PANEL: MANAGING DIVERSITY

Program Title: Respect or Responsibility?
Presentation: Respect or responsibility for differences? Migrant workers, inter-cultural relations and barriers to EEO and diversity-related initiatives
Lucy Taksa, Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of New South Wales
Dimitria Groutsis, University of New South Wales

Abstract: Diversity Management (or its many alternative terms) is now widespread in larger organisations in Australia. However, the exact nature of what this means in each organisation varies, as there is no legislative underpinning of these policies and processes. This paper explores the bases on which organisations are undertaking Diversity Management and examines the legislation to which organisations must respond, that is anti-discrimination legislation and equal opportunity legislation. The former has strict compliance measures while the latter relies on individual organisational decisions of how to proceed and is backed up by few benchmarks or compliance measures. The paper discusses how this mixture of employee rights (employer obligations) and employer responsibilities produces varied outcomes in organisations resulting in different conditions for employees. The paper draws on analysis of organisational reports to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency and case studies. It concludes that the business case is predominantly driving many organisations' diversity practices and this is particularly the case at a time when many organisations are dealing with a skills shortage. It questions whether the business case is a sufficient incentive for organisations to deliver employee rights.

Program Title: (d)evolution of EO
Presentation: The (D)evolution of Australia's Equal Opportunity Legislation
Andrea North-Samazdic, Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of New South Wales

Abstract: Diversity management is often critiqued for being too focused on the 'business-case' (Strachan, Burgess and Sullivan, 2004), 'managerialist' (Edelman, Riggs Fuller and Mara-Drita, 2001) and 'a replacement for affirmative action (Bacchi, 2000).' The introduction of the Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity for Women) Act 1986 (Cth) recognized women's disadvantaged position in the labour market and sought to address this inequality through mandated affirmative action programs. The rise of the Howard Government in 1996 saw a review of all Commonwealth legislation. The AA legislation was subsequently repealed and renamed The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999. This paper outlines the managerialist undertones present since the introduction of the original Affirmative Action legislation and argues that under the current legislation, the line between EEO and diversity management is no longer separate and distinct. It draws on case study data drawn from a university, a financial institution and a not-for-profit organisation.

Program Title: The Context for Diversity Management
Presentation: The Context for Diversity Management: rights and responsibilities
John Burgess, University of Newcastle
Erica French, Queensland University of Technology
Glenda Strachan, Griffith University

Abstract: Diversity Management (or its many alternative terms) is now widespread in larger organisations in Australia. However, the exact nature of what this means in each organisation varies, as there is no legislative underpinning of these policies and processes. This paper explores the bases on which organisations are undertaking Diversity Management and examines the legislation to which organisations must respond, that is anti-discrimination legislation and equal opportunity legislation. The former has strict compliance measures while the latter relies on individual organisational decisions of how to proceed and is backed up by few benchmarks or compliance measures. The paper discusses how this mixture of employee rights (employer obligations) and employer responsibilities produces varied outcomes in organisations resulting in different conditions for employees. The paper draws on analysis of organisational reports to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency and case studies. It concludes that the business case is predominantly driving many organisations' diversity practices and this is particularly the case at a time when many organisations are dealing with a skills shortage. It questions whether the business case is a sufficient incentive for organisations to deliver employee rights.

D1.S2.Pan5 – Rm4.238

PANEL: IDEAS IN ACTION

Program Title: Public intellectuals
Presentation: Realistic Utopias: Authentic Public Intellectualism and Active Citizenship
Helen Ann Fordham, Curtin University of Technology

Abstract: The rise of the global neo-liberal world economy has created a social revolution in western democracies (Manne 2004; MacKay, 2007, Cahill, 2006) which has enabled the emergence of conservative, anti-elitist populism and affected the relationship between citizen and state. A move from the passive citizenship associated with representational democracy to the active citizenship of "deliberative or discursive democracy" (Dryzick, 2006) is required if the "civility and public spiritedness of citizens" is to be preserved and a more "subtle understanding of the practice of citizenship" developed. This paper argues that public intellectualism has a role to play in this transition and the implicit rethinking of the social contract between citizens and governments. Public intellectualism has confronted its own crisis in relevancy since the 1980s but it is still well placed to produce discourse that facilitates political mobilization through the "collective production of realistic utopias" by "speaking the truth to power" (Said, 2001). Authentic public intellectualism is distinguished from other forms of knowledge in that it is non-partisan by virtue of its commitment to the universal liberal principles of human rights, which resides at the heart of democracy. Drawing on the dispute between Australian public intellectual David Marr (2007) and media commentator Paul Kelly (2007) as an illustrative moment, this paper examines the role of public intellectualism in maintaining a "sense of opposition and engaged participation" (Said, 2001) in order to foster the "active exercise of citizenship responsibilities and virtues" (Kynlicka and Norma, 1994).

