By Joel Werner | The Wire

A clinical trial for the drug semagacestat has been halted. Image: rodrigo senna

A clinical trial of a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease has been stopped after US researchers found the drug was actually making patients worse.

The drug, called semagacestat, has been taken out of development by Eli Lilly & Co after it was discovered that patients taking the drug had faster cognitive decline and greater difficulties carrying out the activities of daily living than those given a placebo.

“The investigators have a drug monitoring committee and they’re always monitoring for side effects,” said Professor Henry Brodaty, lead investigator of the Australian trial.

“They did an interim analysis before the trial finished, and once they saw this trend they immediately sent around an email saying to stop.”

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The late stage trial has been stopped at all international sites, including one at the Prince of Wales hospital in Sydney. At present it is unclear whether the adverse effects seen in the U.S. trial have been observed elsewhere.

“All I have seen are the media reports, I haven’t seen the actual numbers,” said Brodaty. “Whether the differences are statistically significant or just random differences in favour of placebo over the drug I can’t tell just now.”

For the patients whose trial was halted, there is no interruption to their regular treatment schedule, and they will be offered the opportunity to participate in other drug trials.

“This was an add-on study – so they didn’t have to give up their normal treatment,” said Brodaty. “We have other trials that we’re recruiting for, and we’re hopeful that some of those will be successful, so we’ll let our patients know about those trials.”

The announcement has lead to speculation on Wall Street concerning the future of Eli Lilly & Co. Brodaty was not surprised, saying: “It’s a huge gamble for these companies.”

“They’re putting in lots and lots of money, and if an untoward side effect occurs or it doesn’t show a positive effect, the drug is dead and it’s back to the drawing board.”

Although a setback in the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s, failed drug trials do not significantly impact the treatment of the disease. Drug therapies are only a small part of each patient’s treatment.

“We’d all love to have a magic bullet,” said Brodaty. “If we could give everyone destined to get Alzheimer’s disease a vaccine … that would stop them developing it, then we wouldn’t need all the other things. But currently, drug treatment is just a small part of the package of interventions.”

Alzheimer’s disease currently affects 250 000 Australians. If you or a family member has Alzheimer’s disease and are interested in participating in a drug trial, call Lynne at the Sydney Centre for Clinical Cognitive Research on (02) 9382 3733.

The growing sub-culture around ‘fixies’ – or fixed-gear bicycles – has come to mainstream attention with a recent gallery exhibition in Sydney. Dave Drayton and Jackie Leewai delved into the fixie culture to find out what it’s all about.

Bow Jia at the Sydney Sunday Sessions. Image: Jackie Leewai

Approaching ‘Robo-Cog’, it feels as though you have finally been accepted into the elusive ‘it’ group. A dozen or so modern-day Fonzies tinker casually on bikes. They work mostly without looking, presumably undergoing routine maintenance that has by now become second nature.

An array of tools that are made available to anyone who cares to come along are wielded by the more experienced riders present. The fresher faces watch; learning.

This is one of the hubs of Sydney’s burgeoning fixed-gear bicycle scene.

Haus, a Thai ex-pat who has been living in Australia for eight years began Robo-Cog in February this year. After a knee surgery forced him to stop skating four years ago, Haus turned to fixies, as they are affectionately termed, and has found himself at the centre of a growing trend.

“After surgery I was like, ‘I gotta find something to do.’ I mean, personally, I think everyone loves riding bicycles, you know? But this trend is going crazy.”

Haus tried fixies out of curiosity, not expecting to become as attached to the bikes as he did. Before too long he was holding regular sessions in his house, providing tools for other riders to use, and a point of commune for a scene that establishing itself as a close-knit community.

“It started at my house. Everyone was just coming to my house and using the tools and it started getting too crowded,” he says with a laugh. Not wanting to have his house destroyed, but needing a meeting place for the riders to hang out, Haus established Robo-Cog with fellow fixie enthusiast Jet.

Sydney Sunday Sessions – photo gallery

The time is nearing 5.15pm on Sunday and like clockwork, a cluster of fixed gear bike riders are hanging about the entry to Martin Place off George Street.

Sydney Sunday Sessions – or SSS – started as a small collective some 2 years ago, organised to allow ‘fixie’ -fixed-gear bicycle – enthusiasts to ride and socialise in Sydney. The group continues to grow in size and stature, attracting skateboarders, lapsed BMX riders, and general followers of street trends.

Read more…

Haus directs me to the mission statement of Robo-Cog – “The workshop is for like-minded cycling enthusiasts to gather and share ideas as well as modify and repair their bikes using the tools provided” – and the junkyard treasure chest of spare parts littered between the assembled fixie aficionados suggests success.

The garage space is rented by Haus and Jet each weekend, all that they request in return is a gold coin donation from the people using the tools they provide.

“Everyone who comes here and uses the tools shows a little respect. They give us like three dollars so I can have money to pay rent, and keep up with the tools. Some people aren’t paying but that’s cool, you still have friends come round. At the end of the day it’s about fun, that’s the main thing,” says Haus.

No matter who you ask about the Sydney fixie scene you can be guaranteed a response that highlights its laid-back friendly attitude. With the exception of the egos associated with a lot of bike messengers (one rider at Robo-Cog suggests “The couriers are like ‘We’ve been doing this for years and you’re all just hipsters jumping on our bandwagon’”), it seems that Sydney’s encompassing nature is something that sets it apart from the highly-strung riders in Melbourne and Brisbane.

“Sydney’s is a really friendly scene, you know, there’s not much arrogance which exists a lot in a lot of the other scenes,” says Darcy, a mechanic who volunteers his services at Robo-Cog each weekend. While he works as a mechanic during the week, Darcy is happy to donate his time and experience to aid newer riders on the weekend, and enjoys being able to give something back to the scene.

“The idea is that you can come and use the tools and use the knowledge, but it’s also like a clubhouse. Everyone from the scene just comes to hang out so its fun to spend your time here, it’s not work,” he says.

