Cultural Times - Edition 3 - October 2019

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CULTURAL TIMES WHERE DIVERSITY THRIVES

Mining for Diversity

A profile on Sherry Duhe CFO for Woodside

BATTING THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING WITH DR. ANNE ALY

GRAND PRIX:

An Article for the Uninitiated

KPOP FANS

are Creative, Dedicated and Social: We should Take them Seriously

a cut above the rest Weird And Wonderful Careers To Enhance Your Cultural Knowledge

CONTENTS ON THE COVER 02

A Profile on Woodside CFO,

Mining For Diversity

Sherry Duhe

05

Batting Through The Glass Ceiling With Dr. Anne Aly

07

Grand Prix

10

Kpop Fans Are Creative, Dedicated And Social

12

A Cut Above The Rest: Weird and Wonderful Careers to Enhance Your Cultural Knowledge

Batting Through the Glass Ceiling with Dr. Anne Aly

LEADERSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE 17

ECU's Journey To Achieving Gender Diversity & Equality

19 Inclusive Leadership: Have The Courage To Seek Feedback

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

An Article for the

16 News Around The World 21

Grand Prix: Uninitiated

Jokowi's $33 Bn Infrastructure Project

25 Breach Of Trust: A Minority View Of Brexit

MORE 23 Stepping Into The Unknown

Weird and Wonderful Careers

27 To Be Or Not To Be: New Pop-Up Globe Event At Crown 29 Book Launch

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to Enhance Your Cultural Knowledge

Letter from the Editor They say time flies, but it truly does. I have this theory that the older you get the quicker time goes by. We are heading into the last quarter of the year and I hear many business owners and CEOs saying they are starting to feel burnt out.

The last few months was a difficult period for me with a death in the family and burning the candle on both ends. I could not have released this edition without my wonderful team and would like to loudly acknowledge their contribution! We are celebrating mental health week in October and I would like to encourage you all to seek help if needed or do regular check ins with those around you.

This edition is filled with the stories of amazing people who showed resilience and continue to do so. A reminder to all that when we feel stressed our biases are highlighted.

We specifically chose to highlight feature two women who are making an enormous difference in male dominated industries and a male founder with his female partner in what some may see as a more female dominated area. I gave a different perspective on the Formula 1 after I recently attended the Singapore Grand Prix. This is followed by a variety of articles to inform you around cultures you may not have considered from politics to theatre and everything in between.

I'm also delighted to stick with our Uluru promise of highlighting an Indigenous story in each publication. For this one I'd like to invite you to an Indigenous author's book launch if you are in Perth, Australia, London, UK or Paris, France. (Coming to Canada and the USa, but you can also order her book on Amazon.

May you find strength and courage for the last quarter of the year and don't hesitate to keep the stories coming for our next edition or send us any cultural questions you may have.

Tanya Finnie MEET THE TEAM! from left to right

Ronald Chua - Deputy Editor, Social Media Manager Sophie Barclay - Deputy Editor, Researcher

Want to get in touch? Have an amazing story to tell? Write to us at editor@cultural-times.com C U L T U R A L

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MINING FOR DIVERSITY: A PROFILE ON WOODSIDE CFO SHERRY DUHE

Written by Sophie Barclay Interviewed by Tanya Finnie

Meet Woodside’s CFO, Sherry Duhe: Until she was 35, Sherry Duhe thought that the need for gender sensitivity was nonsense and that sexism had long been rooted out of organisations.

Born in Louisiana, both her parents were employed at Exxon Mobil and she grew up around the oil and gas industry. Mrs. Duhe studied Accounting and Internal Audits at Louisiana State University, before backpacking around Europe. During this time, she realised she loved travel and that she wanted a job that combined both her love of finance and her desire to go everywhere.

Returning from her travels, Duhe began working for Exxon Mobil, where she remained for six years including a stint in Miami, doing internal audits across Latin America. In 2000, she decided she was done with oil and gas and applied to University of South Carolina to undertake an MBA. She continued her love affair with travel, going on an exchange to Paris and working at Citibank for a year.

After her MBA, Duhe ended up in Houston, Texas, and eventually began working for Shell in 2004. She worked at the company for thirteen years, working her way up to Unconventionals Vice President in Shell’s Exploration and Production Company and working in many different countries around world, including the UK, Qatar and the Netherlands.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

SHERRY DUHE, CFO, WOODSIDE

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Mining for Diversity

Yet, despite her many accomplishments, Duhe was shocked to discover her decision to become a mother profoundly changed the way men and women alike treated her.

ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, COLLEAGUES AND LEADERS STARTED QUESTIONING HER PRIORITIES AND AMBITIONS, IMPLYING THAT SHE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO COPE WITH BEING A FULL-TIME WORKER AND A MOTHER. Whilst

she

kept

producing

consistent

output,

Duhe says people kept asking her “are you sure you can stay late, are you sure you can work on this project, are you sure you can go for that job?”

She considers herself lucky that she was old enough to be appalled by this behaviour and to push back against this rhetoric. However, it made her consider that if she was ten years younger and trying to cement herself in the field, would she have had the courage to stand up against it?

Sherry with husband James and children, Alexander and Eva

How she was treated has shaped the way she has acted and behaved in the workplace, especially when it comes to hiring and promotional decisions, as well as micro-equities within the workplace.

When Woodside offered her the role of Chief Financial Officer in Perth, it was a soul-searching experience for Duhe. On one hand, she loved her position at Shell and didn’t want to leave. On the other, Woodside was offering her a role, which she described as “one of the best finance jobs on the planet”. It was an offer she couldn’t refuse and in 2017, she and her family relocated to Perth, Western Australia.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

Her position at Woodside has allowed her to create a more diverse, equal workplace and, with the support of the rest of the leadership at the company, has seen it flourish as a champion of gender equality in the resources and energy industry, a field known for its lack of inclusivity.

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Mining for Diversity

How Woodside Became a Champion for Diversity and Inclusion

An Inclusive Environment:

Management consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that companies with more diverse workforces perform better financially.

Aside from strong executive leadership, the organisation itself and people at all levels must foster an environment where diversity and inclusion thrives. Woodside has several key organisations that give visibility and credibility to different groups and allow people to bring their whole selves to work.

Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity outperform their competitors by 15% and those in the top quartile for ethnic diversity outperform their competitors by 35%. If you need to create a diverse solution or product, you need a diverse team and leadership and there are several key factors organisations must have in order to achieve this.

A Supportive and Engaged Executive Leadership Team:

For diversity and equality in an organisation to flourish, executive support and commitment is critical. However, it should go beyond mere words to embodying and exemplifying inclusion strategies—and this is where Woodside succeeds.

Duhe says that Woodside’s CEO, Peter Coleman walks the walk on everything, supporting gender equality and diversity initiatives, pushing for internal conversations about gender and recognising inbuilt biases within the system.

