Canberra CityNews July 21-August 3, 2011

Virginia steps in to help save the children

‘Education is the most important thing we can give to children,’ the ACT’s new Save the Children patron told FREYLA FERGUSON

ABC news anchor and journalist Virginia Haussegger says she was born with a passion for social justice.

A strong advocate for children and women’s rights and a board member for UN Women, Virginia has now taken on a new role, as the patron for Save the Children’s ACT branch, an organisation that aims to improve the protection, education and health of disadvantaged children around the world.

“When Alan [Scandrett, ACT council chairman] approached me I was very honoured and very touched,” Virginia said.

“If lending my voice and profile can raise the profile of the organisation, then that’s the least I can do.”

This year, Virginia reached her 25th year in journalism – a job that has seen her travel across the globe to some of the most dangerous and disadvantaged countries in the world.

It was these travels, that fed her drive for women and children’s rights.

“The media work that I’ve done over many, many years helped me connect with people. And I’ve been very grateful,” she said.

“I was born with a strong feminism gene and that’s not because of my

INDEX

June July 28-August 27, 2011

Since 1993: Volume 17, Number 28

Arts&Entertainment 13-15

Cinema 14

Crossword 16

Dining 15

Home&Garden 18-19

Horoscope 16

Letters 12

News 3-9

Politics 4

Property 20-36

Social Scene 10

Sport 7

Sudoku 16

Virginia

mother – it was just the way I am.

“Issues of inequality have always been at the forefront of my vision – I don’t know why; I just have a strong sense of social justice, it’s embedded in me.”

A journalism assignment saw Virginia travel to Iraq just after the end of the first Gulf War.

“Iraq was a real eye-opener for me,” she said. “Children are completely innocent and are swept up in conflict.

“A whole generation of children missed out on education.

“It happens all over the world – boys and girls in the hundreds of millions are missing out on an education.

“Education is the most important thing we can give to children.”

In 2009, Virginia travelled to Afghanistan as a civilian, to research gender issues and see first-hand how women and children in live in the wartorn country.

In Afghanistan, she spent time with refugee turned Australian citizen Mahboba Rawi OAM – who founded non-profit aid organisation Mahboba’s Promise, that works with widows and children in Afghanistan to improve education, vocational training and establish them as self sufficient.

“What I learnt, that struck me, was

contact us

Phone 6262 9100 Fax 6262 9111 GPO Box 2448, Canberra City 2601 www.citynews.com.au twitter.com/city_news facebook.com/canberracitynews

General manager: Greg Jones 0419 418196, greg@citynews.com.au

Senior advertising executives: Melissa Delfino, 0415 137660 Ernie Nichols, 0421 077999

Advertising sales executives: Mara Stroppa, 0431 245130 Lyn Cram, 0458 028990

Advertising sales co-ordinator: Rebecca Darman, ad@citynews.com.au

Sydney advertising sales: Ad Sales Connect, 02 9420 1777

Virginia Haussegger... “Issues of inequality have always been at the forefront of my vision... I just have a strong sense of social justice, it’s embedded in me.”

the incredible power of an NGO’s work when it is well targeted,” she said.

“That comes back to why I like Save the Children... Save the Children projects are so well targeted.”

Virginia copped criticism in 2002,

Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au

Journalists: Freyla Ferguson, freyla@citynews.com.au Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au

Libby Rolfe, libby@citynews.com.au

Arts editor: Helen Musa, 0400 043764 helen@citynews.com.au

Design and photography: Silas Brown, 0412 718086

Graphic designer: Louise Brooks

Accounts manager: Bethany Freeman-Chandler accounts@citynews.com.au

Distribution and circulation: Richard Watson, circulation@citynews.com.au

Contributing photographer: Andrew Finch

for writing about her own experiences with childlessness but says there’s no link to her own childlessness and her passion for children.

“I haven’t gone looking for an organisation that focuses on children

– that’s not a driver for me,” she said.

“I wrote about childlessness at a time when it was a big issue for me.

“That was my issue then, not now. There is no correlation at all.”

Virginia said she plans to throw herself head first into her patronage for Save the Children.

“When I see a good opportunity to get involved in an organisation that has the same sort of values and objectives I share, I throw myself into it,” she said.

“I am very proud to take [the patronage] on.”

And the feeling is mutual. ACT council chairman Alan Scandrett is delighted that Virginia has agreed to be the patron.

“She is a caring and intelligent person, who is well aware of the important issues affecting children around the world,” he said.

“Virginia is well known and well respected in the ACT. Her patronage will assist us to raise the profile of our charity, and this in turn will assist us with our programs.

“Save the Children delivers immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives here in Australia and worldwide. We believe that the welfare of children isn’t a privilege, it is a right.”

Save the Children is one of the world’s most significant and longestserving organisations supporting the welfare of children.

Greens thumb nose at the law

THE Greens have really stuffed up! Just when it was looking like they were taking their role in the Assembly seriously and making sensible decisions, they demonstrate ignorance of political priorities.

The Greens are not Greenpeace. They are a political party with members in the Assembly. Sure, they have a great deal in common. However, Greenpeace, including the Asia/Pacific arm, has regularly chosen to push its perspective to the extreme. The most recent example being the destruction of the CSIRO genetically modified (GM) crop at Gungahlin.

The Greens sit in the Assembly entrusted with the balance of power by the Canberra community to make laws that they expect us to obey. They are not in a position to condone any form of breaking the law – even if they privately agree with the objective.

The ACT Speaker, Shane Rattenbury, is no longer an activist in a Zodiac putting himself between a harpoonist and whales. His priorities were simply wrong when he refused to condemn the illegal action Greenpeace activists who destroyed the CSIRO’s scientific research project.

If the Greens had a leader instead of a “convenor”, Meredith Hunter would be pulling Rattenbury back into line.

Greenpeace remains proud of the action. Its website carries a statement by campaigner Laura Kelly declaring: “We had no choice but to take action to bring an end to this experiment. GM has never been proven safe to eat and once released in open experiments, it will contaminate. This is about the protection of our health, the protection of our environment and the protection of our daily bread.”

No doubt Speaker Rattenbury agrees with

The Greens, entrusted with the balance of power by the Canberra community to make laws, are not in a position to condone any form of breaking the law, says MICHAEL MOORE

Greens Shane Rattenbury... simply wrong when he refused to condemn the illegal action Greenpeace activists.

these sentiments and was not prepared to condemn the action.

He was in a dilemma on two fronts – evidence-based policy and the rule of law. Only two days after the early morning Greenpeace raid, Rattenbury was lambasting Attorney General Simon Corbell and Opposition Leader Zed Seselja in his own press release for “their lack of commitment to evidence-based policy”.

