Key Upcoming Dates

Date	Event
21 – 25 November	Twilight Concerts
28 November	Festival of Lessons and Carols, Chapel at 7.00pm
5 – 8 November	Camps Week
8 November	Senior School Speech Night Last Day of Term 4 2022
31 January 2023	Orientation Day Year 7 2023 students
1 February 2023	First Day of Term 1 2023

Teachers Leaving Shore – What is the Situation?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Dear Students, Parents and Carers

In recent years Shore has attracted media attention and the ire of some parents with a considerable number of staff departures. In fact, in a school the size of Shore, the level of departures in this time has accorded with the national average in the independent education sector. This level of attrition is more than 13 percent per year, hence over as little as four years, more than half the staff depart their schools. However, this rate has not been the regular experience at Shore. 

The reassuring news is three weeks before the end of the academic year, departures this semester are clearly going to be very small in number. Even these few have a clear rationale: retirements, significant promotions to other schools, very attractive opportunities outside of education, and work relocation of spouses. 

My approach to staffing transition is that neither zero movement nor substantial movement are to be desired.  Some staff turnover in a large school provides the benefit of ‘new blood’, the import of fresh ideas and energy to challenge a school and replenish its numbers. We have seen this in recent times at Shore with the addition of many excellent staff who are already highly regarded by other staff members, their students and parents. However, rapid turnover is far from optimal, as it represents loss of institutional memory and loss of relationship. Schools find it difficult to cope with large churn. They are better at managing more incremental change amidst substantial stability and continuity. This is the very essence of Shore. The Christian faith on which we are founded attests, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). However, this continuity needs to be nuanced in our messaging in order to be relevant in a society which thinks differently and functions differently from the ways of the past.

Many look at Shore and are rightly impressed with the magnificent resources that are in the School. There is no doubt this is valid, and, not least, with our physical resources. Nonetheless, the most important, the most strategic and the most impactful of our resources at Shore are our excellent staff. This is increasingly supported by research, particularly that of Australia’s best known education academic, Professor John Hattie, whose mega-studies indicate that of all the variables in a student’s success, the most important is the quality of the teacher in the classroom, an effect which is very substantial. It follows, then, that at Shore we need to support, encourage, nourish and preserve our excellent staff. This process includes access to ongoing training and development in terms of the latest research in education and social trends. It would be unthinkable in other professions, such as medicine, that practitioners do not stay up to date. So it is with teaching. 

In a highly mobile society such as Australia, there will always be tree-changers, sea-changers, and those looking to escape the ‘rat race’ of the big city, particularly as they have discovered during COVID-19 that they can work effectively online from home. There will be career developments for teachers who secure exciting promotions to positions not vacant in their current school, and there will be retirements. Although it is always sad to farewell staff who are highly regarded, the only consolation is that we are able to appoint excellent people into Shore who will continue to bear the torch. 

Considering that at Shore we have over 300 permanent staff, the anticipated rate of departure is very manageable. Shore appears to me to be stable, with a strong staff Common Room fully invested in providing an excellent education for our students.

Dr J Collier
Interim Headmaster

Senior School Speech Night Invite

Parents and Carers are warmly invited to attend

Senior School Speech Night

Thursday 8 December 2022 at 7.00pm in the R A I Grant Centre, North Sydney

The Chair

The Most Rev Kanishka Raffel
Archbishop of Sydney

Guest of Honour

Pastor Ray Minniecon
Indigenous Elder, Australian First Nations international representative.

Guests are requested to be seated by 6.45pm.
Visitor parking will not be available on the campus.

The Ceremony can also be viewed by a livestream link.
Please follow the link below and then enter passcode 510739.
bit.ly/Shore-senior-school-speech-night

End of Term 4 Arrangements

Date	Details
Friday 2 December	Final day of classes – Years 7 to 11.
Sunday 4 December	Cadet Unit Annual Field Exercise commence – All Year 9, 10 and 11 members of the Cadet Unit).
Monday 5 December	Camps and Year 11 Service Learning commence – Years 7, 8, 10 (non-Cadets), 11 (non-Cadets).
Thursday 8 December	All Camps and Year 11 Service Learning activities return by 3.00pm. Boys are able to return home to change and shower. Facilities are available at the School. Speech Night at 7.00pm, is compulsory for all boys. The dress code is the School Uniform. Holidays commence at the end of Speech Night.
Friday 9 December	Staff day (no classes for boys). Boarders’ transport (ABSTUDY and SSTS).

Dr A Mansfield
Deputy Head Operations

Chaplains Chat

You can tell that another year is nearing the end when the Christmas decorations appear.  Whether this is in the shopping centres or on people’s houses, it is a sure sign that the festive season is about to begin. Of course, for many of us, we perhaps have a big ‘to do’ list that seems to grow by the day. The end of year jobs that need completing, all the functions and family gatherings that we attend and, of course, shopping for Christmas presents.

I suspect the last few years with COVID-19 has reminded us of the importance of family, relationships and spending time together. Christmas often brings these things together. However, Christmas also reminds us of the reason for this time of celebration. As the Gospel of Luke tells us of the angel who speaks to the shepherds: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). The birth of Jesus is the great news for the world, that this child would live, grow up, die on the Cross, and return to life, so that we might have life. What great news indeed as we celebrate another Christmas season.

Reverend A Benn
Chaplain

Prayer Group

The final Prayer Group meeting will be held next Friday 25 November from 9.00am to 10.15am in the Soccer/Tennis Pavilion at the Shore Northbridge Campus.

Sunday 20 November – Boarders Chapel Service

Date: Sunday 20 November	Leader: Reverend Nick Foord
Speaker: Reverend Nick Foord	Passage: Romans 12:1-5
Note: A Baptism will be held at 10.00am.

2023 Senior Scholarships, Exhibitions and Bursaries

Boys currently in Years 9 to 11, but especially those progressing to Year 11 and 12 in 2023, are invited to apply for a number of Scholarships, Exhibitions and Bursaries.

For Year 11, 2023

• From the Shore Association: Margaret Travers Exhibition; Tricia Grant Exhibition, Sybil Hodges Boarding Bursary, Cecilie Purves Bursary, Marjorie Robson Bursary.
• The Old Boys’ Club Exhibition.
• Far West Old Boys’ Boarding Exhibition (Boarders).

For Year 12, 2023

• The Travers Exhibition.
• The Laurence Thompson Bursary (Boarders).
• The Mitchell Award.
• Shore Association Exhibitions Nos. 5 and 6.
• The Shore Foundation ‘Herd’ Bursary (Boarders).

For further details on these Scholarships and Bursaries and to fill out an application form, please go to the Enrolment/Scholarships section of the Shore Website under Internal Scholarships and Bursaries.

For Outward Bound Courses: Years 10 to 12, 2023

• Shore Association Outward Bound Bursaries.
• Sir Adrian Curlewis and Dr HRB Chenhall Outward Bound Awards.

These Bursaries provide funds for boys who would like to participate in Outward Bound Navigator (ages 16 to 18) or Challenge Courses (age 18).

To apply for an Outward Bound Course, please write an application directly outlining the reason why you would like to attend the course.

All applications must be submitted to deputyheadacademic@shore.nsw.edu.au by Friday 2 December, 2022.

After applying, boys will receive notification of the receipt of their application in Term 4 and award winners will be announced at the commencement of the 2023 school year.

Mr M Leeds
Deputy Head Academic

Buy and Sell Second-hand Textbooks

The following times have been allocated to students in Years 7 to 10 wanting to buy and sell their second-hand textbooks:

Friday 25 November	Year 10 Buy/Sell – Period 4 and lunchtime
Thursday 1 December	Year 9 Buy/Sell – Period 2 and recess Year 8 Buy/Sell – Period 4 and lunchtime
Friday 2 December	Year 7 Buy/Sell – Period 2 and recess

Please note, these times are for students only.

Basketball Report

This week saw tough home fixtures against Newington for the Opens and 14s, while the 15s and 16s headed across the bridge to Stanmore.

Newington were too good for our First V on the day, with the men of Shore ending up on the wrong end of a 48-93 defeat. While the boys did well in patches, Newington’s size made winning the rebounding battle a tall order (pun intended) and this was compounded by a forgettable shooting day for the Firsts. They will look to bounce back next week in another home fixture against Riverview.