Almost a decade ago, he recognised that Woodside’s graduate female intake sat at 16% and immediately challenged the recruitment side to improve their hiring rate. For the past three years, the intake has been 50-50 and the attrition rate has been roughly equal.

Duhe herself is a firm believer in encouraging new and diverse talent within the organisation. Every time she makes a hiring or promotional decision, she makes sure she has a wide range of candidates to choose from. One of the most important things she asks herself is “am I falling into old stereotypes or behaviours?” and says it has been an ongoing journey to challenge her unconscious biases.

She has a friendly competition with Megan O’Neill, Woodside's Chief Operations Officer, to be the first in the organisation to have a 50-50 male-female team and believes it would be a failure of the commercial and finance team if they lose.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

and

Supportive

Organisational

Gender Equality Matters: Out of a 3 500+ workforce, around 1 200 people are now part of the Gender Equality Matters organisation, which advocates for gender equity and inclusion across Woodside. The organisation has four pillars; elevating role modelling, challenging norms, supporting the modern worker and dismantling barriers through advocacy.

Spectrum: Launched in 2016, Spectrum is Woodside’s company sponsored LGBTI+ groups, aimed at ensuring people feel comfortable and supported at work regardless of their sexuality, gender identity or gender expression. Not only does it advocate for inclusion within the Woodside head office, but members have personally taken the inclusion conversation to remote sites, international offices and the external community.

Reconciliation Community: In 2016, Woodside launched its 2016 – 2020 Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), directly employing 130 Indigenous employees and increasing the number of Indigenous tertiary scholarships.

The Reconciliation Community has increased 60% in group membership and is dedicated to ensuring nonIndigenous employees both understand the bloody history of Australian colonisation and how to work together with Indigenous Australians in a more seamless way.

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Mining for Diversity

Reworked Company Policies: An organisation’s policies are crucial to embodying their on-paper diversity and inclusion strategy. One of the most important conversations Duhe had about gender equality was when she was discussing her treatment after she had kids and someone asked her if she thought there were some men who were treated the same way if they made this decision.

It made her consider whether it was the best men who were reaching the top of the organisations or if they were the ones facing the same discriminations women did.

Woodside shares Duhe’s position and has changed its policies to be gender-neutral, giving fathers the opportunity to take parental leave if they choose.

On top of parental leave for both the primary and secondary carer, Woodside also offers flexible jobsharing arrangements and places a strong emphasis on outcome delivery rather than strict hours. Duhe believes that Woodside has the policy in place to encourage equality but concedes that people may not be taking advantage of it proportionately.

Last year, only 13 men took up the offer of parental leave. Woodside has over 3 500 employees. and despite its proactive push to equality, perhaps it simply needs more time to change the culture.

The next step for Woodside is ensuring that line managers and colleagues are not inadvertently discouraging people from taking up the policies.

Final Leadership Lessons: Can women really have it all? You can have two important priorities in life, Duhe says, and she has chosen her family and her career.

It is important to be realistic about your abilities and to never apologise if other aspects of your life fall to the wayside. Most importantly, she believes the times she is most effective as a leader are when she lets go of ‘I’ and thinks about ‘we’.

Whilst she is unafraid to challenge her employees, she is also determined to motivate them to be as successful as possible.

Her leadership style brings to mind what former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch once said; “before you are leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others”.

Sherry Duhe and the executive team at Woodside are clearly embedding inclusive policies in an industry that sometimes lacks the practice of embedding real change towards equity.

From L-R: Richard Nolan, Sherry Duhe, Andrew Lobb and Mike Utsler Special thanks to Woodside Senior Media Advisor, Christine Foster, and team who made all inhouse arrangements possible for this candid interview.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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BATTING THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING WITH DR ANNE ALY

By Ronald Chua Interviewed Tanya Finnie

The first female federal parliamentarian of Muslim faith, Dr Anne Aly has been the Labor Representative for Cowan, Western Australia since 2016. She is the recipient of numerous awards , such as the Australian Security Medal and was the only Australian invited to President Barrack Obama’s White House conference on violent extremism in 2015. That being said, who is the woman behind these amazing accomplishments?

Anne moved to Australia with her family from Egypt when she was 2 years old as one of the first wave of Egyptian families to come to Australia. She recalls a time when Texas could have become her new home; “My father got a job in Texas in the US and they ended up at the last minute changing their minds and decided to stay as Australia had become their home. Australia is and always will be home”. Growing up in Australia in the 60’s Anne fondly remembers the games people would play to pass the time, “In the 60s in the streets of Sydney we were just playing cricket and no one cared what language you spoke or the colour of your skin”. This version of Australia is something Anne resonates with and now being in politics, she realises that there are other people who feel the same way.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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Since her election, it is interactions with everyday Australians that have had some of the biggest impacts on her.

From a mother who had told her daughter she could be whomever she wanted to be after seeing Anne in parliament to men in their 60’s writing to her telling her that they related to her story; the story of an Australia that did not care about the colour of your skin or the language that you speak.

However, statistics paint a sobering picture of government. Of the 227 members of parliament, there are currently only 81 women, 22 people born overseas, 9 of non-European parentage and 5 Indigenous Australians. (Australia only appointed for the first time an Indigenous person as Minister for Indigenous Affairs on 29 May 2019)

"Parliament is essentially a white boys club."

Women 35.8% 46th Australian Parliament

-Andrew Jakubowicz, Academic -Tanya Finnie, Global Cultural Strategist -and probably many others

5 Indigenous Australians 22 Born Overseas 9 with a non-European parent 5 Indigenous Australians

Men 64.2%

Source: SBS News (source Parliamentary Library and SBS News)

“Our parliament isn’t representative of the diversity in

Looking to the future, Anne believes that in order to

our country’, Anne says, “in the professional

improve “we need to change it [the government] by

background there isn’t a lot diversity. We tend to

having more people from diverse backgrounds, right

focus on gender diversity and equality, so we are

now there is a status quo that is perpetuated and

lacking representation of people with disability,

maintained”. This determination and motivation to

people of colour and indigenous people”.

stand up for what she believes in isn’t an easy road to be on. There have been moments that Anne looks

With regards to current political issues like having a

back on when she was on the verge of throwing in

gender-inclusive toilet sign in the Parliament house

the towel. She remembers an e-mail that another

Anne only had this to say, “What is the big deal?”. She

man in his 60s sent to her after hearing her on a

thinks back to a time after the last election where

podcast in which he said “please, please we need

her brother said that previous elections were about

you in parliament”, she remembers crying and

the issues and now everyone is asked to vote about

thinking “bugger”. It is people like this that have

every kind of value and that politicians have

reminded her why it is important to keep this fight

changed

of

up and change the structure within so that she can

Australians have retreated from politics. She says “we

accordingly

which

is

why

a

lot

make a pathway for someone to come up after

have these discussions in parliament and they are

her.

superficial and not nuanced and everything is politicised now from unisex toilets and everything

“There are still those structural barriers in place but

else”. (Our readers may recall the Australian PM

for someone like me, am I supposed to say that I

recently being furious at a gender neutral toilet sign

have no place in that culture and just sit back? No! I

in parliament and asking for its immediate removal.)

need to say no and have my voice heard”.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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GRAND PRIX Disclaimer: An article for the uninitiated

This year I was lucky enough to attend the Grand Prix in Singapore. It is not like I’m totally uninitiated as I live in a house with car enthusiasts and have travelled on several family holidays based around the Formula 1, I just never bothered to attend. (From a diversity stance I can hear the privilege in that statement.)

