130801 citynews

Run to remember a brave little sister

By Stephen Easton

SOMEWHERE near the front of the horde that makes its way through Sydney in this year’s City2Surf will be 18-year-old Jarrett Anthoney, running in memory of his little sister Dainere, who passed away on June 24.

Dainere died of a brain tumour, and Jarrett has entered the fundraising category of the iconic 14km run, attracting an incredible amount of money for research into the little-understood type of cancer, which kills more people aged under 40 than any other.

“When I first entered they told me I needed a minimum of $1000 and I was a little worried,” he explains. “But then I got there pretty quick and I thought: ‘Maybe I’ll go for $3000, or maybe $5000,’ but it’s just taken off and it’s now over $30,000; it’s just insane.”

His proud mum Yvonne points out it’s the second highest amount raised by anyone taking part for a charitable cause.

“To be honest, after I got to $3000, which was what I was hoping to get at first, I just kept increasing the target so I could keep getting more,” says Jarett.

There’s no point in stopping at a target, he explains, because the cost of cancer research is staggering. Yvonne quotes neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo, who estimates it will take about “$50 billion over 30 to 50 years” to find a cure for brain cancer and says “we need significant funds injected now if we are to see any reduction in brain cancer related deaths”.

Jarett says running also reminds him of the good times he shared with his younger

City2Surf contestant Jarrett Anthoney, running in memory of his sister Dainere (inset)... “I just want to finish feeling like I’ve given 100 per cent,” he says. Main photo by Brent McDonald.

sibling at Little Athletics, where she switched from track to field when she could no longer walk, participating in throwing events from her wheelchair.

Yvonne and her husband Stephen say that throughout the illness, Dainere’s bravery, selflessness and way with words encouraged others not to be sad, but to help her raise funds that might go towards improving the five per cent survival rate for her condition.

“When she got sick she kind of took it as if it was meant to be; she believed she was given that journey for a reason and she felt her reason then was to inspire others and help them through, and raise awareness and funds,” says Yvonne.

A gifted writer, Dainere published two books and raised more than $62,000 for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation Brain Tumour Research Fund, not only from the book sales but also a lot of other fundraising work. Jarrett is committed to continue what she started.

“Rather than just being all upset about it, she wanted to go out there and help other people,” he explains.

“It was just really selfless and I couldn’t see myself doing that. I just think it’s really inspiring, her doing that, and it’s inspired me to do this.”

Jarrett’s not aiming to finish the City2Surf in a particular time, having never done such a long course at race pace. On the other hand, he’s been running long distance seriously for the past six years, trains nearly every day, and looks to be in pretty good form.

“I just want to finish feeling like I’ve given 100 per cent,” he says.

Family and friends will be waiting for him when he does, including his older sister Nalani, who might even be able to provide a massage using the skills she is learning at university, according to their mum.

The City2Surf is on August 11.

Jarrett’s fundraising page is at fundraise.city2surf.com.au/ Jarrett_Anthoney90

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

Journalists: Laura Edwards, laura@citynews.com.au

Stephen Easton, stephen@citynews.com.au

Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au

Arts editor: Helen Musa, 0400 043 764 helen@citynews.com.au

Design and photography: Brent McDonald, brent@citynews.com.au, 0421 962 325

Graphic designer: Leonie Fox

Contributing photographer: Andrew Finch

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

designcraft

Pain of sharing sports talent

Canberra’s success as a sporting “nursery” may be a hindrance as we revisit the possibility of getting teams back into men’s national leagues, says TIM GAVEL

WITH no teams in the male domestic one-day or 20/20 cricket competitions, none in the men’s National Basketball League or the A League soccer, Canberra is growing in its role in developing talent.

It’s a role none in the three sports seem to begrudge; instead, there is a sense of satisfaction in seeing young Canberra athletes better themselves by going elsewhere.

We used to do it in baseball before the Bushrangers and now the Canberra Cavalry. It happened in rugby union and rugby league before the Raiders and the Brumbies.

But, as the Brumbies and the Raiders discovered, there was initial resistance because teams outside the ACT secured plenty of talent from this region.

While there appears little prospect for Canberra’s A League aspirations and even less chance of our getting a team again in the NBL, ACT Cricket intends to get back into the domestic one-day cricket competition.

Concerns from other States that the ACT could become a competitor in hosting international matches saw the Comets ejected from the one-day competition at the end of the 2000 season. Since then, Canberra cricket has thrived in its role developing young players.

ACT Comets’ skipper, Jono Dean, is the latest in the growing production line of cricketers to come out of the Canberra system into the Big Bash after signing with Adelaide. He joins six fellow former ACT players – Ryan Carters, Will Sheridan, Nathan Lyons, Brad Haddin, Jason Floros and Jason Behrendorff – in the Big Bash.

It hasn’t been easy for Jono; he came to Canberra from Bathurst via the Sydney grade system to get a chance to play in the Futures League with the ACT Comets.

He has made the most of the opportunity in becoming the Comets’ leading run scorer and now, aged 29, he has finally secured a contract to play in the Big Bash with Adelaide, under the leadership of coach Darren Berry.

It’s not huge in terms of financial reward, but it’s a chance to prove himself on a stage, many thought, that should have come sooner after he hit a quickfire half century for the Prime Minister’s XI against India that, if nothing else, got his phone ringing from other teams.

ACT coach Mark Higgs predicts a bright future for Jono’s younger brother Blake, whose fast leg spinners, ideal for 20/20 cricket, are being monitored by Sydney Thunder.

It won’t be long before another player is plucked from the Canberra competition on to the main stage, but it is hard to see other centres and teams that benefit from the abundance of our readymade talent embracing the establishment of an ACT side into the national leagues any time soon.

JUST on Canberra cricket’s field of dreams, Manuka Oval is undergoing a major redevelopment, with the scene of Sir Donald Bradman’s final game resembling a BMX track.

The playing surface has been entirely ripped up to lower the playing surface, improve the drainage and increase the seating capacity.

The hope is that Manuka will host games during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. A few more AFL games may also be in the pipeline.

Anzac students

STUDENTS are urged to enter the 2014 Anzac Spirit Prize, which provides two fully-funded trips to Gallipoli to experience the dawn service on the 99th anniversary of the Anzac landing. Entries will be accepted in a variety of formats, including: an essay, poem or short story; an audio or video presentation; a musical composition; an artwork; a digital presentation or a web page or PowerPoint. The competition is open to all year 9 and 10 ACT students until October 16. The winners will be announced in November. More information at det.act.gov.au

Birthday dinner

Pawl calls for more green in square

LOCAL business identity Pawl Cubbin says ever since Territory and Municipal Services replaced grass with “unsightly” drought-tolerant shrubs in the Kingston hub three years ago, business in the area has been steadily declining.

“Shops have packed up, there are less people at the cafes,” Pawl says.

“When there used to be grass here, people would spill out and sit on the grass, it was a usable area. Now it’s an overgrown mess.”

In 2010 TAMS undertook landscaping works to the value of $145,000 to replace the then irrigated grass with droughttolerant plants and shrubs, as well as new brick and gravel paths, extension of brickworks and a timber play sculpture.

Pawl, who heads Zoo Advertising in Kingston, says he is happy with the infrastructure changes, but is calling for the ACT Government to consider restoring grass in the area to “breathe life” back into Kingston.

“We’re not asking to change the infrastructure, just the plants, and it would cost nothing, I could pay for it myself,” Pawl says.

“Places like Manuka have the grass, why can’t we?”

Pawl says he and the Kingston Traders

The ACT Government has thumbed its nose at the local traders’ plea to bring the grass back to Kingston’s Green Square, reports LAURA EDWARDS

Committee have written to the Government about the issue, with a petition signed by about 35 traders in the area.

“We received a letter back from [Chief Minister Katy Gallagher] saying they’d already spent enough money on the shrubs,” he says.

Co-owner of Kingston cafe Me and Mrs Jones, Socrates Kochinos, says a child playing in the shrubs “accidentally cut themselves on broken glass.”