The assembled people revolve through conversations, seamlessly swapping between languages. A collection of three Thai riders converse in their native tongue before disbanding, joining other friends, and reverting to English. Grease covered hands occasionally reach for long necks of Coopers beer or cider, they are wiped on rags and extended warmly. The subcultures and cliques within in an already niche group do not create tension.

Darcy has witnessed the group’s growth, and the rise in the sports popularity, “You can see now, its growing up because, compared to last year when it started it was only ten people or so, and now its hundreds – more even.”

There’s good and bad aspects to the increasing popularity. Their passion catches the ephemeral attention of the mainstream, momentarily, and perhaps unwillingly becoming bombarded with hordes of trend hoppers and new recruits. “But it’s like with skateboarding, with anything, the hardcore guys stick it out. We’ll see next year, it will be quieter.”

For now, Darcy is content to find like minded riders, people with an interest in the scene, what ever their motivations. “Even if they’re just getting into it for the fashion or whatever. At least people are getting into it; at least people are riding bikes. Just enjoying it, getting off the couch,” he says.

The fashion Darcy mentions is a big part of the scene. More than just bikes, this is a culture that these riders live, breathe and wear. Teik Chew is owner of Halfsleeve, a street-wear store in Surry Hills located a few blocks away from Robo-Cog. After starting up around the same time fixed-gear bikes started to pick up in popularity in Sydney, Teik says they have been immersed in the scene. The store, a self-proclaimed clothing and lifestyle store, caters to the riders. There is a uniformity in the street-wear of fixie riders – part hip-hop, part op-shop, it is the uniform of a new sub-culture.

“We opened a year and a half ago and since day one we’ve had fixie customers. Most of the fixie guys are ex-skaters. I guess they’ve changed their mode of transport but they still kinda rock the same clothes,” says Teik.

He’s happy to be a part of a scene which he describes, similarly to so many others, as incredibly hospitable. “The riders here don’t take themselves so seriously. Groups like the SSS (a crew of riders called the Sydney Sunday Sessions) are massive, they encompass everyone.”

“So part of riding is the whole look of it as well, and that’s where we come into it,” he continues, spreading his hands around to indicate we are immersed in the culture as we speak.

Halfsleeve is one of a select few stores that form the supply chain for this growing trend. Teik mentions Deus Ex Machina and Hell On Wheels, talking about the businesses as though they are partners aiding a common cause, not rivals targeting the same market. It is the same camaraderie that exists through out the scene in general.

Deus Ex Machina is a cycle and motorcycle boutique retailer with stores at Camperdown and Oxford St. Teik believes they too understand that there is more to the fixie scene than just the cycles. “It’s not solely a bike store; they’ve put out their own brand, which is kinda heavily influenced by what is comfortable to ride in, and the fashion there,” he says.

Looking to give something back to the riders who had taken refuge in the store Halfsleeve organised an alley-cat race in June this year. Alley-cat races are popular within the fixie scene and have evolved from the messenger riders, it involves reaching a series of checkpoints before crossing the finish line. DC Shoes and SE Bikes collaborated with the store, providing one BMX cruiser and one fixed-speed bike as prizes. The two companies run collaboration every year, and sought out Halfsleeve specifically. “The DC rep in Australia thought we had a connection with the scene,” says Teik.

Despite only riding for the last two years Teik has been involved in the fixed-gear scene for even longer, with friends in his native Japan jumping on the bandwagon much earlier than their Australian counterparts.

“I used to live in Japan – that was about five years ago – and they were everywhere. And now I’ve seen it slowly been creeping into Australia.”

Teik says that the scene in Tokyo is strong, embedded in the culture there, but he continues to be surprised by the passion and friendship displayed in a rapidly swelling Sydney scene.

“In Tokyo you can get everywhere quicker on a bike. Everything is set up; the culture is much more developed there so you have heaps more stores, heaps more choices of brands and things. It’s small here, but I can only see it getting bigger and bigger.”

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Sydney Sunday Sessions

By Jackie Leewai

PHOTO GALLERY – Click to enlarge

The time is nearing 5.15pm on Sunday and like clockwork, a cluster of fixed gear bike riders are hanging about the entry to Martin Place off George Street.

Sydney Sunday Sessions – or SSS – started as a small collective some 2 years ago, organised to allow ‘fixie’ -fixed-gear bicycle – enthusiasts to ride and socialise in Sydney. The group continues to grow in size and stature, attracting skateboarders, lapsed BMX riders, and general followers of street trends.

Although I arrive without a ‘fixie’, the SSS crew seem not to care and turn their attention to more pressing matters – bikes and mates.

The vibe is relaxed and social amongst the mostly male company that gather. As more riders turn up, markers are placed on the public pavement to indicate the space where they ride and do tricks, all this while passersby and tourists sneak a quick look.

The fixed gear bike scene and culture has jumped the queue of usual fads, made known through indie films like MASH (2007), which was based on messenger bike riders in San Francisco, travelling through wild city traffic, dodging pedestrians and the random car door flying open whilst trying to courier between offices.

Ryan Arnold, 21, manoeuvres through the SSS crowd with his freestyle tricks, sporting a cheeky grin as his mates spur him on. He admits his “lucky to have never been in an accident but credits his luck to being a vigilant rider”; inspired by the messenger riders in San Fran for their “quick and zippy skills”.
He enjoys being part of the SSS crew and meeting in Martin Place every Sunday to ride and catch up with mates.

“There is a brotherhood amongst fixed gear riders and everyone’s super friendly, but people are making money off it because it’s blown up, and personally, I think it’s a good thing – power to them”.
Ryan bought a fixed gear bike about three years ago and was into riding since. At present, he owns two BMX’s and three fixed gears, and valued his SSS bike at around $2,500.

In the distance, Bow Jia stands by a less ordinary candy pink ride. Like his bike, Bow is only too sweet and describes the “love for bike” and the scene that has adopted him in Australia.

“There is a lot of fixed gear bikes in China, but Chinese people don’t need bikes, they’re too rich and aren’t really into it”, says Bow. He adds, since coming to Australia, his mates in Sydney and Melbourne ride, work in street apparel stores, or both, and are genuinely into the scene.

