130620 citynews

Healthy hub grows from school garden

THE days of serving deep-fried spring rolls, chips and pies at school canteens will soon be over if the students at North Ainslie Primary School have anything to do with it.

The school has just launched its own healthy eating hub, swapping salty, sugary treats with snacks such as homemade soup, zucchini fritters and vegetable cups, all made using fresh ingredients from the school’s garden.

Students from years 5 and 6 help to run the hub, voluntarily spending their recess and lunchtimes chopping, peeling and helping to prepare food for lunch orders once a week on a rostered basis.

Principal Louise Owens says students and the school’s P&C group decided to open a revamped, healthy canteen after the original canteen closed down.

“The co-ordinator of our old canteen left, and so for about 18 months we didn’t actually have a food service,” Louise says.

“We thought it would be great to get the students involved in the next one as well as a few parents, and to have entirely healthy, freshly made food.

“We applied for a grant through the [ACT] government and received some funding through their Health

Promotion Grants Program. When the new canteen opened, we were all so surprised – there was a massive queue of people eagerly waiting.”

The healthy eating hub’s introduction is a timely one: research by Monash University in March showed ACT school canteens were the unhealthiest in the country.

Louise says she hopes her school will kick-start a “health trend” across the capital.

“I always say ‘from little things, big things grow,’” she says.

“We hope other schools follow suit because it’s not just delivering food to students, but introducing healthy eating habits in the family.”

The hub is open once a week, taking lunch orders only to avoid “huge lines”, but the school hopes to increase its opening times next year.

Year 5 student and hub volunteer

Adrian Roodt says he prefers the healthy eating hub to the old canteen “because it’s cheaper”.

“One serving of anything is 50c but at the old one, we were paying $3 to $5, so you don’t need much money now to eat,” he says.

“I also fill up much quicker on the healthier foods compared to the un-

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Arts&Entertainment 20-21

Canberra Confidential 13

Cinema 20

Dining 21

Home & Garden 22

Letters 11

News 3-11

Politics 11

Puzzles 23

Socials 15-18

Sport 8

healthy foods we were having at our old canteen.”

Favourites on the menu so far are homemade vegetable pizzas, real-fruit ice creams and tomato soup. Free plates of vegetables are also prepared by students each week for every class to share.

“We really didn’t want to put a high price on healthy food,” says Louise.

“We use whatever is available in the garden so the menu is quite var-

ied, and students can really have a say in what they want made.”

And it’s not just the students who benefit from healthier lunches –teachers are reaping the rewards, too.

“Teachers have thanked us saying students are so much more settled when they come back from lunch now, compared to when they were eating food with a high sugar intake,” Louise says.

“The feedback from parents has

also been extremely positive, we have so many people just thanking us for opening it.

“It’s just been a great experience for the students who work there, as they’re managing the rosters and learning important work skills. The whole school is benefitting from this.”

Visit nthainslieps.act.edu.au/our_community/canteen for more on the healthy eating hub.

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Power of Alison’s healing harp

JUST the sight of Alison Ware’s minstrel harp being wheeled around the corridors of the Canberra Hospital seems to make people smile.

“Something about the harp relaxes people, often even before I’ve started playing,” says Alison, a clinical musician working between the Canberra Hospital, Calvary John James and Clare Holland House.

“It’s such an unexpected thing to see, I think, and people are fascinated.”

Alison plays therapeutic harp music at hospital bedsides, generally with improvised songs specifically tailored to each patient.

“It offers support, comfort and rest – it’s not a performance, it’s a service and nothing is expected of the patient,” she says.

“I watch them closely and try to sense what they need at that moment. There’s no set repertoire. If they’re anxious, I can match the music to their breathing and then try to bring it down. And I always end the session in an uplifting tone.

“I know within three minutes, if I’ve got it right, they’ll look up, take a deep breath in, and visibly relax their shoulders. Often their eyes start dropping and they’ll fall asleep,

Kathryn Vukovljak reports

which is wonderful. That’s when you heal.”

Alison has worked as a registered nurse, in occupational therapy and in pastoral care, so she says she’s comfortable in hospitals.

“I’ve had lots of positions in healthcare and I’ve always felt a bit restless, but I love the environment,” she says.

“When I heard about the harp being used in hospitals overseas, I loved the idea and knew it was what I wanted to do.”

Despite not having a musical background, Alison took private harp lessons and studied online with the International Healing Musicians program, the Clinical Musicians program and the International Harp Therapy program. This training isn’t currently available in Australia.

After four years as a volunteer at the hospital, she has been a full-time employee since November, thanks to funding from Dry July and the Canberra Hospital Foundation. As far as she knows, Alison is now the only full-time therapeutic harpist in Australia.

“I know of another harpist who has just started one day a week in

Melbourne, but I hope the idea of the therapy will grow,” she says. “It’s a wonderful complementary healing modality in hospital support.”

Alison, who’s also working on a graduate diploma in pastoral counselling, says she considers it a privilege to go into people’s lives and be able to help in such a unique way.

“The hospital can be a busy place and the harp helps create a moment of peace,” she says.

“It’s a different way of looking at music. It can be uplifting, light and bright, or in the minor key it can allow people to relax and let go. It can also stimulate the memory.

“I’ve played for a patient this morning who was a little confused. While she slept I played a song she recognised and she woke up. We had a lucid conversation about it which was amazing.

“Music can be so powerful.”

Homemade soup

CWA Canberra Branch is inviting all comers to its Winter Warming Lunch with the promise of tasty homemade soups with crusty bread, followed by a delicious selection of cakes and slices served with tea or coffee for $12 at the club’s rooms at 8 Barry Drive, Civic, noon-2pm, on Friday, June 21. Meanwhile the CWA’s trivia afternoon planned for Sunday, June 23 has been cancelled.

New chairperson

FORMER senior public servant Dr Penny Gregory has been appointed the new chairperson of the ACT Children and Young People Death Review Committee. She replaces Dr Judith Gibbs, who has resigned for personal reasons. The committee records deaths of children and young people to identify patterns, trends and research needs, and makes recommendations to government and the community.

