The Vibewire Enterprise Hub incubates young creative and social entrepreneurs during the start up phase of their initiative by providing space, resources, connections and inspiration.  The hub provides infrastructure where entrepreneurs can have access to a physical space, support by virtual tools, a place to hold meetings, and access to like-minded peer networks to facilitate the rapid growth of ideas and projects.

Over here at electionWIRE our reporters are armed with little more than a mobile-sized camera and untapped enthusiasm in their search for angles on the 2010 election. Unlike their high-profile counterparts, they operating on a virtual shoestring — but these mavericks have been getting off the beaten track and getting some priceless comments from the seasoned campaigners. They’re picking not only the personalities and policy angles, but also approaching them with genuine curiosity.

Elise Worthington follows up on the Twitter scandal involving Queensland Family First candidate, Wendy Francis, in which she announced that same sex marriage was tantamount to child abuse. Elise headed straight to Wendy’s HQ to test her views. Through some genuine cross-examination, Elise reveals how some politicians are out of their depth in the complex world of social networking. Wendy admits she doesn’t “twitter” and has no idea how it works, but sticks to her guns about same-sex marriage being a no-no.

Meanwhile over in the seat of Longman, the 20-year-old Liberal National Party candidate Wyatt Roy charms the senior citizens. Elise follows the decorated Wyatt wagon to find out how aligned the young candidate  is with Tony Abbott — especially on issues like gay marriage.

Steve Fielding might just be Australia’s favourite blundering Senator. But Melbourne’s Alex Mann took the Family First representative seriously enough to repeatedly demand that he define more distinctly his favourite terms: “ordinary Australians” and “their families”. Sorry who?

Emma James seeks out well-known political personality, Cheryl Kernot. Kernot is joining Simon Cant on an Independent ticket for the NSW Senate in Saturday’s election. Emma doesn’t cross-examine her motives for party-switching but gleans the views of a highly experienced political identity. Cheryl shares her many thoughts on leadership in Australian politics, maternity leave, Indigenous empowerment, the role of the Senate and the power of one. Or two.

Finding Warren H. Williams in the studios at CAAMA radio in Alice Springs, Joel Philp disarmed the unlikely Greens Senate candidate by talking about a common interest — music. They discuss the country music legend’s potential to become Australia’s third Indigenous Senator. Williams reveals how he moves easily between white and black worlds and how having a female prime minister is paving the way for Indigenous people to get into the Big House on the hill.

Back in Queensland, Naomi Lim seeks out the former erotic actor, now Sex Party Senate Candidate, Tim Sheen. When he tells her he is passionate about the issue of censorship, she gets his views on the net filter and discovers some context for the somewhat misunderstood party.

And just in today, Adelaide’s Lucas De Boer’s frank and friendly discussion with the Minister for Youth Affairs, Kate Ellis in which she reflects on the highs and lows of being percieved as “young” in one of the oldest games in the country.

There’s others too, like hot pick for the seat of Melbourne, Greens’ Adam Bandt; the Shadow Minister for Youth Affairs and Gold Coast Liberal, Steve Ciobo and not to be missed – all the Julias!

Head to our electionWIRE YouTube channel to meet the candidates at their most candid, in conversation with the election campaign’s youngest, most optimistic, energetic and least seasoned reporters. ]]> http://vibewire.org/2010/08/youthscapes-electionwire-captures-candid-candidates/feed/ 0 http://vibewire.org/2010/08/youthscapes-electionwire-captures-candid-candidates/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/VibewireHomepage/~3/cOcSLgvSJqk/ http://vibewire.org/2010/08/fastbreak-things-change/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:56:11 +0000 Vibewire http://vibewire.org/?p=1549 Hungry for change? Join us for a power breakfast of insights, innovation and inspiration—it’s food for thought.

The 2010 fastBREAK innovation series is co-presented by Vibewire Youth Inc. and The Powerhouse Museum. While you munch on pastries, kindly supplied by Black Star Pastry, some of Sydney’s brightest young thought leaders will share their anecdotes from the innovation frontline.

On the last Friday of every month from 7:45am-9am, the Powerhouse Museum’s best-kept secret, the Boiler Room Mezzanine, will come to life with a flurry of fastBREAKing ideas and conversation.

At each event, five young industry leaders from various sectors tackle big questions with five-minute responses around themes of creativity, commercialisation, collaboration, connections and conversation.

