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Authorities tyre of hire bikes BY ALEC SMART Dockless rental bicycles risk being impounded in future if they obstruct pedestrians after several inner city councils called for better monitoring and retrieval. Facing a clampdown are Singapore’s silver & yellow OBikes and China’s all-red ReddyGo hire bicycles – costing $1.99 per half hour and unlocked by a smartphone app - that in the last few months became ubiquitous around Sydney. Often found hanging from trees or submerged in canals like their shopping trolley cousins, it is the trip-risk to pedestrians when dockless bicycles clutter footpaths that is driving authorities to act. On October 10 Randwick Council passed a motion to request OBike and ReddyGo to “provide and use designated bike parking areas to reduce vandalism and clutter caused by the recent proliferation of the bikes.” Randwick Mayor Lindsay Shurey stated, “I’m a big supporter of cycling and I think there’s a role for bicycle hire in our city. We need to get it right and from what I’ve seen, the current bike hire system isn’t working. “They seem to be ridden by visitors to get to the beaches and then they lay strewn across our suburbs. They’re dumped randomly next to the road, they’re piling up at our beaches and they’re being vandalised and damaged. “These problems stem from the fact there is no obligation for the hirer to return the bike to an appropriate and secure location. “We’ll be seeking an agreement with the operators that they fund and implement appropriate bike parking locations, or face financial penalties.” Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne also issue a statement on October 13, revealing plans to meet with councilors from Randwick, Waverly and Woollahra Councils and the City of Sydney to develop a system of regulation for the whole of the inner city area. “We need a consistent regulatory framework across the metropolitan area,” said Cr Darcy. “We have to protect the safety and accessibility of our footpaths and roads.”

Dockless rental bicycles risk being impounded if they cause an obstruction. Photo: Alec Smart

The central problem with the rental bicycles is that most journeys are singular, taken from where they’re found, typically outside a venue or within the CBD, to the user’s home or a tourist attraction. Unlike traditional cycle hire facilities, such as Centennial Park, where users cruise around before returning the bike to a depot, rental bicycles are dumped at their destination. “People are just parking bikes wherever they finish their journey,” said Cr Byrne. “Councils need to come together across Sydney to figure out a consistent way to allocate spaces for bike parking. “We need simple and sensible rules of the road which will protect the accessibility of streets across Sydney, whilst allowing bike share operators to succeed and grow. “Allowing a free-for-all with no allocated parking or protections for residents will only result in the industry losing popularity and losing patronage.” City Hub research suggests the most ardent opponents of the rental bicycle scheme are themselves non-cyclists. In a city with limited and often poorly maintained cycle paths, where many cyclists claim motorists actively deter their presence on public roads, it is perhaps not surprising that the

introduction of literally thousands of new bikes has irritated conservative thinkers. Australia’s culture of intolerance limits their acceptance. There are Facebook pages encouraging people to post photos of the bicycles dumped in bizarre locations and multiple reports of bikes being vandalized. Just last weekend, on 14th October, ‘pranksters’ piled up 10-15 OBikes in a pyramid on Waverley Oval near Bondi Junction. It will be interesting to analyse bicycle store sales at the end of this financial year to determine if the deluge of rental bikes has negatively impacted on sales of new bikes, revealing whether consumers prefer to hire than buy. Across Asia, photographs are emerging of literally thousands of rental bicycles clogging up footpaths of city centres, having reached peak usage. OBikes are trying to smooth their path to public acceptance with charitable actions, spokesperson Chethan Rangaswamy revealed to City Hub. “We are confident to drive awareness with the public through charity events, donating 100% of our proceedings from OBike rides in Sydney to the Children’s Cancer Institute [an event on October 20], Ride To Work sponsorship with Bicycle Network..

[whilst] at the same time increase our ‘boots on the ground’ to effectively manage the orderly usage of OBikes by the community at large. “We will also be working closely with the local Councils to increase public awareness about bikesharing for the community.” A third dockless bicycle hire firm, Ofo, from China, are also set to invade Sydney soon, introducing an all-yellow bicycle to our crowded streets. Last week financial data analysis firm Bloomberg published rumours that Ofo might merge with an even larger dockless bicycle firm, Mobike, from Singapore, which has already flooded Asia with their silver and orange machines and claims 30 million riders in 180 cities. Together they would create a behemoth international cycle hire corporation that might ultimately dominate every major city in the world. Despite the positive aspects of the rental bicycles – encouraging people to exercise, making it easier, cheaper and safer to travel home short distances from late night venues, and facilitating tourism – the problem of their ending up in areas where they’re effectively dumped does not go away. Ofo, which has 10 million bicycles in 13 countries, declare they have solutions to the congestion problem, and these include ‘geofencing’ and punishing users who fail to leave bicycles in marked parking zones, such as yellow rectangles painted on paths. Ofo proclaim they will introduce a credit system based on rewards and penalties that deduct points if users transgress rules. Ofo Australia’s head of strategy, Scott Walker, confirmed his company will introduce a ‘geofence’, on their app. This warns a user if they ride outside an area Ofo is licensed to operate within, and will deduct 20 points from the user’s credit score if they persist. Ofo’s app will also indicate ‘preferred parking’ sites in which to leave the bicycle after use. Ofo also plan to enact a ‘rapid response’ team to retrieve abandoned bicycles - tracked by onboard satellite technology - and return them to more popular zones.

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BY ANITA SENARATNA Last Wednesday night, locals and journalists gathered at Bondi Pavilion for Fraudulent Facts, Hoax Headlines and Malicious Media, a panel discussion presented by the Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award and The Walkley Foundation. The panel consisted of several high-profile media figures- Sandra Sully (Channel Ten), Alex McKinnon (The Saturday Paper), and John Barron (ABC), led by Jan Fran, from SBS’s The Feed. The discussion was focused around the concept of ‘fake news’, a term coined by US President Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign. As Alex McKinnon noted, President Trump tends to define the term as “news he doesn’t like”, a definition that apparently includes CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times. But despite the President’s claims that fake news is “one of the greatest of all terms” he’s ever invented, history says otherwise. The first ever mention of fake news in a headline appears in 1890, around 56 years before the President was born. Another early example is The Great Moon Hoax in 1835, a series of six articles published in New York newspaper The Sun, supposedly detailing the discovery of life on the moon, presented as a legitimate scientific discovery. In a twenty-first century context, the term is more commonly used to describe news that is deliberately designed to misinform or mislead the public about a particular individual or organisation, often. The growth of social media means these stories can be seen and

read by millions of people before they can be debunked. Sandra Sully observed that “it’s no surprise that [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg came out and finally admitted to Facebook playing a role in Trump’s election,” referring to the many stories about Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton containing sensationalist headlines and unverifiable sources, giving then-Republican candidate Trump a clear campaign advantage. The panel discussed some of the factors that led to the public acceptance of these stories as fact. John Barron, political analyst for ABC’s US Politics division, says people are more likely to believe fake news when they’re “disillusioned with the government and with the media.” He said that once the public have lost their trust in these so-called authoritative voices, they “look for curators of news that they can trust”, which can come in the form of bloggers, opinion columnists, or social media

