Speakers Program

Carlton Inc

Bridging the Gap with Lightning

Rotary Rings Fellowship

Christmas Reflection - Fr Michael Elligate

Topic: Finance and Investment - transitioning global flow of capital into investment; ‘investment is about making choices on sound advice’

• Arjun was invited by Danielle Schutte through their involvement in the NDIA where Arjun is employed.
• Arjun gave a comprehensive presentation on his personal and professional background. He is from an Indian background who was raised in Africa
  • He discussed the various ventures that he has been involved in India, South Africa and in Australia. He acknowledged that Australia’s entrepreneurship culture is much more conservative than the USA when it comes to start-up failure.
  • Arjun has given a TED Talk on Finance and Investment.
• He is the Founder of Inaam 
• In his current role his focus is on Young people and how to start investing initially in the listed market, followed by asking three key questions:
  • What do you want to change?
  • What do you love?
  • Where would you like to invest?
• Key value adds:
  • Track your investment
  • Building investment literacy
  • Help small business to raise capital

Parliament House Canberra, history, and some recent events

Alan, a trained engineer and the former secretary of the  Federal Department of Parliamentary Services spoke about his experiences working in the Parliament House in Canberra. He gave a brief history behind the current building.

Lets End the Coward Punch

Final Report Changeover Dinner June 28 2022

So….RCC….the Friendly Club….it’s in line with RIPE’s ( Jennifer Jones from Canada ) thoughts that I heard at the Houston RI Convention…BE GOOD TO EACH OTHER….or as an 11yo school boy said..Orion Jean ( Time 2021 Kid of the Year )….a Kindness Activist….won a National Kindness Speech contest…K….Keep your eyes open….I…Include others in day to day activities…..N…Nothing is too small and….D…Do something about it!  It all seems like common sense to me but then again…Nothing is less common than common sense.

Three things I’d like to touch on….

FIRST…Service to our local Community…led by Community Services Director Melissa McIntosh but also with involvement from Peter Crouch, our Youth Director. The main areas we supported in one way or another were the Carlton Community Network, the Carlton Railway Neighborhood House, Carlton Primary School, Princes Hill Sec College and University HS, North Melbourne Community Policing, Swimming Lessons with The Drum, and La Mama. We are delighted to announce that the Paul Carlin Leadership Award has found a deserving recipient and that person is with us tonight…Jazmyn Walkin.

The other new initiative this year has been the Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network ( RIMERN ) , otherwise known as the Home of Residential Recycling…which provides emergency relief in the way of goods needed to set up a home..white goods, electrical equipment, crockery and cutlery, bedding, Manchester etc, most of our members ( assisted by community Volunteers ) have spent some time at the East Brunswick Warehouse….Paul Kruspe and I are on the Committee and Carlton Rotary is one of 15 Clubs, not all from D9800 , who are financially supporting the program. From my own personal point of view, I think it is one of the best community engagement programs Rotary has been involved with- we now have around 20 Member Agencies who refer the Needy Clients to us- like Melbourne City Mission, Wombat Social Housing, the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency Cooperation Ltd and Launch Housing to name just a few. We’ve received wonderful support from the Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes Group ( trying to stop excessive dumping to landfill) who raised $3,000 from an online Auction which allowed us to purchase an Industrial Grade Washing Machine and Dryer for the Warehouse. We also started a Van Rouge and Van Blanc wine sales fundraiser to raise funds for a much needed Collection and Delivery Van-boosted hugely by a $25,000 grant from Balwyn Rotary Club.

We’ve also had the chance to hear Speakers from such important and relevant community groups such as Caitlin Dullard ( Co CEO and Creative Director at La Mama ), Leading Senior Sergeant Nick Parissis on Community Policing, Anne Phefley from the Royal Park Protection Group, Jeff Atkinson from the Carlton Historical Society , Kerri Cavanagh-Community Partnerships Manager from the Univ of Melbourne, and Rob Moore-President of the Parkville Association; most of these identified initially from their articles in the Inner City News-thanks to Editor Sean Car and his Journalists who have ensured Carlton Rotary has a message in every monthly publication.  ( THANKS ESPECIALLY TO SEAN !! WHO IS HERE TONIGHT ).  We also heard from GH-GM Daniel Clark who has assisted with the survival of GH during the Lockdowns which saw occupancy drop from 98% to 15%; very challenging times but thank goodness Daniel managed to retain staff like Rosie, Bill , Marwa, Shirley, Priya and others when Hospitality Staff have been in short supply.