The next fastBREAK on Friday 28th August, 2010 will look to our speakers to uniquely answer:  “Things Change?”

This is a great opportunity for conversations outside the ordinary, for professionals from any industry to hear from emerging young entrepreneurs, and for young change agents to network with leaders from corporate and non-profit organisations.

fastBREAK is a limited capacity event. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this leading edge conversation. All 6 previous fastBREAKS have sold out, so book early to avoid disappointment.

BOOK HERE NOW

COST: $10 (includes coffee, tea and pastries)

LOCATION: The Boiler Room, Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo

WHEN: Friday 27th August 2010, from 7:45am to 9:00am

HASHTAG: #fastbreak

Vibewire Youth Inc. is proud to announce this month’s fastBREAK Speakers:

Sam Strong is an award-winning theatre director and dramaturg and the current Artistic Director of Griffin Theatre Company.

Theo Pettaras is a self-confessed design junkie and veteran in the printing industry. Commencing his Sydney company, Digitalpress, in 2005, Theo has a reputation within the design community for his ability to advise & inspire clients to use digital print.

Alex Vaughan is a Sydney based portrait and documentary photographer. She was the official photographer for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia’s 2010 campaign for which she took portraits of 30 high profile Australian men including Bert Newton, Les Hill, Anthony Minichiello and many more.

Wendy Yeung is an architect whose recent work includes residential projects, Benevolent Society’s Apartments for Life, and the Canberra Hospital Mental Health Inpatient Unit. Wendy has published research on using novel digital tools for post-diaster reconstruction in remote environment.

David Hood has been a social change activist most of his adult life, campaigning on a number of environmental and human rights issues and volunteering with organisations such as Red Cross, Twenty10, Australia Tibet Council and The Wilderness Society. For the last three and a half years David has worked for Greenpeace Australia Pacific and was the project leader on the recent campaign to get Nestlé to end rainforest destruction for palm oil.

Join the fastBREAK Facebook Fanpage to be kept in the loop.

Produced by the Powerhouse Museum in partnership with more than 50 cultural institutions, organisations and individuals across Sydney, this contemporary design festival will run until August 15.

To celebrate the 2010 launch of Sydney Design, Vibewire’s July fastBREAK invited some of Australia’s leading designers and creatives to share their stories and some constructive conversation over a delicious breakfast generously provided by Black Star Pastry.

The city may have been lost under a blanket of fog, but for those Sydneysiders seeking innovation, inspiration, energy and diversity, it was easily found in the Powerhouse’s Boiler Room Mezzanine.

For those not lucky enough to get their hands on tickets to the sell out July fastBREAK event, here are some highlights:

Kelly Robson — unconstrained by commercial pressures, artists can create work that is more temporal.

Kelly Robson co-founded Gaffa with the intention of providing a space for emerging artists and designers that would promote interaction between artists and audiences, and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration. Since opening in 2006 as a jewellery store on Crown St, Gaffa has upsized twice to make room for a retail area, galleries, studios, and workshop spaces.

Gaffa’s latest space, a four floor heritage listed building on Clarence Street affords Gaffa the space to be more than a gallery where work was exhibited; it is also a space where work is made, and a hub for emerging artists. Their artist-run spaces also benefit the public, who can view and purchase affordable Australian art to start their collections.

As part of the Sydney design week event, See-Saw, 20 young students will spend two days in the Gaffa workspaces being mentored by professional artists and create works to a design brief to be displayed to the public. The public can watch the students in action as they develop their instillations from August 8. You can find Kelly on Twitter @GaffaGallery.

Suzanne Boccalatte — “Boccalatte is a thousand opportunities to create compelling cultural content.”

Suzanne is a graphic designer whose work is represented in major galleries including National Gallery of Australia and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Her surname, literally means ‘milk mouth’, and shows how two seemingly disparate ideas can come together to make something new. This, Suzanne tells us, is essentially the task of graphic design.

We should never assume to know what anything is. Mouth could be exit, the entry to a river, an orifice, or a kiss. Milk could be soy, a source of nourishment, or an extortion. When we add cultural symbols these meanings become even more complicated and loaded; milk could offend the lactose intolerant, while the pronunciation of Boccalatte may make some people extremely anxious.

Suzzane’s name is worth a thousand words and pictures, and it is impossible to predict what an audience’s reaction will be to any one of them. Designers try to control this, but they can’t. Meaning is a minefield of interpretation.

You can find Suzanne on Twitter @boccalatte, or check out her website.