Program Title: Politics of Responsibility
Presentation: Responsibility, "response-ability" and the possibilities of citizenship
Penelope Rossiter, University of Western Sydney

Abstract: The current interest in responsible citizenship is animated by deeper concerns about the character of the Australian polity and inter-communal relations. It is often assumed that an intensification of responsibility, combined with greater knowledge about Australian politics, will foster active citizenship and the constitution of a more ethical polity. However, the links between knowledge, engagement, responsibility and ethics are by no means straightforward and debates about responsible citizenship need to be embedded in broader discussion of the contemporary politics of responsibility. This paper discusses some of the features of the contemporary politics of responsibility in Australia. It will show that we are pulled in a number of different directions by the demands for greater responsibility. The narrow governmental focus on obligation, duty, knowledge and action, contrasts with unruly and expansive calls that interpret responsibility as "response-ability". The "mutual obligation" that informs welfare policy illustrates the former, and public debates about responsibility for the past and to each other, the latter. The connections and tensions between responsibility and "response-ability" play out in the ways that rights, reconciliation, respect and responsibility do, and don't, come together.

Program Title: Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
Presentation: Is This What Democracy Looks Like?
Ania Lucewicz

Abstract: In this interactive presentation, participants will engage in a thought experiment. They will be asked to examine three aspects of an ideal democracy: the vote (why do we vote, and what ends does it serve), the political spectrum (the range of legitimate political opinion and how it is represented) and the media (what kind of political information is important and who decides). Participants will then be asked to stop imagining. Is that what our political system looks like? My presentation will attempt to problematise the popular conceptions of the vote, the political spectrum and the role of the media by examining these ideas in the context of Australia’s political system. The analytical part of my presentation will draw upon Ghassan Hage, Sneja Gunew and Pierre Bourdieu to pose a question: does an idealistic discourse regarding our ‘democracy’ serve to inspire us, or to undermine us? For example, should we have called the 2007 Federal Election and election or a selection? The aim of the exercise will be to isolate the aspects of our political discourse which do not correspond to reality. I argue that in politics, ideas are tools. If we approach this “new era” with misconceived notions about what kind of political situation we live in, we may forego important democratic strategies. Moreover, I argue that democracy is constituted by the manner in which we engage with it, and so the key to occasioning a “new era” will be in the way we engage with our political situation.

D1.S2.Pan6 – Rm4.235

PANEL: ECO SUFFICIENCY CLIMATE CHANGE

Program Title: Responsibility for climate change
Presentation: Responsibility for Climate Change and Rights to Development - Resolving this successfully for the sake of the planet
Ian McGregor, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: Dangerous climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. Our international and national environmental governance systems have so far failed to effectively deal with it. Global warming is now reaching dangerous levels. The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework provides a way of gaining international agreement to the type of emergency climate protection pathway urgently needed to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change. It also provides a framework which imposes the financial cost of mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts on those mainly responsible, the rich minority world. Part of these costs would include financing a development path for the global poor that has low greenhouse gas emissions.

Program Title: Woman Native Other Ecological Footprint
Presentation: 'Woman', 'Native', and the 'Other' Ecological Footprint
Ariel Salleh

Abstract: When governments, corporate think tanks, and multilateral agencies deliberate on climate change policy, you can be sure they'll bypass one highly salient variable. - Global warming causes, effects, and solutions are 'gendered'. But this oversight not only compromises the design of a coherent and just international climate regime, it can damage grassroots efforts to build a global commons. Unexamined, often preconscious cultural assumptions will affect how the movement for 'another globalisation' theorises itself and what kind of counter-modernisation strategies it chooses. Thus, in a famous address to the UN General Assembly in September 2007, Bolivian President Evo Morales said: 'the Indigenous’ peoples of Latin America and the world have been called upon by history to convert ourselves into the vanguard of the struggle to defend nature and ‘life'. Morales is much closer to the mark than the neo-liberal establishment is, but his angle of vision needs a small adjustment. Half of all Indigenous communities (and at least half of all non-Indigenous worker, carer, and peasant communities) are women, skilled in the practice of eco-sufficient regenerative labours - biological, ecological, economic, and social. They are both materially and culturally implicated in the maintenance of living processes. The paper will examine the indispensable environmental and political agency embodied in the footprint of this invisible global majority.

