabs. I cried even harder, and my 

tears, which came in tsunami waves, swept away the lambs 

grazing in the green pastures. The lambs were white like 

the room I died in some days ago after my visit to the 

sea. Everything was white in that room where there was 

only myself on the bed, and the saltiness of the sea that 

clung firmly to my hair and hugged my skin. White and 

empty... blank and empty. Empty like the pastures where the 

animals used to live; white like the lambs, nowhere to be 

seen. When my tears overflowed and drowned the animals, 

no one saved them because everyone was busy with their 

own lives. 

I moved the bishop on the King’s right side, three spaces 

diagonally left. Then, I touched the ring that Adrian had 

given me and noticed that the ring’s golden plating had 

chipped and faded into a dirty yellow that was beyond 

repair. 

… 

For my naivety of believing in the possibility of a golden life 

with Adrian, I was cursed with a continuous sourness in my 

mouth – a taste one could only attain through countless 

days of drinking lemon juice. But the lemon juice I had 

choked down was full of pulp and seeds, and although the 

seeds were hard to swallow at the beginning, I swallowed 

them nonetheless. When I was young, my mother had 

warned me not to swallow the pips and seeds of fruits, 

since it would grow inside me and kill me. And that she 

would be very, very sad if that ever happened. But I always 

wished that the seeds would grow inside me, sprouting 

little shoots that grew into sturdy trees. I always hoped the 

lemon seeds I swallowed would grow into lemon trees and 

bear fruit, because the one Adrian planted in our backyard 

didn’t. I think it was because the soil wasn't fertile enough. 

High salinity, the Gardener had said, as though the garden 

had been watered with salt. Then, on days when I wanted 

lemonade, there were no lemons and God didn’t give me 

any either. God never gives you lemons. I don’t understand 

why people always say he does. 

My fingers flittered near the Queen, hovering inches above 

her crown as I contemplated my next move. Then I helped 

her glide two spaces diagonally right before I looked up at 

the horizon. 

... 

The sun was setting, igniting the sky with a demonic 

spritz of yellow with tinges of red and orange. The delicate 

voice of the sea called out to me, caressing my ears with 

the softness of its breath. But I couldn’t give in. After the 

incident some days ago, I had vowed never to return. I loved 

the sea with all my heart but it hurt me and I promised 

myself that no matter how much it apologized I would 

never forgive it for what it did… to me, to Adrian and to 

our golden life. It had stolen from me something that 

could never be replaced, and it left behind a cavity. And 

when the man in the white coat told me, I died in Adrian’s 

arms in that empty, white room. But now, I was back at the 

sea again. However, I didn't give in, nor did I forgive it, so 

instead, it continued apologizing by singing me a soothing 

melody of “…ta vie est blanche, ta vie est blanche, ta vie est 

blanche…” to which I nodded melancholically to the rhythm 

and agreed whole-heartedly. 

I shifted the Queen again, this time, four spaces forward 

and knocked out the pawn. 

… 

“Checkmate”, I whispered as I looked up at the horizon with 

a wry smile creeping on my face. The wind whipped my face 

and my smile quickly vanished. My eyes widened as I saw 

a little boy standing there between the horizon and myself, 

eclipsing me of the warm view of the setting sun. We stared 

blankly at each other for a while as if we were exhibits for 

each other’s speculation. 

“You can’t play chess with no pieces”, he scoffed, and 

immediately began to run back to his mother who was 

disappearing into the distance. I glanced down at the empty 

tabletop of the picnic table where my hands were neatly 

placed. Then, I looked up in the direction of the little boy. 

I saw him catch up to his mother and when he reached for 

her hand to hold, an insatiable feeling swept over me. God, 

I hate kids, I thought as a tear slid down my cheek before I 

could even stop it. 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

dissent 

Dissent, first published 1993, is brought to you by the 

Women's Department. These pages are dedicated to 

giving voice to the women of Monash. Dissent aims 

to raise women up by giving them a stage to voice 

their reality, experiences, opinions, frustrations, 

wants and needs. We Dissent by speaking out when 

the world expects us to remain quiet. We Dissent by 

standing up for ourselves despite getting knocked 

down. We Dissent by talking back, asking questions, 

giving answers, telling stories, drawing pictures, 

writing poems, broadening horizons, singing songs, 

making art, climbing mountains, signing petitions, 

filming videos, laughing loudly, changing the world 

and in a million other ways every single day. We 

invite you to join us by reading, sharing, writing, 

designing and submitting your own work to msawomens@monash.edu

fear 

words by constance wilde 

artwork by baby with a nail gun 

Content warning: rape, rape culture, sexual assault, victim blaming, acquaintance rape, friend-zone, torture. 

I am afraid of boys. Attracted to, but afraid of men. 

Terrified that if I’m too polite to this stranger, 

He will turn my words against me, 

And tell me that of course he raped me. 

I gave permission with my sweet nothings and attention. 

I was asking for it. 

So he gave it to me. 

These are the thoughts that cross my mind when I meet 

men: 

My smile is a bullet in your gun with my name on it. 

You’re either a rapist or you aren’t, 

But I can’t tell the difference as you pass me in the supermarket. 

Is your laugh genuine or something sinister? 

How do I know there isn’t a monster lurking beneath your 

patterned jumper? 

Because rapists aren’t just monsters, 

Lurking in dark alleyways; 

They are ordinary people and so are you. 

Please don’t hurt me just because I was nice, 

I could be rude, 

But of course, but that’s a catch 22. 