Surely he can see the irony. The GM crop was an attempt to gather evidence to answer a couple of important questions – can crop yield and safety be improved by the development of new GM strains of wheat? The illegal act has now delayed gathering evidence by another 12 months.

The other part of the Speaker’s dilemma is

that a higher priority, particularly for a member of parliament, is the rule of law. The Greens should be demonstrating to the community that they understand the priority of the rule of law for the maintenance of a democratic and civilised society.

The Greens are an integral part of making our laws. There are many people in the community who find Greens-initiated legislation an anathema to their own views. They have the right to challenge such laws using all the democratic tools, again and again if necessary. It does not allow the right to simply ignore or disobey them.

If the Greens think that GM crops are so abominable (as does Greenpeace) they should be working within the Assembly and the Federal Parliament to ban either experiments or the crops from Australia.

No doubt they are attempting to do so. If they cannot get the numbers in either place, especially as they hold such powerful balance of power positions, they should accept the democratic outcome. Accepting a democratic outcome means accepting the law.

This incident raises a momentous question for people considering voting for the Greens. Is a vote for the Greens a vote for a party wanting to dictate their view of the world or is it a vote for a party wanting to fairly participate in and influence the democratic process?

Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health.

briefly Gai on finance...

FEDERAL member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann will be the guest at the National Foundation for Women’s “Winter Tales”, arguing that “Finance is a Feminist Issue”. It’s at the National Library, 2pm-4pm, July 31. Bookings to 6262 1271.

… finance for females

THE 10thousandgirl Life Planning Workshop, a campaign to improve the financial literacy of 10,000 young Australian women, inspiring them to pursue their life plan with a confidence and independence backed by financial security, will be held in Fairbairn on July 30. More information

and bookings to www.10thousandgirl. com or call 0419 622968.

Fair works for Pegasus

PEGAsUs Riding for the Disabled of the ACT is the recipient of proceeds from this year’s ACT springtime Antiques and Collectibles Fair, presented by the Rotary Club of Canberra City, at Albert Hall, August 12-14. Entry is $7 ($5 concession). Children 14-years and under are free. Wheelchair access is available.

New rendezvous

LE Rendezvous cafe in Manuka has been sold. After more than eight years, Michael Giugni has sold to Boyan and Branka Berisavac.

Grocer offers a new start

LIBBY ROLFE visits a supermarket in Spence that’s helping people with mental health issues by offering training, a job and an improved quality of life.

HALF the staff at the Spence Friendly Grocer are employed through a program run in partnership with Nexus Human Services, which is proving to be beneficial for the business as well as the employees.

Supermarket owner Vince Torcasio says while the program ensures cost savings for the business, the main attraction is the opportunity to help people.

“It’s the ability to give something back to the community and make a difference,” Vince says.

CEO of Nexus Human Services, a disability employment support provider, Lisa McPherson-Sturt said 12 people have been employed and trained at the supermarket through the program since it started about 12 months ago.

“An important factor in successful employment for people living with mental illness is a supportive employer, especially in relation to flexible working arrangements,” Lisa says.

Employee Tegan had been out of work for four months until Centrelink put her in touch with Nexus. She has now been working at the supermarket for a year and says she enjoys many parts of her work especially the friendly faces and regular customers.

“I get to do a bit of everything here,” Tegan says. “I like working in the deli and the boss is nice. I feel welcome here.”

Lisa says one of the most important things about the program is that it gives people the confidence to enter the workforce. She says some of the clients who have started working at the supermarket have gone on to work in lower-level public service jobs, roles in administration and retail.

Martial arts mum takes on bullies

TEACHING young kids tae kwon do combined with an anti-bullying message can create strong self-esteem and confidence from an early age, according to Wanniassa mum Sharon Wadey.

“I have four-year-old twins and I found there wasn’t much organised sport for under-fives,” she says. “As a tae kwon do instructor myself I knew there was a lot I could offer young children, such as focus and how to follow direction, as well as the exercise and self-defence aspect, so I started Tiny Taeks.

“I did a lot of research into bullying, the reasons for it and repercussions of it, and then developed a series of activities designed to help children not even become bullies in the first place.

“I encourage the kids to make sure another child is okay if they are hurt, and we teach them to say ‘stop it, I don’t like it’ as soon as any negative behaviour starts.”

Although tae kwon do, a Korean self-defence martial art, involves a degree of kicking and punching, Sharon says that her class Tiny Taeks, aimed at three

By Kathryn Vukovljak

to seven-year-olds, is safe for kids and doesn’t teach them to hurt others.

“It’s more about learning to stand up for themselves, feeling safe and confident, and defending themselves if they have to,” she says.

As well as toned-down tae kwon do exercises, the classes also focus on empathy and respect for others, says Sharon.

“I feel that if I can teach empathy in young children, they won’t consider bullying others when they get older and the world will be a friendlier place,” she says.

Sharon says she was inspired after seeing an incident at a birthday party where a big child was intimidating a smaller child on a trampoline.

“It sparked an emotion in me that I was surprised at – the unfairness of bullying, even when it’s not intended to hurt,” she says. “It can create embarrassment, anger or fear.

“When I pictured that happening to my own children, it made me feel sick to the stomach. And like all parents, I want my children to feel safe and be able to stand up for themselves if confronted.”

Sharon says that Tiny Taeks is part of a larger project she’s working on that she’d like to see run in schools called KidsAchieve, along with her partner Brett Canning, a tae kwon do chief instructor.

“The program will teach basic anti-bullying principles to schoolchildren, through the activities I’ve been exploring in Tiny Taeks,” she says.

“I want to offer my knowledge and expertise in tae kwon do, combined with the emotional side of being a mum, into a program

that can shape a child’s future in a positive way – physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially.

“I think it’s important to combine self-defence with respect and empathy, so our young students don’t grow up just thinking about kicking and punching.”

Tiny Taeks classes are run at Duffy Primary School and the Active Leisure Centre in Wanniassa. For more information, visit www. unitedtaekwondo.com.au or contact kidsachieve@webs.com

Winner talks the walk on water

By Megan Haggan

A s a high school student in sydney, Christina West (pictured) developed an interest in environmental issues: and it’s led her to the water and waste water projects of Canberra, and to being named the 2011 ACT Young Engineer of the Year.

“I always had an interest in the environment, and even did my work experience in high school at the Environment Protection Agency in sydney, with their Beach Watch program,” Christina told “CityNews”.