Nic Moore — “The best architect is one who tells a story.”

The son of a Swiss printmaker and law-­man, Nic Moore was raised on the smell of turpentine and argumentation. Receiving tools instead of toys, Nic has maintained a workshop since the age of four.

A practicing demi-­architect with Peter Stutchbury on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Nic shares a hillside bush home and studio with Australian filmmaker Tom Murray in a community accessible only by boat. From here, is remotely undertaking his Masters in Architecture and is engaged in a series of architectural, industrial and product design projects.

According to Nic, the word ‘story’ has become a euphemism for a lie. But it is through anecdotes that he learns the most about the people he meets; relaying information and understanding to people is very much about the story.

In defending the story and accounting its demise Nic points to architects and teachers, like Glenn Murcutt, who use their capacity for story telling to relay lessons through fables, arguing that if we all did this, we would be much better communicators.

Faye Maramara — “I always knew I would work in the arts . . . ”

Faye always felt the need to express herself creatively, yet she never saw herself landing in the fashion industry. After extensive training in the dramatic arts, Faye found herself restless. So she put her acting career on hold and went travelling with her mother. It was in the Philippines that Faye discovered her love of buying products and looking at how they could be improved. At 26 Faye had found her entrepreneurial side, she set up a studio office, developed a business plan and started creating high quality fashion accessories and decoratives.

Since then Faye has secured contracts with Cue, Veronika Maine, Collette Dinnigan and Gorman to name a few. Her accessories featured in the L’Oreal 2009 Melbourne Fashion Festival and she has been simultaneously developing her own brand, Paro Paro.

Paro Paro means butterfly, and like the butterfly Paro Paro is always changing and evolving. So we should expect the unexpected. You can find Faye on Twitter @fayemaramara.

Troy Lum — “You have to be prepared to take risks, prepared to fail”

Troy Lum was the head of Dendy Films from 1998 – ­2002. His current venture, Hopscotch films, grossed over 25 million last year, yet Troy claims this now well known brand came from nothing more than the arrogance of youth and a desire to start his own company.

After leaving Dendy, Troy spent some time in his track pants doing nothing. Then, after settling on the impromptu name, Hopscotch, he set up an office with one phone line and no furniture and began interviewing for staff. At their first Cannes Film Festival, they bet everything on two films, one being Bowling for Columbine directed by Michael Moore — a bet that obviously paid off.

Hopscotch may be big now, in Troy’s mind it’s the little things that make a company. Like the story of how they created they’re logo — a very expensive and time consuming process considering there was only one company in Australia capable of producing that little neon light we are now all so familiar with.

If nothing else, the story of Hopscotch shows that you have to be willing to take risks and be prepared to fail if you want to get your dream of the ground. You can find Troy on Twitter @HopscotchFilms.

Have you seen ElectionWIRE? Vibewire is sending teams of young reporters and media makers across Australia out to cover the federal election from a new perspective — a youth perspective!

But the Portal team want you to get a slice of the action too. Whether you’re a budding political journalist, commentator or Australia’s next satirical master, the Portal Election Feed is a space where you can share your take on the federal election. We want your opinion and reportage on the candidates, the parties, their policies, slogans, what issues they’re missing, or stats on who out of Gillard and Abbott has kissed the most babies.

As a Portal Election Feed contributor you will receive support and editorial direction from the ElectionWIRE managing editors and access some of the resources available to the ElectionWIRE reporter teams. Not only will you see your work published on Portal, but your work may also be chosen to feature in the Vibewire Quarterly Anthology, on the Youthscape website, and to accompany ElectionWIRE reporter videos on our YouTube channel!

All you have to do to get involved is send your expression of interest, or completed contribution to editor@vibewire.org.

If you havn’t seen ElectionWIRE yet check out our YouTube channel to watch the first round of ElectionWIRE reporter videos, or head to Vibewire’s Youthscape website to meet the reporters, hear from experts, or to learn from industry heavyweights first hand in our resources section.

The electoral roll closes shortly after an election has been called, but did you know that it can close as early as 8pm the same day?

The Australian National Audit Office claims that around 1.1 million eligible voters were missing from the roll at the 2007 federal election. The AEC also reports that 70 per cent of voters currently missing from the roll are aged 18-39.

For a democracy to operate effectively, people must have the power and opportunity to elect their representatives. In a country as diverse and multicultural as Australia, it is essential that those in power are aware of the population’s vision for the future – that every voice is heard. Democracy gives you a voice, but if you’re not on the roll, you won’t get the chance to use it!

