Dr James Arvanitakis, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney

James Arvanitakis

Graduating from UNSW with a degree in economics, James’s career began in the finance industry, and among his various roles, he was part of a Reserve Bank of Australia project team that established the integrated financial services networks we all use today. While on holidays in Latin America he witnessed child and indentured labour, initiating a move away from the free trade ideology, to one focused on sustainability, justice and equity. A member of the University’s Institute for Culture and Society, his research includes sustainable economic policies, hope and trust, and issues confronting Australia’s democracy. He is also the author of various books and articles, and a regular media commentator.

 

A transcript of the Occasional Address, delivered by Dr James Arvanitakis:

"I too would like to begin my speech by acknowledging the indigenous peoples of this land, and their elders past and present.

Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, academic colleagues, special guests, ladies and gentlemen – and most importantly, graduands.

The first thing I want to say is… Congratulations – you should all be very proud!.

I love graduations. I mean I really love them. I come to as many as I can and sit on stage to watch students, friends and colleagues receiving their degrees, diplomas and certificates.

It is inspiring and it reminds me of being a graduating student myself: from my undergraduate degree in 1990 to my doctorate in 2006.

It reminds me of sitting where you are, both excited and nervous. Excited about what was next and even more nervous about, what was next? I had the same feelings as most of you probably do now: would I ever get a job, what job would it be, what would I do with the rest of my life?

While a great deal of time has past, I remember clearly what I wanted to achieve: I wanted to make money (and as much as possible), I wanted to make a difference and I wanted to be respected by my peers and friends.

Shortly after graduating, I was lucky enough to gain employment in a small wholesale financial institution as an economic forecaster and researcher. Amongst other things, I would work with traders about what was happening around the world and what would likely happen throughout the day. I would read economic commentary, watch and listen to finance reports, make calculations and even invented a few methods to determine the real health of the economy to gain an advantage over our competitors.

For example, I started weighing the weekend newspapers: the heavier the paper, the more advertising, the more advertising, the more confidence there existed in the economy. I weighed dozens of papers and found it to be a very effective tool. No one else was doing it and the accuracy was enough for us to make forecasts that earned our shareholders great deals of money.

I want to briefly focus this idea of weighing a newspaper. Remember, it was at a time when the Reserve Bank would take months to release data, and I had stumbled across an instantaneous source. And it proved to be effective.

The way it happened was I went to my mum’s place with the weekend papers and saw the scales sitting there. It was something that I did because I noticed how thin the paper was. I then went to the library, scales in hand, and weighed a newspaper from about 3 months earlier and found it to be much heavier – indicating the economy was slowing down.

On the face of it, weighing newspapers is not really a skill you think you have learnt at university – but surprisingly it is. This is because, more than any professional knowledge that you have picked up in your time here at the University of Western Sydney (an institution I am extremely proud to be associated with) has been the ability to think.

Not simply to apply the professional skills you have worked at over the last few years, but the way you have been encouraged to think critically, resourcefully, creatively and to be innovative. In many ways, most people can pick up a textbook and learn what is inside it, but few can learn this “art of thinking.”

So, when potential employers ask you what is the most important thing you learned here, then this ability to think is one you should never forget to mention.

I would like to skip forward 9 years now – when I had a major turning point in my life and career. One day, I realised that though I was successful at work, I had neglected family and friends. I was also forced to admit, that though I had never broken the law, in my strive for success, I had made some decisions which I now find hard to justify ethically. Decisions that I am not proud of as the ethical dimensions of my life became more and more distant from my considerations. As my career progressed, I made and advised on investment decisions that, while made money for some (including me), exploited the most vulnerable.

It was at that point that I realised that while I had the ability to think critically about the world I worked in, I had failed the test of thinking the same way about myself.

This was crystallised to me one day when, in a small town of Potosi, which is in Bolivia, the small land locked country in the middle of South America, I witnessed child labour.
 
Standing in the middle of a mine some 500 metres below the surface, I saw children as young as 8 years old carrying, on their backs, rocks to the surface. This I learnt was a practice that was common practice in this part of the world. Now think about it – we all know someone who is 8 or 9 or 10 years old. They could be a younger brother or sister, niece or nephew or even your child. Imagine their lives restricted to carrying minerals up and down narrow stairs in dangerous conditions because they have no choice – nor does their family. I learnt many of these children die by the time they are 25 years old.

This is what I saw and though I was not responsible for this taking place, I realised that I had made decisions that supported this type of behaviour. These decisions where legal and justifiable, but I think that ethically they lacked a great deal.

This then, brings me to the second thing I hope you take away from your degree: your time here has not only been about learning professional skills but also learning about the complex way the world operates and how our decisions can have an impact on the rest of the world. I know you have learnt not only about the economics and business systems that operate across our globalised world, but the relationships that these have with the rest of society.

This is an ethical lens you should employ at every step of the way – and I know from experience that it is one that leads to greater success!

Finally, I would like to share with you what I have done since then to realign my professional passions with my desire for an ethical life and a socially just world. I have been able to take my skills, critical thinking and experience to:

  • Firstly, rebuild societies that have suffered from years of traumatic war (such as helping rebuild the economy in the Solomon Islands and parts of Papua New Guinea) – working closely with the Central Bank to restart the economy;
  • Work with multi-billion corporations to build their ethical investments and transparency programs;
  • Cooperated with community groups and business groups to establish fair trade programs to ensure that 8-year-old children are not working in mines or farms but going to school, where they should be.
  • Finally, I want to mention that I am also proud of being involved with many programs at this university that target young people whose family background makes them think that university is for ‘other people’. Yes, your university, one you should be proud of, send its best academics (such as me) to spend time with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to not only develop their skills, but also work with them to strive for entry into university and the opportunities that come with it.

We never know which university they will pick – because that does not matter. What does matter is the fact that we are building a more engaged citizenry: and for that, we all benefit.

I will conclude by saying that I am sure you will all succeed in your endeavours. Each and every one of you has the potential to be successful: but remember that success has many dimensions: financial, family, friends, ethically and community.

Therefore, I also encourage you to not only strive for success but work to make a difference in this world – making it a more peaceful and just place. This aim for justice does not have to wait, it is something that we can all work on today. Some of my current students, for example, are working to support Amnesty International in the ‘stop the cluster bombs’ campaign.

Do not forget your university, and make sure you stay in contact and support the wonderful work that many of my colleagues do – as an alumni, a volunteer or a participant.

Though it seems like the last thing on your mind, you will one day (sooner than you expect) want to undertake more study – and come back and join us.

I know that today will live in your memories for many years come. Share your achievements with your fellow students and the University community as a whole as well as your friends and families. I know you will look back on this special day of celebration with great pride.

I again congratulate each and every one of you on this occasion of your graduation and wish you every success in your future endeavours as proud alumnus of the University of Western Sydney.

Thank you."

 

Photo: Sally Tsoutas