“When it came to career options, I thought about environmental science, but the university courses looked a bit clinical and lab-based; then I heard about engineering, which was very hands-on and practical, and about getting out and do things in the community. It was more connected to the world around us, and that’s what led me down the engineering path.”

Christina relocated to Canberra in 2007, and is now a chemical engineer in the environment and water group for GHD. she’s worked on several water-based projects, including most recently the ACT Government’s Canberra Integrated Urban Waterways Project, providing storm water to water ACT sporting fields.

“They’ll be replacing potable water – taking storm water and using it on the fields so we’re not using potable water,” she said.

“It’s our responsibility as a community to use water appropriately. Putting drinking water on grass is something that isn’t appropriate use.”

Have car, bike, feet; will travel! briefly

MATT O’BRIEN meets an extraordinary octogenarian with a love of old cars, cycling and walking

THEY don’t make ‘em like they used to: neither Brian McKay’s 1948 Plymouth coupe or the man himself.

Brian, a Kingston resident, recently imported the gleaming, black, 3.6-litre, side valve, six-cylinder automobile from Ohio in the US. The Plymouth’s “showroom perfect” looks and its low 42,000 miles (about 68,000km) belie its 63 years.

But then again, few strangers would guess that Brian, Canberra Antique and Classic Club member is, at 82 years, only 19 years older than his car!

Brian will add his new Plymouth to his two other vintage cars that he regularly displays at club runs and fund-raising events for charity in Canberra and as far afield as the south coast, Sydney and elsewhere. His car, like most vintage machines, operates under “Club Rego”, which allows them to be driven on roads for tests, club runs and charity events.

The Plymouth’s first major local outing was on July 16-17, when Brian drove it in the Bay to Bermagui charity run, organised by the Eurobodalla Vintage Car Club.

Canberrans will have an opportunity to “ooh” and “aah” over the Plymouth on November 5, when it will feature at the Canberra Seniors’ Centre Christmas fete at its Turner headquarters, where Brian does weekly volunteer “handyman stuff”.

Brian has covered almost as many kilometres

under his own pedal power as his vintage cars combined. Since retiring 1989, after a lifetime in oil exploration, he has completed an extraordinary series of bicycle trips.

Starting with a relatively short journey around NZ’s North Island in 1992, he has, since 1993, completed six gruelling bicycle safaris. In that time he has cycled across Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax; from Perth to Sydney; through Chile, Argentina and Uruguay; from London to Budapest and return; and most recently, in 2007, from London to Stockholm and back.

Currently, he is contemplating, next northern spring, walking the famed Way of St. James – the

pilgrimage from southern France to Santiago de Compostela. Just a 1500km stroll!

Canadian-born Brian, a Canberra resident since 1963 and an Australian citizen of many years standing, has been a vintage car buff since his university days in Canada, where he bought his first vintage vehicle, a Model T, Centre Door Ford – “very rare!”.

And, just to ensure that retirement doesn’t get boring, Brian also works regularly as a volunteer researcher at the Australian War Memorial, seeking to match photographs with wartime casualties, plus helping the members of the public to find their relatives’ military service details.

All hail the flying freak on four legs

I RETURNED to calling the races in the last 12 months after a 20-year break.

I’ve called half a dozen meetings and at least 100 trials and although I’m certain it’ll never be a full time career, I’m loving it.

I was asked recently to nominate a highlight in my recently revived pursuit. It’s easy; in the last 12 months I’ve had the pleasure of calling the Queanbeyan flyer Karuta Queen in six barrier trials.

The horse is a freak. It’s hard not to get goosebumps calling it because of its blistering speed.

I was calling the day it broke the track record in a trial at Queanbeyan winning by 21 lengths. I had never seen a horse break 50 seconds

MARK PARTON gets goosebumps over a filly that’s setting racing records

for 900 metres and I may never again. It’s a tearaway, “catch-me-ifyou-can” type of horse that breaks the hearts of its opposition.

At the actual races, Karuta Queen’s been a sensation; in a sixrace career, the flashy chestnut, two-year-old filly has won four races and $1.5 million in prizemoney. Its victories include the Magic Millions Classic on the Gold Coast and a couple of metro wins at Rosehill.

The Queen tapered off a little the autumn with a close second in the Black Opal before a failure in the Golden Slipper.

Karuta Queen, or Lily as she’s known around the stable, has had a break for three months, but she’s set to return to racing in August.

Her wily trainer Neville Layt has a wide, quiet smile on his face in anticipation of what’s to come.

The 67-year-old former jockey has trained a lot of good horses in the last three decades but he told me that “this is the most fun I’ve had with one.”

He’s mapped out an ambitious campaign which includes races in Sydney and Melbourne in the spring.

Racing analyst Gary Crispe, from RacingandSports.com.au thinks that the flying filly may find it harder in its second campaign.

“As the progressive juveniles get older, sometimes the more immature types catch up,” he said. “She’s got a ton of natural speed though and that could take her a long way.”

Karuta Queen’s been at the trials twice in July and on both occasions she obliterated its rivals by eight and 10 lengths respectively. We should see it return to the track in the $125,000 San Domenico Stakes at Rosehill on August 13.

Mark Parton is the weekday breakfast announcer on 2CC

Jeremy gets a theatre

FORMER Canberran Jeremy Miller has been appointed manager of the Manning Entertainment Centre in Taree. A former 2RE breakfast announcer and events co-ordinator, Mr Miller has been working in sydney first with World Youth Day and then with a corporate events company.

Story-dance festival

THE Wakakirri story-Dance festival will have 26 schools competing at the Canberra Theatre, August 9-12. Now in its 20th year, Wakakirri is a multi-arts festival for schools promoting arts education and sustainability through a story-dance that tells a story on stage using a creative blend of movement and acting to a pre-recorded soundtrack. Each story-dance can feature up to 130 students and go for up to seven minutes. A selection of finalists from the ACT heat series will perform at a series of finals to be held on s eptember 22-23.

Tiffen’s win award

CANBERRA- BA sED mortgage broking firm Tiffen & Co has been named Australia’s Boutique Brokerage of the Year. The inaugural Australian Broking Awards recognise the evolution and maturation of the third-party distribution channel, which accounts for 41 per cent of mortgages written in Australia. Tiffen & Co director Alison Whittle said: “ since opening our doors in 1995, Tiffen & Co has assisted over 19,000 Canberrans find the right home loan solutions and will continue doing so in the future.”