Beyond the bruises and crash stories that seem to unite the riders, the fashion is just as apparent if not relevant. With street fashion stores like Supply, Halfsleeve, Carthaart, Footage and mainstream houses like General Pants grabbing the trend, there is no excuse to look bawdy, unless after a long ride.

Recently, the SSS crew participated in Fixed Up @ The Galeries from 4 July – 15 August 2010, a free exhibition of Sydney’s fixed gear bike culture featuring photography, artworks and personally designed bicycles.

A blog and Facebook page keeps the SSS crew updated; detailing events, meet points, BBQ’s, races, photos, gear and general stuff. A sense of exclusivity rolls with the group but that kind of adds to the cool.

Speaking of cool, without a whistle blow or mass call, the riders leisurely disperse into the city streets as Martin Place prepares itself for another working week.

Back to On ya bike: fixed-gear culture in Sydney.

Henry Peters | Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne City: a high density destination. Image: Reinis Traidas

Standing atop the Hollywood Hills in California and peering out across the vast expanses of Los Angeles, the blanket of smog in the atmosphere is so dense the city’s skyscrapers are almost invisible. Cars are a necessity in Los Angeles and if urban sprawl continues unabated in Melbourne, it too could be confronted with the visual effects of a large carbon footprint.

There are many valid reasons to halt urban sprawl and focus on urban consolidation given Melbourne’s burgeoning population. Environmental impact on Carbon emissions, quality of life for those living in Melbourne’s expanding fringes, and our transport system’s inability to facilitate further urban sprawl, are just a few.

Many residents are choosing to object to high-density growth but the ideal of a large backyard will need to eventually give way to urban consolidation. Proposals in Camberwell, Mitcham and Box Hill have been vetoed in past years despite potential for population management, sustainability and traffic reduction. Director of City Design for the City of Melbourne, Rob Adams, believes Camberwell is a prime location for high-density development. “I can’t think of a better place for low-rise high-density development [than Camberwell]”, he said.

Paul Little, from global development group Aurecon Pty Ltd agrees with Adams. “[Camberwell junction] has excellent access to public transport options and has seen significant growth in commercial floor space capable of being used for office purposes.” High-density developments in Camberwell and Mitcham have needed the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to step in and overruled community rejection. Many residents remain unconvinced that high-density living is the best way to combat a growing carbon footprint.

Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Kate Auty, says that residents often object to high-rise residential and multi-use buildings because they feel excluded in the planning process. “(Residents) are opposed to having something stuffed down through their letterbox that says this is what’s going to happen and they’re not engaged in the discussion”, Auty said. Many don’t feel obligated to address the environmental concerns posed by urban sprawl.

A report issued by the Whitehorse City Council outlines the basis for community rejection of another high-density development. In 2004, Whitehorse rejected the proposal for a 17-level and 11-level pair of residential towers at 1-19 Colombo Street in Mitcham. Locals lodged over 600 objections to the initial project, which was dubbed the ‘Mitcham Monster’. These concerns will need to be reassessed if Melbourne wants to manage the exponential growth of its population without reverting to urban sprawl.

According to the report, one reason for council rejection was the “building is too big and too high”. The report elaborates, “the scale and form of the building is inconsistent with surrounding buildings.” Another point for rejection was “it will increase parking problems for rail users” and “air quality will be further affected by the increased traffic.” The report neglects to realise air quality overall will improve because people would be traveling less distance by car and more by train, while any parking could be avoided by implementation of underground parking or even a multi-level parking building beside the station.

Whitehorse also cited “the over sized building will devalue the surrounding properties.” Federal Labor MP Kelvin Thomson disagrees with the overall Australian consensus that higher property value is good for Melbourne.
“Housing is a necessity like food, water, electricity”, Thomson said. “Why do we cheer when the prices of houses go up?” Higher property value alienates Melbourne’s middle to low income bracket.”

But residential growth in Melbourne’s CBD has been impressive despite community rejection of high-density development in suburban areas. “The population in central Melbourne has increased from 30,000 to 100,000 and they’re all in apartments”, Adams said. Eventually, the ‘not in my back yard’ stance will be ignored.

Despite the trivialities of some reasons for community rejection, some potential problems associated with high-density development need to be avoided. Water conservation, ventilation, energy efficiency and overshadowing of adjacent Primary Schools should all be legitimate concerns for high-density developers.

Early Childhood Teacher at St. Michael’s Grammar School, Emily Poore, said that sunlight in primary schools is crucial to the positive development of young children. “Kids need to be able to run around and the sun definitely has an impact on their intrinsic motivation at school,” Poore said.

But Adams said European cities have proven that high-density buildings are more equipped to manage population growth, sustain the environment and function symbiotically with transport infrastructure.“None of it has to be high-rise. I’m talking about five to six storeys in height. The sort of stuff you might find in European cities like Barcelona”, Adams said.

High-density developments close to existing transport infrastructure are optimal because they reduce the need to use cars and limit traffic. Central Coburg, for instance, is “desirable because it’s close to both the (train) station and the transport corridor”, Adams said.

Despite the viability of more infrastructure in these inner-city activity centres, the government has allowed extension in areas like Cranbourne many kilometres from the CBD and without a developed train network.
Cranbourne residents are too reliant on cars and being pushed away from economic opportunity in the CBD as fuel prices rise.

Professor of Transport Studies at Monash University, Graham Currie, points out that the social implications of further urban sprawl are also profound. “Young people demonstrate higher unemployment and lower educational and social participation in fringe areas”, Currie said. If this is the case then criminality could also be spiked by urban sprawl. Low-income earners are being effectively stranded in areas like Cranbourne. Everyday access to the CBD is coming to them at a greater cost, let alone residence closer to the city.

“By stopping the expansion of the city and concentrating on creating communities in and around the existing fabric, places like Cranbourne maybe in 10 or 15 years time start to get its own urban area and hopefully fed by public transport”, Adams said.

Greater carbon emissions, social and economic alienation of residents on the ever-expanding fringe and pressure on a buckling transport system present a dark future for Melbournians. Identifying areas for high-density consolidation is only the first stage of managing our population. The residents in these areas need to start co-operating and realise that our environment is at stake and not just the view from their backyard.

