Canberra CityNews December 8-14, 2011

Hard Labor in the north and south

Is Labor too cocky after a decade in government? Have they resigned to being dependent on the Greens for government? Or are they so smug they don’t need to counter the Liberal election tactics? MICHAEL MOORE looks at the hard numbers ahead

THE problem for Labor at the next ACT election in October is not the candidates.

They are going to field an impressive array with an equitable gender balance across all the electorates.

The Chief Minister is still popular and provides an old government with a new face and a fresh approach. Her two longest-serving ministers are well known and have found their own ways to appeal to the electorate.

However, their vote drawing power is almost entirely focused in the central Canberra seat of Molonglo.

At the last election Labor had its strongest polling in the seat of then-Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope. The first preference vote for Labor in Ginninderra was just over 40 per cent of the vote.

By contrast it was around 36 per cent in Molonglo and Brindabella. At the time, Katy Gallagher was popular in Molonglo gaining 15 per cent of the first-preference votes. This was more than the combined effort of Andrew Barr at 6 per cent and Simon Corbell at 5 per cent. In Brindabella, John Hargreaves drew more than 11 per cent.

Molonglo is a laydown misère for Labor to win three of the seven seats.

There is even an outside chance for a fourth. Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher is likely to bring in close to two quotas in the Hare-Clarke electoral system. Even if Deputy Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Attorney-General Simon Corbell were able only to win a half a quota of firstpreference votes, they would still be elected. But there is an outside chance that one of the two men could be replaced by Angie Drake or Meegan Fitzharris. There is also a chance of one of these women wresting a fourth seat from the Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur.

In Ginninderra, the Stanhope factor has now disappeared and the leading Labor contenders – long-term back-bencher Mary Porter, who won 6 per cent of the first-preference vote and the freshly appointed minister and only re -

cently elected Chris Bourke who drew just 2 per cent. The Greens are fielding their convenor, Meredith Hunter who, with 10 per cent of the vote, considerably outshone the other two.

The Labor ticket in this electorate will include Yvette Berry – daughter of the very popular former minister and Speaker, Wayne Berry – as well as Jayson Hinder and Glen McCrae. The best known of these is the hard working Mary Porter.

Chris Bourke has an advantage as minister, but will still have his work cut out to become well-known within the year.

The difficulty for Labor is that their candidates are not well known and have not been as persistent in their door knocking as Liberals Vicki Dunne and Alistair Coe.

Labor faces a similar dilemma in Brindabella. Community Services Minister Joy Burch brought in nearly 8 per cent of the first-preference vote at the last election, but the main drawcard was retiring MLA John Hargreaves. Mick Gentleman, the former MLA who just missed out on his seat at the last election, is also in the running with Rebecca Cody and Karl Maftoum and Mike Kinniburgh. Amanda Bresnan was at about the same level of first-preference votes for the Greens.

However, the real challenge for the Greens and Labor in Brindabella is that the Liberals have moved their leader from Molonglo to this seat. Zed Seselja drew 18 per cent of the vote in Molonglo, well ahead of then-Deputy Chief Minister Katy Gallagher. He combines with Deputy Leader Brendan Smyth, who is also very popular in that electorate, and in 2008 drew more than 13 per cent, being the highest first-preference vote.

No doubt Labor is still confident that it will win a minority government in next October’s election. However, they are so strong in the seven-member seat of Molonglo that they have left themselves vulnerable in the two five-member seats.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health in the Carnell government.

Making the call for Maureen Course with a message for drink drivers

Sports broadcaster TIM GAVEL pays tribute to a special listener

AS a sports radio commentator, I am never really sure who is listening as I attempt, often in vain, to describe something that is rapidly unfolding in a frenetic fashion.

All I can do is hope that it has made sense to the listeners.

Commentators use different techniques in preparation and in delivery, but in the end, it comes down to concentration and the ability to describe what is happening in front of you.

When I started commentating more than 22 years ago, I had trouble shifting things from my mind such as: “Did I leave the iron on at home?”

Over the years, I have managed to put aside most things that don’t directly influence the job that I have to do.

There is one thing though that I kept as a special weapon when I was calling Brumbies’ or Wallabies’ games, and that was knowing that Maureen Larkham was listening.

She would pace around the back of Canberra Stadium when the games were at home; and she would go outside and walk around the garden while she was home during away-games listening to the radio. She found it hard to watch, especially when son Steve was playing. In fact, she found it increasingly difficult to watch him as he got older and the games became tougher.

was more important than anybody else, and that is what made her so special.

I have seen her in the company of people such as the actor Bryan Brown after the 2003 World Cup, politicians, sportspeople, everyday people, all were treated the same.

The support she provided to me and my family as we were going through the adoption process reflects the same kind yet direct spirit that she showed many others in the Canberra community. She was astonishing with her time and energy; practical and always generous.

She was a mother figure to so many young players coming to Canberra away from their families; and she supported the families who came to Canberra to see their offspring or partners play.

Despite her understated role in the community, Maureen was devoted to her family: husband Geoff, son Steve, daughter Rebecca, sister-in-law Jacqui, and son-inlaw Tom, and all her grandchildren.

By Freyla Ferguson

FOR more than 20 years Karralika Programs Inc has run drinkdriver education courses in the ACT.

And for the past seven years it has been the lead provider of the “Sober Driver Program”. Now, with the recent introduction of legislation that sees mandatory alcohol and drug awareness courses for people guilty of drink or drug driving, they’ve introduced a new, intense, drink-driver program for mid-highrange and repeat offenders called “Reversed”.

According to CEO Camilla Rowland, the aim of “Reversed” is to raise awareness, increase knowledge and help people make better decisions.

“In two, three-hour sessions, ‘Reversed’ will provide information and facts about alcohol and drugs, examine the impacts of drink driving on the offender and other people, provide approaches to problem solving and assist participants to identify risk situations and promote safety,” she said.

She says after the course participants will receive a certificate of completion and, once Road User Services are advised, they can reapply for their driving licence.

During matches when I was getting ahead of myself, I would pull back rather than invoke the ire of Maureen. If I started to lose concentration, I got myself together thinking that I needed to do it for Maureen.

You see, after games Maureen would provide an honest critique, without going over the top, in her own way. Even if she was critical of something, it usually ended in a laugh.

There was no chance of getting carried away with yourself around Maureen. She treated everybody the same and nobody

Her family-based values governed much of her life, and her children and grandchildren reflect this.

And similar to many parents of children devoted to sport; she was always there.

Seven weeks ago Maureen was diagnosed with cancer. She died following a short battle. It was no surprise that St John’s church was full and overflowing for her funeral.

The loss of Maureen Larkham impacted many, many people. As my nine-year-old said to me last week: “She was a very good person, we will miss her.” And I know we will.

8-14, 2011 Since 1993: Volume 17, Number 47

While the 18-hour “Sober Driver Program” will continue to be available, “Reversed” meets the Government requirements for drivers to begin their rehabilitation.

“It’s a much more intensive course,” she said.

“It includes a group session, so people can discuss their own situations and explore key themes in a group situation.”

The Road Ready Centre will provide a low-range, first-timeoffender course and both Road Ready Centre and Karralika Programs Inc will provide the mid-high-range and repeat-offender course.

“In a number of situations, people have gone on to other programs, such as AA, and changed their entire attitude to life,” she said.

The course costs $220 and $180 for concession. More information at www.karralika.org.au

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

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New ‘waterwise’ garden takes shape

Dividend with a downside

TREASURER Wayne Swan is between a rock and a hard place. He has committed himself and the Government to a return to a Budget surplus next financial year.