Before I start, I should explain that Formula 1 is the whole year’s worth of races and a race is called the Grand Prix. F1 is named after the ‘perfect formula’ for first class racing and has been going for 6 decades. Winners are evaluated on a point-based system with races throughout the world over a oneyear period.

This year I made an effort to attend with an open mind, and this is what I learnt:

NOISE We packed 12 different types of earphones to make sure we protect our ears. We did book tickets for all three days after all. It turns out I missed the news where fans have been complaining for the last few years, that the new 1.6 litre turbo charged V-6 hybrid power plants are not noisy enough. I was pleasantly surprised at how I did not even need earphones.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

However, Formula 1 is looking into ways to introduce engine changes to satisfy fans and bring back the noise…

CROWD Below: Japanese attendee in traditional kimono

This year had 268 000 attendees – 5000 more than the previous year. Many were dressed in their team’s paraphernalia, but I also spotted a couple of people wearing some amazing traditional outfits.

Many attended only for the side concerts and (like me) knew little about cars.

There was a lot of bantering by the large Australian crowd and many were quite surprised when I admitted I was not shouting for Ricky Ricardo, but rather for the red team. (In saying that I also like the silver team and wore one of their shirts one night to blend with the rest of my family.)

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Colour Bias

Pink

vs.

Red

As a cultural specialist I am hyper aware of biases and know I hold some. Here is one – Red goes faster. Hence me supporting Charles Leclerc. The fact that the two red cars crossed the finishing line first totally reinforced this bias. Which did make me momentarily wonder how often humans hold these biases about other people without being aware of their own biases. I must also quite upfront admit, that I was very surprised to see pink cars racing.

Yes, I realise the colour should not make a difference and maybe the fact that they went with a different theme, will strengthen their brand?

CARS The total basic expenditure of a Formula 1 car is around $15.52 million and an additional $350 million in yearly maintenance costs. It takes approximately 80 000 components to come together and of course needs 100% accuracy to work. This seems like a lot of work if you realise the engine can only last for up to 2 hours of racing before blowing up and a maximum of 5 races. Due to their aerodynamics they can technically drive upside down at high speeds for up to 2 seconds. It is their wings that keep them on the ground though, as they do reach speeds in excess of small aeroplanes taking off. They reach speeds of up to 360 Kilometres an hour. Cars have a pipe attached to a water bottled installed for drivers to stay hydrated whilst driving.

ENTERTAINMENT There was over 130 hours of entertainment across 10 stages.This included stars such as: Gwen Stefani, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Hans Zimmer, Swedish House Mafia and more.

DRIVERS The Top 5 Drivers in Singapore 2019: 1. S. Vettel - German 2. C. LeClerc - French 3. M. Verstappen - Dutch Above: Gwen Stefani

MONEY The previous 11 editions of the night race brought in over $1.4 billion (SGD) in tourism receipts and according to 2017 Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran – the cost in 2017 decreased by $15 million for hosting it to $135 million.

Weight

My fun fact for the night was that a driver could lose up to around 4% of their body weight per race, equivalent of around 3 litres of water.

Now if you have not been to Singapore it is humid, to be exact the September average is 80% humidity, but some days are as high

as 96%. Minimum temperatures are 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit and at night goes only as low as 21 degrees Celsius (69 Fahrenheit).

4. L. Hamilton - British 5. V. Bottas - Finish Fun fact – Nobody with the surnames Hill who ever entered the sport has failed to win a world championship. [Graham (father and one of the oldest people to win at aged 36), Darion (son) and Phil (no relation to father and son)].

I’m not convinced about the impact of their carbon footprint.

Some sources state the Mclaren team has been carbon neutral for 8 years (through emission controls). I do however believe this fact needs further investigation as cars and equipment get transported around the world every season. It was a very interesting experience, but probably not a sport I will ever get into. Maybe it’s the noise, maybe the masses of people or the fact that it’s predominantly a male-dominated sport.

I DO HOWEVER REMAIN A STRONG BELIEVER THAT YOU SHOULD TRY EVERYTHING ONCE.

Singapore is the only city that holds a night race, but of course it is no cooler than for example Malaysia that also hosts a Grand Prix. Apparently, the reason they have a night race is to be able to broadcast it at lunch time in the UK. (and the Singapore Tourism board was more than happy to promote their city at night). As the cockpit can reach 50 degrees Celsius, you should not be surprised though. It did make me wonder for a brief moment if I drive faster if I would lose weight?

However, I decided probably not if that means I also must wear two suits including fireproof underwear.

Above: The writer Tanya Finnie with her son at the end of the race.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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K-pop fans are creative, dedicated and social we should take them seriously

Dr Joanna Elfving-Hwang This article was originally published in

at: https://theconversation.com/

by Joanna Elfving-Hwang, Associate Professor of Korean Studies, University of Western Australia.

The phenomenal success of K-pop (Korean pop music) and its biggest export bands such as BTS, EXO, Blackpink, MONSTA X and Red Velvetcan largely be credited to their highly active and dedicated fandom. This is a group not to be dissed, as Channel Nine discovered recently after airing a segment on “global crazes” featuring BTS, a Billboard chart-topping band.

The program’s attempt to poke fun at the band quickly drew the ire of dedicated fans (known as the BTS Army) who felt the presenters had not only disrespected the band, but also its diverse, global support base. They mounted a social media campaign, accusing Nine of racism.

The hashtag #Channel9Apologise went viral and the station issued a statement apologising for offending anyone.

K-pop fans often complain how Australian mainstream media is, in their view, racist and insensitive in its reporting on the groups. While it may be tempting to dismiss fan activity as evidence of highly successful marketing techniques, these fan networks actually perform an increasingly important role as a source of social belonging.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

Above: Photo supplied by NINE STARS

Contrary to common perception, most fans are not socially withdrawn nerds – because the social aspect of K-pop fandom is central to being a true fan. Fan clubs typically consist of global networks of loosely organised local chapters, comprising diverse nationalities and ages. There are also many middle-aged and retired fans, some of whom (such as Shinhwa fans) have grown older with their idols.

While there are no reliable statistics quantifying the number of K-pop fans, The Korea Foundation (which is affiliated with Korea’s ministry of foreign affairs) recently estimated the number of fans of Korean pop culture in general to be 89 million across 113 countries. BTS was the first Asian act to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify.

