The ‘International Symposium on South/South Migration: Opportunities, Risks and Policy Imperatives’ was hosted at the University of Queensland on 15 April – a joint initiative between the School of Social Science, University of Queensland, and the Griffith Asia Institute.
South/South migration is a relatively new phenomenon. Historically, the flow of migration between Global North (developed) and Global South (developing) began taking place immediately after the WWII. In recent years the demand for unskilled and semi-skilled workers has grown in emerging middle income nations in Southeast Asia, and in oil rich nations in the Middle East. This growing demand has driven an increase in migration from the developing nations in South and Southeast Asia, and parts of South America and Africa.
The Symposium discussed issues within the framework of South/South migration, and emerging trends in international migration with presentations from key local and international academics, advisers, and practitioners. The nexus of migration, remittance, investment and development within South/Southeast Asia has implications for migrant households and communities, including impacts on poverty, changing dynamics of livelihoods, gender and household relations, and social and environmental costs at the household and community level.
According to the UN, migrants (persons working outside their country of birth) constitute more than 230 million people (2013), of which 34% are moving South/South. This movement effects economic cash flows as migrant workers send money transfers back to families in their home country. In one 2013 count, six Asian developing countries were among the top ten cash-transfer receiving countries. In this count Bangladesh received more than $16 billion of remittances (cash transfers) from its migrant workers, most originating in countries south of the equator.
“One can detect four waves of migration taking place over the last half a century between North/South and South/South countries. In the latest wave, late 20th and early 21st century, the growth in South/South migration has been phenomenal” said Associate Professor Mozzaem Hossain, from the Griffith Asia Institute.
“Since 2000 the growth in the volume of international remittance has been spectacular. Between 2000 and 2008, according to World Bank, the total volume of remittances of all developing countries increased from US$81.3 billion to US$324.8 billion. There were six Asian developing countries among the top ten recipients in 2013 and has been growing. These resulted in adding to increased foreign exchange reserve of these nations in turn making strong contribution to the macroeconomic stability” said Associate Professor Hossain.
The key issues addressed in this symposium were:
(i) the extent to which migration and remittances are solutions to ‘development’,
(ii) the extent to and ways in which the migrants contribute to the economic growth of the sending countries through remittance and are linked to the myriad of social costs (and benefits) that migration entails,
(iii) given that migration — especially South/South migration that occur under unique conditions — will sustain as a source of development financing and an important livelihood option for households and communities of sending countries and (iv) the issues of safety, security and income of migrants in receiving countries are of paramount importance.
Key presenters included Ms Yuko Hamada, Senior Migration and Development Specialist, from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Bangkok, Thailand; Dr Amina Maharjan, Migration and Livelihood Specialist, from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal (via skype); Mr Md. Samsul Hoque, a Bangladesh government official (via skype) with Dr Moazzem Hossain; and Mr Munshi Israil Hossain, Assistant Professor at the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh (via skype) with Dr Patricia Short and Adjunct Professor M Adil Khan.
“Remittance is a product of international labour migration. According to World Bank, amount of remittance was recorded at US$435 billion in 2014. Despite this volume of remittance, migrant workers have little access to safe and secure environment in countries of destination. These are often seen South to South corridors of migration. It is time now to investigate the safety, security and legitimate income issues of migrants in destinations of the Global South” said Ms Yuko Hamada of the Bangkok based International Organisation for Migration.
The papers presented in the symposium will be included in an edited volume currently in contract with Routledge publishing to be published in early 2016. The editors are: Dr Patricia Short, Professor (Adjunct) M Adil Khan of the School of Social Science, University of Queensland and Associate Professor Moazzem Hossain of Griffith Asia Institute.
Not so long ago, Jill Guljas was living in a homeless shelter in Brisbane. An apprentice hairdresser pregnant with her second child, life’s grim reality was that of welfare and wishful thinking.
How times have changed.
In 2013, Jill completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science at Griffith University and was also named the Attorney-General’s Indigenous Law Student of the Year. She was joined by daughters Juliana, 12, and Kaitlyn, 6, at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre when she received the first of her degrees.
It was fitting the children were there, for they represent so much of the reason for their mother’s inspirational journey.
“In 2007, Juliana and I had been living in the homeless shelter for three months,” said Jill.
“One morning I realised that someone else was feeding us and I felt I had hit rock bottom. I couldn’t provide for my daughter and I had another one on the way. I made a decision to save up and get my head in gear.”
Jill’s new focus led her to Griffith University where she started her psychology degree in 2010, aged 25.