How that was ever to occur, other than with some highly creative accounting, was never entirely clear to me.

Perhaps buoyed by getting a kind of International Treasurer’s Gong recently, Swan has nailed his flag to the mast, he has ordained spending cuts everywhere.

This strategy has two problems; the first is that neither he nor we have any idea of how bad things may get in Europe, and they could easily be bad enough to postpone indefinitely any Budget surplus in Australia.

And the second is that he has told the Commonwealth departments to add another 2.5 per cent to the efficiency dividends they are already finding to support the Treasurer’s bottom line.

The efficiency dividend has been working for 20 years now. In my opinion it is simply a pernicious piece of financial policy – and a clear sign that the government that uses it cannot establish any real priorities.

If you want a feeling for the way the efficiency dividend works, consider your working lunch. In the beginning you allocate so much for it, and work out how much you can spend on it each day, allowing one lunch out. After 20 years of efficiency dividends you will be reduced to taking bread and a smear of jam. Next year, jam on three

As ‘Surplus Man’ Wayne Swan imposes more cost pressure on the public service, DON AITKIN sees the increasing reliance on the efficiency dividend as a mindless act of helplessness

days only.

Both from within and from outside the Australian government system, I can recall my own discoveries of activities that had long passed their original rationale, but were still being undertaken. “Why are we still doing this?” is not a question that seems to be asked very often. If governments want to save money, they might more usefully start dispensing with some of the activities that the Commonwealth has acquired over the years.

What does the Gillard Government really want to focus on? It could list those activities, and then fund them. Now look at the others. Do they need to be funded at all? They all do? Really? And there is no money? Well, you’ll need to increase taxation. Oh, you can’t do that? Why not? You don’t want to cut anything out because there’ll be an electoral backlash? That seems to be the core of the problem.

Well, I would have my own suggestions for activities that the Commonwealth might dispense with or close down, and so would most of us. And so would, I think, quite a few in government.

“Oh”, I hear you cry, but that would mean job losses! Of course. But the Govern-

ment says it has less money for jobs, and although the Prime Minister has promised that there won’t be any sackings, the reality is that there won’t be any new appointments. And some services will be curtailed or cut. How is the public good advanced?

The efficiency dividend is a mindless act of helplessness. We can’t work out what to do, says the Government, so you people learn how to manage with less. After all, you’ve done it before, and you’re still here.

Two parliamentary enquiries in the past thought that while the efficiency dividend had done some good, it had to be used with restraint, and that small agencies in particular needed to be guarded against the death of a thousand cuts.

My view is that there should be a fiveyear moratorium on its use, and that if the Government feels it needs more money, and can’t see anything at all it should close down, then it should raise the level of taxation. We are, after all, at the bottom end of the OECD group in terms of our taxation levels.

Don Aitkin, political scientist and historian, served as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra from 1991 to 2002.

Tourist time warp still heading towards history

AND the sign saga continues...

After our first reporting on the 30year-old tourist information signs in Commonwealth Park and Acton car parks in April (“Let’s do the time warp again”, April 21, 2011), and again in June (“Suddenly, we have new signs”, June 2, 2011), it appears at least one of the old signs is still showcasing a Canberra long gone.

The information maps on Barrine Drive in Commonwealth Park (now gone) and in the Acton car park, included directions to icons such as the Canberra College of Advanced Education that became the University of

Canberra in 1990, the Telecom Tower renamed Telstra Tower in 1993 and NATEX, now Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPiC) renamed in 1993.

The signs also included the original Caswell Drive pre-Gungahlin Drive Extension and Ginninderra Falls – which is no longer publicly accessible. Questacon is referred to on the map as “Science Centre” or “National Science and Technology Centre”.

And missing is the National Portrait Gallery, the Arboretum (a step up from the noted Yarralumla Nursery), the National Zoo and Aquarium, CSIRO Discovery Centre and the Canberra Glassworks.

The information signs were ex-

pected to be replaced as part of the ACT Government’s $1.1 million recreational direction signage project “to encourage Canberrans and tourists to walk or cycle around our waterways”, that was launched in June.

And although at least 37 signs were installed around the 16km west-basin loop, this sign in the Acton carpark still remains.

According to Territory and Municipal Services, the signs replaced some of the older and redundant directional signage, which had been installed around the lake over the past 20-30 years. One old heritage sign was also removed as part of this stage.

“There is an old heritage sign locat-

A chance encounter changes Therese’s life

THERESE O’Brien had no idea that a trip to see wildlife in Borneo would lead her on a crusade to save endangered orangutans.

The public servant, university student and mother-of-one, had a chance encounter with a wild orangutan when on holiday last year with her partner, and has been hooked to the cause ever since.

Therese is one of the ACT representatives of the Australian Orangutan Project, a not-for-profit organisation that has three aims: conservation, education and protection of orangutans, which are in grave danger of extinction due to deforestation in Sumatra, Indonesia and Borneo. One of the animal’s biggest threats is palm oil plantations.

“I wasn’t fully aware about palm oil...” she said.

“But going to Borneo, when you drive around you just see massive plantations everywhere, trucks going past full of palm oil, the whole economy is based around it.

“It’s not all totally negative, there’s employment opportunities, it has given people livelihoods, who may not have any other opportunities but it’s causing massive extinction across the whole forest.”

Therese says illegal logging and the illegal pet trade is also a big issue facing orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo.

“People will go and kill an orangutan and capture a baby to sell for about $15,” she said.

“They are very similar to humans in that a baby orangutan, when seeing their mother tortured and

By Freyla Ferguson

killed, will be quite traumatised.

“Then taken to a strange place out of the forest, living in a box, or chained under a tree, fed rice instead of fruit.

“Their mothers chew up their food for them as well, so they can’t quite digest what they are given, sometimes they are given cigarettes.

“At a quarantine centre in Sumatra earlier this year, some of the babies had their arms amputated because they had been chained up for so long, as they grew, the chains were too tight and basically killed their hands or their foot and they’ve had to be amputated before they get gangrene.”

AOP mostly fundraise in Australia – in the ACT, its recent fundraiser “Jazzin’ for Rangas” raised $8500.

How they spend the funds was based on science and urgency, Therese said. The organisation selected projects in Sumatra and Borneo, sometimes run by other organisations, that it believed would have the most impact. One of these projects included a sustainable palm oil farm in Aceh, Sumatra.

“So instead of chopping down rain forest, they use fallow land, land the community all own, they’ve got the community together farming it and that will raise income for that community so that they are not out killing orangutans,” she said.

Therese said that although AOP worked on edu-

ed near Commonwealth Bridge (city side) which has not yet been replaced,” a TAMS spokesperson said.

“It is expected that this sign will be removed as part of the second stage of works to install new recreation signage around the central-basin loop.

“The ACT Government is currently liaising with key stakeholders, such as the National Capital Authority, on the design of these new signs.”

But what’s another few months, after being out of date for more than 20 years?

The recreation signage project took about 18 months to develop and sees the installation of 100 signs across the ACT.

Therese O’Brien and her toy orangutan... “People will go and kill an orangutan and capture a baby to sell for about $15.”

cating communities in Borneo and Sumatra of the importance of the environment and orangutans, the organisation also wanted to educate Australian communities, too.

“My favourite program is called ‘Safe Guard’, $7.50 for one year will protect 10 hectares,” she said.

“What we do is train local people to become rangers. They get a uniform and they get a motor bike or whatever is needed and they drive around patrolling the forest.”

AOP in the ACT hoped to get more involved with local schools, to educate Canberra students about their cause.

Therese said there were also other ways to get involved, such as joining AOP or adopting a baby orangutan to help fund its rehabilitation at a quarantine centre.