‘influencers’- people outside of the mainstream media expressing their opinions to audiences who choose to take them as fact, which he considers to be the mental equivalent of “getting pre-made meals from Woolworth’s.” The panel also considered the role of the consumer, and whether or not the public have a responsibility to think more critically about the news. Sandra Sully thinks consumers need to be “educated and a little bit savvy” to be able to tell fake news from real news. “People need to consider who they’re reading and why they’re reading it.” she said. Whilst there was debate amongst the panel about how much responsibility lay with the consumer as opposed to with the media outlets themselves, they all agreed that taking in as many perspectives as possible was essential to getting to the truth of any major story, even when those points of views conflicted drastically with their own. As Ms. Sully herself said, “isn’t the fact that we’re different what makes the world juicy?” city hub 19 OCTOBER 2017

Anglicans spend big on gay bashing BY ALEC SMART The Anglican Church donated $1million to the Vote No campaign, to lobby against the legalisation of homosexual relationships in the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage. The decision provoked controversy and stirred dissent among its congregation. The donation was given to the Coalition for Marriage in September, but announced last week by Archbishop Glenn Davies in his address to the 51st Sydnod of the Diocese of Sydney. Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, Davies used his Presidential Address to urge the Church’s dwindling congregation to adhere to Biblical covenents, whilst shunning progressive’s calls for tolerance of homosexuality. The Anglican Diocese of Sydney is a founding partner of the Coalition for Marriage, along with the Australian Christian Lobby, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and Marriage Alliance and they funded the Vote No television adverts that recently drew criticism for their alleged inaccuracy and fear-mongering. The money was drawn from the Diocesan Endowment Fund, run by the Anglican Church’s Glebe Administration Board, which, according to the annual report of the Sydney Diocesan Secretariat, grew by $13.7 million last year after successful investments in the stock exchange. “The Standing Committee has also enthusiastically backed our participation in the Coalition for Marriage,” said

Archbishop Davies, “and has taken the bold step of drawing down one million dollars from the Diocesan Endowment to promote the ‘No’ case. “Brothers and sisters, the stakes are high and the cost is high,” he continued. “Yet the cause is just and it is a consequence of our discipleship to uphold the gift of marriage as God has designed it - a creation ordinance for all people.” Several Anglican ministers were outspoken in their criticism of the donation, including Reverend Keith Mascord, a founding member of Equal Voices, a Christian group promoting tolerance of homosexuality. Reverend Mascord, whose licence to preach in Sydney was revoked by Archbishop Davies in 2016 over his stance on same-sex marriage, said,

“It’s blindness. It’s like they’re living in a bubble. This is one of the most foolish things to have become so heavily involved in. It just seems so short-sighted and bordering on immoral because of the damage and harm it is doing.” Other opponents include Reverend Dave Smith of the Holy Trinity Church in Dulwich Hill, and Father Andrew Sempell of St James’ Church in the city, the latter of whom wrote a paper condemning the donation. Even supporters of the Vote No campaign were critical, including Reverend Michael Paget of St Barnabas on Broadway, who said in a post on Facebook that it was ‘poor financial stewardship’ and ‘out of proportion’. However, after he was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald openly critical

of the donation, he later moderated his stance, stating on his Facebook page, “The opinion piece in the Herald by Robyn Whitaker is, however, unconscionable last-gasp drivel from a dying and irrelevant liberalism.” Further trying to distance himself from the controversy, he added, “Though I disagree with the donation, I know it was made out of a commitment to love - even if our broader society doesn’t see that - and a desire to be able to keep doing the greatest good out of love. I think it was clumsy, wrongheaded, poorly considered - all those things - but selfish? Patriarchal? Fascist? - Nope, none of those things. Our church fellowship isn’t like that (at least, not every day of the week).” Dr Muriel Porter, an Australian journalist and prominent layperson on the national General Synod, is particularly critical of the Anglican Church. She blames a rise of fundamentalism in the church’s upper hierarchy for its crusade against homosexuality. In her 2011 book Sydney Anglicans and the Threat to World Anglicanism: The Sydney Experiment, she states, “A radical congregationalism, coupled with a hardline conservative neo-Calvinist Evangelicalism more akin to North American Protestantism, has taken hold in most Sydney parishes. “Under the leadership of Archbishop Peter Jensen, Sydney Diocese has become a force to be reckoned with in the Anglican Communion. As a leader of the alternative international Anglican movement.. his diocese became what

can only be described as a destabilizing influence. “Perhaps even more troubling is the close Sydney link with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students.. AFES is also believed to be part of the spread of Sydney-style opposition to women in church leadership in Protestant churches. “Churches not aligned with it, taking a different view principally on the issue of homosexuality but also on women in ordained ministry, are portrayed as deniers of the Gospel. These claims, from determined, persuasive, wellresourced church leaders bearing gifts of support for, and assistance to, emerging churches, are hard to resist.” To give it credit, Sydney Anglican Diocese has also donated money to charities, including $750, 000 to refugee support. However, parishioners, not the executive, raised that money, and it didn’t come with the conservative political clout that the No Vote exercises. The principle claim by Jensen and the Anglican elite is that their rejecting same-sex marriage “upholds the gift of marriage as God has designed it.” However, the Bible isn’t clear in its position on marriage, and although Jesus is quoted in Matthew 19 as opposing divorce, he was unequivocal about people loving one another. If two people of the same gender are in love and want to share their lives together in a legally-binding marriage, who are the Church to oppose that love?

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Mirvac eyes Marrickville

BY JESSICA DE VERA Yet another precinct in Marrickville may be about to fall victim to a stint of over-development, courtesy of property giant Mirvac. The Sydney-based company has submitted a proposal for new high-density redevelopments on Carrington Road, although the Inner West Council has deemed the initial plans unacceptable. Mayor of Inner West Council Darcy Byrne said, “The scale of this over development is enormous. It would allow for approximately 2600 new residential units in buildings of up to 35 storeys. “It is crucial that we protect and retain key industrial land and promote creative industries. This proposal does exactly the opposite.” The $2 billion rezoning proposal is looking to redevelop approximately 7.8 hectares, eliminating industrial businesses and putting 1400 jobs at risk. Carrington Road, Marrickville, where Mirvac submitted Anthony Albanese, MP for Grayndler (the high. Photo: Alec Smart federal electorate covering Sydney’s inner west) and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, unacceptable, and that additional information is Transport, Cities and Regional Development, required. said, “There are IT companies in that industrial A further report will be provided to Council area of Marrickville that are creative, are once that information has been received and a creating jobs and are boosting our national detailed assessment of the proposal has been economy as well as the vibrancy of the local carried out. community. Wollongong University academic Chris ”Companies like Erth Visual & Physical, Gibson, lead author of ‘Made in Marrickville: and Empress Stilt Dance produce things like Enterprise and cluster dynamics at the creative a 2.7-metre-high T. Rex walk-in puppet for industries-manufacturing interface, Carrington creative use.“ Road Precinct’, conducted several studies The Council received the Planning Proposal of the Carrington Road Precinct to inform for the site on 22 May 2017. An overview of the government planners of the dangers of rezoning construction project was provided at the most an industrial hub that has been thriving for 90 recent Council meeting for their consideration. years. Council officers undertook a preliminary The report presents the idea that, contrary newspaper ad W128mm X H158mm Oct 2017 to PRESS.pdf 1 17/10/2017 10:23 AM assessmentAHN of the proposal and advised popular opinion, Australian manufacturing Mirvac in a letter that the current proposal is is not in decline but “hidden in plain sight”,

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plans for 2600 new units in buildings up to 35 storeys

and these industrial and creative hubs in Marrickville contribute to the area’s vitality and livability. Mr. Albanese has made similar comments in public statements, saying that “developers need to understand that the key to successful urban redevelopment is bringing the local community with them. Their projects need to complement the suburban landscape, not dominate it. “I certainly believe in higher densities close to public transport corridors, but what we’re seeing with the arrogant state government in New South Wales is an attempt to change the landscape of the city in a way that will destroy the vibrancy of communities. Along the Sydenham to Bankstown line is the industrial area of Marrickville. It currently plays an important role.”