Program Title: What Did You Do In The War Against Climate Change?
Presentation: 'What did you do in the War against Climate Change?' Climate change, direct action and inter-generational responsibility
James Goodman, University of Technology Sydney
Rick Flowers, University of Technology Sydney
Rebecca Pearce, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: Climate change poses profound challenges for society, requiring nothing short of a paradigm shift if it is to be addressed in any meaningful way. That challenge has been characterised by at least one observer - Nicholas Stern - as putting society on a war footing. Social mobilisation to force governments to address the issue has only recently begun to attract mass participation. The yearly international day of action on climate change has been mounted simultaneously across several countries for more than three years. Framed in Australia as a 'walk against warming', a demonstration of concern about climate change, the event now attracts several hundreds of thousands people internationally. Climate action also manifests in local struggles against specific projects, and events, in both Northern and Southern contexts. The 2007 Bali conference of Climate Change Convention signatories, for instance, attracted a large contingent of climate change campaigners from Indonesia and from elsewhere in Asia. In Northern countries campaigners assert a special responsibility, and this is reflected in the increasing intensity of climate action protest. The continuing inaction of Northern Governments, in the face of evidence of large-scale climate change, despite clear historic and continuing responsibility, creates fertile ground for the emergence of a new direct action movement. Linking personal responsibility to global emergency, embedded in an overwhelming sense of special responsibility, climate action resonates with many, if not a majority, of Northern over-consumers. Direct action is focused on specific carbon hotspots - from airports, to coal-fired power stations - that are recognised as unsustainable yet are defended as necessary. In doing so it forces question-mark into public view.

This paper explores these themes through interview material gathered from direct action climate campaigners involved in the 2008 Climate Camps held in the UK and in Australia. Climate Camp is a model of strategic direct action geared to movement learning and building, first put into play in the UK in 2006. It is now taken up in a number of countries around the world, including in Australia, and holds the promise of becoming a transformative and widespread social movement. The paper explores the imperatives for direct action, for a world at war with the causes and culprits of climate change. It explores the meaning of climate responsibility for those who, as one campaigner put it, want to look their children in the eye and say 'yes, I was on that barricade, for your future'.

D1.S3.Pan6 – Rm4.240

PANEL: RESPONSIBILITY SOCIAL ACTION & SOCIAL CHANGE
Chair: Maqsood Alshams

Program title: Getup and Online Organising
Presentation: Pursuing a Progressive Agenda Online
Anna Saulwick

Abstract: Anna Saulwick, the Rights, Justice ad Democracy Campaigner at GetUp, will talk about the unique capacity for online tools to mobilise the community behind a progressive agenda. A discussion of key barriers to broad engagement with political and social issues will be followed by an exposition of the way in which GetUp has responded to these challenges, and an outline of current projects and future directions. Program title: Harnessing The Power Of Humanity Presentation: Harnessing the Power of Humanity: Active Citizenship Among Volunteers from Migrant and Refugee Communities Steve Francis, Australian Red Cross Beatriz Miralles-Lombardo, Judith Miralles & Associates Abstract: The benefits of involvement in volunteering as a form of active citizenship and social inclusion is well documented for Australian-born adults. The situation for new arrivals to Australia is less well known; with little exploration into how participation in volunteer activities enables civic involvement and a sense of belonging, or which interventions help to maximise the participation of volunteers from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

This paper will explore the ways in which volunteer engagement can support migrant and refugee communities to become more engaged and networked both within cultural networks and to the broader Australian community, with the additional flow-on benefits for language acquisition as well as employment. In doing so, the paper will debunk the myth that migrants and refugees are not involved or interested in volunteering outside of their own communities. The paper will undertake a brief examination of the key theoretical and methodological issues as well illustrate central themes through examination of a collaborative ethnic volunteer program developed by the Australian Red Cross, JM&A and Australian Multicultural Foundation, Step Into Voluntary Work.

D1.S3.Pan7 – Rm4.235

Panel: Recognition: The Missing R
Chair: Melissa Edwards

Michele Sapucci, Transcultural Mental Health Centre
Linda George, NSW Education Program FMG
Clare Darling, Multicultural Health, Sydney West Area Health Service

D1.S3.Pan8 – Rm4.238

PANEL: ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP
Chair: Jock Collins

Program Title: Citizenship Testing
Presentation: Citizenship testing in Australia, Canada and Britain
Maria Chisari, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: The recent introduction of a citizenship test for immigrants seeking Australian citizenship has focussed debates about citizenship on notions of predefined 'national values' that are to be adopted by 'good citizens'. Active citizenship no longer encompasses only civic responsibilities and political rights but also involves participation in public life through a sworn declaration to and adoption of a unique Australian identity that has been officially sanctioned by government discourses. Many Western societies have also introduced rigid citizenship tests that assess candidates' suitability for citizenship through their knowledge of a nation's history, language and a set of values considered to be unique to that particular society. This paper consists of a critical discourse analysis that explores how the themes of multiculturalism, migrant representation and indigenous rights are portrayed in government texts used as preparation for the citizenship test in Australia. The paper also examines government texts used for citizenship preparation in Canada and Britain and compares their themes and content on difference with the Australian texts. The analysis suggests that through their portrayal of 'national values', government texts describing citizenship are aiming to redefine communal relations in Australia with an emphasis on integration as a means for social cohesion. Official discourses on citizenship are also challenging the notion of respect for diversity and questioning the future of multiculturalism as official government policy.