More information at www.orangutan.org.au

briefly

Fiona helps homeless

BLUES musician Fiona Boyes will donate $5 to Anglicare from the sale of every copy of her new CD “Blues for Hard Times” to help young people in Canberra who are homeless celebrate Christmas. The Canberra performer is a distinctive guitarist, singer and songwriter who has received unprecedented recognition as an Australian blues artist, with four successive nominations in the US Blues Music Awards. There is a donation button at www.fionaboyes.com

Eco gift market

THE inaugural Eco Christmas Market will be held at the Canberra Environment Centre (corner of Lawson Crescent and Lennox Crossing, Acton, by the National Museum) on Saturday, December 10, 10am-4pm. Its environmentally and socially responsible gifts include second-hand “vintage” bikes, Corinbank Festival tickets, solar panels, organic wine, Fair Trade bags, rainwater tanks, pots of mixed herbs and veggies, massage vouchers and even recycled bottle cushions in eco-friendly fibres. More information at www.ecoaction. com.au

Guide to battlefields

VC winner Cpl Ben Roberts-Smith has launched “ANZACS on the Western Front” at the Australian War Memorial. The guidebook, by Dr Peter Pedersen, head of the memorial’s research centre, guides readers chronologically through the major battles in which Australians and New Zealanders fought on the Western Front from 1916-1918.

Locals shooting for the stars

IN so many ways, Canberra is coming of age.

A perfect illustration occurred recently when I had the privilege of taking part in a fascinating three-day workshop on television production held at the Canberra Business Council headquarters. It was a revelation.

Like so many writers, I lead a monkish existence between bursts of intense public exposure as I promote my latest book. So I don’t often go to group events. But because I graduated from the screenwriting course of the Australian Film and Television School the same year as Jane Campion and other worthies, I dip my toe in the moving picture business from time to time.

In fact, I have always preferred writing films and at one stage – when one of my books was turned into an MGM movie starring James Spader and Jason Robards – I was terribly tempted to try my luck in Hollywood. However, good sense prevailed and we stayed in Canberra where the family grew up sane.

When I was arts editor of “The Canberra Times” in the ‘90s, I hammered away at the government of the day to develop a film industry here. We have so much going for us – more sunshine than anywhere

ROBERT MACKLIN, back in the movie world for three days, emerges convinced there is room for a film industry in Canberra

else in Australia, bush, snow, mountains, suburbia, marvellous iconic buildings and, most important, wide uncluttered roads that allow cast and crew to get where they want to without dreadful hold-ups.

The one ingredient we lacked at that time was a critical mass of talented people who wanted to be film makers. Indeed, take away the legendary Andrew Pike and a few close associates and the cupboard was almost bare.

Not so now.

ScreenACT director Monica Penders is fast becoming an irreplaceable National Capital treasure. Canberra-born, Monica went out into the film world and made it in the toughest market of all: New York.

There she raised funds and produced pictures and got them up on the world’s screens, most notably the $27 million fantasy “The Secret of Moonacre”.

So respected is she in the Australian industry that she’s able to attract the best people to share their knowledge with a growing band of talented writers, directors and producers.

This was the workshop I joined as one of the most respected television producers in Australia, Gus Howard, gave us the benefit of his vast experience. Gus is best known as the producer of the long-running “Blue Heelers”, but he has also made movies and other television programs with all the people who matter.

He was a hard taskmaster at the workshop. All 18 of us had to create and develop a TV program then “pitch” it to Gus, who adopted the role of network boss or production house supremo as required.

The result was mind-blowing. Of the 18 pitches, at least half have a very good chance of being made – and being shot in and around Canberra, thus providing jobs, investment and a fabulous showcase for our fair city.

It’s hard to think of another endeavour where the ratio of return on investment could be so extraordinary. I can’t tell you how pleasing it is, after all these years, to be present at the birth.

robert@robertmacklin.com

Workshop woes get worse

By arts editor Helen Musa

IN the latest episode of the long-running Fitters’ Workshop soap-opera that has seen the visual arts and the music communities at loggerheads, Greens planning spokesperson, Caroline Le Couteur has accused the ACT Government of a “community-free approach” to planning.

Readers who can follow the twists and turns in the dispute will know about the competing interests of Megalo Print Studio and Gallery and the concert-going community over a Stanhope Government decision to allocate the Fitters’ Workshop (next to the Canberra Glassworks in Kingston) to Megalo as a permanent facility.

After an 11th hour discovery that the workshop, a JS Murdoch building (like the Powerhouse and Old Parliament House), had nearperfect acoustics, members

of the music community lobbied successfully for an Assembly inquiry into the uses of the Fitters’ Workshop and for suspension of work indefinitely on the plans for occupation by Megalo.

Ms Le Couteur was referring to the Government’s creation on November 14 of a regulation to exempt a precinct including the Kingston Arts Precinct from thirdparty appeals, swiftly fol-

lowed on November 28 by its approval of the development application for the Fitters’ Workshop. Theoretically, this could prevent anybody appealing against current plans and make the Assembly inquiry irrelevant.

Arts Minister Joy Burch responded that the Government would not do any work on the Fitters’ Workshop until the committee process had concluded.

Healthy, wealthy and wise property

c atherine c arter

CANBERRA is healthy and wealthy, relative to the rest of the nation, according to a new report.

“The State of Australian Cities 2011” says we take advantage of our topology to be the nation’s most prolific bicycle users and our incomes and spending are impressively high.

We are also more likely than any other city to have at least one parent in every family in work.

The report, a snapshot of all Australian cities with more than 100,000 people, showed Canberra as overly dependent on the public service for employment, and seriously under-provided for public transport. For example, we have the lowest level of manufacturing in the nation and a low number of people employed in retail and wholesale. We face a tripling of freight transport alone by 2030 and, because of our public transport situation, all that freight will be added to the burden on our roads. These issues, among others, make us more vulnerable to unexpected changes than other cities, so we need to anticipate and plan. Thanks to this and other research, we know a lot about the ACT, its strengths and weaknesses as a city. It is now time to consider a target – a realistic picture of the Canberra we’d like.

Seamless connectivity? Reduced dependence on the car? Range of lifestyle options? We need to decide what we want, a deadline for achieving it and what we are prepared to pay to get it. Only then can we create effective strategies for maintaining our current lifestyle advantages and achieving the future we really want for our home.

Catherine Carter is ACT executive director of the Property Council of Australia.

Home sweet house of the year!

ROD and Lee Sheather could not be happier that their family home is the house of the year.

It’s the culmination of years of hard work since they purchased the half-hectare block on Mugga Way that won this year’s HIA ACT and Southern NSW Home of the Year award.

“It’s a 1930s house bought by Frank Packer in 1940 for his grandchildren. I bought it in 2009 to do up and live in,” Rod says.

The $1.3 million renovation has been praised for the way it pays respect to the original cottage and, Lee says, doing the renovation was a challenge.

“I’m a modernist at heart, so my instinct would normally be to buy an old place and crush it down and start again,” she says.

“But when we brought the old cottage on Mugga Way we decided not to knock it down, but to keep with the feel of the area.

“The house has a lovely homely feel that  ows right through the house. There is a great living space for a large family and I love our huge galley kitchen, which is eight metres long.

“I didn’t have an unlimited budget on the renovation and the kitchen came in at under $50,000.

“I try to design things so they won’t date. You want to have something that’s timeless.

“My mother used to drag me around to look

at display homes when I was little and even from a very young age I would look at the beautiful homes and I just knew one day I would live in something like that.

