131010 citynews

Behind this smile is endless pain. Every day

Irene Elliott fights a losing battle with MS. Suddenly, there is hope of a cure, but she needs help. Lots of it.

Sun rises on a communal solar farm

AS plans move ahead to build four fields of solar panels in the ACT, one of them Australia’s largest, there’s another with a more egalitarian spirit not far behind.

Launched in May, SolarShare plans to build a solar farm that will operate as a co-operative, rather than a company, so its member-shareholders will contribute to the cost of building its photovoltaic arrays and receive returns from the power they generate for years to come.

“Since then we’ve received about 200 registrations of interest from people who are keen to invest in excess of $670,000 in a community-owned solar farm, so we’ve received a fairly strong indication there that people support this idea, which is really great,” says project leader Lawrence McIntosh.

McIntosh is a renewable energy consultant who plays a central role in The Canberra Clean Energy Connection, a local, non-profit group that supports the ACT Government’s vision of Canberra becoming “the solar capital of Australia”.

He’s showing “CityNews” a bank of solar panels that were installed in 2011 at Lions Youth Haven, a picturesque farm near Kambah Pool used by several youth services that also made a good location for the SolarShare launch.

Stephen Easton reports

Far smaller than what is planned for SolarShare, the array is jointly owned by Lions Youth Haven, Tandem Respite and Galilee, who own enough panels between them to generate 12.6 kilowatt-hours (kWh), while McIntosh owns the remaining 9kWh worth through a business named TJ Solen.

“This sort of proves the idea that ownership can be held jointly over a solar farm, which is important, especially because some people otherwise don’t have access to a property where they can put in solar; they might be renters or just not have a suitable roof,” he says.

It is better value to share in a bigger project than to set up a smaller individual one, and Lawrence got to set up his miniature power station without owning the land to put it on.

Two key steps for the larger SolarShare project are to arrange a contractor to build it and a good location, deals that both hinge on exactly how big the solar farm will be, which itself depends on how much money is thrown in.

“So, the way we get through that chicken-and-egg problem is by first taking the registrations of interest from people in the community, to

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Arts&Entertainment 26-28

Canberra Confidential 21

Cinema 27

Crossword 30

Dining 28

Garden 31

Horoscope 30

Letters 18

News 3-14

Politics 8

Socials 22-23

Cover: Public servant

Irene Elliott. Story page 12.

understand what size facility we’ll be able to build,” says McIntosh.

“Following that, we can start to negotiate arrangements with the right kind of site and solar farm contractor to build it and when that’s set, we can then actually take investments from people and build it.”

If all those who have “expressed interest” in joining the SolarShare cooperative actually decide to go ahead

with it, McIntosh estimates the group could build a solar farm to generate in excess of 200kWh, over 10 times the size of the Lions Youth Haven array.

Of course, the potential membershareholders have no obligation to actually buy in when they receive an offer; that will depend on the diligence and transparency shown by McIntosh and the rest of the SolarShare team, which includes a newly appointed in-

terim board of governance and around 15 volunteers.

“Best case scenario, we’re working with a site and a developer and if that progresses as we believe it will, we might be signing some kind of arrangement with them as early as November,” says McIntosh, “but there are still other options that we need to progress because it’s important to have as many irons in the fire as possible.”

That SolarShare is likely to be one of, if not the first working “community solar farm” in Australia is further motivation to get everything spot-on.

“It’s important we pace ourselves and get the detail really right; we need to set up something that provides a good model for any other community in Canberra, or other parts of Australia, who want to do the same thing,” says McIntosh, who feels that few of us give much thought to the coal mines and coal-fired power stations that provide our electricity, or the pollution they cause.

“Solar is a really simple business model: energy is sold and income comes in, which is returned to the owners,” he says. “It’s so simple that it gives people a really good connection to what’s happening; they can come and see it and they can be part of a group of people in a community who are really taking part in a transition to a more sustainable future.”

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Screen man turns a new page

AFTER years of working behind the scenes on multi-million dollar film and television productions, Scott Baker was inspired to write a story of his own.

The Braddon author, who was the on-set screen colourist for all three of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” films and also worked on hit television show “Dawson’s Creek”, has released his debut fiction novel, “The Rule of Knowledge”, which he describes as an “action-packed” thriller.

Scott says putting pen to paper with no budget limitations was a “refreshing” change.