The Seconds seemed like they could be heading for a similar day, with a rampant Newington finishing the first quarter with a seemingly insurmountable 23-6 lead. Our boys, however, don’t know the meaning of the word insurmountable. Thanks to the rebounding of Josh Ashton and the constant energy of Ben Barry and James Hewitt (not to mention the raucous support of a boisterous home crowd), they clawed the lead back to just 9 points at the half before taking the lead just before the end of the third quarter and never letting go of it, with the final score 58-54 to Shore.

Outside the competition teams, this week was another mixed bag. Some tough losses in a number of age groups mean that overall results look worse than they probably were and shouldn’t take the shine off great close wins for the 14As, 8ths and 10ths. A real point of interest this week came in the Fourths, where two former Shore First V coaches did battle in the form of Mr Mayall and Mr Fletcher – just don’t ask Mr Fletcher the result!

Player of the Week: Luke Goddard hit five three-pointers on his way to 22 points in a close 48-45 win for the Sevenths.

Team of the Week: The Seconds.

Mr G Davis
MIC, Basketball

Results Summary

	Opens	16s	15s	14s
Week 2 Record	8-6	3-5	1-7	4-3-1
Overall Record	38-30	28-12	17-22-1	24-15-1

Team	Opponent	Result	Score	Top Scorer
First V	Newington	Loss	48-93	Brandon Salis 13
Second V	Newington	Win	58-54	Nick Riley 17
Third V	Newington	Win	25-20	Jye Peters 5
Fourth V	Newington	Loss	13-36	Harry Dalziell 7
Fifth V	Newington	Win	32-23	Tom Roberts 8
Sixth V	Newington	Win	38-35	Angus Baker 16
Seventh V	Newington	Loss	26-35	Ethan Tan, Finn Molloy, Archer Hall and Lachlan Powell 4
Eighth V	Newington	Win	48-45	Luke Goddard 22
Ninth V	Newington	Loss	22-36	Luke Robson 6
10ths	Newington	Win	25-24	Ben Hadfield 8
11ths	Newington	Loss	14-16	Tim Bannister 6
12ths	Newington	Win	36-22	Mac Deane 12
13ths	Newington	Win	29-10	Orlando Jamieson 6
14ths	Newington	Loss	6-41	Ramon Zhang 4
16A	Newington	Loss	42-46	Bill Gao 9
16B	Newington	Win	22-18	Max Garner 8
16C	Newington	Win	27-21	Ethan Bawtree and Bede Clout 8
16D	Newington	Loss	10-36	Tom Houstone 7
16E	Newington	Loss	29-33	Ethan Wu 9
16F	Newington	Win	34-13	Joseph Steyn 11
16G	Newington	Loss	28-64	Gabriel Lewarne 6
16H	Newington	Loss	18-35	Aidan Lord 8
15A	Newington	Loss	40-44	Oliver Stokeld 6
15B	Newington	Loss	34-38	Luke Maclennan 6
15C	Newington	Win	34-22	Hamish Jackson 8
15D	Newington	Loss	14-70	William Ward 6
15E	Newington	Loss	14-34	Angus King 6
15F	Newington	Loss	11-25	Jack Lamb 6
15G	Newington	Loss	12-33	Nathan Liu 4
15H	Newington	Loss	9-42	Gabriel Bolt 4
14A	Newington	Win	30-27	Henry Trueman 10
14B	Newington	Loss	16-27	Nicholas Marskell 7
14C	Newington	Win	40-32	Dylan Baxter and Rafferty White 7
14D	Newington	Win	25-15	Michael Hocking and Fox Court 6
14E	Newington	Draw	26-26	Austin Sainsberry 6
14F	Newington	Win	34-25	Sam Defina 8
14G	Newington	Loss	20-29	Leo Ryan 6
14H	Newington	Loss	0-29	N/A

Cricket Report

Round 4 First XI Match Report v Newington College

Saturday 12 November played at the War Memorial Playing Fields, A Ground, Northbridge

Shore 6/139 (Lachlan Hunt 40*, Axel Bailey 35, Hugo Orpin 33) defeated NC 10/137 (Lachlan Hunt 3/21, Ben Hocking 2/25)

Saturday was a good day for the First XI. The team returned to Northbridge determined to make amends after a disappointing loss last week. Preparation included a Wednesday afternoon trip to Balmoral for some beach footy and flag races. It proved to be a wonderful break from the regular routine.

Lachie Hunt won the toss yet again but, in another break from routine, elected to make first use of the new ball and sent Newington into bat. Sam Walton (1/16 off 7) opened the bowling with Will Nutt (1/20 off 9) and made the initial breakthrough in the fourth over, with only one run on the board.

Thereafter, the Newington batsmen applied themselves well, taking the score to 40 before Ben Hocking (2/25 off 9.2) claimed the next wicket.

Another good partnership developed, and the score reached 98 before Hunt brought himself back into the attack. At that point, it seemed as if Newington might post a particularly imposing total.

The captain had other ideas. He dismissed the two key batsmen in successive overs leading into the second drinks break, and thereby dragged Shore back into the match. Excellent bowling and fielding then saw Shore take control of the game.

Wickets fell quickly, and Newington was dismissed for just 137 after 46.2 overs; the last 8 wickets had fallen for just 39 runs. Hunt’s 3/25 (off 9) was the standout performance, but all of the boys should be proud of the way they stuck to the task and clawed their way back into the contest.

Chasing runs is never easy, and the dismissal of both openers with just 6 runs on the board made things even more difficult. However, Axel Bailey and Hunt batted with great maturity and managed to get the innings back on track with an excellent stand of 64 runs.

Bailey was dismissed for an excellent 35, and Oli Carney was run out soon after, to leave Shore precariously placed at 4-74, and still 64 runs short of victory.

Fortunately, Hugo Orpin and Hunt established another good partnership, and the score reached 128 before Orpin fell for a very well-made 33 off just 27 balls. Only ten runs were needed for victory, and Toby Robinson was unlucky to be bowled with only two runs needed.

However, Alex Segaert ensured there would be no further drama, and the total was passed for the loss of six wickets. Hunt remained unbeaten on 40, to cap off a fine all-round performance.

The Shore season is finally up and running, and you can see that the team is building confidence with every game. It is a long season, and there is certainly time to make up for lost ground. Every game counts and Round 5’s contest at Northbridge against Riverview will be eagerly awaited.

Mr T M Wallace and Dr R M Stobo
First XI Coaches

Round 4 Second XI Match Report v Newington College

Saturday 12 November played at Buchanan Oval, Newington College, Stanmore

Shore 10/202 (Oscar Everett 21 (30), Angus Molchanoff 53 (73), Billy Kwan 42 (44), Matt Melville 28 (22)), defeated NC 10/182 (Angus Reardon 2/24 (6.0), Matt Melville 3/22 (7.0))

What could have been a very clear and convincing win at Buchanan Oval against Newington, ended up becoming a lot closer than it should have been. Once again, the Second XI opening batters, Angus Molchanoff 53 (73) and Oscar Everett 20 (30), got us off to a solid start by putting on an opening stand of 41 runs from just 10 overs.

We got to the first drinks break being 2/54. The plan was to play a tip-and-run style game to bring the fielders in closer and then play the big shots. This was our best session yet, with Molchanoff posting his first half-century for the season and Billy Kwan continuing his rapid-fire scoring with 42 from 44 balls, taking us to 5/165 after 34 overs.

Newcomer to the side, Matt Melville 28 (22) batted superbly at number six, as we were on target to post well over 220. Sitting at 6/192 after 37 overs, we managed to lose the last four wickets for just ten runs, three of them being run-outs and the last three all falling in the 40th over.

We felt we wasted an opportunity to post a large score, and we conceded five run-outs for the innings. However, we still managed to post the highest score set on Buchanan Oval for the season thus far, so we still had the confidence to win the match.

Newington started their opening partnership well. Similarly, to us, they went to drink at 2-54, thanks to our other newcomer, Angus Reardon 2/24 (6.0) taking two vital wickets on the back of his specialty slower balls. We knew overs 18 – 34 would be the key session of the game.