Henry Peters is a student currently at Monash University in Melbourne.

Well the election is done but it’s not quite dusted. Jennifer Lush caught up with the Greens candidate for Grayndler, Sam Byrne, for a post-election debrief.

Sam Byrne takes the seat of Grayndler for the Greens. Image: Greens website

Dissatisfied with dirty campaigning and taunted by broken political promises, Australians voted with their feet.

Many of those feet, 15 per cent in fact, walked the way of the Greens.

The Inner West electorate of Grayndler was no exception.

Traditionally a safe Labor seat, post-election day it is now considered marginal.

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]]> http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/09/grayndler-turns-green/feed/ 0 http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/09/the-secret-lives-of-men/ http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/09/the-secret-lives-of-men/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:46:33 +0000 Amanda Hoh http://www.reportageonline.com/?p=6212 20 per cent of the Australian population are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, however many are keeping their sexuality a secret. Amy Huynh investigates the hidden lives of Australia's homosexual men.]]>

“I never, ever in my experience, never thought I was cheating on my wife, because I never went with another woman, I went with a bloke.”

According to Coming Out Australia, around 20 per cent of the Australian population are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, however many are facing their sexuality in secret. Amy Huynh investigates the hidden lives of Australia’s homosexual men.

Robert Hobart says he lived a double life for 10 years. Image: RahelSharon

John* was married for 11 years.

The 39-year old is a father to a daughter and a step-son.

For ten solid years, he worked as a senior manager at a Sydney based company in Australia.

But behind closed doors, he was having an affair with his personal assistant, Andrew.

“I never, ever in my experience, never thought I was cheating on my wife, because I never went with another woman, I went with a bloke,” Hobart said.

“I was living a double life, basically.”

Men leading secret, homosexual lives appear to be more common than first thought.

When John’s personal assistant, also a married man, left the company in which they worked, his departure brought attention to Hobart’s personal life.

“Basically I wasn’t coping, Andrew had left,” John said.

After being questioned by his boss, John revealed his double life to the rest of the company.

He said those working under him raised no concern over his sexuality. Everyone was fine except for his boss.

Yet John’s secret was not new at the company.

Five years earlier, John’s boss had confided in him, revealing that his father was gay and had been leading a double life.

“He played the whole I’m okay with it because my dad’s gay card, but he was the actual one that had the problem.”

In the four months following his coming out, John says he was “pushed out” of the managerial “boy’s club”.

“I became not the worker anymore, but the token gay. I’d become the brunt of jokes.”

After eight months on leave for health reasons, John was fired for visiting a male-dating site which pictured an erect penis.

He calls it double standards.

John says his own boss sent him pornographic videos prior to his knowledge of John’s sexuality and that this practice was “part of the work environment.”

“It was quite obvious and quite clear what we were allowed to do as senior managers.”

Ultimately, John saw his sexual life as the underlying issue that led to his sacking.

“What I do in the bedroom doesn’t affect my work life. I’m still the same person,” John said.

About 20 per cent of the Australian population are gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people, whether openly acknowledged or closeted says Wayne Elliott from community organisation, Coming Out Australia.

But Elliott says there’s no true indication as to the actual number, because of the closeted lives some choose to lead.

The Gay and Lesbian Lobby argue the same case of Labor MP David Campbell.

David Campbell, former NSW Transport Minister faced public scrutiny and sympathy after he was filmed at a gay sex club. Image: Cat Sparx

Campbell was filmed visiting a gay sex club in Sydney earlier this year and subsequently resigned as the NSW Transport Minister.

The former Minister admitted to leading a double life for 25 years at the same time as being married with two adult sons.

However, the public scrutiny and media backlash that followed the scandal was criticised by many.

“When it comes to judging a politician’s merit, specifically a minister, you should look to how they perform their ministerial functions, their obligations to parliament, whether they represent their constituency adequately, whether they represent the policies that they were elected for,” says policy and development coordinator of the Gay and Lesbian Lobby, Santhorun Raj.

“Those are the kind of questions that the lobby feels are important when it comes to judging a politician, not their private matters.”

But it may be a more common secret amongst men in Australia than what is generally known.

At Coming Out Australia, Elliott sees many clients that are still married.

“They’ve come out to their wives, but they’re still living in that family unit.”

He says David Campbell could very well have had a similar arrangement with his wife.

“It may not have been a secret. It was only a secret to those people out there who didn’t know him, which was really none of their business.”

It was a secret that has, for the moment, placed Campbell in a scandal that has seen the demise of his extended political career.

Related story: Gay beats – the secret hangout for men

Rick, who asked for his last name to be omitted, is a Sydney metropolitan train driver and one of three brothers that are all gay.

He says he’s familiar with situations in which a married man has had an arrangement with their wives.

“On some occasions I’ve heard some of the wives say they don’t feel as though they’re personally threatened,” he said.

“I guess in a lot of open relationships it’s not dissimilar, so long as there’s an understanding, and the other person is fully aware, it’s out in the open and the partner always comes back.”

Adam Walters, the Channel Seven reporter responsible for breaking the story on Campbell, told ABC Radio that the public interest of the story lay in Campbell’s deception of purporting to be a family man.

“The depth of the deception is reflected by the fact that since 1999, more than a decade now, he has represented himself as a family man of family values to his non-suspecting constituents in the Wollongong seat of Keira.”

“There is no question about that.”

The Gay and Lesbian Lobby says society does not acknowledge that the family unit can include same-sex couples. Image: Stefano Bolognini

Raj however believes that society is wrongly suggesting that heterosexuals are the only members of the community that can be committed to family values.

“I guess part of the fascination with the David Campbell story was that it was considered a scandal, and that there was some rhetoric that was mobilised around this idea that if you’re about family values then you can’t be gay basically,” Raj said.

“The lobby feels these kind of comments that have been made are particularly offensive, because a lot of same-sex couples are in family situations and do value themselves in terms of family values.”