“My poor husband never knows what he’s coming home to because it’s always evolving. That’s the way I design – so it might just be new cushions or a new feature piece that I add, but something is always changing.”

Rod and Lee have been married for 15 years and in that time have lived in eight different homes, each they have built or renovated together.

“We like doing it, but we do  ght working together!” Rod says.

Lee agrees it isn’t always easy.

“We clash sometimes, but it’s like any good partnership and some days you have to compromise,” Lee says.

“My husband works so hard and it means a lot to me to see him achieve what he has.”

When asked how long they plan to live in the luxury Mugga Way residence, Lee hesitates: “My husband says he wants to stay here now, but designing and creating a home is in my blood and I think I can do better.

“I’m always trying to achieve the dream house and I’m not there yet, but I never feel like my work is good enough.”

Rod Sheather Consultants, Suite 21 Deakin Court, Hopetoun Circuit, Deakin. Phone 6282 2200 or go to www.rodsheatherconsultantsptyltd.com.au

Winning ways of Rod’s family business

IN his 35-year career, Rod Sheather has been no stranger to winning awards, but the most ful  lling came this year when his company took out the HIA ACT and Southern NSW Home of the Year.

Rod, a quali  ed architectural draftsman and builder, won the award for the renovation of his own home – a 1930s house in Red Hill.

His company Rod Sheather Consultants is a family business, with his wife Lee, a design consultant; nephew Greg Sheather (Rod’s “right-hand man” and foreman); son Ben Sheather, a senior quali  ed carpenter/joiner.

The team took out  ve awards at this year’s HIA CSR ACT and Southern NSW housing awards including Renovation Project of the Year, Renovation Project priced to $150,000, Renovation Project priced $150,000 to $250,000, Renovation Project over $450,000.

In 1967, Rod left his home town of Cootamundra to come to the ACT and study to be an architectural draftsman and, he says, Canberra has been good to him.

“I’ve been down and out, too,” he says, add-

ing that his success now is due to hard work.

“Lee and I started the company together and we started with one job and the company took off from there.

“We always have 10 or 12 houses on the go.”

Rod Sheather Consultants specialises in custom-built homes, but take on all work including house extensions, renovations to large and small homes including garages and other small projects.

Rod says the company does its own design and documentation, taking the client from the beginning of the building process through to construction completion.

Rod has 35 years’ experience in the building industry.

Along with wife Lee, Matthew Gatt, a quali ed architectural draftsman who liaises with the planning authorities and business manager Beth Hill, who assists with selections and liaises with business suppliers, and their close-knit subcontractors on site, Rod says his team strives to provide a high level of customer service and professionalism.

Canberra Confidential With Lisa Ridgley

Sexy mums and hot tradies

IT could cause quite the stir. “CC’s” heard whispers that Gungahlin’s Siren Bar and Restaurant is about to release its new cocktail menu with some controversial titles.

They include the “Harrison MILF” and the “Hot Crace Tradie”.

While Siren was unable to comment last week, “CC” can confirm the “Harrison” cocktail has been named “in honour of all the sexy mums in Gungahlin”. A mix of vodka and lychees, it’s so good, they say, “you’ll need to book a babysitter”.

Located on Gozzard Street opposite the police station in Gungahlin, the new bar is proving popular with locals in desperate need of a place in the ‘burbs to enjoy a drink with friends.

Wot, no freakin’ rissoles?

MEANTIME, a former Australian rugby league halfback’s been seen dining at Aubergine with friends and associates recently. But we’ve heard it wasn’t without controversy.

Apparently, the Order of Australia recipient fancied rissoles and a VB. When told by waitstaff that neither existed on the menu, his language apparently became, shall we say, colourful.

Onlookers say it appeared to be all in good fun. “It wasn’t like he called ‘cattledog’ in the middle of the restaurant,”

a source tells “CC”, “but there were a few expletives.”

And while “CC” can’t confirm the star’s final order, perhaps some might say the “toughest man on the field” is now the toughest patron in the restaurant.

Lodging a complaint

IT seems someone may have forgotten to pay a bill for the PM. “CC’s” heard whispers The Lodge has a fruit and veggie account that’s apparently seven months in arrears.

Wiffens has been supplying The Lodge with fresh fruit and vegetables for some time. And according to sources, the family-owned, locallyoperated business continues to deliver, despite the overdue account.

And while Julia Gillard is probably completely unaware, perhaps the relevant bean counters might need to rethink the fruit and veggie budget. With the Government’s carbon tax now through parliament, “CC’s” wondering if any subsequent hikes in food prices might leave them incapable of paying at all?

Jett wows the crowd

SIX-y EAR- OLD Jett Atkins wowed the audience with his Michael Jacksoninspired dance moves at the launch of the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre’s 2012 subscription season recently.

Jett was invited to perform after taking first place in the junior division of the Queanbeyan Riverside Plaza

2011 Star Search competition.

He has been dancing since he was two, but he’s never had a lesson. He taught himself, imitating MJ’s moves in front of the mirror.

“When I first saw him in the Riverside Star Search I was actually quite stunned that a young boy could have the precision and moves he had incorporated in his routine,” says The Q’s program manager Stephen Pike.

“Even more impressive was the way he was able to express his passion at such a young age and I can’t help thinking what can I do to encourage this talent, let more people enjoy the talent and try to give the parents something that makes them think it is all worthwhile.”

Remember the name – Jett Atkins. “CC’s” confident he’ll one day be a big star!

Push to beat the ‘dog’

CONGRATULATIONS to Bill Lockley! The Canberra man, who has been fighting a battle against depression, managed 2442 push-ups in two hours to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute and

awareness of the illness.

Among the many onlookers and supporters, there was an unexpected flashmob there to cheer him on in Garema Place recently. And it’s a challenge Lockley says, he thoroughly enjoys.

“I love push-ups and I hate depression, so doing one to fight the other was a natural fit,” he said.

“All year I’ve been engaged in a running battle against depression. I’ve had good days and bad days, but one thing that always seemed to help me keep the ‘black dog’ at bay was getting regular exercise.”

In November, Lockley started Black Dog Push-ups by doing 3615 in three hours during the morning rush hour in Martin Place, Sydney. After receiving encouragement and support from friends and strangers, he is now taking the campaign to other cities.

To help Lockley reach his fundraising goal of $5000 for the Black Dog Institute, donations can be made at http://www.everydayhero.com. au/blackdogpushups

A moment with Carl

AUSTRALIAN comedian Carl Barron is on his way back to Canberra with his new show “One Ended Stick”. The funny man took time out to chat randomly with “CC” ahead of his December 10-18 shows at the Canberra Theatre Centre.

1. What sort of stuff do you request for your dressing room? Lemonade, fruit, maybe a beer, water and rock and roll!

2. You were in Canberra last in 2008. Do you have any funny stories from that trip?

I bought a pair of pants. That’s not funny really, but I bet someone at home reading this will laugh when they read it.

3. Where are your favourite hangouts when you’re in Canberra? Where will you head after your shows?

There is a really good coffee shop in town. I forget the name, but they just do coffee. I think it’s called the Buzz or Speed or something like that.... really good coffee.

Bookings to www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au

At the Gertrude Boutique fashion parade, Manuka

The fresh face for all kinds of design

The team of interior designers, architects and graphic artists at The Peppermint Room are all about freshening up businesses and homes alike. Recently, they freshened themselves up, too.

Formerly Dare 2 Design Interiors, The Peppermint Room is a new take on the existing business specialising in interiors, architecture and graphics.

Interior designers Tiffany Heighway and Jessica Merrigan say The Peppermint Room evolved because they wanted the business to re  ect their values as client focused designers more closely.