Our bowlers bowled well, but wickets were hard to come by as there was little to nothing in the pitch. We managed to restrict their scoring rate, pushing the required run rate to more than six an over. This made Newington more aggressive which caused the wickets to fall. Melville 3/22 (7.0) had a debut he will always remember taking three wickets in one over to swing the momentum completely into our favour.

Our openers of Tom Fuzes 1/14 (8.0) and Jack Mott 1/56 (8.5) then finished off the tail-enders and secured us the win in the 46th over. We now sit on the ladder in equal fourth place with two wins from four games. Next week we take on Riverview who have won three of their four matches. Should be a great hit out and hope the Second XI are looking forward to it.

Mr G S Tesoriero
Second XI Coach

Third XI: The Shore Third XI put on a much-improved display in terms of bowling and fielding and are getting closer to their first win of the season. Shore won the toss and batted, getting off to a good start with 2/64 off 13 overs. Theodore Florentzos was making stately progress with good support from the other top-order batsmen, but a mini collapse around drinks put the brakes on. Riley Meale did a good job of holding the tail together and returned the top score of 35 not out. We batted out the overs but 118 would take some defending.

Good length bowling and a much better fielding display meant that the game was in the balance at drinks with Newington 3/43. But they showed their class upon returning to the field, playing some very good shots to consolidate and ease the required run rate. Tom Robson and Meale took some quick wickets towards the end, but it was not enough to really apply pressure and Newington got there with a few overs to spare.

Mr R J Ward
Third XI Coach

Fourth XI: Sunny conditions, a flat wicket and a quick outfield greeted Shore upon arrival at F Ground. Taking on a young Newington side who did a job on us five weeks ago, it was a perfect opportunity to see how the team had progressed…And boy have they! Bowling first, Shore was able to consistently take wickets, ensuring no Newington partnerships ever got out of control. With the short straight boundaries and hard outfield, there was value for money for the batsmen which meant Shore holding the visitors to 131 off their 20 overs was very promising.

Sam Lewarne-Dale, and Jye Peters both took two wickets each to build the pressure early, while yet again fielding practice paid off as Clyde Hossack was able to take an absolute screamer of a catch at point to dismiss Newington’s key batsman. In related news, Clyde should consider a career in the circus considering how impressive his juggling of the ball in the process of catching it was!

Going out to bat needing six and a half runs an over allowed the batsmen an opportunity to play themselves in before attacking the short boundaries. So, while there was an early hiccup, it was extremely pleasing to see the boys work in partnerships with four of the top six doing the majority of the scoring between them.

Sam Andrew and Cal Forster both scored at more than a run a ball to accelerate the Shore innings before the double-barrelled demons Lewarne-Dale and Dylan Dalgliesh-Quinn put on 60 runs to all but see Shore home. Dalgliesh-Quinn, unfortunately, fell just short of the total which meant the team’s most gracious and humble player, Tom Santow, was afforded the opportunity to come out and hit the winning runs with nine balls to spare.

It was by far the team’s most complete performance of the season and considering we were comfortably beaten by this same opposition only a month earlier, it shows just how far they have come in a short space of time.

Mr N A Trumbull
Fourth XI Coach

16A: Shore won the toss and elected to bat on a green wicket. From the beginning, Shore was on the back foot losing an early wicket. The Newington bowlers bowled tight lines which saw Shore struggle to build any partnerships. A solid cameo from Charlie Mott (20) and Neo Presley (16*) saw Shore scrape to a total of 6/116 off 32 overs.

The Shore bowlers knew they had a big job ahead of them to defend 116 against a strong Newington side. The Shore bowlers were not up to their usual standard, struggling to find their line and length which saw Newington get off to an early start. Hugh Reardon (1/8) was the pick of the bowlers and provided Shore with some hope. However, Newington was far too strong and surpassed Shore’s total in 20 overs, 2 wickets down.

Mr A Robinson
16A Coach

15A: Shore was back on home turf and hoping to bounce back from last week’s loss to Scots. Daniel Harvey won the toss and chose to bowl first. Newington started steadily without losing wickets until Zac Roberts claimed the first scalp of the day with an LBW. In the same over, Rory Keeler put his body on the line and dived full-length to his right which led to a run out.

This shifted momentum towards Shore. After the drinks break, Newington came out strong with their number four batsmen hitting all areas and ended up on 65*. Newington posted a strong score of 4/165, leaving Shore needing 166 for victory.

Shore began their innings well but that was quickly put on hold, with Shore falling to 6/47 and facing an uphill battle to get back into the game. From here, Roberts and Keeler showed plenty of grit by putting on 47 runs for the 7th wicket. Things were not looking great when Shore were 8/99, still needing 67 runs for victory with 2 wickets in hand.

Nick Yates arrived at the crease and needed to have a match-winning innings. He remained composed and played some quality shots to the boundary to lead the team to a thrilling second last ball victory. Well done to the boys as they showed enormous amounts of fight to be deserving winners of the day. I look forward to next week against St Ignatius’ College where we hope to continue the momentum.

Mr S Horley
15A Coach

15B: Shore lost the toss and were put in to field by Newington on a beautiful day for cricket. Oscar Finlay and Nick Evans opened the bowling and set the pace, with Nick bowling a consistent line and length and Oscar taking two wickets. After losing two wickets the Newington batsmen formed a good partnership and took advantage of the small boundary to score quickly until Lachie Doy claimed another wicket. Still, Newington was able to finish strong with a score of 156 runs. Unfortunately, the Shore batsmen did not find much of a rhythm and struggled to form any long-lasting partnerships, despite Evans and Lachie Richards’ best attempts to settle the innings. Nick top-scored with 16 runs, while Harry Edmunds flashed the blade to score a quick 12, but unfortunately Shore went down by 63 runs.

Mr A N Mason-Jones
15B Coach

14A: Shore 14As won the toss and sent Newington into field for the first innings. After an early wicket to Newington, pressure mounted on the shoulders of James Mathur and Cooper Glanville to steady the ship. Mathur was patient with the bat early on and made the most of any bad ball bowled by the Newington attack. Some outstanding bowling by the opposition saw more wickets being taken and the 14As all out for a total of 67.

Shore had the confidence from The King’s College game earlier in the season to bowl well enough to defend the low total set. They did just that and Thomas Hamilton and Jude Terry ensured Newington felt the pressure early on. Hugo Dunn took three excellent wickets in quick succession to have Newington 4/5 for a period of 4 overs during their innings. However, Newington proved to be too good and ended up passing the total in the 24^th over.

Mr J Murphy
14A Coach

14B: A game where the momentum shifted frequently. Shore lost early wickets but managed to post a strong total of 159 thanks to the determined batting of Will Howman-Giles, who finished with 52*. Victory was within reach for Shore with Newington at 7/98, but they batted very well to scrape over the line 9 down.

Mr M D Webster
14B Coach

14C: Newington proved to be a real challenge for Shore on the weekend, with a strong batting lineup and some quality depth in their bowling ranks. Shore won the toss and elected to bowl and within the first couple of overs, they knew that this would be a long day at the crease for the Newington opening batsmen. Shore bowlers lost their stride early when Newington started putting on quite the batting display. This gathered a feeling of despondency within the fielders who struggled to regain composure and decided to watch a wonderful batting attack rather than keep themselves in the game. Newington raced to a total of 153 in 20 overs.

Shore needed to produce a high run rate to achieve victory but instead created too much pressure trying to run between wickets. With maiden overs coming all too frequently, the wickets were easy to get for Newington who cleaned up the opening batsmen for only a few runs. Enter Will Langfield, again, who came to fight back the score and tried everything in his arsenal to do so. He was able to get his team back into the game but was losing batting partners in quick succession. In the end, it was Shore all out for 86, but they were able to celebrate another wonderful innings from Langfield of 50 not out.