They have over 9 billion views on YouTube and 20.7 million Twitter followers, compared with EXO’s 5.7 million , Blackpink’s 2.5 million and MONSTA X’s 3 million.

Embodying an "Ideal Self K-Pop bands are not simply perceived as pretty and talented people to be admired from afar. They are seen as the ultimate embodiment of “ideal self” achieved through hard work.The work of transforming from an ordinary mortal into a K-pop star is often well documented through groups’ official social media feeds or behind-the-scenes videos.

Polished (often cosmetically enhanced) appearances are seen as the hallmark of investment in self. | 9 |

K-pop

K-pop band members also work hard to reduce social distance between themselves and their fans; either by meeting them in person or using social media. In a recent tweet, BTS member J-Hope posted a photo in anticipation of a fan meet the following day, with the line “Thank you Army! See you tomorrow!”.

The use of purple heart emojis has a special significance, representing the connection the band and BTS fans share.Frequent livestream interactions with fans via Instagram live or South Korean video service VLive also reduce the social distance between idols and fans, who can quickly build a real sense of attachment to their idol.

In return, the idols acknowledge the importance of their fans, and actively seek to nurture this relationship. “Thank you to ARMYs for giving us such a big happiness. We will never forget the magical time we had with you at the Magic Shop”, said BTS in a tweet after wrapping up the fan meetings in Seoul and Busan. The Seoul event was beamed live to global audiences – allowing for those outside Korea to “take part” through live streaming and commenting.

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As “ideal selves”, K-pop stars rarely say or do anything controversial and are thus stable, predictable role models. (Although when they do trip up, as happened recently with the former Big Bang boy band member Seungri, the fall from grace can be swift).

K-pop fandom involves much more than buying merchandise or attending concerts – fans are cultural producers themselves. They run fan sites, create selfdesigned band merchandise and produce fan chants: lyrics shouted out during performances at collectively agreed points of the song.Fan chants are also popular in Japan, but K-pop fans have taken them to a new level.

They are disseminated through fan sites and social media.

Fan clubs even have unique pet names bands use, such as Exo-L (“L” for the love the band has for their fans) and V.I.P. for Big Bang (denoting how each fan is important to them).Committed K-pop fans also demonstrate their dedication through orchestrated mass voting to ensure the bands’ success in music charts and awards.

Above: Photo supplied by Wikipedia

Philanthropy Philanthropy is an increasingly important part of K-pop fandom. Many fan clubs pool resources to support charities. BTS have also promoted UNICEF, joining forces with it in their Love Myself campaign, which raised more than US$1.4 million (much via direct donations from fans).

Western media should also bear in mind that bands such as BTS are not popular in spite of being Korean, but precisely because they are Korean. The number of Australians learning Korean has grown exponentially over the past few years, with five major Australian Universities now offering a BA major in Korean Studies.

Much of that interest has likely have been sparked by an encounter with Korean popular culture.

Above: Photo supplied by Shaq CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

Critics may also be wise to note that fan clubs such as the global BTS Army are increasingly succeeding in what years of government policies in Australia have failed to do: a real and meaningful desire to connect with cultures outside our borders. | 1 0 |

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A Cut Above The Rest Weird and Wonderful Careers to Enhance Your Cultural Knowledge Written by Sophie Barclay Interviewed by Tanya Finnie Long before ‘overconsumption’ and ‘sustainability were buzzwords Paul Frasca and Ewellna Soroko , were questioning whether it was possible to combat the exorbitant waste created by salons. After five years of research, they had the answer and in 2015, Sustainable Salons (SS) was born.

Paul kindly conducted an interview with Cultural Times and answered some of our questions about SS and its impact on the sustainability movement.

1. Metals Along with hair, metal makes up 50% of salon wastage. Aluminium is one of the worst materials on the planet to produce yet it is the most sustainable to keep—it is infinitely recyclable. All our salons use recycled foils.

In culture we often refer to perception. Paul nailed this with his quote describing the love-hate relationship we have with hair.

Hair.

On our head we love it, on our food we hate it.

What is the story behind Sustainable Salons?

Around eight years ago, Ewelina and I began conducting research about salon waste and materials. We travelled around Australia, collecting material from 160 salons and brought it back to my father’s garage to get a better understanding of the ways it could be used. We quickly realised that around 95% of salon waste could be repurposed and diverted to solving a problem.

Today, Sustainable Salons is the largest comprehensive resource recovery program dedicated to recycling, reusing and repurposing salon waste.

The program services more than 800 salons in the hairdressing, beauty, barbering and pet-grooming sectors.

We believe our program has been so successful because we have focused on a specific niche of the market and it allowed us to remain focused on solving the root problems of the industry.

What materials do you recycle and how are they repurposed?

There are several aspects to the resource recovery system—we collect paper, plastics, hair, chemicals, metals, copper and more.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

Above: Worker holding collected metals.

Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

2. Chemicals Chemical waste, particularly hydrogen peroxide, is incredibly toxic. It is ironic that the EPA could fine an individual $100,000 if they threw peroxide into the gutter but hairdressers can tip it down the drain and contaminate our oceans. SS was the first company to provide a chemical recycling service, with chemicals collected in small buckets and turned back into clean water for manufacturing and building.

3. Plastics We are really focused on trying to solve the plastic problem. We work with local recyclers and manufacturers to create products such as outdoor furniture, product packaging and in some areas, even heavy-duty plastic sheeting that goes underground to protect the internet. However, we are always looking for other exciting products. We are launching a glasses range in October made from recycled shampoo bottles. Our customers are looking for fun, quirky items and they love consumables made from their own waste. They sell out overnight. | 1 2 |

Sustainable Salons

4. Hair We recycle hair in two different ways. The SS is the largest collector and donor of ponytails in the Southern Hemisphere, sending them to various charitable organisations and wig-makers, such as the Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation. When we first got in touch, they said they needed 4000 ponytails a year but they could only source around 1000, meaning people were placed on a waiting list for 3 to 6 months.

Now, we have thousands of customers ringing up salons on our programs, wanting their hair cuttings to be donated to these organisations. The second use is through our Hair Boom Project.

Above: Co- founder Ewelina Soroko Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

What are the benefits for salons involved in this initiative?

SS is a social enterprise and we are founded on three key principles; people, planet, profit. We wanted to create a model that both rewarded salons for being part of the program but also redirected profits back into local communities and charitable organisations.

Above: Worker holding hair booms.

Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

Can you go into some more detail about Hair Boom Project?

Hair booms can be used to clean up oil spills. We heard about this twenty years ago in America but during the BP oil spill, it got a lot of bad press. We went straight to the universities, bought 30 hair booms and began funding research for testing.

Current research shows that the capacity for hair as an oil sorbent is higher than any other natural sorbent boom and holds up to 8 times its weight. It is also organic and completely breaks down in the ocean. We have repurposed 18,900 kilograms of hair to date and we hope to be the number one manufactured, commercially available product used for spills at sea and on land.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

We want people to be inspired to take care of the planet and become educated on how to be better within society. If salons want to join us, we are going to encourage you to be part of the community. We organise events where the homeless or their pets can have their hair cut, we bus in around 300 people for our New South Wales event.

