WHY MONIQUE BLAKEMORE CAN'T BRING HER KIDS HOME
How Rudd can keep Labor in The Lodge
ROBERT MACKLIN
Strange sport of backroom intrigue TIM GAVEL Build a ‘hotel’ for insects
CEDRIC BRYANT
In the funny zombie zone
CANBERRA CONFIDENTIAL
YOUR BUDGET BUYS A BIGGER BLOCK
RETURNING to Australia for a brief visit this month, Monique Blakemore admits she had her heart on her sleeve.
Four years ago, she and her husband Chris made the tough decision to pack up their Canberra home and move to Manchester, England, to give their two autistic sons Nick, 9 and Matthew, 8, better treatment.
With the introduction of the Federal Government’s national disability insurance scheme (NDIS), DisabilityCare Australia, the possibility of moving back to her home country was in the back of Monique’s mind, but her hopes were quickly dashed.
“To be honest, I was really hoping that things would have progressed a lot more than they had in four years,” Monique says.
“The main concerns I have with the NDIS is whether it is going to be capped funding per person and will individuals be assessed by an allied health professional? That along with the cost of treatment in Australia... I know if we moved back, it would be an emotive decision, not because of the NDIS.”
Monique says she and Chris could not afford treatment in Australia, despite each working two jobs.
She says all up, they would have been paying about $60,000.
“When he was diagnosed, my youngest son was non-verbal and it
Four years ago Monique and Chris Blakemore left Canberra for England where they believed their two autistic sons and the family stood the chance of a better life than in Australia. They were right then and, sadly, they are right now. LAURA EDWARDS reports
was quite a battle to get speech therapy in Australia... early intervention is key and we weren’t getting any real assurances about the level of support he would have,” she says.
In the UK, the children have access to a state-funded intensive program, which means Monique and Chris don’t have to pay a cent. It made the decision to move “much easier”, says Monique.
“As Chris was born in England we had access to the program, and what they do for children with disabilities is before the child goes to school they are assessed by an educational psychologist and a speech therapist, and you get a statement of education needs, which is basically a contract between you and the council,” she says.
“My youngest has gone from being non-verbal to being quite a talkative, happy kid who is now able to say what he wants rather than getting angry. It’s been a tremendous difference for him, he gets 68 hours of one-to-one speech therapy that we don’t have to pay for. In Australia, that’s something we would have had to pay for privately, for about $200 an hour.
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Cover: Monique Blackmore.
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“I know several other families in Australia who have kids with autism who say they are trying to find a job to get to the UK because they are just struggling financially.”
Since moving to the UK, Monique has become an advocate for autism’s cause, working predominantly with autistic adults. With UK charity Hearts and Minds, which is currently raising money for an autism-specific school, she provides employment coaching, educating employers on autistic people’s needs when seeking employment and training advisors in the private and government sectors.
“Basically, in the UK there’s only a 15 per cent employment rate for kids like mine. The transition from adulthood worldwide is a major difficulty, and what you find with parents is they’ve fought so hard during the kids’ childhood, and then the job’s not done.”
Last year Monique began work with Educational Equality, a national community interest company dedicated to raising awareness and defending issues relating to children and adults with special educational needs.
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She says having the right support is critical to help families “from sinking.”
“When our boys were first diagnosed, Chris and I didn’t even know what autism was, we had to go home and Google it,” she says.
“It can be very emotionally overwhelming, and the main thing I tell parents is don’t make your child into something they’re not. I say you were never meant to have a non-autistic child, you have the child you have.”
3:00:56
Monique says although she would like to return to Australia one day, it doesn’t look likely.
“Yes there’s more exposure and some organisations and charities are doing great things for autism, but I’d like to see in Canberra in particular, a class or school for these socially vulnerable autistic kids, where they can build on their strengths. I’d like to see Australia learn from the UK on what great things can be done.”
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IAN Handberg is probably best known around the quiet streets and cul-de-sacs up the back of Chapman, at the foot of the Cooleman Ridge nature reserve, for the flagpole that sticks up from his front porch.
That and the collection of more than 200 different flags he attaches to it, changing them over “about every second day”.
“This corner’s like a little enclave,” says the Winstanley Street resident.
“Everybody knows each other; we don’t live on top of each other, but we do keep an eye out and look after one another.”
The friendly, fun-loving retiree and his wife Anne (who he still calls “the bride” after 23 years of marriage) have done a lot to bring the neighbourhood closer together.
When the “CityNews” team pays him a visit, he’s flying the national flag of Antigua and Barbuda. We know because it’s helpfully written on a little sign he attached to the letterbox to help him deal with all the interest, mainly from curious schoolkids.
“It’s amazing, the number of people that will come in and ask you,” he says, “They might be of a particular nationality
background, and they’ll say their independence day is coming up and ask if I’ve got their flag, and if I can put it up.”
The collection, he says, is simply made up of whatever he can get his hands on. Some favourites are the Eureka flag, the boxing kangaroo, and the Lower Murray River flag – an early design that pre-dates the Australian flag, which he thinks should be changed so people stop confusing us for NZ at the Olympics. He also flies the colours of sporting teams along with novelty banners such as the Jolly Roger and one that proudly displays his allegiance to cold beer.
“I follow AFL and the Western Bulldogs are my team, but we’ve only won four games this year, so occasionally the Western Bulldogs goes up at half mast,” he jokes, when asked how seriously he takes official flag protocols.
Always good for a yarn, Ian tells us one about how seriously our local officials take those protocols.
“The ACT Government wouldn’t let me have an ACT flag,” he says.
“They said it’s only on official buildings and all that. Next thing, my son comes home and he’s got
an ACT flag! He bought it in Perth, just in a flag shop.”
However, his efforts to buy a Canberra Centenary flag in the last few weeks have not been so successful, with the Chief Minister’s office telling him there are no spares.
“[Katy Gallagher] sent me back
a reply – or at least someone did –saying they might be available for sale to the public next year and I thought that’s a fat lot of use, this year’s the Centenary,” he says, laughing.
“I suggested that they should order 500 more and sell them for charity but oh, no, we can’t do that!”
THE Canberra Convention Bureau reports that it has achieved its 2012-13 target of generating $41.6 million in confirmed business, delivering 66,400 nights of accommodation room occupancy to the Canberra economy, a five per cent increase on the year before.
CHRISTMAS in July is being celebrated by the Tuggeranong Evening VIEW (Voice, Interests and Education of Women) Club at a dinner at the Town Centre Club, Greenway, 6.30pm, on Wednesday, July 24. Cost of two-course dinner is $25 and participants are encouraged to bring along a gift to the value of $10 and join in the fun. The club fundraises for The Smith Family. Enquiries and bookings to 6291 4018.
PSYCHOLOGIST Charlotte Morrison will lead a workshop for parents of teenagers, 2pm-5pm, at the Griffin Centre on Sunday, August 11. The Teen Connect workshop is designed to arm parents with the knowledge and skills to reduce conflict in the home and help raise a happy, healthy teenager. Cost is $100 per person, or $150 with a co-parent. More information via teen.connect@graymorr.com or call 0432 997634.
A FOOD parcel collection campaign, co-ordinated by the South African High Commission on behalf of the diplomatic corps, is the public centrepoint of this year’s Nelson Mandela International Day 2013 in Canberra. An annual international event of humanitarian action, it will be celebrated at 11.30am on July 23 at the Tuggeranong Community Centre, when the collected grocery items will be presented to the Yellow Van Food Rescue Program.
SEVEN surgeons have combined to establish what they say is Canberra’s largest and most comprehensive orthopaedic service. OrthopaedicsACT is based in Turner and offers the services of Dr Phil Aubin, Dr Alexander Burns, Dr Gawel Kullsiewicz, Dr Christopher Roberts, Dr Damian Smith, Prof Paul Smith and Dr Nicholas Tsai.
THE first non-invasive laser treatment for cataracts is now available in Canberra. A LenSx laser has been installed at the Capital Day Surgical Centre. It uses a computer controlled and image-guided, high-frequency femtosecond laser to perform the early stages of the cataract procedure with a high degree of precision. More information from 6253 2514.
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JOHN Saxon isn’t one to shy away from a good yarn, but when the former spaceflight operator is asked what he said to Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke while they were on 1972’s glitch-prone Apollo 16 mission, he goes uncharacteristically quiet.
“Oh, you don’t want to know... but it involves needing a lager,” he says with a smile.
From the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station, just 30km outside of Canberra, operations manager John and a 100-strong support team would often communicate with astronauts such as Young and Duke during space missions, monitoring everything from temperatures to heartbeats, and receiving and transmitting images.