Mr C D Burke
14C Coach

Results

Team	W/L	Result
First XI	W	Shore 6/139 (L Hunt 40*, A Bailey 35, H Orpin 33) defeated NC 10/137 (L Hunt 3/21, B Hocking 2/25)
Second XI	W	Shore 10/202 defeated by NC 10/182 (O Everett 21 (30), A Molchanoff 53 (73), B Kwan 42 (44), M Melville 28 (22), A Reardon 2/24 (6.0), M Melville 3/22 (7.0))
Third XI	L	Shore 9/118 (R Meale 35*, T Florentzos 31) defeated by NC 6/122 (T Robson 3/26)
Fourth XI	W	Shore 5/134 (D Dalgliesh-Quinn 29, S Lewarne-Dale 23*, C Forster 22) defeated NC 6/131 (S Lewarne-Dale 2/16, J Peters 2/17)
16A	L	Shore 6/116 of 32 (J Evans 20, C Mott 20) defeated by NC 2/118 of 20 (H Reardon 1/8, W Penney 1/17)
15A	W	Shore 9/169 (N Yates 51*, R Keeler 22) defeated NC 4/165 (Z Roberts 1/23)
15B	L	Shore 10/93 defeated by NC 3/156 (O Finlay 2/38)
14A	L	Shore 10/67 (J Mathur 22) defeated by NC 6/68 (H Dunn 3/6)
14B	L	Shore 7/159 (W Howman-Giles 52*) defeated by NC 9/160 (L Arnold 3/27)
14C	L	Shore 8/86 defeated by NC 3/153

Player of the Week Nominations

1. First XI – Lachlan Hunt 40* and 3/21 from 9 overs
2. Second XI – Matt Melville 28 (22) and 3/2
3. Third XI – Riley Meale – 35* and 1/11
4. Fourth XI – Sam Lewarne-Dale 23* and 2/16
5. 16A – Charlie Mott 20
6. 15A – Nick Yates 51* and 1/29 off 6
7. 15B – Oscar Finlay 2/38
8. 14A – Hugo Dunn 3/6
9. 14B – Will Howman-Giles 52*
10. 14C – Will Langfield 50*

Player of the week: Lachlan Hunt 40* and 3/21

Surf Life Saving Report

Years 7 and 8 Nippers

During the week the Nippers worked on their swimming fitness. On Monday, they swam 1km in the School pool, while conditions were perfect for board training on Wednesday. On Saturday, the boys paddled from the lagoon up to the north end of Long Reef Beach where they conducted a board race, surf-swim and IRONMAN event. Following this, some excellent waves were caught on the rising tide before the boys then paddled back to the lagoon.

The following results were recorded:

	Board Race	IRONMAN
1st	S Davis	S Davis
2nd	C Martin	C Martin
3rd	W Hoy	H Warden
4th	H Warden	W Hoy
5th	N Kordek	N Kordek

Top Image Credit: Years 7 and 8 Board Race

Years 9 and 10 Bronze Award Group

The Bronze Award Group have now covered a vast amount of ground in preparation for their Week 7 assessment at Bilgola. They should start the course fully equipped with the knowledge and skillset to maintain our outstanding 100% pass rate at Shore. The boys must now ensure that they have completed their online eLearning modules before the course.

The weekday training sessions saw some intense swim and board paddling events. In addition, a fiercely contested IRONMAN event saw L Warner just sneak in at first place ahead of S Pockley after catching a great wave from out the back.

The following results were recorded:

	IRONMAN	Board Paddle Relay
1st	L Warner	Pockley, Dale, Clayton
2nd	S Pockley	Pollitt, Waters, Warner
3rd	O Roxburgh	Michel, Chen, Franklin
4th	J Pollitt	Leslie, Mason-Jones, Roxburgh
5th	J Clayton
6th	C Michel
7th	C Dale
8th	W Mason-Jones
9th	B Waters
10th	T Franklin
11th	H Chen
12th	A Leslie

Saturday’s beach session came with near-perfect weather and sea conditions which allowed the group to practice a range of Bronze Award aquatic rescues.

These included a deep-water spinal recovery, unconscious board rescue, and a shallow waterlog-roll. The boys ended the session with a group scenario-based activity including an unconscious spinal injury recovery, assessment, CPR and radio communication.Our thanks to Ben Neighbour for running such a comprehensive morning of learning.

Years 10 and 11 Patrol Group

The Senior boys have spent a week working on their fitness, ocean swimming and board skills in some fun-sized surf at Long Reef Beach. The Patrol Groups experienced near-perfect conditions on Saturday on a busy Long Reef Beach.

The boys enjoyed swimming and board paddling near the flags, which was encouraged by the Patrol Captain, to ensure active water-based monitoring of the safety of members of the public.

The following results were recorded in competitive events:

Patrol Group 1

	Board Race	Handicapped Board Race (staggered start)	Iron Man
1st	D Cowan	M Lotz = 1	D Cowan
2nd	J Krawchuk	L Walter = 1	J Krawchuk
3rd	H Bloore	I Edwards = 1	H Bloore
4th	I Edwards	H Bloore	L Walter
5th	L Walter	J Krawchuk	I Edwards
6th	A Brewer	A Brewer	M Lotz
7th	M Lotz	D Cowan	A Brewer

Patrol Group 2

	Swim	Run	Handicapped Board Race (staggered start)
1st	C Chapman	B Tam	R Cope
2nd	L Chappell	L Chappell	L Chappell
3rd	B Tam	S Walter	S Walter
4th	S Walter	C Chapman	C Chapman
5th	R Cope	–	B Tam

Mr G Jones
Acting MIC, Surf Life Saving

Surfing Report

The surf was smaller than last week but there was a clean right-hander down past the pole that was producing some nice waves. The Shore surfers were able to train for the ‘Battle of the Boards’ by doing some tag-team heats. These heats put the surfers under time pressure, making wave selection crucial.

After a 15-minute free-surf to sight the conditions, the surfers were put into teams of three for a tag-team competition. Each team had 12 minutes to get their three waves (one per surfer). Surfers had to tag their teammates on the beach. Bonus points were awarded for each team in their finishing order. We ran two 12-minute competitions with the following results:

Heat 1

	Shore surfing teams	Wave score	Finish bonus	Team score
1st	S Davis M Elvy G Watt	4 1 0.4	5	10.4
2nd	J Rajaratnam N Kordek I Edwards	2 2 0.6	4	8.6
3rd	D Cowan H Warden O Roxburgh R Nagle	6 2 – –	–	8
4th	S Pockley N Stanmore H Murdoch-Tilmouth	0.8 0.5 0.3	3	4.6
5th	W Hoy L Warner B Jones	1 1.8 –	–	2.8

Top Image Credit:Will Hoy

Heat 2

	Shore surfing teams	Wave score	Finish bonus	Team score
1st	W Hoy L Warner B Jones	8 2.5 1	4	15.5
2nd	S Davis M Elvy G Watt	4.5 2.5 1.2	5	13.2
3rd	J Rajaratnam N Kordek I Edwards	1.3 4.5 1.1	–	6.9
4th	S Pockley N Stanmore H Murdoch-Tilmouth	5 1.1 –	–	6.1
5th	D Cowan H Warden O Roxburgh R Nagle	– 1 1.5 0.9	–	3.4

Mr J McClelland
MIC, Surfing

Shore Tennis Report – Shore versus Newington College

MIC’s Report

In Tennis, the Firsts played Newington at home. Newington are one of the top teams in the GPS, making a tough match for Shore. The boys played with a lot of power in the doubles, finding many winners but making some errors.

Ollie Wilcox and Felix Harrop had a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win, but Shore went down 2-1 after the doubles. Shore dialled in and fought back strongly in singles, with Sam Wensley playing through injury to fight out a tight three set win. However, Newington were able to scrape the overall win 5-4.

A big congratulations to the Seconds, who had a superb 7-2 win over Newington. Josh Powell and Harper Cunningham continued to show improvement in their game with a solid performance in their singles as well as their doubles.

Gaining an opportunity to play up in the Seconds, George Gatenby didn’t disappoint with a come-from-behind win after being a set down, taking the following two sets 6-2 and 6-3 to end the day on top.

Oscar Chadban and Aaron Li had a great game, coming back from 2-5 to win in a tie breaker 7-2 in the Under 16s. Good teamwork, communication and some more aggressive play by volleyers was a key contributor to the comeback. Alex Yu and Taj Gupta played an outstanding game of doubles, successfully beating Newington 6-3. Excellent volleys and consistent pressure allowed the pair to close out the match. Teamwork played a key role in their victory.