Rotary gift

ROTARY Club of Canberra City president, Patricia McDonell, (right) presents Kate van Haalen, from Snowy Hydro SouthCare Aero Medical Rescue Helicopter Service, with a cheque for $5000, proceeds from the club’s Autumn Antique Fair. The Spring Antique Fair will be at Albert Hall on August 16-18.

At home with the ‘white-hat’ hackers

Stephen Easton reports

INSIDE Downer’s quiet community centre is the notat-all-secret headquarters of a small group of hackers.

Their “hackerspace” is cluttered with electronic devices, circuit boards, tools, woodwork and metalwork equipment, theatre props and piles of half-built or halfdismantled devices. A 3D printer, built from a kit, sits in a handmade plastic box beside a few computers. Empty garbage bags gently bump around at roof level, filled with helium because one member had some left over from the night before.

There is a kind of ordered chaos in this suburban skunkworks; a row of lockers here, a set of shelves there and a few hundred neatly arranged empty bottles that once contained Club-Mate, a high-caffeine South American tea drink that is apparently the choice of hackers worldwide.

The space is called “Make, Hack, Void” and its members don’t spend their time trying to penetrate secure computer systems, steal credit card numbers or anything like that.

“There’s a huge amount of history around the term ‘hacking’,” says MHV president Adam Thomas. “But it’s about taking everyday resources and remaking them into something new, repurposing them, tinkering with stuff to find out how it works and why it works, and making it do something that it wasn’t ever intended to do, but that’s more useful to you, or just fun or silly.”

Groups like MHV claim a broader meaning of the word from the “crackers” or “black hats”, who break the law, and the “white hats” who try to stop them.

“We prefer creating stuff and a lot of the ‘black hat’ hacking is very destructive,” says Adam. “Occasionally it is really interesting when people come up with amazing ways of breaking [secure] systems, and sometimes that involves a whole lot of ingenuity, lateral thinking

Make, Hack, Void president Adam Thomas, left, Chris Wolfe and Lachlan Horne... “We prefer creating stuff and a lot of the “black hat” hacking is very destructive,” says Adam.

and just building stuff in the way we build stuff. That’s still hacking because there’s a lot of the same skills involved, but the justification behind it is often questionable.”

Hackerspaces like MHV are a relatively new phenomenon in Australia, which give members of this quirky subculture a place to collaborate, create, have fun and learn. Their guiding ethos is “open source” development, a way of working collaboratively through free, open access to basic blueprints and fundamental technology, which started with computer software in the early ‘80s.

“We’re not restricted to electronics and computing – we all branch out and do other weird and wacky stuff – but that’s where the focus is, because a lot of people come to the hacking community from a programming or an electronics background, so they bring a lot of that history and culture with them,”

explains Adam.

MHV members use the hackerspace to freely pursue whatever creative interests they have and anyone is welcome to casually drop in, which means the workshop has become a valuable hub of home engineering and fringe culture.

Chris Wolfe uses the MHV space to make special effects and props for theatre and movies, and enjoys large-scale battles using foam swords on the weekend. Another member, Lachlan Horne, works on computer vision by day and indulges a passion for souped-up Nerf guns in his spare time.

Adam is particularly proud of a pedal-powered cinema he helped build for the ANU Food Co-op with members of the Rat Patrol, a group of local oddballs he occasionally joins to build and ride bizarre bicycles. He says viewers have since pedalled their way through films at the Falls, Corinbank and You Are

Here festivals.

But Adam credits the top achievement of MHV regulars to Canberra UAV, a team of amateur inventors who won $10,000 last year in a national competition, by building the world’s first nonmilitary drone aeroplane that could successfully find a dummy bushwalker.

Unfortunately, the building is slated to be demolished in October and MHV has to find a new home as soon as possible, but its president is philosophical about the reasons why.

“There’s part of me that says this is horrible – they’re destroying something that I absolutely love –then there’s the other part of me that says: ‘Wow! Medium-density housing in the inner north!’, because that sort of needs to happen.”

More information at makehackvoid.com

Rise and rise of Glen Tibbitts

MARK PARTON hosted one of the most emotional public events he’s been involved in – all because of one man.

GLEN Tibbitts spent years of his younger life without a home. His journey has been tough, but he’s managed to survive to make something of his life against overwhelming odds.

Glen, who runs his own security firm, was courageous enough to tell his story for the first time publicly at the Vinnies Homelessness Forum at the ANU – and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. He grew up in an abusive household. His first memory is of his father holding him by the neck up against a wall as a toddler and punching him in the face.

“I don’t know why the memory is so vivid because I was so young,” he told me, “But I can clearly remember my heels banging against the wall from the force of the blow.”

As a 15-year-old, Glen decided he’d had enough and ran away from home to become a street kid, sleeping wherever he could get shelter and foraging for food among scraps.

He told the forum that, at the time, he didn’t realise government agencies and community organisations could help, he just figured it was him against the world. Some of his stories are crushing: Glen talks of the man who gave him a meal and shelter only to attempt to sexually assault him in the middle of the night; then there’s the night in Brisbane when he was woken being kicked by two policeman who took him into custody and, he says, tried to plant drug paraphernalia on him. Glen remembers trying to sleep in a toilet block in Brisbane, the seat down and sitting with his feet wedged on to the door to keep it shut tight. He was woken by a man peeping over the door who propositioned him.

“I panicked,” said Glen. “I just pushed out the door and ran for my life leaving all my stuff behind.”

When he returned 30 minutes later, he found his belongings stuffed into the toilet bowl and urinated on.

There were also stories of hope – the inspirational cop who helped him with advice and money, and of the support from Vinnies. And we heard about his quantum leap back into the mainstream of society. Glen said at the start that he feared people would think he was a lesser man after hearing his story. In reality, he appeared 10 feet tall by the end.