So pivotal was the Canberra tracking station’s role, that NASA could have delayed or cancelled a launch had there been a problem at Honeysuckle.
John, 78, worked at the station when it first opened in 1967 until a year before its closure in 1981, where it supported all the Apollo missions, including Neil Armstrong’s famous first steps, and the near-doomed Apollo 13.
The station, John says, was built in the ACT at the time because the then-Prime Minister Robert Menzies wanted to build Canberra’s profile in the technical world. The 26-metre antenna from the station now sits in Tidbinbilla.
It was a defining moment of the 20th century when the world watched Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. It is not so well known that those first steps, and many other Apollo events, were sent out to the world from the ACT. LAURA EDWARDS reports
A modest man, John is dismissive when we spot a few of his certificates and awards from Apollo’s successful missions in his Chifley home. “Oh, I’ve had so many of them, I don’t like to frame them,” he says, waving a hand.
Even the station’s most notable achievement, providing the world with the first television pictures of Armstrong’s Apollo 11 “moonwalk” in 1969 with voice and telemetry contact using the lunar and command modules, “wasn’t a huge thing at the time,” he says.
“There were at least three stations providing the footage to Houston, and there were problems with the other ones, that caused our television to be the first one,” he laughs.
“I’ll admit now, it was a defining moment for the ACT.”
This month, John will share some of his memorabilia from that time at Questacon, bringing light to a whole new generation.
“These days a kid’s knowledge of man walking on the moon is only from movies like ‘Apollo 13’ or ‘The Dish’, so it’s sometimes good to be able to say: ‘No, this is how it was really done’,” he says.
Of the memorabilia he plans to show, one is a graph of Neil Armstrong’s rapid heart rate, taken the moment he made his first steps on the moon’s surface and just before uttering the famous line “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Was John’s own heart doing the same thing as he watched this wondrous moment in history, so close to the action?
“Not really, for us it was fairly standard; we had done so many simulations before that were much tougher than the mission itself,” he says.
Although he’d spoken to him many times before, John only got to formally meet Armstrong in 2011, a year before he died.
“It was a wonderful moment, we spent an hour and a half talking,” he says.
John recalls the station’s “intense” atmosphere back in the Apollo days, where cigarettes and a stiff drink were often the order after a long day for most of the workers.
“When there were missions we were doing 10 or 12 days straight with at least 12-hour shifts, so sometimes we’d
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sleep there overnight – there was a lot at stake,” he says.
Despite the many photos, transcripts and certificates he has on hand, John says he’s never short of sceptics: “I still have people thinking it was all just a hoax, but I don’t bother with them, they’ve already made up their mind so there’s no point,” he shrugs.
“They can all speculate, and they probably will for some time to come, but only we know what really happened in there.”
“Apollo – Canberra’s finest hour” will be held at Questacon, from 9.30am on July 20 and from 10am on July 21. More information at tinyurl.com/apollofest1&2
AT times, sport can have as much intrigue as the major backroom dealings at the house on the hill.
Ewen McKenzie’s appointment ahead of the Brumbies’ Jake White as the Wallabies’ coach is one example and Lauren Jackson possibly playing for the Canberra Capitals next season is another.
I reported in the week leading up to the Wallabies/Lions test that it would be Robbie Deans’ last and that White would be appointed as the Wallabies’ coach for two years until the 2015 World Cup.
Things changed over the weekend and by Tuesday, Deans was gone and McKenzie appointed Wallabies’ coach.
It has been hard to ascertain the reason for the apparent change but, despite the ARU denials, I am convinced that it had plenty to do with the public push to have an Australian coach.
That said, I’m sure McKenzie will do a great job; he has turned around the fortunes of Queensland rugby and the team is playing attacking rugby.
Behind the scenes he has been just as impressive. He was a foundation player with the Brumbies in 1996 and was largely responsible for recruiting players to Canberra in the early years. An insight into his commitment to the community came a couple of years ago, after the Queanbeyan Whites raised $17,000 for seven clubs in flood-ravaged Queensland. Overwhelmed by the donation, McKenzie came to Queanbeyan the following year to personally thank those who had raised the funds.
MEANWHILE, Lauren Jackson’s immediate playing future is providing as much intrigue as the Wallabies’ coaching job.
Jackson has indicated that she is keen to play next season; the Capitals though had prepared a roster without her being part of it because she wasn’t contracted to play for them until the following year, and was recovering from hamstring surgery.
At the moment the Capitals don’t have the money to pay Jackson and would have to go into the corporate marketplace, but there is plenty that needs to happen before it becomes a reality.
COMMON sense seems to have prevailed in the construction of the proposed synthetic running track for Woden.
The ACT Government has allocated around $4.5 million for the facility. A couple of months ago, I wrote about concerns within the athletics sector that the area was too small and the desire was to build a major facility at Stromlo Forest Park.
There was also a feeling that the money should have been distributed to clubs on the southside to upgrade existing Little Athletics’ facilities.
There now appears to be a more conciliatory approach and athletics’ groups have put forward a list of what is needed to build a facility to the standard required by the International Amateur Athletics Federation.
Athletics also wants to use Eddison Park next door for javelin, and soccer would continue to be played on the athletics infield at the new facility. There’s also the possibility of re-establishing the Little Athletics Club at Boomanulla Oval, which will be used by the 400-strong Woden Little As during construction of the synthetic track.
MAJOR infrastructure spending at Canberra Stadium seems to be on hold with the ACT Government’s focus on the City to the Lake project, which includes a new indoor stadium.
Fair enough, why spend money on a facility that may become redundant? The only worry is the time it will take before the new indoor stadium comes to fruition.
I’m also hearing that one of the potential operators of the City to the Lake’s proposed new leisure centre could be the ANU, which makes sense given the proximity of the project to the university and the fact it doesn’t have a pool. AND a project to build low-budget units with up to 300 beds for school groups and the like at Stromlo Forest Park is moving ahead.
Land for the facility is already allocated and it would be built and run by a private operator with a long-term lease. The ACT Government is likely to open it up for expressions of interest in about 12 months’ time. The idea of a chair lift at Stromlo Forest Park is more long term.
Pierre Johannessen is not your typical 30-year-old Canberran as reporter STEPHEN EASTON discovers
A GLOBAL citizen, Pierre Johannessen grew up moving around the world with his Norwegian father and Iranian mother, “along the way picking up an American accent, a French name, a Fijian disposition and a love of all languages, not to mention a European appreciation of food”, according to his rather flattering Wikipedia page.
Over the past five years, he’s established and run an international non-profit group called the Big Bang Ballers, which explains the flattering Wikipedia page, and his being named ACT Young Australian of the Year in 2010.
“We use basketball to fight youth poverty and social disadvantage, and that’s a big way of saying we basically just play basketball with kids,” he explains, sitting in his office at Isaacs shops, where he and his mother run a small law firm.
“It’s a tool we can use to teach kids about their surroundings. In basketball, if you don’t look after the people around you, you’re not going to be successful. It’s that simple. It’s not a man-on-man game, it’s not a one-person game; you can be the best player on the planet, but without a good team, you’re not going to win.”
“Every country is responsible for their own cash,” Pierre explains. “We’re big on not having aid dependence – people just sending money from overseas and that’s the end of the story – so in every country that we’re in, we set up a team, and that team is responsible for organising tournaments and camps, going to schools and orphanages and providing them with the support they need through funding, materials or whatever. A big part of that is raising the money in-house.”
The value of “helping people help themselves” was instilled in Pierre by his parents, both of whom worked for the UN High Commission on Refugees. When we meet him, he had just come back from helping set up the newest Big Bang Ballers team in Senegal, which will now mostly run itself.
What we do in each country is never the same
He traces the simple idea back to late 2007, when he was shooting hoops in Bangladesh with a couple of French expats and a local guy. He was in the country working with Habitat for Humanity through the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development program.
“You can do it with anything – you can do it with music, you can do it with arts – it just so happened that basketball was what we knew at the time,” he says.
Now, there are independent Big Bang Ballers teams in 11 countries, and close to 40,000 disadvantaged youths have been through their programs.
“What we do in each country is never the same,” he says. “We have parallels – like we support schools and orphanages in every country and we always have a basketball team – but there are 29 individual programs to choose from; it all depends on what each country needs.”
Here in Canberra, the Big Bang Ballers run a program for the young inmates at Bimberi Youth Detention Centre, and another called Night Hoops, which recently won a $48,850 “Diversity and Social Cohesion” grant from the Federal Government.
“It’s really basic, we open up the basketball court on a Saturday night and get in kids – usually it’s a mix between street kids and kids who just love basketball – and give them somewhere safe and warm and secure to play basketball for like four, five hours a night,” says Pierre, adding that they also provide food to eat and to take away.
