Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education.
These complex traumas often manifest as addictions to drugs or alcohol, mental health challenges, poor physical health and wellbeing, and conduct disorders.
How we can effectively respond to offending by these vulnerable young people remains a contentious topic.
“Tough on youth crime” approaches are notoriously ineffective: 85% of young people in Australia reoffend within a year of release, and research from the United Kingdom suggests periods of detention increase the frequency and severity of offending.
Innovative solutions are urgently needed to reduce youth offending in ways that prioritise the best interests of the child.
Music can provide incarcerated youth with opportunities to redefine themselves from young offenders to young artists with creative potential.
Music as an arena for change
My analysis of international studies on music programs in youth detention centres found music can help young people to process trauma, build confidence, improve self-regulation, engage with learning, establish positive social relationships, and generate the hope needed to imagine new futures.
When we include music programs run for justice-engaged youth in community settings, researchers have identified more than 560 wellbeing benefits, including reductions in aggression and violence, a sense of cultural identity and belonging, and improvements in self confidence, trust and empathy.
The transformative potential of music is evident across musical styles and program approaches, from choirs to Javanese Gamelan groups to hip hop workshops.
However, my research suggests music programs need to be carefully designed and implemented to have lasting impact. Importantly, young people need to be given freedom to explore and express who they are and have opportunities to forge trusting relationships with peers and adults.
Music as a safe space
Music programs can alleviate the stressors of incarceration. The Australian Children’s Music Foundation runs music programs in five youth detention centres around Australia, often through guitar or songwriting workshops.
Musicians shared that these programs were not only an escape, but could “change the atmosphere” from a very intense environment in which youth are often wary and tense to one where they can dream and play.
One musician described:
[there is a big] difference in the kids’ reactions and their interactions between the guards who are responsible for saying ‘get in your cell now, we’re locking the doors’, and musicians.
Bringing together all of the senses to learn a complex skill, such as playing guitar, means kids are forgetting about everything that happened yesterday and not thinking about everything that might happen later. They’re thinking about what’s happening right now, so that already is a game changer.
Scott ‘Optamus’ Griffiths working with young people at Banksia Hill Detention Centre. Provided by Scott ‘Optamus’ Griffiths
Not a classroom
Musicians Scott “Optamus” Griffiths and Rush Wepiha of Banksia Beats emphasise, their program is not a classroom and they are not teachers.
Taking place at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia, Griffiths describes Banksia Beats as “simulating how a healthy community should be”.
Youth can participate to whatever extent they feel comfortable. This might involve writing rhymes, laying down beats, rapping, adjusting the microphone, holding a notebook for someone, providing feedback or ideas for others, or simply listening.
In this way, young people can develop trusting relationships and learn from each other as much as they do their facilitators.
Music as creative guidance
Particularly when incarcerated young people have little control over their lives, having ownership over their own stories through music can be significant.
This is not always a comfortable process.
Australian Childrens’ Music Foundation founder Don Spencer noted:
it’s not ‘let’s all sing happy songs today’. Some of the songs that young people write are not happy songs, there’s no way you can make everything happy with what’s going on! But it’s the experience that we want to be positive.
The opportunity to experiment through music can be seen as a way to “try on” new identities and ways of interacting with others.
Musicians described music as a form of self care, with youths often requesting to learn songs they had “listened to with their mum and dad” – an important source of comfort and hope in an otherwise isolating environment.
No matter what happens, you’ve got to be there next time. It’s not like young people can do whatever they want to us, but if there’s a conflict we say ‘Okay, that’s not right, I’d like you to think about it. I’ll see you next time, and we’ll try again’.
Griffiths and Wepiha emphasised they “always validate” young peoples’ lyrics and rhymes, even if they initially seem problematic.
Rather than forbidding swearwords or certain topics, or having a more moralising response, Banksia Beats uses such instances as opportunities to talk through the issues important to the young people themselves.
Music offers a non-confrontational way for musicians to guide the youths to reflect critically on their past experiences and understandings, and make positive decisions for their own futures.