A bash for bears

THE ACT support group of the Animals Asia Foundation – Moon Bear Rescue will hold a symbolic freeing of a bear from a cage at a fundraising dinner dance at Teatro Vivaldi, ANU, on August 13. George Huitker and Junk s culpture will be playing the hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s and there’s a prize for the best dressed in the style of Austin Powers. Tickets at $95 include a four-course vegetarian meal and a glass of wine/champagne on arrival. Bookings to 6254 6273 or suefallon@ bigpond.com.au

Eagles fly for Ronald

THE Gunghalin Junior Eagles rugby union club is holding a fundraising day at the Nicholls Playing Fields from 8.30am to 12.30am on s aturday, July 30 in aid of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, helping seriously ill children and their families, in the ACT.

DVD winners

THE winners of “The Gundown” DVDs are: Max Rowe, of Hawker; Paul Morrissey, Downer; Amanda Medcalf, Cook; Ryan Dunning, Narrabundah; and stephen Kessen, Tempe.

At opening of Siren Bar and Restaurant, Gungahlin At CIT

At Islands of Aboriginal Song, AIATSIS, Acton

At the mercy of our mistakes

WHY do we buy the assertion that a price on pollution is bad for the economy?

According to Climate Works Australia, the annual cost of delaying action will increase by $5.5 billion, including $1.5 billion of lost savings from profitable opportunities. Taking action, as recommended by the Garnaut Review, will see Australia’s GNP sitting at 0.7 per cent in 2020 as opposed to 0.9 per cent if we do nothing.

Under our current targets, this growth gap will be even smaller. Furthermore, according to the ACTU and ACF, Australia could create over 110,000 new green jobs today and almost 850,000 new jobs by 2030 under a clean green growth scenario, such as could be spurred by a carbon price. As a young person, I am unwilling to watch us renounce a safe future simply over economic fear-mongering. If we fear change, spare a thought for future generations who, if we are unwilling to take action today, will face an existence of unpredictable and intolerable change at the mercy of our mistakes.

c harlotte Wood, Dickson

Tough on prams

GLAD to hear about the Pram Pushers group meeting at Cooleman Court shopping centre (CN, July 14), but they should think themselves lucky they don’t have to meet at Westfield Belconnen, because pram and pusher access has become downright dangerous.

This situation has arisen since Westfield has made their car-park access directly to Joynton Smith Drive, but there is no footpath on either side of the road for a considerable section of the street.

I have witnessed many pedestrians including a mum, with child in pusher having to walk on the road into oncoming traffic.

The ACT Government spent money resurfacing the car park and installing revenue-raising parking ticket machines in the car park adjacent to Joynton Smith Drive, but didn’t spend a cent on pedestrian access or even removing the rocks on an area that should be footpath.

Martin Jones, Belconnen

Thanks for fun words

THANKS for the fun word puzzles (“Local worm game wriggles to success”, CN July 21). It’s great to finally see alternatives to crosswords and sudokus!

Vera steiner, Queanbeyan

Tim’s right about events

I AGREE with Tim Gavel’s comments (“Cup makes a point” CN, July 21) in relation to the need for Canberra to encourage more mass-participation sporting events that are “non-traditional”.

This year the Canberra Dragon Boat Association played host to the Australian National Dragon Boat Championships, which saw more than 2000 paddlers and supporters from all over Australia come to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in early April for four days.

Many of the visitors came before, and stayed after, the event, patronising our local hotels, businesses and services. Many of them commented on how enjoyable they found Canberra in general and the event in particular.

We could not have hosted such an event without the support of our members, sponsors, and the Territory and Federal Governments. It would be wonderful indeed to see Canberra throw its support behind other, similar events in the future, whether for dragon boating or any other sport.

Betsy Dixon, president c anberra Dragon Boat a ssociation

It takes one?

I SUPPOSE the old saying “it takes one to know one” would certainly apply in regard to Robert Macklin’s transparently slanted opinion of Mr. Murdoch and Fox News (CN, July 21).

After all, it’s quite easy for him to draw enlightened conclusions about Mr. Murdoch from one lone meeting (43 years ago at that) and passing judgment (a political one) on only a portion of the media portfolio he runs.

When was the last time Macklin actually watched Fox News programming? I bet it wasn’t recently.

For the record, my wife and I are conservative in our positions and Fox News watchers, but we are hardly ignorant, certainly not bigots and clearly more civilised in our approach to world affairs than Macklin or any of the shock jocks he apparently likes to listen to that he used as a comparison.

Rick Grave de Peralta, Duffy

Letters are invited from “CityNews” readers. Let loose to editor@citynews.com.au or write to the editor at GPO Box 2448, Canberra 2601. Letters of 200 words or less stand a better chance of publication.

all about the arts

Julius has a lean and hungry look

Arts editor HELEN MUSA discovers some surprising differences in Bell’s new adaption of “Julius Caesar”

YOU can expect to see a lean and hungry version of shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” at the Playhouse soon.

For Bell shakespeare has hired playwright Kate Mulvany, not only as an actor playing a lean-andhungry role, but as co-adapter, with the director Peter Evans, of this much-loved work.

Mulvany, of course, is already familiar to Canberra audiences from her performance piece “The s eed,” seen at The street Theatre two years ago – that’s the last time she was in Canberra.

Keeping busy writing scripts, including a commissioned work by Bell shakespeare about female freemasons, she’s been working in film and TV. Now she is playing, of all roles, Cassius, the brains behind the coup against Caesar.

Typically, Cassius is thought to be a man, but in Mulvany’s view that’s irrelevant, since essentially he is, as shakespeare wrote him, a living breathing human being. And anyway, Mulvany reminds me, Robyn Nevin once played Mark Antony.

It seems there are pitfalls in casting the often vituperative Cassius as a woman, so they had to be careful not to stereotype him as a conniving female.

“I’m playing Brutus’ sidekick as a strong female character and a

brilliant politician,” she says. she is manipulative, she’s lean and hungry, but she’s also vulnerable and dies with a beautiful speech.

“I don’t say sorry, but it’s pretty damn close,” Mulvany says.

As co-adapter, she has a view about the contemporary parallels being drawn in this production, promoted with references to Julia Gillard’s political assassination of Kevin Rudd.

To Mulvany, “Julius Caesar” is much bigger than that, with “an intricate set of relationships, so there’ll be no red wigs and no terrible Ocker accents… this is a universal piece.”

As for the scripted female characters, “Julius Caesar” has two principals, Caesar’s wife Calpurnia (“I told him, don’t go”) and Portia, the upstanding wife of Brutus and daughter of the stoic philosopher Cato.

shakespeare obviously loved both the character-type and the name of Portia, used twice in his plays. Here she’s played by Melbourne’s Katie-Jean Harding, who, with Antony, gets some of the best lines in the play.