“When we started we had, I think, 16 kids that were homeless. Over the
course of the last two years we’ve managed to get every single one of them into housing, and some into tertiary or secondary education.
“We’ve got new migrants, we’ve got at-risk kids and we’ve got the AFP heavily involved, too. After the first year [the police] were coming in and telling us these were the same kids who were hanging out in the parking lot of Belconnen Mall and just, like,
throwing rocks at people.
“Now that relationship’s improved a lot as well; at the beginning we had a lot of the new migrant kids and the refugee kids who were really antipolice.”
In the detention centre, he says, the basketball has helped troubled youngsters open up, learn to deal with conflict and have respect for the opposite sex – something Pierre sees as a
positive step in any society.
“Immediately the guys are like, ‘I don’t wanna play with the girls’, but we’ve gotten that everywhere we’ve been. We did the first mixed tournament and the first mixed teams in Bangladesh. Same thing in Senegal, which hadn’t really happened before; same thing in Uganda, too. Wherever we can we try and break down those barriers.”
Kevin Rudd’s
biographer ROBERT MACKLIN
offers the returning Prime Minister three steps to staying in The Lodge
KEVIN Rudd’s return to The Lodge was a minor miracle. There is a bigger one to come: that’s the one where he returns the Labor Party to government at the forthcoming election.
“So far, so good,” he’s thinking. But between now and polling day (the only one that counts) quite a few chips must fall his way before he can pull off the big one.
The first and most important is that he must avoid political stumbles himself, some ghastly incident with a staffer or an attendant that reminds voters of the old Rudd and his legendary impatience with underlings. This is entirely in his hands and the key is his getting a decent night’s sleep –not just once a week when he’s exhausted, but every night. This calls for personal discipline and tough talking from wife Therese and daughter Jessica when Ms Rein is away on business.
what. But his recent demeanour suggests he’s prepared to let bygones be bygones for the sake of the Party.
The second payment of the Schoolkids Bonus for 2013 is coming in July to help with your children’s mid-year expenses. If you’re eligible, it will be paid automatically into your bank account. You cannot claim it through your tax*.
All those excesses of yesteryear occurred when he pushed himself over the limit, claiming that he only needed four hours a night. It was nonsense then and it’s even more nonsensical now he’s three years older.
I’m thinking particularly of Peter Garrett with whom he has had a curious relationship since they were at the ANU’s Burgmann College together in the 1970s. Peter Garrett was a year ahead of Kevin and Therese, who met each other there on the first day of Orientation Week 1976.
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Second, he needs his ministerial colleagues to show a similar sense of discipline and responsibility by doing what he could never do – forgive and forget... or at least keep their traps shut until they write their memoirs in their sere and yellow.
Garrett became famous as the singing activist of Midnight Oil well before Rudd and there was undoubtedly a sense of rivalry between them. Rudd then surpassed him and took some pleasure in promoting him to Cabinet. But Garrett then took the fall for the “pink batts” affair, which must have riled him more than some -
Julia Gillard, too, must be prepared to drift into the background and keep her peace until the election is over. She is a class act and will not rock the boat, if only because she knows Tony Abbott in Government would demolish her signature reforms in education and climate change.
Third, he must not get so far ahead in the polls (the ones that don’t count) that the Liberals decide to replace Abbott with the much more politically palatable Malcolm Turnbull. Don’t be fooled into thinking
the conservatives wouldn’t stoop to such Laboresque manoeuvrings in their quest for power. If they thought they could win with Malcolm, even if it meant retaining the tax on carbon and abandoning the “stop the boats” mantra, they would do it in a heartbeat. Of course, Rudd will not let up for an instant. It wouldn’t matter if he and Labor were 10 points ahead of the Opposition, he’d still chase every last vote. He doesn’t want a narrow win (much less a hung Parliament); he wants the miraculous victory of the kind Paul Keating still cherishes: “The sweetest one of all”.
www.robertmacklin.com
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AT a time when democracy is under threat, it is even more important to have voter engagement. The loss of our freedoms is not likely to end with a bang but a whimper.
Two immediate threats are illustrative of the need for vigilance – the Rudd push for power and current negotiations around an international treaty known as the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.
Gillard supporter, the former AttorneyGeneral, Nicola Roxon, argued that nowPrime Minister Kevin Rudd was “not the Messiah”. Apparently, she did not convince him or the rest of the Labor caucus.
Rudd certainly gives the impression that he believes he was elected by the people. He knows better. The Prime Minister has to have the support not just of his own party, but of the majority of members of the House of Representatives.
In quite a masterful move, Rudd is now using the instability of the caucus to argue for more power to be concentrated in his own hands. It is largely the uncertainty and instability that he actually caused by his constant white-anting. To avoid having others behave as badly as he did, he is going to ask elected Labor Party members to forgo their ability to have a majority challenge him as leader of the parliamentary party.
It will take three quarters of the caucus to be able to ask the broader party to
MY heart goes out to Les Hedegus’ sad story and his very detailed analysis of his wine-by-theglass problems whilst choffing his $60 bottle! (“Woes of wine by the glass”, letters, CN July 4).
For God’s sake, get a life, go to a BYO restaurant, pay corkage, take your own glass and you can fill it to the brim. I’m happy to sit at home enjoying a $10 bottle of chardonnay because that’s all I can afford.
There are many more important things in life than your petty problem, believe me.
Heather Ponting, Greenway
KEVIN Rudd has claimed not to believe in class war. Why then do his candidates put out material which is blatantly divisive, and old class war?
Rudd seeks to liken himself as healer, which flies in the face of his policy failures, sacking and colleagues’ fierce attacks.
The claimed Hawke era consensus came to be derided as “CONcensus” and as a marketing slogan. Is this more Rudd marketing sloganeering?
Martin Gordon, Flynn
TELEVISION makes a huge difference to relieving the stress of being in hospital, especially if you have no family or friends to visit you.
So at what cost in the public wards is it for
Michael Moore politics
remove the Labor leader. This is not just about the Prime Minister but the Labor leader in government or in opposition who will be difficult to budge.
In making this move, Rudd drags the community further towards believing that the Prime Minister is directly elected. When he challenged Gillard without success the last time, the reaction of many in the Labor caucus made it clear why the majority of caucus moved against him in the original coup.
In part it was about the “Messiah complex”. The propensity for the Prime Minister to ensure control of everything himself rather than delegate to his ministers had not only slowed government, but had frustrated many competent, dedicated Ministers.
If Labor really wants more stability and broader membership involvement, it should retain the 50 per cent caucus vote to refer the issue to the general membership. This first attempt of Rudd’s to consolidate power does not bode well for the future. What will be the next step?
The other threat to our democracy is found in our international treaties. The Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism is one that was rejected by the Howard Government in the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement of 2003-04, and
has been rejected by the current government in its negotiations so far over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The Productivity Commission Report on Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements also rejected the inclusion of the ISDS.
Simply put, this dispute system allows big companies to challenge Australian democratic decisions. Despite this, Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, said ISDS is back on the table if the Abbott Government comes to power. Specifically, this is the mechanism that is allowing big tobacco to use an obscure 1993 Hong Kong–Australia investment agreement to challenge our plain packaging of tobacco laws.
These laws have been passed by the Federal Parliament and found legal by our High Court. The ISDS mechanism allows foreign corporations to challenge these constitutional rights of Australians through what can at best be described as a “quasi-judicial” mechanism.
Fortunately, there are Australians who are aware of the fragility of our freedoms. They need greater awareness and stronger support if Australians are to remain truly free to make their own decisions about what happens within their own country.
Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health. He appreciates assistance from Dr P Ranald, of Sydney University, in regard to international treaties.
Ph: 6154 6000
www.yeendassociates.com.au
gillian@yeendassociates.com.au
Gillian Yeend commenced a role as Director of Yeend & Associates – Family Lawyers in June 2013. Yeend & Associates is the first specialist ACT Family Law Firm with an Office in Gungahlin. Since 2001 Gillian has practiced exclusively in the area of Family Law in specialist Family Law firms in NSW and the ACT.
Gillian relocated to Canberra in 2006 and has been a member of the ACT Law Society Family Law Committee and Professional Complaints Committee. Gillian has also volunteered her time at the ACT Women’s Legal Centre and the ACT Law Society Legal Advice Bureau.
Gillian has expertise in litigated and negotiated matters involving financial issues and parenting disputes. Gillian can also assist clients to find constructive solutions for their Family Law Matter including non-litigation alternatives.