“I didn’t have to worry about a big budget or actors or logistics – it was just up to my imagination,” he says.

“I spent a year making ‘The Hobbit’ and while it was one of the best experiences of my life, you’re a small cog in a big machine and that does inspire you to do your own stuff.”

Described by reviewers as “Da Vinci Code meets Spartacus meets the Time Traveller’s Wife”, the story centres

Laura Edwards reports

around high school teacher Shaun Strickland, who discovers a diary amongst a bundle of ancient documents, telling a story that will change history. Through the bending of time, Shaun learns of a mission to interview great historical figures.

Scott says “questioning the foundations of faith” is a concept he’s wanted to explore for a while.

“It came from high school, where there was a girl who was a Jehovah’s witness, and a guy who was Catholic, and they were having this debate about what their belief is about what happens when you die,” he says.

“They each had a Bible with them, and the passage the girl quoted was where Jesus was hanging on a cross and he says to one of the guys hanging there with him: ‘In truth I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’. In the guy’s version it says: ‘In truth I will tell you today you will be with me

in paradise.’

“The placement of a comma totally changed the whole implication of the passage and these two religions had really different ideas based on this one line. I thought it would be really cool to go back and ask Jesus what he really meant.”

Scott won’t reveal his own religious beliefs – “I don’t want to alter people’s perceptions before they read the book, and I don’t think it’s necessarily that relevant anyway,” he says.

Scott used his film-making skills to put together his own trailer for “The Rule of Knowledge” in Canberra, turning the beach volleyball courts at the Civic Pool into a gladiator’s ring at the Colosseum.

“I’d never seen anyone shoot something ‘epic’ or like it could be a film. I wanted to do something a bit different to the typical trailer,” he says.

“Ideally, in the future I’d love to keep making films and also writing, because there’s great things about both.”

More information at ruleofknowledge.com

After the battle

“UNLOCKING Gallipoli” is the title of Prof Tony Sagona’s talk to the Friends of the ANU Classics Museum, in the Copland Lecture Theatre, ANU, at 8pm on October 17. Prof Sagona, of the University of Melbourne will offer new perspectives on the history and archaeology of the Anzac battlefield, having just returned from Turkey.

Birthday lunch

THE Tuggeranong Day View Club is celebrating its 20th birthday with a lunch at The Tuggeranong Vikings Club, Greenway, from 11.30am, on Tuesday, October 15. Cost $21, RSVP to 6284 8804. Entertainment by Dallas Atkins. The club supports The Smith Family Learning for Life Program. All ladies welcome. AND the ladies of the Woden View Club are having a “Back to School” lunch at the Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden, from 11am on Tuesday, October 22. Cost is $24, RSVP to 6286 1827. Visitors and interested ladies are welcome.

Dutch solar treat

DUTCH vehicle entrants in the World Solar Challenge will be on display at the Dutch embassy, 120 Empire Circuit, Yarralumla, 10am-4pm, on Friday, October 18. Entry is free and there will be Dutch snacks available for purchase.

ARE ON AGAIN AT BRINDABELLA BUSINESS PARK 11am – 2pm, THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER

Over 50 stalls including: women’s fashion, children’s clothes and accessories, ceramics, jewellery, condiments, original art, locally grown produce, cakes, organic chocolates and many more. Enjoy a great day out with food stalls, entertainment and live music from Tuchasoul.

In the event of poor weather the markets may be postponed.

Geraldine’s big life helping little kids

SHE’S lived a life of remarkable compassion and devastating heartbreak, so it’s no wonder former Canberra public servant Geraldine Cox had Danny Glover and Matt Damon fighting for the rights to her autobiography.

The actors were so enthralled with the 68-year-old’s tale of going from having “$80 in a bra” to founding three orphanages in Cambodia, as told in her 2000 novel “Home is Where the Heart Is”, Glover bought the book’s rights with the view it would eventually be made into a feature film starring himself and Damon. But Cox isn’t a woman easily swayed by celebrities, however rich or famous.

“I’m a big woman, and they wanted me to be played by some gorgeous,

Laura Edwards reports

thin young thing like Julia Roberts. I said ‘no, if we do this, we have to tell the story right’,” Cox told “CityNews” during a visit last week to Canberra.

When Glover’s rights to the autobiography lapsed, Cox decided not to renew them and she is now writing her own film script, starting with her small beginnings in Adelaide and later, as a public servant for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra.