“These are things that now hide in the shrubs, that wouldn’t be hiding if we had a lawn. This isn’t just about our business... we want to make Green Square a better place for everyone,” Socrates says.

But TAMS Minister Shane Rattenbury says the grass is unlikely to make a return due to “high pedestrian traffic” in the area, making the grass difficult to maintain.

However, Pawl says the most pressing issue is right under their noses.

“Without the grass, it’s just not the same area,” he says.

The ANU Choral Society (SCUNA) is looking for anyone associated with the society to help celebrate its 50th anniversary at a buffet dinner and entertainment in the Great Hall, University House, on August 16. Tickets are $55 each. More information and registration at scuna.aicsa.org.au/50.html

Phyllida speaks out

YEAR 11 CGGS student

Phyllida Behm has won the annual J.E. Barr Memorial Award for Best Speaker at the UN Youth Australia National Conference in Sydney. She was one of 10 local students chosen to represent the ACT at the conference, where more than 100 students debate, hear presentations from speakers, learn about international affairs and engage with the world beyond Australia. Phyllida will represent Australia as part of the Australian School Delegation to The Hague International Model United Nations Conference in January.

Multiple issues

THE Canberra and Region Multiple Birth Association is holding its third annual Multiples in School Forum at Namadgi School, Kambah, 10am-noon, on Sunday, August 25 for parents and guardians of twins, triplets or more. A professional panel will include teaching, occupational therapy, psychology and staff from Therapy ACT to address speech and physical development. RSVP to vicepresident@carmba.org.au by August 23.

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ACT consumers are looking for environmentally responsible businesses

ACTSmart Business and Office offers Green accreditation for ACT and Queanbeyan businesses. So what do employers get out of it?

The ‘humble’ politician

By Michael Moore

THE new spy HQ in Campbell has been named after Ben Chifley, one of the great heroes of the Labor movement.

Although our Labor leaders these days might like to associate with him, a chat with my 91-year-old motherin-law provided some insights into Chifley.

“He was just a genuinely nice bloke. I knew him because he stayed in the Hotel Kurrajong, where I stayed for a short while when I first came to Canberra in 1944. There were just 12,000 people in the city at that time”.

It is hard to imagine anyone describing a modern Labor leader the way that Enid described Chifley: “Simply put, Chifley was really a humble man.

“I remember walking from the Hotel Kurrajong to Parliament House with him. He did not see himself above walking with a typist and chatting about the matters of the day.”

high respect that this information never appeared in the paper or on the radio”.

This is an interesting comment considering the biography written by D B Waterson in 1993, published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, which describes the Chifley marriage as one of dedication and affection. However, it also describes Elizabeth as a woman of “austere self-control” who rarely travelled with him apart from occasionally playing hostess at The Lodge and a trip to NZ in 1947. The biography says of Chifley: “He was attractive to women and had an eye for a pretty girl, though he declined to take advantage of this characteristic.”

Contrasting the time to modern politics, my mother-in-law added: “He did not see himself as the messiah. Perhaps this is part of the problem with modern politics.”

Helping to reduce waste Great PR Easy to Implement Easy to Join

With a sly grin, my mother-in-law added: “Another story – perhaps just a joke of the time – about Chifley is that the one time locomotive driver was responsible for a population boost in Bathurst. Apparently, he would toot the engine whistle as he came into the town early in the morning and wake people up”. Stories and rumours about politicians are certainly not new.

When asked what should politicians of today learn from Chifley, she responded: “He was certainly a different sort of personality from Kevin Rudd. Politicians were not as well educated – but they behaved differently. Chifley was just more of a gentleman. He was a genuinely humble person.”

For information call Canberra Connect 13 22 81 or visit www.actsmart.act.gov.au

Small businesses can:

• register for a subsidised energy and water assessment

• receive a tailored energy and water action report and

$5,000* rebate conditions apply

• receive up to $5,000 to install more energy and water efficient equipment identified in the action report.

For information call Canberra Connect 13 22 81 or visit www.actsmart.act.gov.au

*Full terms and conditions available at the ACTSmart website.

We have seen an extraordinary amount of criticism of former PM Julia Gillard, who was openly living with Tim Matheson even though they were not married. Things were done differently 70 years ago. “Everyone knew, but no-one mentioned it publicly, that Chifley was living with his girlfriend in the Hotel Kurrajong while his wife Elizabeth lived in Bathurst,” said Enid. “It may have been scuttlebutt, of course. However, he was held in such

Perhaps some of our politicians will learn lessons such as genuine humility. But I am not holding my breath.

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

You are invited to join the Canberra Division of Engineers Australia at one or all of the following great events being held as part of Australian Engineering Week.

Monday 5 August 2013 2013 Engineers without Borders Challenge 5.30pm

In this challenge, first year university students have developed solutions to help the communities of Lautem District in Timor Leste.

Tuesday 6 August 2013

A Next Generation of Publication? – Looking back to look forward, 5.30pm Jim Thorn, author and publisher of Australian Aviation and Off Target will explore the role of journalists, their technical publications and articles, and the contribution they provide to the engineering community.

events are free. Full program and further information and registration details at www.makeitso.org.au/aew Ph: 02 6270 6519

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Sustainability Forum – How can Canberra be in 100 years? 5.30pm

Panel members include: Bruce Edgerton, Assistant Manager, Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability Policy, ACT Government and Sanjiv Gosain, Managing Director AMBE Engineering Pty Ltd – famous for Australia’s first 9 star Energy Rated Insulated Concrete Thermal Mass House

Thursday 8 August 2013

The Majura Parkway Project, 5.30pm

The Majura Parkway is a $288 million investment in Canberra’s regional transport network and is the single largest road infrastructure investment ever made in the ACT.

Friday 9 August 2013

Engineering Games, 5.30pm

Join over 350 students and their entries in the largest Games competition in Canberra. Hosted at the ANU. Spectators welcome.

ñksia

letters Treated like fools

IN a similar vein to the light rail proposal, a new stadium seems a foregone conclusion even though studies are not yet completed nor any public consultation entered into.

Bruce Stadium would be one of the most underutilised stadiums in the country and, unfortunately, we taxpayers are continually ignored by the Assembly.

ACT Green Labor is under the illusion it has a mandate to do whatever tickles its fancy even

though Labor fell across the line in second place at the 2012 election, gaining power through a package to suit the lone, surviving Green candidate’s aspirations. In simple terms, while ACT Liberal members show all the signs of being happy in opposition collecting a regular, healthy salary, ACT Green Labor uses it as an opportunity to treat residents as fools.

Michael Attwell, Dunlop

Assertion ‘pure bunkum’

THAT’S a big call by Michael Moore (“Kevin is heading for election victory”, CN July 23) and I for one would doubt it, particularly if the Liberals were to do an ALP and change leaders to Turnbull.

Moore’s assertion that it was the ALP that saved Australia during the GFC is pure bunkum. China saved Australia through its mineral commodity purchases and even the fabled “Drover’s Dog” could have guided Australia through the GFC.

Ric

Expanding a thought

I’M pleased to see that columnist Robert Macklin (“How Kevin can keep Labor in power”, CN, July 18) is so familiar with The Scottish Play [“Macbeth”]. To expand his quotation (since reading a bit of Shakespeare is one of the best things you’ll do all week):

I have lived long enough. My way of life is fall’n into the sere, the

yellow leaf; and that which should accompany old age, as honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but in their place curses, not loud but deep, mouth honour, breath, which the poor heart would fain deny and dare not.

Paul leaps into the deep end

“CITYNEWS” cartoonist Paul Dorin has just completed painting his 20th pair of jeans for the Children’s Medical Research Institute’s fundraising Jeans For Genes gala dinner.

This year Paul has been painting the jeans of world champion swimmer Geoff Huegill.

“I spent about 20 hours over a week creating the artwork on the two-legged denim canvas,” he says.

“Geoff is a champion butterfly swimmer, so water and butterflies were going to be my theme. On one of the legs, I have Geoff up on the swimming blocks about to race a butterfly and on the other he’s swimming and being coached by a large shark.”