Program Title: Fear Mongering
Presentation: Fear Mongering and Social Inclusion...and the twain shall never meet ? ? !
Wafa Chafic, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: There is an uneasy tension at play for a liberal democracy which promises equality, liberty, and fraternity for all on the one hand; and on the other, is vulnerable to the exploitation of fear of difference, in mobilising, acquiring and maintaining the political franchise. This paper will explore examples of 'fear mongering' directed at Muslims within the Australian context and its consequent impact on the experience of social inclusion. It will consider the experiences of Muslim men in particular and their representation within the political and media spheres. This paper presents findings of research conducted with recently arrived Muslim men about their life in Australia, on their settlement experience, their sense of belonging, and the values dearest to them. It also sources material about Muslim men from public and political discourse particularly from the Hanson-Howard-McCulloch eras, where fear mongering and political opportunism go hand in hand, giving resonance to Kipling's lament "oh east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet. With the ubiquitous words 'terrorism' and 'Muslim' being used synonymously, it is contended that political discourse has become one important and dangerous breeding ground for social exclusion. Fear of the other and the need to belong are powerful and complex states of being. What impacts do they have on the lives of individuals or collectives from minority groups. What do Muslim men say of social responsibility and civil rights? What of respect on the individual and communal level? What of reconciliation of so-called problematic communities within the mainstream? Are there other forms of legitimate "R's", like those of "rejection" and "resistance" of negative attribution, through the simple acts of daily life and survival? Experiences which defy rampant stereotyping and fear mongering by bringing the person back into the picture instead of caricature it thrives on, and which speaks directly to the heart of reconciliation.

Program Title: Young migrants from Africa
Presentation: Supporting young migrants from the Horn of Africa with culturally appropriate and effective mentoring
Megan Griffiths, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales
Pooja Sawrikar, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales
Kristy Muir

Abstract: Young people from the Horn of Africa experience a number of difficulties adjusting to Australian society post migration. As a newly arrived migrant group, service providers know little about how best to address their needs, in particular their socio-cultural, emotional and resources related settlement issues. Research has shown that mentoring can help young people by connecting them with positive social and economic networks and thus improving their life chances. Recently, mentoring initiatives have been established in Australia to help young people from the Horn of Africa, but there is little knowledge about how to deliver culturally appropriate mentoring programs to these young people. This paper examines how mentoring programs can be tailored to effectively and appropriately support young people from the Horn of Africa. It is based on research conducted in 2007 by the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia. There were three stages in the research; a literature review, phone interviews with mentors, mentoring program managers, mentoring policy makers and personnel from Horn of African community organisations and focus groups with young people from the Horn of Africa. This research identified a number of principles upon which mentoring should be based for young Horn of African mentees. This paper discusses these principles which focus on service providers, mentors, mentees, networks and interaction with the local community and mentees' family members. Culturally appropriate service delivery is essential for mentoring to be effective for young people from the Horn of Africa. If the appropriate principles are followed, mentoring may provide holistic support, equip young Horn of Africans with the know-how and confidence to fully participate in Australian society, and increase their sense of social inclusion in Australia.

D1.S4.Pan5 – Rm4.240

PROGRAM TITLE: RIGHTS OF GAY LESBIAN TRANSGENDER AND BI SEXUAL PEOPLE

Panel Title: Rights of the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual People
Chair: Stephen Couling

Abstract: Panellists including Penny Sharpe MLC (NSW) and Sen. Louise Pratt discussing the Rights of the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual People.

D1.S4.Pan6 – Rm4.236

PANEL: CITIZENSHIP AND THE SEX INDUSTRY
Chair: Jason Prior, University of Technology Sydney

Presentation: Citizenship, Rights and the Sex Industry
Chair: Jason Prior, University of Technology Sydney
Spike Boydell, University of Technology Sydney
Penny Croft, University of Technology Sydney
Andrew Miles, Council of the City of Sydney
Jo Holden, Sex Workers Outreach Project

Abstract: Citizenship is normally framed in abstract terms with seemingly little or no relevance to the sexuality of the citizen. In the past decade a growing body of literature has begun to argue that when it comes to the matter of exercising citizenship rights sexuality becomes of key relevance. Within this emerging literature particular attention has been drawn to the way in which the rights of particular sexualities "homosexuality, sex work, sex outside of marriage" have changed significantly over recent decades. This panel session explores the mosaic of rights that have emerged in recent decades within the NSW context associated with sex work and sex industry premises such as brothels and parlours; for example citizens are now able to legally engage in street based sex work within designated areas across the State. Drawing on a series of recent studies the panel explores and discusses particular aspects of this emerging mosaic of rights "the right to safety, the right to use the spaces of the city" and the responsibilities that authorities, amongst others, have in maintaining them.

