Hamish Cameron OAM
Chief Executive, Chief Entertainment Pty Limited
Ceremony: 14 May 2018, 10:30am - Faculty of Law, Faculty of Arts Social Sciences
Speech
Well, thank you Pro Chancellor, Presiding Vice Chancellor, Director, Deans of the Faculties of Law, Arts and Social Sciences, members of the university’s Council, Chair of the Academic Board, staff, family, friends and, of course, graduates. Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge the Gadigal people who are the traditional custodians of this land. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present of the Eora nation upon whose ancestral lands the university now stands. Well, it has surely been an inspiring day – a fitting ceremony, with a little bit of pomp and circumstance to mark all of your wonderful achievements. Mark my words, you’ve all made some wonderful achievements. Endless hours devoted to study, the ingestion of so many lectures and online tutorials, months giving way to years of commitment to your UTS family, often at the expense of time spent with your own family or loved ones. Today is a defining moment in your life, and you should thoroughly savour these rewards, because soon you will realise that you’ve finally made base camp today, and tomorrow you’ll be setting out for the summit of your career. But you will not be alone on this journey, because you’ll always have your UTS family to support you, whether that’s through staying in touch with the friends and contacts you’ve made while studying at UTS, or it might be through joining the amazing UTS alumni cohort, or perhaps it will be undertaking further postgraduate studies. You will always have that ultimate guide: the knowledge you’ve gained that defines you today. Knowledge is a beautiful thing. It connects us as human beings, and makes the world a better place to live. Knowledge is a precious commodity, and you must be prepared to share it without always seeking reward. I was very lucky to receive my Bachelor of Laws degree from former High Court Chief Justice Sir Gerard Brennan, who was Chancellor of this university from 1999 to 2005. Lucky, because not only was Sir Gerard so prominent in many of the High Court judgements we studied in that era, but at graduation, he left us all with a thought that has remained with me ever since. It was a very simple plea to use our knowledge for the betterment of others, to consider sharing our gifts with others less fortunate. Sir Gerard’s wisdom is now enshrined in the Law faculty’s outstanding Brennan Justice and Leadership Program, with its great emphasis on the concept of justice and the need to perform voluntary work, whether in legal or non-legal circumstances. For me, the opportunity to give something back came in 2004 when the then-Chief of Defence Forces Sir Peter Cosgrove invited me to join an advisory board called the Forces Entertainment Counsel. Forces Entertainment provides advice to the Australian Defence Forces to encourage music artists and other entertainers to visit and perform on a voluntary basis for Australian military personnel who are deployed overseas. The Forces Entertainment Counsel has arranged and overseen many tours to places like Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. The tours are of great importance to maintaining the morale of the men and women serving Australia, wherever they are. Long periods of stressful, physical and psychologically demanding service in difficult circumstances pose a challenge to the ability of even the most hardy to maintain their morale. Forces Entertainment shows boost morale. They are much more than a little touch of home away from home, because they show to those deployed that the nation cares deeply for their welfare. In late 2004, I was able to join an Australian band on a tour to Dili in East Timor. The Australian Defence personnel posted there were in charge of an international peacekeeping force under the command of General Cosgrove. It was a real eye-opener, because I could see how absolutely outstanding the Australian personnel were in that environment. These were young university-educated men and women in front line positions who showed the greatest of Australian traits: courage, a sense of purpose, mateship and goodwill. It made me very proud to be an Australian, knowing these great people are putting their lives on the line every day to ensure the safety and security of all Australians. All of you here today are blessed with knowledge and opportunity. I trust that you will use these gifts for great purpose, and consider how you might give something back to society. It might be to volunteer some of your time to legal aid, maybe assisting with the university’s radio station 2SER, or it might simply be to undertake a mentoring role with an undergraduate student. Whatever you choose to do, giving back will always give you a sense of wellbeing. You’ll be a better person for having compassion and an understanding of what others less fortunate have to contend with. To quote Albert Einstein, it is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. You should be very proud, also, of having gained your degree at UTS, because even for such a relatively young university, UTS has already developed a fine tertiary education heritage. From its early beginnings in the late 19th century as Sydney Technical College to its emergence as the NSW Institute of Technology in 1964, and then in 1977 to establish the first law school outside of the university sector, UTS has long been known as a university that supports workers and mature-aged students, and it delivers one of the highest rates of employed graduates. By making the journey of learning so accessible to so many diverse people and cultures, UTS creates the inspiration to achieve. UTS has a set of values that are the signpost to success: to discover, to engage, to empower, to deliver, and to sustain are all values that can open many doors to the world. Today, the world is all about technology and innovation, and with that comes a massive need for thought leadership from inspired thinkers like you. For lawyers, there will be great upheavals in copyright and privacy law, and a sharper focus on corporations and tax law, to say nothing about the rights and obligations created through the emergence of new technologies, such as driverless cars, blockchain software and cryptocurrencies, or dealing with the ethical dilemmas created by the dark web and its legitimacy, or lack thereof. Whatever the future holds, it is important never to lose sight of the fact that justice and the rule of law should remain paramount ideologies in all that lawyers practice. For communications graduates, the world is also constantly changing. Those studying the arts and social sciences will need to understand and harness a myriad of communications methodologies. The digital world for communications provides immense opportunities – opportunities to develop the proper structures our society needs to live within a rapidly changing technological landscape, structures that are environmentally sustainable, support innovation and embrace diversity in all its forms. And there is an extremely important role for all communications professionals in a world where fake news is so readily accepted as its own genre and disseminated so rapidly and pervasively online, there needs to be a stand taken by communicators. Journalists, social media regulators, policymakers, filmmakers, PR professionals and others must ensure that truth underpins and distinguishes real news from cynical and self-serving propaganda. So, finally, as you set out tomorrow for the summit of your career, I trust you will carry with you all of the UTS values you have learned alongside your degree, and then hopefully words like truth, fairness, diversity, sustainability and equality can sit meaningfully next to other words like innovation, discovery, empowerment, technology and globalisation. In this exciting future you all face, I wish you well, and I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the university, the deans, the faculties and the students who have all combined to make our community a more knowledgeable and progressive society. Thank you all.
About the Speaker
Hamish is the Chief Executive Officer of Chief Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation. Over the past twelve years, Chief Entertainment’s TV production studios and sophisticated digital broadcasting operations has established all of Telstra’s video content platforms for online, mobile and IPTV.
Hamish has an extensive background in senior management roles in broadcast television and production, FM radio and the interactive content industries.
Hamish started his career at Channel Nine and Channel Ten, and was then involved in the launch of FM radio in Australia, helping establish one of Sydney’s first and most enduring FM stations, Triple M. Hamish then rose to become Chief Executive Officer at Triple M.
Hamish has served on the Defence Forces Entertainment Board, where he is committed to maintaining the morale of Australian military personnel by arranging tours of entertainers to overseas deployment zones, most recently in the Middle East, Timor Leste, and the Solomon Islands. He is also on the Advisory Council for the University of New South Wales Art and Design Faculty.
In 2014 Hamish was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for service to the entertainment industry.
Hamish graduated from UTS with a Bachelor of Laws, and then went on to complete a Master of Laws in intellectual property law.