“That’s what we do for a living – we help people freshen up their homes and work places and we wanted to do it for ourselves as well,” Jessica says.

“We’re conscious as designers that it’s easy to be pigeon holed as a particular type of designer. Our challenge to ourselves, and our clients, is to always aim for an innovative, fresh approach to the task at hand,” Tiffany says.

Tiffany sees the future of the business as being heavily focused on commercial and retail/hospitality spaces.

“Residential work is always going to be a part of what we do and we’re passionate about that, but we’re creative people and we really enjoy working on a diverse range of projects, too,” she says.

“Hospitality is something that we’re really interested in at the moment, which is why we ran the “Do you recognise this space” competition in “CityNews” over the past six weeks.

The team at the Peppermint Room offer a holistic service, taking the design from conception to construction.

“As well as interior design services, we offer

architectural and graphic design services, enabling us to deliver comprehensive building and  t-out design services including furniture and curios selection, signage, window lm, logos and other graphic work as a complete package,” Jessica says

“It’s all about getting a complete look and feel for our client’s businesses so the  t-out matches the image and vibe they want to portray.”

“Whilst we design the space, we also offer project management services ensuring the brief is met and the original design intent is achieved,”

Tiffany says.

Tiffany describes the team as a bunch of professional and creative nutcases.

“We have a lot of fun coming to work everyday, which is evident in the quality, creativity and detail of the work we’ve completed to date,” she says.

“No job is too small and, of course, we love the big and unusual jobs, too,” Jessica says.

“We’re happy to take charge or act in a consultative manner, whatever is appropriate for the task. Projects are managed with reference to the brief, budget and timeframe.”

The Peppermint Room team collaborates closely with Small Quinton Coleman Architects and often deliver projects together.

Previous work includes:

The Hub function facility at the Canberra Centre

• •

The new Isis Fertility Clinic t out, Barton Edelweiss Gourmet Deli t out, branding and signage

Capital Advisors tout Australian Taxation Of ce alterations Department of Immigration and citizenship new facilities Queanbeyan City Council Riverside Café

Peppermint Room, Call 6278 8585 or visit www.thepeppermintroom.com.au •

Barton General practice t out

At 99th Schmooze, University House

all about the arts

A lot of Italy to love

By Helen Musa

SO you’ve never been to Italy, but you’ve always wanted to go? No problem.

The National Gallery of Australia has an instant solution in its newest exhibition, “Renaissance: 15th & 16th Century Italian Paintings from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo”.

“People will love it… it’s very, very moving and there are around 70 works of great variety – the kind of works Australians would see if they went to Italy.”

That’s Christine Dixon talking. She’s the NGA’s senior curator of international painting and sculpture and the Australian curator of the exhibition.

Dixon brings a wealth of knowledge and linguistic skill to the task of mounting this show. Together with coordinating curator Giovanni Valagussa, from the Accademia Carrara; Prof Jaynie Anderson, from Melbourne University and the NGA’s Ron Radford, she’s making sure that the painting scholar and the layperson will be satisfied.

The little hilltop city of Bergamo (emphasis on the first syllable) might be something of a backwater now, but it was described by architect Frank Lloyd Wright as “the most perfect city in the world” and was the hometown of Donizetti, whose opera “L’elisir d’amore”, runs at the ANU Arts Centre through the first week of the exhibition.

Only an hour by train from Milan, it was once part of the Republic of Venice and a thriving centre of the textile trade. Dixon feels sure that after this, a lot of the 9000 Aussie tourists who visit Italy each year will sidetrack to Bergamo.

The Accademia Carrara’s present rebuilding program has been the NGA’s good fortune. Just as with “The Great Impressionists: masterpieces from the Courtauld Collection” in 1984, French Paintings from the Musée Fabre in 2003 and “Masterpieces from Paris” from the Musée d’Orsay in 2009-10, the Bergamo museum is being refurbished. As Dixon says: “It’s only because they are homeless that you get the opportunity to borrow these paintings.”

So, prepare to have your breath taken away.

There are early and high Renaissance paintings from Venice, Florence, Padua, Ferrara, Bergamo and Siena by Raphael, Botticelli, Bellini and Titian. It’s the first time paintings (as opposed to drawings) by

Raphael and Botticelli have been seen in Australia.

The 15th-century part has an altarpiece from Vivorini, Madonnas, crucifixions and heroic saints such as St. Peter, holding the keys and St. John, holding a quill. But there are plenty of secular subjects, too, many to do with notable patrons, recognisable in the works.

There will also be works by lesser-known artists, just as fascinating in Dixon’s eyes. Take Giovanni Battista Moroni, whose sumptuous yet restrained Reformation-era “Portrait of a Child of the House of Redetti”, shows a little girl dressed in rich textiles wearing a crystal necklace and also a coral bracelet to ward off the plague. Such detail!

The 16th-century section will be of particular interest to art students, as it shows the transition from tempera on wood panel to oil on canvas around 1472-80 with Bellini.

“They look different,” Dixon says, with the tempera works painted on gold backgrounds, in contrast to the greater realism of oils.

But most breathtaking of all will be what she calls “the glamour of Raphael and Botticelli”.

Raphael, “Saint Sebastian” c.1501-1502, oil and gold on wood panel 45.1cmx36.5cm.

“Renaissance”, 10am-5pm daily (except Christmas Day) until April 9. Timed ticketing bookings to ticketek.com.au or 13 28 49. For visitors with mobility difficulties phone 6240 6411.

Compassion’s moving voice in the village

THIS first Samoan feature film begins with Saili harvesting mature taro growing around the gravestones of his parents.

Then he lops new plantings nearby. How can this be? Can a farmer afford to destroy plants from which he earns his livelihood?

Saili lives in the house of Vaaiga and her teenaged daughter Laita. The local women intensely dislike Vaaiga ever since she came to the community 17 years earlier.

An elder suggests to Saili that he deliver an oration to the community to persuade them to accept Vaaiga as one of them. Saili is reluctant. For he is not only a cripple, he is a dwarf. Fiaula Sanote’s courageous performance makes a significant impact.

“The Orator” tells a gentle, unhurried story about land title, community issues and love. Explanation of its underlying social and cultural factors comes slowly. The village cleaves to both Christianity and traditional custom (except eating people).

After the film I spoke with the pastor at Canberra’s Samoan church, who assured me that it accurately reflects Samoan village life. I’d like to think that it might gather a respectable audience in Canberra, especially beyond the Samoan community. It’s not ethnographic cinema. It doesn’t use mainstream cinematic values to tell its quite moving story. The cinematic values that it does present are uncompromising and delightful. Writer/director Tusi Tanasese eventually gives satisfactory explanations for all the dramatic questions his compassionate film raises.

At Greater Union and Limelight

THIS Italian production tells a trio of love stories. The first unfolds in that deliciously hazardous stage confronting young lovers deciding to convert cohabitation into commitment. While his brunette significant other stays in Rome, a young lawyer’s firm sends him to persuade a family to sell the farm it has tended for 50 years. Developers want it for a golf course. In the village, he meets a blonde of some speed. She reels him in like a fish. Then her husband comes home. A middle-aged TV newsreader gets tangled

cinema

Dougal Macdonald

with a dark-eyed beauty until the police tell him she has a reputation as a stalker. This story gets told in the manner of French farce. Only the French do French farce.

A widowered American academic is friends with the widowered Italian in the apartment on the floor below. The Italian’s spectacular daughter visits him for the first time since leaving a decade earlier to work in a Paris fashion atelier. There’s a small porky going on here. After her father explodes when he learns that actually she was working in the skin trade, the American gives her temporary shelter.