The Under 16s had an excellent morning with a convincing 16 games to 8 win. The highlight was the 16Bs, who only dropped one match. Newington had a very strong Under 14s squad and Open team which took the win overall but the Under 15s fought hard and we were happy with a tie after all the matches were complete.

Mr J Straney
MIC, Tennis

Shore Tennis Results

2022/23 Summer Season
Win/Loss in rubbers (matches)

Age Group	Under 14s	Under 15s	Under 16s	Opens	Seconds	Firsts
Week 5 results (W/L)	1-23	12-12	16-8	9-15	7-2	4-5

Holtermann Columns

The Art of the Album

How to judge what you’re listening to

A. W. Hall

A singular song possesses not a single objective feature; they are entirely isolated and subject to the judgement of the music critic within yourself, able to be given their own meanings, memories, and connections. Contrarily however, the album is less subjective, and a far more challenging task. 

The art of the album is a rather forgotten art within the mainstream, they lack the intrigue and excitement of single tracks, adding filler songs to round out releases and offer nothing more of value. Another common issue today is that many people will claim to love or enjoy an album after adding three out of 15 songs from the LP to their playlists.  

So now we have two major issues, improper albums, and improper listeners. 

Before we rediscover the lost art of album curation, let’s fix the listeners. 

Step 1.  

Listen from the first to the last track, painter’s do not wish you to see 1/5 of their painting, they want you to view it in its entirety. 

Step 2. 

Take note of the album, there are different types of albums. Is this LP a concept album, double album, or is the album simply bound by theme? 

Step 3. 

Judge – now if you’re not sure how to judge an album that’s where the paragraphs below come in. 

To start – as mentioned in step two – identify what type of album this is, from here we can judge it fairly, an album bound by theme of sound or lyricism cannot be scrutinised for its storytelling when compared to a concept album on one’s relationships. 

A major part of every LP is its production – the sound of the music – higher quality production often results in more resonant sounds with more intricate and defined layers, however, not all music intends to possess such complexities, rather the simplicity of genres like folk use their acoustic sounds to evoke thoughts and feelings. 

Well composed albums will always invoke thought – or provoke emotion in the listener, one that doesn’t, may harbour overplayed or unoriginal themes (Ed Sheeran and Drake – artists whose albums, in my opinion, are rather dull past the hit songs and share no new exploration of themes they provide). Whilst another issue may be a heavy focus on the production or the production invoking the wrong emotion. 

Lastly, does the album challenge you? Did you gain anything from the album’s exploration of sounds, concepts, or lyrics? Does it harness both lyrics and production to its advantage? Can you go back to the album and find new appreciations from a second listen? 

The proper curation of an album helps us to establish connections and better understand the world we live in, and it would be a shame if we let that go to waste over the catchiness of some songs heard on the radio that everyone else is listening to. 

So, when you decide to listen through an album just ask yourself, what’s the coherence between tracks? If there isn’t one, then the album will likely serve little purpose as a full-length project. If there is coherence, how is the production? Does it hinder or benefit the coherence of tracks? Is the album consistent or does it have a few catchy tracks and offer nothing more? Did the album provoke or challenge thought and ideas and help you deepen your view on the world (often on relationships or life)?  

After you answer these questions add some potential wildcard points, such as has this album been influential on music? After all of that you can now fully develop a comprehensive opinion or rating, and enjoy your music just a little bit more. 

Red Wave?

U.S Midterm Election Results, the Winners and the Losers

W. H. R. Johnston

Following the United States’ midterm elections held on the 8^th of November, the Republican party is headed to a majority in the House (Congress), which will significantly disrupt the Democratic agenda in the US.  At face value, this would look like a good week for Republicans who lost the Presidency, the Senate and Congress in 2020. Why then are the democrats so pleased with this result? Why could this spell doom for the former president Donald Trump?

Firstly, the Democrats have somewhat spectacularly retained control of the Senate, despite the fairly widespread sentiment that they would fail to do so, giving them steady control of the upper house.  Additionally, their big concern of a Republican landslide failed to materialise, as the predicted ‘Red Wave’ turned out to be a ‘Red Ripple’.  Democratic concern was based on the traditional swing against an incumbent president mid-term, the US situation around traditional Republican-voter issues such as inflation, crime and immigration, and Joe Biden’s effectiveness, or seemingly, lack thereof at getting the Democratic base out to vote (only about one-third of registered voters cast a ballot in the midterms, while Australia dipped below 90% in the COVID impacted 2022 election for the first time since 1922).

Now, why does this impact Donald Trump? Well in 2016 the Republican Party Leadership was against Donald Trump, but he galvanised the ‘Republican base’ in such a way that he has effectively controlled the Party since that time. He has been personally involved in many candidate selections, ousting people who did not ‘toe his line’ – however, many of these selections failed, most notably celebrity senate candidate, Mehmet Oz. Therefore, the consensus in the Republican Party is that this has backfired and that, while he still controls the ‘Base’, he has lost touch with the broader electorate and risks making them unelectable.  At the same time, a new hero of the Republicans has emerged.  Ron DeSantis is 44 years old, and well known for his ‘anti-woke’ rhetoric, and profound Christian ideology. DeSantis won his gubernatorial race in the previously swing state of Florida in a landslide and is now the front runner for the Republican nomination in 2024 and is given the best odds to become the 47^th president of the United States.

What are the implications for the world following the Democrats’ success? 

The immediate effect is to reduce the potential for US-led turmoil on an international stage, particularly in Ukraine.  Some of the more vocal Republicans were advocating a more US first policy on support for the war (e.g. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, “Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine…”) and, while that was never likely to happen, the result has calmed international nerves. 

Longer term, while it is too early to predict the end of President Trump’s influence (or even write him off for 2024, as he loves running as an underdog), the Republicans may actually have bolstered the likelihood of winning back the Presidency in 2024.  Although he is not a uniting centrist force, DeSantis looks increasingly electable against an elderly, gaff-prone Biden who the Democrats are seemingly looking to present as their candidate in the next presidential election (and he has indicated that he currently plans to run again).

Therefore, in the notoriously complex game of politics, it seems as though the midterms were successful for the Republicans as they won back the U.S House, however, their victory seemed hollow, as it by no means reached its expectations of the media and conservative politicians, so in that sense was successful for the Democrats. However, the failure of the Republicans could allow for a restructuring of the party, possibly leading to a more electable candidate for 2024, and hence a greater chance of winning the next presidential election. So, it seems as though, in a fairly familiar tale, we must wait to witness the full scope of consequences before passing judgement on the winners and losers of the American midterm elections of 2022.

Hate for Love

 f’’(x): Queerbaiting

P. P. Zhang

Whilst the internet is a place for everyone to make their voices heard, it is usually those with radical views who are also the most vocal. Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about cancel culture. Using that as a segue, today’s point of discussion is around queerbaiting. Queerbaiting essentially means creators who hint at LGBTQ+ representation in their characters, only for it to never happen. It’s often used as a marketing technique to draw in LGBTQ+ audiences. Over time, the term has changed to be applied to celebrities in real life who play LGBTQ+ characters. I’m not big on TV shows and wouldn’t call myself a fan of the teen heartthrob ‘Heartstopper’ but the show did catch my attention this week. Specifically Kit Connor, who plays Nick Nelson, one of the leading characters who happens to be bisexual. All over social media, fans of the show have been accusing Connor of ‘queerbaiting’ due to leaked photos of him holding hands with actress Maia Reficco. 

The issue is contentious because fans feel that straight celebrities and creators should be held accountable for profiting off LGBTQ+ media, as well as encouraging more accurate representation of LGBTQ+ people on camera, rather than giving the role to someone who does not belong to the minority group. But does this only apply to sexual minorities? Perhaps in a racial context, it doesn’t seem to be an issue – often because the storyline would not function properly, for example, if the lead in 12 Years a Slave was not a person of colour. But what about other minority groups? Where is the line drawn there? Are shows like The Good Doctor misappropriating the neurodivergent by casting actors without the disability in question?

The problem with accusing people of queerbaiting is that despite starting off with good intentions, it’s been transformed into something more malicious. As a result of the accusations, Connor – who’s only 18 – has been forced to come out as bisexual to meet fans’ demands. Queerbaiting has become a way for people to harass celebrities for not disclosing their sexuality, a highly personal matter that should remain up to the discretion of the celebrity themself. 