John is vehement of this public perception of family values.

“He’s still a married man, he’s still a family man,” he said of David Campbell.

“I’m still a family man, I still have children, because I’m gay doesn’t mean I’m not a family man.”

Elliot echoes these sentiments.

“Children are conceived… naturally by a man and woman. But that does not determine the terminology of family. Family is made up of different aspects,” Elliott said.

For John, his sexuality was not confirmed until after he was married.

“I’d played with men before, I just kind of thought it was a bit of a phase and it would go away type of thing, but then when I met him, it made me go wow,” he said.

“But I had two kids at this stage, I had a wife, we were buying a house, so it wasn’t a case where it was easy just to walk away, besides I’d made the decision for better, for worse, so that was never going to be the case.”

John now acknowledges that what he had with other men while he was married were affairs. Although the affairs he was having were not with other women, he now recognises that he should have been committed to his wife.

John split from his wife in May 2007 due to other issues that arose within their marriage. However, it wasn’t until August 2008 that he came out to his ex-wife and children about his sexuality.

John says that the counselling he received from organisations like ACON, an organisation for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, gave him the support he needed.

“And that kind of helped me step by step, to come out, which is what you need,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s just too hard to just go, yeah I’m gay.”

*Name has been changed

The misunderstood monsters of the sea have once again been thrust into the spotlight after the recent incident last month when a surfer died after a shark attack in Gracetown, Western Australia. Despite this, experts say man does more damage to sharks rather than what we are led to believe in popular culture. Audrey Lee dives in the deep end to investigate.

A three-meter shark as it surged towards a chink of tuna carcass attached to a rope. Image: Audrey Lee

Beneath the first blush of an early September predawn light, a fierce wind lashed the sullen, logy waves, stirring up a blast of fresh salt air that consumed me. The loud droning of the engines interrupted the tranquility of the untamed sea as our speedboat jetted across the ocean just off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa.

With 15 others onboard this 11-metre catamaran, we were on an expedition most would call a ‘reckless’ one. The one animal we fear most was the one we were hoping to meet that morning: the great white shark.

Buckets of diluted rancid minced fish parts, tuna blood and oil, or otherwise called chum, were tossed into the water from the stern. The bristling breath of the sea was engulfed by a long, unbroken trail of this malodorous concoction, snaking its way towards the horizon. The sharks’ sense of smell is so sensitive it can detect even a single drop of blood in the water up to 5 kilometres away.

The boat finally came to a complete standstill and we found ourselves stranded in the beasts’ lair. The choppy waves shook the boat like a rag doll, with the surrounding waters turning crimson from the chum. The cold wind blew harshly, cutting my face like piercing needles. The ocean was a sepulcher. Still raring to go, I climbed into a large cage that was fixed to the starboard at water level. The icy water restricted my legs a little, but I continued to tread to stay warm, as I waited anxiously with bated breath. All other eyes on deck were kept peeled for that familiar triangular fin that might break the water surface.

“Shark!”

It wasn’t long before a fellow member cried out in a keening falsetto. My heart began to race. Most would scurry to shore at the sound of that word, but I put on my snorkel and ducked underwater. The three-metre shark lunged towards a chunk of tuna carcass attached to a line next to where I was. Its huge jaws exposed, baring row upon row of deadly serrated teeth. Its formidable tail was thrashing around wildly, churning up sea bubbles and impairing my vision.

As the bubbles soon began to clear, the shark had already devoured its prey in a matter of seconds. Overwhelmed with a feeling of awe, I edged in closer, instantly captivated by the animal’s majestic performance. The shark glided gracefully towards the cage, its large, unblinking black eyes fixated onto mine. With only so much of a couple of steel bars separating us, I was centimetres from it. I was almost certain that the shark could easily wrench the bars out and attack me if it wanted to. But it didn’t. Like an inquisitive child, I saw a flickering light within its barely visible dark pupils, as it gazed upon me. Unthinkably, the great white disappeared abruptly into the murkiness. The most feared predator on earth… was afraid of me.

The ocean covers about two thirds of the world’s surface and is home to over 80 per cent of life on Earth. The first sharks are known to have lived in the ocean for more than 400 million years, about 150 million years before the age of the dinosaurs. When all other life on Earth was wiped out, sharks have managed to survive five major mass extinctions.

They are the apex predators in the marine environment, helping to maintain the proportional balance of various marine species in the ecosystem. They control the populations below them, essentially eliminating weaker species and thus, creating new ones.

Sharks are known to have terrorised the hearts of people, many of whom are victims of traditional misconceptions and beliefs portrayed by the media. Steven Spielberg’s fear-provoking classic movie, Jaws, released in 1975 is a prime example.

“Jaws was a completely unrealistic and over-dramatised portrayal of the great white shark,” Rebecca Davis, founder of Save Our Sharks Australia, says of the film. “Unfortunately, the fear it instilled into people who saw the movie has continued to influence generation upon generation.”

Even Peter Benchley, the late author of the novel Jaws, wrote an article in 1995 titled “Misunderstood Monsters”, admitting to the damage his book has done to the reputation of sharks.

“I couldn’t write “Jaws” today”, he wrote. “The extensive new knowledge of sharks would make it impossible for me to create, in good conscience, a villain of the magnitude and malignity of the original.”

Scientists and experts have long tried to debunk the myth that sharks are mindless killing machines. Dr. Demian Chapman, a research scientist currently based in Peru from the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and head of the Institute’s Shark Research Program, is one such expert.

Growing up in New Zealand, Dr Chapman spent most of his childhood on the beach. Like most children, he was fearful of sharks, but became fascinated with them and was “hooked” by the time he realised they were not the “monsters” he perceived them to be.

His fieldwork involves the studying of shark reproduction and behavioural patterns, and he has found them to be amazingly tame.

“I’ve been near thousands and thousands of sharks,” he says. “All the ones that people are very afraid of, and I’ve never been bitten by any of those. In fact, I’ve been bitten more by my dog than sharks.”