Credited by critics as the only married woman in shakespeare to rise above wifely stereotyping, she is nonetheless often played using sexual wiles to persuade Brutus to unbutton his secrets.

“I tackle it in a different, modern way, asking what it is to be a woman,” Harding tells me. “It’s a brilliant role and a brilliant scene,” she says, shedding light on the character of Brutus and what he’s giving up by getting involved in the conspiracy against Caesar. Harding also hints at the

lean-and-hungry look of this new version, in which the ending is changed. Really? How? “Well that’s a big question for the audience to answer,” she answers.

“Julius Caesar”, The Playhouse, August 2-13, bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Johnson

Monstrous look at art

arts in the city

Helen Musa

ARTIs T Michelle Day loves weird exhibition titles. The latest is called “Monstrosity”, and she joins Bev Bruen, Julie Monro-Allison in a pre-occupation with corporeal monstrosity: textile fetishisation, malignant growth, non-human/human abjection, and “the fluid intersections of desire and disgust, fear and comfort”. Canberra Contemporary Art space, Manuka, August 3-14.

MORE monsters. Composer Michael s ollis and writer Cathy Petocz have come up with “Dinosaurs”, a “wild, energetic” musical promising lots of dinosaurs, earthquakes, and even a song about excrement. There are places for 30 children aged 7-11 to help tell this cretaceous tale as part of music for Everyone’s “Act Up sing Out!” program. You’ll need to sign up now. Inquiries to 6230 7190 or info@mfe.org.au

WHAT’s in a frame? Congratulations to Framing Matters in Manuka for receiving the top design award in the National Framing Competition. It’s hardly its first such award since the business began 10 years ago. I’m reminded that it has also held exhibitions on conservation framing techniques and framing design. Visit www.framingmatter.com.au

CANBERRA Youth Theatre director Karla Conway has designed a series of workshops to teach emerging and independent artists how to survive. First off the rank in August are “The Working Actor,” and “ show Me the Money: Grant Writing/Pitching & Selling Your Idea”. You’ll even get a certificate if you complete the courses. Inquiries to Conway at 6248 5057 or karla@cytc.net

CANBERRAN performer Hanna Cormick will present a work combining mask and performance practice fusing Balinese and western traditions on August 6 at 7.30pm at Belconnen Arts Centre. s he’s been in Ubud studying with mask master Ida Bagus Anom under an Australia Council JUMP mentorship. Inquiries to info@belconnenartscentre.com.au or 6173 3300.

I RECENTLY dropped in on one of the shed s essions at the Artists shed in Queanbeyan. Held on the first and third Sundays of the month from 2-5pm (the next one is on July 31), these are mostly blues and roots music sessions, with entry by paper note donation, local wines and best of all, a cozy spot around the fireside. Just turn up to 14 Foster Street Queanbeyan.

arts&entertainment

Letters tempt a lonely love

cinema

Dougal Macdonald

“BEAuTIFuL LIES”(M)

does not give her enough support.

At Greater Union and Dendy

“BAD TEACHER” (MA)

THE news that in her early sixties, after 94 titles and eight awards, French actress Nathalie Baye plays a principal character in Pierre Salvadori’s film delighted me.

Abandoned wife Maddie is slightly off the planet, lonely, needy, with femininity far from its use-by date. The shy handyman Jean (s ami Bouajila) at her daughter Emilie’s (Audrey Tautou) hairdressing salon composes a passionate anonymous letter to Emilie who, by keying it into her word processor then sending it to add sparkle to Maddie’s life, unleashes an uncontrollable monster.

s alvadori compounds the damage by having Emilie send further anonymous letters. They lack the honest passion of Jean’s original.

The problem with telling a lie is that it will almost certainly be discovered. The screenplay stretches the discovery process beyond its natural elasticity. In that zone, where improbability and credibility battle for supremacy, it reveals Emilie as an unpleasant woman (perhaps justifiably) and Maddie as a victim who will find salvation in an unexpected way.

Tautou may have top billing, but the film belongs to Baye whose straight-faced comic talent is a joy. Alas, the screenplay

I NEVER expected to see Cameron Diaz looking unattractive but she does in Jake Kasdan’s discordant hymn to bad taste playing Elizabeth, employed as a teacher at a school where management does nothing to query her manifest unsuitability for that profession.

Elizabeth is a gold-digger. No reason to why a teacher shouldn’t do that if she has the energy after school hours. But in the workplace, Elizabeth is lazy, selfish, manipulative, a thief and a liar.

Diaz does her best to breathe life into that swindle. But as the lecturer told a young me while rejecting my assignment at an ANU screenwriting seminar: “You’ve denied your central character any likeable qualities”. Writers Gene stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg have fallen into the same trap.

“Bad Teacher” is well-sprinkled with pejorative use of the “f” word, apparently to generate laughter. The people who watched it with me failed for the most part to rise to that or any other of the writers’ blandishments.

A woman’s desperate quest for money for breast augmentation in the hope of attracting a wealthy husband offers scope for great comedy. But this one’s insistence on denying Elizabeth any redeeming qualities ruins its chances despite a half-hearted attempt to justify itself in the last reel.

At all cinemas

“LARRy

CROWNE” (M)

LOOK at Tom Hanks. Doesn’t that guileless, open, uncomplicated face bespeak warmth, dignity, honesty, diligence? sure, he can play bad guy with the best, but Larry Crowne is the epitome of human goodness coping with stress.

Hanks wrote, directed and starred in this gentle observation of a simple man made redundant in a low-skilled job because his CV doesn’t show a degree.

The reasons are valid and meritorious but the company rule book is unforgiving. s o when this 50-something survivor of a broken marriage finds a college offering courses to mature-age students, he enrolls in communication and economics.

The film’s forays in the college and community beyond the classroom become signposts to Larry’s interaction with communications lecturer Mercedes (Julia Roberts) coping with a dysfunctional marriage.

Hanks has spun the film’s romantic thread with admirable restraint. The pair’s chemistry is pleasant rather than exciting.

Despite giving Hanks the impetus that propelled “Forrest Gump”, “Larry Crowne” offers warm humour, credible issues (sometimes with improbable resolutions) and a gentle examination of the travails currently besetting working-class America. Nice but negligible, that’s my assessment.

At Greater Union, Hoyts and Limelight

Twin concerts of superb singing

MuSIC

Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge Concerts at Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, July 19-20

Reviewed by Clinton White

TWO concerts, two different programs, 500 years of history, and 28 early twenty-somethings who make up the Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, delighted capacity audiences in the serene surroundings of the

Wesley Uniting Church.