The ACT has the second highest rate of homelessness in Australia and Glen is one of the CEOs who took part in the Vinnie’s CEO Sleepout in Civic Square. Donate to the cause at ceosleepout.org.au where you click from the home page to the ACT, then search for Glen Tibbitts.

W: www.marss.org.au/investors

E: investors@marss.org.au

Where are footy’s crowds?

HERE are some of the reasons given to me over the past fortnight for poor crowd numbers at Canberra Stadium for the Brumbies’ and the Raiders’ games: it’s too cold; it’s too expensive both for tickets and food; the public transport is unreliable; it’s on pay TV, so why should I pay extra to go to the games?

And also: there has been so much sport this year; I don’t like the style of rugby being played by the Brumbies; I don’t know when the games are on...

The Brumbies are perched on top of the Super Rugby ladder yet they struggle to get anywhere near the crowds they had in seasons when they were nowhere near the competition lead.

A couple of weeks ago the Brumbies played the Melbourne Rebels; a win with a bonus point would propel them into their first finals campaign since 2004 and secure a home final. Instead of an expected crowd of 15,000, just over 11,000 turned out.

Rubbery crowd figures were once a running joke amongst the media, feeding into an exaggeration of numbers because of different football codes vying for supremacy. This season it is definitely not the case with the Canberra Stadium manage -

It‘s said that people in Canberra are fickle and drawn to games when their side is winning, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this season, says TIM GAVEL

ment taking greater control of the crowd size, which is publicly released.

Much has been said about the Brumbies’ style of play, which has a theme of kicking for field position, then attacking inside the opposition half. Experts will tell you it is how to win games; test match rugby is built on field position and set pieces.

To those going along to see a replay of the days of Roff, Gregan, Larkham and so on, it can be a disappointment. Perhaps that is one reason why people are not going to games.

Some people say the cost of Brumbies’ and Raiders’ games is too expensive for families battling to make ends meet and the cheaper option is to stay at home and watch it on pay television. Is that just an excuse? If the cost of tickets and food at the stadium was less expensive would you go?

The recent Monday night game between the Raiders and the Broncos would normally attract more than 15,000, with the Raiders in the top eight and going for nine home wins in a row. In-

stead, it attracted just over 10,000 despite extensive promotion.

As it turned out, the game was the most watched program across all pay TV networks. It is the same with the Brumbies.

Pay TV is surely having a major impact on crowd numbers, but it wasn’t such a factor 10 years ago when the Brumbies were attracting big numbers to their games.

The scheduling of night games is obviously done by somebody outside Canberra. Perhaps it’s time for some of those officials to sit in the bleachers during a cold night in winter at Canberra Stadium.

The Brumbies also have a longer season now that stretches well into winter, which wasn’t the case before.

Another aspect that needs to be looked at is the promotion for both codes. It is not just promotion in the media, which I have spoken about in the past, but it is schools and shopping centres, it is attendance at functions and working with charities. Both codes do plenty, but there is an obvious need to do more.

Family affair

THE 14th Annual NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies Conference, with speakers from leading family history websites and national and NSW institutions, is expecting to attract more than 350 family history researchers to the Hellenic Club, Woden, on September 20-22. Entry to the fair is free and there’s an early bird discount for conference registrants before June 30. More information and registrations to conference2013.org.au.

Unis top poll

THE Australian Catholic University and the ANU have been recognised in the Best University to Work For Awards. A public poll of 30,000 nominations ranked ACU in fourth position and the ANU at ninth. The Queensland University of Technology topped the poll conducted on the jobsearch website unijobs.com.au

Yummo unlocks food secrets

CANBERRA couple John and Alison de la Torre have just launched what they call a “groundbreaking” food website.

Ms de la Torre said yummo. com.au was designed to help people make fast, informed choices about what they’re eating and what they feed their families by providing instant access to the food facts of more than 12,000 packaged products, including the ingredients, nutrition, allergen warnings, manufacturer and importer details, ingredient origin and packaging symbols.

It also contains the data of 1300 fresh foods and access to more than 1000 recipes complete with nutritional values.

Yummo features an Allergen Wizard, where members create a customised allergen profile so problem ingredients in food or recipes can be identified immediately.

Guests and subscribers can access elements of the website for free, while the site’s paid members have complete access to the site.

information at yummo. com.au

politics letters

How low can politics go?

By Michael Moore

MOTHBALLING blue ties, reading menus carefully and getting rid of emails with sexist jokes seems to be the new parameters in Australian federal politics.

The notion that politics is for the people has now stooped to a “reductio ad absurdum” proposition. Even our best politicians are caught up in trivia and the politics of the inconsequential. Where are the statesmen and stateswomen?

The irony is that there is so much hatred for those who are trying to make a difference and so much popular support for those dedicated to simply playing politics.

As Laura Tingle pointed out in the “Australian Financial Review”, there is widespread support for a political party that, less than 100 days out from an election, has just one policy –“to turn the boats around”.

“In any other time”, she wrote, “a political party going to an election without substantive health and education policies would be laughable”.

Across the floor, the Prime Minister is reduced to being asked questions about her partner’s sexuality and wrestling with a political party that is confused by its own identity. It is a party flirting with alternative leadership because it is not sure of its own purpose.

The Prime Minister knows what she is on about. Under her leadership there is a price on carbon, implementation of health reforms, the national disability insurance scheme and the Gonski reforms to education that she is winning State by State.

However, the party seems lost

in the concept of personality politics.

Despite the complex differences of opinion across the Coalition, Tony Abbott is able to manage tight party discipline with a single policy and an approach that says the Coalition will be different from Labor. It is a lie of course! No matter what policies are on the books, what gets into the public domain is determined by the latest polling. This is no-risk politics.

With some notable exceptions, although they are good at convincing themselves that this is not true, our elected members are much more interested in politics than in the people. It should not be surprising when the path into political life is so often dictated by party systems. One path for Labor is success in the union movement. For the Liberals, it may be a successful career in business. However, for both parties, the most common path starts with student party politics.