“Coming to university was massive. Being a mum so young, there’s an inclination to say it’s the only thing. It’s not. There are options to do something prosperous,” she said.
“I started to realise I was capable of being a mum and a university student.”
Jill discovered she could do a double degree so she started a Bachelor of Laws in 2012. As a single mother at 16 who had completed her final year at Woodridge High School while pregnant, unsurprisingly the challenges faced by single mothers are very much the focus of Jill’s law studies.
She wants to become involved in writing, informing and implementing government policy around child protection, young women and mental health.
“I don’t want to be a politician or a lawyer. I want to write policy that’s implemented.”
With her story of raw life experience changed by determination and education, Jill exemplifies what can be achieved even when circumstances couldn’t appear worse.
“It wasn’t easy, but once the decision was made I refused to give up,” she says.
“And if my example can help others, then that’s all the more important, and rewarding.”
Felicity Poulsen knows that her grandfather was one of the lucky ones to have returned home from war.
This is why the Griffith honours student is so passionate about her latest research project helping the Australian Defence Force (ADF) identify unrecovered Australian servicemen.
With Anzac Day tomorrowFelicity said it was timely to highlight the importance of ensuring every Australian soldier gets a proper burial — even if it is 100 years after they died.
“Identification is the ultimate goal in this research,” she said.
“To be able to give a name back and have a soldier buried with dignity and respect I know would mean the world to their families.”
“My grandfather fought in Kokoda and he is very excited that I am part of something like this. And I am very proud to be involved.”
Felicity, who is completing a Bachelor of Forensic Science through the School of Natural Sciences, is working with Griffith senior lecturer Kirsty Wright on the project for the Unrecovered War Casualties — Army.
Ms Wright is a forensic biologist with experience in missing persons and disaster victim identification. She has previously worked in the 2002 Bali Bombings forensic operation and in the 2005 Thai Tsunami Victim Identification Team.
Ms Wright is also an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force and is assisting the ADF to improve forensic capabilities for current conflicts and the identification of historical remains.
This is the second year the project has been run at Griffith, with Felicity the third honours student to assist with the important research.
Her particular research project will investigate the paternal side of ancestry DNA used in identification purposes of soldiers particularly in World War Two from the Asian Pacific region.
Ms Wright, based at Nathan campus, said due to the remains of soldiers being so degraded, modern forensic techniques were not useful.
“We are helping develop new methods and new research that will be helpful to the military,” she said.
“If we can help identify and recover these soldiers and give them a respectful burial, it is really important to modern Australia and Anzac Day highlights that these soldiers still have an important place in our current history.
“I also think it is important for current soldiers to know the Australian Government will make every effort possible to recover and bring them home no matter when or where they fought.”
Find out more about theBachelor of Forensic Scienceand theSchool of Natural Sciences
Like so many others, Vietnam veteran Mr Vern Hopkins is preparing to attend an Anzac Day dawnservice.
While he pays tribute to the fallen, and remembers his own service, he will also be looking forward to the completion of a new memorial in Brisbane’s Anzac Square to honour all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military personnel who have served in armed conflict.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander defence personnel have been involved in conflicts since the Boer War of 1899.
“Anzac Square is where we come on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day. To know there will be a memorial there for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women makes me so proud,” Mr Hopkins said.
As co-Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial Committee, Mr Hopkins is delighted that Griffith University is facilitating a nation-wide search for a design for the memorial, and that it will play a leading role in development and installation. It is hoped the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial will be finished by 2018.
Griffith University researcher Dr Dale Kerwin is also on the memorial committee. His grandmother wanted to enlist as a nurse at the end of the second world war, but Aboriginal women were not accepted.
So she told them she was Jamaican and became an Australian Defence Force nurse.
“This is just one example of hundreds where the dedicated war service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has gone unacknowledged. This memorial will go a long way to putting that right,” Dr Kerwin said.
Director of Development and Alumni at Griffith University, Gillian French, said it was a great privilege for Griffith to be involved in this project but it takes a community to make something like this possible.
“This is a great community initiative and we need all Australians to support it,’ Gillian said.
More information about the memorial and how to donate to the fund can be foundhere.
Eating habits of construction workers will be under the spotlight at a seminar hosted by Griffith’s Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing on Tuesday.
Dr Rebecca Loudoun, a senior lecturer at the Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources, will outline the findings of a research project examining the impact of stressful work conditions in the building industry.
“The construction industry involves longer than average working hours and tight deadlines with severe financial penalties if targets are not met,” Dr Loudoun said.
“Construction managers carry significant responsibility for completion of projects on time, but also for the physical safety of workers.
“Little is known about the impact of stressful work environments on the health promoting behaviours of construction workers.”