And this isn’t the first time a celebrity has been accused of queerbaiting either. Harry Styles infamously was accused of the offence for wearing a green feather boa without confirming his sexual identity, whilst Billie Eilish was criticised for her somewhat sapphic scenes in a music video. Taylor Swift is beginning to be a common theme in my articles, because she too was accused of queerbaiting for her new album.

Now this raises an entire other issue in itself. Has wokeism passed its peak? In many scenarios, it seems self-professed ‘allies’ are doing the LGBTQ+ community more harm than good. In the Kit Connor example, many fans – who weren’t part of the community themselves – felt that they had a say in canceling Connor for his alleged queerbaiting. 

Now if we cast our minds back to my article concerning cancel culture, we see a similar narrative being painted with the misuse of ‘-phobic’ terms. In both instances, language was changed from the original meaning of the word, to mean something that could be used as a weapon to harass others online. To prevent others in the future like Kit Connor who had the special experience of coming out stolen from him, perhaps it’s time for us to consider whether terms that were created to prevent discrimination and harrassment, are slowly beginning to do the opposite.

Top image, Kit Connor as Nick Nelson in the Netflix show, Heartstopper

LIV GOLF

A Controversy Coming Down Under

A. M. Bailey

“From the moment I met him eight years ago, I knew he was different gravy, He has a look in his eye that tells you he’s going to stand and deliver.” Stand and deliver is exactly what Cameron Smith did at the 150^th Open Championship, which was played at the Old Course in St Andrews. To finish off an unbeatable day for the Aussie, he remarked after capturing the Claret Jug, ‘I’m definitely going to find out how many beers fit in this thing’. He did just that, ending the night that he will never forget with the comment, “I guess everyone’s been asking how many beers fit in the Claret Jug, it’s pretty much exactly two”. Little did we know that would be one of the last times we would get to see Smith’s type of Australian vernacular on the PGA stage.

Since the dawn of competitive golf, the PGA has been the trademark for individuals to pave their name in golfing history. With a solid foundation of colleges linking with Korn Ferry Tours and then to the big stage, golf was finally starting to become a way of living for individuals good enough to play the game. However, with the introduction of the LIV backed by the Public Investment Fund, the conversation around LIV golf worsened after several players bagged hefty paychecks to participate in the series. Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Kevin Na, Dustin Johnson and Sergio García are among the athletes that defected to the Saudi-backed league.

Now after the conditions between the LIV and the PGA have begun to cool off, as the public has come to realisation that for some golfers playing in America is hard to make a name for themselves and even harder to make a living. The LIV Golf Tour and Australian superstar Cameron Smith, are planning to come down under sooner rather than later, with Adelaide becoming the reported spot for an event in 2023.

9News Adelaide further supplied evidence of the situation and reported that the South Australian government had “all but done” a deal with LIV to bring an event to Grange Golf Club in April. “We’ve made it clear that we think that golf needs a bit of a shake up, particularly in an Australian context, and that’s something we keep an eye on,” Premier Peter Malinauskas said. When asked if an announcement was imminent he contradicted his statement and replied, “we’ll see how that plays out”. According to the report, Greg Norman is now also set to fly into Australia next week to confirm the tournament is taking place.

LIV will host 14 events between February and September of next year, with 48 contracted players to travel down under. A greater focus will be placed on team competition with the addition of a franchised league to run within the tour. Australians will have the chance to watch Smith and fellow Aussie Marc Leishman – as well as American superstars like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau.

Ultimately, all the competitive players believe that any way of growing the popularity and awareness of the sport is incredibly positive for the game. “I think the fans love LIV Golf a lot which is really important for our sport because it gets a lot of people playing golf,” Smith said. “Even if it is just for a whack here or there and having a beer. The more eyes on golf the better.”

Top image credit: Sky Sports

Gender on a Spectrum

Language, height, non-binary

J. Y. Gao

Before I explore the inescapable topic of gender, it is imperative that certain lines of logic are firmly established. It is an irrefutable fact that by the very process of defining – that is, the allocation of parameters to an otherwise free for all whirlwind of thought – assigns the concept in which it is trying to define to an auditory signal, a visual cue – a pattern of thought. As was discussed last week, for something to exist, however abstractly or arbitrarily, is TO BE the things that it is, and TO NOT BE the things that it isn’t. To define whatever this something maybe is to, in its very definition, INCLUDE the attributes and ideas it aligns with, and EXCLUDE the things it doesn’t align with. 

This production line of thought points towards an inherent binary structure to language. To describe what is, is to imply what is not, for something to ‘be’, there must be things it can’t ‘be’. Yet it isn’t a surprise to anyone that indeed reality is far more nuanced than the binary perspective that language provides us. Language is in this way like a scientific model, the purpose of which is to re-present the world in a simplified manner so that it may be easily understood and efficiently analysed. We see a similar process behind language in a word as simple as ‘chair’. In reality, a chair can be a multitude of things; no two chairs are the same on a molecular level, chairs have vastly different designs and ornamentations, chairs may, in some cases, provide more than its conventional sedentary usage (perhaps used as a piece of art, a step to reach higher places, etc.). And yet when ‘chair’ is referred to, it is most probable that it implies the most conventional definition of ‘chair’,  certainly not the seats on the train nor the broken leather couch laying on the street corner. Even though these are, ‘technically’, chairs. It isn’t possible for ‘chair’ to actively define all of these things in an efficient communication system, or in any communication system for that matter. Therefore, the purpose of language is not to provide an accurate representation of reality, but to provide a communicable species the means to the efficient communication of abstract and concrete ideas. I hope it is clear that to define (with language) is to simplify.

Because reality is such a nuanced experience, it seems logical to recognise gender as something that is on a spectrum. And, in an attempt to simplify this spectrum of possibilities, language has, quite conveniently, attached a binary structure to the concept. At one end is femininity, the other end, masculinity. As we have established, language is to simplify – the idea of femininity is defined by a set of traits that it defines, and traits that it doesn’t define. The traits that femininity don’t identify with are the traits that masculinity identifies with, and the traits that masculinity doesn’t identify with are the traits that define femininity. That is inherent to language. But it is obvious that the experience of gender is more complicated than two binary definitions. Even the “most feminine person will demonstrate some characteristics that we associate with masculinity, and vice versa”. 

This then leads to a discussion of ‘non-binary’. To better illustrate how we might coincide the binary tendencies of language and the continuum of gender experience in reality, let us turn our attention to height. Again, language has provided us an inevitable binary pairing: ‘tall’ and ‘short’. Thus forms the two ends of the height spectrum. Normally, one would be characterised as ‘tall’ if they lie above the average height of a certain group. In other cases, an extraordinarily tall person would be characterised as ‘tall’, with little or no attention paid to the previous person ‘tall’ who might be standing next to them. Hence we have two definitions/uses of ‘tall’ that are inconsistent with each other. If we take the second case, those who are within the range of the height of an extraordinarily tall person and an extraordinarily short person would be considered neither tall nor short – non-binary. If we understood ‘tall’ to be this second case, most people would fall into this ‘non-binary’ characterisation, which seems a little redundant. Conversely, if we took the first definition of ‘tall’ – someone that is taller than the average height – as it is normally defined, the use of the word ‘tall’ seems much more relevant and useful, and does a little more than throw everyone back into a mosh-pit of ‘non-binary’ categorisation save for the few extraordinarily tall or extraordinarily short people. And I think it is clear why society has adopted the first understanding/usage of the word ‘tall’ over the second one. 

In much the same way (or perhaps in an even more logical way, as you’ll soon discover), gender is a description of the large average that one finds themselves in, rather than the extremes. And, unlike height, no one is purely masculine or purely feminine. If that’s how we understand gender – as either masculine or feminine – then we would all be non-binary. Like what we saw in the analogy with height, defining everyone as ‘non-binary’ is redundant and creates a new binary. It creates the ‘non-binary’ group and a group that is not what the non-binary group is – the cisgender group. The notion of a non-binary gender fails to capture the complexity of gender expression and, in turn, creates a new, false binary between the ‘non-binary’ and the ‘cisgender’. 