To reset the political parameters is challenging. Until the parties begin to stand tall on what they actually believe and let people determine who they will vote for on the basis of differences of opinion, political life in Australia will continue to deteriorate.

In the scenario of a change of government in September, why would Labor do anything other than oppose everything Abbott attempts to achieve? Why would it not put politics above the interests of the community? Abbott has demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique. If he becomes Prime Minister, there is no doubt it will come back to bite him.

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

Alas, poor Robert

ROBERT Macklin (CN, June 13) refers to “the position to which [Kevin Rudd] believes he is entitled and that was ‘ripped unnatural’ from him: Prime Minister of Australia.” Macklin does not reveal the source of his quotation “ripped unnatural”, but I wondered if he in fact had in mind two lines from Macbeth and Hamlet: “Macduff was from his mother’s womb/ untimely ripped”; “Murder... most foul, strange and unnatural”. These two plays incidentally are Shakespeare’s shortest and longest tragedies. One is sometimes told that Macbeth is his shortest play, but at 2190 lines it is longer than The Tempest (2019 lines), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1903) and The Comedy of Errors (1744). At 3599 lines, Hamlet is pipped at the post for Shakespeare’s longest play by Richard III (3634 lines). What any of this may have to do with Kevin Rudd I’m not quite sure.

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

Giulia, are you sure?

I AGREE with MLA Giulia Jones that derelict former petrol stations are an eyesore (“Eye of beholder”, CN, June 12), but these sites are private leasehold, not Territory land over which the ACT Government currently has direct control. Can it be that a Liberal MLA is calling for more government regulation of the private sector?

Patricia Saunders, Chapman

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.

Canberra Confidential

Call the Doctor!

ANYBODY with an incredibly accurate full-size replica of Doctor Who’s time machine in their front yard must be a die-hard worshipper of the cult series, right?

But electrician Sean O’Connor, who has a TARDIS in his front yard in Hall, insists he is not (for the uninitiated, the Doctor travels through time saving the universe in the TARDIS, which looks like a blue police call box from the outside, but is famously much larger on the inside thanks to alien technology).

“I’m actually not a massive ‘Dr Who’ fan, but I did watch it growing up; it was probably the only thing on, having only two channels back then,” Sean tells us.

Looking for a lawn ornament, he says he wanted “something a bit left-field, something a bit bizarre”, instead of the usual stuff such as wagon wheels and old farm machinery.

“A good friend of mine is a bit of a sci-fi nut and a good carpenter, so we looked up the actual original plans for a police box from the UK and built it,” he explains. “It wasn’t a cheap exercise either, I can tell you.”

Trouserless yoga in Turner

DESPITE the weather, they’re doing nude yoga in Turner! CC spotted a flyer for the classes, for men, held in a “toasty warm” unnamed venue with sensitive “soft lighting”.

Beyond the promise of improving muscle tone and flexibility, reassuringly the class also helps to “overcome fears of being naked around others”. CC blushed at the flyer’s urging to “get cracking” for the early bird discount.

Keen for more detail, CC called the organiser, who became coy and unwilling to reveal more. But we do know that after each class, the group “enjoy a cuppa and light refreshments and occasionally go out together for dinner at a local restaurant”. Pants on, we presume.

Knuckle sandwich with that?

A DISGRUNTLED customer claims a manager at a popular Braddon restaurant challenged him to a “fight outside” after his table was taking too long to order on a busy Friday night.

The customer said the manager swore and suggested they “take this outside” when things got heated. When the customer wrote on the business’ Facebook page to complain, the post was quickly deleted.

We have chosen not to name the restaurant, but were informed the owner would look further into the incident. The manager has denied the night got nasty and said he “was as respectful as possible” to what he claims was a “rowdy table”.

web link for more information, but no phone contacts.

“My mother had several questions but is in the minority of those not online so she did not have any idea who or how to call. Attached to the letter was a petition asking for support for the network and attacking the Liberals.

“My mother thought this was an application form which had to be signed to connect to the network. This saddens me, this lack of sensitivity to older people, those with poor eyesight, and those not online.”

Can anyone beat that?

The vision thing

THE internet can be a really dumb place sometimes. Out there in cyberspace there is a blog called lasereyesurgeryriskscomplications which argues what it suggests.

Heading a list of links titled: “See Some of The Things You Need To Know About Laser Eye Surgery Side Effects” is one to the recent citynews.com.au item “Lasek to leave centenary team”, which is about Centenary chief Jeremy Lasek decamping from the Centenary for the Australia Day Council and nothing to do with the laser surgery technique called, yep, Lasek

Ricky’s curtain call

It’s attracted a lot of interest from fans, he says, as well as large groups of sightseers, police officers wanting to take a photo with it, and people from the UK who fondly remember when real police call boxes were a more common sight.

Since building it two months ago, Sean has learned that the real TARDIS used in the show has actually changed slightly over the decades, but his is just like the original.

Insensitive mail

“To be honest, I’ve learnt more about Dr Who in the last six months than I’ve ever known in my life,” he says.

HERE’S a sensible call from a reader suggesting a competition to flesh out the most insensitive and useless letters being written by government.

She says her 90-year-old mother, who still lives at home, received one recently from the safely seated, ebullient member for Fraser Andrew Leigh about the NBN, which included a

THE Canberra Theatre Centre has lost its marketing maestro Ricky Bryan. The restless Rickster takes his curtain call on Friday, June 28, before enrolling at the University of Canberra as its marketing manager on July 8.

In an announcement email of theatrical proportions, Bryant immodestly recites his greatest hits and, unwittingly, lists a worrying headcount of people who have left the important and tightly run marketing area already this year, which must be giving genial GM Bruce Carmichael less to smile about given the extra load of Centenary productions the centre is coping with.

Isabella Gardens retirement community / advertising feature

Retirement centre celebrates new homes

‘The response from the ACT community towards the launch of Isabella Gardens demonstrates the demand in the market for high-quality retirement living that offers well designed homes and first class facilities’

ISABELLA Gardens is fast becoming a vibrant and unique retirement community of choice, says Simon Pagett, general manager of Lend Lease’s Retirement Living Development business.