According to a statistical study conducted by Taronga Conservation Society Australia, there have only been 52 human fatalities due to shark attack, in Australia in the last 50 years. The last fatal attack happened to actress, Marcia Hathaway, at Sydney Harbour in 1963.

Michael Skoletsky, Executive Director of Shark Savers, says of death from shark bites is usually caused by blood loss. When a shark does bite a person, he claims, “it’s extremely rare that it would bite a person twice”.

“Sharks don’t have arms so sometimes the only way for them to tell or to taste whether something is food is by taking a bite, and they have big mouths,” says Skoletsky.

Upon hearing my shark cage diving experience, Skoletsky says the only reason the shark approached the cage was because of the chum.

“That shark probably would not have wanted to come near you if they weren’t attracting the shark, and they had to work pretty hard at that. They may be chumming long before you got into the cage. So that shows you that the sharks are not there to eat you.”

A shark fin displayed in JADE Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Perth, Western Australia. Image: Audrey Lee

Albeit sharks are often seen as the “bad guys,” Dr Chapman argues that in reality, “we [humans] are the bad guys because we kill more of them”.

Research has shown precipitous declines in many shark species. Michael Aw, founding director of OceanNEnvironment and a shark expert, estimates over 100 million sharks are killed each year, where 26 to 73 million sharks are killed purely for their fins. As a result, over one-third of the shark species are classified as endangered or threatened by extinction under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.

Shark finning is a common practice where fishermen would pull a shark on deck and slice off its fins while it is often still alive. The rest of the shark is then thrown back into the sea to die either by bleeding to death or suffocation. As shark meat is relatively inexpensive and less profitable, their fins are primarily the reason behind this lucrative industry.

According to Dr Chapman, there is about 20 to 25 species of sharks that make up the fin trade, such as Whale Shark, Mako, Hammerhead, Thresher Shark and Grey Nurse. Putting it simply – the larger the fin, the higher the price. According to Dr Chapman, as far as species that are highly valued, such as the Hammerheads, their fins possess certain “characteristics that the fin traders and consumers find desirable, and can fetch up to $140 per kilogram of hammerhead fins.”

Depleted shark populations are hard to rehabilitate, because as Skoletsky puts it, “sharks have very slow reproduction rate, there’s no way for them to reproduce quickly enough to overcome the fishing.” An average shark can take up to 20 years to reach sexual maturity and even then produces only two to three pups a year.

“Shark populations may take decades to recover, if they are given a chance to, or may never recover if this slaughter continues,” Skoletsky says.

However, there are currently no international laws protecting sharks, as most of the oceans are not within the jurisdiction of any one country. At the conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held this March in Doha, Qatar, four species of sharks, including the Hammerheads, were up for consideration in their endangered list. Unfortunately, Japan opposed this move.

“The Japanese are extremely active in lobbying against these proposals and using what influence they have to get other countries to vote the same way. It was very disheartening. The sharks came very close, which just goes to show that a majority of countries do recognise this problem and are willing to deal with it. But it’s this handful of countries that are blocking it, simply because they are making a lot of money out of it,” Dr Chapman says of the Japanese at that meeting.

“And also what’s important to note is that the proposals that were up were not to ban trade in shark fins of these species. It was just to monitor the trade in this species. Just to monitor. Which is ludicrous.”

To date, only 17 countries including the European Union (EU) have laws against shark finning, and Australia is one of them. In most of these cases where the practice of shark finning is prohibited, fishermen would have to land the entire shark and not just their fins.

Australia also has regulations that protect some shark species such as the Great White and the Grey Nurse shark and has limit fishermen to a certain quota per year. Nonetheless, sharks are still allowed to be fished and fins are exported overseas.

There are nations that have banned shark fishing altogether. This May, Hawaii became the first US state to have passed a complete ban on all types of shark fin commerce. Not only are fishermen not allowed to fin sharks, landing or marketing shark fin is also strictly prohibited.

In September 2009, Palau established the world’s first shark sanctuary and banned all shark-fishing activities in its waters. Early this year, Maldives banned shark fishing within a restricted zone that covers 90,000 square kilometres of water. Instead, both Palau and Maldives rely heavily on tourism for economic survival.

Hillsong Church in Sydney’s north-west is never far from news headlines, scrutinized for its alleged questionable approaches to Christianity. In the past, parishioners have been type cast for their conservative lifestyle choices but does this sway the way they vote?

Brittney Kleyn visited the Hillsong parishioners in the seat of Mitchell, one of the safest Liberal seats in New South Wales, to find out how they voted and their thoughts on the latest results.

Click here to listen to the story [See post to listen to audio]

]]> http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/09/hillsong-churchgoers-discuss-the-elections/feed/ 0 http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/09/why-have-all-the-fish-gone/ http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/09/why-have-all-the-fish-gone/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:10:58 +0000 Lauren Moorhouse http://www.reportageonline.com/?p=7031 In the second part of Anna Hager’s investigation, she looks at what is being done to cultivate the Bluefin tuna industry from near collapse.]]>

In the second part of Anna Hager’s investigation, she looks at what is being done to cultivate the Bluefin tuna industry from near collapse.

Overfishing has left the tuna industry in ruin but attempts to cultivate the fish in captivity have fallen flat. Image: © OCEANA / Keith Ellenbogen

Recent moves to cut Southern Bluefin tuna (SBT) quotas due to overfishing could have detrimental effects on the local Australian fishing industry, which generates big money.

The fishing industry says that quota cuts are not based on current data and are therefore partly unjustified.

The Australian Southern Bluefin Industry Association (ASBTIA) says that before recent quota cuts, export of Southern Bluefin reached over $300 million per annum, generating over 5,000 jobs throughout Australia.

They also say that the tuna business is internationally competitive and critically important to the Eyre Peninsula’s economy – Australia’s fishing industry hub.

“Tuna is one of the largest seafood industries in Australia, so it was a major blow,” Jeffriess says.

“It meant substantial job losses, and future uncertainty. Tuna is by far the largest employer on the Eyre Peninsula, and the tuna industry had invested in new industries such as tourism. So the impact has been not just within the tuna industry, it has been felt by every part of the Eyre Peninsula economy.”