Yeend and Associates offers a free initial consultation with a Director of the firm.
patients to watch TV? Cost, you ask? Yes, if you are in a public ward at Calvary Hospital, the cost for watching television is $10 a day, and that has to be paid by credit card only.
It would appear that the TV provider is a Sydney-based company and if you are an aged person with neither credit card nor anyone to organise this for you, then tough!
Seventy dollars a week to make money out of the sick, bah!
“Square eyes”, Braddon
I EMPATHISE with reader Heather Gibson
(Letters, CN July 11) regarding dental care.
Out of my group of eight friends, all of whom work full time, only two of us can afford to go to the dentist. Health insurance premiums are excessive and rebates for services such as dental are low.
I believe this is a travesty as rotten teeth have been linked to many health problems such as heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and even miscarriage.
One of the main reasons I vote for the Greens is that they are the only political party to support the creation of a Denticare scheme.
Why should only the rich have good teeth? Anna Lee, via email
PLEASE, please, this is not an election about personalities and at the end of the day we have the same horse with a different jockey.
The horse is lame, this country is in deep financial free fall, which will affect your and my kids and their kids for years to come, it’s that simple.
Please don’t waste your vote on a face, vote on party policies that kindle your thoughts and interests.
Labor is dogged with many former Gillard supporters who have conveniently jumped from one ship to the other for self survival and interest and, at the same time, the Liberals court a few duds as well.
Don’t waste your vote, it is probably the most important election for Australia in many years and many years to come.
Michael Attwell, Dunlop
THE Tuggeranong Community Council was a little bemused by your statement in the June 27 edition of “CityNews” (“Canberra Confidential”) questioning the association between the TCC and the ACT Government. The ACT Government “supports” all community councils in the ACT, including the TCC. This support is in the form of small annual grants that cover administrative costs only.
The TCC agrees to formally recognise this support under the terms of the grant. The TCC also receives material and muscle support from Tuggeranong businesses and organisations. They are also recognised in our monthly magazine for their support.
Nick Tsoulias, president, Tuggeranong Community Council
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.
Hays are delighted to announce the promotion of Andrew Sutton to Business Director.
Andrew has had a very strong 2012/3 and continues to work closely with a range of senior finance and executive level professionals across the ACT.
Andrew underlines a range of Hays’ core values, most notably bringing expertise to the table. As a Fellow of The Institute to Chartered Accountants and an exceptionally well networked senior recruiter he takes a consultative and advisory based approach to assignments and consistently produces excellent results.
Andrew also influences our up and coming staff tremendously well, adding value across the office around areas such as mentoring, training and running our client focused charity events.
Congratulations Andrew, a very well deserved promotion for a very popular figure.
Senior Associate
P: 02 6201 7294
F: 02 6257 4011
E: john.chamberlain@dibbsbarker.com
John Chamberlain has been promoted to Senior Associate.
Legal services provided by John are in the area of property, providing advice and services for a range of property transactions from assisting first homebuyers to preparing and negotiating development agreements and contracts for multi unit developments. John can assist in sales and acquisitions of property, leasing, licensing, Old System dealings and planning issues for both residential and commercial property.
Mark will be heading up our new Small Medium Enterprise (SME) Business division and brings expertise, experience and personality to this most important area of the law.
So who is Mark Poretti?
Mark was admitted to practice in April 2003. Since then, Mark has been advising clients on buying and selling businesses including franchising arrangements, appropriate entity structures, taxation law, intellectual property, corporations law and insolvency.
What are his particular interests?
Most recently Mark has specialised in property law. His significant experience in the area has given him a thorough understanding of all of the complexities that are encountered when dealing with property. He has advised clients through all stages of property acquisition and development both in NSW and the ACT, and enjoys a significant and loyal leasing practice, acting for both landlords and tenants.
What will Mark be doing in Trinity?
Trinity is delighted to have Mark join it. His special area of expertise is going to be looking after the small and
John also provides detailed advice to clients on structuring entities before undertaking developments, including the use of companies, partnerships, joint venture agreements, syndicates, unit trusts, discretionary trusts, and taxation implications for each prospective entity.
John has a growing practice and has established relationships with key industry groups and individuals. John is Chair of the Property Committee of the ACT Law Society.
Associate
P: 02 6201 7203
F: 026257 4011
E: sarah.avery@dibbsbarker.com
Sarah Avery has been promoted to the position of Associate after having joined DibbsBarker in 2012 following her admission to practice in 2007.
Her extensive experience has meant she has developed a strong and growing practice in the area of insurance litigation. Sarah prides herself on providing pro-active and timely legal advice to her clients who include several major national and multinational insurance companies – critical to her philosophy is providing value.
Sarah’s ability to think laterally ensures that all aspects of claims are managed in a timely and effective manner.
Sarah’s ever growing knowledge and expertise in the area of workers compensation, public liability and professional indemnity insurance mean she is the “go-to” person for client’s who require the right answer in a short period of time.
Sarah has assumed a senior role in the firm and is a mentor within her team.
medium enterprises which are such an important part of Trinity Law’s client base. Each and every one of those clients is important to us and Mark will be using all of his expertise and experience to help develop and assist those clients, and to provide them with leading edge legal advice and practical assistance.
How can I contact Mark?
Mark will be working with Trinity’s existing client base, but is always available and interested in assisting clients new to the firm with their legal needs. Mark can be contacted on his direct email which is Mark.Poretti@trinitylaw.com.au, or by telephoning the office on 6163 5050
Shelley Mulherin
Senior Associate
P: 02 6201 7299
F: 026257 4011
E: shelley.mulherin@dibbsbarker.com
Shelley has been promoted to Senior Associate.
Shelley works in the Commercial Litigation team, advising and acting for various individuals and organisations in relation to a range of general commercial and contractual disputes, shareholder disputes, insolvency matters and corporate governance issues.
Shelley undertakes appearance work on commercial matters in the ACT Magistrates Court and ACT Supreme Court, as well as the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal and in various NSW Courts.
• Conducting and managing complex litigation on behalf of clients.
• Providing legal advice across a broad client base including advising liquidators, company directors, peak industry stakeholders and companies generally.
• Provision of diverse legal solutions in relation to, for example, contractual disputes, copyright issues, administrative law, building disputes and business transactions including the purchase and sale of businesses.
Shelley is a member of the Elder Law Committee of the ACT Law Society.
“CityNews” cartoonist PAUL DORIN bemoans the passing of Julia Gillard from his world in Cartoonland
I WAS occasionally asked for my thoughts on the Gillard Government. My wisecrack reply was: “They’re doing an awesome job!” (for a political cartoonist).
First, I’d get the strange looks and then comes: “Yeah, that’ll be right, you’d be loving this government, there’s always plenty of material to work with!”.
The hardest part of a cartoon is coming up with the ideas, so from the moment I wake in Cartoonland I am reading and listening to as much as possible and scribbling down whatever ideas that might pop into my head.
I didn’t like drawing Julia Gillard at first. It’s always hard to capture a new politician who emerges into the spotlight.
When I began drawing Tony Abbott over a decade ago, he was very bland to start with, but since taking over as Opposition Leader he has evolved into a fun politician to draw.
Cartoons make a valuable contribution to public social debate and mine contribute by
mocking the already political public opinion, and I thank the outgoing Gillard Government every day for its mismanagement and failings, its inspiration that has been handed to me on a cartoonist platter almost every day, adding so much more colour to my creative licence.
There were one or two Gillard cartoons that have struck a chord with readers, one interesting response that landed in my inbox was: “Dear Cartoonist, after reading (not laughing) at your absurd inner workings, I thought your cartoon was in bad taste and like a vomit after a bad meal”.
The Gillard circus was so full of clowns and was my weekly foolproof for material, but there have been quiet times, and my battle plan for dealing with the dreaded “blank page” has been Abbott, who has been involved in some of
the funniest moments in Australian politics. If, after the election, we end up with an Abbott Government, it could mean the end of the easy life, but I have a serious responsibility to be funny and I’ll keep striving for creative excellence – measured by being the cartoon that gets cut out and appears on office walls or the fridge at home.
As a political cartoonist, I miss Julia. Then again, I get to be drawing Kevin once more and I really like drawing Kevin Rudd.
When he and the Labor Party won power over John Howard and the Liberals in 2007, I thought my creative toilet might have become blocked, but Rudd removed any thought of a creative bung, allowing a burst of ideas and inspiration to flow.
COMEDIANS Greg Fleet and Alex “Shooter” Williamson will appear in ScreenACT’s lowbudget zombie comedy feature film, “Me and My Mates vs The Zombie Apocalypse”, which is to be filmed in Canberra in January.
The storyline revolves around three Telecom tradesmen hiding in a telephone exchange during the onset of a zombie apocalypse.