Community groups such as Save Marrickville South have emerged on social media platforms in attempts to raise awareness around what the proposal will mean for the area. The community currently has the support of the Council, but since the rezoning proposals are in their early stages, residents aren’t completely convinced that the support will withstand. Marrickville resident Bobby Giblets said, “I believe that Mirvac’s proposal will be approved, subject to Council conditions that will hopefully reduce the scale of the development to something more reasonable. “The scale and size of the development is ridiculous and has no regard for the high value of current commercial and industrial utility of the area. The Victoria precinct proposal bears little comparison. I think the Labor party should and will oppose the scale of the development via Darcy Byrne and Jo Haylen.” The Council will be holding a public meeting on the Carrington Street proposal this Thursday, October 19. Mr. Albanese will not be attending the meeting, but has issued a statement saying he “will campaign with the community against such an over-development proposal. “Marrickville has a character to it, and the idea that you can go into an area of Marrickville that has one and two-storey heritage houses, which families live in, and just change that to 28 storeys is, quite frankly, absurd. “I say too, as I said to the Property Council last week: developers have an important role to play, but they will face the anger and fury of local communities if they put greed above the interests of those local communities.” Mirvac did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

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City turns up the volume

BY ALEX EUGENE New businesses, including residential developments, will be responsible for planning modifications to assist with noise management, if a proposed ‘Agent of Change’ regulation is accepted by City of Sydney Council. A recommendation will be made for the council to add the regulation to the City’s Night Time Economy policy at its next meeting. Labor Councillor Linda Scott first moved a motion to introduce the change in her first council term, and has been an advocate of local live music for many years. “As a Labor Councillor, I welcome the adoption of Labor’s initiative to provide more support for live music in our City,” said Cr Scott. “I am proud to be part of the first local council in NSW to implement agent of change laws to protect our City’s vibrant nightlife.” The need to address tyrannical noise policies has been a running debate for some time. Many venues around Sydney have publicly lamented the difficulty of keeping their businesses healthy amid regular complaints, which forced some to reduce their volumes to unworkable levels. Daniel Robertson, a joint owner of Playbar, Surry Hills, told Tone Deaf that at one stage “the music was turned down to a level that the senator, not the inspectors, deemed acceptable, leaving people’s voices too loud” after repeated complaints from a local senator’s office were filed against them. At the time, council inspectors were allegedly regularly visiting Playbar, insisting that the volume be reduced, despite being in line with ‘approved council levels.’ Mr Robertson reported that his business had been severely affected by the constant enforcements. But even as recently as June this year, the King Cross Hotel was forced to cancel a live band at

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Live music: Shonen Knife performing recently at Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst. Photo: Alec Smart

just 9.30pm one night due to residential noise complaints. The band, which had only played four songs before being shut down, was as quoted saying ‘Sydney really is dying.’ Keep Sydney Open, an advocate group who have fought to protect the city’s vibrant nightlife ever since the 2014 Lockout Laws were introduced, have backed the proposed regulation with caution. “It’s a positive step, and we welcome the council taking the lead on this. Agent of Change [regulations have] worked in other cities, but this document really reveals the limit of council power. We believe that the NSW State Government must seriously start thinking about how Sydney

can be a thriving 24/7 international city, while increasing the density of residential areas across the city. It’s about getting the balance right,” said a spokesperson for the organisation. Stephan Gyory of the Darlinghurst Business Partnership was also concerned that the change could present difficulties without other supports. “Agent of Change on its own can make it harder to open new venues, and then there is the situation where a venue closes for some reason or other and we lose that capacity because the bar has actually been raised in terms of costs for opening a new venue to replace it,” he said. Mr Gyory also said that opportunities for new entertainment businesses were shrinking because if

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a venue closed residential property developers were snapping up the vacant land, instead of the building lying dormant until a new venture came along. Veteran nightclub the Midnight Shift has been one such casualty, closing its doors completely last month, after struggling to keep afloat with reduced operating hours earlier this year. Meanwhile, the 2011 Residents Association would not be drawn on whether the new regulation was positive, telling City Hub they were disgruntled about not being consulted by council in the first place. “When the discussion paper is released to the public we will consider the proposals and determine our response to those factors. It is premature to make an assessment at this stage,” said Helen Crossing, Convenor of the Association. Ms. Crossing said the announcement about the Agent of Change was ‘divisive’ and seemed like a ploy for councillors to ‘garner votes.’ She declared Cr Linda Scott should be ‘called to account’ for publicizing the change in such a manner. Cr Scott was responsible for assisting the Harold Park Hotel in Glebe to reinstate live music, after it was ‘disallowed’ in January this year, due to a single noise complaint. A recent APRA / AMCOS survey showed that that the impact of the current regulatory environment for live music venues, including noise regulations, was identified by stakeholders as the biggest barrier to operating a live music venue. 94% of City residents, visitors and venues surveyed also said that live music and performance is an essential aspect of Sydney’s identity as a cultural and creativity city. The push to protect and strengthen the live music scene has also previously been supported by the Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne, and the former politician and Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett.

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Homeless hounded in park BY ISABELLE BASTIAN The NSW Government removed the homeless population from Glebe’s Wentworth Park in a similar manner to the mass eviction at Martin Place earlier this year. The evictions took place approximately a week ago. According to Denis Doherty from Hands Off Glebe, some of the former residents of Martin Place, including their unofficial “mayor” Lanz Priestly, had moved to the Wentworth Park arches after the closing of their city camp in June. A NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) spokesperson reported that FACS “undertook outreach in Wentworth Park from Monday 9 October to Friday 13 October, which has been done several times in the preceding months. FACS regularly conducts outreach services in partnership with homelessness services in order to assist people sleeping rough in the inner city of Sydney to find accommodation.” Once sheltering tents and belongings, the arches of the light rail bridge over the park are now empty. According to a FACS spokesperson, “staff are not evicting or forcibly removing anyone from any park. FACS has conducted outreach at Wentworth Park with people who are homeless to offer temporary accommodation and housing. This has been done in conjunction with the City of Sydney and a number of nongovernment homelessness organisations.” However, the only people at the site last Friday were two security officers. When asked, they confirmed the tents had been taken down and those who had been living there had been given temporary homes. According to Mr. Doherty, “a 24-hour presence of security officers is employed to keep the arches ‘clean’ of people,” which he described

