Category: Griffith University Feed

By Professor Michael Barry, Griffith Business School

The Howard Government is (in)famously remembered for introducing radical industrial relations changes (known as WorkChoices) that profoundly diminished aspects of workers’ long-established rights, and led that Government to its electoral loss in 2007. Nevertheless, an enduring and profound effect of the Howard Government was to take control of industrial relations away from the states under the power granted to the Commonwealth to regulate corporations (s20 of the Constitution).
The outcome is that Queensland’s industrial relations system now regulates only unincorporated entities and public sector industrial relations. Therefore, the Government’s own pay bargaining outcomes, and increases in the size of the public service as forecast in the Budget, are key employment issues affecting overall government expenditure.
Aside from this, the Queensland Government’s main responsibility for employment relations is through its regulation of occupational health and safety. OHS regulation and workers’ compensation are vital features of any employment

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By Associate Professor Tim Nelson, Griffith Business School
The energy ‘trilemma’ continues to be a challenging policy area for governments around the world. Delivering reliable electricity supplies while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a manner that ensures prices are efficient and affordable underpins the approach of the Queensland Government’s energy policy.
Recent price announcements by energy retailers show that prices are now declining in Queensland after increasing steeply in recent years. Competition continues to be the means of ensuring efficiency and competitive pricing. Given this, it is unsurprising that the centrepiece of the Queensland Government’s policy is the Affordable Energy Plan.
The budget appropriation statements show that funding of this Plan is provided through the Electricity Asset Ownership Dividend. In simple terms, dividends from the Queensland Government’s own electricity corporations are funding this Plan. The Plan is aimed at approving energy affordability and has the following elements:

Energy rebates for Queenslanders of $50 per year;
$20

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Griffith University is in the top ten of Australian institutions according to a new performance measure ranking universities on a range of published research criteria.
The University Ranking of Academic Performance lists universities on criteria including citation, impact and journal standing.
Griffith University has been ranked the tenth-best performed on a national level and is inside the top 300 on world rankings.
Ranked in 39 of the 61 subjects and disciplines, Griffith University was placed in the global top 100 in Nursing (11), Commerce Management, Tourism and Services (29), Law & Legal Studies (36),  International relations (37), Marine Sciences (48), Education (53), Sociology (53), Studies in Human Society (57), Human Movement & Sports Sciences (58), Business (69), Environmental Sciences (78), Environmental Engineering (92).
Just outside the world top 100 is Agriculture (107) and Economics (113).
Griffith University Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Ned Pankhurst said the subject rankings show the excellence in research being undertaken across

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Griffith Law School researchers Dr Kieran Tranter and Dr Edwin Bikundo are seeking out new research on the first full English translation of an early work penned by infamous German philosopher Carl Schmitt.
Despite Schmitt’s popularity among contemporary political thinkers on both the left and right, his early work, Die Buribunken, had never been fully translated into English until it was commissioned last year through Griffith’s Law Futures Centre.
Dr Kieran Tranter says the compact and cynical text has become deeply relevant to our social media age and information technology driven societies.
“In an age of social media, audit culture and the tyranny of continuous connection from our digitally accelerated existence, Schmitt’s text has evolved into a prophetic publication,” says Kieran.
In collaboration, Dr Bikundo and Dr Tranter will oversee a new book based on the translation, with a particular focus on the power and politics of data and the tragedy of the concept

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By Dr Julienne Senyard, Griffith Business School
Startups and entrepreneurs are a large contributor to new jobs and innovation in the Federal Government’s 2018 Innovation Agenda. This highlights the importance of State Government initiatives that connect and support entrepreneurs and innovative small businesses.
The 2018 Queensland Budget included an unexpected $1.5 billion surplus, and as a result the Palaszczuk Government maintains a strong focus on programs through Advance Queensland to assist startups and initiatives for innovative Queensland small business.
A total of $650 million is being invested through the Advance Queensland to support innovative Queensland businesses to drive economic growth and job creation within dynamic global business environments.
Advance Queensland “supports the need for innovation, enhanced digital skills, connectivity and increased inclusion to position Queensland as a global innovation hub”.
Much of what the Budget provides is continued focus and extension on existing programs. Some selected Advance Queensland programs include:
The Ignite Ideas Fund, which provides grants provide