It was written and will be directed by emerging filmmaker Declan Shrubb, who scored a $120,000 investment from the Government’s ACT Screen Investment Fund.
The film is also the subject of a crowdfunding campaign, on indiegogo.com, to raise money for effects, stunts and, of course, zombie make-up to give the film a better chance at the competitive US market.
TWO days after walking out of the National Capital Private Hospital in Garran in protest at being ignored and kept hanging bewilderingly around an industrial-strength surgery ward for hours, cranky day patient gets a clueless call from the hospital concerned to know how he’d pulled up from the procedure! Told he hadn’t had it, had bunked off and did she want to know why was met with a quick, disinterested departure – and no one is any the wiser.
“BEAUTIFUL Innovation” is this year’s Floriade theme at Commonwealth Park from September 14-October 13, with four weekly sub-themes of “Smart Living”, “Future Style”, “Invention” and “Contemporary Cultures”. And NightFest is back with some interesting improvements and, woohoo, no increase in ticket prices.
ANOTHER in our series of silly correspondence from the Government, this one is a notice of assessment from the ACT Revenue Office this month to a local company seeking payment of $0 (that’s right – nothing, not a sausage) for an unlisted share transfer completed in September, 2009, despite acknowledging the payment had already been made, staggeringly, four years before! What do they do all day?
DID ABC morning show host Genevieve Jacobs miss a cracking yarn on her radio spot the other day? Her guest, a representative of the Canberra Muslim community, was on air explaining the ins and outs of the fasting celebration of Ramadan. She asked him, in effect, whether the tolerant nature of Canberra made it easier for Muslims to exist and grow as a community. Yes, her guest confirmed, except for the time when a former local Labor minister (whom he named), exasperated at some negotiations with the Muslim association,
CC loves nostalgia and this is the longgone, much-loved Capitol Theatre (cruelly flattened to make way for a cinema centre), sitting in the field that
“told us to get back on our camels and go back to Lebanon or Kazakhstan”. And with a “moving along, to talk about Ramadan...” the unblinking Jacobs let it slip unchallenged into the ether.
A PAIR of Japanese tourists unwittingly inconvenienced the traffic as they crossed London Circuit in Civic the other day and were given a breathtaking, white-van welcome to Australia, with an expletive-riven critique of their oriental road sense from a passing driver who made even world-weary CC blush. Shamefully, the driver’s van carried a logo of the ACT Government.
is now Manuka around the time of its opening as Canberra’s first cinema in December, 1927, with a capacity for 1250 patrons.
CANBERRANS rest easy in your beds in the certainty that the fine body of security operatives at Parliament House is vigilantly continuing to preclude “CityNews” from entering the Great Hall to take social photos.
Diminutive snapper Andrew Finch politely passed through security to get some pre-dinner pics of the Constitution Day Forum, only to be confronted and immediately despatched from the building for the third time by officer Peter Weasley, who excluded Andrew from the Press Gallery Winter Ball last year and again this year. All rather odd because we have been coming and going from the place untroubled the rest of the time.
LOCAL medical specialist appeals to the inner-green in seeking seven-day settlement of his account on the basis it reduces costs and “helps us minimise the use of paper and energy”.
SOUTHERN Cross Club tickets come with the firm condition on the back that “tape recorders are not permitted at shows”. Tape recorders?
SPOTTED recently on a seat in business class on the plane from Sydney to Los Angeles: a copy of “CityNews”! “How fun is that?” wrote our impressed holidaying local. Fun, indeed.
FREE “Canberra Times” watch: Free copies at the CMAG coffee shop in Civic Square. Anywhere else? Email confidential@ citynews.com.au
MENTALLY unhappy man accused of ramming the American embassy security gate causing the best part of $100k damage and, in a masterful piece of understatement, the police press release describes it as a “collision in Yarralumla”.
One of Canberra’s largest hospitality groups is looking for an energetic, ambitious business partner to establish a new retail based creative agency. This is an outstanding opportunity for the right highly creative person who is looking to start their own business with the group as a major foundation client.
strong start in a business for a highly creative person.
Our partner will be a significant shareholder in the agency which will look after all of the groups’ creative needs including branding, digital, marketing and advertising. This will also provide the agency with a profitable, foundation from which to expand its retail client base.
All enquiries please contact Michelle at First Choice Bookkeeping on 6162 4240 to arrange a confidential discussion.
CANBERRA is full of clever craftspeople who put passion and personality into their creations. From decorative artistic pieces to far more functional items and handson classes, “CityNews” brings you this handy guide to handmade arts and crafts.
Well-placed potters
CANBERRA Potters’ Society has played a central role in supporting the thriving local community of ceramic artists since 1975, and currently has about 250 members ranging from raw beginners to full-time professionals.
In 2001, it set up Potters Place at the Watson Arts Centre, where the work of 15 of its most talented members is on sale.
“In stock you’ll find large and small sculptural artworks, a wide range of functional wares such as mugs, bowls and teapots, even ceramic jewellery,” says Sara Hogwood, who works with porcelain and English bone china, creating functional and decorative items.
“There are stylish objects, fun objects, traditional forms and modern creations, all beautifully designed
and hand-crafted. Best of all, there are prices to suit all budgets.”
Sara says the same artists who make the products at Potters Place also staff the shop, “so whenever you visit you’ll find someone who can talk to you about the works on display”.
Potters Place, Watson Arts Centre, Aspinall Street, Watson. Call 6241 1670 or go to canberrapotters.com. au/c_shop.html
Markets with a mission
BUNGENDORE comes alive on the third Sunday of each month, when the markets are held at the War Memorial Hall and Canberrans can ride out in style on a historic steam train from Kingston.
The markets are organised by The Partnership, a group of craftspeople who wanted a venue where they and others could sell their mostly handmade trinkets, according to one of the group’s members, Jenny Cave.
“We have people who paint, people who do pottery from scratch and lots and lots of other people who do all sorts of arts and crafts,”
says Jenny, who creates jewellery with her daughter using glass and polymer clay beads.
All the stallholders’ fees collected by the non-profit group go towards fixing up their iconic venue, which is in need of repairs to its electrics and toilets.
“There’s lots of lovely stories about the War Memorial Hall,” says Jenny, launching into one about a dinner for former NSW Premier Neville Wran that has become a piece of local folklore.
“It used to only have a ladies’ toilet, so when he got up to go he was told: ‘You’ll have to go out the back, mate.’ He said: ‘If I win this election, I will build a gentlemen’s toilet block,’ and he did.”
markets@bungendore, War Memorial Hall, Molonglo Street, Bungendore. More information at themarketatbungendore.com
IF you’re going to create beautiful pieces of art or craft with your hands, there is a lot to be gained from learning the proper techniques from the start.
the successful rendering of any drawing or painting”.
“The proper distance and positioning of the body when creating art, which gives the students the best advantage to draw from within the body and through the hand as opposed to drawing with awareness focused on the fingers only, are all inclusive in Greg’s teaching methods,” she explains.
Lavender Art Studios, upstairs, 42 Townshend Street, Phillip. Call 62926339 or go to lavenderartstudios.com.au
Sarrita’s new studio
CANBERRA’S newest location for high-quality, original artworks is King Studios in Fyshwick, which opened about six weeks ago as a place for acclaimed contemporary indigenous painter Sarrita King to produce and exhibit her work.
Sarrita grew up in Darwin with her younger sister Tarisse, whose art will also be displayed at the gallery. They belong to the Gurindji people and learned traditional painting techniques from their father, the late William King Jungala.
That’s why artist and art teacher Greg DevennyMackay has put “a refined style of freehand drawing” at the centre of all his classes, according to Elita Mackay, who teaches creative writing, poetry, drama, and yoga alongside Greg at Lavender Art Studios in Phillip.
Elita says a strong free-hand technique is “paramount to
“We draw our inspiration from the land and our culture and we express it in a vibrant and unique way using techniques that our father passed down to us,” says Sarrita, who moved to Canberra about six months ago.
“The gallery is going to showcase all kinds of Australian artists that I’ve met around the country, who work in all different mediums, not just indigenous artists,” she explains. King Studios, Unit 5, 62-64 Wollongong St, Fyshwick. Call 0408 823 622 or go to kingstudios.com.au
“I used to love going in on Sundays and rehearsing and just being around like-minded people who also wanted to move and dance.”
Photo by Lorna Sim
By Stephen Easton
“IT’S nice to go back to Canberra and create for the kids again,” says dancer and choreographer Daniel Riley McKinley, whose work, “Scar”, has recently been seen in Bangarra’s “Blak” performance.