Writer/director Giovanni Veronese has written

documentaries

“THE

HuNGRY TiDE” (PG)

IT’S fair enough for Canberra to claim awardwinning documentarist Tom Zubrycki as one of its own, even though his career has done most of its blossoming elsewhere.

He hasn’t totally severed the connection – he was born and educated here and visits often; Canberra’s Ronin Films distributes those of his films that don’t belong to Film Australia, ABC or SBS.

In 2009, Zubrycki began filming a documentary about what climate change is doing to the Republic of Kiribati, four groups totalling 32 atolls and one coral island, none with an elevation more than two metres above 3.5 million square kilometres of Pacific Ocean which, influenced by changing climatic patterns, is slowly eating it away. Prospects for its 150,000 people are dire.

Maria Tiimon represents Pacific Calling Partnership in Sydney. This NGO focuses its energy on preparing Kiribati for the day when the hungry tide finishes consuming it.

Zubrycki accompanies Maria to the Copenhagen climate change conference and on her return to Kiribati to report. He films the encroachment of the sea and the building of

an effective screenplay in which Robert de Niro, grizzled and looking very good indeed, and Monica Bellucci as the daughter, build a relationship. Which they do, deftly, gently, making amends for what preceded them.

At Greater Union

WATCHING this melange of family issues, natural disaster, psychological crisis and muted horror, I kept looking for a rationale for its insistence on refusing to confront its underlying problem.

It’s as if writer/director Jeff Nicholls knows we know what’s missing from its dramatic thesis, but sees no reason to let us off the hook.

Curtis (Michael Shannon), Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and their deaf six-year-old Hannah (Tova Stewart) live in a mid-west community imbued with the social paradigms that Hollywood likes to

sandbag walls to keep it out. Sydney’s suburban railway system becomes a metaphor for the contrast with Kiribati’s poverty.

The film makes a useful visual contribution to understanding Kiribati. Its government and people have a realistic attitude to their future. The best option will not be easy, sending advance parties to settle in neighbouring developed countries to prepare for when the bad joke about asking the last person to leave NZ please to turn out the light becomes Kiribati’s reality.

Zubrycki outlines the issues with candour. Australia, which has already mined Kiribati’s main resource on Christmas Island, is best positioned to extend the helping hand.

At Greater Union, Manuka, 6.30pm, December 11-14. Q&A with Tom Zubricki on December 11.

“DANCiNG WiTH DiCTATORS” (M)

EARLy on July 2011, a court in Myanmar convicted Australian mini-media-baron Ross Dunkley of assault, sentenced him to a month’s imprisonment and turned him free because he had already spent seven weeks in the “notorious Insein prison” (that’s how most media mentions describe it; until I saw Hugh Piper’s film, I’d not heard of it although I wasn’t surprised to see it so described when I did) and appeared in court more than 20 times.

believe characterise America’s national virtues. Curtis starts having violent, terrifying, realistic nightmares. Ominous other warnings of an impending apocalypse begin appearing in the area. Curtis is the only person in town aware of them. Telling nobody why, he begins expanding the family’s tornado shelter.

Samantha stoically bears Curtis’s failure to explain his irrational behaviour until it overwhelms her. Nicholls denies her the comfort of telling him: “Get real with this, go see a mental health professional and get sorted out.” Tough call. Sorry, Sam. That’d be too easy a solution.

Jessica Chastain plays Samantha with bravura style that totally justifies her reputation on the top level of American film actors.

“Take Shelter” won the Special Jury award in Cannes this year. I’m gobsmacked.

At Greater Union

Dunkley owns a small string of English-language newspapers in South East Asia. The one that got him into trouble was “The Myanmar Times”. Piper’s film is a portrait of him melded with coverage of his stoush with the regime. He’d been arrested and charged with immigration violations and assault on a sex worker. But what Myanmar’s military dictators really wanted to bang him up for was publishing censorable articles about the regime.

Dunkley projects a typical Aussie larrikin with brains. He has won awards for journalism. He’s passionate about freedom of speech. The film gives strong indications that his staff would follow him through the gates of hell for a good story. It’s plump with detail, almost impossible to absorb in a single viewing. Not surprisingly, he’s all for democracy in Myanmar, for replacing the junta with an elected government led by Aung Sun Soo Kyi.

Piper and his crew were deported from Myanmar four days after the recent election, when the authorities saw that they were concentrating on Dunkley. Recent diplomatic events make me hopeful, but not optimistic, that the political situation in Myanmar will improve.

At Greater Union, Manuka, 6.30pm, December 8-10 and matinee December 11 at 1.40pm. Q&A with Hugh Piper on December 8.

Arts czars promise big, bold forum

arts in the city

NEWS has arrived that several of our arts czars (and czarinas) have formed a new voice, “The Childers Group”. Chief czar and chair Prof David Williams promises a big, bold public arts forum in 2012. More information at citynews.com.au

SO, now it’s out. The Australian National Botanic Gardens, along with the Portrait Gallery, is facing budget cuts. Nonetheless the Gardens are pushing on with a new Draft Management Plan. Copies at 6250 9540 or www.anbg.gov.au/gardens you have until January 31 to comment, email anbgplan@anbg.gov.au

‘TIS the season for de-funding. The Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council has announced that it will defund the 40-year-old advocacy body Craft Australia, from December. Craft Australia has had a strong voice in the Australian Design Alliance, the National Visual Arts Craft Network, and the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. This is NOT the same body as Craft ACT, which is still thriving.

yOU may have seen the photo last week of a glasswork given to “CityNews” Artist

of the year, Michael Le Grand, by Harriet Schwarzrock. Her work is on display at the Curtisglass Studio sale at 114 Uriarra Road, Queanbeyan, December 10, 10am-3pm. There’ll be glass-blowing demonstrations and a raffle for the Heart Foundation. THE Canberra band Lavers, described as a mix of The Beatles, The Who and Crowded House, are launching their debut EP, “The Street is a Symphony” at the ANU Bar on December 16. Local comedian Greg Kimball will be MC while Sydney Girls Choir and another Canberra band, Activate Jetpack, are support acts.

IT was such a full-on season launch at The Q that we couldn’t mention everything last week. So, there will also be indigenous singer-songwriter Shellie Morris, kids’

shows “The Gruffalo’s Child” and “I, Bunyip” as well as “Ladies’ Night”, NZ’s precursor to “The Full Monty”. Bookings to www.theq. net.au

M16 Gallery at 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith, never sleeps. It has two shows, “Seasick” by video artist Kate Vassallo and “Timescape” by painters Julie Brooke, Ella Whateley and Vanessa Barbay, running simultaneously, noon-5pm, WednesdaySunday, until December 18, with a floor talk at 11am, December 16.

CANBERRA doctor-pianist Robert Schmidli will perform Liszt Funérailles and Beethoven Sonata Op 53 in C major “Waldstein” at the Wesley Music Centre’s “Lunchtime Live” series, 12.40pm-1.20pm, December 14. Cost $2 or paper-note entry.

Janet’s world of local produce

JANET Jeffs puts her money where her mouth is when it comes to growing, promoting and using local produce.

Her dedication to the quality growers this region has every right to be proud of is most evident in The Kitchen Cabinet at Old Parliament House.

This is a special place indeed, not only for its new location at the front of this Canberra icon, but as a warm and inviting place to enjoy a coffee, lunch, afternoon tea or a drink on the terrace soaking in the views of another Canberra icon, the War Memorial. Take your carry bag with you because The Kitchen Cabinet is also a wonderful place to shop for “food less travelled”.