Some of the other national and international celebrity jeans Paul has splashed paint on over 18 years have been Robin Williams, Ricky Ponting, David Hasselhoff, Craig Lowndes, James Belushi, Jeff Fenech and Kevin Klein. The jeans will be auctioned with other celebrity artworks at the Jeans For Genes gala dinner on August 17 in Sydney.

Jeans for Genes Day is on August 2. Donations to jeansforgenes.org.au

Diplomatically speaking

A monthly column of diplomatic perspectives by the Deans of the Diplomatic Corps

His Excellency Mr. Molosiwa Selepeng PH, Botswana High Commissioner and Dean of the African Heads of Mission.

It has been a source of encouragement for me as the Botswana’s High Commissioner to Australia and Dean of the Africa Group, to witness at first-hand, Australia’s level of engagement with Africa increase in both scope and scale:

• Australia has established diplomatic relations with all 54 African countries and scaled-up its presence in Africa.

• The Prime Minister and Australian Foreign Ministers have undertaken regular visits to Africa and to address the African Union (AU).

• Australia’s current and projected mining investment in Africa has tripled in recent years to reach an estimated $50 billion.

• Last year Australia won a Non-Permanent Seat in the United Nations Security Council – thanks in part to African support.

• Australia is now joining the African Development Bank.

Currently, there are 13 African Diplomatic Missions resident in Canberra. Whilst our accreditation mandates grant us full powers to act and speak on behalf of our respective countries, we are nevertheless conscious of our patriotic duty to also promote and defend the interests of Africa as a whole. We therefore work together as a united African Group of Ambassadors and High Commissioners, having agreed on an annual programme of activities to promote AfricaAustralia relations.

Having served in Australia for some time now, installing cooperation programmes, it has been a pleasure to be part of the Centenary of Canberra programme. The year 2013 also coincides with the Golden Jubilee of the Founding of Organization of the African Unity (OAU) – transformed into the African Union (AU) in 2002. As part of our contribution to the “One Big Year”, the African Group participated actively in the 2013 Multicultural Festival, presenting for the first-time “The African Village”, and showcasing the traditions, cultures and food from the 13 African countries represented in Canberra.

In May, to commemorate Africa Day – 25 May, the African Group co-hosted an all-day Africa Update at the ANU. Although ANU has hosted many updates over the years, this was the first on Africa. The celebrations continued throughout May with a soccer tournament and a reception hosted by the African Heads of Mission to which the Foreign Minister, The Honourable Senator Bob Carr, attended as Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker.

In the coming months, the African Group will continue to contribute in the programme for the Centenary of Canberra by participating in the “Windows to the World – Canberra 100”. The African Heads of Mission are also working with the African Diplomatic Women’s Group (ADWG) to host an African Film Festival and a fundraising Cultural Night in September and October 2013. These events present a great opportunity to share the cultural richness of Africa with Canberra’s audience. We are confident these events will grow in the future to become one of Canberra’s cultural highlights.

Positive face of horror

By Laura Edwards

A NEW exhibition revealing the “devastation and horror” of Japan’s 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings through a set of confronting images aims to highlight the threat of nuclear weapons to a new generation.

“Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: a quest for peace” is a 35-panel display of photographs sourced from Hiroshima’s Peace Museum, with original artifacts from the tragic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki three days later.

Each panel tells a story of the horror experienced when the atomic bombs were dropped, eventually killing over 90,000 people in Hiroshima and over 60,000 in Nagasaki.

Held at the High Court of Australia on the eve of the 68th anniversary of the bombings, the exhibition’s launch will feature a Japanese opera singer, children’s choir and a talk by a Hiroshima survivor.

Executive director of the Australian Red Cross in the ACT/SE NSW, Joan Hughes, brought the exhibition to Canberra as part

of the humanitarian organisation’s ongoing commitment to support a world-wide prohibition on the use of nuclear weapons.

“The images in this exhibition not only show the devastation caused, but are also testimony to the power of human spirit and humanitarian ideals, shared in the profound hope that Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never be repeated,” Joan says.

“We expect plenty of schoolchildren as well as the general public to come to the exhibition, so we really want to get people talking about it again and thinking seriously about banning any further development of nuclear weapons.”

One of the exhibition’s stories focuses on Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was two years old when the atomic bomb dropped near her home in Hiroshima, and died 10 years later from an “atom-bomb” related disease.

Sadako is remembered for making 1000 origami cranes before her death while in hospital and is still, to this day, thought of as a symbol of innocent victims of war.

“Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: a quest for peace” will be open at the High Court of Australia from August 5 to 28. Entry is free.

Bordeaux sees the light

By Catherine Carter

ON these chilly mornings, I could be forgiven a daydream or two – summer in provincial France perhaps? Bordeaux, a picnic lunch, a good wine… and perhaps a light rail trip.

For many of us, Bordeaux conjures up images of vineyards and historic architecture. But as a city of around 240,000 people, Bordeaux supports a light rail network that is recognised as setting a new standard in tram transport. One quarter of the network relies on a ground-level power supply rather than overhead wires. The embedded third rail technology creates the illusion that carriages glide down the street and over grass verges without assistance. All lines operate from pre-dawn until at least midnight, seven days a week – transporting more than 50 million passengers a year. And at each stop a screen helpfully displays the time until the next tram – on weekdays no longer than around 12 minutes. Combined with 5000 car spaces at park-and-ride stations, the tramway is a perfect commuting option.

In its design, the city engaged widely with the community, including the elderly, pregnant women and adults with children and disabilities. The result has been accessible carriages with “low floor” access, leaning rails and wide aisles. I can’t help but wonder if we could achieve the Bordeaux rail experience in Canberra; perhaps in the future I could have my picnics and wine reveries more locally.

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

Shame of slicing public servants

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has decided to lop off 800 top positions, almost all in Canberra, to help pay for his dropping the carbon tax and bringing the Emissions Trading Scheme forward.

But that’s small change beside the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s plans to axe at least 12,000 commonwealth public servants. And that’s just for starters.

Whole departments will disappear; the ACT economy will take a shuddering thump to the gunwales while the rest of Australia chuckles up its collective sleeve.

I must, of course, declare an interest. Like most “CityNews” readers, many of my extended family members are in the public service so I have a stake in their welfare. But this means that I also know just how hard they work and how proud they are of the job they do, not just for their own satisfaction but for Australia.

And they have a great deal to be proud of. There has rarely if ever been a breath of corruption surrounding themselves and their colleagues. They are totally conscientious; they deliver the best possible advice to the government of the day

ROBERT MACKLIN says it is infuriating that both major parties in the forthcoming election feel they will actually win votes in the wider community by slashing Canberra’s public servants

(however little it is appreciated); and they conduct themselves with decency and discretion that should make us all proud. What’s more, the perennial “efficiency dividends” have meant that, in some cases, two people are now doing the work that kept six fully employed a few years ago.

Yet their political masters feel perfectly comfortable in taking the axe to them. And what’s worse, no one jumps to their defence; and certainly not the people who depend on them for the social services (in the broadest sense) that keep Australia ticking along so seamlessly.

There was, of course, a great opportunity in this year of our centenary as the Australian capital to celebrate 100 years of magnificent public service. That, after all, is what Canberra is about. If ever we should tell the capital’s real story, now is the time.

Yet so far, the only Centenary event that has engaged the attention of the rest

of Australia has been a blow-up turtle with tits! And the effect was to produce a collective sneer, not just from our wider community but overseas as well. Now, it is entirely possible that the Centenary organisers have developed a series of events for the rest of the year that will raise the profile of the public service to a level of genuine appreciation among our compatriots. It may well be that some of the luminaries from a glittering cohort that includes Atlee Hunt, John Bunting, “Nugget” Coombs, John Crawford, Neil Curry, Alan Westerman, John Menadue, and more recently a range of immensely talented women, beginning with the pathfinder Elizabeth Reid, will leap from their drawing boards into the public gaze. If so, then they will have done a splendid job. If not, well, I guess there’s always the bicentennial. By then Australia might have forgotten the turtle with tits.

robertmacklin.com

Nestled in the heart of Weston Creek, with close proximity to Cooleman Court shopping Centre, sits a warm and inviting, newly built Weston Creek Medical Practice.

