Submission on the Hawke Interim Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)

There are currently no regulatory mechanisms, laws or policies that specifically provide rights to Indigenous peoples over their Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property. We strongly recommend that the commonwealth take the lead to ensure that national sui generis laws are developed (perhaps to operate initially in areas of Cth jurisdiction, such as IPAs and national parks). The development of such laws should be in tandem with practical guidelines to assist their implementation. A comprehensive, nationally consistent scheme for access to genetic resources, which offers meaningful protection of traditional knowledge and substantive benefit-sharing with Indigenous communities, has to be developed. There are already a range of reports/resources that urge these same reforms and that we direct the Enquiry to again; these include the Voumard Report (2000) – especially Fourmile’s Appendix 10 – “Indigenous Interests”, and Terri Jankes “Our Culture, Our Future (1998).

Bloomsday: Copyright estates and cultural festivals

Copyright estates have been unduly empowered by the extension of the term of copyright protection in Europe, the United States, Australia and elsewhere. The Estate of the Irish novelist, James Joyce, has been particularly aggressive in policing his revived copyrights. The "keepers of the flame" have relied upon threats of legal action to discourage the production of derivative works based upon the canonical texts of the novelist. The Estate has also jealously guarded the reputation of the author by vetoing the use of his work in various scholarly productions. Most radically of all, the grandson Stephen Joyce threatened to take legal action to prevent the staging of "Rejoyce Dublin 2004", a festival celebrating the centenary of Bloomsday. In response, the Irish Parliament rushed through emergency legislation, entitled the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Act 2004 (Ireland) to safeguard the celebrations. The legislation clarified that a person could place literary and artistic works on public exhibition, without breaching the copyright vested in such cultural texts. Arguably, though, the ad hoc legislation passed by the Irish Parliament is inadequate. The Estate of James Joyce remains free to exercise its suite of economic and moral rights to control the use and adaptation of works of the Irish novelist. It is contended that copyright law needs to be revised to promote the interests of libraries and other cultural institutions. Most notably, the defence of fair dealing should be expanded to allow for the transformative use of copyright works, particularly in respect of adaptations and derived works. There should be greater scope for compulsory licensing and crown acquisition of revived copyrights.

The paradox of creative uncertainty in learning and teaching

In an ever-changing and globalised world there is a need for higher education to adapt and evolve its models of learning and teaching. The old industrial model has lost traction, and new patterns of creative engagement are required. These new models potentially increase relevancy and better equip students for the future. Although creativity is recognised as an attribute that can contribute much to the development of these pedagogies, and creativity is valued by universities as a graduate capability, some educators understandably struggle to translate this vision into practice. This paper reports on selected survey findings from a mixed methods research project which aimed to shed light on how creativity can be designed for in higher education learning and teaching settings. A social constructivist epistemology underpinned the research and data was gathered using survey and case study methods. Descriptive statistical methods and informed grounded theory were employed for the analysis reported here. The findings confirm that creativity is valued for its contribution to the development of students’ academic work, employment opportunities and life in general; however, tensions arise between individual educator’s creative pedagogical goals and the provision of institutional support for implementation of those objectives. Designing for creativity becomes, paradoxically, a matter of navigating and limiting complexity and uncertainty, while simultaneously designing for those same states or qualities.

Wikipedia, collective authorship, and the politics of knowledge

This chapter considers the legal ramifications of Wikipedia, and other online media, such as the Encyclopedia of Life. Nathaniel Tkacz (2007) has observed: 'Wikipedia is an ideal entry-point from which to approach the shifting character of knowledge in contemporary society.' He observes: 'Scholarship on Wikipedia from computer science, history, philosophy, pedagogy and media studies has moved beyond speculation regarding its considerable potential, to the task of interpreting - and potentially intervening in - the significance of Wikipedia's impact' (Tkacz 2007). After an introduction, Part II considers the evolution and development of Wikipedia, and the legal troubles that have attended it. It also considers the establishment of rival online encyclopedia - such as Citizendium set up by Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia; and Knol, the mysterious new project of Google. Part III explores the use of mass, collaborative authorship in the field of science. In particular, it looks at the development of the Encyclopedia of Life, which seeks to document the world's biodiversity. This chapter expresses concern that Wiki-based software had to develop in a largely hostile and inimical legal environment. It contends that copyright law and related fields of intellectual property need to be reformed in order better to accommodate users of copyright material (Rimmer 2007). This chapter makes a number of recommendations. First, there is a need to acknowledge and recognize forms of mass, collaborative production and consumption - not just individual authorship. Second, the view of a copyright 'work' and other subject matter as a complete and closed piece of cultural production also should be reconceptualised. Third, the defense of fair use should be expanded to accommodate a wide range of amateur, peer-to-peer production activities - not only in the United States, but in other jurisdictions as well. Fourth, the safe harbor protections accorded to Internet intermediaries, such as Wikipedia, should be strengthened. Fifth, there should be a defense in respect of the use of 'orphan works' - especially in cases of large-scale digitization. Sixth, the innovations of open source licensing should be expressly incorporated and entrenched within the formal framework of copyright laws. Finally, courts should craft judicial remedies to take into account concerns about political censorship and freedom of speech.