Making you angry would just be handing you another excuse. 

The responsibility is inescapable. 

It’s there in the morning when I dress, 

Telling me that my skirt is far too short; 

Could I show my body any less? 

It’s with me when I lock my car, 

And when I’m walking home. 

Clearing my throat in case I need to scream. 

Or dialling the number of a friend into my phone. 

I’m not wondering what if? 

I’m waiting. 

I set my sights on men I know would never look at me, 

To protect myself from actually being seen. 

I am queen of an empire filled with women, 

I keep boys at arms-length as if it is part of my religion. 

Somehow fearing rapists means I’m afraid of all men, 

They make it difficult to tell them apart, 

When they jump to each other’s defence. 

Yet I am desperate… to fall in love. 

To have my own piece of magic that will hold me in his arms, 

And say he loves me. 

But how do I know I’ve found the right one? 

He is sweet, but is he safe? What will happen when we’re 

alone? 

What if he waits for doors to close? 

Or for me to let him take me home? 

Is there something in his smile? 

Some way I could know? 

It is lonely on this throne I have created. 

How am I supposed to fall in love if I can’t even make 

friends? 

I call my mates up for coffee without thinking, 

But I won’t call them if they’re men. 

In case my invitation is all the consent they need. 

I am sorry, but not sure that I should be, 

When people still have the nerve to say: 

“You invited him over. What did you think was going to 

happen?” 

I pinpoint cameras in the parking lot, 

But hyper-vigilance doesn’t help. 

I am not the only woman, 

That is living in this hell. 

I must look desirable, but not irresistible. 

Show enough skin to get your attention, 

But not arouse your inner demon. 

I must make you want to date me, 

Without making you want to 

rape 

me. 

I tell my friends, 

And they agree with me. 

This fear of men is all I ever see. 

Rose-tinted glasses, except they’re tinted red. 

Screaming “DANGER: that man’s appetite needs to be fed” 

I feel consumable, overpower-able, and weak. 

What if my body is the answer to whatever it is you seek? 

Of course nice guys exist but are they the men that I know? 

I am powerless to stop this but I’m still holding onto hope. 

I’m not afraid of commitment, but I am afraid of dating. 

It seems ridiculous, but I spend night after night waiting. 

In my mind, it’s not a question of what if but when. 

And when I meet someone else it just starts all over again. 

A boy in class told me being in the friend-zone counts as 

torture; 

Told me the pain was unimaginably overwhelming, 

As if it was on par with electrocution and waterboarding. 

When I asked if he was joking, 

He exploded in my face as if my question was a detonation. 

Every boy I pass daily could be a rapist or a harmless 

stranger, 

But he’s the one complaining. 


edition three 

lot’s wife 

wot’s life? 

with agony aunt 

Q. 

A. 

I just started uni this year and I still haven’t made any friends. I was too shy to join 

any clubs in O-Week and it seems that when I go to class, everyone just leaves and we 

don’t talk again until the next class. What am I doing wrong? How am I meant to make 

friends if I don’t already know people from high school? 

Stop whining about it and go out there and interact! Add everyone you meet on facebook, 

snapchat and instagram. Don’t forget to send them a LinkedIn request! Then proceed to 

spam the heck out of them, if you have a dog send snaps of your fluffy friend as this is sure 

to pique their interests even if you’re boring. Alternatively, pretend that you left your lights 

on in your car and post about it on StalkerSpace and force whoever comes to help you to be 

your friend. Even if it’s Alan the nice RACV man. The undeniably best way to make friends 

though is to find common ground by bitching about your lecturer. 

It’s only week 9 of uni but I’m already feeling really burned out and overwhelmed. I try 

and squeeze as much as I can into each day, but at the end of the day I still go to bed 

feeling guilty that I haven’t done enough. Any tips to snap out of this low mood, Agony 

Aunt? 

Drop whatever you’re doing and transfer to Arts and enjoy the easiest HD’s of your life. 

However, if you really have your heart set on your current course go back to the start of this 

answer and read it again. Okay but if you really are struggling then perhaps write a list to 

help you organise your study and prioritise your time to make sure that you are finishing 

the required work and not wasting time on frivolous things. 

I really like a guy, and he’s one of my close friends. The only issue is that he has 

a girlfriend, but I know that she doesn’t treat him well and they have a terrible 

relationship. I don’t know what to do - I want to tell him to break up with her because 

she’s not good to him, but I also think my hidden feelings might reveal themselves if I 

do. Or I could simply play the waiting game, but i feel like it could be years and I know 

he’d be happier with me. I just wish he knew how I felt, but I can’t tell him without 

sounding crazy. What do I do, Agony Aunt? 

Send him an anonymous letter providing reasons of why he should break up with her and 

then send a couple of nudes on snapchat and I’m sure he’ll get the idea. It’s important that 

you don’t become a rebound so invest yourself in as much of his life as possible e.g. leave a 

toothbrush at his house, surprise him with dinner with his parents and ask him to buy you 

tampons. Before you know it, he’ll be down on one knee and you’ll be asking yourself if you 

even wanted this. Alternatively, if you want to take it slow just declare your feelings for him 

and see what he does. Maybe he breaks up with his girlfriend and dates you or maybe he 

calls you a weirdo and lives happily ever after with his girlfriend, whatever happens, you’re 

better off knowing so that you can continue with your life.

artwork by kerrie o’james 


56-57

Lot's Wife Edition 3 2017

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