By this definition, then, it isn’t clear why gender may differ from personality. I think it is important to remember that gender is “not just a label to adopt so that you … have a unique way to describe just how large and multitudinous and interesting you are.” Once we have moved past this, we would be finally able to focus on deconstructing discrimination against women, especially the notion of the inferiority of female gender to male gender, and build a more cohesive society that allows people to feel comfortable with whatever ratio of feminine to masculine traits they have. 

“The solution is not to try to slip through the bars of the cage while leaving the rest of the cage intact, and the rest of womankind trapped within it” , says Rebecca Reilly-Cooper, political philosopher at the University of Warwick, UK. Indeed, let’s break the cage so that we might all be equally free. 

The Delusion of Freedom

Free Speech as a Constitutional Right

J. A. McCreery

Australians do not have freedom of speech. 

None would disagree that we are a lucky country – a liberal democracy, a developed economy – we are enlightened, just not ‘that’ liberal or ‘that’ enlightened. The laws you are subject to are not those our Americanised media consumption would have you believe.  

The Australian Constitution does not explicitly protect freedom of speech or expression.

Is such restriction damning though, a loophole which future, perhaps corrupt, governments can abuse to secure control via legalism? According to the Australian Law Reform Commission, the government can render speech or expression unlawful in many different contexts, “some limitations on speech have long been recognised by the common law itself, such as obscenity and sedition, defamation, blasphemy, incitement, and passing off.” Would you consider this fair?

If speech is completely free, however utopian the thought is, an immeasurable number of pitfalls are generated. What is to stop fake news? Unbased conspiracy? Or the dispersion of harmful and radical material? A deluge of misinformation and descent could render one’s career, one’s livelihood moot overnight. As Dyson Heydon, high court judge, declared in 2013 “free speech was a noble and idealistic enterprise which has failed, is failing, and will go on failing.”

Clearly, the Australian lawmakers have taken this into consideration and, through the advent of tightly worded legislation, ensured such events cannot take place. Freedom of opinion and expression is what Australian’s hold, it’s free speech that cannot be boiled down to hate speech without consequence. 

A helpful analogy, described by Misha Ketchel, makes this clear: we have the right to drive freely on roads, provided we observe limits on speed, places we can park, how we negotiate the roads with others and the amount of alcohol we have consumed. Taking this, it can be understood that one may speak for as long as they like, on whatever they wish and extrapolate as far as they want, as long as it falls within the defined boundaries of the law. 

Yet the problems come when the ‘defined’ boundaries become blurred, when “blasphemy, obscenity [or] sedition” become so simply because they contradict the ideologies and beliefs of those in power. Legislation can become blurred and stretched in times of crisis and the High Courts ‘implied freedom of political communication’ could come under duress. Simply put, convention does not precede law and one should not rely on it to protect their civil liberties. 

Frequent and transparent discourse must occur on what falls within and without the boundaries of Australian freedoms. The tolerance of democratic societies has a limit and it must be explored. There are behaviors that should be found intolerable and unacceptable, restricted to protect and harmonize society. Some of these are fixed in place and perhaps there are some that will shift and grow into acceptance over time. 

Ultimately, as a citizen of Australia you cannot say whatever you wish, free speech does not exist and one can face punishments for uttering mere words. The Australian Government has made a near authoritative yet in the end justifiable choice, a sacrifice of individual freedom which helps build and protect community, self and the media into a healthy and fruitful place, devoid of aggressive deprecation and indecency.

“It is possible to have unlimited freedom of expression — just not in a democracy. If someone can say what they want without any regard or consequence, then they’ve merely reached the top of a dictatorship.” – Misha Ketchell

To assuage one’s mounting fears: Australia is part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which contains, in articles 19 and 20, the freedom of opinion and expression.

Socio-Economic Implications of the 2022 Qatar World Cup

Will Qatar be left with a $299 Billion Dollar Bus Depot

J. C. Lai

With a few days left until the most prolific tournament in world football, it is hard not to be excited for the commencement of the World Cup. However, a look into the deeply troubling financial and labour management of the host country raises serious concerns for the social and economic implications to Qatar.

An initial look at the impact of hosting a World Cup brings a lot of upsides to it. By having the highest viewed event in the world, Qatar will certainly see a dramatic rise in tourism, foreign trade, economic development, and job creation. Bloomberg is predicting a tourism upsurge of 1.5 million and a $17 billion increase in domestic economic activity during the month.

However, in order to capitulate for this sudden influx of tourism, infrastructure would be required to be invested in, which is funded by taxation revenue and debt. This necessity of investment leads to a misallocation of resources towards inefficient and futile infrastructure and industries, leading to a wastage of government expenditure and hence damaging the welfare of the local citizens. 

Let’s take the 2014 Brazil World Cup as an example. Infrastructure totalled to a sum of $11.6 billion but the majority ended up being useless after the World Cup, such as the $1 billion state of the art Mane Garrincha Stadium which now serves as a bus depot. This significant sum placed a large burden on taxation revenue and raised government debt exponentially, leading to significant repercussions on the socioeconomic state of the country. Firstly, increased government debt led to higher interest rates, and tarnishing economic activity, which is counter-intuitive to the objectives of hosting the tournament. Secondly, the need to accommodate the large temporary influx of tourism led to around 250,000 to 1,500,000 local citizens being forced to abandon their homes, with few receiving compensation. Lastly, to find the money needed for the event, they had to cancel promised bus and railway projects. Two projects which would have significantly boosted the productive capacity of the country and increased the wellbeing of the local population. 

The repercussions created significant tensions with the Brazilian people and the government and led to a significant wastage of government revenue which would have been better spent in productive investments. This effect is likely to be repeated or even worsened in the upcoming Qatar World Cup, seeing the host country has spent over $229 billion on the tournament, which is 4 times the combined budget since the 1990 world cups.

Furthermore, the aforementioned benefits of economic development, job creation, tourism, and foreign trade only lasts during the World Cup months and will see a stabilisation to pre-world cup levels within months after the tournament. Employment, especially in the hospitality sector, will see a sudden increase during the months of November and December, but mass-unemployment will likely ensue, as businesses have to offset employees due to the dramatic decrease in demand. To make matters even worse, the host-country may even witness a phenomenon known as ‘negative tourism’, where normal tourism sees declines due to higher rates of congestion and higher prices as a result of the World Cup, leading to a fall in potential economic activity generated. This was evident in the 1998 French World Cup, where the number of normal tourists declined to 13% of the previous year. 

The desire for cheap labour to offset the dramatic costs of running a World Cup has also seen human rights exploitation and abuse, providing even worse social implications to the tournament. This is seen through the exploitation of migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal working in infrastructure developments for the Khalifa Stadium, where numerous sources claim unethical and illegal behaviours by recruitment agents. Shamim, a Bangladeshi migrant worker for the Khalifa Stadium claims, “I remember my first day in Qatar. Almost the very first thing [an agent] working for my company did was take my passport. I haven’t seen it since,” revealing how workers are forced to work and are not allowed to leave the country until their jobs are done. Furthermore, workers are seen residing in appalling and illegal living conditions, with workers being crammed into rooms of eight or more, which is illegal according to Qatari law and the Workers’ Welfare Standards, which only allow a maximum of four people. False promises and delayed salaries are also made towards employees, leading to many unable to support their families and make payments on recruitment related loans. 

Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup draws significant economic and social concerns into the country and draws the question of: “What is the point in hosting a world cup?” The expected revenue of $17 billion comes nowhere close to the $229 billion spent on the obsolete infrastructure and capital and has led to the abuse of human rights standards. Ultimately, countries should factor in the cost towards the country’s citizen and economy before splashing billions on hosting a World Cup as a means of national superiority and bragging rights.

Achilles and the Tortoise

How will Achilles ever overtake the tortoise?

W. S. Robinson

Zeno of Elea (c. 450 BCE) is credited with creating several famous paradoxes, and perhaps the best known is the paradox of the Tortoise and Achilles. For those who are unaware, below are the basics of Zeno’s logic puzzle. 