Janet, who says she is hard-wired to grow food, is now a farmer in her own right and from the fridges at The Kitchen Cabinet you can buy her free-range Wessex Saddleback organic pork, her premium rabbit from Braidwood, biodynamic osso bucco from a farm near Bungendore and much more.

dining

Wendy Johnson

Rabbit pies with mustard, made with love by Janet and her team in the kitchen, were on the menu on a recent visit. Flaky pastry, rabbit cooked “just so” and a wonderful side salad loaded with fresh capsicum, cucumber, tomato, onion and quality olives made for a perfect lunch. All for $8. This has to be one of the best deals in Canberra.

The two other pies on the menu during our visit were beef, bacon, red wine and rosemary, and snapper and prawn.

My friend’s quiche was extraordinary and another healthy lunch option. So, too, is the selection of pre-made gourmet sandwiches. And don’t forget the desserts. We shared a brownie – one of the best I’ve had in yonks.

After lunch, we took our time exploring the large range of regional products displayed throughout The Kitchen Cabinet and all for sale. Organic broad beans from Ballalaba, fresh cherries from young, salad mix from Gundaroo and free-range eggs from Harmony Hills. yumbo.

The chocolate section is enough to drive you insane and those with a sweet tooth

The Kitchen Cabinet... a wonderful place to shop for “food less travelled”. Photos by

won’t be able to pass by the honeycomb from Murrumbateman. Verjuice, jams and oils also line the shelves, including truffle-infused oil from Fedra Olive Grove, Collector.

There is something special about having lunch surrounded by food. And something special about buying local produce. Janet is right, we need to take responsibility for what we eat. For our own health, for our region’s health and for the world’s health.

The Kitchen Cabinet, Old Parliament House. Open 9am to 5pm, seven days. Call 6273 4366.

Decade doesn’t dim the memory of David

By Helen Musa

FOR many Canberra Theatre people, December 11, 2001, the day on which actor, violinist and director David Branson died in a car accident on Anzac Parade, was a sad one indeed.

This month brings the 10th anniversary of his death. There are very few personalities quite so alive in the memory of his friends – and even his detractors – as the voluble, charming, roguish and talented Branson, more than once described as the “Mayor of Canberra’s underbelly”.

Now his old collaborators, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, with whom he used to perform as “Senor Handsome”, are joining with The Street Theatre to hold a 10-year tribute afternoon of performances, stories, music and a barbecue in the forecourt.

Branson was into everything and everyone – Bertolt Brecht, Harold Pinter, Tennessee Williams, Charles Bukowski and Christos Tsiolkas. He co-founded Splinters Theatre of Spectacle, unleashing more than 20 outrageous productions on an unsuspecting public. He set a benchmark for theatrical enthusiasm rarely to be equalled.

He was wildly avant-garde, yet he performed with Canberra Rep and tutored kids at Canberra youth Theatre. He mixed it with local bands such as The Black Dogs, The Plunderers, and The Gadflys, yet he played the violin in Canberra youth Orchestra and directed a Handel opera for Stopera.

When he founded his own theatre company, he called it CIA (Culturally Innovative Arts). He thumbed his nose at the establishment, but won a Canberra Critics’ Circle award in 1998. He set a cracking pace with his rehearsal schedules, yet he was never missing from arts forums. He hosted the “Terrace Sessions” at the Terrace Bar, the Gypsy Bar and the “Salons at the Street” at The Street Theatre. With such a rage for life and theatre, it seemed desperately unfair that having moved so fast, he should have died so young.

David Branson tribute afternoon, at The Street Theatre, 12.30pm - 4.30pm, Sunday, December 11. Free event, followed by a performance by Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen in the Main Theatre at 6pm. Bookings to 6247 1223.

Dwarf”, The Street Theatre, 1997, with Louise Morris in the background. Photo by ‘pling

Details and entry at citynews.com.au/win

GRE y is the new brown when it comes to paint colours for the home.

Seven of the top 10 Dulux paint colours sold in 2011 were deep, dark greys.

According to the website inspirationspaint. com.au, the 2012 paint colour trends will continue to see slightly cooler neutrals, grey undertones as opposed to the warm brownbased neutrals.

Continuing on the cool trend, blue is back in more grey-based colours such as duck-egg blue and ocean-based green-blues.

Berry colours, such as fuchsia, purple and indigo, are also predicted to be popular in the coming year.

According to inspirationspaint.com.au, the kitchen and bathroom are the top two rooms to keep neutral as they comprise of mostly fixed materials that are expensive to replace. When it comes to children’s bedrooms, the advice is to paint any stimulating colours behind the bed so sleep is not affected.

www.inspirationspaint.com.au

TRADITIONAL stone-baked pizzas can be cooked on the barbecue this summer thanks to a range of tools to hit the market.

The Wiltshire Bar.B Pizza Stone Set, which includes a pizza stone, serving rack and pizza cutter, just made the humble barbecue much more versatile.

The stones are made from moisture-absorb -

ing corderite that distributes heat evenly throughout the pizza base, giving a stonebaked crispiness. They are also ideal for use with other baked goods such as breads and pastries.

More information at www.wiltshirebbq.com. au.

The passion for purple

gardening

cedric Bryant

PURPLE-leafed plants provide a wonderful contrast to the many shades of green in a garden.

They played an important part of Canberra’s early street-tree planting. The main variety used was Prunus cerasifera “Nigra” planted in Flinders Way, Griffith, and Antill Street, Dickson. The pale-pink flowers make a magnificent floral display in spring. Since those early plantings many new varieties of purple-leafed trees and shrubs have become available. I say new varieties, for many have been grown for years overseas, but not introduced here until relatively recently.

Fleming’s Nurseries, of Monbulk, Victoria, in particular have been responsible for numerous new introductions into Australia. Citing one tree for example is Acer palmatum “Tropenburg”, with its rich, purple leaves. This grows to about four metres and is therefore suitable for most gardens. It was originally grown at the Trompenburg Arboretum, Rotterdam, by the world-famous maple breeder J.R P. van Hoey Smith in 1965. Fleming’s now grow this here and it’s available at most garden centres. It was given the prestigious Award

of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society (UK).

AN individual, large, accent plant placed in a prominent position at the end of a vista or focal point attracts attention from every part of the garden.

This aptly describes another superb maple, Acer palmatum “Bloodgood” growing at the rear of our garden. When visitors enter along the side path into the main garden, invariably one of the first questions is: “What is that beautiful tree with its almost perfect shape and rich red-purple leaves?”

This grows to about six metres, which in terms of tree sizes is regarded as small. The leaves turn a stunning orange in autumn and the winged, red seedpods hang on to the tree from autumn well into winter.

OTHER smaller shrubs that I noted when doing my perambulations around the Heritage Nursery in yarralumla included Cercis canadiensis “Forest Pansy” with its huge purple leaves, pictured above. A large shrub or small tree to just 3-4 metres with amazing autumn leaf colour. Known also as the North American “Redbud”, the original Cercis was introduced into western gardens back in 1730 and ranges from Canada to Mexico. Consider Cotinus coggygria “Velvet Cloak” or commonly referred to as the “Smoke Bush” due to its inflorescence in late autumn/winter resembling puffs of grey smoke.

The rich, wine-purple leaves of this deciduous shrub (to four metres) turn to rich red in autumn.

There is a certain magic about purpleleafed plants. When gentle rain is falling on the leaves it is like many iridescent, glistening pearls. Green-leafed plants simply do

not have that magical appearance. THEN we have a recent, improved variety of the Chinese Fringe Flower, Loropetalum chinense “Plum Georgeous”. Its mass of pink flowers appearing at this time and into summer with a perfect backdrop of rich purple foliage. Up to 2m tallx1.5m this can be pruned to keep smaller in a large container, draping naturally over the edges.