Launched in February, Isabella Gardens has had an overwhelming response to the off-the-plan sales resulting in the early release of stage-two homes.

“The unprecedented response from the community demonstrated the strong demand for retirement living options in the Tuggeranong region,” Mr Pagett says.

“Our retirement living philosophy is to create connected communities and Isabella Gardens is a stunning new retirement community where residents will experience the very best of retirement living.

“The response from the ACT community towards the launch of Isabella Gardens demonstrates the demand in the market for high-quality retirement living that offers well designed homes and first class facilities.”

There will be a grand opening of four new display homes on Friday, July 5 featuring complimentary high tea and

entertainment by Tony Haley between 11am and 2pm.

Surrounded by colourful seasonal gardens, with a wide range of stylish and environmentally sustainable smart homes, Mr Pagett says Lend Lease has designed a community that will positively contribute to the fabric of Isabella Plains.

“Residents can enjoy a lifestyle that includes leisurely strolls around the seasonal landscaped gardens or something bit more fast paced!” he says.

“At the social heart of this new retirement community will be the Clubhouse featuring a range of facilities including a wellness centre with indoor heated pool, gym, library, consulting rooms and muti-purpose green.

“In total, Isabella Gardens will consist of 122 independent living villas with two and three-bedroom options and prices starting from $422,500.

“Every aspect of the home from the design, orientation and fittings has been selected to cater for the contemporary needs of today’s retiree. And with individual backyards, the homes are designed to be pet friendly.

IF YOU’RE FACING A CRIMIMAL MATTER, ENSURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT REPRESENTATION.

The Ginger Catering launch, The National Arboretum

‘Help

from the Underground’ fundraiser, Kingston

Canberra’s First Turkish restaurant Celebrates 32 years

Turkish Delight Restaurant has been a pillar in Canberra’s Turkish community for more than thirty years. Opened in 1981, the restaurant stands as a landmark as Canberra’s very first Turkish restaurant.

This

After

Belly Dancer Saturday evenings

employment / advertising feature

Not all doom and gloom... It’s always about experience

THINGS are not all doom and gloom in the Canberra employment market.

According to Jim Roy, ACT Business Director of worldwide recruiting company Hays: “It’s easy to talk up negativity, and while it’s true the market in Canberra could be better, it’s certainly not a one-size-fits-all sentiment.”

The recruitment executive points out that even though the public service is shrinking overall, there will still be demand for good candidates with the right skills in the capital from both public and private sector employers.

“We’re still looking at national shortages in certain occupations, like chartered accountants and civil engineers, and that applies equally to the ACT,” he explains. “And locally, there is always very strong demand for experienced

government policy writers, executive assistants, business analysts with skills in IT and in areas like procurement, project management and occupational health and safety. “There is always a demand for good candidates in the market; our job is to find them.”

Based on data from 1600 employers around Australia and NZ, the Hays Salary Guide survey reveals employers around the country becoming more optimistic, he adds, with 40 per cent seeing the economy strengthening, compared to 27 per cent in the 2012 edition.

“Although there is a cautious approach to increasing salaries, the survey showed 37 per cent of employers planning to hire additional staff in the year ahead, so there are certainly a lot of positives out there.”

WHAT’S new about management and leadership?

“Not much,” says Ross Begbie, whose workshop on the subject is the most popular and longest-running in Australia.

“It is, at its core, the art of getting results through people,” he says.

“In our rush to have the latest version of almost everything, we too often lose sight of those things that have really stood the test of time – like people’s experience.”

The really outstanding managers share several key attributes and apply certain principles that have not changed over the years and will not change in the

future, says Ross, based on the work experience of the thousands who have done his program.

“But we still spend a lot of time looking for what’s new in the management and leadership debate, and not nearly enough time converting what we already know into what we consistently do,” he adds.

“If we reflect on our working lives and the managers we have worked with over that time, it becomes evident that only a small number of them were such great bosses that we would choose to work with them again in a heartbeat.

“What separated these few from all our other managers was that they genuinely valued their people and reflected that in consistent, day-to-day behaviour.”

welcome to results through people

Results through People is a three day management and leadership workshop. It has been conducted more times, for more people, over more years than any other comparable short course leadership program.

To find out more, visit www.resultsthroughpeople.com.au or write to ross@idea.com.au

arts & entertainment

Theodora steps out of the shadows

By Helen Musa

WHILE the greatest of George Frederick Handel’s choruses may be “The Hallelujah Chorus”, from “Messiah”, the composer preferred the final Act II chorus “He Saw the Lovely Youth,” from a rarely performed oratorio, “Theodora”.

Soprano Greta Bradman will sing the title role in that very work on June 23 when Canberra Choral Society, five singers and an ensemble of musicians playing period instruments, will perform the entire oratorio under the baton of Brett Weymark, from Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Bradman (a descendant of the cricketer Don Bradman) has a uniquely rich soprano voice well-suited to capturing what she calls the “dramaticism” and virtuosity in “Theodora”, which she says straddles the forms of oratorio and opera.

Bradman describes the main character, Theodora, as a Christian woman of noble rank, born into anti-Christian Roman society, who holds on to her values and her faith, come what may.

“It’s a really moving story,” she says, also praising her fellow soloists, Christina Wilson, Paul McMahon and, as the nasty villain, Stephen Bennett.

Viewed today, the work can be seen as a clash of ideologies, with characters torn between personal and political loyalties. Historically, the public never took to “Theodora”, possibly because, as Handel himself said of the story, “the ladies will not come because it is a virtuous one”.

The production is entirely the brainchild of the choral society’s charismatic director, noted Australian countertenor, Tobias Cole, who is also

‘Preposterous’ world of sci-fi with the Smiths

“After Earth” (M)

THIS futurist fantasy is a Smith family picnic. Actor Will Smith who wrote the story and his wife Jada are among its nine producers. Their teenaged son Jaden plays the core role.