The increasingly ubiquitous McKinley is talking about quite a different show, the youth dance production “Hit the Floor Together”, coming soon to The Playhouse.
According to Ruth Osborne, the artistic director of the hosting company QL2, the idea was to get young people “to appreciate each other and what they can do, embracing the styles of dance that they are good at”.
McKinley created the production with Osborne; Deon Hastie, of Adelaide’s Kurruru Youth Performing Arts company and independent choreographer Dean Cross.
The performers will include current members of QL2’s youth ensemble Quantum Leap, in which Cross and McKinley became friends in 2011. This year the “leapers” will be joined by a cast of other young dancers of indigenous heritage, brought together from Cowra, Melbourne and Byron Bay, from Kurruru in Adelaide and from
Hastie’s alma mater, NAISDA Dance College in Gosford, NSW.
“It’s celebrating individuality and who these kids are, where they fit in a modern day society,” says McKinley.
The youth production is the result of McKinley’s urge to give something back to the Canberra community, and bring dancers from indigenous and non-indigenous backgrounds together.
It was also an opportunity to work together once again with his former mentor, Osborne, whom he credits with bringing in artistic advisers such as Hastie to teach the fledgling dancers all the “tools of the trade” and help them build networks within the dance community.
“That’s where I really decided I wanted to pursue dance as a career,” he says.
“I used to love going in on Sundays and rehearsing and just being around like-minded people who also wanted to move and dance.
“It awakened my eyes and my spirit to what the dance community is and what dance can be – it doesn’t have to be film clips and it doesn’t have to be musicals – it can be art and so much more. It can have a message and tell a story, and Quantum Leap instilled that in me.”
“Hit the Floor Together”, The Playhouse, July 31-August 3, bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre. com.au
IF Caroline Stacey has her way (and she usually does), the coming Capital Jazz Project will, as they say, be “cooking”.
This year’s centenary event, the Street Theatre’s director (and “CityNews” Artist of the Year) says, “is about bedding the festival into Canberra’s winter calendar, about showing off Canberra in its alpine dimensions and about embracing Canberra’s jazz Diaspora.”
In other words, we’re talking local, national and international, with artists such as trumpeter Ben Marston, bassist Gareth Hill, vocalist Liam Budge, drummer Mark Sutton and saxophonist-composer John Mackey.
Mackey, one of the last men standing at ANU School of Music, has written a slap-up “Canberra Centenary Suite” for performance by his old mates from Sydney – Simon Barker on drums, Matt McMahon on piano and Jonathan Zwartz on double bass, a group he calls “kinda like the super band – we think on the same plane”.
This suite is not a commission, he says, but “my idea, I’ve been thinking about it for a few years”.
He’s had plenty of time of late while sitting in the capacious room once occupied by his former boss as his former colleagues come into the Peter Karmel Building as casuals. This year, the school’s main contribution will be the residency, the Raah Project.
Mackey’s been there for 15 years. After training at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, he based himself in Stockholm while exploring Europe and the US, and later performing in Sydney.
Nowadays he’s a perfect example of Stacey’s alpine music maker.
“I live with my wife and little boy in the mountains outside Canberra,” he says, “there are amazing sunrises, different colours, fog over the
valley – all these visual influences have inspired my output.”
But they’re not the only inspiration. Hovering in the background is the ghost of the late American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, “my predominant influence,” as he says.
On his eighth birthday his dad, a Perth impressionist painter, gave him Coltrane’s 1957 album “Rise and Shine” and he’s never looked back.
“The sound of his music was astounding, like listening to a person from a different planet,” he recalls.
Mackey’s opus for the Big Year is his “Four
Seasons”. He started with winter, “because the festival’s in winter,” then moved into spring, summer and finally autumn.
Over the years he’s changed his views of composition so instead of writing small snippets, has created an “overall story” and has written the suite to be played end to end, without stopping.
But Mackey might very well stop to chat.
“I really love to talk to the audience, to break down the invisible barrier,” he says.
The Capital Jazz Project, The Street Theatre, August 2-11; Mackey’s “Centenary Suite”, 7.30pm, August 2. Bookings to 6247 1223 or thestreet.org.au
The Tawadros Trio featuring Steve Hunter Sun 4 Aug 8pm
Chet Baker like someone in love Sat 3 Aug 8pm
A SHOW FOR THEATRE GO-ERS AS WELL AS JAZZ LOVERS
“The Heat” (MA)
IN this girl-buddy cop movie, Sandra Bullock plays FBI agent Sarah and Melissa McCarthy plays Boston plain-clothes detective Shannon.
Arrebato Ensemble Thur 8 Aug 7.30pm Virtuoso Jazz mixed with the sounds of the middle east and Spanish Flamenco with Latin Rhythms
“A SIMPLE YET CLASSY SHOW THAT MIGHT WELL MESMERISE US WITH COOL JAZZ IF IT DID NOT ALSO CHALLENGE US WITH FLASHES OF FACT THAT ARE HARD TO IGNORE.”
Jeremy Smythe, FOR FULL PROGRAM GO TO
Sarah, very likely still a virgin, is a Yale graduate with 12 years’ service, working by the book and ambitious to rise above the glass ceiling. Resolving a drug case in Boston will enhance her prospects.
Streetwise Shannon is the uncrowned queen of the Boston detective division, running her personal case list in her own way and working on the same case as Sarah.
The conflict of personal styles forms the principal plank of Katie Dippold’s screenplay.
The case is a minor element. Director Paul Feig manages the combination adroitly, keeping the action progressing and the conflict between two strong principal characters active.
The film is by no means perfect, but if Shannon’s potty mouth does not offend you, the prospect of your coming away from it feeling comfortably entertained is good.
Its treatment of America’s law-enforcement culture takes no prisoners. For every class of crime, there is a specialist agency, State, Federal, sometimes both. And while they may share objectives, they tend to guard information. Agency rivalries underpin the initial rancour between the two women. Bringing them to common ground takes quite a while, beside which, not surprisingly, bringing the bad guys to retribution takes a distant second place.
At Dendy, Capitol 6, Hoyts and Limelight
THIS comedy of marriage manners, filmed possibly most of all of Shakespeare’s plays, needs a light directorial touch, a criterion that this latest version directed by Joss Whedon satisfies quite agreeably.
Whedon also adapted the play for the screen and composed the music, including a lovely version of “Sigh No More, Ladies”. Screening
it in monochrome provides a striking viewing experience, reminding us that, done correctly, tones of grey have inherent virtues.
A competent American cast contains no wellknown cinema names. Amy Acker (Beatrice) and Jillian Morgese (Hero) are delectable heroines. As Benedick, Alexis Denisof falls a tad short of some of his predecessors in the role (Ken Branagh in 1993 is hard to surpass). The three officers do a great comic turn.
About half an hour into the screening, a pair of adolescent men wearing hoodies left the cinema. What they were expecting I cannot tell. What they missed was a joy that in its original time and place would have evoked laughter from audiences at every social level. It still can, which is probably why it’s so popular among practitioners of the moving image. And no longer having to pay royalties is not really a major consideration.
At
Dendy
“Mud” (M)
IN a small hard-scrabble river delta community, best buddies Ellis and Neckbone, both 14, spend a lot of time on the water in a flat-bottomed tinnie. One day they discover a small motor launch
that Hurricane Katrina has left high and dry in a tree. And a taciturn character who tells them his name is Mud.
This is the core of writer/director Jeff Nichols’ gentle yet intense dramatic feature. Ellis on the cusp of adolescence has an unreturned crush on May Pearl. Mud is waiting for Juniper, the light of his life, to arrive in town. Neckbone is more cautious than Ellis about most things. As well he might be, because for Ellis, Mud is a role model. Mud is a wanted man for shooting a man who’d been monstering Juniper. His father has assembled a posse of bully boys to hunt Mud down and kill him.
The scenario melds a delightful notion of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn with the anguish of a man isolated from those he loves. The staging has verity and the drama’s moral standards show honesty and compassion. Matthew McConaughey gives a powerful portrayal of Mud. A de-glamourised Reese Witherspoon is pitiable as Juniper. Sam Shepard is impressively understated as Mud’s laconic father. Tye Sheridan as Ellis and Jacob Lofland as Neckbone have potential, if acting is what they want to do with their lives.
At Palace Electric
EVEN after nearly 25 years as Australia’s vanguard indigenous dance company
Bangarra Dance Theatre still manages to surprise, move and inform.
Its latest work “Blak”, combining the choreographic skills and imaginations of Stephen Page and Daniel Riley McKinley is a cohesive, visually arresting and superbly danced creation.
Presented in one act divided into three sections, the first section “Scar”, choreographed by Riley McKinley, commences with a group of young men dancing in a circle.