Dr Loudoun’s presentation will consider research around work environments in project-based construction work and the outcomes for dietary habits, including the consumption of so-called energy drinks.
The seminar is hosted by the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing at Griffith University’s Nathan campus from 10am to 11.30pm on Tuesday, April 28.
A concoction of blues, funk and soul will resonate throughout Broadbeach this May as the Brodie Graham Band plays at one of Australia’s most iconic Blues festivals.
The talent from the Bachelor of Popular Music course at the Queensland Conservatorium will take to the very same stage as Andrew Strong and The Commitments, Ash Grunwald, James Morrison, The Black Sorrows and Tijuana Cartel, who will headline the Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival from May 21 to 24.
Griffith University will sponsor the event for the first time this year, allowing emerging talent from across the region to perform professionally and gain major music festival experience.
Queensland Conservatorium Deputy Director (Gold Coast) Donna Weston says the new partnership is in perfect alignment with the core goal of the BPM course — to help independent artists forge their paths in the Australian music industry.
“The real focus is industry — having those industry contacts and also building fan bases by getting their music out there — so a performance opportunity like this really aids in nurturing both the creative and business aspects for a young musician,” she says.
Griffith’s involvement will see the introduction of the Schoolyard Blues Showcase, which will welcome high school bands from throughout South East Queensland to the main stages during the festival.
Young musicians from John Paul College, Robina State High School, St Stephen’s College, Nerang State High School and Pro Deo / Aquinas College will perform on the Victoria Park Main Stage from 10am with Griffith University’s Seed Showcase featuring The Brodie Graham Band from 12.40pm.
According to Donna, 23-year-old guitarist Brodie Graham is a young musician everyone is talking about.
“Brodie has already established himself as one of the hottest emerging talents in the Australian Blues scene,” she says.
“He has performed alongside the likes of Ray Beadle, Mojo Webb, JB Lewis, Doc Spann, Lil Fi, and Phil Emmanuel, and at the Woodford Folk Festival, Queensland Festival of Blues and the Australian Blues Music Festival.
“The BPM course facilitates performance experience of this level to allow our students to adapt to today’s music industry — a world where artists now produce and promote themselves more than ever before.
“Paid performances like a gig at Blues on Broadbeach are a perfect example of the head start the program offers young artists like Brodie,” she says.
More than 125,000 music lovers converged on Broadbeach for last year’s event and the organisers say this year will be bigger and better than ever before.
“There is something for everyone whether you are a soulful Blues fan, or a lover of great entertainment,” says Jan McCormick, Broadbeach Alliance CEO.
“The Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival continues to grow every year and with the line-up we are about to present we believe people will fly from across the country to be a part of this incredibly unique event.”
Mrs McCormick says the 2015 festival will showcase Australian and international artists on outdoor stages and in venues throughout Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.
“Our partnership with Griffith University is an exciting step in showcasing the amazing emerging talent in our area and giving back to our community.”
“Our ability to give artists experience with one of the best events in the country is something we are very proud of,” she says.
The free event will be staged in the streets and in venues over four days throughout the popular Gold Coast hub and will also feature Jeff Lang, The Backsliders and US favourites Old Gray Mule along with many more.
The BPM course at Queensland Conservatorium has helped launch the careers of the likes of The Kite String Tangle, Ian Peres of Wolfmother, Elliott Hammond of The Delta Riggs, The Orchard, Jake Whittaker (who played at the Byron Blues Festival) and also David Baker (who opened for Joan Armatrading last year in her final solo world tour).
Download the free Blues on Broadbeach App on the iTunes Store or Google Play or visit the website www.bluesonbroadbeach.com
Generation of fragment screening libraries could enhance the analysis and application of natural products for medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, according to Griffith University’s Professor Ronald Quinn.
In a paper entitled Capturing Nature’s Diversity and published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, the Director of Griffith’s Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery and his co-authors propose a novel approach to capturing the structural diversity of nature for medical research and implementation.
“In a field where some research is still being conducted in the same way as it has for decades, fragment-based screening is a modern, fast and highly efficient process,” says Professor Quinn.
“It offers a particularly tantalising approach to drug discovery by virtue of the fact that a small number of compounds represents a vast proportion of all known natural products.”
Professor Quinn says natural products have a huge range of “molecular recognition building blocks” embedded within them.
In this study, researchers identified fragment-sized natural products from a known database, the Dictionary of Natural Products, and then investigated their structural diversity via atom type, atom function and scaffold analysis.
In the end they presented 422 structural clusters — comprised of approximately 2800 natural products — for application in chemical biology and drug discovery.