All our collected commodity waste is recycled and sold for profit, which the Sustainable Salons then donates to the community via OzHarvest in Australia and Kiwi Harvest in New Zealand. For every $1 donated by Sustainable Salons, two meals are provided to the most vulnerable in our communities.

However, we also make it beneficial for businesses to join our programs. We provide a whole range of marketing tools that can be used within the salon to build awareness with clients. Salons have access to all of the SS messaging, information, design collateral and branding. This immediately improves the salon’s environmental credential and helps them attract new clientele.

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Sustainable Salons Below: Co- founder and CEO Paul Frasca. Photo supplied by Sustainable Salons.

How do you go about educating the market about a product they don’t know they need?

How do you balance education with the profit side of the business?

Education was built into our original business plan; we knew that we were going to have to invest time and resources. We decided that the best way to educate kids about sustainability was if we wrote the curriculum ourselves. Schools already were trying to develop sustainability units, so we got in contact with them and said we would be happy to put it together. Schools love it because it was free and kids love it because we made it fun and relevant.

Another important aspect was story telling. We create readable, easily consumable content. We made sure that the content was relevant to the people reading it and that it connects with consumers.

As a call to action for our readers, what is it you would like them to do?

Right now, we cover all major cities in Australia and have begun expanding to New Zealand. We are about to open our Christchurch and Wellington recycling depos. If you are an Australian or New Zealand resident, get your hairdresser in contact with us via our website and someone will call you.

It is important to remember we are a service, not a product. We can’t come to places where we don’t have the infrastructure. However, you can easily start your own service or program. Many people around the world are starting to figure out similar models to create their own movement and we think that’s great.

Businesses like this are truly made out of passion.

You aren’t thinking of money, you are problem solving. And more and more, we are seeing that consumers want sustainable options as well.

THE SUSTAINABLE SALONS FOOTPRINT Just by saving valuable materials from landfill, the Sustainable Salons network of hairdressing, beauty and pet-grooming salons, and dermal and cosmetic clinics across Australia and New Zealand helps feed the hungry, protect the planet and grow local communities. Here's what we achieved on our journey to zero waste!

89,000kg of plastic kept in circulation and out of landfill 106,600kg of paper recycled 125,000kg of metals diverted from landfill 16,400 litres of excess chemicals recycled back into water 18,900kg of hair collected for the Hair Boom project that could soak up 63,300L of oil in a coastline spill 43,700 ponytails collected that could make 2185 wigs for cancer and alopecia 95,200 meals provided for the homeless via OzHarvest Recycled 1300 kg of e-waste 23,600 wheelie bins of material saved from landfill

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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"Strength lies in differences, not in similarities."

Stephen R. Covey

News Around the World GLOBALLY On September 20th, more than 4 million people turned up to 6000 climate strike events held in more than 1000 cities across 185 countries

AUSTRALIA In August, a study by the three main Australian environmental organisations was released, warning that Australia had cleared 7.7 hectares of threatened species habitat since the introduction of environmental act and more than 90% of the land cleared had not been referred to the federal government for assessment.

ETHOPIA On September 12th, Ethiopians ushered in their New Year, entering the year 2012 according to the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar.

SLOVAKIA The Indonesian Parliament agreed to raise the minimum age for women to marry from 16 to 19 years of age.

In June, the first female president of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, was sworn into office. She won the 2019 election with 58% of the vote and is also the youngest person in Slovakian history to win the presidency.

HONG KONG

EUROPE

INDONESIA

In June, Hong Kong citizens began protesting against the introduction of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill, concerned that it would subject citizens and visitors to mainland China jurisdiction.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have attended rallies and demonstrations and their initial objective has given way to five central objectives, aimed at democratic reform and independence.

As a result tourists have shunned HK and about 77% of people working in hotels have been asked to take unpaid leave for up to 3 days and 46% expect their monthly income to be reduced by as much as $HK3000

BRITAIN

Despite UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suspending parliament, the British Supreme Court found his decision to be ‘unlawful’ and ordered the government be reconvened.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

A new continent has been discovered – Greater Adria. Researchers found it became a continent 240 million years ago during the Triassic period and it covers more than 30 countries underneath the Mediterranean.

CHINA With the trade war escalating between the USA and China. The Chinese firm Huawei will inject $2 billion into the telecom giant in the next 5 years. They are currently the world’s second largest producer of smartphones.

BRAZIL The LGBT+ community has been receiving increasing death threats, violent attacks and homophobic remarks from their leader, Bolsonaor. The country has one of the world's highest rates of crime perpetrated against LGBT+ people . As a result, the Supreme Court has just criminalised homophobia. | 1 6 |

ECU'S

JOURNEY TO ACHIEVING GENDER DIVERSITY & EQUALITY Professor Cobie Rudd At Edith Cowan University (ECU), Professor Rudd leads the University’s portfolio for institutional gender equality accreditation and is visibly reframing the conversation about gender diversity and equality in the higher education landscape and beyond. One of the aims of her portfolio is to build a culture of equality and diversity with measurable gains, including increased opportunities for women and improved work practices.

Currently, there is a need for a major redesign of systems to redress gender inequities. Rectifying the gender imbalance in organisations requires deep analysis; organisations need to have courage and demonstrate transparency to achieve this.

Professor Rudd maintains “this process is not about fixing the women, although it does include helping women reframe their self-defeating internal dialogue”.

In December 2018, ECU received the Bronze Institutional Award from the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena SWAN Charter in Australia; an international mark of success and currently the highest level of achievement attainable in Australia.

The Athena SWAN Charter is an international accreditation scheme that responds to the lack of gender diversity and advancement opportunities for women (particularly in, but not limited to STEMM Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine). “This accreditation process demands analysis and action under leadership, consultation, honesty and reflection. It’s a deep dive into the institution; this is not a simple check list approach to organisational change”.

Changing the culture of an organisation is not merely a ‘policy and procedures’ approach.

Addressing the imbalance of women in STEMM and women in leadership positions, is about identifying obstacles to progression and changing the current systems. ECU developed a Gender Equality Strategy that provides a road map of key initiatives and how progress will be judged; such as the introduction of a dashboard monitoring tool, with key information points allowing management easy access to gender equality data. ECU has strived for rigorous organisation-wide consultation and visible leadership, and male champions were critical for success.

In redressing the gender imbalance, employers should look at existing stereotypes and approaches to recognition and promotion. In recruitment, ECU is developing a Gender Bias Decoder Tool which will be applied to employment advertisements, selection criteria and so forth, to eliminate bias. In marketing, images and advertisements are changing to counteract traditional stereotypes, e.g. engineers and computer programmers being male, nurses being female.