A corroboree or an urban bonfire?
Among screaming sirens, glaring headlights and cleverly stylised fights, they smear themselves with white paint and exchange T-shirts which they carry in their mouths like ceremonial regalia.
Brilliant lighting, a driving,
“Blak”
Bangarra Dance Company, At Canberra Theatre, season ended.
Reviewed by Bill Stephens
evocative soundscape and the clever use of contemporary and traditional movement are fused by Riley McKinley to blur timelines and suggest the timelessness of the testosterone-fuelled behaviour of young men searching for identity.
No less affecting is the gentler second section, “Yearning”, superbly choreographed by Stephen Page, in which the women of the company dance a series of vignettes illustrating a grandmother’s grief over a young girl’s suicide, the loss of native language, domestic violence and the search for self-identity. For this section the costumes of Luke Ede are particularly beautiful.
For the final section, “Keepers”, the company, and the choreogra -
Hunter Page-Lochard in “Blak”... a visually arresting and superbly danced creation.
phers, combine for a spectacular ceremonial that begins around a huge rock belching smoke and cleansing water. Brilliant dancing from the entire company, a stunning soundscape and magnificent set and costume design combine in this powerful sequence, which ends with a spectacular curtain of sand,
perhaps signifying the timelessness of the struggle for indigenous identity.
Despite the seriousness of some of the topics, “Blak” is a spectacular and celebratory work in which the dance and production skills of Bangarra Dance Theatre have seldom been better showcased.
THE first time I walked into Iori at the Civic bus interchange, many years ago, I remember the quiet and tranquillity. That’s no surprise since Iori means a place to relax in Japanese.
It’s a small and intimate place celebrating traditional Japanese cuisine, including sushi (perhaps the most famous Japanese food) and sashimi through to modern interpretations of dishes steeped in history, all skillfully prepared, meticulously presented and as fresh as can be.
Iori, after more than a decade in the city has branched out, first with Coo Japanese Izakaya, a lunch and take-away operation and then with Iori Plus+ Japanese Fine Dining, at what we feel is an unlikely location – the “Croatian-based” Deakin Football Club.
On size, Iori Plus+ is the extreme opposite of the original. It is a massive and open concept in the middle, supported (thankfully) on either side by smaller dining areas, including booths with curtains that can be drawn closed for privacy. We agreed the ambience isn’t quite “fine dining” and wondered whether the food would live up to the name.
Iori came through with the food and we approved that the menu features some of the dishes the city restaurant is so famous for (such as char-grilled eel and silky, deep-fried eggplant).
We decided to share lighter dishes, starting with the sashimi assortment. The Japanese are some of the world’s biggest consumers of
seafood, so it was no surprise that this dish was beautifully presented, each item a piece of art in its own right. The raw seafood was super fresh and up to its reputation as a Japanese delicacy ($18).
The Agedoshi Tofu – an absolute favourite – was delicious. The bean curd was lightly deep fried and topped with nori and shallots. Sometimes deep frying can produce quite an oily dish but not here at Iori Plus+.
The line-up of tempura was too impressive to pass by. We went for the assorted ($18) which the menu described as “a very famous Japanese style”, with prawns and vegetables served with special dipping sauce, a small bowl of chilli mayo, a bowl of special coloured salt (half chilli and half green tea) and some grated horserad -
ish. Yumbo.
The mains showcase a range of tempting Wagyu beef dishes, but we settled for a simple piece of salmon ($34), which was larger than we expected.
On the fine dining promise, Iori Plus+ needs to lift the bar in some respects, something that would be easy to do with a bit of effort. The cheap, wooden chopsticks (mine didn’t split cleanly when pulled apart) were a big disappointment and the service seemed a bit awkward – perhaps everyone is still getting settled in?
Iori, Deakin Football Club, Grose Street. Open for lunch Monday to Friday; dinner Monday to Saturday. Call 6282 3999.
city
FOOD is so sexy these days it was bound to make inroads on art. Now Craft ACT is showing “The Side Project”, a collaboration between Australian designer Cesar Cueva and Sydney chef Karl Firla, with new metal work by Cueva that draws on “the culinary movement of molecular gastronomy”. At the Craft and Design Centre, Level 1, North Building, London Circuit, until August 24.
MEANTIME Bilk Gallery has “An Arc of Crockery”, billed as “a retro perspective” by metalsmith Marcus Foley who, as the First Australia Day baby born in Victoria in 1964, was given a commemorative silver spoon. Now using broken crockery, pebbles, glass and stones set in gold and silver, he makes beautiful jewellery, teapots and, yes, spoons. At Bilk, in Palmerston Lane, Manuka, until August 10.
MAJURA Women’s Group has “Women: Celebrating a Century of Canberra’s Women” at Belconnen Arts Centre until August 4. There will be photos created by members that ask what life was like for women in Canberra over the past 100 years – their clothes, their hair and their make-up. There’s a meet-the-artists session, 2pm, on July 27.
Arts Centre until August 4.
THEATRE personality Sophie Benassi is organising a talent show at the Canberra Theatre next year to raise funds for the very worthy Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia. In the lead up, the CEO of Hamlin, Lucy Perry, will speak at Tilley’s in Lyneham, 6pm, on July 23. All welcome.
ON August 10 a ‘70s dance called “Kick up Your Heels with The Australian Ladies and Other Scottish Dances” will be held at Albert Hall. Free practice sessions are being offered by the Canberra Scottish Country Dancers. Details at rscds-canberra.org
JUMPTOWN Swing is holding its annual swing dancing festival, “Canberräng” on August 3 under the theme “Baby, it’s Cold Outside”. It features the “Penguin Parade” in Garema Place, 11am, on August 3 and dancers at the Old Bus Depot Markets from 11am, on August 4. Details at canberrang.org
VETERAN artist Stephen Harrison has persuaded his neighbours in Downer to open their frontyards during November for “Sculpture in the Street”, which will feature a People’s Choice award of $500. Submissions from sculptors are due by the end of July to sculptureinthestreet@hotmail.com
sensational range of fresh fragrant two year old roses at winter price
the biggest and most spectacular Orchid display in town and all at affordable prices.
COLEOPTERA is an order of insects that includes ladybirds and other beetles.
While not knowing too much about this subject, I understand there are about 30 orders of insects, but the largest groups are Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies).
All are under constant threat, particularly with the overuse of chemical sprays in the garden and the wider field of horticulture and agriculture. There is a vitally important role for such insects in the garden.
It is the same worldwide and during a recent visit to the UK, at the famous Beth Chatto gardens in East Anglia, I saw a novel approach – the five-star Chatto Insectum, a hotel for insects.
As the photo shows, what looks like a pile of broken objects and garden waste is a five-star, winter break hotel for insects, bugs and beetles. It provides food and shelter for all of the above listed insects. It is built using recyclable materials, most of which can be found in many gardens. It need not be as large as illustrated, but you get the idea.
If you are contemplating building a similar hotel it is not too late to enable insects to book in for the rest of winter. This also can be a learning
A five-star hotel for insects... built using recyclable materials, most of which can be found in many gardens.
experience for children about the wonderful world of insects and illustrates how beneficial the insects are for our environment.
BEN Walcott is the next speaker at the Friends
of the Australian Botanic Gardens lunchtime lectures at the theatrette, 12.30pm, on Thursday, July 25. He will speak on “Classic Italian Gardens and What They Can Teach Us About Design”. Entry is by gold-coin donation.
OKAY, so you have been emptying compost bins that have been quietly rotting away to make more room for leaves. Or you have a surplus of leaves starting to rot with the recent rain. Do you apply this organic compost material to the top of the ground or dig it in?
Let us look at the opposing forces, as suggested by the Royal Horticultural Society. Most gardeners are unsure which is the more beneficial.
The case for “digging” is that it ensures phosphorus and potassium released by the organic material remains at root depth. Sandy or light unstable soils (this advice is also applicable to the coast) can settle and become airless. Digging in compost counteracts this. Sowing or planting is easier if the soil is dug over. Digging can bury weed seedlings and allow easier removal of large weeds.
The case against “digging”, especially if the ground is wet, is that it often damages the soil structure and disturbs beneficial soil organisms, such as worms and mycorrhizal fungi, vital for any garden.
Digging means exposed earth loses valuable moisture when the weather warms up with evaporation and brings weed seeds to the surface where they will quickly germinate with exposure to light. Personally, I recommend no digging. This also applies to mulching in spring with my favourite recycled, green-waste
material, Canberra Sand and Gravel’s Canberra Organic Mulch. The worms revel in this material and in no time at all will turn it into the existing soil.