According to ASBTIA CEO Brian Jeffriess, the quota cut in 2009 for example was based on data up to 2006. This data included the effects of large-scale illegal catch from 1985 to 2006. But, with the 2008 to 2010 statistics available now, the data suggests a possible recovery of stock.

Fishermen in the area share this sentiment. Peter Dennis from Triplebay charters in Port Lincoln says that he has received reports from local fishermen of sightings of large schools of tuna around the Great Australian Bight in 2010.

“It seems to be a seasonal type of thing rather than stocks running down,” he says.

Because of improvement in the numbers of bluefin sighted in recent times, Dennis says fishermen in Port Lincoln are therefore not happy to accept trade bans and quota cuts.

“They weren’t happy with it of course. They are lobbying the government and trying to get some of the quota back because of the numbers of fish that have been sighted out there,” he says.

Glenn Sant from wildlife trade monitors, TRAFFIC also says that it is difficult for any industry to have to reduce the amount of fish it harvests and to still make money.

“The fact is though that unless the amount of catch is reduced overall in the fishery there will not be recovery of the stock” he says.

Despite increased efforts, no alternatives to wild fishing are currently available

In an effort to secure healthy tuna stocks for the future, countries around the world are attempting to breed bluefin tuna in captivity. However, the question is whether such a migratory species, that can grow up to sizes of 450kg, can be domesticated.

According to many scientists this will be near impossible but might be the only way to save the species, as our insatiable hunger for the expensive sushi and sashimi ingredient doesn’t appear to be subsiding.

Maria Jose Cornax from OCEANA in Spain says that at the current stage of research and knowledge available, bluefin tuna cannot be bred in captivity, at least not at commercial levels.

She says that breeding bluefin in captivity “is unsustainable due to the high percentage of fish protein they need to grow.”

Cornax says, “For fattening one kilogram of bluefin you need around 15 to 20 kilograms of other wild fish species [like] mackerel, squid and sardines.”

A further problem is that, in most cases, the ranching of tuna involves the catching of wild tuna and fattening them in cages.

“It’s worth clarifying that all farming referred to with bluefin tuna actually catches wild stock that is then fattened for the market. Hence they do not contribute to the rebuilding of stocks,” says Sant from TRAFFIC.

“Tuna farming is officially considered as a post-harvesting practice rather than one based in direct capture and thus avoids every regional and international rule set up to manage fisheries in the Mediterranean.”

Besides wild catches and tuna farming there has been another development,which aims to rescue the tuna industry from collapse.

Last year in a world-first breakthrough, aquaculture pioneer Clean Seas Tuna Limited in conjunction with scientists from the University of the Sunshine Coast, the South Australian Research and Development Institute, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre successfully recreated the breeding patterns of the Southern Bluefin breed of tuna.

“Not only have images such as these never been seen by human eyes, but the creation of these fish has been entirely dependent on human endeavour,” says Clean Seas chairman Hagen Stehr.

In 2010 Clean Seas reports that it has completed its third consecutive annual on-shore Southern Bluefin Tuna spawning program.

“The 2009-10 spawning trials have proved to be highly successful in terms of being able to repeat spawning under controlled conditions; advance spawning commencement by two months from March to January; replicate our success in rearing fingerlings in locations up to 2,900 kilometres from Arno Bay; and extending the spawning period by six weeks to 12 weeks,” says Clean Seas managing director Clifford Ashby.

But, despite these efforts to breed bluefin tuna in captivity there is no indication at this stage of any contribution to rebuilding stocks now or in the near future.

“The bluefin tuna species has a biology that means that they are very easily overfished. That has to do with how long they live and how long they take to mature. In captivity that is very difficult too. In trade we don’t see bluefin that has been bred in captivity,” says Sant from TRAFFIC.

The verdict looks all but rosy

The problem is that with bluefin tuna fetching around $800 US per kilo on the Japanese market, the disappearance of this species in our oceans comes to no surprise.

Unfortunately dropping levels only seems to spark demand, with prices rising at an astronomic rate.

As of January 2010, a comprehensive global Catch Documentation has been implemented by the Commission for Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT).

“All whole SBT must be tagged at the time of kill with a uniquely numbered tag and the tag must remain on the SBT until the first point of domestic sale. SBT without tags between these points must not be accepted,” says Bob Kennedy from the CCSBT.

The sad reality is that bluefin tuna is only an example of where we are driving our oceans. According to Cornax, 90 per cent of our predators have already disappeared, so it is not only a matter of losing fish on our table.

“A Spanish researcher said that biodiversity is like a plane. Will it be able to fly when it is constantly losing small pieces of its engine?”

Read part one of Anna Hager‘s investigation, Why is the tuna industry so blue? here.

Erika Tumambing | Melbourne, Australia

Alive and healthy: a Kangaroo and its Joey. Image: Tim Williams

For Denise Garratt, it all began in the depths of the Victorian bush, where a fascination with the kangaroos in her paintings became a lifelong passion for wildlife rescue.

“It was just something that was meant to be,” she says, “they’re exquisite creatures.”

A former painter, Garratt left her art gallery thirty years ago for a life in the bush, where she studied and lived with a mob of kangaroos on a remote property for seven years. She has nursed hundreds of joeys and kangaroos back to health since. “Some mornings I might get six calls before 9 o’clock for animals injured on the road all across the state,” she says.

The real tragedy, says Garratt, is that not all incidents are immediately reported, leaving injured kangaroos stranded on the roads until someone else calls for help, by which time it may be too late. “Ninety per cent of motorists will hit kangaroos and keep going,” she sighs as she bottle-feeds little Bill, one of the many joeys she has taken into her care.

“There’s this huge area for education that is desperately needed to encourage people to think about driving from dusk to dawn a little more carefully where wildlife is known to be on the roads.”

For this reason, Wildlife Victoria rescuer, Fiona Rowley, believes kangaroo numbers are in decline. “Kangaroos have very few natural predators,” she says, “but there is little doubt in my mind that man is the kangaroo’s biggest predator.” Landowners and farmers are now applying for culling permits under the misconception that kangaroo numbers are out of control and taking food and water from their sheep and cattle which, according to Rowley, is not the case. “We have now built so many housing estates and commercial development[s] that we have landlocked many mobs of kangaroos
into the only remaining parcels of land and made them easier to see,” she says.