Lead GP Dr Merson Mathew, had a specific style in mind when he approached The Peppermint Room and contracted builder G.E. Shaw & Associates (ACT) Pty Ltd, to work as a team to create an inviting and new space for clients of Weston Creek and nearby areas. “The brief was to design a practice that was completely accessible, maximised use of the available space and provided comfort for clients. We wanted sound proofed consult rooms to ensure confidentiality and peace of mind, and an environment that was pleasing to the eye and gave a sense of calm and wellbeing to our patients” Dr Mathew said.

The Peppermint Room are no strangers to designing unique, visually pleasing, fresh and practical spaces. With work ranging from some of Canberra’s trendiest eateries through to residential and professional spaces, the team knew how to

The brief was to design a practice that was completely accessible, maximised use of the available space and provided comfort for clients.

”

bring their eye for detail and design to the collective table and deliver successful solutions. When asked about the space, Senior Interior Designer Tiffany Heighway describes “Entering the space patients are greeted with a clean and fresh environment. Suspended acoustic ceiling panels over reception welcome you into the space to be both functional and aesthetic. With consult rooms off the corridor we used timber doors to break up the appearance and add warmth to the space,

overall creating a more personalised and welcoming experience for patients. The reception counter features modern acrylic panels, which make great splashbacks for homes or commercial environments as they are easy to clean, have minimal joints and are chemically resistant”.

Builder, Steve Simms from G.E Shaw & Associates, has vast experience working collaboratively on projects such as this and has a history of delivering exceptional quality fitouts. On this recent venture, Steve said, “The construction of the fitout required precise coordination as the team was working in a confined space and required careful alignment of trades and materials to ensure smooth flow of activity. Our project team were able to maintain an orderly site, achieving the client’s programme and budget objectives. We enjoyed working with the design team from The Peppermint Room to translate the creative vision into a high quality fitout for the Client.”

Central to the successful completion of the project was the shared goals and collaboration between firms. Dr Mathew had a vision for the space, the feel and the layout of the practice and it was imperative that he was able to have this vision translated in building and interior design terms. “Tiffany from The Peppermint Room produced a design of the highest calibre to meet required specifications. Likewise, G. E. Shaw deserves special praise; their tender had been selected based on their reputation of delivering superb builds on time. True to form, they didn’t disappoint. Thanks to all their efforts, Weston Creek residents can now take pride in a new, high quality medical practice that has been built to exacting standards with the aim of providing exceptional quality care” said Dr Mathew.

By Melinda Small

Photography by Ben Andrews of Lux & Lens

Canberra Confidential

Over before it starts

MUST be the stress of being in the ratings period, but the conditions for much of MIX106.3’s listener-attracting on-air competitions seem to suggest no one can win them because, when CC looked, they were closed before they started. What a legal pickle:

OOPS 1. Rod and Biggzy’s radio show on MIX106.3 is running a competition inviting listeners to share in $20k to have their bills paid. Website entrants have to warrant they’ve read the terms and conditions. All good, except the competition runs between July 29 and August 23 but the conditions prescribe that: “If the prize is unclaimed the promoter will redraw a name at random selected from the entries on Monday 25th of February 2013”. Let’s hope they’re spared having to demonstrate that to the regulators.

OOPS 2. It gets slightly worse with “Rod and Biggzy’s 10 Grand Garden Game”, which admirably promises to refurbish Canberra’s worst garden. Despite the winner being announced on August 23, according to the conditions, entries closed on Friday, February 15, which probably means that anyone who’s entered since then is ineligible to win, which probably means everyone.

OOPS 3. Worse yet, the still-running “Rod and Biggzy’s Fireside Festival” competition is also listed as having closed on February 15, as is the station’s “Best of Canberra” competition, and the “Workday Walk In” competition ended on January 7, according to its terms and conditions.

OOPS 4. Sister station FM104.7 had a competition for a July 28 Wedding Fair competition

that, according to its terms and conditions, closed entries on April 26. Presumably, everyone was ineligible to win that, too.

Museum abuzz

STAFF of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House are abuzz with news than “The Hansard Monologues” (the political answer to “The Vagina Monologues) will be performed there on August 8-9. Katie Pollock and Canberra journo Paul Daley wrote the script, in which actors David Roberts, Camilla Ah Kin and Tony Llewellyn-Jones (pictured) will re-create the great speeches from the 43rd Parliament of Australia. Bookings to canberraticketing.com.au or 6275 2700.

unsenatorially “And Woolworths and Coles can keep their stinking claws off of Bungendore too – you can almost smell them there now.”

Parking a problem?

HAS TAMS Minister Shane Rattenbury parked the parking problem at the Yarralumla shops? Liberal MLA Steve Doszpot , a man given to walking to the shops, thinks the parking’s unsafe, especially for elderly constituents, with cars backing out from the pavement (and often into each other). Dossie, who hasn’t heard from TAMS since March, wants the nosein parks changed from straight to diagonal lines. Come on, Ratters, admit it, it’s brilliant!

Mike slows cycles

Stinking claws?

KATTER’S Australian Party candidate for an ACT Senate seat, Steven Bailey, went to Bungendore for “a nice cup of coffee and some toasted banana bread”, discovered a petition against a supermarket redevelopment, signed it and pledged himself to the “plight of the people of Bungendore before the election and after – and regardless of the fact that they cannot vote for me”. What was in that banana bread? He then astonishingly went on to say,

CLEARLY tremulous at the prospect of an unrelenting media campaign to have speeding cycle traffic calmed on Commonwealth Bridge, the bureaucracy has quietly rolled over and put a 10 kph limit on the shared pedestrian paths over the lake. 2CC’s talkback champ Mike Welsh had been agitating on air since April and in “CityNews” (“Mike vows to take on the Lycra louts”) in May for the welfare of pedestrians on the busy thoroughfares before something terrible happens.

Maintaining the rage

THE Tuggeranong Community Council is maintaining the rage with its online petition calling on WIN TV to reverse the month-old decision to move the broadcast of its Canberra news service to faraway Wollongong.

The plucky petition calls on WIN to reinstate the presentation of its local news to Kingston because the moneysaving decision will have a negative impact on local news gathering, news coverage and the overall quality of local news and information in Canberra.

We’ve all had a bleat including Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, Federal member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann and local business groups, but the thick skins of Wollongong are not listening, doubtless encouraged by the fact the bulletin has barely missed a beat in the weekly ratings indicating the public doesn’t give a monkey’s. But if you don’t fight, you lose: join the petition at tuggcc.com

Hills of gold

THERE’S money in them thar hills... so far this year, parking revenue at the National Arboretum has raised $100,000. GM Jason Brown is urging visitors to pay the despised fees because the money raised from the 250 car spots stays with the trees. But if the inspectors from the menacing Justice and Community Safety Directorate book you, the lolly goes down the hill to general revenue and we don’t want that, do we?

Hmmms

ON the fourth desperate call to the ATO’s technical help desk, the taxpayer was told to forget lodging her return electronically via a Mac and go find a PC!

Canberra horror-fiction author Kaaron Warren has just won the novella category of the US Shirley Jackson Awards, for the literature of “psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic”. Warren picked up the award for her work “Sky” and tells CC she’s hoping the trophy arrives from America in one piece.

SEEN in a shop window in Beechworth, Victoria. “The fight against online shopping has started!” says wandering reader Chris

CREATION

The World is entering a new age - The age of Forex trading

The 21st Century technology boom has seen incredible refinement and innovation in performing the most complex of tasks in a seemingly simple manner.

What if you could trade the Australian Dollar against the US Dollar and make money? What would you need to learn, watch and be aware of to become a profitable trader?

How is it even possible to enter such a big market?