Introduced by Plant Growers of Victoria this is going to be a real winner with its rich foliage as an accent plant and definitely worth checking out. This is just a small offering of purple-leafed plants with many other grafted Japanese maples equally demanding a place in the garden.

A LAST-minute addition to last week’s book list is the recently published 43rd “special collector’s edition” of the “ yates Garden Guide” to celebrate the 125th birthday of yates in 2012. “ yates Garden Guides” have outsold every other book published in Australia and this new, updated and richly illustrated edition is a must and also a great gift at $34.95.

Little important jobs to do:

Dead head roses and give them a feed.

Lift the mower blades to a higher setting.

Plant dahlias without delay for autumn colour.

Water in the early morning rather than at night to prevent fungal diseases.

Try dusting apple trees with Derris Dust for codling moth. Re-apply after rain.

Mulch tomatoes with Lucerne hay. Do not over-water tomatoes.

1. Dermalogica Sheer Tint Moisture SPF15, $77.

 . L’Oreal u V Perfect SPF 30+ Tinted, $17.95.

 Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector daily all in one BB cream, $13.95.

 . Clarins Hydra Quench Tinted Moisturiser, $58.

5. Hamilton Everyday Face Daily Defense Tinted Moisturiser with SPF 30+, $12.95.

6. Kiehl’s ultra Facial Tinted Moisturiser SPF15, $36.

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Tinted moisturisers inject the skin with a hint of colour and can give a nice glow in one easy step.

Look for tinted moisturisers with the following properties:

1. Broad spectrum sunscreen.

2. Good hydration.

3. A dewy finish – you want to glow this summer!

your week in the stars

With Joanne Madeline Moore

ARIES (Mar 1 – Apr 0)

December 12-18

With the Sun, Moon, Mercury and Uranus all moving through fire signs, you’re even more adventurous than usual. So it’s time to take on a mighty challenge, or visit your local travel agent and book an exotic escape. Stretch yourself in exciting new directions – physically, mentally and spiritually. Being passionate and persuasive will take you places professionally.

TAURUS (Apr 1 – May 0)

Are you having problems with shared finances or joint ventures? Things improve from Wednesday onwards, as Mercury moves forwards in your ‘money from others’ zone. Don’t be bashful Bulls! The more you communicate and circulate, mix and mingle; the better your weekend will be. Find the time for a cosy chat with your favorite female friend.

GEMINI (May 1 – June 1)

Don’t skim over details this week Twins. The more closely you look at issues, the more complexity you’ll find. You’re keen to zoom ahead but remember there’s a fine line between making smart snap decisions and being recklessly rash. Communication and computer chaos improves from Wednesday onwards, as Mercury starts moving forwards again.

CANCER (June  – July )

Crabs can be incredibly self-absorbed but the more you concentrate on the needs of others, the better the week will be. you’ll be full of ideas and energy on Thursday, as Mercury moves forwards in your work/health zone. One-on-one relationships are set to blossom on Sunday, as diplomatic Venus patches up problems and Mars stokes the fires of love.

LEO (July  – Aug )

It’s time to connect with the child within (and the children around you) as you laugh, play and enjoy yourself with loved ones. Singles – love and work are lusciously linked so make sure you’ve got plenty of lipstick or aftershave in your briefcase. On Sunday, Uranus disrupts your perfect plans but sometimes a shake-up is needed so you see things from a fresh perspective.

VIRGO (Aug  – Sept )

Are you overwhelmed by all the jobs that need to be done at home? you’ll feel more on top of things from Wednesday onwards, when Mercury moves forwards in your domestic zone. It’s time to hone your handyman/woman skills as you tackle overdue DIY projects and complete unfinished work. With the Moon in your sign on the weekend, resist the urge to criticise.

LIBRA (Sept  – Oct )

Don’t dwell on what might have been. Venus promises love, but you have to leave the past behind and be open to new ways of relating in the future. Remember, when one door closes, another opens. Singles - moving onto fresh romantic pastures has you back in the saddle of love again. Attached Crabs - resist the urge to stir the pot and bring up old grievances.

SCORPIO (Oct  – Nov 1)

you’re keen to get your point of view across but don’t turn others away by being too black and white. There are many grey areas to a current situation that you haven’t explored. A relationship looks rickety on the weekend, as unspoken grievances rise to the surface and unresolved issues demand to be addressed. The best way to handle it? With deft diplomacy.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov  – Dec 1)

Communicating with others improves from Wednesday onwards, as Mercury stops reversing through your sign. On Friday, Saturn encourages you to focus on the future, as you modify your wish list and then do the hard work required to make those dreams come true. Talking isn’t the same as doing – you have to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty.

CAPRICORN (Dec  – Jan 1)

your intensely perfectionist side is likely to go into overdrive this week, as Pluto and Venus visit your sign. Avoid taking on too many commitments (and remember that perfection is a goal, not a destination). Family and friends are happy to help lighten the load so don’t be too proud to ask for assistance. Expect the unexpected at home or work on Sunday.

AQUARIUS (Jan 0 – Feb 1)

You feel like breaking a few rules and ruffling a few feathers. you’re restless and are in the mood for change – just make sure you’re a rebel with a worthy cause. Contributing to your local community brings unexpected benefits your way mid-week. Unpredictable Uranus sends a curved ball in your direction on Sunday – (which is just the way you like it!)

PISCES (Feb 1 – Mar 0)

your stars encourage impulse shopping and making hasty financial decisions. So, before you buy anything this week, stop and think “Do I really need this?” If the answer is no, then put your money away and keep on walking. With the Sun and Mercury in your career zone, you’re under the professional microscope. So make sure you’re putting on a good show!

general knowledge crossword

Across

4 Name the renowned Aussie Rules footballer, 1893-1963, Roy (up there)

7 What is the profession of one who makes or deals in gems?

8 Name an oval shaped nut, from a tree grown in warm temperate regions.

9 What is a colloquial term for an unkind remark?

11 Which unit expresses sound intensity?

13 In science fiction, what is a robot, made to resemble a human being?

15 Which other term describes governesses?

17 What do we call a person having ginger hair?

20 What is another name for nightclub floor shows?

23 Which word describes a foolish person?

24 Name one of the rulers in a form of government vested in a few.

25 What is intense, sharp, overpowering fear? Down

1 What designates one who inherits

the estate of a deceased person?

2 Name a person engaged in the art of sword fighting.

3 What is an alternative term for a cudgel?

4 What is a box used for transporting things?

5 Lusaka is the capital of which landlocked African republic?

6 Which long, shafted weapon is used by mounted soldiers in charging?

9 Name the amphibious rodent noted for its ingenuity in damming streams.

10 What are appendices to a book?

12 Name the pieces of transparent substance used in spectacles.

14 What is a brief fall of rain? 16 In which country was Edvard Grieg born?

18 Persons of the highest class are referred to as the what? 19 What is a more common term for a thespian? 21 Name the security deposited as a condition of a prisoner's release. 22 What are sudden muscular contractions in the

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Agent 51 Burdekin Av McGrath Belconnen/Gungahlin 0414 212 332 4BR A

Lander Cr L.J. Hooker Gungahlin 0417 483 627 3BR J

Agent

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Saxby

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BELCONNEN

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CALWELL

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CURTIN

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FOLLOW

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FRANKLIN

GLENEAGLES

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LATHAM

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NORTH LYNEHAM

O'CONNOR

NGUNNAWAL

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Canberra Region Property Summary

TORRENS

0433 557

4BR

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12:00-1:00

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