This work demands that musicians build rapport and a safe environment for youth to share who they are, process their experiences, and imagine where they might belong. This can be challenging with young people who have been repeatedly let down by adults and society in general.
Music as a right, not a reward
Musicians I have interviewed all agree that music programs should not be used to reward young people for good behaviour, only to be taken away if they don’t comply. Framing music as a reward – rather than a right – has the potential to mitigate the transformative potentials of music programs by subsuming them within broader carceral systems of discipline and control.
Music programs should be an alternative, safe, creative space where everyone belongs.
Rather than an intervention to “fix” young people while they also navigate the stressors of detention, music might also be an effective early intervention strategy. By reducing our overreliance on punitive responses to youth offending – which are “particularly unhelpful” at meeting the trauma-related and developmental needs of youth, we can imagine how such programs could change youth justice more broadly.
The question now is how we might make such programs available for the young people who need them the most. As one musician I interviewed asked, “how can music change the life of someone that isn’t given the opportunity?”
Griffith University is basking in the glow of sporting excellence as a stunning number of its student athletes and University Swim Club members have secured their places on the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Swim Teams for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Emma McKeon AM
Jenna Forrester
In an outstanding achievement, 14 Griffith University student-athletes have already been selected for the Olympic Games in various sports. Additionally, the recent announcement of the swimming teams after selection trials has further solidified Griffith University’s reputation as a powerhouse in competitive swimming and undisputed leader in university sports through Griffith Sports College.
11 of its swimmers, comprising 8 students and 3 swim club members, have been named in the Australian Olympic Swim Team, which consists of 44 swimmers in total. This impressive representation means that a quarter of the Olympic swim team has ties to Griffith. Swim Club mentor and coach Michael Bohl OAM has also been named in the selected coaching staff to travel with the team to Paris
The selected swimmers are:
Jack Cartwright (current student)
Jenna Forrester (current student)
Shayna Jack (current student)
Moesha Johnson (Griffith swimmer)
Cameron McEvoy (Griffith alumnus)
Emma McKeon AM(Griffith alumna and Griffith swimmer)
Kaylee McKeown OAM (Griffith swimmer)
Lani Pallister (current student and Griffith swimmer)
Brendon Smith (Griffith swimmer)
Zac Stubblety-Cook (current student)
Kai Taylor (current student)
Griffith University’s presence is equally formidable in the Paralympic arena. Out of 30 swimmers selected for the Australian Paralympic Team, three are from Griffith University, underscoring the institution’s significant contribution to para sports. The athletes are:
Tom Gallagaher (current student)
Katja Dedekind (current student)
Rowan Crothers (alumnus)
Naomi McCarthy OAM, Griffith Sports College Manager, expressed immense pride in the accomplishments of the athletes.
“We are incredibly proud of our swimmers who have been selected for the Australian Olympic and Paralympic teams. Having 25% of the Olympic swim team and 10% of the Paralympic swim team associated with Griffith University is a testament to the dedication and talent of our student-athletes, as well as the exceptional support and training provided by our university and sports programs.
Kaylee McKeownOAM
Shayna Jack
“This is a significant achievement not only for the athletes but for the entire Griffith community. Our swimmers have demonstrated extraordinary commitment and excellence, and we are thrilled to support them on their journey to Paris 2024.”
The university’s success in nurturing elite athletes is evident not only in swimming but across various sports. With several sports yet to finalise their selections for Paris 2024, Griffith University anticipates even more athletes joining the prestigious ranks of Olympians and Paralympians.
Paralympian Tom Gallagher
As the excitement builds for the Paris 2024 Games, Griffith University stands proud, celebrating the exceptional talent and hard work of its athletes who continue to shine on the world stage.
Griffith Swim Club coach Michael Bohl OAM
Dr Leopold Aminde
Excess sodium intake and a lack of potassium are major contributing factors towards high blood pressure in Indonesia, prompting calls for low-sodium potassium-rich salt substitutes (LSSS) to be readily available to improve health and curb health costs.