ECU School of Engineering new recruitment CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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ECU's Journey As participants in the Athena SWAN Charter in Australia, ECU received an inaugural Athena SWAN Bronze Award at Parliament House in Canberra on 5 December 2018.

Moreover, to reinvent approaches for communication, employees need accessible tools and training with effective communication skills to call out bias. ECU uses a bias busting checklist to ensure staff are aware of all 150 unconscious biases and unconscious bias training is mandatory to serve as a Panel Chair on selection panels, where composition is minimum four members with an equal number of male and female representation (approximately a 50:50 gender split). Furthermore, ECU has a regular online presence; social media, internal/external publications and a fortnightly newsletter to all staff, where gender equity is a standing item.

ECU School of Nursing and Midwifery new recruitment

"It’s time; organisations that redress gender inequities are now proven to be more productive, prosperous and economically sustainable and can contribute nationally and globally to a more stable and just world."

ECU is steadily aiming to reach at least a 60:40 split on committees and boards by 2022, with 96% compliance already achieved on University Executive-led committees. ECU recognises increasing women in senior leadership roles is a key to closing the Gender Pay Gap, and is striving for +/- 3% GPG within classification levels by 2023.

Professor Rudd is a firm believer in targets and quotas. “Having quotas does not mean women’s appointments or promotions are not meritbased. It’s critical to have stretch targets and having quotas makes organisations search harder. The absence of women in senior roles perpetuates the absence of women.”

ECU is visibly making good progress towards achieving real change in equality. In 2019, ECU received a Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Citation for being an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality for the third consecutive year. In addition, in 2019, ECU was ranked sixth globally for Gender Equality in The Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings. These rankings show how the global higher education sector is contributing to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by measuring a university’s commitment to encouraging women to enter and succeed in university study and academia.

ECU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Partnerships) and Vice-President, Professor Cobie Rudd

Professor Cobie Rudd is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Partnerships) and Vice-President at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia.

ECU is Australia’s only university named after a woman; Edith Dircksey Cowan – a true exemplar in social justice and a pioneer for women’s advancement.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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Inclusive Leadership: Have the Courage to Seek Feedback

by Felicity Menzies Deloitte’s survey of inclusive leaders from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, and the U.S. shows that such leaders possess six fundamental traits that foster diversity and inclusion on their teams; cognisance of bias, curiosity, collaboration, commitment, cultural intelligence, and courage. This blog is concerned with the last trait listed—courage. Inclusive leaders demonstrate courage in three ways: First, inclusive leaders challenge mindsets and practices that stifle diversity. For example, by calling out bias or setting targets with accountability for hiring or promotion.

Second, inclusive leaders acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers and invite others to contribute their ideas.

When leaders are humble enough to admit their limitations, they model collaborative problem-solving.

The researchers compared leaders’ self-ratings with ratings of those leaders by bosses, peers, and subordinates on two items: “Takes initiative to support and include people of different backgrounds and perspectives.” “Actively builds a climate of trust, appreciation, and openness to differences in thoughts, styles and backgrounds.”

The researchers reported that many leaders assume they are better at valuing diversity than they are. In particular, consistent with the Dunning-Kruger effect (unskilled people are particularly prone to thinking they are more skilled than they are), leaders who are the worst at valuing diversity are more likely to overrate their effectiveness, and leaders who are the most effective tend to underrate their effectiveness.

In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business environment where prior methods cannot solve new problems, eliciting and integrating a diversity of thought is essential for challenging established practices and for breakthrough innovation.

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Inclusive leaders acknowledge that they don't have all the answers.

Command and control styles of leadership that penalise subordinates for challenging the status quo or raising novel solutions must give way to new styles of leadership that focus on fostering psychologically safe workplaces where all team members are empowered and willing to contribute their ideas and perspectives.

Third, inclusive leaders solicit honest feedback from followers. Harvard Business Review contributor’s Zenger and Folkman analysed 360-degree feedback assessments for roughly 4,000 leaders in one large organisation with an excellent track record of hiring and promoting diverse candidates and a reputation for inclusion.

The researchers conclude that ‘leaders might intend to be inclusive, and even think they are inclusive, but their impact on others might be very different’. | 1 9 |

Inclusive Leadership

The researchers also found a strong positive association between ratings of inclusiveness and overall leadership effectiveness. Leaders who were rated very poorly on valuing diversity and inclusion were rated in only the 5th percentile for their overall leadership effectiveness, while those who were rated in the top 10% of those two items were rated in the 79th percentile.

Techniques for seeking feedback from subordinates : Writing for McKinsey, Robert Kaplan observes that while individuals tend to have many people coaching them on their performance both formally and informally when they embark their career, as they progress through the ranks, leaders often receive less feedback on their day-to-day effectiveness. Indeed, many leaders report being taken aback by the criticisms made by subordinates regarding their leadership style and effectiveness in end-of-year formal 360 assessments.

Moreover, in today’s fast-paced business environment, leaders benefit from real-time feedback on their strategic decision making and effectiveness. Rapid shifts in the competitive landscape put pressure on leaders to deliver optimal solutions quickly.

Traditional leadership models that endorse leading from the front may mean that directing subordinates comes more naturally for new leaders compared with seeking feedback from them. Inclusive leadership requires a different approach, yet many leaders are uncomfortable opening themselves up to criticism for fear that it may compromise their authority or damage perceptions of their leadership competency.

Even if leaders do actively seek feedback, subordinates may be reluctant to offer it for fear of offending or embarrassing those who have significant influence over their career success and progression. Fortunately, soliciting constructive feedback from subordinates is a skill that can be learned.

3. The ‘clean sheet of paper’ exercise Kaplan suggests that once subordinates develop a level of comfort in contributing their ideas and offering feedback, leaders can engage their top team in a structured brainstorming exercise that provides valuable strategic insights.

The ‘clean sheet of paper’ exercise involves creating a small group of approximately six high performers and challenging them to review the business strategy with a clean sheet of paper, asking them: “If you had to start this enterprise from scratch today, are these the markets we would serve? Are these the products we would offer?

Are these the people we would hire? Is this the way we would organize, pay, and promote our people? What changes do we need to make, given our distinctive competencies and strategic aspirations?”

The group are directed that they are not to come back to the leader until they have a list of recommendations and are given a reasonable period (6 weeks or so) to complete the exercise.

Leaders who invest time and effort in seeking feedback get the best out of their teams

asking only one question: “What advice would you offer to help me improve my

Leaders that apply Kaplan’s three suggested techniques for soliciting feedback from subordinates are less likely to be blindsided by a narrow field of vision and their cognitive blindspots.

They are also better able to engage

effectiveness? Please give me one or two specific and actionable suggestions. I would

and retain diverse talent.

and are rated at higher levels of effectiveness. Kaplan offers leaders three suggestions on how they can attain the feedback they need to improve their effectiveness real-time: 1. Cultivate a network of junior coaches Kaplan directs leaders to individually “interview” at least five of their direct reports,

appreciate your advice.”