The NSW Government removed the homeless population at Wentworth Park. Photo: Isabelle Bastian

as an “investment in enforcement instead of investment in people.” A FACS spokesperson confirmed the security officer’s explanation by specifying that “29 people in Wentworth Park have accepted offers of temporary accommodation and FACS will work with them to access permanent long term housing. “From late March to the end of September 2017, 156 people previously sleeping rough in Martin Place and Belmore Park have been housed in long term permanent accommodation.” It is unclear what happened to those who did not find alternate accommodation. There are concerns about the current housing affordability crisis in Sydney and fear that even given short-term housing, the former rough sleepers will not be placed in social housing before

the free accommodation provided to them expires. Mr. Doherty says that “the homeless have been promised 7 days’ free accommodation and a further month of free accommodation while a permanent home is found for them. “We welcome good accommodation for all people but we suspect that this approach is just superficial ‘tidying up.’” Since the evictions at Martin Place, many questions have arisen about the connected issues of homelessness and affordable housing. According to the City of Sydney’s latest street count, 386 people were sleeping rough in the city in August 2017 and another 600 occupied temporary and crisis accommodation. While the number of people sleeping rough has decreased from the counts in both February 2017 and August 2016, the number of people found in temporary and crisis accommodation

had increased by over 20 percent from February. The City of Sydney also proposes an aggressive plan to improve access to affordable housing by 2030. In the last decade there has been a 70 percent increase in rents and around 15,000 households are on the Central Sydney regional social housing waiting list. The City describes plans to build affordable rental units in Ultimo, Zetland, Central Sydney, Pyrmont, and Glebe. They emphasise the Sustainable Sydney 2030 goal of having 15 percent of local housing be social or affordable. Homelessness NSW, a not-for-profit organisation based in Woolloomooloo, agrees a two-pronged approach is needed. A spokesperson discussed the need for social housing as well as a task force to support those leaving prison, hospitals, and government sponsored housing to ensure they do not end up homeless. “Internationally, other cities have grappled with high housing costs and increasing homelessness and the overwhelming evidence identifies that rough sleeping can be ended,” said the spokesperson. But residents are still worried. Mr.Doherty said, “Where is the NSW Government investment in housing for the homeless and the services they need to live successfully in new homes? “Instead, as the waiting list for public housing goes over 60,000, the NSW Government has sold off about 4,000 public housing places in the inner city and failed to invest funds in public housing. The actions of police backed up by the new laws is part of the process of preparing Wentworth Park for the new Fish Markets which will see the building of 2,760 apartments, not one of which will be for social housing.”

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Bikers break bread with MPs BY ANITA SENARATNA At first glance, politicians and bikers seem like unlikely breakfast buddies. But for the past three years, NSW politicians and the Motorcycle Council of NSW have been holding the Hungry Bikers’ Breakfast in October as part of Motorcycle Awareness Month, which aims to raise awareness around safety issues facing motorcyclists, and dispel some of the negative ‘bikie’ stereotypes. Some of this year’s guests included NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research Brad Hazzard, and members of the Brotherhood Christian Motorcycle Club (CMC). “We certainly feel that the role we play is a very important role,” said Steve Pearce, Treasurer of the Motorcycle Council. “We represent around 40,000 motorcyclists across NSW and they have to have a voice. It’s very hard these days. Lobby groups are always talking to governments about their views on things. We find that working with the government is very effective, they listen to what we have to say and they always call us in when they need an opinion.” The group is mainly concerned with issues relating to how motorcyclists interact with other vehicles on the road. One area they are currently consulting with the government on is the impact of driverless cars in the future. The Hungry Bikers’ event is an initiative started by Greg Hirst, a founding member of the Brotherhood CMC. Mr. Hirst was known for being a fierce advocate for motorcyclists and spent a large part of his life campaigning on their behalf for safer conditions on the road. He passed away on June 6 this year at the age of 64. Grant Howard is a member of the Brotherhood CMC, a club based in Parramatta that aims to “integrate Christian faith with motorcycling.” The club, which has been running for around 36 years, is heavily involved with charity work in their community, contrary to the popular stereotypes of

city hub 19 OCTOBER 2017

Motorcyclists attend a Hungry Bikers’ Breakfast with NSW politicians. Photo: Anita Senaratna

bikers as criminals. Mr. Howard says people would be surprised how many motorcyclists don’t fit this stereotype. “People who are involved in riding are involved in all sorts of different things - doctors, police, the fire brigade... my wife rides, and our kids have been involved in the community since they were old enough to touch the pegs on our motorbikes. One guy I know in a patch club has an Order of Australia medal,” he said. Patch clubs, or ‘one percent clubs’, are the clubs that tend to appear most often in the headlines, identifiable by their jackets adorned with club insignia or patches that simply say ‘1%’. The term dates back to the 1950s, when the American Motorcycle Association issued a statement claiming that 99% of the riders they represented were law-abiding citizens the implication being that the other 1% were criminals and outlaws, which ‘rebel’ bikers embrace. But as the term would suggest, these riders are by no means the majority among motorcyclists. Mr Howard said his club is “concerned” about the NSW Government’s anti-consorting laws and the impact they have on the club’s work in the

community, particularly as there is no exemption for clergy under the laws - only direct family members and work colleagues. The government passed the laws in 2012 as an amendment to the Crimes Act with the intention of disrupting organised crime and violence between outlaw motorcycle gangs. The laws mean that if a person is seen with two or more convicted offenders on at least two separate occasions, police must warn them about the offenders’ criminal records. If they are seen in their company again, they can be charged with habitual consorting, which has a maximum penalty of three years in jail. Since 2012, police have issued over 8500 warnings across NSW and charged at least 54 people with consorting. “There’s a lot of discretion in some of the powers. Basically the argument is that one percent clubs are crime organisations, and there’s quite a mixed view on that,” said Mr. Howard. “In our case, we have contact with people from all sorts of different clubs, so I could quite easily find myself being warned about people that I associate with.”

While their organisation does not support criminal activity, they are concerned that the laws impact the way they can interact with people who need their help. “These are really quite serious laws when you’re talking about being able to enter people’s homes, to be able to associate with other people. It’s working towards terrorist-type legislation in terms of its powers. “We’re saying, as a club, let’s target behaviour, let’s not target who I associate with.” Mr. Howard says his club is far from the only one in Sydney that does charity work, and they would all be affected by these laws. “There are a number of motorcycle clubs that run annual charity events. Often people associate clubs with negatives but a lot of clubs, including patch clubs, do a lot of services and support for young people, the homeless, and hospitals, and those tend not to give a balanced view of people who are involved in motorcycling.” Mr. Pearce admits that although the Motorcycle Council isn’t actively campaigning against the laws, they do “share the Brotherhood’s concerns” about the impact they could have on their members’ lives. But he says events like the Hungry Bikers’ breakfast are about building positive relationships with the government to work with them on important issues, rather than against them. “It’s just a way of us reaching out to government and to members of parliament and just letting them know we appreciate the partnership we work in with them. We don’t always agree on things, but mostly we try to come to agreements with them on issues affecting motorcyclists,” he said. “We want to celebrate motorcycling because we all enjoy the time we spend riding and the associations we have with people. This year is quite significant because of Greg Hirst’s passing. He was a major driver of the event and of the Brotherhood. We’re really pleased to be able to continue Greg’s work.”