A millennium into the future, Earth’s human population has migrated to Nova Prime where the essentials for human existence – air and water – and the flora and fauna resemble but differ slightly from those that have evolved over Earth aeons.

Dougal Macdonald cinema

performance chops for delivering a difficult character. Frida may have Estonian ethnicity but she has lived in Paris for most of her life, but in her twilight years she is alone. As Anne, Laine Magi is a class act. Anne knows her place in Frida’s household. But that doesn’t mean she will let Frida ride roughshod over her self-respect.

a Handel expert and won a Victorian Green Room Award for his 2009 performance in the title role of Handel’s “Xerxes”.

It is his stated ambition to have Canberra Choral Society perform all Handel’s oratorios and last year’s “Saul” packed the Playhouse.

One of the rare operatic artists of his calibre to be living and working from Canberra, he plays the idealistic young soldier, Didymus, who out of love for Theodora, converts to Christianity.

I ran into Cole recently as he was cycling around Civic and he told me he’d even talked his father, Trevor, who took up silversmithing in his retirement, into handcrafting beautiful silver crosses for the performance.

Those crosses, along with Weymark’s baton, will be among the rewards in the crowd-funding exercise that’s already seen the CCO reach its $5500 goal on the grant-funding site pozible.com

Handel’s “Theodora”, Canberra Choral Society, The Playhouse, 3pm, Sunday, June 23, bookings to 6275 2700.

Will Smith plays General Cypher of the Rangers who protect the humans from the blobbish Ursas. Cypher’s teenaged son Kitai (Jaden Smith) wants to become a Ranger despite not satisfying entry requirements. Dad pulls strings to get him a cadetship. And a berth on a flight sent to find a lost craft.

Jaden Smith is not a laid-back, cool actor like his father. His future might be brighter if he were to study hard for a higher degree in some rewarding discipline.

In a word. The word is “preposterous”, compounded by Jaden’s lack of acting prowess. And that’s before respected director M Night Shyamalan filmed a single image of its 100 minutes.

At Dendy, Hoyts and Limelight

“Une Estonienne à Paris” (A Lady In Paris) (M)

THE smallest of the Baltic republics, Estonia, provides only a brief introductory glimpse into co-writer and director Ilmar Raag’s gentle, affectionate and emotionally carefully designed film but its underlying influence is pervasive.

In Tâllinn, francophone Anne has adult children and an alcoholic husband. After her dementia-stricken mother dies, a friend tells her of a vacancy keeping house for Estonian émigré Frida (Jeanne Moreau) in Paris.

In her 84th year, Moreau still has the

TUESDAY 2 JULY 8PM

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THURSDAY 4 JULY 2PM & 8PM

FRIDAY 5 JULY 8PM

SATURDAY 6 JULY 2PM & 8PM

SUNDAY 7 JULY 5PM

The screenplay extends a firm invitation for filmgoers to get involved. It offers credibility. Its characters are real. And you can’t help liking what the story’s telling.

At Palace Electric

“The Internship” (M)

FOR actor Vince Vaughn, this blatant productplacement movie is a vanity. That remark sticks out like the proverbial.

The product is internet search engine Google and the film in an oblique way explains how corporate Google makes money.

The screenplay, co-written by Vaughn and Jared Stern, gives Vaughn the best of the story playing its chief clown Billy who with best buddy Nick needs a safe income stream after the company where they are a successful sales team goes to the wall.

Billy and Nick, digitally illiterate, get accepted in a Google course to train for selection as the next crop of future Google employees. That’s a very competitive process. Its journey is toward the inevitable happy ending, to which Billy makes a significant contribution by being a loud-mouthed attention grabber whom you’d like to whack about the ears with a baseball bat. Without Vince Vaughn playing him, there’d be no film. Think about that.

At Capitol 6, Dendy, Hoyts and Limelight

Tucking into tasty cookbook

Wendy Johnson dining

IT labels itself as a culinary guide, historical review and photographic journey. And it’s a true indulgence... a veritable feast... a mouth-watering moment.

I’m talking about “The Canberra Regional Cookbook” featuring more than 60 mouthwatering recipes author and foodie Bindy Welsh meticulously gathered and local chef Darren Perryman (now with Autolyse in Braddon) meticulously edited.

The Centenary is perfect timing for the release of this cookbook, not only because it toasts so many dishes served in some of our top eateries, but because it toasts some primary producers, a cooking school and even family favourites from Canberra residents, past and present. And although it’s probably a bit out there to mention December 25 before the end of the financial year (dare I?), “The Canberra Regional Cookbook” makes a great gift for foodies at all levels.

Bindy was born and bred in Canberra. She went to Girls Grammar, studied photography at the Canberra Institute of Technology, was a resident here for 30 years and even had her first child at John James – all before moving to regional Victoria. She was inspired to publish the book to “capture the vibrancy, energy and abundance” of Canberra and surrounding regions, spicing

arts in the city

matters up with a bit of history and many glorious photographs she took herself. It’s her third book, but her first for Canberra.

I sat with a cup of tea to explore “The Canberra Regional Cookbook” and next thing I knew an hour had gone by. It’s special to see familiar faces and read line-by-line through intriguing recipes and pore over the photos of this beautifully laid out and truly local publication.

Outside of the capital, Bindy features many of our regional best, including those you’d expect, such as Flint in the Vines (Murrumbateman) and Grazing (Gundaroo). Many long-standing eateries in Canberra hold a special presence, as do a couple that have moved on, which is no surprise given the long lead-time required for a publication of such high quality. Does it really

matter though? Well, it doesn’t. The recipes and stories are as good as ever.

What I love most about the cookbook is how Bindy features local producers (she admits she wanted to include more), specialty smallgoods producers and a select few with strong presence at our best markets. No, that’s incorrect. What I love most are the recipes. Some are relatively simple to create if you source the right ingredients, others fairly easy going and some a bit more complex. But, hey, that’s the fun of it all.