Achilles, the fleet-footed hero of the Trojan War, is engaged in a race with a lowly tortoise, which has been granted a head start. The task initially seems simple and Achilles is confident, but he faces a problem. While he is covering the gap between him and the point at which the tortoise existed when he began the race, the tortoise has created a new gap. This new gap is smaller than the first but is still a finite distance that Achilles must cover before he can catch up with the animal. Achilles races across the new gap. To his frustration, while he was scampering across the second gap, the tortoise was establishing a third. The cycle repeats infinitely; Achilles reaches the point the tortoise was at, and in the time that it takes him to do so, the tortoise has covered a new distance. In this lies the crux of the problem – how will Achilles ever overtake the tortoise? No matter how quickly he closes each gap, the slow-but-steady tortoise will open new, smaller ones, and remain just ahead of the Greek hero. 

It is tempting to dismiss the problem as sophistry, out of fear or laziness. Laziness, because thinking about the paradox gives the feeling that you’re perpetually on the verge of solving it without ever actually doing so – similarly to how Achilles felt about catching the tortoise. Fear, because being defeated by a man who died before humans conceived the number zero delivers a hefty blow to one’s self-image. 

Yes, the paradox is a trick. Zeno created the paradox to support the argument that motion and change are not real. Nick Huggett, a philosopher of physics at the University of Illinois, says “sure it’s crazy to deny motion, but to accept it is worse.” The paradox reveals a fundamental mismatch between the way that we think about the world and the way that the world actually is, a trick in making you think about space, time and motion the wrong way. The question then arises; what is precisely wrong with our thinking? We can observe that motion is possible, and that a fast human runner can beat a tortoise in a race. The problem lies in our conception of infinity. 

There is more than one kind of infinity. The task seems impossible, as Achilles would have to cover an infinite number of spaces in a finite amount of time. However, not all infinities are created the same. Consider the series:

1

2

+

1

4

+

1

8

+

1

16

+

1

32

12+14+18+116+132

… Although the number goes on forever, the series converges, and the solution is one. As long as Achilles is making the gaps smaller at a sufficiently fast rate (so that their distances look like the above equation), he will complete the series in a measurable amount of time, and therefore catch the tortoise. 

The convergence of infinite series explains countless things that we observe in the world – not just the fact that a fast runner can overtake a tortoise in a race. Any distance, time or force that exists in our world can be broken into an infinite number of pieces (just like the distance that Achilles must cover), but decades of physics and mathematics has proved that they can be treated as finite. 

This answer might not completely satisfy ancient Greece philosophers, many of whom felt that their logic was more powerful than the observed reality. However, the way that philosophers and mathematicians have answered the challenge, using observation to create a durable theory, is a testament to the role that research and experimentation plays in advancing understanding. 

What is the Nothing Company?

A New Tech Brand has Entered the Competition

E. O. Milne

New tech companies are coming into the market all the time but in most cases they don’t hit quite as hard as Samsung, Microsoft and, most of all, Apple. But what if there was a new tech company that already knew the business? What if, all this time a company had already been in the market, and had been quite successful?

In December 2013 a man by the name of Carl Pei made his own company; One Plus. It designs and produces phones, watches and everything that most other tech companies have. You may have heard of it, as only a few years ago it was making large sales on its product, there were predictions that One Plus would be a competitor to companies such as Samsung or even Microsoft. But then, suddenly, the founder Carl Pei left the company, bringing its hopes and dreams crashing down.  

In 2020, this man almost came back from the dead and founded a new brand, going by a new name;  ‘Nothing’. The name was quite ironic because it is quite a lot more than just nothing. The company received a lot of hype by the public at the time – so much so that people were counting down the seconds till their first products came out. 

In 2021, a year after its founding the Nothing company released its first product. The Nothing Ear 1! These earbuds, at a cheap price of only AUD 149, are a bargain because they are at the top of their game for their pricing. With their great design, you can see the inside of the earbuds. The cool-looking compact exterior design is so unique that it sets these earbuds apart in the market. But in the end, you only get what you pay for. These earbuds have no noise cancelling, no transparency mode and nothing too unordinary. However, the lack of these features doesn’t make them a bad product. 

For now, this is the only product that Nothing has officially released. However there are whispers of a new phone release. Some top tech reviewers on YouTube such as ‘Marques Brownlee’ have been able to take a look at the possibility of a new phone to rival the iphone. The product from their videos honestly looks terrific! The light on the back of the phone makes it great for interaction through signals because while not only being a flashlight you can also change in settings the lights so that the different light signals mean different things and there is so much more to the phone that in my opinion when it is released will (in sales) make it as popular as the iPhone 14 (when it comes out). Due to rumours that we’ve heard about Apple’s iPhone 14 it seems that the iPhone has almost reached its peak and I think it’s time for a new product, and it could be this one.  

Carl Pei seems to have known what he was doing when he left One Plus to join this company because already it looks to have some great potential! My advice, keep an eye out for Nothing. 

Champions League Pool Winners 

Who Won Their Pools?

J.T. Mott

With the pool stages of the Champions League ending, we are giving you an evaluation of our predictions of who would go through each pool, and who goes to the Europa League. 

Pool A

In pool A, we predicted that Liverpool and Ajax would progress, however, we were wrong with this as Napoli and Liverpool went through. Both teams only lost one game out of the six. Ajax, having only won two games, is progressing to the Europa League and Rangers has been knocked out after losing every game. 

Pool B

In pool B, we predicted that Porto and Club Brugge would progress with Athletico going into the Europa League and Leverkusen being knocked out. Both Porto and Club Brugge have progressed as predicted, however, Leverkusen has made it to the Europa League instead of Athletico. 

Pool C

For pool C it was predicted that Barcelona and Bayer Munich would progress with Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzen fighting it out for the place in the Europa League. However, Bayer Munich and Inter have progressed leaving Barcelona to go into the Europa League. This is a surprise as Barcelona is topping the La Liga with two more wins than Real Madrid. With Inter coming seventh in Serie A, below Juventus. 

Pool D

Pool D was predicted to have Tottenham and Marseille progress, however, Tottenham and Frankfurt progressed; leaving Marseille and Sporting. Sporting was relegated to the Europa League with Marseille being removed from the competition. 

Pool E

Chelsea and Milan were predicted to win group E and ended up doing so. With Read Bull Salzburg being relegated to the Europa League and Dinamo Zagreb being removed from competition. Winning only one game from six with one draw. 

Pool F

Last year’s winner Real Madrid was predicted to reach Pool F with Red Bull Leipzig coming second. This was proven true with Shakhtar being moved into the Europa League. Celtic managed to draw two games out of the six, losing the rest. However, this is a good result for them, with the other teams’ budget being many times larger.

Pool G

City was in a pool with Dortmund and Sevilla, this pool was one of the most competitive, with City and Dortmund progressing after winning four and two games respectively. Sevilla progressed to the Europa league with Copenhagen being removed from the competition.

Pool H

In Pool H, there were even more giants with PSG, Juventus, and Benfica. It was predicted that PSG and Juventus would progress, with Benfica moving to the Europa league. This was off, with Benfica topping the league, however, just on goal difference after tying in points with PSG. Thus, leaving Juventus to be moved into the Europa league.

Round of 16

With the top two teams now having progressed to the round of 16, these games are getting harder to call as the teams are the best in the world. It is likely that City will win the round against Leipig, as they are winning the premier league and won last year. Club Brugge is playing Benfica, and it is likely that Benfica will win as they are currently winning the Primeira Liga. With Liverpool playing Real Madrid it is another hard call as Liverpool playing well can beat almost anyone, however they are inconsistent, because of this it is likely that Real will win. With Milan playing Tottenham, it is likely that Milan will win as they are currently second in Serie A, whereas Tottenham is fourth in the Premier League. Frankfurt is playing Napoli and it is likely that Napoli will win as they topped their pool and beat Liverpool in the pool stage. Dortmund is playing Chelsea, and it is likely that Chelsea will win as they are doing well playing the Champions League so far and beat Milan in the pool stage. Porto is playing Inter and it is likely that Inter would win as they are currently second in the Primeira Liga, whereas Inter is fourth in Serie A and are playing some of the best football in the competition. PSG is playing Bayern and it is likely that Bayern will win as PSG has some of the best players in the world, however, they do not work well as a team.