Reclaiming fair use: How to put balance back in copyright

This lively book, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright, is designed to liberate people from the "Mind Forg'd Manacles" of copyright law. The authors - film and media scholar Patricia Aufderheide and professor of law and stalwart defender of the public interest Peter Jaszi - hope to help readers "understand how to think about and use copyright, and especially your right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment when you make a work - whether a blog entry, a song, a mashup, a poem, a documentary, a magazine article, a lesson plan, a scholarly archive, a slide show, a technical manual, a scrapbook, a collage, or a brochure"...

American lessons: Implementing fair use in Australia

This article discusses the recent Australian Law Reform Commission report proposing a fair use defense to copyright infringement in Australia. It examines the experience of fair use cases in the United States and draws three lessons from the jurisprudential history. First, it suggests that decisions in fair use can only really be understood within a theoretical framework, and that unless we import that framework into Australia any fair use defense will not work as expected. Secondly, the article argues that the area where fair use jurisprudence appears to be most helpful, in dealing with “transformative” works, is actually much more limited than outsiders to the US would expect. And finally, it suggests that any implementation of a factor related to market substitution should take account of the gaming of the system that has gone on in the US.

Accountability 30 years on: Insurance Contracts Act Reform

The Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) since inception has effected major reform to the law in this field. One of Australia’s most frequently cited pieces of legislation, it has had a major impact upon the law and practice of insurance. Given the importance of insurance to domestic and commercial activity and its pivotal position as a mechanism to manage exposure to risk, it is not surprising that this legislation has been the subject of extensive analysis in the courts and in legal literature. Furthermore the Act has, arising out of a 2009 review, been significantly amended by the Insurance Contracts Amendment Act 2013 (Cth). The principal amendments introduced are: two-fold: the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) has been amended so that a failure to comply with the duty of good faith is now a breach of the Act; and disclosure and misrepresentation provisions under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) are amended and clarified.

Shifting the Focus. Incorporating knowledge about Aboriginal engineering into main stream content

BACKGROUND OR CONTEXT The concept of 'Aboriginal engineering' has had little exposure in conventional engineering education programs, despite more than 40,000 years of active human engagement with the diverse Australian environment. The work reported in this paper began with the premise that Indigenous Student Support Through Indigenous Perspectives Embedded in Engineering Curricula (Goldfinch, et al 2013) would provide a clear and replicable means of encouraging Aboriginal teenagers to consider a career in engineering. Although that remains a key outcome of this OLT project, the direction taken by the research had led to additional insights and perspectives that have wide implications for engineering education more generally. There has only been passing reference to the achievements of Aboriginal engineering in current texts, and the very absence of such references was a prompt to explore further as our work developed. PURPOSE OR GOAL Project goals focused on curriculum-based change, including development of a model for inclusive teaching spaces, and study units employing key features of the model. As work progressed we found we needed to understand more about the principles and practices informing the development of pre-contact Aboriginal engineering strategies for sustaining life and society within the landscape of this often harsh continent. We also found ourselves being asked 'what engineering did Aboriginal cultures have?' Finding that there are no easy-to- access answers, we began researching the question, while continuing to engage with specific curriculum trials. APPROACH Stakeholders in the project had been identified as engineering educators, potential Aboriginal students and Aboriginal communities local to Universities involved in the project. We realised, early on, that at least one more group was involved - all the non-Aboriginal students in engineering classes. This realisation, coupled with recognition of the need to understand Aboriginal engineering as a set of viable, long term practices, altered the focus of our efforts. Rather than focusing primarily on finding ways to attract Aboriginal engineering students, the shift has been towards evolving ways of including knowledge about Aboriginal practices and principles in relevant engineering content. DISCUSSION This paper introduces the model resulting from the work of this project, explores its potential influence on engineering curriculum development and reports on implementation strategies. The model is a static representation of a dynamic and cyclic approach to engaging with Aboriginal engineering through contact with local communities in regard to building knowledge about the social beliefs underlying Aboriginal engineering principles and practices. Ways to engage engineering educators, students and the wider community are evolving through the continuing work of the project team and will be reported in more detail in the paper. RECOMMENDATIONS/IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSION While engineering may be considered by some to be agnostic in regard to culture and social issues, the work of this project is drawing attention to the importance of including such issues into curriculum materials at a number of levels of complexity. The paper will introduce and explore the central concepts of the research completed to date, as well as suggesting ways in which engineering educators can extend their knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal engineering principles in the context of their own specialisations.