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FEATURE

Uptown Festival

By Rita Bratovich Back before cars and high rise apartments sealed humans inside insular bubbles, people lived in small villages and interacted with each other daily. The town square was a place to meet and transact business, discuss municipal issues and celebrate together - it gave people a strong sense of community. In big, modern cities, it’s difficult to achieve that same sense of community, and yet it’s vital to human mental health. “There’s been a lot of research around social cohesion. Creating opportunities for that to happen is incredibly important,” says Rene McKenzie-Low, Community Engagement Officer at City West Housing. Her organisation is one of the principal sponsors of the newly revived UPtown Festival. From 1981 to 2012 UPtown Festival was the key community event for the Ultimo Pyrmont precinct until a lack of funds and resources forced its demise. Then, last year, McKenzie-Low helped put together a united group of service providers, charities and institutions under the name PUNS (Pyrmont Ultimo Network Services).Their first mission was a community consultation conducted by Mustard Seed (Uniting) Church and Uniting Harris Community Centre. “They interviewed homeless people, kids from the primary school, international students, businesses… different cohorts within the area to find out what they wanted happening in the area…[what they] wanted [was] a community event that was meaningful,” says McKenzie-Low. Bringing back UPtown Festival felt like an obvious solution and the festival themes - Our Stories and Spirit Of Place - were a natural fit. Ultimo Pyrmont has changed physically and demographically over the years. It is one of the fastest developing, high density areas in the

Peque) and honouring the stories of Ultimo Pyrmont and the Gadigal people. Aboriginal Dance troupe, Milan Dhiiyaan (“One Mob”), have created a song and dance as a tribute to the custodians of the land. Not only has the song become the anthem for the festival, but the dance has been taught to over 200 locals who (spoiler alert!) will perform it as part of three separate “flash mobs” during the festival. Participants have come from all sectors of the community - Ultimo Public School, Rainbow Lodge, Chinese seniors groups, international students. Around 70 workshops have run weekly rehearsals for the first-of-its-kind spectacle. Underscoring the festival’s tenet of inclusion and accessibility, inspirational speaker and disability advocate, Sarah Hoboult will astound the crowd with a hula hoop routine. She’ll also be running William Anthes (father), Sha’an (daughter), Aysia workshops during the day. (daughter). Photo: Raul Ortiz de Lejarazu Machin The Our Stories theme will be accentuated country, but this has led to a loss in sense of self through a side project called Humans of Ultimo and place for its inhabitants. “It’s like Sydney’s Pyrmont. Locals have been and will be Manhatten here!” McKenzie-Low remarks. encouraged to share personal photographs That’s why it’s important for locals to share their and stories about their experience living in stories and in particular, their histories. the area. These stories will be displayed on McKenzie-Low has heard anecdotes from stalls and shared by performers throughout residents about growing up in a single tenement the festival. They are also being shared on with three families; or, as kids, riding a length of social media channels. cardboard down the grassy knoll (no longer As well as the aforementioned, the festival will there) at the end of Harris Street. feature visual artist, Carlos Agamez with a live Artistic Director Sandra Morales says the theme art installation; a live DJ and live bands; local helped guide creative decisions about the festival. choirs and performers, workshops, pop up art “There are all the stories and the spirit of the gallery, a variety of food and general goods stalls Ultimo and Pyrmont community - past, present and and the infectiously energetic Hot Potato Band future.We’re embracing and honouring our rich who will close out the festival. The focus will be indigenous culture and heritage and our culturally on culture and art in community. and linguistically diverse community.” “I’m passionate about the arts and I believe in Bulwarra Road will become a walk-through gallery the arts. It’s like a bridge for social and feature a mural entitled Spirit Of Place, painted transformation and it’s something everyone can by esteemed Mexican artist Alejandro Martinez (aka understand,” says Morales.

THE APPRENTICE

Production Manager, Oscar Sanchez coordinated the last two festivals before its hiatus. “It’s a great feeling to have the event back,” he beams. Sanchez has been with Uniting Harris Community Centre for many years and they originally ran the festival on their own. Now he sees the importance and advantage of having many different community groups involved.The association of organisations within PUNS allows opportunity for shared resources, wider promotion, inclusion and synergy. “Without the support of the local community and without PUNS we wouldn’t be having this event,” says Sanchez. Equally important have been the volunteers, all of whom have been very keen and very generous with their time. Sanchez is still seeking volunteers and encourages anyone interested to go to the Facebook page. It’s this ground level participation that will inject the festival with a sense of camaraderie and local pride. The venue, Quarry Green, has been the home of the festival since it began and recently received an upgrade from City Of Sydney. It’s very accessible to locals but is not a particularly large area, so Sanchez has had to be creative: “We are using as many resources as possible and as many spaces as possible.” Bulwarra Road will be closed from Quarry Green to William Henry Street; Harris Community Centre will be a gathering place for performers; Mustard Seed Church will be a temporary gallery and will provide some quiet respite; Ultimo Community Centre will be made available for the afternoon. If enthusiasm and participation count for anything, this promises to be a wonderful event and should herald the return of an annual community festival. Oct 28, 11am-5pm, Quarry Green, Ultimo. FREE. Info: www.citywesthousing.com.au

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Cabaret In The Glen

In Vogue

Cabaret In The Glen is a five-day festival showcasing some of the best cabaret from Australia and around the world. Including many of Australia’s most acclaimed cabaret performances and artists, Glen Street Theatre will become an exciting treat for crowds with entertainment, music, art, theatre and conversation spread over two live stages. Michael Griffith is one of many talented artists who will be performing not only one, but two shows at the festival. His Helpmann award-winning show Cole is based on the life of Cole Porter and his extraordinary songs. “Cole is much more traditional and straight forward, I’m Cole Porter for the show and it’s a biography that explores his life and gives his songs a context about where they may have come from, from the things that were happening in his life,” Griffith said. His next show In Vogue is an accumulation of Madonna songs which have been adapted and transformed to suit piano. Griffith explained, “In Vogue is a Madonna tribute, but not what you’d expect… I don’t impersonate her but I do sit at the piano - it’s almost like being in a parallel universe where Madonna happens to be a gay man in his 40s just wearing his pants and a shirt and not dressing up…” Both his shows are fun and full of humour, but his main hope is that audiences will “leave with a really strong appreciation for the artistry of both of these artists... I mean they’re genius’ in different ways - Cole was an extraordinary lyricist and musician and Madonna is someone that’s always had a nose for what was popular and current.” Keeping his shows unique is that for In Vogue, audiences would never have “heard the songs in this way, I strip them back and literally rearrange them, whereas with Cole, its more about me doing them the way they were written, so I’m certainly not reinterpreting Cole Porter, I’m being faithful and showing things about his life that we didn’t know.” Griffith concluded. (JM) Until Oct 22. Corner of Glen Street & Blackbutts Road, Belrose. $22-$105. Tickets & Info: www.glenstreet.com.au

Cirque du Soleil: Cirque du Soleil has a reputation for pushing creative boundaries and relentlessly innovating. Their latest offering, Toruk - The First Flight, is case in point. Based on the James Cameron movie Avatar, Toruk is a hybrid of theatre and circus featuring large scale puppetry. Being part of a Cirque du Soleil show means expanding your skill set dramatically, as puppeteer Kailah Cabanas discovered after being chosen to join Toruk. “I’m just open to learning different skills, I suppose, and the more I can learn, the more versatile I can be,” says Cabanas.That attitude was tested when she was required to do aerial work as part of her role as she is petrified of heights. Cabanas trained as an actor which included some training in puppetry. She auditioned for and landed a role as a puppeteer in a children’s show. “It was actually a lot of fun, it came to me quite

city hub 19 OCTOBER 2017

naturally and I loved it, so that was my first puppeteering job.” That led to a job as part of the team operating the full size puppet in War Horse, and with that on her resume, she moved onto Cirque du Soleil. Puppetry is just one of the new elements being incorporated into Toruk. While the show will still include the usual high level of acrobatics, it will

also use bio-luminescent projections and complex lighting. All the creatures from the original movie - plus some new characters - are in the show. There is a strong narrative, to the extent that there is a storyteller. However, Cabanas insists “you don’t need to be a super fan of the movie to enjoy the show.” As well as manipulating movements, the puppeteers make the sounds for the creatures vocally. For Cabanas this is an opportunity to inject personality and use her acting skills and allow an audience to believe this inanimate object is real and feel emotional about it. “That’s what got me more into puppetry - because I felt there was this magic behind it.” (RB) Oct 19-29. Qudos Bank Arena, Edwin Flack Ave & Olympic Blvd, Sydney Olympic Park. $76.40-$458.35+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.cirquedusoleil.com