Cox says when she moved to Canberra at 25 in 1970, it was a “bleak” period in her life.

“I had been told I had blocked fallopian tubes and could never have children, which meant that in future relationships I had with men, each relationship that was serious broke

DEPOT

down because of it,” she says.

“I thought a job with plenty of travel would fill that void.”

During her first posting to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Cox’s life changed.

“This was a time when the Vietnam War was in full swing and I saw many things that I couldn’t believe… the famine, the poverty,” she says.

“Thousands of Cambodians were suffering in unbelievably deprived living conditions as they fled the countryside to the city, to escape the provincial bombing by the Americans.”

Cox’s experiences in Cambodia never left her and on a return visit in 1993, she became involved in helping an orphaned Cambodian child.

Later, while working as an executive assistant for the Cabinet of the then first Prime Minister of Cambodia, she co-founded The Australia Cambodia Foundation and eventu-

ally raised $13,000 to open her first orphanage in 1994, now named The Sunrise Children’s Village, providing children with quality health care, education and a loving home.

“The helplessness and tragedy of these lost children was so moving, that it was impossible not to be motivated to do it,” says Cox.

But after a military coup in 1997, the future of the orphanage looked bleak.

“The staff there fled, and I was left on my own with nothing to feed the children except for $80 in my bra and half a tank of fuel,” she says.

Defeated and heartbroken, Cox was about to pack up and head home when she received an anonymous cheque for $10,000 – enough to keep the orphanage going for another year at least.

“To this day I still don’t know who it was who sent that cheque, but it

saved everything,” she says.

Over the years Cox slowly rebuilt, raising money as president of The Sunrise Children’s Village, and in 1998 was granted Cambodian citizenship by a royal decree.

The orphanage grew from holding 20 children to 400, and now has three locations around Cambodia.

Cox says most of the orphans have been affected by HIV or were abandoned at hospital by parents who couldn’t afford medical bills.

“When they first walk through the Sunrise gates they are suspicious and afraid with no power over their lives,” she says.

“To watch that fear and trepidation dissolve through the love and attention of our staff and the other children is a reward that cannot be expressed.”

The children range from “babes in arms” to 18 years old, and if they haven’t passed year 12 by age 18, they are sent to an outreach house or given vocational training to help them find employment.

Cox says many of her charges now have good jobs and some have won tertiary scholarships in Australia.

“I’ve had hundreds of orphans who come back all grown up and see me to visit… they’ve got wives and jobs and they’re middle-class citizens. It’s amazing to see,” she says.

Cox currently lives in one of the orphanages near Phnom Penh, spending three months a year travelling the world to raise the $1m needed to keep the orphanages running.

In 2000, she was awarded an Order of Australia for her tireless efforts.

“These kids are my life – I found my purpose was to care for them,” she says.

“As a woman who could never have my own children, to experience the unconditional love of these vulnerable children brings me the joy and contentment in my life that nothing before could satisfy.”

More information or make a donation at scv.org.au. Donations are tax deductible.

Smyth goes to water, for political reasons

INCREASING the price of water throughout the drought period certainly reduced consumption. Gardens suffered, trees suffered, but alternative ways of managing water were found.

It was a great windfall for Actew Water as the price levers were applied to achieve the reduction. Canberrans could see the impact of the drought, were warned about the dropping levels of water in our dams and understood the need.

But things have changed. Opposition Treasury spokesman Brendan Smyth has been on a mission to hold Actew Water to account and to ensure that there is a fair price paid for our water. He was not far off the mark when he described the hullabaloo around the water and sewage pricing determination as “a fiasco”.

This is grist to the mill for Smyth. The Liberals ran an extraordinarily effective campaign at October’s Territory election based on changes Labor was making to the taxation system in the ACT. A seasoned performer like Smyth understands the importance of hip-pocket politics.

The after-tax profit of Actew Water has been listed in its annual report for 2012-13 as $80.3 million. This is the same Actew Water that has been crying poor with large overhead expenses such as the building of the Cotter Dam. “Building?” I can hear Brendan Smyth cry out, “surely you mean just blowing the budget!” The shortfall in revenue over the previous five years, is the excuse used by Actew Water. It was some $236 million which it is now trying to recover.

The Liberals are already focusing on what they describe as incompetent management. However, it is not enough to attack Actew Water. The punches need to land on the two shareholders – the Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Treasurer Andrew Barr. This is where the political mileage lies.

