Nina came to Western Australia from Taiwan* in 2010 for a working holiday. She was paid only $40 per day, but she enjoyed what Australia has to offer, so in 2013-14, she entered Wollongong University and specialised in pure mathematics.

*   Taiwan is “a small island – half the area of Tasmania, but with a population close to that of the whole of Australia.”

In 2016, Nina began working for Entura, a company owned by Hydro Tasmania [company sales pitch: “We own. We operate. We consult.”]

In 2017, Nina became a Project Analyst and since 2020 has been Entura’s Delivery Controller. “I’m one person and I want to keep a Team of One!” she said. In this job she oversees the work output of 200 employees – the hours they work and the outputs arising from those hours (to answer queries such as ‘is this work ‘billable’ to a customer or not’?)

To do this, Nina makes use of 1109 data tables with over 12,000 columns and 1.2 trillion cells of data.

Q: Are the Taiwanese worried that what is happening in Ukraine might also happen to them?  

A: “Life goes on as normal in Taiwan.” Two-year universal military service exists for 18-year old males and repeats of this training for 1~2 weeks each year are the norm.