Kaplan suggests that although these conversations may be awkward at first, with gentle prodding to convince subordinates that they are sincere in seeking to improve their performance, leaders can encourage their subordinates to offer helpful feedback on how to improve their effectiveness.

IIt is important that leaders act immediately on any criticisms raised to build trust and cultivate a long-term coaching relationship.

2. Develop your ‘soft’ leadership skills In earlier work, I addressed the importance of psychological safety for encouraging contributions, particularly ideas that are novel or challenge the status quo. Psychological safety can be fostered by focusing on developing ‘soft’ leadership skills including respectful questioning and active listening. Kaplan advises leaders to adopt a facilitator role in meetings. Rather than advocating for their predefined position and rejecting suggestions of others, leaders should frame questions for constructive debate and actively seek and consider input from others.

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Originally published by Culture Plus Consulting. | 2 0 |

Jokowi’s $33bn Infrastructure Project: A NEW NATIONAL CAPITAL

By Kyle Springer, Senior Analyst, Perth USAsia Centre Photo provided by Perth USAsia Centre

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

President Joko Widodo is embarking on his biggest infrastructure project yet, with 26 August marking the unveiling of his plan to build a brand-new national capital in East Kalimantan province.

The estimated cost to relocate the capital is US$33 billion and officials say construction will start in 2020. Jokowi’s push to move the capital is bold and seals his reputation as Indonesia’s ‘infrastructure president.’

If Indonesia’s economic activity is spread unevenly across the archipelago, so are its infrastructure projects.

Not surprisingly, Java and Sumatra have the highest concentration, dotted with numerous road, highway, and toll road projects to help smooth the movement of millions of people and goods.

East Kalimantan, on the other hand has railways planned and a toll road between the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda under construction near the proposed site.

Building a new city will necessitate upgrading existing infrastructure and the planning of dozens of new projects in the province. | 2 1 |

Infrastructure Project

Such a large building campaign comes as infrastructure emerges as a new front in the IndoPacific region’s geopolitical rivalries.

According to the Ministry of Planning, plans include relocating powerful ministries and institutions to the new capital starting in 2024.

Governments in the region have launched a number of seemingly competing infrastructure and connectivity initiatives since 2015.

Diplomatic missions to Indonesia and the ASEAN Secretariat, based in Jakarta, would presumably relocate as well.

These include national programs led by major countries like China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Japan’s Partnership for Quality Infrastructure (PQI). Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are major actors in infrastructure

Jokowi seems to be betting on the idea that relocating the bureaucracy of the world’s thirdlargest democracy would bring a critical mass of supporting institutions, industries, and investment to enrich a province on the outside of the Java-Sumatra core.

A big question hangs over how the Indonesian government will involve these initiatives in the construction of the new capital.

Indonesia has invited China’s BRI to invest in projects in adjacent North Kalimantan province, in particular a US$17.8 billion hydropower project.

BRI is known for its willingness to pursue projects in challenging regions, but the initiative has suffered from reputational problems in Indonesia. Indonesian firms will likely be the first to break ground in East Kalimantan next year.

Especially state-owned firms (SOEs), currently building and managing 80 percent of infrastructure projects. Using SOEs is a convenient way to expedite new projects because the government often has direct influence over the firm.

It also bypasses slow processes like project proposal design and competitive tendering.

Foreign investment, which Jokowi craves to develop the country’s emerging industries, is also over-concentrated in Java. Japan, a top investor in Indonesia, sees 93 percent of its investment go to Java.

Only 1 percent currently goes to Kalimantan. Moving the capital to East Kalimantan promises to disrupt the present geographic spread of development in Indonesia. Jokowi has created an occasion to turn a peripheral region into a new core of economic activity.

The infrastructure demands of building a new capital city affords Jokowi yet another opportunity: to call on the resources of Indonesia’s neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region and put their competing infrastructure initiatives to work.

Relying on SOEs to lay the foundations for a new city in a comparatively remote region like East Kalimantan has its drawbacks. Overreliance crowds out much-needed private investment and undermines the benefits of competition among contractors. Indonesia’s business community has echoed these sentiments.

One of the underlying challenges causing Indonesia’s infrastructure gaps is the ‘bankability problem.’ Bankability means a project is well designed enough that lenders are prepared to provide finance or equity investors are satisfied with the project’s risk profile enough to invest in it.

To attract more investment for the development of the new national capital, Indonesia needs to solve the bankability problem. Developing a pipeline of bankable projects is an opportunity to engage with the above mentioned infrastructure initiatives. Well-designed projects that estimate everything from a project’s profitability to its environmental and social impact will be key.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

Kyle Springer is the Senior Analyst at the Perth USAsia Centre. He provides high-level program assistance and develops the think tank and external outreach programs of the Centre. Kyle also directs the Centre's Indonesia programs and convenes policy workshops focussed on Australia-Indonesia relations.

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Stepping Into The

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BY GUGLIELMO PLACANICA

“You are going to a country that you know nothing about and your children will speak a language that you don’t understand.”

This information was given to my mother by an old man before she left her beloved homeland, Italy. There are elements of truth in the statement as many Italians, including my parents, migrated to Australia, a country, culture and environment they did not know and where the residents spoke a language they did not understand. Some Italians left not only their homeland but their entire family. It must have taken a great deal of courage to leave what you have known and step into the entirely unknown.

Times in Southern Italy were particularly harsh after the devastation of World War Two; living in poverty and the struggle of daily life was almost unbearable. Many people seized the opportunity to start life anew in another country. My parents migrated in the 1950’s, a time that saw a mass exodus from Italy to many countries throughout the world including Canada, Argentina, USA, UK, New Zealand and Australia. As Italy’s economy developed stronger this wave of Italian migration ceased in the 1970’s.

I recently saw a documentary on the Sudanese migration and a scene from the film Fiddler on the Roof of people leaving their countries. In both situations the people were forced to leave because of political circumstances. They would not have left had it not been for the brutal state of affairs they found themselves in.

The reasons why people migrate are complex and varied and each individual has their own personal story. A friend of mine, originally from the UK, who was a teenager at the time, saw his migration to Australia as an opportunity for adventure. However, all migrants are in search of a better life. I have written a poem as a dedication to all those who have left their homeland and stepped into the unknown.

We Have: We have severed our roots To create a better future We have travelled angry seas To explore new horizons We have landed on strange stores To forge new paths We have raised our children To make a new homeland We shall now reap The harvests of our new lives CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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Stepping into the Unknown

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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CALM BEFORE THE STORM: Prime Minister Boris Johnson's first Cabinet meeting Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Breach of Trust: A Minority View of Brexit

by Placide St George Possibly the most encouraging sight in the Brexit debacle occurred in the House of Commons on the day when the UK Parliament was reconvened after its unlawful closure. The debating chamber boiled over. MPs on all sides trembled with rage.