“It’s been over a month since the Budget debates, and the fact that Canberrans are still left in the lurch on the impacts of the ICRC price determination on the ACT’s bottom line, is unacceptable”, Smyth claimed in a press release.

Michael Moore comments

“Earlier this year, we saw Canberra households having to pay five per cent more for their water just to keep Actew Water afloat” and, he added, “this was after the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission’s (ICRC) original proposal to decrease water bills by nearly 17 per cent,”

In late June, the water and sewage price-setting body, the ICRC, set a price that would have the impact of saving households on average around $83 a year. What has provided a political opportunity for Smyth and the Liberals is that Actew Water has not accepted the umpire’s decision and has launched an appeal.

The appeal is its legal right. However, for Smyth it is also a political goldmine. The reason for appealing, according to Actew Water, is that the determination did not appropriately recognise the cost of providing services and of ensuring an appropriate return on investment. When prices went up during the drought, we certainly didn’t see them complaining about the windfall.

One of the problems is that Actew Water is not selling as much of their product at a time when it has an abundance. However, Smyth levelled an accusation that it was really about management and efficiency: “this is compounded with last month’s independent review that uncovered 40 opportunities where Actew Water governance could be improved”.

The challenge is to ensure that the old habits of wasteful water use do not creep back into the mindset. Climate change projections indicate that further drought years can be expected and it is appropriate for the Government and Actew Water to ensure the supply of the future meets the needs of the population.

On April 28, 1998, in his inaugural speech to the Assembly, Brendan Smyth related an anecdote of going to his father as a child and asking for more pocket money and being told: “If you cannot pay, you do not go”. Smyth then added: “I think that what we have to do in terms of financial sense is ensure that in this community we live within our means”.

The statement provides a good insight into what drives this MLA and why he is likely to pursue this issue relentlessly.

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

Information Evening Tuesday 15 October 4.30-6.30pm

We invite you to come and talk to us about your graduate study options. Our professional programs are designed to expand your expertise in the fast-changing area of legal practice.

Programs available for law and non-law graduates, with intensive and online tuition to suit part-time study.

ANU College of Law Staff Library, first floor Building 5, Fellows Road, ANU RSVP (11 Oct) marketing@law.anu.edu.au

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MASSIVE OUTDOOR SALE furniture

When harmony wobbles

ROBERT MACKLIN, just back from lecturing in China, reflects on the Chinese hunger for the kind of natural justice we call the “fair go”

THE Chinese “princeling” screamed with rage. The gates to the very fast train from Beijing to Shanghai had been closed for a minute, but the wealthy member of the Communist Party elite demanded to be allowed through.

He threatened the smart young railway officer in her steward’s suit, even banged wildly on the metal barrier between them as his face turned puce.

She stared him down. She barely raised her voice but her meaning was perfectly clear to the several hundred of us gathered at the vast Beijing station waiting to board the next train. “Not a chance,” she said. Finally, he admitted defeat and the Chinese people around us fairly glowed. A murmur rippled through the crowd. It seemed to say: “Nice one.”

This is a China changing before our eyes. We have been visiting our big neighbour since 1999 and each time it has been to a different landscape as China has physically transformed itself. But now a new dimension is apparent.

In the past, the Chinese people have been as bedazzled as the rest of the world as their pent up entrepreneurial spirit burst forth in a pyrotechnic extravaganza of growth. But now there’s a hunger for the kind of natural justice that we call the “fair go”. While we have largely institutionalised our national catch-cry, the Chinese people still have a long way to travel. But in the end they will not be denied.

”I hate harmony,” said one of the students after my lecture at one of the three universities in Shanghai and Xi’an that hosted me last month. It was almost as startling as the raging princeling. Harmony is the Chi -

nese Government’s watchword and it’s everywhere. They even call the very fast train “Harmony”.

”They use it to stop us from protesting,” said my student friend. “Harmony is a bad thing if it means you have to accept everything the government tells you to do.”

It would, of course, be quite wrong to suggest that some kind of rebellion from a newly awakened middle class is imminent. There is a great (and thoroughly justified) pride in what has been achieved under the banner of “Socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

But for very good reason, President Xi Jinping has been making great play of “self-criticism” sessions among party officials and at least acknowledging the widespread corruption.