Australia’s current political climate is chaotic. We recently watched as a new Prime Minister came into power overnight, and have been faced with the roll out of mass sledging campaigns, obscuring the debate around issues like immigration, health, and tax. With all this, it’s little wonder the media are predicting the election will be called sooner rather than later.

A federal election will give us the opportunity to have our voices heard, to vote for policies addressing issues that matter, to participate in the operation of democracy, and to incite positive change. If you’re not enrolled to vote when the election is called, you may miss your chance.

Head to the AEC website now to check your enrolment status and listed address. If you’re not signed up, GetUp! are making it easy by giving you the chance to enrol online, head to www.ozenrol.com from July 16. It only takes three minutes and all you need is your driver’s license.

Once you’re enrolled, stay informed. The more you know about local issues, the greater your ability to incite positive change will be. Follow ElectionWIRE, or the Express Media Electioneering blogs, and stay up to date on issues that matter to the youth of Australia.

It’s compulsory by law, but enrolling to vote will also give you the chance to let politicians know what your priorities are and what theirs should be. Don’t miss your chance — enrol now!

It also houses an initiative called Student Voice 2010 which allows 15-18 year olds to participate in a mock election. The results of this election will be tallied the week before the federal election and mapped against the final election results. The Greens have campaigned for optional voting for 16 and 17 year olds but neither Labor nor the Liberals have indicated any intention to lower the voting age. What do you think? Should younger Australians be able to vote?

The Google event brought together members of the #electionWIRE team, school students from Sydney and politicians. ALP Senator Kate Lundy and Liberal Member for Bradfield Paul Fletcher bickered about whether or not the National Broadband Network was a good idea or not – and the journalists present had a few questions on the matter too. You can read Senator Lundy’s speech here.

The audience also heard from Greens Senator Scott Ludlam who compared old style electioneering – the soporific leaders’ debate – to the new style campaigning which takes place online. He argued that politics is far too important to leave to the politicians – and we here at #electionWIRE couldn’t agree more. The campaign thus far mightn’t be interesting, but there real reasons to participate and liven things up.

And finally, Doug Orr of the Australian Electoral Commission was also on the panel and he stressed the need to give people enough information to participate fully in the elections. His stress on the importance of active citizenship for young people is something that resonates with the ethos of Vibewire and the #electionWIRE project.

Check out your electorate on the Google election page and tell us what the big issues are for you!

Vibewire will be joining ranks with legendary Julia Gillard impersonators Jackie Loeb and Julia Spillard (Gabby Millgate) to present a night of vigorous debate with Julia vs. Julia, moderated by Amanda Bishop and with a performance by Gulia Jillard (Lynne Cazaly). The agenda will be set by young people across Australia who will pose questions to the Julias in person and via the web.

We’re all set to break records for the greatest number of Gillard impersonators gathered in one room. We’ve invited the Prime Minister to come along and moderate the debate: how could she refuse?

This event forms part of Vibewire’s election initiative. electionWIRE is a Vibewire-YouTube collaboration and provides a channel for young Australians to report on the federal election their way. Next week’s event will provide another forum for Australia’s youth to have their say.

“Julia vs. Julia provides young people with the chance to come together in a lighthearted and informal space and put forward their questions on the issues,” said Annie Le Cavalier, Director of Vibewire Youth Inc.

“We hope the event will draw attention to the youth perspective, often overlooked during election campaigns. And we invite any and all politicians to attend, real or otherwise.”

At the eleventh hour of an election campaign in which the only thing less inspiring than the policies has been the slogans, Vibewire is taking a night to watch Julia Gillard and Julia Gillard fight it out on the issues. Moderated by Julia Gillard, with questions posed by Julia Gillard, this is shaping up to be the must-see event this election. (Tony Abbott impersonators are most welcome to interject.)

We welcome any and all politicians to attend, real or otherwise – but the burning question is sure to be this – will the real Julia Gillard please show up?
This event will be held on Tuesday 17th August, from 7 – 9pm at the Loft, in the UTS Tower Building.