New Griffith University research has looked at the impact of switching out current table salt (100 per cent sodium chloride) with a low-sodium alternative in Indonesia.
Lead author Dr Leopold Aminde from the School of Medicine and Dentistry said the World Health Organisation has recommended a population-wide reduction in sodium consumption to tackle the burden of high blood pressure and non-communicable diseases.
“LSSS look similar to table salt and research shows they have a similar taste with some consumers unable to differentiate between the two options,” Dr Aminde said.
“The research shows that making LSSS available would have a positive impact on the Indonesian health system by reducing blood pressure, and preventing heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease.
“Ultimately it would reduce health expenditure by up to US$2 billion [IDR 27.7 trillion] over 10 years, providing a much-needed cost-saving measure.”
Dr. Wahyu Nugraheni, co-author and Head of the Research Centre for Public Health and Nutrition at the National Research and Innovation Agency in Jakarta said: “Indonesians consume more sodium than is physiologically required.”
“LSSS are an excellent option to help people effortlessly reduce the sodium in their diet,” Dr Nugraheni said.
Over the first 10 years of implementation, LSSS could prevent up to 1.5 million non-fatal cardiovascular disease events and more than 640,000 new cases of chronic kidney disease.
“The greatest health benefits will likely be seen in the low-income bracket of the population,” Dr Aminde said.
The research team is hoping the findings will prompt the government in Indonesia, and other countries globally, to consider reformulation of regular salt to LSSS alternatives, or facilitate supply chains to expand their availability and affordability.
The research findings will inform the upcoming WHO guidelines on the evidence gaps related to implementation costs, cost-effectiveness, and the possible impacts on health inequalities.
Last month the Griffith research team for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Indo-Pacific Initiative for Sustainable Animal Health Cooperation (IPI-SAHC) and its multidisciplinary team of expert panelists gathered for their first Expert Panel Workshop meeting, this year held at Sunway University, Centre for Planetary Health in Kuala Lumpur.
Over the three-day workshop, the team discussed how to collectively design the research framework, data collection process, and research-policy engagement pathways that contribute to gender equitable and socially inclusive (GESI) animal health governance.
The team discussed how a combined One Health-GESI lens could study primary prevention governance practices at the community, national and regional levels, with a deepened focus on one animal, the pig. One Health promotes an inter-connected approach to promote the health of animals, humans, and the environment. Small scale farming for production and consumption is vital across the Indo-Pacific and, therefore, community level participation in primary prevention practices that protect animal and human health is vital. This project will examine the optimal conditions for governance practices concerning small animal health to be inclusive and sustainable in the three sites across the Indo-Pacific: Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.
On the last day, a cultural activity – the Jungle School in Gombak – provided participants with first-hand experience of remote Indigenous communities’ management of animal diseases (including Nipah outbreak and African Swine Fever) through storytelling, ad-hoc conversations with guides, while learning about the history, traditions and challenges faced by the Indigenous Orang Asli communities in Malaysia.
Left to right: Asst Prof Dr Norzalifa Zainal Abidin, Founder and Advisor of JSG; followed by IPI-SAHC Project team. At the front and centre: Major (R) Kalam Pie CEO of JSG with community members at the Jungle School Gombak Malaysia
The Griffith team would like to thank the expert panel members for taking the time to attend and
contribute, the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health team for its kind hospitality, and thank all the people and community members both in Malaysia and Australia, as we learned so much from in such a short space of time.
We are looking forward to sharing the journey of the IPI-SAHCH project with you!
The IPI-SAHC initiative is supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and located at Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University.
For more information or if you want to get in touch, please email the project coordinator to [email protected]
Griffith University has jumped 20 places to be ranked equal first in Queensland, and fifth in Australia, for its performance against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2024.
Griffith placed 5th for SDG 14 – Life Below Water, 6th for SDG 5 – Gender Equity, 7th for SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and SDG 15 – Life on Land, 8th for SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, 11th for SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, 16th for SDG 17 – Partnerships for Goals, and 20th for SDG 3 – Good Health and Being.