Every day Millions of people worldwide are trading the Forex Market. Thanks to the evolution of technology, the Forex Trading Market is now a level playing field for all, from blue collar to billionaire. The time has now come to embrace the revolution of the home trader.

We are Canberra this August presenting an educational series of workshops developed for those of you who take your financial future seriously.

scene / around canberra

Village Building Co. 25th anniversary, National Arboretum Hamlin Fistula Hospital fundraiser, Lyneham

Dialogue business centre opening, Barton

Resi Canberra Southern opening, Curtin

Menslink Midweekers soiree, Griffith

ROOMS FROM $159

Ta Da!

ABODE WODEN WINS SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION AWARD

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.

Allhomes Manifesto

We love real estate.

1. EvEryonE

We’re here for everyone who loves real estate – the buyers, the sellers, the agents, the landlords, the renters, the real estate junkies and the dreamers.

2. FrEEdom

We believe in freedom of real estate information. The reassurance of knowledge. The surety of facts.

3. InFormatIon

We believe in making information as easy, as intuitive, as human as possible. There’s no such thing as information overload when it comes to property.

4. EmotIonal

We believe the most emotional decisions can be made intelligently. People make property decisions with their hearts, our purpose is to inform the ‘head’ to help them make the wisest decisions.

5. EqualIty

We believe in a level playing field where everyone is treated equally. No favourites, no bias, no priority, no agenda.

6. valuE

We value agents and their role and we strive to bring value to the agent, the industry and the consumer. We believe everyone should win in the property game.

7. ConnECtIon

We believe the ultimate connection we can help facilitate is the loving connection between people and their home.

8. HappInEss

We believe happiness is a great house sold well and a lovely home wisely bought.

Mighty Mitchell / advertising feature Mitchell’s world of choice

IF you’re renovating your home or shopfront, drumming up sales for your business or just throwing a party, there’s a world of options in Mitchell.

All about fish

CAPITAL Aquatics opened two weeks ago, but its owner Lachlan Childs has been keeping fish and working in fish-keeping shops for most of his life. He’s also got the skills to build and install fish tanks of all sizes, right up to big commercial building jobs.

“Our staff have kept fish for a long time so you can come in and ask us pretty much anything and we will know the answer,” says Lachlan. “We have a large network we can tap into as well, so if we don’t know, we can send a text message and usually have the answer a few seconds later.”

Capital Aquatics, Shop 3, Mitchell Business Centre, 52 Heffernan Street, Mitchell. Call 6223 2244 or go to capitalaquatics.com.au

Proud of tiles

TILEFLAIR is coming up on 10 years supplying high-quality tiles to Canberra’s builders, architects, interior designers and home renovators.

“Over that 10 years we’ve really prided ourselves in delivering the best customer satisfaction that we could, and we’d really like to thank all our customers for their support,” says owner Peter Bonelli.

“Just because we’re not the biggest, doesn’t mean we’re not one of the best.”

Tileflair, 22 Essington Street, Mitchell. Call 6162 3080 or go to tileflair.com.au

Personal patios

PATIOS and decks have come a long way and now often include features such as concrete pizzas ovens, bench tops, lighting and heating.

Urban Vista is one of the few deck-building outfits that employs a trained building designer, to help clients plan such luxurious outdoor living areas.

“The designer listens to their wishlist and talks them through the process, and basically I try to build the deck more like an outdoor room, taking into account how it relates to the environment and so forth,” says carpenter Liam Ausling.

Urban Vista, Unit 5, 47-49 Vicars Street, Mitchell. Call 0433 515 776 or go to urbanvista.com.au

Fast printing

GRAPHIC designer and print operator Jason Tankard has been managing Fast Digital for the past five years, and during that time he’s done his best to live up to the printing company’s name.

“We pride ourselves on fast service because that’s our strength; we can do things with a fast turnaround,” explains Jason.

Fast Digital, Unit 5, 47 Vicars Street, Mitchell. Call 6262 2278 or go to fastdigital.com.au

Website experts

ACCORDING to the team at Canberra Web, business owners don’t need to know the first thing about the internet to make the most of it.

The Mitchell web designers say that a lot of clients need training and ongoing support to get

value out of the online shops and websites they create. The all-in-one service includes in-house graphic design and search engine optimisation, to make sure the new site pops up in front potential customers when it’s just what they’re looking for.

Canberra Web, 47 Vicars Street, Mitchell. Call 6223 2222 or go to canberraweb.com.au

Pinball wizard

PEOPLE often ask Joe Siminelli about pinball machines and arcade games they remember from the past.

“I’ve usually got it, and we can source things we don’t have,” he says. “Basically I’ve got everything for the man-cave or games room,” says Joe, adding that he’ll give a 10 per cent discount to anyone who mentions “CityNews”.

Capital Pinball, Unit 3, 47-49 Vicars Street, Mitchell. Call 0418 633 871 or go to capitalpinball. com.au

Party central

CAPITAL Pinball owner Joe Siminelli started HireALL as a spinoff, but it has now outgrown the games business.

“We hire everything you can think of for events and parties – one call gets it all – from chairs to mechanical bulls and jumping castles,” he says. HireALL customers can also choose from the unique collection of games available only from Capital Pinball.

HireALL, Unit 3, 47-49 Vicars St, Mitchell. Call 6241 6855 or go to hireall.com.au

arts & entertainment

Power of the music of the night

“Poor old Andrew Lloyd Webber,” Ian McLean says sympathetically of the famous English composer.

“His music has been criticised for being simplistic, but it’s not, and he’s been accused of being a musical plagiarist, but he’s not.

“I think they’re jealous because he’s been so successful.”

McLean has a fair idea what he’s talking about. He’s the conductor and musical director for Free Rain Theatre’s coming lavish production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” the musical that’s almost an opera.

“Lloyd Webber’s really very clever,” he goes on. “Look at ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him,’ in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ the tune and the rhythm are very inventive.”

McLean has one of the toughest jobs on “The Phantom” in ensuring the overall musical sound is perfect.

It’s probably the biggest thing he’s done since making his stage conducting debut in “Annie” for Canberra Philharmonic in 1991. From that time, he’s been at it non-stop, although he’s also found time by day to direct the Royal Military College Band, oversee all the Army bands in Australia and to manage the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.

“It’s just a little short of 30 musicals,” he says, counting fast.

“Now

In every case, part of his job was to source the musicians, generally from the CSO, the in-recess Canberra Pops Orchestra and the RMC Band – “The number of scratch orchestras I’ve put together? I wouldn’t hazard a guess.”

For “The Phantom”, he’s pulled together a fully professional orchestra which he both conducts and directs. Recently, on his own request, he has preferred to leave the vocal side to Leisa Keen, his repetiteur and assistant musical director.

“Singers are too far advanced for me, I’m an instrumental musician, not a vocal one.”

McLean is probably being too modest. When he first started out, he reports being “petrified in the days leading up to opening night”. His old mentor and predecessor at the RMC Band, Colin Fischer, advised him to just relax and concentrate on where the singers come in.

“Singers don’t have music in front of them –anything can happen, a late entry, or they may jump a bar.”

No wonder he was scared.

By trial and error, McLean came up with a set of signals to overcome these more unpredictable aspects of conducting musicals.

“If my hand signals like a kangaroo hopping, that means ‘jump forward’, or if I give the sign of

putting the brakes on, go back.”

Conducting a cast of mixed professionalism is slightly tricky, but he happily takes advice from Michael Cormick and Julie Lea Goodwin, the professionals playing the Phantom and Christine, and consults with the more experienced singers and the director David Harmon, who he describes as “a very clever young man”.

But, he says, “with the chorus I’m more dictatorial, I say, ‘we’re going to do it this way’.”

“The Phantom of the Opera”, Canberra Theatre, August 9-22, bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Return of the embittered true believers

By Helen Musa

RARELY are the names of playwrights Anton Chekhov and David Williamson mentioned in the same breath, but director Aarne Neeme, rehearsing his 10th production for Canberra REP, sees similarities between the play “Don Parties On” and Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya”.