Professor Quinn contends these naturally-derived fragments could be used as the starting point for a highly diverse library with scope for further elaboration due to their minimal structural complexity.
“Natural products have long been recognised for contributing invaluable chemical diversity to the design of molecular screening libraries,” he says.
“However, fragment-based screening broadens research scope, informs biological application and modernises natural product discovery.
“This is an exciting possibility that should continue to be explored. It is another example of the Eskitis Institute’s determination to trial and apply new techniques in the study of natural products for drug discovery and design.”
Stranded gas. Once alooongway from its intended market, heavy global investment, particularly by US multinational corporations (MNCs) in recent years, sees the delivery of natural gas to consumers no longer the problem it once was. And Australia is host to one such operation.
Chevron’s Gorgon gas Project – Australia’s largest ever resource project – is a joint venture with ExxonMobil located off the northwest coast, at Barrow Island. With five gas trains planned once fully operational, natural gas from the greater Gorgon fields will be sent to the Island — a Class A Nature Reserve – for purification and transportation to domestic and international markets.
On Tuesday (14 April, 2015), WOW guest,Professor Bradon Ellem(The University of Sydney Business School) presented research findings from a report commissioned by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITWF) (and subsequently submitted to the Productivity Commission),detailing workers’ experiences on this project and their own assessment of why the job – originally costed at USD37 billion dollars — is yet to produce any gas (originally scheduled for 2014) and now running at USD54 billion dollars.
With employer, lobbyist and government criticism about the blowouts overwhelmingly focussed on the labour side of things — labour law, the workforce and its cost, and the high presence of unions (unusual for offshore projects) —Bradonsat down with around 50 maritime, construction and maintenance workers — most of whom were members of either the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) or Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) — to get their thoughts.
So, what emerged?
Professor Ellemcommented on the extraordinarily rich detail provided by participants about the nature of their work. Key issues included rostering,contractor coordination, job control and safety. Bradonexplains:
“The focus on safety is a massive issue… Since the report was completed tensions have increased; in particular around roster arrangements, workers’ [mental health], and a major accident on the Island [in preparation for a] cyclone [Olwyn] in March [2015]. The expiry of worker EBAs [Enterprise Bargaining Agreements] earlier this year has also raised basic IR [Industrial Relations] issues such as controls over the labour processes — there are about 20 major subcontractors on the project plus labour hire — and the complexity of the work organisation itself.”
The participantsalso highlighted how cost blow out and delay controversies were diverting attention from other issues such as the distribution of surpluses through the local reinvestment of royalties, local jobs, and the environmental impact of the projectbeyond northwest Australia. Equally, in such projects one needs, says Bradon, to look outsideAustralian boundaries to understandthe dynamics because the industry is about global production, global flows of capital, and the potential for global unionism.
In concluding,Professor Ellemnoted that whilst it was well known Barrow Island workers are well paid, wage costs — not having increased further than that committed to at the start — are a small part of the project’s budget. Instead, he argues that the cost blow outs area symptom of operational delays rather than the result of labour problems.
Contact the Centre Manager for a copy of Professor Ellem’s PowerPoint presentation:[email protected]or phone 07 3735 3714.
By Jacki Molla (student, Government & International Relations and Law)
I recently received the news from Global Voices that I had been selected as Griffith University’s delegate for the Turkey Y20 summit. Life hasn’t been the same since.
The Youth 20 (Y20) is a youth summit that brings together young people from the G20 countries to discuss issues closely related to the topics of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. I will be one of five young people representing Australia at the summit, the major result of which will be adoption of the Final Communiqué, which will be presented to the G20 leader inNovember 2015.
It all started with an email: ‘Chance of a lifetime – Become a Delegate at the Y20 Turkey 2015 Summit in Istanbul!’ It’s one of the emails I would ordinarily dismiss as something far beyond my reach and flick past, but, luckily, I kept reading on. It sounded like a dream — a fully-funded scholarship and research fellowship to attend the Y20 Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. Never in my wildest dreams did I think would be selected, but I thought I had nothing to lose by applying. I would have been crazy not to at least try.
As all important things do, the application was due at a very inopportune time — the week I was moving house and settling back into my second year at Griffith. You can imagine my shock and excitement when the phone call came to tel me I had been selected to represent Griffith and Australia.
Opportunity
Participating in the Y20 Summit allows every delegate to achieve a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the G20 leaders. Even in the early stages of my research fellowship I have already begun to understand the complex difficulties involved in writing, debating, and implementing policy. Furthermore, this opportunity will give me the chance to not only broaden my knowledge of politics and law, but to put this knowledge into practice.