The 17 UN SDGs provide a framework for tackling climate change, providing health and education for all, eradicating inequality and oppression, and supporting sustainable economic growth.
Dean (Sustainable Development Goals Performance) Professor Jennifer Boddy
Dean (Sustainable Development Goals Performance) Professor Jennifer Boddy said the SDGs provide a universal framework to guide our actions across the university.
“At Griffith, we’re led by our values and prioritise innovation and social impact in our teaching and research, reflecting our commitment to environmental sustainability and social justice,” Professor Boddy said.
“Globally, it’s heartening to see fellow institutions on the same path and see how they continue to focus on some of society’s greatest challenges.
“Thank you to all staff and students who have supported social, environmental, and economic sustainability initiatives and research at Griffith.
“By working together, we can achieve the 2030 SDG Agenda and I hope our work inspires the collaborative efforts we need for a sustainable future for all.”
Griffith’s Strategic Plan: Creating a future for all 2020-2025, calls for the UN SDGs to be used as the framework for guiding efforts and measuring impact in alignment with our four main values: First Peoples, environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion and social justice.
At Griffith, we are committed to a sustainable, futures-focused organisation driven to achieve positive impact.
A few highlights which contributed to Griffith’s sustainability impact:
Our training and capacity development courses run through our International Water Centre and through our Professional Learning Hub, which provide qualifications on water management, freshwater ecosystems, water leadership, water resilience, water governance and more.
The Water, WASH and Climate Virtual Symposium, which was co-hosted by Griffith University with Australia Aid, Water for Women and the Asian Development Bank. This four-day cross-sectoral forum explored efforts to achieve SDG 6 through water management and WASH systems that are socially inclusive and resilient to mitigate climate change.
The Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO and the Sustainable Water Future program of Future Earth, hosted at Griffith University, developed a joint Action Plan to “accelerate the implementation of SDG 6”. It was informed by two high level taskforces, one of which Griffith led. The Taskforces gathered and synthesised data to recommend evidence-informed strategies to achieve SDG 6.
The 2021-2030 Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (ANMAP) is a joint initiative between the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research, UNESCO and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), hosted by Griffith University. AnMAP ensures sufficient and reliable data from the Antarctic, regarding animals and plants, is collected to support global policy development through coordinated circum-Antarctic surveillance of trends and ecosystem change to ultimately help protect the threatened ecosystem and its biodiversity.
Through the Australian Rivers Institute (ARI), our environmental conservation support focuses on improving water conservation, water security and repairing land and water systems. ARI promotes critical water conservation initiatives and projects such as Building Catchment Resilience, a data-driven decision-making tool, integrating flood mapping data with economic and environmental data. It was developed by Griffith researchers to help guide and optimise on-ground investment in catchment restoration.
Griffith also supports Indigenous communities to build capacity for effective water management. Free school-based community education and community outreach initiatives, through the Aunty Mati Water-Saving Superhero project, focuses on water efficiency, outdoor water use, water security, and good water management.
A research project 20 years in the making to restore a dynamic creek system in NSW’s Hunter region has yielded fantastic results for the environment and all involved.
Griffith University’s Associate Professor Andrew Brooks started on the experiment to stabilise the creek that ran through Brian Woodward and Sally Middleton’s property in 2001.
Since then, under Associate Professor Brooks’ guiding expertise and the support of the NSW Government and Hunter Local Land Services, the natural interventions put in place have seen the waterway remain a healthy and robust ecosystem, even through major flooding and bushfires.
Associate Professor Andrew Brooks.
Brian and Sally have lived on Stockyard Creek in the Hunter Valley for 45 years. Their property was previously heavily grazed with little vegetation, particularly in the creek. Brian’s initial attempts to stabilise the creek fell short.
“Our first action was to not have stock on the property, and we spent a number of years clearing weeds and planting native indigenous species,” Brian said.
