In the Spotlight

What gets you out of bed on a weekday?

If I can get moving and exercise early, I’m off to a good start. I usually make smoothies for breakfast, a packed lunch for my three kids, and coffee to savour with my wife. After that, I head into work on the train. I’m currently researching artificial intelligence and its regulation in healthcare. So, I suppose my motivations to get up and going are to be healthy, support my family, and pursue meaningful work. 

What was your first paid job?

At age 11, my younger brother and I delivered hundreds of copies of the “The Geelong Independent” which we crammed into yellow milk crates, mounted on our bikes. By 12 I’d graduated to delivering the daily papers, rising at 5am Monday through Saturdays. After school, in the early evenings, I would ride into Geelong city. Stopping at each city pub, I would approach the mostly male patrons, and offer them a newspaper or magazine. I most enjoyed sitting up at the bar and slurping down a free sarsaparilla and soda. It’s great for teens to learn responsibility through work.

Thinking back to your years at Donvale, what do you know now that you wish you’d known then?

I don’t know… a bunch of things. That’s there is life after 30! Perhaps I would explain to a younger me that my framework for making sense of life would change, my purpose and my spirituality would expand, painfully, but that I would be okay, on the other side of growth. I’d tell me that it’s not all about me. I’d tell myself that I will love being a dad. To be kinder, to myself and to others. To listen more. To care less about what people think. To be vulnerable more often. To be more expressive. To love. And that it is okay just to be me – NGL*, as my kids say, I still have to tell me this. 

*not gonna lie...

Who in the public eye would you most and least like to work with?

That’s a tough one. I’m attracted to thinkers, philosophers such as Axel Honneth, or ethicists, like Peter Singer. You know, the Australian philosopher whose thought experiment drew parallels between the drowning child right in front of us, who we’d feel compelled to help, and the impoverished child on the other side of the globe to whom we fail to render assistance. I’m also inspired by people who act and make personal sacrifices to call out injustice, or who faithfully focus on their sphere of influence to make the world a little better. 

 What is the strangest situation you have been in at work?

I’ve had my share … For a time, I worked in SE Asia supporting research and interventions for vulnerable children who’d experienced violence and abuse. Given the funding demands, I was talked into accompanying a visiting TV celebrity and documentary team make a short film about recovery from human trafficking. It was strange, because, as an aid worker, one just gets on with it and necessarily restrains emotional responses to “the work”. This is quite the opposite of what is required of the visiting celebrity, however, who must rapidly absorb the hurt and pain, and authentically process it very publicly, under the glare of the camera. Being exposed to that side of the aid industry was quite surreal.   

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?

A technician, engineer, or emergency worker equipped with climbing gear.

What book are you reading at the moment?

An old book about cybernetics entitled Designing Freedom, by Stafford Beer. 

What was the last CD you bought? (Or album downloaded/streamed!)

It was vinyl. The latest album recorded by The Paper Kites

What song will always get you on the dance floor?

In truth, I normally get moving to the song that my wife feels enthusiastic about! Speaking of, I remember slow dancing with Sarah to the song, Lady in Red, thirty years ago at the 1993 school formal. Sarah still moves me, to this day.

Where is your favourite place in the world?

Favourite place …  I loved our time in Cambodia. We’ve also lived in Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina, and Amman in Jordan, and even Canberra for a time! We’ve accumulated many happy memories. My favourite place, however, is being on the cusp of a new adventure. The anticipation of it.