For those not in the know, Don and his friends are the Labor “true believers” we

first saw (theatrically) on October 25, 1969, the night John Gorton defeated Gough Whitlam at the polls, in a suburban Federal election party heavily fuelled by alcohol.

Skip 41 years to August 21, 2010, when Julia Gillard won a second term in office.

Most of the same people are at Don’s house again, most are still true believers, but there’s a new generation to join in the fun, the bitterness and the booze.

The stage set, designed by Quentin Mitchell, bears an uncanny resemblance to an earlier REP production of the play “Don’s Party” on which Williamson has based his sequel.

“Now the characters are of an age when the glorious future is not so glorious,” he says.

Just as with Chekhov, he observes, when you’re directing you have to achieve a balance between the comedy and the nostalgia. Fortunately, he’s done plenty of Williamson before including, uniquely, a production of “Money and Friends” in his native Estonia.

“We thought we could change the world in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but this play is more bitter… I became quite attracted by its potential for tragicomedy,” he says.

It dismayed Neeme that earlier productions, like one in Melbourne featuring comic actors Garry McDonald and Darren Gilshenan, went for “a sort of Abbott and Costello approach” that evaded the sense of impotence, loss and regret he finds in this newer Don’s play.

Would you like to watch those old family videos once again, or listen to your favourite records on CD?

A loud week for music

He’s been aided by an all-star REP cast headed up by Peter Robinson as Don. Of the nine characters, five were at the original party, but there are also new parts, “like Don and Kath’s son Richard and his narcissistic paramour Roberta,” as Neeme puts it.

Present day history has been more or less on his side, but Neeme is mightily relieved that the show will be over before the Federal election comes. The resuscitation of Kevin Rudd was a bit of a blow, but he is nonetheless convinced of the play’s relevance – “a lot of audience members will have been through this, especially in Canberra.”

“Don Parties On”, by David Williamson, at Theatre 3, Acton, until August 17, bookings to canberrarep.org.au or 6257 1950.

DON

The lucky readers off to see Don McLean, at Canberra Theatre, on August 29 are: Marilyn Brennan, of Florey; Sue Troth, Campbell and Peter Lord, Farrer. The number of entries was overwhelming, the judging took ages and “CityNews” thanks you for being part of it.

SALUT! Baroque believes that music is “architecture for the ears” and is presenting a concert of vocal and instrumental music composed by Vivaldi, Caldara, Monteverdi, Merula and Luzzaschi for some of Italy’s architectural masterpieces. “Chiesa e Palazzo” is at Albert Hall, 7.30pm, Friday, August 9. Tickets at the door or by subscription to baroque. com.au

BEFORE that, Art Song Canberra is presenting “The New English Renaissance”, by Duo Trystero (tenor Robert Macfarlane and guitarist Aleksandr Tsiboulski) in Wesley Music Centre. It will feature music written for Peter Pears and Julian Bream by Benjamin Britten, William Walton and Michael Tippett, as well as the cycle “Kobitotachi” (Lovers) by Australian David Kotlowy. Tickets only at the door, 3pm, on Sunday August 4.

ON Wednesday, August 7, piano students from the studios of Elena Nikulina and Natasha Tkachenko will perform works from the Baroque period to the 20th century in the Wesley Music Centre Lunchtime Live series, 12.40pm-1.20pm. Paper note entry or concession $2.

A MEMBER of the judiciary, admonishing a young offender, suggested she pay a visit to the performance “Jack Charles v The Crown” at The Playhouse to see how rehabilitation can be done –mind you, even the ebullient Charles would admit it took him a long time to get it right.

PLAYING Field Studio’s 2013 Community Arts Residency Program is open to applicants interested in exclusive use of its studio space for one week in October to develop or explore a creative practice. The residency includes a one-off grant to assist with materials for use during the project. Inquiries to 0402 597959.

CANBERRA Photographic Society’s fifth annual “Out There” is at the Watson Arts Centre until August 11. The title refers to photographers and photographic artists going beyond their local surroundings and comfort zones in the search of images that reflect their personal interests and ideas. Thursday to Sunday 10am-4pm.

arts & entertainment dining

Game of the name

“What’s In a Name” (M)

FROM co-directors Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (who wrote the play and adapted it for the screen) comes a comedy of manners and relationships offering many reasons to laugh, among tensions the small scale of which does not diminish in intensity.

Teacher Elizabeth (Valérie Benguigui) is preparing a Moroccan dinner party. In the living room, her academic husband Pierre (Matthieu Delaporte) and trombone-player friend sInce childhood Claude (Guillaume de Tonquedec) are enjoying a vintage red brought by her real-estate salesman elder brother Vincent (Patrick Bruel) who got it as a gift from a client. Vincent’s pregnant partner Anna (Judith El Zein) hasn’t yet arrived. The men start discussing a name for the baby. Vincent is the principal protagonist. His behaviour is questionable from the outset and his social skills are deplorable. When Pierre and Claude ask whether he has chosen a name, he strings them along before revealing that its name will be Adolphe.

French people still have good reason to revile that name even when it’s not spelled Adolf. Leftie Pierre is furious. Gentle Claude is distressed. Elizabeth, despite having grown up in the shadow of Vincent’s crassness, is dismayed. Here is the meat for a dinner-table comedy that intensifies when Anna arrives and hears for the first time what Vincent is proposing.

Filmed almost entirely in the apartment, the ensemble cast gives first-class portrayals of characters more interested in talking than doing stuff as relationships come close to breaking point, long suppressed home truths boil to the surface and Claude, so far self effacing to a degree, delivers a kicker revelation that has Elizabeth and Vincent aghast.

Perhaps more a crowd-pleaser than a seminal exemplar of any dramatic style, “What’s In a Name” is great fun, even when being very serious. And that’s a big plus in any language.

At Palace Electric

Dougal Macdonald cinema

“Behind the Candelabra” (M)

AFTER seeing this film telling of the six-year relationship between flamboyant piano player Lee Liberace and the beautiful bisexual Scott Thorson, I came away unable to decide what possible reason could there have been for making it.

It’s not that the movie’s ill-made. Stephen Soderberg’s directing of Richard la Gravenese’s screenplay based on Thorson’s book is impressive. Encrusted with bling and other examples of questionable artistic taste, it looks good. Two major Hollywood actors about whom we have never heard any hint of gay predilections give convincing portrayals of men for whom other men are more sexually desirable than women (Thorson says he swings both ways but the film shows no women in sex scenes).

I felt uneasy watching the story of an undeniably talented keyboard player with money to burn and his plaything person. Not because the sex scenes involve men only. Not because Liberace was a bitchy dominant queen who controlled the lives of vulnerable young men as bedroom and stage playmates until someone prettier came along (apparently Thorson’s six-year tenure was a record). But the shallowness of all the film’s relationships is depressing, as la Gravenese probably intended.

Which is not to diminish the merit of Michael Douglas playing the mincing cross-dressing domineering feminised owner of what, according to Thorson, was a penis capable of prodigious staying power. Nor the quality of Matt Damon’s nuanced portrayal of Thorson, raised in foster homes, with ambitions to be a veterinary surgeon, paying an unhappy price for submerging his life to 24/7 demands of the celebrity source of wealth and luxury.

Good minor performances come from Rob Lowe as the surgeon Startz who prescribed a “California diet of pharmaceutical cocaine and amphetamines” to help Thorson lose weight and to which Thorson became addicted, and Dan Aykroyd as Liberace’s business manager. Debbie Reynolds, who performed on stage with Liberace, plays his mother.

At Palace Electric. Dendy and Capitol 6

Running hot and cold

By Ian Meikle

WITH the weather so cold, there are no ends one might go to dine at the hearth of a blazing fire, the very prospect that drew me to dinner at the quaint Fireside Inn in Goulburn.

In its 79th year, the Inn faces central Belmore Park, the reminiscent creation of a local merchant inspired by a drive through rural England in the early ‘30s.

