Back from the Hill

"I'm writing this on the plane back from Canberra," I was going to write, "where I've spent the last couple of days hobnobbing with the high and mighty." That was two weeks ago, but of course on the plane back I promptly fell asleep, not so much from hobnobbing but simply from a packed two-day programme which had started with a 5.15 a.m. flight out of Brisbane on Tuesday 28 March. So, here's a belated follow-up on my trip to the "Expanding Horizons" event which the Council for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences had organised...

And when I say packed, I mean packed - stuffed into the two days were more activities than some conferences manage in a full week, in some of Australia's most iconic venues - from the National Library and the National Press Club through to Federal Parliament itself, of course. Part of the purpose of the event was to build a stronger sense of the potential for collaboration between the humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) and science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM) sectors, and so we spent a good deal of time dreaming up new projects, some of which I think have a great chance of being turned into reality some time down the track. The wealth and breadth of research fields represented at the event was astounding, and I'll be sure to follow up with some of the people I met when my inbox finally dips below triple figures again.

But the other purpose of "Expanding Horizons" was to better connect us with the political scene, of course, and here the event showed its real strengths. In spite of my misgivings for the current Australian government I must say I was impressed by the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, who in her speech especially stressed her support for the independence of peer review processes for research projects proposed to the Australia Research Council - this seemed designed to clearly distance her approach from that of her predecessor, the execrable Brendan Nelson, whose trigger-happy final-hour vetoing of funding for approved projects smacked of personal bias and a deep-rooted fear of ideas he couldn't, or wouldn't, grasp. Fair enough, it's not difficult to look less self-righteous and anti-intellectual than Nelson, but Bishop's own past roles in university life do seem to make her a much more appropriate choice for her portfolio.

On the other side of politics, there's some life, too, even in spite of Kim Beazley's leadership. Shadow Minister for Finance Lindsay Tanner hinted that in the slow lead-up to the next Federal election Labor might revisit aspects of its well-intentioned but poorly presented Knowledge Nation policy - and one can only hope that this might entail some recognition of the contribution to culture, knowledge, and economy that is made by the HASS sector in general and the creative industries in particular. Such issues were also the main focus of my meeting (with Trevor Weekes from Newcastle University) with Senator George Campbell. In classic ALP style, Campbell comes from the manufacturing sector via a union career, and so we began by talking about the role the HASS sector and the creative industries can play in the continuing restructuring which Australian manufacturing industries must still undergo as the country moves further into a knowledge and creative economy environment; we also discussed the increasing role which creative and livable cities play in attracting a skilled and creative workforce - indeed I felt a little like I was presenting a condensed version of what I normally spend 13 weeks each semester working through with my undergraduate students in KKB018 Creative Industries at QUT. By the end of the meeting (scheduled for half an hour, but actually running close to an hour) both Trevor and I felt that Campbell would have been happy to chat even further - but perhaps there'll be another time.

Finally, I should also mention the venues - and I must say, even though it tends to look sleepy and deserted at least half the time, Canberra has been good to me both this time and when I last spent a few days there for the Archiving Web Resources conference. From our meetings in the National Library to the 'access all areas' pass to Parliament House (as someone so aptly put it - "if you walk past John Howard in a corridor, resist the urge"), to dinner at The Lobby, this was a very well-organised event, and I'm glad I went. My thanks in particular to John Byron and the Australian Academy of the Humanities, who invited me to take part as their sponsored delegate. (And it was great also to catch up with my friend Donna Lee Brien again.)

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