“Our planting was stabilising the banks, but the creek bed still wasn’t stable, and it was starting to erode. So, we wanted to investigate what to do about that and Andrew Brooks, who was a researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney [at the time], was looking at changing the attitude of river managers.”
Associate Professor Brooks was at that time doing research into the role that large woody debris (logs the naturally fall into creeks and rivers) played in channel form and stability.
“I did work down in East Gippsland in Victoria, where there were rivers that were still full of their natural woody debris load – 30% of the bed was made up of wood,” he said.
“At the time when we first came here, Brian had been working on it for 20 or so years to revegetate, but most of the vegetation was on the banks. Some wood had started falling into the channel, but Brian was concerned that it was going to cause erosion, so he’d been tending to pull it out.
“So, what we wanted to do at that point was encouraged the wood to stay in the channel, but also to add a whole lot of additional wood.”
Associate Professor Brooks explained that a that time it was still standard practice amongst land owners and government agencies to pull logs out of rivers in the mistaken belief that they caused erosion and flooding.
The goal at that time was to change this practice and demonstrate that logs were actually an essential functional element of streams that were good for aquatic habitats (in a direct sense) and were essential for the form and stability of whole creek and river systems.
“In Australia up until the 1990s, we had been diligently pulling all logs out of rivers ‘to tidy them up’ to improve navigation, remembering that in the early days of colonisation the rivers were the main transport routes,” he said.
“They were also assumed to make floods worse – so wood removal (desnagging as it was known) was one of the primary activities of river managers undertaking flood mitigation works.
What we now know is that removing the logs and riparian vegetation (which created hydraulic roughness) caused the channels to erode and made floods worse downstream, which is where it mattered most on the towns along the lower reaches of many rivers.”
Associate Professor Andrew Brooks
Over the course of the proceeding months, Associate Professor Brooks and his team built 26 structures, comprising over 200 logs across a one kilometre reach of the creek, which created large pools downstream and maintained sediment upstream.
Despite numerous floods over the last ~ 20 years, the Black Summer bushfires in 2019 and major flooding that followed in the years after, the structures maintained their integrity and kept the creek stable. This is because, in keeping with how natural systems work, a large proportion of the introduced logs were buried with the creek bed and into the floodplain on either side of the river.
“The log structures are like icebergs – in that only about 10% of the logs are visible when we finish the installations,” Associate Professor Brooks said.
Gavin Farley from Hunter Local Land Services and Rhiannon Hughes from Soil Conservation Service became interested in the works that had taken place along Stockyard Creek and in 2022 undertook a study 20 years post-construction.
“I was lucky enough to be an honours student with Andrew Brooks and was very familiar with this river reach, having undertaken a geomorphic assessment 10 years after the logjams were constructed,” Hughes said.
“What we found [at Stockyard Creek] was that even though 60% of the log structures had experienced fire damage, the river reach was still showing geomorphic diversity and stability.
“There was natural wood recruitment from the surrounding landscape, and we had these geomorphic features that had been formed in association with the logs, had recruited natural vegetation and that was still stable, even post-fire and flood.”
Rhiannon Hughes, Soil Conservation Service
Associate Professor Brooks said without having any wood in the creek created a bed that was constantly mobile.
In 2017, A/Prof Andrew Brooks (far right) led his team to victory at the Eureka Awards for their work on identifying and limiting harmful run-off into the Great Barrier Reef.
“The strategy that was at the heart of this experiment was to return to the materials that nature intended and that these rivers – and the biota that live within and around them – had evolved with over millenia. In essence, we are helping to ‘re-wild’ rivers with the elements that have been missing for the last 100-150 years,” he said.
“So by creating these stable hard points, we create opportunities for vegetation to stabilise but we also create opportunities to create scour pools and get more complexity into the creek bed. These pools create the habitat diversity that underpins the aquatic and riparian ecosystems in this creek.