I HAVE received inquiries on pruning clematis. Now is the time to prune early-flowering clematis such as C. Montana rubens, C. Armandii, C. Alpina and C. macropetala can be cut back freely.
Use shears or secateurs to cut these back by a third. They will soon respond with new growth as soon as the weather warms. Next edition I will feature varieties of evergreen clematis that can be mixed with deciduous clematis so that you do not have a bare look all winter.
WE have been having a run of beautiful winter days with hours of sunshine and no excuse for not getting into the garden so how about...
• Checking ground moisture. With little rain and frost, moisture is drawn from the soil.
• Dividing bearded iris, cutting off any damaged parts.
• Floating hellebore flowers in a bowl of water to enjoy indoors.
• Pruning grapevines. If left to spring, the new growth will bleed sap profusely.
Joanne Madeline Moore
your week in the stars / July 22-28
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
The week starts well, as you tackle a family issue or professional problem with extra energy and enthusiasm. But if you take on too much or promise more than you can deliver, the week could end with recriminations and power struggles. You’re keen to crash or crash through but is that the best way to go? Perhaps it’s time to try a more sensitive and subtle approach.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
Venus (your ruling planet) shifts into your entertainment zone, so expect your social life to pick up over the next few weeks. With the Full Moon firing up your Brilliant Career zone, roll up your sleeves and get to work. The more curious and experimental you are, the better the results will be. The weekend is the time to wind down and indulge in some serious body pampering.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
With Mercury now moving forwards through your $$$ zone, money matters should improve... as long as you are financially frugal. Saturday is super for entertaining but expect some intense discussions on Sunday (especially involving money, politics or religion). In order to keep the peace, perhaps it would be best to keep your controversial opinions to yourself?
CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
The Aquarian Full Moon urges you to be more adventurous in your close personal relationships, otherwise they will become stale and stultifying. So it’s time for Crabs to clear the air, as you broach sensitive subjects and bring hidden problems to a head. But avoid using guilt, manipulation or emotional games to get what you want – especially this weekend.
LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
Lions lap up attention, applause and praise which leaves you incredibly susceptible to flattery – of the honest and false kind. This week, don’t waste precious time running around canvassing the opinions of others. Instead, trust your inner voice. If you have to make an important personal decision, do what birthday great Helen Mirren does: “Just believe in your instincts.”
VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
Virgo... get ready to rumble, as Venus visits your sign (from July 22 through to August 17). It’s the perfect time for a fabulous makeover as you get a revamped hairstyle, an updated wardrobe or a sassy new attitude. All types of communication are favoured as you convey your ideas to a receptive audience via talking, texting, tweeting, teaching or blogging.
LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
You can expect a pleasant and productive week... as long as you get the balance right between fact and fantasy. Wearing rose-coloured glasses boosts your romantic side but make sure you take them off occasionally, so you keep yourself grounded in reality. The weekend is fabulous for financial deals and social functions, as you mix business with plenty of pleasure.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
Are you stuck in a complacent rut? Don’t get yourself too comfortable and settled Scorpio! With Mars and Jupiter joining up in your adventure zone, it’s time to forge into foreign territory and explore the world around you via camping trips, interstate forays or overseas travel. Be inspired by aviator Amelia Earhart (born on July 24): “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
Don’t rest on your Sagittarian laurels... and don’t do things in a half-hearted way! The Mars/Jupiter hook-up heightens your motivation and puts you in the mood to indulge, enthuse, explore and exaggerate. Your motto for the moment is from birthday great Mick Jagger (born on July 26): “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” The weekend is wonderful for love.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
With Mercury moving forwards in your relationship zone, there’s no substitute for clear and constant communication with loved ones. Then you can straighten misunderstandings out well before they develop. The weekend will be full of extra duties and responsibilities, and others may question your authority or motives. Aim to keep a cool head on your Capricorn shoulders.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
The annual Full Moon in Aquarius sees you at your eccentric best – and temperamental worst. If you must rebel, make sure it’s over something that’s important! With Saturn moving slowly through your career zone, it’s time to work hard and set challenging professional goals. Be patient... the skills you polish now will stand you in good stead in the future.
PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
Nebulous Neptune weaves a web of illusion, and you may find it difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction. So make sure you double-check any information you receive, and don’t believe everything you hear. The week will work best if you channel your Piscean energy into creative projects, spiritual pursuits or helping others in your local community.
Across
3 Name an earlier type of street illumination
7 Which Russian colony was purchased by the USA?
8 What is an expression of amusement?
9 Which term describes a system of religious or other rites?
10 What do we call one who is very sensitive to the beauties of art, etc?
11 Name the person who exercises the ruling power in a kingdom during the absence of the sovereign
14 What is a wall or ceiling painting known as?
17 Name another term for an acrobat
18 What is an alternative expression for a minister?
19 Which velvety cord of silk is used in embroidery?
20 Name a Spanish navigator who sailed between New Guinea and Australia in 1605
21 Those who don’t take drugs could be called what?
1 What designates a plane formed curve?
2 Which polite title is used after a man’s last name?
3 What was a brave and dashing man once called?
4 What is a flat-bottomed unpowered barge known as?
5 Name the channels at the side of a road, for leading off surface water
6 Which explosive self-propelled cigar-shaped missile is launched from a submarine?
11 Name the N Italian river associated with Caesar and Pompey
12 Which kind of sailing vessel was formerly used by Spain?
13 What is another term for governesses?
14 Which forms of polecat are used for hunting rabbits in their burrows?
15 Who, in Greek legend, was the daughter of Agamemnon?
16 Name a high-ranking army officer
BEV had questions about superannuation levels for her business payroll. She knew that the employer’s contribution increases to 12 per cent, but when?
“Many clients have asked me this question,” I told her.
“Superannuation guarantee contributions increased from 9 per cent on July 1. The payment that you make on July 28 will be at 9 per cent. All future payments will be at a higher rate until 2020 when they reach 12 per cent. For the 2014 financial year contributions will be at the rate of 9.25 per cent and for 2015 they will be 9.5 per cent”.
Bev had been concerned that the contribution was to jump straight to 12 per cent, but still wanted to know if there was anything else she needed to know.
“Well, yes, there is; quite a bit, actually,” I said.
“Previously, there was no requirement to pay superannuation for employees aged over 70, but now the upper age limit has been removed. This means you will have to pay superannuation, at the relevant rate, for Bob, your courier.
“I know you have employees who salary sacrifice to superannuation. The concessional contributions cap, that is the maximum taxdeductible amount for the employer, has increased; anyone over 60 can have employer contributions made up to $35,000. For those aged 50 to 59, this will also increase to $35,000 but only from July 1, 2014.
“You may remember that you transferred some personal shares to your superannuation fund by an off-market transfer last year in response to the announcement that you would not be able to do this after 2013. However, the legislation never passed through Parliament, so you can still transfer shares to your superannuation fund this way, if you wish.
“For the last couple of years the minimum pension that a retiree could draw from their superannuation fund had been reduced because of the Global Financial Crisis. From July 1, the minimum pension is set back at its original rate.
“Excess contributions tax has been a worry for many people because it is often not possible to confirm exactly what has been paid to superannuation and by what dates. New rules apply from July 1 to allow people to withdraw excess contributions that have been accidentally made and pay tax at normal rates on those amounts.”
“Finally, the ATO has new powers to require superannuation fund trustees to undertake ‘education’.
“Trustees can also be given a period of time to rectify contraventions of a fund’s obligations and, if these cannot be rectified without detriment to the fund, then penalties can be charged to the trustees.
“I cannot stress too much that you need to check with me before you do anything in your superannuation fund.”
Bev promised to be very careful and keep me posted.
If you require information about superannuation and your obligations as an employer, contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd.
Abode Woden is not only on target to be Australia’s first Green Star and NABERS rated hotel but is award-winning before the doors have even opened. The group’s third hotel was recognised at the 2013 Master Builders Association Excellence in Building Awards for Commercial Sustainable Construction.
Abode – The Apartment Hotel is committed to providing quality accommodation in the nation’s capital. This year, we are pulling a rabbit out of the hat and growing the group’s offering with the opening of Abode Woden in August.
On target to be Australia’s first Green Star and NABERS rated hotel, Abode Woden will be the smart choice for the savvy visitor.
Cleverly positioned in the true heart of Canberra, just minutes to the CBD and Parliamentary Triangle, these modern, serviced apartments bring together the comforts of home and the convenience of a vibrant retail and business district.
Offering 151 rooms and set across nine floors, Abode Woden transforms a 70s commercial building into stylish accommodation featuring a new restaurant and conference facilities.
To make it your Abode, get in touch.