SECOND…MOVING ON TO SERVICE TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY…..four areas seem to stand out in mind…Australian Rotary Health ( Lift the Lid on Mental Illness), the Prevent Malaria Speaker Card program, End Polio Now ( the Walks) and Project Rozana Trauma Unit program.

Two of our members. Prof Tony Jorm and Betty Kitchener AM increased our awareness through their Mental Health First Aid Training Program developed 21 years ago with the help of ARH; so impressed with Rotary’s commitment, they joined RCC in 2010 but sadly have now relocated to Coffs Harbour NSW ; not lost to Rotary thank goodness as they are about to join one of the CH RC’s. More than 900,000 Australians have now done one of their courses and has extended into a Global Program with more than 4 million people trained. Tony continues to serve on the ARH Board assisting with assessments of potential Scholarship candidates.

On to vaccines….and the Eradicate Polio program continues…around the world, Rotarians have contributed around $2.5 Billion dollars on the war to end Polio, started here in Australia in 1985-only 8 cases reported this year-in Afghanistan and Pakistan- a few years ago India and Nigeria became free from Polio-so through our involvement in the Walk Against Polio, our financial assistance, small as it may be, has all helped. For the benefit of our Guests, the incidence of Polio has been reduced by 99.99%-superb assistance from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The new target for Rotary is to raise $50M and the Gates Foundation will provide $100M as part of their continuing 2 for 1 deal.

Carlton Rotary is one of only 12 Clubs in our District that is officially designated as a Peace Club-that simply means we will support any programs , both locally and internationally, that promote peace in the world. That’s part of the reason we are dedicating tonight’s Raffle Proceeds to the Ukrainian Relief Program where over USD$15M has been raised worldwide. Special congratulations to our neighboring Club, North Melbourne RC who raised $30,000 at a recent Fundraising Concert at the Melbourne Town Hall. However in December 2021, we were approached by our good friend Gabe Hau ( Coordinator ) about whether we would join in an International Service Project called Project Rozana, to finance the training of Israeli and Palestinian Trauma Doctors-the knowledge gained will help the Palestinian community and help build professional relationships between the 2 countries. We contributed a mere USD250 but with the help of Rotary Clubs from mainly USA, Israel and Australia- and with a matching grant from the Rotary Foundation- saw an amazing USD85,000 raised. The first Training Program has been completed ( early May ) and at least 5 more are planned in ATLS-Advanced Trauma Life Support.

Our Global Grant Scholarship program continues to go wonderfully well- our newest Scholar Antonia Kent is here tonight and I’m going to ask Antonia to give us a 2 minute account of what she hopes to achieve in her M.Phil at Cambridge- following on in the footsteps of Dr Elina Ziukelis who has sent us a special update on her work on Dementia Research/Prevention.

FINALLY, SERVICE TO OUR CLUB MEMBERS….On May 31, PE Ian Ada, PP/PAG Casey Tan and I visited Tim Kent at Royal Freemasons Coppin Wing to help him celebrate his 95^th Birthday-Tim was inducted in August 1996 and was only recently made an Honorary Member. Sadly that was the last time we were to speak with Tim as he passed away just a few days later. Tim was a tireless supporter of the Club in so many ways and always seemed to have a valuable imported Scarf as a Raffle Prize. ( SHOW PICTURE )   Earlier in the year, we also said our last farewells to Max Griffiths MBE in September 2021-Max was a Charter Member of the Club and Bulletin Editor way back in 1986; however he is probably best remembered for his Book, Angels in the Outback published in 2012- the story of another Australian icon, The Australian Inland Mission and Flynn of the Outback and the birth of the RFDS.  ( His Book is on our Table Display).

We bid farewell to Tony Jorm ( and Betty Kitchener ) as mentioned earlier; Prakash Raniga ( and Usha ) has retired due to the growing intensity of his legal practice- after almost 30 years total Rotary service. Some of our members are not too well at the moment …I spoke with Charter Member Ken Woolfe just a week ago and his health is not good. Ken was President way back in 1994 not long after his beloved Magpies at last won an AFL Grand Final.

On the positive side, we welcomed New Members Paul Kruspe, a true Royal Parade resident and Danielle Schutte from Rathdowne Street ( I think )-two genuine locals!  Paul has been of great assistance at RIMERN and Danielle did a superb job marshalling the KPMG Volunteers in their October 2020 Inaugural Program.