“We can actually reduce the flooding downstream by increasing the amount of roughness in the channels. And that’s what we’ve got here, it’s slowed the flood waves down by taking the energy out of the floods, and it’s delaying its arrival further downstream and reducing the amount of erosion it causes along the way.”
All acknowledged that the investigation had been an important lesson to see how a vegetated and wood laden river reach can bounce back after a sequence of extreme events.
“This sort of resilience in our rivers and streams is what we are going to need a lot more of as we confront increasing numbers of extreme events under a changing climate.”
Associate Professor Andrew Brooks
Hunter Local Land Services thanks property owners Brian Woodward and Sally Middleton, Associate Professor Andrew Brooks from Griffith University, and Rhiannon Hughes from Soil Conservation Service for their involvement. The video was produced by Hunter Local Land Services.
Five Griffith University teaching and education leaders are among the 14 Education Horizon research grant winners announced in the 2024 round.
Dr Andrew Rixon’s research project ‘Catalysing innovation and educational leadership in the age of Generative AI’ is valued at $146,850.80. The project will equip education leaders with tools and supportive environments to champion transformational teaching practices that deliver positive outcomes, such as reducing teachers’ workload and augmenting innovative learning strategies.
Dr Loraine McKay’s project ‘The affordances and constraints of the Turn to Teaching (TTT) program: Strategies to strengthen the effectiveness of midcareer change teacher preparation’ is valued at $98,027. The cross-institutional multi-case study aims to illuminate the affordances and constraints of the TTT program, and appraise the implications of these for ITE providers, employers and employment-based pathways into teaching.
Dr Michelle Ronksley-Pavia’s project ‘Building teacher capability to leverage Generative AI to personalise learning for neurodiverse students: Inclusion for students with learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental conditions’ is valued at $131,034. This project aims to explore and understand applications of GAI through co-designing a comprehensive ‘cognitive kit’ (including professional development) for leveraging GAI while also advancing teacher capabilities in both GAI and SB-DI. This will promote high quality instruction for this vulnerable population to address disengagement and underachievement.
Professor Christine Edwards-Groves’ project ‘Leading beyond the gate: The role of school leaders establishing schools in new communities’ is valued at $59,431. This project will shed light on the experiences of school leaders establishing schools in new communities across SEQ, identifying their challenges and supporting factors. This research and its outcomes may inform policy and programming recommendations related to recruitment and support, and provide personalised professional learning, system wellbeing structures, community partnership models and succession planning to enable school leaders to establish strong community partnerships.
Dr Stephanie Malone’s research project is titled ‘Supporting mathematics outcomes: What strategies work to support the word-based mathematical problem solving of Autistic students in the classroom?’ and is valued at $40,643.80. This proposed mixed-methods project will ascertain which of these strategies are effective for Autistic children, and what the practical implications are from the teacher’s perspective for supporting Autistic learners in the classroom. Combined, these findings will enable differentiated support to facilitate mathematical success for both Autistic and non-Autistic learners.
There is little doubt Australia is in the midst of a profound housing crisis, one that has been decades in the making.
It was once reasonable to assume the market could cater for most people’s housing needs and preferences, except for those with complex social or health challenges.
But there are now more and more people in severe housing stress – sleeping rough, couch surfing, living in desperately overcrowded conditions or in vehicles and tents.
While many in these situations need no more than a reasonably priced home with a degree of security and safety, others continue to need additional support. The longer anyone lives in acute housing stress, the more likely it is they will develop serious social and health conditions.
Some of the factors driving the housing crisis are relatively new, but many have been fuelling a shortage for decades. We have not been building enough new homes for our population, which is both growing and evolving in the ways we choose to live.
This is not only driving housing demand, but also leading to significant mismatches as our housing stock fails to reflect these changes in household types.
So, what could be done now to help those already living in severe housing stress and those likely to soon join them?
Our response to this housing crisis stands in contrast to how we typically respond to other major emergencies that create localised housing crises.