REVIEW: No End Of Blame

This is a very ambitious project: 60 characters and 12 different settings across three countries: Hungary, the Soviet Union and Britain. We’re taken through wars, censorship, madness and just about everything in between including a levitating piss pot. Bela and Grigor are two very different artists; Grigor wants people to be static so he can reflect them faithfully. Bela, our tortured genius protagonist, wants change. His cartoons see into people’s souls, and what they’re concealing. His cartoons “dry quick, speak quick, hurt.” But they hurt a little too much. He comes up against attempted censorship for his bitingly satirical depictions of two egomaniacs, Stalin

and Churchill. The Soviet Union’s considered, almost conciliatory attempt at censorship juxtaposes with the heavy handedness of British government officials who threaten to close down the Daily Mirror, for which Bela has a plum gig later in his career. It’s commentary on the arrogantly presumed superiority of capitalist western societies, and the true price of freedom that WWII soldiers fought for. The ambition doesn’t stop at an epic, and often meandering tale. The set merges theatre and art, old and new with a large screen backdrop depicting original cartoons from Australia’s great political cartoonists, Cathy Wilcox and David Pope. Given the Australian context: where outrage culture rubs squarely

Shaun Tan’s evocative book, The Red Tree, is reimagined and brought to life in this new work at Riverside Theatre. At the helm are the creative triumvirate of director, Neil Gooding, New York based composer Greta Gertler and much loved playwright Hilary Bell. Adapting a book for the stage has its own challenges, though none as unique as Tan’s book. It has no dialogue, conflict, character or story but is more a series of mood paintings, with an enigmatic girl, who seems to be having a very bad day.Yet Bell welcomed the challenges. “I kept it very simple.When you adapt something that’s very loved, you need to be sensitive to other people’s relationship with the material.” Acknowledging the implicit darkness of the book, whilst also introducing lightness and humour wherever it could be found, led Bell to the idea of a musical.

a&e

Toruk - The First Flight

16 STAGE 17 Sounds 18 SCENE 19 SCREEN

Photo: Kate Williams

against the controversial cartoons of The Australian’s Bill Leaks in an increasingly polarised culture war, the scene is set for some pertinent parallels and commentary. But much of that is lost in a dialogue that’s always verbose and often pretentious. The biggest irony is that Bela’s cartoon captions were

The Red Tree

Illustration by Brian Vallesteros

New York based singer song-writer Greta Gertler brings joy and pop-sensibility to the score. “Her music is melodic and deceptively simple,” says Bell, “It’s got a Brit-pop/sixties sound

Arts Editor: Jamie Apps For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au and don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter at @CityHubSyd

succinct, allowing the picture to do the talking. This three-hour long multi-genre production bites off more than it can chew. (GN) Until Oct 28. Seymour Centre, Corner of City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale. $35-$44+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.seymourcentre.com or Ph: (02) 9351 7940

to it - the words can be quite dark while the music bright.” In retreating from the world Ava (Nicola Bowman) goes to places without leaving her bedroom. Unassuming parts of her room suddenly morph, taking on narrative significance. “The set design is reminiscent of the book,” says Bell, “with beautiful painterly qualities to it.” Bell laments the lack of quality theatre that is both appropriate and meaningful for a young teenage audience. “I know it’s a cliché but I think there is the potential in theatre to create beautiful magic and I really wanted to embrace that in this show.” (GW) Oct 20-28. Riverside Theatres, Cnr Church and Market Streets, Parramatta. $34-$39. Tickets & Info: www.riversideparramatta.com. au or Ph: (02) 8839 3399

Contributors: Alannah Maher, Alicia Sim, Athina Mallis, Barbara Karpinski, Caitlin Burns, Chantal Walsh, Craig Coventry, Daniel Jaramillo, Emily Shen, Georgia Fullerton, Greg Webster, Irina Dunn, Jade Morellini, James Harkness, Joseph Rana, Leann Richards, Lisa Seltzer, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Olga Azar, Peter Urquhart, Rita Bratovich, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Sarah Pritchard, Shon Ho, Zeiya Speede, Jade Morellini, Alex Eugene, Manuel Gonzalez, Tommy Boutros, Riley Hooper & Taylor Martin.

Higginson who plays Kath’s husband, Martin and is the real life husband to Waterman. Martin is a milkman whose business - and sense of worth - are in decline. Their gay son, Billy (Ben Hall) has got a place in an art college in London - far more daunting than Withernsea - and finds solace in his obsession with Dolly Parton. Daughter Sophie, played by Contessa Treffone, mars her promising jujitsu career when she does something unexpected during her attempt at a black-belt. She is pursued by unfortunate plumber, Pete (Duncan Ragg) who has been left to care for his drug-dealing grandmother. The plot may sound a little banal but Higginson describes the play as one of the funniest and most poignant he knows. Treffone credits the writer with “an incredible ability to observe and really extract what is not only human and relatable, but is raw and heartfelt and funny.” It’s the first time performing at the Ensemble for Treffone, Higginson and Waterman and they consider the intimate space perfect for the insular setting of the play. (RB) Until Nov 18. Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall St, Kirribilli. $34-$67. Tickets & Info: www.ensemble.com.au

Huw Higginson and Hannah Waterman

This play has drama and pathos; witty humour and camp; sensitive insight and mischievous parody; it has everything including the kitchen sink. In fact, a functioning kitchen sink is the centrepiece of the set, “and there may be some action around the sink,” hints Hannah Waterman who plays stalwart mother/wife Kath in this Tom Wells play. Set in the small, seaside village of Withernsea in Hull, Northern England, the story revolves around an unremarkable family with commonplace problems. “Its beauty is in its everyday identity and the way we can all identify with these regular people from a regular family,” explains Huw

Live Music Guide LIVE WIRE Sydney By Jamie Apps

Traveller: A supergroup is an act that brings together musical personalities too stubborn or sizeable to fit inside a normal band. This goes triple for Traveller, the country-rock-folk-whatever supergroup comprising Robert Ellis, Cory Chisel, and Jonny Fritz. Thu, Oct 19, Coogee Diggers Robert Muinos: Melbourne singer song writer Robert Muinos’ name might be familiar to local music fans, as either the backing vocalist and guitarist in the soul juggernaut that is Saskwatch or as one of the rotating members of new musical collective Dorsal Fins. He has also been releasing his own solo works over the past few years and is set to launch is new record, EP3 in Sydney tomorrow night. Fri, Oct 20,The Factory Floor Cass Eager: Is bringing her brand new beat and band to Sydney tomorrow night to send new single Ain’t No Stopping Me off into the world. Named by folk-blog Timber and Steel as ‘Janis Joplin and Ben Harper’s love-child’, Cass Eager’s mix of raw blues, husky soul and lighthearted ditties are all punctuated with her unique whisky-soaked vocals. Fri, Oct 20, Django Bar Beatlemania: The hit tribute show will see Sydney relive the heyday of one of the world’s favourite pop acts this weekend. This spectacular show recreates a true Beatles experience with stunning costumes, state-of-theart lighting and production, replica instruments and all songs performed with exquisite attention to detail in their original key. Over 30 of the Beatles biggest and most treasured