D2.S1.Pan7 – Rm4.240

PANEL: SPACE AND PLACE

Program Title: Good governance
Presentation: Good Governance - Cultural Citizenship
Paul Rappaport, Rappaport Heritage Consultants

Abstract: Should government be leading with a strong hand or should the corporations dictate to us as citizens what is best for us to retain in our cultural heritage traditions? The recent Productivity Commission Report on Australian places of historic heritage and the Review of the Heritage Act in NSW have thrown the spotlight on this issue. It is now crucially important that we debate this issue. Globalisation - a rapidly accelerating phenomenon requires us to think locally. We must decide what is best for us in terms of curating and maintaining our cultural heritage artifacts and traditions. This paper will focus on the need for government to lead with a strong hand and set the public policy agenda on cultural citizenship.

Program Title: Olympic park
Presentation: Creating a post-Olympic civil society: Sydney Olympic Park and the two-way stretch between sport culture and arts culture as nodes for a new city.
Christine Burton, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: This is a case study on the development of a new city at Sydney Olympic Park following the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The case study is developed within the context of civil societies, the role of cultural capital paradigms which encompass sport and culture in city creation. There has been considerable literature on the role of arts and culture in contributing to civil societies, revitalizing cities and regional areas over the past twenty years (Evans, 2003, 2005). Among the many streams explored two significant trends have emerged: one focuses on identity and meaning of places (Gibson, 2001); the other focuses on the role of culture in economic development (Heilbrun & Gray, 2001). Neither is necessarily mutually exclusive, although in more recent times, the economic arguments have tended to dominate. This paper explores these concepts and places them within the context of the creation of a post-Olympic city. Because of the critical importance of sport to an Olympic site and the creation of a post-Olympic city, 'sport capital' is explored as a parallel development and extension of cultural capital in the context of building a civil society. It is suggested that tensions arise between art and sport as signifiers for creating this new city and a civil society. These tensions focus on the intrinsic and extrinsic value of sport and art. In this case study, emphasis emerges on the ability of both arts and sport to deliver intangible benefits such as participation, well-being and inclusion which often reside in the realm of market failure. However, sport races to the finish line by its ability to deliver economic benefits associated with the commercial aspects of sport businesses and ancillary products. This is built on the back of public supported infrastructure associated with the Games (the ANZ Stadium, Olympic Pool) and the Bicentennial Parklands with bicycle infrastructure. Acer Arena remains the only commercially operated cultural infrastructure but falls within a popular arts paradigm of entertainment with few linkages to cultural development and participation. Evans, G. (2003). Hard-branding the cultural city - from Prado to Prada. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(2), 417-440. Evans, G. (2005). Measure for Measure: evaluating the evidence of culture's contribution to regeneration. Urban Studies, 42(5/6), 959-983. Gibson, L. (2001). The uses of art: constructing Australian identities. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press. Heilbrun, J., & Gray, C. M. (2001). The economics of art and culture (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Program title: Accessible Tourism
Presentation: Accessible tourism and community based entrepreneurship - the case of O'Carolyns at Port Stephens
Simon Darcy, University of Technology Sydney
Bruce Cameron, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: This paper examines the case of O'Carolyns at Port Stephens, which is a niche tourist resort based on universal design principles for access and disability. The paper employs a mixed methodology case study to examine the business case for accessible tourism. The research design involved reviewing management information systems, websites, external reviews (blogs) and in-depth interviews with the operator. First, the paper examines the infrastructure requirements for accessible tourism through universal design within a tourist resort settings (Darcy 2007; Rains 2004; US Dept Justice 2007). Second, the paper reviews the market that the resort serves and what defines the business as serving the accessible tourism market. Third, using an adaption of the concept of community-based entrepreneurship (Johannisson 1990; Johannisson & Nilsson 1989), the paper reviews how the operator has placed the product within the regional development framework of Port Stephens through community interaction across the commercial, government and not-for-profit sectors.

What becomes evident is that the niche operator's success is driven by the desire to "act locally but think globally" through working together to facilitate regional tourism development (Dredge & Jenkins 2003; Lyons 2001). In defining community-based entrepreneurship as "a community acting corporately as both entrepreneur and enterprise in pursuit of the common good" (Peredo & Chrisman 2006, p. 310), the paper examines the complexity of business success being parallel to community integration. The findings suggest that to have an accessible accommodation is only the starting point to having a successful accessible tourism enterprise as customers are seeking the quintessential regional experiences that anybody wants when travelling to the regional the destination area. Yet, to achieve this requires the operator to interact with all sectors of the community to collaboratively develop an understanding of what constitutes accessible experiences and the benefits that the community receive when welcoming tourists with access needs.