Mock Tudor and delightfully chintzy, its centerpiece is a magnificent, large fireplace, which seemed that night a little log deprived, a victim perhaps of the risk of roasting diners with too big a blaze.

Entrees of soup (pumpkin, potato and leek) and pasta rotolo ($16) were ordered. Hearty and hot, the soup ($12) arrived sans bread. The pumpkin rotolo was generous but unevenly heated, which was reported to the waitperson who promised the kitchen would be alerted.

Mains of duck ($35) and fish fillets in leek filo ($34) followed in reasonably short order, delivered by a man who earlier had been trying to spark more life out of the sole flailing log charged with heating the entire restaurant. The service style, for fine-dining, was casual, with food served face on across the table and not, more deferentially, to the side.

The moist and generous serve of fish fillets wrapped in pastry sat on a bed of mashed potato and pea puree. A good comforting choice for a cold night. The duck alas, less so. My fellow diner struggled with the toughness of the breast meat, leaving the pieces she was unable to cut. The accompanying tartlet of confit of tender duck leg and mushrooms seemed extremely salty to her taste. Again, on enquiry, the waitperson underlook to alert the kitchen.

But the kitchen took no responsibility for the tepid entree nor the toughness of the duck and the bill was presented in full, untroubled by an apology. Not so hot.

Regular dining reviewer Wendy Johnson is on leave and will return next week.

Lots of twists in the straight ‘Dream’

IN this large-cast production, director Jordan Best has attempted a “straight” production. But there’s nothing the least bit straight about the “Dream”, so she’s set herself a tall task. Perhaps the four “ordinary” lovers (Rachel Clapham as Hermia, Jenna Roberts as Helena and Duncan Driver and Chris Zuber as lookalike Demetrius and Lysander) are straightish, but that illusion is undercut by Roberts, who turns in a smashing performance, wearing her heart on her sleeve with lugubrious ostentation.

Then there’s the “odd couple” of David Evans as the chaos-loving Puck and Tim Sekuless as a dictatorial Oberon. Alison McGregor as his fairy queen Titania, full of physical flexibility and

theatre

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

By William Shakespeare, directed by Jordan Best for the Queanbeyan City Council, original music by Peter Best

At the The Q, until August 13

Reviewed by Helen Musa

insinuation but without poetry, is no match for their strangeness. The Athenian Mechanicals are an odd but generally humorous lot, headed up by David Cannell as a Cockney Peter Quince and Cameron Thomas as an Ocker Nick Bottom, but the direc-

tor works them too hard and too long.

Wayne Shepherd, who plays an unusually compliant Egeus, has also designed a brilliant forest of drapes with a huge acting space in the clearing, giving Best huge problems in filling the stage arena. The visual beauty of his set could have been enhanced by more subtle lighting on the floor.

And the fairies? Best has opted for female spirits rather than Shakespeare’s masculine ones, yet Erin Pugh shines as the boyishly reluctant Moth. The fairy wings, designed by goldsmith Mia Ching and textile artist Ann McMahon, are subtly printed with Marion Mahoney Griffin’s designs for Canberra.

home & garden

Bright young things

By Kathryn Vukovljak

Sharp contrast

but dishwasher safe.

Cosmic by Noritake is available from department stores and kitchenware retailers, or at noritake.com.au

The Swiss Classic series of high-carbon stainless steel knives by Victorinox are non-slip, ergonomic and durable, and they come in pink, yellow, green and orange. The series includes a 17cm santoku knife, a 19cm chef knife, a 21cm bread knife and a standard fork. More information at victorinox.com

Red hot

Got the blues

Laura Ashley’s jelly-bean print coasters and placemats in hues of blue and neutrals will add soft colour to the table.

Wallace blue coaster set, $14.95, laura-ashley.com.au

Organise your paperwork in this smooth, sleek storage unit and add a hit of bright red at the same time. Available in red, white and black.

Rainbow brights

Brighten things up in your outdoor area – these Salma Alu chairs by Wintons Teak come in a rainbow of happy colours.

Salma Alu chairs, $345, Wintons Teak. More infoirmation at wintonsteak.com

Cedric Bryant gardening

Bold stripes

Soft cashmere that adds a splash of summer colour to your living room or bedroom, Xavier&Me’s striped throws are just gorgeous.

Cashmere throw blankets, $295, xavierandme.com

Exploring native flora and fauna

IT is so important to expose children to our native flora and fauna from an early age, and the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens is a good place to start.

The entrance is well-signposted, five kilometres on the Princes Highway from Batemans Bay, just before Mogo.

So while rain and snow threatened the city, it was a different story at the gardens, sitting in the sun enjoying coffee at the Chef’s Cap café with the wonderful sound of children in the background playing in the garden’s brilliant playground, which has play structures not seen anywhere else in Australia.

Then it was off to explore the children’s nature trail, unexpectedly meeting kangaroos lolling on the grass.

You may be lucky enough to see the big goannas and a bird hide is the ideal place to see the large range of birds, especially many varieties of water birds.

For people with disabilities, the Rotary Disability Track runs alongside the children’s playground. The nursery has a great display of plants for sale, all propagated by the Friends of the Gardens.

Incidentally, if you are retiring to the coast and would like to meet like-minded gardeners the Friends have more than 100 members, more than almost any other botanic gardens.

The Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens is open Wednesday to Sunday, 9am-4pm or daily during NSW school holidays. Entry is free. More information at erbg.org.au

RECENTLY, I have had questions from readers on the value of animal manures, most of which are gathered from under shearing sheds (sheep manure), paddocks (cows) or stables (horses).

If they have been exposed to the weather for a period of time, there is very little nutrient value in them. On the other hand, they are excellent

for improving clay soil, especially if mixed with washed river sand. Alternatively, add it to the compost heap to hasten the decomposition process.

I may be biased, coming from a dairy farm, but I consider cow manure is the best for several reasons: cows chew the cud and grind everything, including seeds, to pulp making the end result (pun intended) weed free.

Cow manure breaks down in the garden very quickly, while horse manure – depending on the feed – can result in a wonderful crop of oats! Those small pebbles of sheep manure can take a long time to break down, plus you are likely to get a good crop of weeds.

Depending on the animal feed, not all manures can be classed as organic with many supplements added, especially if the stock is bred in enclosed conditions. For this reason, chook manure from battery hens is not classed as organic.

Chook manure is classed as a “hot”, having a high concentration of lime and ammonia, and should not be used near acid-loving plants such as camellia, Daphne, azalea and all Aussie plants.

AS we start the last month of winter, with the wattle in bloom and jonquils heralding spring, here are a few things to take us into the garden:

• Cut back old foliage of deciduous grasses such as Miscanthus. Yes, the foliage turning brown is the same as trees losing their leaves.

• With the mild weather continuing, keep an eye out for snails. Use organic and safer-for-pets Multicrop Slug and Snail Killer.

• Prune summer flowering shrubs such as Buddleia very hard.

• Tip prune Camellia sasanqua if they have finished flowering to encourage more bushy growth for more flowers next year. If very scraggly, hard prune by reducing the plant by up to one third.

• If you have blackcurrants, prune back a quarter of the old growth down to ground level.

Joanne Madeline Moore

your week in the stars / August 5-11

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Your energy levels get a welcome boost, as the New Moon falls in fellow fire sign Leo. So it’s time to be creative, sporty or just super social. If you’re lacking motivation, look to a child, teenager or friend to provide the extra inspiration you need. With Jupiter stirring up your domestic zone, many restless Rams are in the mood to renovate, redecorate or relocate.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

The New Moon is a magical time of beginnings and the promise of things to come. Family and home life are where you need to make some changes and adjustments, the sooner the better. If things have been tense with a loved one, swallow your pride and get talking. It’s also the perfect time to add value to your residence via repairs, renovations or a quick paint job.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

The New Moon urges you to find fresh ways to connect with those around you whether at home, at work or in your local community. And with Mercury (your ruling planet) shifting into Leo, your creative talents and communication skills are firing so don’t waste them. Express yourself, Gemini! When it comes to money matters, you may need to make a snap decision.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Have you been talking about paying off debt or saving for something special, like a car, holiday or home deposit? This week (with the New Moon stimulating your cash zone) you need to put your money where your mouth is and take action, but be careful you don’t overextend yourself. Plus avoid getting drawn into a prolonged power struggle with a loved one.