The first performance featured European music from the Romantic period, drawn from Austrian, Russian, Hungarian, French, German and Italian composers, while the second concert was all-English, but giving us a Cook’s tour of 500 years of composing. The works by Morten Lauridsen and Philip Ledger were particularly beautiful.

slightly tentative and nervous starts to the two performances settled quickly into highly disciplined, superbly balanced and beautifully toned singing.

Perfect pitch was maintained through the mostly a capella pieces with basses hitting impossibly low notes and sopranos impossibly high ones for such young voices.

Phrasing, tempi and volumes were directed skilfully by the conductor, Roxanne summerfield, who was standing in for Prof David Rowland, the choir’s music director, who was unable

to come on the tour. summerfield took a minimalist but precise approach to her style, resulting in excellence from the singers.

In the first concert, the organist, Mark Roberts, played one solo piece, based on the Big Ben chimes motif. He landed on a few wrong pedals at the start, but built the piece expertly to a climactic finish. This was the choir’s fourth tour to Australia and Canberra was the only place to be afforded two concerts, so we were very lucky. Hopefully, we’ll be just as lucky next time.

Street signs

THE street Theatre and the ANU s chool of Music are whipping up a nine-day jazz festival featuring international, national and Canberra artists, workshops and learning opportunities. street Two will become a sultry, nocturnal jazz club while street One will hold bigger sounds, opening with Vince Jones and closing with one-time Canberra group The Idea of North.

There’ll be the Bill Cunliffe Trio and John Riley from the Us , ANU faculty members such as Mike Price, Miroslav

It’s something special Onred

WHEN eight people head out for dinner and there’s not one complaint about the food you know you’re on to a great thing.

That’s the experience our party had at Onred at Red Hill Lookout, a classy restaurant with an ever-so-pretty view of the Canberra landscape, which includes many national icons and, at night, twinkling lights of the city. Hey, I know this isn’t New York, but it’s still something we should be proud of.

Onred began with siblings Jodie and Ben Johnson who transformed a tired, old-fashioned dining room into something quite smart, modern and understated (so the view takes charge). And they’ve upped the ante on the food.

dining

Wendy Johnson

The restaurant’s philosophy is to encourage diners to explore several dishes, so the menu is designed around smaller plates and it’s recommended you try three. The dinner menu is divided into lighter dishes ($16 to $20 each) and richer dishes ($21 to $23). Let me warn you that it’s difficult to choose and reading the menu may result in drooling.

The plating of the food is as lovely as the view and we agreed the simple combinations of flavours and textures and the use of fresh ingredients makes dining at Onred very special.

The open lasagna of Morton bay bug, roast zucchini, caper béchamel and tomato jam is a classic example of the cuisine’s personality. The dish is perfectly balanced and leaves you wanting more – much more.

Just as with as the lasagna, I adored the prosciutto-wrapped, braised rabbit with parsnip puree and a lively prune, pear, witlof and walnut salad. I also opted for the braised beef cheek with horseradish mash, sautéed carrots and parsley salad. It was scrumptious and the beef melted in my mouth. The only issue was two rich dishes in a row, but that was totally my choice.

Among the many other dishes that received rave reviews was the ricotta gnocchi with sautéed prawns, buerre noisette, fried artichoke and broad beans as well as the confit duck with sweet-corn puree, fondant potato, and asparagus served with a corn, shallot and micro-herb salad.

Onred’s wine list is impressive and carefully put together to marry with the style of the food.

And we could easily have been seduced by the five-course tasting menu ($95 per person food only and $135 with matched wines). It starts with the watercress soup with goat’s-cheese fritter (which one of our party adored), and continues with blue eye cod fillet, deboned quail, the beef cheeks and a decadent baked veloute of chocolate with drunken fruit ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Onred has been open under the Johnsons since December 2007. A visit is highly recommended – by all eight of us.

Onred, open for lunch Wednesday to Friday and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Red Hill Lookout. Call 6273 3517.

See all the photos at citynews.com.au

Smitten by Simon’s dynamic playing

AFTER five years overseas, pianist Simon Tedeschi is home. And Australian audiences are the lucky beneficiaries of his already consummate keyboard prowess now so well-refined.

Tedeschi has built a solid reputation for his pianistic versatility, moving effortlessly from the most difficult classical works to the freedom of jazz. This concert was no exception.

The lyricism of a s chumann impromptu opened the concert, and then a sensitive but sad interpretation of a work by Glinka, which Russian audiences find perplexing when he plays it there; they think it is a happy piece.

to jazz treat

Bukovsky and Eric Ajaye and

Rafael

The sole aim, the organisers say, is “nourishing and presenting artists to the best advantage in a joyful and imaginative style”. That’s artspeak for having fun.

The program is at www. music.anu.edu.au/cjp. Bookings to 6247 1223 or www.thestreet.org.au –Helen Musa

Prokofiev’s “Visions Fugitives” is a series of 20 short and seemingly randomly-themed pieces. It is tough in every technical sense. Tedeschi’s performance was stunning.

Thoughts of Norway were behind a particularly emotional performance of an elegy by Rachmaninoff, but then it was a tour de force with Tedeschi’s arrangement

of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”; a real crowd-pleaser.

Tedeschi rewarded the audience’s acclaim with two encores, very much in the jazz idiom. The first was by Fats Waller and the second a parody on Bernstein’s “Maria” from “West side story”.

simon Tedeschi’s playing style is dynamism in its element. One minute he is pushing down notes so gently, they can hardly be heard. The next he is testing the power of the piano to its limit. It is never forced though; his deft fingering carries exquisite sensitivity.

All the while, his relaxed on-stage personality delighted a smitten audience.

your week in the stars

With Joanne Madeline Moore August 1–7

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Don’t take shortcuts this week (especially at work). Concentration and discipline will get you a lot further than a rushed and half-baked approach. Focus on the task at hand, and complete unfinished business before you launch into ambitious new projects. You’re full of bright ideas but don’t just barge ahead – some forethought and planning are required first.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

There’s so much happening involving home, family and friends this week that it will be hard to keep on top of everything. Others are relying on you, so don’t promise more than you can comfortably deliver. Expect a few hiccups in your love life as Mercury moves backwards through your romance zone. Hang in there Bulls – true love will prevail.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

With Mercury reversing through your domestic zone, be very clear when you’re communicating with family members. What they say and what you hear may be two different things. Keep them up-to-date with what you are thinking and doing, otherwise misunderstandings are likely. singles – love is likely with a neighbour or platonic friend.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Have you been feeling moody and morose? Mars marches into your sign mid-week, so your motivation and mojo should start to return in spades. From now until s eptember 19 is the time to be passionately proactive, as you quit side-stepping and face challenges head-on. Plenty of physical exercise will also boost your energy levels. Go Crabs!