D2.S4.Pan6 – Rm4.231

PANEL: GET UP, STAND UP - FIGHTING INTOLERANCE

DET Panel 1
Michael Harmey, Beverly Hills Intensive English Centre
Francis Sankoh, Beverly Hills Intensive English Centre
J Ross
A Bowden
S Stafford

Abstract: "You know Miss, all kids should do this stuff ....it makes you feel you belong just as you are." This session will explore the benefits of cultural exchange programs in promoting respect, responsibility, rights and reconciliation. It will include examples of actual cultural exchanges such as the Beverly Hills Intensive English Centre / Menai High School response to the Cronulla riots - a series of interactions and joint activities promoting understanding about being a young person in different contexts in Australian society - and exchanges with school communities in the Tweed region on the North Coast and Coonabarabran in the North West of NSW. In this session, teachers and students who have been involved in cultural exchange programs will relate their experiences and reflect on the impact of the programs on others and how they have changed as individuals because of them. It will focus on the way in which cultural exchange programs may assist in helping students and staff to better understand and accept that they have much in common even when they have differing cultural, linguistic and religious heritages.

D3.S1.Pan6 – Rm4.238

PANEL: CHALLENGING RACISM 1 - IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS, FORMULATING SOLUTIONS - EVERYDAY ANTI-RACISMS
Chair: Chris Ho

Program Title: Challenging Racism
Presentation: Responding and Reacting to the Experience of Everyday Racism
Kevin Dunn, University of Western Sydney
James Forrest, Macquarie University
Rogelia Pe-Pua , University of New South Wales

Abstract: From a nationwide sample of 4020 Australians we examine the feelings, reactions and responses of victims of racism. We outline the impacts of the experience of racism on their: sense of belonging; resilience; feelings of bitterness, and; of regret. We undertake an examination of the tertiary level anti-racism that is undertaken by those who experience racism. Most did nothing about the incidents they experienced. The literature on health and well-being effects of the experience of racism suggests that people who take no action in response to an experience of racism are at greater risk of morbidity, even more so where the racism was of a more subtle form. Only a small proportion reported the matter or consulted / confided with someone about it. The most numerous form of active response was to confront the perpetrator in some manner, usually in non-violent way, and in some circumstances using humour or ridicule. These findings provide clues as to how best to support the anti-racism, especially anti-racism that challenges everyday racism.

Program Title: Developing An Anti-Racism Framework For Victoria
Presentation: Developing an Anti-Racism Framework for Victoria
Loga Chandrakumar, University of Melbourne
Yin Paradies, University of Melbourne
Gabrielle Berman, University of Melbourne
Marion Frere, University of Melbourne

Abstract: Evidence from a number of studies suggests that racism is an ongoing problem in Australia. It affects people in everyday contexts as well as in their access to housing, health-care, employment and education. In addition to the inherently invidious nature of racism itself, successive studies have indicated a strong relationship between exposure to racism and poor mental health. This represents a significant public health concern, with over 24% of Victorian being born overseas, one in five speaking a language other than English at home and 44% having at least one parent born in a country other than Australia. Addressing racism affecting Indigenous Victorians is also vital given the continuing poor state of Indigenous health. Despite this evidence, there is a dearth of rigorously evaluated interventions and limited knowledge of the specific strategies and approaches that are likely to be effective in addressing ethnoracial discrimination. This paper outlines a project to develop an anti-racism framework to address ethnoracial discrimination in Victoria. This project, to be completed this year, builds on the VicHealth publication More than tolerance and adopts an ecological model which seeks remedies to racism across a range of institutional settings and levels. The framework highlights discriminatory attitudes, behaviours, policies and narratives that exist at the individual, organisational, community and societal levels; provides a range of possible interventions that policy makers working at each level may implement; and provides a vision of what success will look like.

Program Title: Prejudice reduction
Presentation: Prejudice Reduction With Respect To Aboriginal Australians And Muslim Australians: Can What Is Learned Be Unlearned?
Anne Pedersen, Murdoch University
Anne Aly, Edith Cowan University
Lisa Hartley, Murdoch University
Craig McGarty, Murdoch University

Abstract: There are few published studies regarding the success or otherwise of anti-prejudice strategies in Australia. The present study describes an anti-prejudice strategy targeting attitudes toward Aboriginal Australians and Muslim Australians in a nine-week intervention at an Australian university in 2008. Results indicated that 2nd year psychology participants showed a significant reduction in reported prejudice against Aboriginal Australians, false beliefs about Aboriginal Australians, and the belief that Aboriginal Australians unfairly receive preferential or special treatment. Participants also showed a marginal reduction in reported prejudice against Muslim Australians, together with a significant reduction in the reporting of negative media-related beliefs. Clearly, anti-prejudice interventions alone are not enough to combat prejudice given the amount of negative societal norms and misinformation that circulates throughout the Australian community about these two marginalised groups. However, it is encouraging to know that what is learned can, in certain circumstances, be unlearned. Our study indicates that, in this context at least, in-depth cross-cultural analysis and learning can prove beneficial.