Of old and new. Messages conveyed by Australian Universities

On arriving at the University of Queensland, I walked from where the taxi dropped me off towards the Great Court. As I walked I could see the carvings in the sandstone on the façade of the building in front of me. The carvings depict images of land, flora, fauna, settlers, and us. In the corner of my right sight of vision, I could see Mayne Hall. My mind flicked back in what was an instant to a time 30 plus years ago. I remember putting on some of my best clothes when my family would travel form the suburb of Inala to the Alumni book fair held in the Hall. We needed to act ‘discrete’ and like we were ‘meant to be there’. Members of my family would work hard to save money to buy the books that had far more substance than the books at our local community or school library. This was my first interaction with the University of Queensland. On the first day of Courting Blakness, I walked towards and then into the Great Court. I began to explore and engage with the artworks and allow them to engage with me. I was conscious of being in the University of Queensland as I had been on all my past visits. I was conscious of the public and the private aspects of the artworks along with the public observance and surveillance of the viewers of the artworks. The contradictions and struggles that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience are everywhere when moving in spaces and places, including universities. They contain prevailing social, political and economic values in the same way that other places do. The symbols of place and space within universities are never neutral, and they can work to either marginalise and oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or demonstrate that they are included and engaged. The artworks in the Great Court were involved in this matrix of mixed messages and the weaves of time contained the borders of the Court and within the minds of those present.

Focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationships between age, job complexity, and work performance

Focus on opportunities is a cognitive-motivational facet of occupational future time perspective that describes how many new goals, options, and possibilities individuals expect to have in their personal work-related futures. This study examined focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationships between age and work performance and between job complexity and work performance. In addition, it was expected that job complexity buffers the negative relationship between age and focus on opportunities and weakens the negative indirect effect of age on work performance. Results of mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation analyses with data collected from 168 employees in 41 organizations (mean age = 40.22 years, SD = 10.43, range = 19-64 years) as well as 168 peers providing work performance ratings supported the assumptions. The findings suggest that future studies on the role of age for work design and performance should take employees' focus on opportunities into account.

Moving European research on work and ageing forward: Overview and agenda

This paper summarizes the state of affairs of European research on ageing and work. After a close inspection of the age construct, an overview is presented of research in four areas: the relationship between age and HR-policies, early retirement, age and performance/employability, age and health/well-being. The overview results in a research agenda on work and ageing and in recommendations for practice.

Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective

The authors adapted the concept of future time perspective (FTP) to the work context and examined its relationships with age and work characteristics (job complexity and control). Structural equation modeling of data from 176 employees of various occupations showed that age is negatively related to 2 distinct dimensions of occupational FTP: remaining time and remaining opportunities. Work characteristics (job complexity and control) were positively related to remaining opportunities and moderated the relationship between age and remaining opportunities, such that the relationship became weaker with increasing levels of job complexity and control.

Teachers as health workers: Patterns and imperatives of Australian teachers’ work

With increasing cross-sectoral relationships and partnerships and the blurring of the boundaries of the various service sectors (Westall 2009), the membrane that is assumed separate education and health in terms of young people’s wellbeing looks thinner than ever. In this project we are concerned to know what teachers do in terms of young people’s health, how much time they spend doing it, and to what extent this work might be considered as health work? The paper is informed by a Likert style survey and semi-structured interview data collected from a large cohort of teachers employed in different school sectors across Queensland, Australia and is framed by Bourdieu’s (1977) ideas around field, practice and doxa. The data suggest that teachers, often with a minimum of training undertake work that might be categorised as health work and do so with a high degree of commitment and with a growing sense of urgency but with concerns related to their competence. We consider it important to understand the reasons why and the extent to which teachers engage in work that might be more readily associated with public health and to ask “are teachers health workers?”

Who does nutrition prevention work in Queensland? An investigation of structural and political workforce reforms

- Aim This study aimed (i) to determine the change in the number of government-funded nutrition positions following structural and political reforms and (ii) to describe the remaining workforce available to do nutrition prevention work, including student placements, in Queensland. - Methods Positions funded by the Queensland government were counted using departmental human resource data and compared with data collected 4 years earlier. Positions not funded by the government were identified using formal professional networks and governance group lists. Both groups were sent an online survey that explored their position name, funding source, employer, qualifications, years of experience, work in prevention and ability to supervise students. - Results There was a 90% reduction in the number of nutrition prevention positions funded by the government between 2009 (137 full time equivalents (FTE)) and 2013 (14 FTE). In 2013, 313 specialist (n = 92) and generalist (n = 221) practitioners were identified as potentially working in nutrition prevention throughout Queensland. A total of 30 permanent FTEs indicated over 75% of their work focused on prevention. This included the 14 FTE funded by the Queensland government and an additional 16 FTE from other sectors. Generalists did not consider themselves part of the nutrition workforce. - Conclusions Queensland experienced an extreme reduction in its nutrition prevention workforce as a result of political and structural reforms. This disinvestment by the Queensland government was not compensated for by other sectors, and has left marked deficits in public health nutrition capacity, including student placements.