The G20 presidency is supported by a troika of the current, immediate past and future host countries — Turkey, Australia, and China, respectively — to ensure continuity. This means Australia is one of the premier members of the world’s premier economic forum, a role which carries much prestige.The Australian Y20 delegates therefore will have a unique insight and opportunity to ensure the issues in the 2014 G20 communiqué see continued relevance and implementation at this year’s summit.
I was raised by a single mother in a small rural town in New South Wales where things have never been easy financially. My mother is an amazingly selfless woman who made sure I never went without, but I had never been exposed to experiences such as this. Moving away to attend Griffith has really opened up my eyes to the amount of incredible opportunities available. I have always been passionate about international politics and cultures but I have never travelled further than Canberra simply because it’s never been financially possible. Global Voices and Griffith are giving me the opportunity to unite my passions for politics, justice, culture and travel in a way that will benefit my studies and future career. It’s just beyond my wildest dreams.
Global Voices is a non-profit organisation that endeavours to provide opportunities for young Australians to engage with international policy both at home and abroad. It does this through regular events and Research & Development opportunities at home, along with the coordination of youth delegations to important diplomatic forums abroad. The organisation, established in 2011, works in partnership with several Australian universities to bring these opportunities to their students.
Surreal
Though I don’t leave for Turkey for another four months my life has already been changed for the better. The past month can only be described as an absolute whirlwind. Along with fourteen other student delegates and the Global Voices team I spent three jam-packed days in Canberra last month for pre-departure briefings, experiencing Canberra like an insider. This involved back-to-back meetings with ministers, shadow ministers, and academics, non-stop running around Parliament House, a UNAA dinner with Julie Bishop, and even a meeting with the Prime Minister himself. I’ve always been passionate about politics, domestically and internationally — I hardly ever miss Q&A, I closely follow all my favourite MPs on social media, and I would prefer Kitchen Cabinet over Keeping up with the Kardashians any day. I am a political ‘fan girl’, plain and simple. It’s hard to express just how surreal it is to be following a politician’s twitter feed one day and be discussing the G20 agenda in their office at Parliament House the next.
I strongly encourage all other Griffith students who share my passion for international politics to get involved with Global Voices’ future delegations. This experience has already been incredible and I can’t wait to represent Griffith University on the world stage in Turkey in August.
A group of Griffith graduates dropped everything to move to Finland to pursue their dream of launching a travel app.
It has more than paid off with their app ‘Ventoura’ worth $2 million just two weeks after it launched. And more success is set to come as the team prepares to expand Ventoura to the USA and Asia later this year.
The Griffith graduates Raymond Siems (Bachelor of Engineering), Jamin Wood (Bachelor of Engineering), Hector Ren (Bachelor of Information Technology) and Wenchao Chen (Bachelor of Multimedia and Information Technology )struck up a unique business partnership while working together on Griffith’s Gold Coast campus during the summer semester of 2013/14.
A screen shot from the AppStore of the Ventoura app.
The Ventoura app allows travellers to connect with people who live at their holiday destination area and have the “awesome experiences” only local knowledge can provide. It also matches up travellers who are going to the same place at the same time.
“The app gives travellers the opportunity to connect with locals and unlock the secrets of a destination, while also opening up social discovery and the chance to meet like minded travellers,” Raymond said.
The concept for Ventoura was a joint development by the founding team. Raymond said he had often thought about the ideas behind the app after finding a niche in the travel market while backpacking around Europe, but it wasn’t until he met his now co-founders that together the four of them had the skills and talent required to make the dream a reality.
“It’s a great case of international and domestic students teaming up to do something they wouldn’t have otherwise done,” he said.
“It was a fun, ambitious idea among friends that has led to something much more. The idea was a collaborative one — we each bring something to the team.”
Ventoura co-founders and Griffith graduates Hector Ren (left) and and Wenchao (far right) with Wilson Griffiths (second left), Evan Martin (middle) and Jai Carlton (second from right) who are now part of the team in Helskini, Finland.
Last year the group decided to quit their full time jobs to take the European market by storm.
Ventura capitalist interest in Helskini saw them move to Finland in August 2014.
After an extensive development stage Ventoura was officially launched on March 27.
The $2 million valuation is a result of outsider investments into the company. But their profits are set to increase with their business model seeing them net 18 per cent from all tour transactions that occur through the app.
“We are a long way from actual success, but it’s been beyond what we could have expected so far,” Raymond said.
The Ventoura team now consists of 12 members, with six Griffith Alumni.
Ventoura is free to download for iPhone and on Android.