Many Westerners believe it will not be enough, that the pressure for change will continue to build. China’s long history, they say, reads like a series of revolutions against repression. Progress towards an open society and moves towards democracy will come in fits and starts like steam through the valve of a pressure cooker… just enough to stop the lid from blowing while inside, undetected, the stew bubbles in agitation until one day… bang!

Maybe. I suspect the new leadership is cleverer than that. They won’t turn democratic overnight; but the real breakthrough will come in the growing application of the rule of law and firmness of bureaucratic purpose – the kind that keeps the puce princelings in their place.

robertmacklin.com

Room with a view to educating girls

LIFE could have been very different for India-born Yash Varma.

The Canberra resident says if his father had not had an education, the family may have never had the opportunity to move to Australia.

“My family was lucky, but millions of children, in India and other developing countries, will never get an education or learn to read or write simply because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Yash says.

As president of the Canberra chapter of Room to Read, a global non-profit organisation focused on literacy and education for developing countries, Yash hopes to change the statistics.

Since launching in 2000, the charity has managed to build more than 15,000 libraries in developing countries and partners with local communities to build schools and create new local language children’s literature.

The Canberra chapter will hold a Bollywoodthemed fundraiser this month, aiming to raise $10,000 to go towards girls’ education.

Yash says girls in particular have difficulties accessing education in developing countries.

Laura Edwards reports

“Studies show that the way to bring about change in these countries is through educating girls and women, but many of these young women trying to access education fall victim to ruthless acts of violence,” says Yash.

“Room to Read has already helped educate more than 22,000 girls through its programs, and $10,000 will fund about 40 years’ worth of education.

“We believe everyone, regardless of their gender or where they live, should be allowed the same level of education.”

Room to Read’s “Bollywood Black Tie Bonanza” for girls education will be held at Digress restaurant and Lounge on Friday, October 18, from 6.30pm. Tickets, $90, include a three course dinner with drinks and performances by Bollywood Star finalist G-luV and Bollywood Dimensions. Available from bollywoodbonanza.eventbrite.com

Irene faces pain with high hopes

PUBLIC servant Irene Elliott is preparing to take on a high-risk treatment for multiple sclerosis that involves being blasted with chemotherapy to destroy her immune system – but that may just provide the closest thing to a cure for her rapidly progressing disease.

“I’m calling it a cure, because I truly believe this will help me,” says the bright 35-year-old.

“My options have pretty much run out. My MS is what it is, and it will get worse, so I had to be proactive.”

Irene’s research revealed a treatment called hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which involves harvesting stem cells from the patient’s bone marrow, then decimating the immune system with chemo before reintroducing the stem cells.

“I know the scarring in my brain may not reverse, but if this procedure can just halt the progression, that would be incredible,” she says. “I just don’t want to get any worse.”

Irene’s family are hosting a “Big Fat Greek Fundraiser” at the Hellenic Club in November to raise the $90,000 needed for her treatment, which will involve foreign travel to a clinical centre in either India, Russia, Germany or Israel, plus a significant period of rehabilitation.

“The treatment has been established overseas for years, but it’s not available in Australia yet – it may be one day, but I can’t wait that long,” she says.

Lee Davelaar, national communications manager at MS Australia, says he’d recommend that anyone interested in the treatment discuss it with their treating Australian doctors very carefully before pursuing it further.

“If Irene has already explored this fully, we hope that the treatment provides her with some relief from her symptoms,” he says.

Irene now has severe progressiverelapsing MS and is clearly in pain, but smiles and laughs readily and tells “CityNews” she’s learned to manage it.

“I try to hide the pain as much as I can,” she says. “I can’t go on about it,

Kathryn Vukovljak reports

no one needs to hear that, so I just get on with things.

“It feels like my feet are on fire a lot of the time. I can’t wear heels, I’d just topple over. It’s a challenge to walk anyway and I do trip a lot.”

Irene says walking can be so difficult and painful she has to get into a strong mindset to do it.

“I’m like, ‘just put one foot in front of the other, just get there’,” she says.

“I often ignore people without meaning to, because I’m concentrating so hard. And I tell myself I can’t fall because these are my last stockings and I’ve got a meeting later!”

Irene’s positivity and determination are a credit to her “lovely husband and big fat Greek family”, she says.