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By Professor Sheena Reilly, Pro Vice Chancellor (Health), Griffith University
The Palaszczuk Government’s 2018 State Budget has been delivered with a commendable focus on strengthening frontline services and managing the rising demand of health services.
The Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, the Honourable Dr Steven Miles MP, said the budget reflected the Government’s commitment to providing quality health services across Queensland, with almost $1.5 billion to be invested in healthcare specifically on the Gold Coast in 2018-19 – a record investment in healthcare in the region.
We welcome the government’s investment to meet increasing demand and keep Queenslanders healthy by improving critical health infrastructure, enhancing medical technology, boosting frontline staff, and importantly focusing on approaches to promote good health as well as proven prevention programs.
However, the road to better health outcomes for all Queenslanders remains long.
As a leading health academic institution, Griffith University can pinpoint three crucial areas that health policy and

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A wealth of new student learning opportunities is on the agenda as the new Griffith University School of Medicine at the Sunshine Coast prepares to open its doors.
Set for its first intake of students early in 2019, the medical program will be delivered at the Sunshine Coast Health Institute (SCHI), which is co-located with Sunshine Coast University Hospital as part of Griffith University School of Medicine.
“I am delighted to announce Associate Professor Williams to the new Deputy Head position. As a Sunshine Coast local who is also an emergency physician at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital, she knows the community well and is well placed to assist in taking the Medicine School into the future,” says Pro Vice Chancellor (Health) Professor Sheena Reilly.
This is an exciting opportunity for students to undertake the Doctor of Medicine program in a state-of-the-art facility in one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, at

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Leading Griffith University researchers have been honoured at the 2017 Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Awards held at Nathan campus.
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Ian O’Connor AC warmly congratulated all the researchers who took part.
The awards were presented by the Chancellor Mr Henry Smerdon AM DUniv and Vice Chancellor and President Professor O’Connor.
The full list of 2017 winners:
Excellence in Research Leadership:
Professor Nam-Trung Nguyen
Since starting at Griffith five years ago, Professor Nam-Trung Nguyen from the Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Centre quickly established the lab and research activities, which has generated 150 journal papers and seven PhD completions from Griffith.
Professor Nam-Trung Nguyen accepts his Excellence In research Leadership award
Professor Nguyen, the recipient of the Research Leadership Award, said the win was recognition of his commitment to helping Higher Degree by Research students and Early Career Research members achieve their full potential.
“This is a nice recognition and very motivating,” Professor Nguyen said.
“I hope to provide an example

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Award-winning journalist and Griffith journalism lecturer Nance Haxton has taken out silver and bronze awards at the World’s Best Radio Program awards in Manhattan.
Nance won for her documentary about the “kanakas” from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands who worked in brutal conditions on the cane fields and cotton farms of Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
The former ABC journalist dedicated her awards to the more than 60,000 descendants of the “kanakas” living in Australia today.
“I want to thank the South Sea Islanders who trusted me with their stories, who enabled me to bring this issue to better worldwide recognition,” Nance said.
“We have not confronted our past in terms of the so-called blackbirding of Indigenous cultures in the Pacific. Many kanakas were brought to Australia against their will or under false pretences.
“Many people are calling for Australia to come to terms with its past, and for this chapter of history to

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In the increasingly contentious world of social media, Griffith University graduate Dr Ashley M Berge has high hopes for her rising social network, Topicthread.
Dr Berge says Topicthread is the first social network developed in Australia and is also the first to be curated by a female. Her goal is to attract 10 million subscribers in the next five years.
Topicthread is being promoted as a safer, simpler and more secure network in which users enjoy far greater control over their personal data and social media activity. Mobile and web-based, Topicthread went live in January and was born in response to two events.
The first was the 2015-16 Cambridge Analytica data scandal that saw the private details of millions of Facebook users – including tens of thousands of Australians – sold and allegedly used to influence the 2016 US presidential election won by Donald Trump.
The second event was more personal for Dr Berge, arising

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