D3.S1.Pan7 – Rm4.223

PANEL: LOCAL STORIES
Chair: Angeline Low

Program Title: Leadership in small towns
Presentation: Leadership and Active Citizenship in Small towns
Jenny Onyx, University of Technology Sydney
Rosemary Leonard

Abstract: We report the outcome of research designed to explore the dynamics of community development from the perspective of social capital. We discuss three case studies of small communities in South America. For each case we ask: How is social capital used in this instance? What other factors facilitate or impede its use, and with what kind of outcome? What makes the difference between one town that is in decline, and another under similar circumstances that thrives? In this paper we particularly focus on the role of human capital, and specific firms of leadership and active citizenship in the enactment of social capital for social and economic development. Each case involved observation of the town, interviews with key informants, and a variety of secondary source data. A thick description was developed for each.

Program Title: Living Libraries
Presentation: Living Libraries Australia: fostering social inclusion in local communities
Shauna McIntyre, Living Libraries Australia, Lismore City Council

Abstract: Living Library projects address barriers and foster social inclusion through conversation. In the Living Library, 'books' are people from diverse backgrounds across culture, religion, sexuality, disability, or lifestyle and the 'readers' are community members who 'borrow' a person for up to half an hour. Through these conversations prejudice is reduced, negative stereotypes are addressed and communities are brought closer together. Living Libraries support local participation of socially and economically excluded people, or those at risk of exclusion, in a volunteer program which builds bridges with the broader community.

Program Title: Who are the locals?
Presentation: Who are the locals? Social inclusion and local belonging
Rob Garbutt, Southern Cross University

Abstract: In Australia, the idea of being one of the locals expresses a profound connection between people and place, from the local to the national scales. In many communities this commonsense idea orders social inclusion and belonging. Commonsense localism is becoming increasingly dysfunctional as people become ever more mobile, and as the politics of belonging becomes contested through the recognition of the diversity already existing in communities as well as new patterns of diversity that are emerging. This paper begins by exploring the dimensions of Australian localism using both general reporting in a major regional newspaper and metropolitan reporting of the "Cronulla Riot" as examples for analysis. Expressions of settler, Indigenous and non-Anglo-Celtic Australian belonging will form one dimension of the analysis, and the spaces and places associated with localised belonging will form another. From a theoretical perspective one could conclude that in a plural and mobile society the idea of being a local should be actively countered. Yet being a local is so enmeshed with everyday Australian culture, including a system of born and bred kinship, it is unlikely to surrender its place easily. However, the power of meanings that the idea incorporates also provides a point of leverage from which to unsettle and extend naturalised hierarchies of belonging to place. In this context, strategies such as living libraries which bring diverse people together in conversation and expand the repertoire of positive local stories in the media can be seen as providing opportunities for enlarge the boundaries of "the local".

D3.S1.Pan8 – Rm4.240

PANEL: CHALLENGING RACISM 2 - EVERYDAY ANTI-RACISMS

Program Title: Positive Duties Legislation
Presentation: Addressing Racism Through "Positive Duties" Legislation
Yin Paradies, University of Melbourne

Abstract: Racism is the inequitable distribution of opportunity (benefit) across racial/ethnic groups. Racism occurs through avoidable and unfair actions that create further disadvantage for racial/ethnic groups or through avoidable and unfair actions that result in further advantage for racial/ethnic groups. Systemic racism occurs through requirements, conditions, practices, policies or processes that maintain and reproduce avoidable and unfair inequalities across ethnic/racial groups. "Positive duties" have been referred to as "fourth generation" race discrimination legislation. These duties require organisations and institutions to prevent and address racism and/or to promote equity (without recourse to individual complains). Such duties can be narrow (e.g. a duty not to discriminate) or broad (e.g. a duty to take active and reasonable steps to monitor, identify, quantify, report on, understand and address systemic racism and achieve equity). This paper examines key aspects of "positive duties", describes the extent of such legislation in Australia and internationally, and discusses the formulation, operationalisation, implementation and evaluation of these approaches. As the best known approach to positive duties, the United Kingdom Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 is considered as a case study in "fourth generation" race discrimination legislation before touching upon possible future directions for such legislation in Australia.

Program Title: Responding and Reacting
Presentation: Responding and Reacting to the Experience of Everyday Racism
Kevin Dunn, University of Western Sydney
James Forrest, Macquarie University
Rogelia Pe-Pua, University of New South Wales

Abstract: From a nationwide sample of 4020 Australians we examine the feelings, reactions and responses of victims of racism. We outline the impacts of the experience of racism on their: sense of belonging; resilience; feelings of bitterness, and; of regret. We undertake an examination of the tertiary level anti-racism that is undertaken by those who experience racism. Most did nothing about the incidents they experienced. The literature on health and well-being effects of the experience of racism suggests that people who take no action in response to an experience of racism are at greater risk of morbidity, even more so where the racism was of a more subtle form. Only a small proportion reported the matter or consulted / confided with someone about it. The most numerous form of active response was to confront the perpetrator in some manner, usually in non-violent way, and in some circumstances using humour or ridicule. These findings provide clues as to how best to support the anti-racism, especially anti-racism that challenges everyday racism.