The Canberra Regional Cookbook is available in hard copy through a range of bookstores and through participating businesses. Or you can email bindy@indigoimages.com.au Copies are selling well and there is talk of a potential second reprint.

A tramp on the lookout for love

AWGIE award-winning playwright and actor Stephen House is at The Street until June 29 playing a Parisian tramp looking for love in “Appalling Behaviour”. Bookings to 6247 1223 or thestreet.org.au

WARM congratulations to set designer, music hall MC and dentist to the stars, Russell Brown, who was honoured with an OAM in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to the arts. Also to classical guitar guru and mentor Timothy Kain, who was honoured with an AM and Naida Elizabeth Blackley, who received an OAM for her work as principal of the Education Directorate’s Instrumental Music Program.

“STAR of Wormwood”, the story of a high school student researching the life of a woman accused of witchcraft in 1680, is being staged by BackYardTheatreEnsemble, at Canberra College, Woden, 1.30pm and 7.30pm, June 25, tickets at the door.

THE annual Midwinter Arts and Crafts Show, at the Uniting Church, Denman Street, Yarralumla, offers art and craft for sale. Prof Don Aitkin will launch the show at 6pm on June 28 and it runs from 10am to 5pm on June 29 and noon-5pm on June 30, with concerts on both days.

CANBERRA big band, In Full Swing, is staging a night of swing, jazz, funk and Latin tunes at the Hellenic Club, Woden on June 28, dinner 6.30pm, show 8pm. Bookings to 6281 0899.

THE ACT Storytellers Guild’s annual night of story, music and supper will include “Centenary Tales”, stories from Canberra’s past 100 years. At St. James Uniting Church Hall, Gillies Street, Curtin, 7pm-10pm, June 29. Inquiries to 6258 8102 or wirrawey@optusnet.com.au

–Helen Musa

home & garden

Rose’s winning connections

Cedric Bryant gardening

ROSE-planting time will be at full pace over the next few weeks.

There are literally thousands of roses from which to choose, but nothing quite like the new release rose from Knight’s Roses of SA – Rosa “Black Caviar”.

Knight’s Roses in conjunction with the owners of the magnificent mare Black Caviar, the world’s greatest sprinter, say that this rose will be for sale in the next few weeks.

The Heritage Garden Centre in Yarralumla and other garden centres will be stocking it.

This very special cultivar with vanilla and jasmine fragrance has medium-size blooms of outstanding velvet burgundy claret-red flowers. The petals are velvet black on the edges with many blooms on each cane over a long flowering season.

OFTEN those new to rose growing can be easily confused with various rose-growing terms. For example, a rose label stating “repeat flowering” does not mean continuous flowering. Repeat flowering refers to spring/early summer flowering followed by a second flowering in late summer/ early autumn. You may get some blooms in between, but not a full display all the time.

Blooms can be encouraged by regularly deadheading spent flower heads.

HERE are the main categories of roses, with examples stocked by local garden centres:

The Old-Fashioned Roses category includes many of the Bourbon and Gallica roses now often grouped under the heading Heritage Roses or those roses grown before 1927. Examples include Rosa “Penelope” and R. “Blanc Double de Coubert”.

Hybrid Tea Roses or today referred to as large-flowered roses have been the leading class of roses for 100 years. They are the classic rose, mainly with one bloom on a long stem. Excellent as a cut flower with wonderful fragrance. They can grow from 1.2 to 2m tall. Examples include Rosa “Charles De Gaulle” and R. “Ashram”.

Floribunda Roses, now referred to as “cluster roses”, have smaller blooms than Hybrid Tea roses growing in large clusters and flowering over a long period. They are ideal for low-growing hedges or borders, although equally effective planted in a group of say 3 to 5. Examples include Rosa “Afternoon Delight” and R. “Black Caviar”.

David Austin Roses have come into prominence in recent years. David Austin crossed the Old Fashioned Roses with their exquisite fragrance, but not lasting for too long with Hybrid Tea roses. The result is a rose with the old-fashioned shape of flower and fragrance combined with the long-lasting blooms of large-flowered roses. Examples include Rosa “Abraham Darby” and R. “Brother Cadfael”. The first series of David Austin roses was named after characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales’.

Finally we have the true Miniature Roses with blooms less than 5cm across and growing no more than 40-50cm tall. Ideal for rockeries or pots.

Examples include Rosa “Ellie” and R. “Holy Toledo”.

HAVING grown roses here for more than 30 years, I have found newly planted roses will generally have the first flowers about Melbourne Cup Day.

I will repeat one item of advice mentioned in an earlier article because of its importance: do not put chemical fertilisers or fresh manures in the planting hole. These can cause irreparable damage to the new, tender roots. At planting time water in your new roses with a liquid seaweed-based plant food such as Maxicrop Seaweed Plant Food. This will specifically encourage new root growth without causing any damage to new roots.

IT is important not to prune roses until the end of August or early September.

If roses are pruned too soon it will encourage new growth, particularly if it is a mild winter. This is when the novice gardener can get caught out. A sudden sharp frost and all those delicate young new shoots will almost certainly be burnt off with the cold. This can set the whole flowering process back or even kill the rose.

Reality can bite on renovations

DISASTROUS DIY home renovations could flood the Australian property market as people are inspired by reality TV renovation shows.

That’s the view of Bart Mead, CEO of Propell National Valuers, who says there has been an increasing trend in do-it-yourself jobs and major renovations inspired by the successes of those in the shows but, he warns, reality TV isn’t always reality.

“Carrying out DIY jobs and home renovations can be a fantastic way to add value with minimal outlay,” Bart says.

“Jobs under $10,000 are quite popular and, if done correctly, can add significant value to a property and increase the selling price.

“However viewers should be aware of the various factors that need to be considered –

local legislation, by-laws, planning required, contractor’s requirements and so much more that goes into successfully renovating a property.”

A report issued last year from the Housing Industry Association forecasted total Australian renovations activity to reach a level of $30.41 billion in 2013-2014.