hits will be performed live on stage. Sat, Oct 21, State Theatre Acolyte: Melbourne’s Acolyte have been on a meteoric rise in the past 12 months. The release of their Shades of Black EP saw them support Twelve Foot Ninja, tour Australia in support of the record and begin to really dominate the prog/rock scene in Melbourne. This Sunday they spread their dominance to Sydney. Sun, Oct 22, Frankie’s Pizza Anna Netrebko & Yusif Eyvazov: The superstar couple of the opera circuit will perform ‘An Evening Of Opera Highlights’ this weekend. Tue, Oct 24, Sydney Opera House Bittersweet Obsessions: Is a show constructed by the Australia Brandenburg Orchestra Artistic Director Paul Dyer. The show revolves around three works by two of the most iconic of baroque composers and includes Bach’s famous comic coffee cantata. This show will explore the sweetness and bitterness of life, obsessions taken to the brink, a life of love, joy and pleasure that also brings pain. Wed, Oct 25, City Recital Hall The Northern Folk: Rural turned suburban alt-folk stompers The Northern Folk have been taking Australia by storm of late, with their unique genre mash-up of brass-heavy, big sound anthems and intricate blues ballads. The eleven-piece collective of multi-talented musicians are no strangers to the live music circuit having graced intimate venues, festivals, and big crowd stages alike all over the NSW and the Victorian east coast. Wed, Oct 25, Brighton Up Bar

By Jamie Apps According to Kingswood frontman Fergus Linacre the key to happiness for an artist in any medium is that they have the ability to express themselves freely from the heart and soul. This line of thinking was crucial for the band during the creation of their latest record After Hours, Close To Dawn. Whilst Fergus believes the signs of experimentation were there to see in their debut album Microscopic Wars, he can admit that they were fully aware this album was going further down that route rather early on. “It just started happening and then people started telling us that this was a really weird and different album to what people were going to expect. Yes we were well aware of that fact but it didn’t stop us, if anything it sort of spurred us on to make things a weird as possible.” he explained. Very early on in the process

James Bennett – Run With The Hunted

The Big Meal The Depot Theatre presents an extraordinary independent play which will immerse audiences through its uniquely ambitious story and relatable characters. Tasha O’Brien who plays five different characters, says this play is a combination of comedy and drama and what initially seems to be a simplistic play about an American family is actually quite unusual. “It’s set in America and follows five generations of a particular family over an 80 year period. There are eight actors but we don’t play one character each, we play age brackets, so as the characters age over the 80 years, we swap who plays the characters. Since the play has such a huge time span and the focus is on life and death, some characters don’t necessarily make it to the end”. O’Brien who studied acting at the University of Wollongong and has spent the past few years performing in the independent Sydney theatre scene, says it’s extremely challenging performing in a play which spans 80 years in 90 minutes. “Not only are we playing multiple characters and having to differentiate them, but we also play the same characters as each other so you have to be mindful of the way other actors are portraying those characters so that the audience will have that level of belief that it is the same character just a different age.The shifts in time are also so quick, sometimes almost imperceptible so staging that has been a huge challenge”.

Photo: Peta Addy

The Kitchen Sink

So how does it feel performing in a play which has received so many accolades in America and will now have its premiere in Australia? “I feel privileged to be putting on this play for the first time here, because it’s such a worthy script and clearly it’s getting the recognition it deserves and we’re lucky to be providing another platform for it to be seen. The themes are so common and relatable that it doesn’t matter where this is staged, everyone will understand it.” (MMo) Until Nov 4.The Depot Theatre, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville. $22-$32. Tickets & Info: www.thedepottheatre.com To read our extended interview with Tasha O’Brien head to our website www.altmedia.net.au

Kingswood Fergus said the band did have a “very small discussion” regarding whether this was the right move to make but quickly decided to push ahead. “We often have similar discussions when we’re doing the instrumentation for a song, particularly in regards to how the four of us are going to perform the songs in a live setting.We tend to

have this thing where we say we’ll figure that out later lets just make the best thing possible.” Figure it out later they did, so much so their live show now features nine people on stage. “We needed a soprano and tenor so we put a callout on our Facebook expecting to get five audition videos but we had nearly 200 so that was amazing.”

Light and rolling, James Bennett’s new album Run With The Hunted is like a sparkling musical punch. A self-taught musician, the heart of Bennett’s album is an easy-going smile, it seeks approval from no one and charms its listeners with effortless presentation. Bennett experiments according to his whim, moving into an upbeat tune as his feelings dictate. Fake Feathers is a bouncing accent to an emotionally grounded album. The effect of the combination is soothing on the listener, patting their stresses on the arm, shrugging at their difficulties with comradery. Run With The Hunted is for Sunday mornings at home, pushing the corners of the listeners mouth up as they potter around the house preparing themselves for the week. It is a understanding and it is contentment, it is momentary freedom from a fast paced technological world. (SP) WWW

recalled Fergus, “We’ve now added a couple of horn players, a fifth musician and a bassists. It’s so much fun with nine people up there, it’s just a big party now.” Looking ahead the core members of Kingswood have all begun working on music for the next record. “At the moment Alex is in Nashville, Justin is in Spain and I’m in Melbourne with the studio all to myself working towards a new record potentially next year because we don’t want to leave such a big gap between the albums like we had previously.” Before then though the band are set to return to Sydney which Fergus explained is a great privilege having performed at The Metro earlier this year. He did sheepishly say though, “I’m hoping that I don’t drink so much and actually remember this one.” Oct 27. The Metro, 624 George St, Sydney. $42.50+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.metrotheatre.com.au

Ecca Vandal

Whilst it is incredibly tough to nail Ecca Vandal down to just one genre there is one core element to her music that is undeniable, that being her raw, unbridled energy. Throughout her debut self titled album this trend continues. During the opening half of the record Vandal dips her toes into 90s-esque pop-rock, even occasionally verging on punk. As the album progresses Vandal begins weaving hip-hop elements with dark electronica. Whilst this composition leaves the record feeling like it is split into two halves each is immaculately produced and both are incredibly compelling in their own right. The standout tracks are Price Of Living, End Of Time and finally Cassettes, Lies & Videotapes. (JA) WWW1/2 city hub 19 OCTOBER 2017

Sculpture By The Sea 2017

THE NAKED CITY

THE SYDNEY RENTAL BLUES

KoichiIshino Mountains Air-Circles. Photo: Clyde Yee

Over two and a half weeks Sculpture By The Sea will occupy the iconic Sydney coastline from Bondi to Tamarama. This year will mark the 21st birthday of the exhibition and with over 100 Australian and international artists showcasing their works the spectacular display is expected to attract over 500,000 visitors throughout the display. One of the many entrants in the exhibition is Marina DeBris, featuring her Inconvenience Store, that will be filled with trash that she has collected from local beaches over the past two years. The store is very tongue in cheek and humorous but depicts a serious topic. It will be built by sustainable builders Verticon, using salvaged materials. “In 2013 for Sculpture By The Sea, I built a giant aquarium and named it the Aquarium of the Pacific Gyre and I sat around the piece

quite a bit, no one knew I was the artist but it was great to sit and listen to the reactions. Everyone understood what it was about and if nothing else it really started a great dialog. I’m hoping this year to get the same reaction” Moving from Bondi, Marina started her mission in the west side of LA picking up the rubbish which had been left or washed up on the beaches. When asked about the rubbish problem in Australia, Marina replied, “It’s quiet shocking, LA has a huge population and per capita it was saddening that the problem is as bad here, though it is a worldwide problem that has a lot to do with waste management” If breath taking and meaningful art interests you, make sure you get to this exhibition. (RH) Oct 19-Nov 5. Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk, Sydney. Free. Info: www.sculpturebythesea. com or (02) 8399 0233