A real highlight for me was being able to welcome Dr Noor Shah Kamawal back to Carlton Rotary -re-inducted back on September 21 by Zoom after his miraculous escape from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. I cant wait for the day when we have the entire family with us….somehow…somewhere….Wife Leena, eldest daughter Lima then twins Safa and Marwa, another daughter Spogmai and then the boys, Mustafa, Yahya and little Mohammed who was only 18 months old when they made their 4 attempts to flee Kabul. Again thanks to RIMERN and another donor organized through PDG Philip Archer, their Noble Park rental is now fully furnished and Noor Shah has secured an excellent job at the Nossal Research Institute at Melb Uni.

Special, special thanks to the incredible hard working Board- Maureen O’Dwyer Secretary, PE Ian ( and Environment & Sustainability Chair ), Treasurer David Percival, IPP Michael Elligate, Club Service Chair and overall Club Mr Fixit Casey Tan, Fundraising and Fellowship Chair Janet Ferguson, International and Foundation Tony Jorm, Youth Peter Crouch, Community and Website/Bulletin Melissa McIntosh ( also D9800 Treasurer ); all those who helped with the December 2021 Book Fair and the May 21 Federal Election Day BBQ at UHS.

Over the last Rotary year, we managed 14 Face to Face Lunch Meetings at GH, due to Lockdowns we kept in touch with Zoom- a total of 16 according to Casey’s List and all the Board Meetings were conducted by Zoom. It has been a challenging year. However as our December Xmas Lunch Special Guest Victor Perton from the Centre for Optimism reminded us….Things will get better in the end…and if they haven’t got better, it’s not the end.

Now its time to IMAGINE ROTARY  as we enter another phase of Rotary history-our first ever female RI President in Jennifer Jones from Canada with our youngest ever DG in Amanda Wendt from RC Melbourne. May 27-31 2023 will see the next RI Convention here in Melbourne. Already 9,000 folk have registered-we expect over 20,000 people to be here. We’ll be directing as many as possible to the Lygon Street precinct! Our Conference Chair is an Italian; Francesco Arezzo…so Imagine the possibilities!

Challenges ahead-my new role under President Ian Ada will be Fundraising and Fellowship- I’m going to try something inspired by our smallest RC in D9800- Rochester-who have made their annual Pie and Port night on the first Saturday night in May an event not to be missed. I plan to talk with Carlton Inc’s Executive Officer Phil Mansour to see what we can do….Pizza and Prosecco?? Who knows?  Just IMAGINE the opportunities!  That same Club ( with 6 members ) also run quarterly Business Breakfasts-I’m hoping that Rotary Carlton may do something similar in 2022-23. I’m giving advance notice publicly to Pres Ian and his Board !!

Finally thank you to my wife Gabrielle for her untiring support over the last year and really since I got really serious about a leadership role in our District 13 years ago. Thank you DGN Ron and Deb for making the trek down the Calder from Eaglehawk RC; thank you AG Graeme Hope for the outstanding work you have done in ensuring that Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and Fitzroy people still talk to each other.  Thank you to all at Carlton and your partners and families-thank you to the many Volunteers and community groups who have ensure that Rotary Carlton remains, above all the #1 Friendly Club in our District.

TV viewers have seen on most nights during the flood and bushfire emergencies of the last three years, ordinary members of the community ‘taking matters into their own hands’.  This has most often involved rescuing both neighbours and strangers and/or coordinating rescues or clothing and food relief.

Why do ordinary community members take these roles, and why do they happen without Government involvement?

These initiatives tended to happen when authorities were either unavailable or overwhelmed by the scope of the disasters. These actions reflect the difference between leadership and authority.  While those with authority were doing their best they could, they not step outside the bounds of their authority.  The ‘vacuum’ created becomes filled by people with no authority but their leadership leads to trust and respect being gained within their community.  They are given informal power or authority to make decisions.

Leadership consultant, Wayne Burns, who lost his house in the 2019 NSW fires, says people who step up into informal leadership have self-belief and some understanding of the legal or physical risks of their actions.  “There is no personality type, there are no natural born leaders – they don’t exist – people just decide to act”.

Shaping Rotary's Future - Regionalisation

A review of his work since lockdown

Assoc Prof Wai Hong heads up WEHI in the division of Infectious Diseases and Immune Defence. At the moment her focus is on C19; as well as the Malaria Parasite.

All the techniques relevant to the Malaria Parasite Research are relevant to C19 and so that is where the work is now focused. One of the highlights of the current work for Wai Hong is the wonderful collaboration between groups like the CSL, Peter Doherty Institute, the CSIRO and the Burnet Institute.