LEO (July 2 – Aug 22)

Take a close look at your personal values. Do you need to let go of certain people, possessions or attitudes that have passed their used-by date? And be careful that your main form of entertainment isn’t shopping. Your bank balance (and budget) won’t appreciate a ‘shop-‘til-you-drop’ kind of week! Saturn gives you a confidence boost on Friday.

VIRGO (Aug 2 – Sept 22)

Vigilant Virgos take note. With Mercury moving backwards through your sign, you’ll have to be careful how you give and receive information. If in doubt, don’t hesitate to doublecheck. Plus avoid starting major projects or signing important contracts until after August 27. Instead, focus your attention on revising, researching or reworking old ideas.

LIBRA (Sept 2 – Oct 2)

With Jupiter and Uranus shaking up your relationship zones, you’re keen to revitalise a stale romance – or look for an exciting new one. And is it time to introduce some fresh faces to your peer group? Mighty Mars moves into your career zone mid-week, so quit procrastinating and start being professionally proactive. strike while the iron is hot!

SCORPIO (Oct 2 – Nov 21)

The sun, Moon and Venus are lighting up your reputation zone, so it’s time for sexy scorpios to shimmer and shine in public. Be inspired by birthday great Yves st Laurent: “The secret to beauty is zest.” Old memories may upset you on Friday but don’t suppress your feelings. Use it as an opportunity to let go of negative energy; then you can move on.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Boredom is a big no-no at the moment for active Archers, so make sure adventure and excitement feature in your plans for the week. With Mercury causing mischief in your career zone, expect annoying hitches and hiccups at work over the next three weeks. The best way to handle it? Maintain your sense of humour, and don’t take minor mix-ups too seriously.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 1)

Are you going on a holiday or business trip over the next three weeks? With Mercury and Neptune reversing through your travel zones, expect some chaos and confusion along the way. Check (and double-check) your itinerary and make allowances for delays, cancellations and other last minute changes. A flexible approach will see you through.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 1)

Your bohemian side shines brightly, as Venus/Uranus aspects stimulate your eccentric, experimental nature. Don’t worry about what other people think – you have to forge your own unique path. With dynamic Mars moving into your health zone, astute Aquarians will channel energy into physical pursuits and keeping fit. Joint ventures are favoured on Friday.

PISCES (Feb 1 – Mar 20)

Pisceans are usually extremely perceptive, and can tune in to what others are thinking and feeling. But this week (with retrograde Mercury and Neptune both disrupting your psychic radar) don’t let mixed messages and incorrect signals lead you down the primrose path to trouble! Avoid drugs and alcohol, as they will increase your sensitivity.

Across

1 What is a paper used in voting?

8 By which other name is a dingo or brumby known?

9 Name a member of a loosely knit, non-conformist group.

10 What are passages taken from books, etc?

11 What is silicon dioxide more readily known as?

13 Which neurological disease is usually characterised by convulsions?

16 What do we call a writer of music?

19 What is a small, air-breathing arthropod?

22 Which term describes a farewell appearance (4,4)?

24 To be dormant, is to be what?

25 What is an accessory used to beautify the appearance?

26 Name another term for an exit. Down

2 Which word means goodbye or farewell?

3 One who suffers from Hansen's

disease is known as a what?

4 What are small pincers used for plucking out hairs, etc?

5 Name an order issued in connection with a judicial proceeding.

6 What is a buccaneer also called?

7 Which spiny leafless plant is chiefly native to hot, dry regions of America?

12 What is descriptive of a minute quantity?

14 To supply land with water to promote vegetation, is to do what?

15 What is a bodily position, especially one assumed for an artist?

17 Which term is descriptive of moving forwards?

18 Name a former province in N W India.

20 Which type of energy is now becoming more prevalent?

21 Name a very complex board game.

23 What are bovine beasts of burden?

Manhattan glamour in Griffith

AMANDA Jorgensen’s comfortable Griffith home is a haven of clean lines, with a sophisticated, restful colour palette, and pops of original art adding colour and vibrancy.

Having knocked down the original house on the block and built the home around six years ago when she was pregnant, Amanda admits they may have done things differently if they’d already had kids at the time.

“With hindsight, we’d have liked a rumpus, but we’re happy

HOUSE TOUR

Words: Kathryn Vukovljak

Photos: silas Brown

with the house,” she says.

“We reupholstered the sofas – I’m a big believer in getting bang for your buck, so I chose a basic fabric because you don’t really notice it; the effect is created through other items, like the cushions, wallpaper and ottoman, which has been upholstered in a Romo fabric.”

Management consultant Amanda says her style is American transitional.

“I wanted to create the feeling of a glamorous Manhattan apartment – in a family home in Canberra!” she says.

Amanda loves items that are

“neither traditional nor modern, somewhere in between”, but with a hint of understated glamour, such as the spectacular Gaetano scolari chandelier over the dining table.

Having recently updated her sons’ rooms, adding colour through restful blues, Amanda chose Orla Kiely bedding for Will’s room, with a papasan chair covered in Mokum’s Mimosa fabric in Flax, which “cost $40 to buy in sydney and $80 to get here!”, and a David Trubridge Coral pendant.

In Christian’s room, a wall of stripes in Porter’s Paints’ Flint and Hydrate add energy and fun, with a Tulip table from Matt Blatt and a bed that was found in “some bloke’s front yard”, says Amanda.

Inspired by Kelly Wearstler, Jonathan Adler, Kelly Hoppen, Nina Campbell, and by reading “Belle” magazine, Amanda says it’s always possible to take highend ideas and translate them into a more affordable option.

“I love a bargain and beautiful things,” she says. “I believe in only buying pieces you really love, even if it takes a while to find them.

“For me, half the fun is in the hunt.

“If you don’t love it, don’t buy it. You’ll only end up getting rid of it down the road anyway.” Contact Amanda at Home Cents/Duck Egg Designs on 0400 050258

garden

Huggable beauty of bark

gardening

cedric Bryant

WHILE I have been recommending blossom trees galore, it is easy to overlook the beautiful bark of trees.

I can literally hug many of these trees, as an example illustrated here is the bark of Prunus serrula (syn. P. tibetica). The red-brown, mahogany-like shiny new bark in spring is the main feature rather than the flowers.

Although, the single, white flowers appear in profusion in spring. The distinctive bark of other trees include the autumn flowering Lagerstroemia indica or Crepe Myrtle.

Its cinnamon-coloured bark appears as it sheds when the new bark grows in spring, similar to a snake shedding its skin.