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

What a wonderful week for lively Lions, as the New Moon and Mercury light up your sign. You’re bound to be the centre of attention (which is just the way you like it). Plus Venus blesses financial matters and business deals. Your motto for the moment is from Andy Warhol (born on August 6): “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

You won’t feel wildly social, as the New Moon and Mercury move through your privacy zone. Put aside some ‘me time’ to unwind, so you can concentrate on the three R’s – rest, relaxation and renewal. You’ll be amazed what you pick up if you step back and observe from the sidelines. It’s also a great week to power through paperwork, research projects and tie up loose ends.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. If you are depending on loved ones to be punctual and organised then you’ll be sadly disappointed. If you expect them to be unpredictable and exciting, then you’ll have a stimulating week. Contributing your Libran talents to a joint venture or group project brings much personal satisfaction.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

With the New Moon powering through your professional zone, you need to create work opportunities and explore all your career options. If you’re looking for employment, the early bird catches the worm! But avoid using emotional manipulation, underhand tactics or guilt trips to get what you want on Thursday. There is just no substitute for open and honest communication.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

You’ll feel restless, fired up and ready to go as the New Moon activates your adventure zone. Try to arrange a challenging project (or weekend trip) to channel all that excess energy into. In your haste to get things done don’t jump to half-baked conclusions, and then pass on incorrect information. Get the facts straight otherwise mix-ups are likely (especially over money).

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

The New Moon boosts your leadership qualities, and your tendency to bossy behaviour. Cool down, Capricorn! You think you know how a loved one is feeling but you may be way off the mark. The current situation is much more complex than it appears, so take your time and don’t do anything rash. Nurture your international contacts... who knows where they may lead?

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

The Sun/Uranus trine encourages you to make positive adjustments. Be inspired by birthday great Andy Warhol: “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change things yourself.” Is a close relationship going nowhere fast? The New Moon provides a golden opportunity to resuscitate a tired old romance, or navigate an exciting new one.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Do you feel dismally disorganised? Is your lack of a daily routine letting you down? Perhaps it’s time to tune into the energy of the New Moon and try a more creative (and organised) approach? Focus your mind and pay attention to small details. If you confuse fact with fantasy on Thursday, you could end up with a complicated mess on your hands. Keep it real! Daily astrology updates at www.twitter.com/JoMadelineMoore

Joanne Madeline Moore

Across

1 Name one of the black suit of cards

8 What is a common type of pneumatic tyre?

9 Name a wide-sleeved robe characteristic of Japanese costume

10 Which type of pistol is a six-shooter?

11 What is a steady current of water, as in a river?

12 To box lightly, is to do what?

13 What is a more common term for a bingle?

16 Name an alternative word for a bullock

19 Which plant of the mallow family is used in soups?

21 What was Australia’s greatest pioneer aviator affectionately called?

22 Name the term applied to the Sydney City NRL team

23 To treat with chemicals, in order to preserve from decay, is to do what?

24 What do we call one who writes stories?

25 Name a ferruginous earth used as a yellowish-brown pigment

Down

2 Which breed of dog is also referred to as a “bird-dog”?

3 What do we call those who drive stock over long distances?

4 What are atmospheric disturbances?

5 What are roundabout courses used temporarily instead of the main routes?

6 Name the strip of surplus material as at the side of wallpaper

7 What do we call one who commits forcible seizure of an office, etc?

13 Which electric charge is measured in amperes?

14 To free from the consequences of actions is to do what?

15 What are supervised places of accommodation?

17 Which small finger cap is used in sewing?

18 What designates a level of command?

20 Name another term for economic resources

Danielle and her partner Derek had tried to lodge their tax returns using e-tax but were confused by the

questions. They asked me to prepare their tax returns.

A good decision, as I told Danielle, because there have been many changes this year particularly around health and medical items.

“From July 1, 2012 there is a tiered system for claiming the rebate on your health fund premiums as set out below:

“You are entitled to receive the rebate at the 30 per cent rate if your family income is less than $168,000, $84,000 for singles and you are under 65,” I told her.

“As your income increases, the rebate reduces until it cuts out completely when family income exceeds $260,001.

“To add to the confusion, and so that family income can be adequately checked, there are new boxes on the private health insurance statement provided by your health fund. These include: “Your share of premiums paid in the financial year”, “Your share of Australian Government rebate received” and “Benefit code”, which shows the maximum benefit to which you might be entitled. The figures shown in these boxes on the statement must be put into your tax return, which cannot be processed without them.”

“It is also important that you show your spouse’s income in your tax return. It must be the exact income and not the figure from the payment summary”.

Looking at my clients’ joint income it appeared they were entitled to the 20 per cent rebate but had been claiming 30 per cent.

“Danielle, you could end up owing money to the ATO. I recommend you talk to your health fund so the amount of premium reduction is adjusted,” I told her.

“There are also significant changes to the medical expense offset. As your family income exceeds $168,000, you will only be able to claim this if your medical expenses after reimbursement from the Health Fund exceed $5000. It will be paid to you at 10 per cent rate. This contrasts with the family income of less than $168,000 where the claim threshold is $2120 and the offset is paid at 20 per cent.

“However, the sting in the tail is that if you do not claim the medical expenses offset in 2013, you will not be able to claim it in future years. It is being phased out in 2019.”

Grateful, Danielle said: “No wonder we were having trouble. Thank you so much for your help and we will see you next year.”

If you need help with any aspect of your taxation and particularly in relation to health fund and medical changes, contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd.

Trenton Morrissey

Is The Allhomes Salesperson of the Year 2013

My focus is to provide exceptional customer service

Trenton Morrissey, Morrissey Property

The Allhomes Salesperson of the Year Award is based on feedback directly from buyers and sellers. Trenton achieved the highest standard of client satisfaction.

Contact Trenton to find out why both buyers and sellers rave about him…

Ph: 0433 622 600 43/21 Battye Street Bruce

property

38 FLANAGAN STREET, GARRAN

A BEAUTIFULLY RENOVATED SPACIOUS FAMILY HOME BACKING RED HILL

Located on the high side of a quiet street and backing Red Hill Nature Reserve proudly sits this beautiful family home that offers commanding views of the Woden Valley and the Brindabella Mountains. The original owners have renovated this solid brick home to the highest standards and are presenting it in “as new” condition. The separate living areas are all spacious and light filled and they include an elegant lounge room, a very large dining room and a combined kitchen and family room that all flow seamlessly to the outdoor entertaining areas. The kitchen is well appointed and is the perfect spot to watch the family in the thoughtfully landscaped back garden. The main bathroom has been recently renovated and features a free standing stone bath, porcelain tiles, under floor heating and heated towel rails. Other accommodation includes a master suite and three secondary bedrooms upstairs. There are also two bedrooms, a bathroom and sitting room downstairs that would be perfect as a teenager’s retreat or for those wanting to work from home. Quality fixtures and fittings have been used throughout including plantation shutters, stone bench-tops, and polished hardwood floors. Other features include ducted gas heating, reverse cycle air conditioning and a double garage with internal access. An added bonus is the extra bathroom in the garage and an abundance or storage. Surrounded by a mature hedge to the rear and ideally located backing bushland this property is perfect for those wanting space and easy-care living in a peaceful location. The home is located within close proximity to excellent schools, transport, local shops and medical facilities. EER2.0

Features:

• 6 Bedrooms

• 4 Bathrooms

• 2 Garages

AUCTION: SATURDAY 10TH AUGUST 11:00AM ON SITE

VIEW: SATURDAY 3RD AUGUST 11.30-12.15PM & WEDNESDAY 7TH AUGUST 5-5.45PM

NICKY SYMON 0418 285 797 | EMILY TINDAL 0413 742 320