Following major floods or bushfires, one of the first responses is to provide temporary accommodation for those affected.For example, in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales hit by the catastrophic floods of 2022, prefabricated living pods were brought in and placed in clusters or villages where other services could be provided effectively.
While there have been criticisms of the operation – its pace and scale, the chosen locations of the villages and length of stay allowed – this approach reflected an acknowledgement of the seriousness of the crisis.
Why isn’t that attitude reflected more widely when we think about housing for Australians in desperate need?
Apart from some discussions about the use of quarantine facilities built during the COVID pandemic, there are very few policy measures that involve temporary and mobile housing options.
Also, some local councils are even limiting the opportunities that people in desperate housing situations have to improve their circumstances in ways that might seem unconventional.
We know more people are now living in vehicles – including cars, caravans and converted buses – or tents. But the places where it is possible to do so legitimately are not increasing and might even be decreasing.
Most councils have local laws that prohibit sleeping overnight in vehicles, or for anyone to sleep in a tent outside a licensed campsite. There may have been good reasons for these restrictions in the past, but many were drafted when we were not experiencing a severe housing crisis.
What more could be done?
So, why is there such reluctance to accept that desperate times might call for special measures? There are three main reasons.
Firstly, as the Australian Human Rights Commission notes, housing is a basic human right and for some this means that anything less than a conventional home is a denial of this right.
However, it avoids the question of what to do if there are not enough conventional homes to fulfil this obligation in the short term, while knowing it will take many years to achieve our ambitious new building targets.
In other words, while providing a regulated campsite for people with no choice but to live in a tent or a vehicle might not fulfill a long-term human rights obligation, it could provide an acceptable short-term step along the way.
Secondly, some critics fear the commitment to long-term solutions and systemic change might be undermined if unconventional and short-term forms of accommodation – such as providing places to park a vehicle or pitch a tent safely, and have access to services and facilities – are supported.
But for people in acute housing stress, the prospect of waiting years for structural reform to improve their housing situation is not appealing and might be seen as a case of the best being the enemy of the good.
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans
Griffith University has reached the milestone achievement of raising $100 million of its $125 million target as part of The Campaign to Create a Brighter Future for All.
The Campaign aims to create lifechanging scholarships and transformative research to allow Griffith’s research, education, and engagement to have a greater impact.
Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Carolyn Evans, applauded the University for reaching the milestone achievement especially as the Campaign was only launched publicly in October 2023, having commenced the quiet phase of fundraising in 2019.
“Over the past five years, our philanthropic partners and donors have contributed to our Campaign, making a considerable difference in the lives of our students, researchers, and the wider community,” Professor Evans said.
“Even though Griffith was founded 50 years ago, the mandate we set ourselves remains true today, with the Brighter Futures Campaign exemplifying our commitment to do things differently, benefit the community, and seize opportunities.”
Vice President (Advancement) Marcus Ward said the University’s partnerships are forging a path that will have a meaningful impact on the pressing issues of our time across a range of fields.
Marcus Ward, Vice President (Advancement) at the launch of the Campaign to Create a Brighter Future for All
“Through the Campaign, we’re working on leveling the playing field by providing scholarships to First Nations peoples, students with a disability, and students from a low socio-economic background including those who cannot access government support,” Mr Ward said.
“We are working on a range of projects including vaccines for malaria and Strep A, transforming the lives of mothers in custody and their children, tracking humpback whales with less-invasive devices, and developing methods to accurately measure and analyse wetland health.
“Together, we are providing life-changing scholarships, supporting transformative research and are ensuring Griffith continues to go from strength to strength over the coming decades so we can continue to create a brighter future for all.”