“Every homeowner’s dream is to increase the value of their home before selling, and some might be tempted to cut corners to save money in the short term. This can lead to financial disaster in the long term,” he says.

“Kitchens and bathrooms are the two rooms where buyers expect good aesthetics as well as size and practicality – if you are going to spend money and there is room for improvement in these rooms, then this is where your focus should be.

“Painting is another way to refresh the look of your property, but stay away from feature walls and stick with neutral colours. There is generally no room for error with painting, though poorquality workmanship can show up easily on walls, cornices and ceilings.

“Storage is also highly sought after among property buyers, so if you can build a garage, walk-in wardrobes or more cupboards in your property then this can be a relatively low-cost exercise which could produce desirable results.”

Other critical renovation factors include knowing the right suburb to renovate in, setting a budget, buying wholesale and understanding local area buyer behaviour – are they buying one-bedroom studios or three-bedroom homes, are they families with young children or retirees? This can help with renovation strategy and marketability.

Joanne Madeline Moore

your week in the stars / June 24-30

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Rambunctious Rams are feeling restless! Jupiter shifts into your domestic zone this week so, over the next 12 months, some Aries will renovate, build an extension, move house, buy a second property or travel. Others will expand their family via a wedding or pregnancy. Avoid being impulsive on Sunday... otherwise you may say or do something that you later regret.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

Your ruling planet Venus visits your domestic zone so the next month is the perfect time to clean, de-clutter, re-decorate or renovate your living space. You’re also in the mood to cook up a storm and entertain, plus buy beautiful things for your home... but avoid being extravagant with cash and careless with credit. Some single Bulls will find love in the local neighbourhood.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

Dynamic Mars is moving through your sign (until July 13) so aim to be at your gregarious Gemini best, as you dash through each day with extra energy and enthusiasm. But, with Jupiter cruising through your cash zone over the coming year, watch your urge to splurge doesn’t get out of control. Pluto demands that you pay close attention to balancing the books.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Have you been capitalising on your talents? Get set for a run of good fortune, as Jupiter sashays into your sign (for the first time in 11 years!) Travel, sport, study and adventure are all favoured, as you charge out of your Crab cave and turn lucky opportunities into successful projects. Be inspired by birthday great Helen Keller: “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

Your Cat charisma gets a boost this week, as Venus vamps through your sign (from Friday until July 22). So it’s time to flirt up a storm, pamper yourself, and call in a few old favours. With Jupiter jumping into your soul zone, spiritual pursuits and helping others are on the agenda. Plus, if you have a problem you can’t solve, tap into your intuition for the answers you require.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

Lucky Jupiter joins the Sun and Mercury in your business contacts zone, so it’s very important to network as much as you can over the next week and the coming year. Virgos can be hesitant to trumpet their talents but if you don’t promote yourself, why should anyone else? Confidence is the rocket fuel that will take your career (and your life) to the next level.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Your career is set to expand in exciting directions but don’t get too carried away. Keep your feet on the ground. When it comes to a professional project or business matter, there’s a strong likelihood you’ll go over budget. So some serious cost-cutting is required, to get things back on track again. Over the next few weeks you’ll be inspired by a creative new crowd.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

Check your passport is up to date because foreign shores beckon over the coming year, as Jupiter jump-starts your travel zone. Higher education is also favoured and some studious Scorpios will learn a new language. Be generous about sharing your aspirations for the future with others. The more you involve loved ones in your plans, the more enjoyable they will be.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Jupiter shifts into your intimacy zone, until July 2014. So expect a boost to your sex life, as your libido blossoms. For celibate or single Sagittarians, a financial partnership flourishes – or you receive an injection of funds via an inheritance, pay rise, divorce settlement, superannuation payment or bumper tax return. Just make sure you spend (and save) any extra cash wisely.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

Have you been having hassles with your nearest and dearest? Jupiter provides a welcome opportunity to work on partnership problems over the coming year. You’ll find it’s easier to find common ground than at other times. Plus, the more generous and forgiving you are, the richer your relationships will be. But resist the urge to be a compulsive Capricorn this weekend.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Have you been having relationship problems? With Venus visiting your partnership zone (from Friday through until July 22) perhaps it’s time to swallow your pride and hold out the olive branch of peace? Plus Saturn challenges you to be more organised and focused at work. If you’re looking for employment, don’t give up! Strive to be patient and incredibly persistent.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

With Jupiter activating your creativity zone (plus the Sun trine Neptune), make the most of your plethora of Piscean talents. Draw inspiration from Carly Simon (born on June 25): “There’s always a creative side to me, even when it’s quiet musically... like painting or decorating or planting a garden.” The Piscean Moon (on Friday and Saturday) puts you in the mood for movies and music. Daily astrology updates at www.twitter.com/JoMadelineMoore

Across

4 Who was the longest serving prime minister of Australia?

8 Name a Turkish title of respect for government officials, etc

9 Which term is descriptive of a conceited dandy?

10 What is a pasty composition used for covering walls, ceilings, etc?

11 Which term describes that which is offensive to modesty or decency?

12 To be godlike is to be what?

14 What is a public building for the confinement of criminals, etc?

18 What is the acknowledgement in writing of the payment of a bill?

21 Which birds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds?

22 Of which nationality were the Beatles?

23 One who casts a vote is a what?

24 To have been freed from errors is to have done what?

Down

1 Name a large, ferocious, spotted cat

2 Name the parts of a meat carcass

discarded after slaughter

3 What is the act of anointing as a religious rite?

4 Name the millionth part of a metre

5 Which term refers to a means of connection?

6 What might we call those who press clothes?

7 What is a heavy one-edged sword used especially by cavalry?

13 Name a modified virus used for preventive inoculation

15 What are extensive farms for cattle, horses, or the like?

16 What is a place set apart for young children?

17 To have engraved with an acid or the like is to have done what?

18 Name the monetary unit of Russia

19 Which Greek epic poem is ascribed to Homer?

20 Name the main trunk of the arterial system that conveys blood to most of the body