The distemper in the House of Commons indicated that mild words eventually might soothe the fever but leave the UK body corporate indelibly scarred; a rational outcome for policy so disfigured at birth.

Even the memory of Jo Cox – the female British MP who, seven days before the controversial referendum in 2016, was fatally shot and stabbed because she opposed Brexit – was resurrected and trampled upon.

Lesson learned: Never offer policy you want the electorate to reject or that is unready for delivery. Such was Brexit – a Trojan horse fiendishly crafted to entice heroes but, unlike the classic narrative, the bile within the beast could render friend and foe pitiable.

Despair consumed this child of the Caribbean who saw a rabble that called itself Parliament. Somehow it was comforting. This trusting soul felt bottled and pickled in the vinegar of post-referendum Britain but no longer on his own. Others, too, had been soured.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

How did we get here? | 2 5 |

Breach of Trust

Growing up in London was an eye-opener for someone used to the partying of parents in the Caribbean. But music stopped in Britain, and overcast days turned skies forever grey.

Many islanders accepted so-called “dirty jobs” in hospitals and transport that postwar Britons shunned. New arrivals included a brilliant bureaucrat who had picked up his family and departed the country of his birth in a vainglorious effort to scale the heights of his profession towards an illusory pinnacle.

That it did not turn out as planned was hardly the concern of his elder son, a happy-go-lucky spirit reassembling this narrative.

From memory, it was architecture. The grand buildings were intoxicating but, sadly, not to the point of delirium because similar joy was not visible in other onlookers who had gazed uninspired.

Soon, a question arose:

“Why would anyone share such splendour – famed streets, institutions, governance and literature – with people they didn’t know from faraway lands?”

This was civilisation, roared the response. And Britain was tolerant. Only decades later did observers question what need of tolerance.

A British passport was acquired after years of living with a Caribbean one, but Britishness seemed incomplete because, visibly, the subject had only brief antecedents in the country he now claimed.

Yet integration was real and most memorably manifest in nights of roving as a young buck, and a litany of adventure that must only be retold by those who took part.

Landmarks were ratcheted up in the name of race relations; intermarriage, entry into professions and, most jealously guarded of all, professional soccer. Occasional social unrest - headlined race riots - were dismissed as isolated events.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

Then Brexit.

Looking back on it, there were murmurings. A wellworn humour was to overhear deliberate mutterings behind a cupped hand: “SSssh, we can’t say that about them now … there’s a law against it ... but we used to be able to say it.” That “joke” never gave the impression of inclusion. If anything, it underscored our differences, and Brexit cast them into greatest relief.

Should Brexit have been scrapped after the attack on Jo Cox? Trolling intensified. Even Theresa May’s party colleagues were warned to tone down their language towards her when she was PM. Courageous anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, destined to take two Conservative administrations to court and win, hired bodyguards. A nobleman was jailed for malicious communications against her.

Then in April, a pensioner collecting his winnings at a bookmaker told the attendant of Afro-Caribbean heritage: “When Brexit comes you will be gone.” The truth seemed to be out; Brexit would remove the UK from the European Union’s scrutiny of human rights, to the detriment of minorities in the UK. Minorities, European or from elsewhere, are unnerved.

They fear being the real casualties.

Mercifully, those fooled into accepting the tokenism of tolerance now think differently. Sadly, trust between major and minor communities is damaged.

That is a terrible outcome and a reason why the Adam Goodes story resonates in Australia. He was booed out of a game that once idolised him, simply because he stood up for himself. Apologies came but he couldn’t go back. Trust was broken.

That is why, scenes of disorder in the House of Commons were comforting. For once, the chaos that Brexit had visited on minorities had rebounded.

Placide St George is a man about town who for decades has called Australia home.

End.

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To Be or Not To Be New Pop-Up Globe Event at Crown

By Ronald Chua

To be or not to be, as Hamlet says, that is the question. However it is no question that the Pop-Up Globe is set to open in Perth on the 9th of October for 6 weeks only. Pop-Up Globe is the world’s first full-scale temporary replica of Shakespeare’s second Globe and audiences will get to experience four of his masterworks- Hamlet, A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night. There will be litres of blood, stunning costumes, elaborate sets and special effects. I had the amazing opportunity to interview the artistic director; Miles Gregory where he gave some behind the scenes scoop and his insights on theatre culture among youths.

1. How did the initial idea of a Pop-Up Globe come about?

Well my whole professional career has been spent working with Shakespeare; my masters [and] my PhD are in Shakespeare and performance. I was in Auckland with my young daughter in 2014 and I was reading her a pop-up storybook; one of things in it was the original globe theatre. I tend to get excited about globe theatres and my daughter said “can we go there, can we go and see it?”

I started to explain that the nearest globe replica is a long way from Auckland and then the idea struck me, a pop-up globe. What will that look like? Will it be possible? Well 15 months later we opened the first one.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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To Be or Not to Be

2. What inspired your love for Shakespeare?

Well probably my father actually, my father is not a theatre person but he was thought some Shakespeare in school and when I was young he used to quote from Shakespeare plays, not a lot just a few lines but then I became fascinated with this language, it's so old and yet so powerful. So by the time I was 13, I developed a real passion for English literature and I put on my first Shakespeare experiment when I was 14, which was a scene from Romeo and Juliet; a play I’m directing later this year.

3. How do you think this Pop-Up Globe event will help with the perception some youths have about the arts and theatre culture?

One of the most amazing things about the Pop-Up Globe journey in which over 550,000 people have seen the shows at Pop-Up Globe, has been to see how it has inspired and transformed the lives of young people. Our tickets are very cheap, you can come and see a show for $30 [which] means that for young people, they can afford to come and see plays here. What we found amazing is that young people; under the age of thirty, come not just once or twice to see all the shows but we found that every time we’ve built a Pop-Up Globe, there are young people who come 20 or 30 or 40 times, again and again. It is such a lively and exciting night out and also of course, at the heart of it is this incredible artist; Shakespeare and his plays, and we do Shakespeare in a lively and entertaining way that it becomes accessible to some people for the first time in their lives.

4. Do you think this event will help youths and young people get interested in Shakespeare and the arts?

My passion is for young people to be inspired by Shakespeare and to be inspired by the scale of this project. Pop-Up Globe shows that if you have an idea you can do it and the way we do Shakespeare says that if you love Shakespeare, Shakespeare is very much alive and that you should go out there and make some work yourself. So the legacy of Pop-Up Globe in Perth, just like in every city its been to, is that young people are inspired [and] theatre professionals are inspired to make more work in their communities.

CULTURAL TIMES | OCTOBER 2019

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Indigenous Author

Dr Chelinay Gates Book Launch Hauntingly Beautiful, Mesmerizing, Devastatingly Moving, Inspirational

Get tickets for Perth at: http://eventbrite.com.au/e/73682320805 http://eventbrite.com.au/e/73681562537

Coming to the UK and France end October and November for book signings