Griffith University proudly recognises and acknowledges our donors who have provided more than $1 million in transformational philanthropic support for each of the following projects:
The Primary Forests and Climate program which aims to reshape the perception and conservation of primary forests with global research
The Chronic Fatigue/Long COVID Research project which looks at the remarkably similar symptoms experienced by patients, with the team pioneering a specialised technique in immune cells
The Transforming Corrections to Transform Lives project which works to transform the lives of mothers in custody and their children
The Blackmore Chair in Leadership and the Blackmore Leadership Summit which aims to harness new knowledge and thinking about innovative business leadership in Australia and the Asia-Pacific
The Spinal Injury Project which is on the cusp of a world-first human clinical trial of a treatment for spinal cord injury, transplanting cells from the nose into injured spinal cords to form a cellular bridge, enabling the regeneration of nerve cells to make functional motor and sensory connections
The Humpback Whales in a Changing Climate project which aims to track humpbacks with less invasive devices, helping to create the largest whale sighting database to support conservation policies
Development of a Streptococcus A (Strep A) vaccine to eradicate Strep A infections and the life-threatening diseases they can cause
Endowed scholarships for Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University piano, opera and classical voice students
Brighter Future Scholarships to support students impacted by various types of educational disadvantage that has impacted their ability to achieve their full potential
The Global Wetlands project which looks at developing methods to accurately measure and analyse wetland health, and map current conservation action to support future conservation
The Institute for Glycomics Malaria Vaccine project which aims to develop a world-first ‘whole parasite’ blood-stage malaria vaccine and is currently in human clinical trials
The Autism Centre for Excellence which focuses on furthering research in adult autism and helping families, teachers and carers to better understand and support adults with autism
The Campaign also aims to engage 100,000 alumni with increased opportunities for volunteering, mentoring, and networking so everyone in the Griffith community has a chance to get involved, make a difference, and inspire future students.
If you are an individual or organisation looking to bring about positive and lasting change in the world with a charitable partner that guarantees 100 per cent of your gift will be used to make a difference to your cause, Griffith would be delighted to hear from you.
A new research commentary led by Griffith University researchers highlights inequities between downstream and upstream countries that share the same watershed.
The study outlines how international agreements can better address shared resource problems and call for greater collaboration and coordination between these international neighbours.
Dr Caitlin Kuempel and Dr Andres Felipe Suarez-Castro, from Griffith’s Australian Rivers Institute, looked at ‘transboundary watersheds’ – i.e. main river basins that cross multiple country borders – to determine how sediment export produced in one country could reach neighbouring countries downstream.
“Global biodiversity targets have encouraged national conservation efforts to protect natural resources. However, biodiversity loss and its causes – such as poor water quality – do not follow human-made borders.”
Dr Caitlin Kuempel
Transboundary watersheds are widespread globally, with some watersheds crossing upwards of 13 countries.
The research team identified approximately 1,050 transboundary watersheds globally. More than 85% (193 of 226) of countries overlapped with a transboundary watershed, and in >25% of countries (58) all watersheds were transboundary.
Dr Caitlin Kuempel.
“This highlights the need for strong management partnerships to share the costs and benefits of actions across country borders.”
Across 112 of transboundary watersheds identified, more than 70% of sediments were produced in a different country than the country where the sediment was discharged into the receiving water bodies.
Sediment from 117 (41% of 286) of these watersheds may reach coastal environments where pollutants may again travel across invisible geographical boundaries such as Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).
In 118 countries with land-sea run-off, more than 10% of sediments released from coastal pourpoints entered another country’s EEZ.
“We estimate that over 500 Mt (36%) of sediment released into coastal waterways travelled across multiple EEZs,” Dr Suarez-Castro said.
“This is an example of land use practices in one country that may cause downstream impacts in another country.
Dr Andres Felipe Suarez Castro.
This research focused on watershed management practices, however the authors note that transboundary environmental issues span across ecosystems that create complex problems across various political and regulatory boundaries
The researchers recommended that for global conservation agreements to succeed, governments and institutions must coordinate and collaborate across these borders.
They suggest the Convention on Biological Diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) could be leveraged to support and incentivise solutions to complex shared resource challenges and provide specific conservation targets that could be used to incentivize and finance action.
The GBF should support and collaborate with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.5 to further motivate widespread reporting on transboundary indicators and promote stakeholder engagement across jurisdictions.