Program Title: The Microdynamics Of Responding To Racism
Presentation: The Microdynamics of Responding to Racism in Everyday Life
Bernard Guerin, University of South Australia

Abstract: Based on examples from participatory research, some complexities and intricacies of responding to racism in everyday social life will be discussed. Questions will be raised about the usefulness of both referring to racists and of seeking general or context-independent interventions to deal with racism. Several categories will be proposed for racism responses and some examples given, especially of those less obvious and those more difficult to provide interventions. It will be concluded that it might be necessary for any racism responses to be both local and specific to context, although there is likely a long-term benefit from broader racism interventions which cannot be discounted but for which it is difficult to prove the efficacy.

D3.S2.Pan6 – Rm4.223

PANEL: POPULAR POLITICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Chair: James Goodman

Program Title: The Individual
Presentation: Individualized responsibility and climate change: if climate protection becomes everyone's responsibility, does it end up being no-one's?
Jennifer Kent, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: Whereas global compacts, such as the Kyoto Protocol have yet to consolidate action from governments on climate change, there has been increasing acknowledgement of the role of individuals (in their roles as citizens and consumers) as contributors to climate change and as responsible agents in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Recently along with the acknowledgement of the threat that anthropogenic climate change presents to the planet, there has been increased emphasis by governments and non-government organizations on personal responsibility campaigns targeting individuals and households with a view to stemming the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. The Australian Government, for example, spent $25 million in 2007 on the climate change information campaign targeted to every Australian household, 'Be Climate Clever: "I can do that"' In the UK there is support from both the government and some non-government organizations to legislate for Personal Carbon Allowances (PCA). A PCA scheme would specify and monitor a carbon budget for each household. Such education campaigns and carbon budget schemes imply that global greenhouse gas emission reduction targets can be met through the actions of individuals. Not only does this provide a very large expectation on the ability for the collective action of individuals to result in large greenhouse gas emissions but it also requires people to take on levels of responsibility for climate change mitigation which are as yet untested. This paper will explore how notions of individual responsibility have arisen and what the trend towards individualized responsibility may mean for active citizenship on climate change.

Program Title: Citizens’ participation
Presentation: Citizen participation in decisions about Australia's climate change response
Chris Riedy, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: Achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions of the scale required to stabilise the climate system will require radical technological, economic, social and cultural change. In Australia, despite the far-reaching implications of climate change and climate change response, there have been few opportunities for citizens to actively participate in key decisions about how to respond to climate change. Where participation by citizens is invited, it is generally circumscribed; it takes the form of written submissions to inquiries, rather than more active, open forms of public deliberation. In this paper, I review the recent history of public participation in major decisions about climate change response in Australia. I argue that the introduction of more deliberative forms of public participation can be beneficial as a way of improving the quality of decisions and the sense of public ownership. This second benefit is particularly important for climate change response, as many of the proposed responses have the potential to inflict short-term negative impacts on particular sectors of society. Despite their benefits, deliberative forms of citizen participation have proven difficult to implement in practice in Australia. They also raise difficult questions about what we should expect from citizens that are asked to participate in these processes. I draw particularly on a case study of the Capital Region Climate Change Forum, a citizens' jury on climate change response held in Canberra in December 2006. I use this case study to identify practical ways to improve citizen participation in future decisions about Australia's climate change response.

D3.S2.Pan7 – Rm4.235

PANEL: CHALLENGING RACISM 3 - POLICY PANEL

Panel Title: Geographies of Racism Policy Panel
Margaret King, Cabramatta High School
Hurriyet Babacan, Victoria University
Kavitha Chandra-Shekeran, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission
Anne Burgess, South Australian Equal Opportunity Commission
Amy Lamoin, Australian Human Rights Commission

D3.S3.Pan5 – Rm4.223

PANEL: BOS SCHOOLS IN ACTION
Chair: Stan Browne

Panel Title: Schools in action: Promoting the 4Rs

Abstract: Schools across NSW and education sectors are implementing excellent programs in the area of Values Education. In 2006 a number of schools showcased their programs in a Respect and Responsibility Forum conducted at the National Maritime Museum. In this panel presentation teachers and students from four schools involved in the Forum will present a range of initiatives promoting the 4Rs. The schools involved are Al Zahra College, Peel High School, Merrylands High School and the Australian International Academy of Education. This panel is organised by the NSW Board of Studies and foregrounds the work of Schools that address the issues of the conference. The panel includes teachers and students.

Teacher facilitators:
Michelle Ellis, Peel High School, Tamworth
Belinda Giudice, Merrylands High School
Ahmed Mokachar, Al Zahra College
Mona Abdel-Fattah, Australian International Academy of Education

D3.S3.Pan6 – Rm4.240