Enquiries and RSVP:
Brittany Taylor – (02) 9660 6591 or 0401807753 brittany.taylor@vibewire.org or

Victoria Nolan – (02) 9660 6591 or 0412434609 victoria.nolan@vibewire.org

I once heard someone liken the issue of climate change to that of smoking 30 years ago. The vast majority of evidence demonstrated that smoking caused cancer, but there was some evidence (mostly from research funded by tobacco companies) that this was not the case. This is analogous to the current debate over climate change. The vast majority of research shows that human activity, specifically the emission of greenhouse gases, causes climate change; there are a few theories and some evidence (mostly from research funded by major polluters) that this is not the case. The question that we must now ask ourselves is, do we act now on the evidence that we have, or do we wait, and potentially give the world the environmental equivalent of cancer?

It is this moral, economic and social trade of that makes climate change such a huge issue politically. Each and every person around the world will be affected by a changing climate, but we do not all contribute equally to the problem. Regardless, we will all have to shoulder the burden of both mitigating the problem, and adapting to the unavoidable climate change already underway.

Research over the last 20 or so years has shown that we are currently facing an unavoidable rise in global temperatures of 1-2 degrees Celsius by 2100. The international consensus seems to be that countries should work together to restrain global temperature rises to 2-3 degrees to avoid environmental catastrophe and the economic and social consequences of that. To this end, Australia needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 60-90% of that released in 2000 by 2050.

That is a lot of work to be done in a relatively short period of time. It becomes even shorter when we put that number, 40 years, into perspective. In 2050, I will be younger than my mother is now- to me that really drives home the point that climate change is not some distant problem for future generations to deal with- the problems that it poses are immediate and will only intensify in the future. Climate change is our problem to deal with, or to live with the consequences.

Indeed, there is considerable support within the Australian population for immediate and significant action on climate change. According to research recently conducted by Left Right Think Tank, this is especially true for young Australians. Indeed, the research showed that young Australians wanted substantial action on climate change, which aimed to reduce current emissions and fund research into renewable technology, and most were willing to “pay more” if such action was take. The study showed that many young Australians were dissatisfied with the current policies as they are perceived as not doing enough to combat the problem. Respondents also expressed real fears that there would be too much delay in passing legislation that would have a substantial impact, resulting in irreversible damage to the environment.

Despite this, neither of the major political parties seems capable of summoning the will to really act on climate change. Watching the leaders’ debate on Sunday, I couldn’t help but notice the distinct lack of leadership on this issue. Neither Julia Gillard, nor Tony Abbott where ready or willing to lead in the difficult task of setting a cap on carbon and ensuring that we meet that target. On the contrary, the policies that Labor and the Lib/Nationals have offered are smokescreens for their lack of commitment to real action on climate change. Both have stated that they aim to reduce emissions by 5% by 2020, with a possible rise to 15% if there is international commitment to a climate change agreement.

Under Gillard, the Labor Party has taken a massive step back from the Emissions Trading Scheme proposed under Rudd. Instead, Gillard has proposed a “citizen’s assembly” to encourage community consensus on a cap on carbon. For many this flies in the face of the mandate given to Labor at the last election to act on this issue. Labor’s political stasis was further emphasised during the leaders’ debate when Gillard refused to outline what sort of deadline we are on to take action on the issue before it is too late to meet our target of 5% by 2020.

Just as disappointingly, Tony “Climate-Change-is-Crap” Abbott has put forward a policy that does practically nothing to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by Australian firms. Instead, the Coalition’s policy aims meet targets through measures such as green infrastructure, planting trees and funding incentives to business and industry to reduce emissions if they should so choose. The problem with this plan is that we will eventually have to put a cap on carbon emissions if we are to meet the targets required to keep climate change to a manageable level. Not dealing with current emissions means that we are not dealing with the problem.

The longer that our government delays the implementation of such a scheme the more extreme the action we will need to take when one is implemented. This shows how shallow the climate change policies of the major parties are; rather than creating a policy that allows us to slowly adjust to changes required to mitigate climate change, both parties are creating a situation in which later governments will need to step up and make even more difficult choices to address the challenges that we will inevitably face.

As such, I would suggest to both leaders that they stand up and show some courage on the issue of climate change. We need our leaders to explain to the Australian people that the cost of mitigating climate change will be less if we pay now, as higher costs in the immediate future will reduce costs in the long run. Indeed, it should also be noted that even with significant curbs on our emissions our economy is projected to continue to grow (and not at dissimilar rates to that if we did not act to mitigate climate change). We need our leaders to explain the extreme costs of not acting, both economic and environmental.

Most importantly, we need leaders with moral courage and the integrity to take action now.