Australian Society for Kangaroos coordinator, Nikki Sutterby, agrees. Road deaths, drought, commercial shooting and loss of habitat have all shown how humans have put the national icon at risk of large-scale extinction.

“Not only are they shot in rural areas by farmers, they are displaced by development and civilisation that is extending at a rapid rate in regional and metropolitan areas,” she says. Sutterby fears kangaroos may never recover from their current critical situation. This is exacerbated by continued government support of the kangaroo industry, which slaughters millions each year – 3.6 million in 2008 – to supply meat for export and pet food.

“The Australian government is in denial about the plight of kangaroos and I believe they won’t realise until it’s too late,” she says.

Garratt has dedicated her life to saving kangaroos and other wildlife, including koalas and possums. Aside from being on a number of animal welfare boards and ethics committees, including the Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Platypus Conservancy and Victorian Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, Garratt is one of the founding members of the RSPCA wildlife branch and the president of Help For Wildlife.

“I work 36 hours a day,” she muses. “It’s very rewarding. But in some cases it can tear your heart out when you don’t get them through and you can’t save them.” Running a wildlife shelter, she says, is particularly difficult for those on the outer skirts of the city that take in high maintenance wildlife. There are also travelling, food and facility costs to cover, most of which comes out of her hip pocket. As a non-government funded organization, Wildlife Victoria relies solely on donations from the public as well as the help of voluntary staff to keep afloat. She knows that “we’re all in this together.”

But financial drawbacks did not dampen her spirits during the Black Saturday bushfires last year. Garratt and a team from Help For Wildlife were some of the first aides on the scene at the Kinglake complex. “All of the food that we gave out to the animals in the fires I funded myself,” she says. “Some medical supplies were donated, but most of the cost we bore ourselves. We didn’t get very many donations for the fires because nobody really knew we were doing it.”

With the help of other shelters, Help For Wildlife distributed 70 tonnes of food and supplies to those in need, including dog and cat food, horse rugs, hay, horse food and human food, all the way from Kilmore to Gippsland.

“We were inundated,” she says. “Everybody did what they could, when they could and how they could.”

In the midst of the chaos, Garratt did not have any time to seek donations, which proved to be especially difficult when she ran out of medical supplies. Medical supplies, she noted, were distributed poorly during the bushfires.

“Some people got a lot, some people got none and some people didn’t know where it was,” she says. Fortunately, aid did arrive from interstate. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) sent down a specialist burns vet and an international relief coordinator from New South Wales.

Bob Irwin, animal conservationist and father of the late Steve Irwin, and other wildlife workers in Queensland also contributed what they could. “They were the wind beneath our very charred wings,” Garratt says.

In spite of all the difficulties she is confronted with in running Help For Wildlife and rehabilitating kangaroos, she wouldn’t trade her job for anything else in the world. “I find I’m constantly humbled with the privilege of being able to have access to them,” she says.

Despite financial obstacles, Garratt continues her fight to help Australia's native animals. Image: Priska3

Fellow wildlife shelter owner and friend, Michele Philips, is equally passionate about the wildlife that she takes in.

“They’re my pride and joy,” she boasts, “I’ll give an animal every chance it needs, as long as it’s not suffering.”

Owner of the South Oakleigh Wildlife Shelter, Philips takes in smaller wildlife, including possums and a variety of birds. Her front yard is often dotted with cockatoos, magpies and lorikeets that she has rehabilitated and released in the past but insist on coming back to pay her a visit. “Every animal has its purpose and when humans interfere, it’s disastrous,” she says.

Although the injured wildlife she rescues require low maintenance, the cost of care does add up and like Garratt, the majority of funding comes from Philips’ own pocket. When she isn’t tending to her wildlife, she spends most of her time foraging for bottlebrush and eucalyptus branches to feed the animals and adorn the makeshift homes in her backyard. Her dirt-encrusted hands are testimony to the physical demands of her day job.

Unlike Garratt, Philips runs the shelter on her own, covering the cost of feeding, cleaning and rehabilitation with little help from the government, which, in her opinion, is less than adequate. “It’s up to me to get the money however I can,” she says.

Donations and council grants have helped Philips run the shelter, but are currently her only sources of income. Last year, she received grants of $800 from Moorabbin Kingston council and $2000 from Glen Eira council, however she has received nothing from her own council, Oakleigh-Monash. “Monash have got no allowance whatsoever for wildlife,” she says, “for me, $3000 is nothing.”

Only recently has the Government formally recognized the contribution of wildlife carers to animal welfare. Under the 2009/10 Wildlife Rehabilitators Grants Program, $400,000 will be made available as grants to rehabilitators for equipment and infrastructure over a two-year period. A further $150,000 will go into the development of an education program for wildlife rehabilitation.

Colleen Wood, manager of the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter, can identify with Philips’ lack of funding, which made the bushfires all the more difficult to endure. “The only funding that we received during the fires was a $1000 grant that they allocated to any shelters or carers that had dealt with any wildlife… There were times when we could not access medical supplies. There were another four shelters that were completely destroyed, so we also took on the brunt of their animals. It was pretty horrendous. But you just deal with it.”

Among the wildlife in Wood’s care was Sam the Koala, who was put to sleep four months after contracting Chlamydia. But the legacy of Sam has inspired Wood to build a specialised rehabilitation centre for burns victims.

“What I’d like to do is build a proper burns unit and have it operate as a koala hospital,” she says. The centre, she says, will provide education for PhD students as well as train vets and carers to deal with burns.

“We certainly don’t have the funding to go through with it, but it’s something that will come to be and will drive me for the rest of my life,” she says.

A public fund has been established for the proposed koala hospital, which will allow Wood and her colleagues to access grants and public donations. Wood hopes to have the centre up and running in the next five to ten years.

Erika Tumambing is a student currently at Monash University in Melbourne.