Let us not forget the incredible range of eucalypts and, also illustrated here, the Angophora floribunda, a close relation of eucalypts. Angophora costata has smooth, attractive bark. These trees can be seen on the corner of Liversidge street and Balmain Crescent in Acton, planted back in 1920.

CONTINUING on the tree theme, is the target to plant one million for Planet Ark’s National Tree Day on sunday, July 31. Here, join the Friends of Mount Majura for a community planting event with the planting of local trees and shrubs in the Mount Majura Nature Reserve. Meet at the Majura Paddock behind Rivett street in Hackett. Car parking is at the Nature Reserve entrance in Antill street. start time is 1pm, although I suggest you arrive earlier for a barbecue and warm drinks, and finishes about 3pm.

The Mount Majura Mountain s couts are providing a thank-you barbecue at the conclusion. Bring your own shovels, trowels and/or mattock if you have them (and label them with your phone number) plus a bucket. Naturally, come with garden gloves, sensible shoes and appropriate clothing.

More information at 6247 7515

DURING our open garden at home a few weeks ago, a number of folk were fascinated by a dwarf holly. I had to admit that I had lost the correct name as it was planted

many years ago and said that I would give you the name here. It has been positively identified by the Royal Horticultural Society in England as Ilex aquifolium “Angustifolia”. Yes, I did send a sample to the UK after finding difficulty getting it identified here. After 10 years, it is just one-metre tall with miniature, rich-green holly leaves.

MOs T folk are familiar with Yarralumla Nursery, but may not know they now sell super-advanced trees direct to the public. These, until recently they were available only to landscape contractors, builders and developers etcetera. Now there is a large selection available at the retail nursery in Banks street. If you want instant shading for your home or have a new home on a block with not a tree or shrub, check these out. It will certainly save you waiting 10 years to see major green elements in your garden.

WINNER of the “Continuous Container Gardens” book is Elizabeth Barker, of Ngunnawal.

Time to get ready...

GET ready – spring is coming sooner than you think, in just four weeks!

Consider coring the lawn whilst the ground is soft (easier on the machines).

Top dress with washed river sand, which will trickle into the cored holes and improve aeration. Water the whole area with Multicrop “Ground Breaker” to deal with clay and other heavy soils. Feed spring flowering bulbs with a high potassium plant food to encourage more flowers. Your local garden centre will advise you on the most

The dwarf holly in Cedric’s garden.

appropriate food.

Water plants close to the home under eaves where the recent rain did not penetrate. You still need to water plants in containers regularly. Cut down ornamental grasses that were left for winter interest.

Prune Buddleia or Butterfly Bush very hard or it will get away on you. I prune my three-metre-high buddleias to one metre.

“Bread feeds the body, but flowers feed the soul”. Some of each is great!

New offices turn on demand commercial property

By t im Humphrey

TENANT pre-commitment is expected to be a key driver of new office construction in the ACT during the next 12 months.

Alongside larger agencies that have formally been looking at new space such as Customs (28,000sqm), the Therapeutic Goods Administration (12,000sqm) and Comcare (8000sqm), other office tenants on the next rung down will also be important in determining whether new towers get the go ahead.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is one organisation that will be looking at potentially co-locating a number of its offices in Bruce under the one roof.

Andrew Tharle, unit head – finance & commercial services, confirmed the institute would formally approach the market over coming months.

“We recently undertook a staff survey in terms of locational parameters and as a result have ruled out Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and Canberra Airport as possible relocation options,” he said. Industry pundits believe that

the agency will be primarily weighing up developments in Belconnen and Gungahlin against a move into Civic.

CBD-focused developers, such as Leighton Properties (behind s ection 64) and QIC (planning a mixed used complex on Cooyong street), are taking seriously the preferences of tenants the size of AIHW.

According to Terry Daly, managing director of Knight Frank in the ACT, Canberra is largely a government-lead market and

accommodation expectations for departments, big and small, involve a strong focus on energy management and environmental efficiencies.

“New generation buildings increasingly have the edge as they can be expected to deliver and satisfy these demands. Refurbished buildings, can, of course, compete but they will need to be right up to the mark in terms of specifications to attract the Government” he said. timh@spatialgroup.com.au

0402 017 912 3BR I

Smeaton Cct L.J. Hooker Manuka 0412 624 412 3BR J

Thomas Hart St The Real Estate Shop 6231 3100 3BR J

Canberra Region Property Summary

BRUCE

CHAPMAN

CHARNWOOD

Canberra Region Property Summary

CHIFLEY

CHISHOLM

FISHER

FLOREY

FLYNN

Canberra Region Property Summary

GRIFFITH

HACKETT

HARCOURT HILL

THE ONLY MARKETING YOUR PROPERT Y NEEDS.

LATHAM

LYNEHAM

MACARTHUR

NARRABUNDAH

Canberra Region Property Summary

NICHOLLS

NEWACTON

Thu 6:00-6:30 2/9 Morton St Ray White Queanbeyan 0425 544 664 3BR I Sat 10:00-10:45 1/7-9 Blackall Av McGrath Belconnen/Gungahlin 0413 503 312 3BR A

Sat 10:00-10:40 9 Northcott St L.J. Hooker Queanbeyan 0415 735 777 3BR A

Sat 10:00-10:30 6/39 Thurralilly St Luton Properties 0428 139 969 2BR M

Sat 11:00-11:30 37 Sassafras Cr Go Gecko Queanbeyan 02 6299 4400 3BR I

Sat 12:00-12:45 1/46 Carrington St McGrath Belconnen/Gungahlin 0413 503 312 2BR K

Sat 12:00-12:30 29 Jordan Pl Go Gecko Queanbeyan 02 6299 4400 3BR I

Sat 12:00-12:40 2/9 Morton St Ray White Queanbeyan 0425 544 664 3BR I

Sat 12:00-12:45 26 Patanga Gdns Ray White Queanbeyan 0412 000 841 3BR I

Sat 12:00-12:45 3/2 Velacia Pl Luton Properties 0429 123 423 2BR L

Sat 1:00-1:45 7 Bayldon Rd Luton Properties 0429 123 423 3BR G

Sat 1:00-1:45 19/25 Macquoid St McGrath Belconnen/Gungahlin 0413 503 312 2BR M Sat 2:00-2:45 20/11 Crest Rd McGrath Belconnen/Gungahlin 0413 503 312 2BR M

L.J. Hooker Manuka 0401 005 282 3BR J

Amaroo Pl Ray White Queanbeyan 0412 000 841 3BR I

Canberra Region Property Summary

TORRENS

TURNER

WANNIASSA