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With Coffin Ed Back in May of 2014 this column took a look at “the chronic shortage of rental accommodation in Sydney and the stampede of hopefuls whenever a property ‘to let’ comes on the market”. We noted “anybody who has queued up for a recent inspection will be aware of the lottery involved in applying to rent a house, apartment, or anything that vaguely resembles a reasonable living space.” We are now three years down the track and the question is – could it be any worse? Sadly the answer is yes, and getting worse by the day. If you scan the internet real estate sites like Domain you’ll soon see there is very little on offer with rental properties in the $300 to $400 range, particular in the inner city. For example, in Woolloomooloo, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills or Newtown, a humble studio will set you back at least $350 a week and anything cheaper falls into the category of a glorified boarding house or fleabag hotel room. Even then many of the properties on offer are in average to poor condition.The ball is very

much in the landlord’s court and there is called ‘furnished rooms’ on the market, absolute no need to tart up properties to some with their own bathroom but others attract potential tenants.‘New paint and with share facilities. Expect to pay between carpet’ was once commonplace in properties $250 to $350 for what essentially amounts to let but ‘peeling paint and grubby carpet’ is to a budget hotel room. On the other hand often the norm these days. if you are actually looking for a ‘home’ for a Meanwhile in Victoria, where there’s an number of years, you are going to fork out abundance of good quality, reasonably priced $400 for anything relatively decent, rental accom in the CBD surrounds (at least including an actual stove and enough compared to Sydney), the Andrews floorspace for a game of Twister. Government is about to introduce a range Perhaps the most depressing aspect of any of tenancy reforms, much to the anger of rental hunt is the apartment which on the the Real Institute Of Victoria. The reforms internet doesn’t look too bad, even allowing include a ban on rent bidding and no for the flattering wide angle photography. It’s reason evictions plus protection for only when you front up for the inspection tenants looking for a long lease period. that the grim reality hits you and you find A few weeks ago I accompanied a friend on yourself in something that looks like the set a scout around for rental properties in the out of Eraserhead. Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills area. You can only guess what the situation will Each advertised inspection attracted at be in two to three years time. The most least twenty potential tenants and chatting likely scenario is that cheap with them they all seemed to be in the accommodation close to the city will same somewhat desperate situation – become a thing of the past, forcing budget competing for affordable properties within accom seekers even further out into the a vacancy rate that must be hovering burbs. And many of those greedy landlords around the one per cent. who have exploited the current rental If you are looking for somewhere simply to situation to the hilt will capitalise even sleep, cook in a microwave and not swing a more. Even the set out of Eraserhead could cat, there’s an increasing number of so become beyond your affordability!

Haunting scenes of soldiers cruising the battle fields for gay sexual encounters and an insight into the underground homosexual world in an era when they were persecuted for merely holding hands, offers a voyeuristic but mandatory approach in filmmaking which may be unprecedented. There are many shattering moments in this film which may affect even the most homophobic audiences, such as the intolerant ideology that homosexuality was a confusion caused by war which would eventually pass and notably the mental trauma experienced by homosexuals, who wanted to be ‘cured of their illness.’ The gay community should relish this brave The film is non-linear in structure and delves Ultimately, audiences will feel the sensuality Leo Tolstoy biopic which surrounds the life of famed into the artist’s promiscuous life style from and lust unleashed in this confronting but Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, the man World War II, when he was told by the fascinating insight into the life of a man who behind the iconic signature ‘Tom of Finland’ Germans “we used to put scum like you into not only provided self-esteem for gay men whose provocative gay sketches paved his concentration camps and gas them to death” through his homoerotic drawings, but who way to become the hottest property in gay until the early 1980s, when homosexuals were also revolutionised gay culture. (MMo) WWWW porn all over Europe. denounced for the advent of HIV/AIDS.

Tom Of Finland

The Only Living Boy in New York

The Mountain Between Us

Good Time

Survival films are often full of physical and traumatic pain but not often does the genre explore romance or comedy in the narrative. The Mountain Between Us is the story of two strangers who find themselves stuck in the cold snowy winter inn the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah after the pilot of a charter plane has a heart attack in mid-air and crashes the aircraft. Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is a photojournalist on the eve of her wedding who

is stranded with Ben Bass (Idris Elba), a neurosurgeon who was travelling to help a 10 year old with a life saving operation. Both realise their survival depends on sticking together but as they are challenged by all kinds of hurdles. As they become emotionally attached a romantic attraction between them becomes apparent. This may not be an Oscar worthy contender but it is very much suitable for a date night. (DJ)

WWW

Good Time is a dark and thrilling crime drama directed by the Safdie Brothers. The film left audiences raving after it featured this year at Cannes, Melbourne and Sydney Film Festivals. Set in the shadows of New York City, the film follows Connie Nikos (Robert Pattinson) after his younger brother Nick (Ben Safdie) lands in jail when the pair fail a bank robbery. On the run and trying to rescue his brother, Connie continues on a downward spiral of

unexpected situations and violence. With time running out and the police getting closer his brothers safety and own life hang in the balance. Good Time held an eerie and uncomfortable feel that subsided only with suspense, which is what made it so damn good. A brilliant and engaging performance by Patterson, worlds apart from the roles he is famous for. The film is a visual experience that is worth the watch. (RH) WWWW

This is a film about a father who is a successful publisher, a son who wants to be a writer and mysterious mentor who turns out to be a famous writer and the film’s biggest weakness is the writing. The high calibre cast includes Pierce Brosnan, Cynthia Nixon, Kate Beckinsale and Jeff Bridges (also executive producer), each doing their best with characters that are confused clumps of incongruous sentiments. Callum Turner plays the lead role of Thomas Webb,

a privileged, angst-ridden, rudderless young man, so self-interested he has no understanding nor, seemingly, concern for the people around him or the consequences of his actions. The dialogue is vapid. The plot feels like an arbitrary arrangement of post-it notes with a surprise twist that seriously ‘jumps the shark’. The soundtrack’s subtle nod to The Graduate only adds to the film’s misgiven pretensions. See something else. (RB) W1/2

Office tO Let PROPOSAL TO UPGRADE MOBILE PHONE BASE STATION AT EVELEIGH Vodafone plans to upgrade an existing telecommunications facility located at 1 Central Avenue, Eveleigh NSW 2015 RFNSA No: 2015001 (Vodafone Ref: Australian Technology Park - V, 2708) 1. The proposed works at the above site involves the removal of six (6) existing Remote Radio Units (RRUs), three (3) Tower Mounted Amplifiers (TMAs) and the installation of six (6) new RRUs and associated ancillary equipment. 2. Vodafone regards the proposed installations as a Low-impact Facility under the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determinations 1997 (“The Determination”) based on the description above. 3. Further information can be obtained from James MacArthur on (07) 3173 8252, james.macarthur@aurecongroup.com and at www.rfnsa.com.au, quoting the RFNSA Number. 4. Written submissions should be sent to: Vodafone c/- Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd, Locked Bag 331, Brisbane, QLD 4001 by Thursday 2 November 2017

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admin@altmedia.net.au city hub 19 OCTOBER 2017

city hub 19 OCTOBER 2017