“It takes a collective to keep you up,” she says. “When you’re ill you become like a recluse, you don’t want anyone to see you like that. But my family is just amazing, like my cousin Eleni would come and sit with me while I had steroid treatments. The people around me keep my spirits up.”

Irene was diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system affecting the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve, when she was 24, although she thinks it probably started earlier.

“I had some symptoms from 19, but I ignored it at first – you’re invincible, right?” she says.

“But when I was 24 I experienced numbness and paralysis from my neck down to my chest.

“I went to a physio because I thought I’d overdone it at the gym. My back was sore but so was my whole body, which was very confronting. It was relentless, rotten pain, and it became like torture.”

Even after her diagnosis. Irene says she was in denial. “I felt well for a long time after, but then it started to hit and it all became real,” she says.

Irene says that over the years she’s tried everything, from “hippy” bee-sting therapy, various drugs and changing her diet, but her MS has now progressed so far that she has run out of options.

by Brent McDonald

Don Allan, advocate for the disabled

BLOGGER, social gadfly and passionate advocate for disabled people, Don Allan has died after a short illness. He was 79.

Scottish-born son of a Communist, he learnt political guile from his miner father in Motherwell and, after a long and well-travelled life, applied this prowess in Canberra, where he stood unsuccessfully for the early House of Assembly under the Residents’ Rally banner. He continued to be an active commentator on local politics through his weekly column in “The Chronicle” until last year when, after two decades of loyally writing on local issues and publishing a book based on his column “Don Allan Takes Aim”, he was dismissed as part of a cost-cutting campaign. Hurt but undeterred, Mr Allan continued his political and social commentary on the internet.

“I have so many scars in my brain and spine, and there’s no way of knowing where the MS is attacking me,” she says. “Mostly I feel like I’m losing control of everything. It’s like being drunk – I walk like I’m drunk, I slur my words. I go to pick up my cup of coffee and I’ll pick up the wrong thing. It’s a constant battle and I’m exhausted.

“The fatigue is hard to manage and it’s easy to overexert myself. I can’t find the right words and sometimes it’s hard to think. It affects my cognitive abilities and short-term memory.”

Working full-time as an ICT services manager for the Department of Defence, Irene says she loves her job and she does as much as she can. And at home, she enjoys cooking for her husband of 17 years.

“I want to do what a wife does, and look after him,” she says. “But the MS doesn’t just affect me, it affects the whole family. We’d love to have kids, but it’s too risky for me.”

Irene says she is in awe of what her family is doing for her.

“They’ve seen me suffering – as much as I try to mask it, they’re not stupid, they can see,” she says. “They’ve already supported me so much. Five years ago I could barely

walk and I became quite depressed. I have good days and bad days, but they see my determination to live a normal life.”

“I’m choosing to be positive,” says Irene. “I will never become this disease, and it’s a downward spiral to think that way. Especially when there is hope.

“I’m aware of what I’m going into, but I’m positive about it, because it’s my only chance at getting my life back.”

Lee Davelaar, from MS Australia, says it’s only natural that someone with such an aggressive form of MS would explore all the possible treatment methods available.

“Whilst there have been some encouraging results from stem cell procedures in Europe and North America, it is still considered very much an experimental treatment,” he says.

“Ultimately, further clinical trials are required to confirm the safety and the expected benefits of the procedure for individual patients.”

The “Big Fat Greek Fundraiser”, the Hellenic Club, Woden, Friday, November 1. Tickets at $90 are available from the club’s reception or by emailing elenig76@gmail.com.

Mr Allan had variously studied for the priesthood, been a policeman, marketing manager, manager of the now defunct Center Cinema and general manager of the Koomarri Association.

He was a passionate advocate for Canberra and used his marketing skills on a number of local tourism bodies.

After a horrific car accident, which limited his movement, but not his mind, he became an active champion of disabled people in the ACT, founding the ACT Association for Advancing Disabled Sport in 1994 and serving on its governing council until his death last week.

“On behalf of not just the board, but the very many people with disabilities that have been assisted by the ACT Association for Advancing Disabled Sport, I offer my deepest condolences to Valerie and the Allan family on the passing of Don,” says association president Jeff House.

“Don was the driving force behind ACTAADS for nearly 20 years and was responsible for its very existence. His contribution to Canberra was vast and diverse. He will be deeply missed and never forgotten”. He is survived by wife Valerie and daughter Elizabeth.

JUST 16KM FROM PARLIAMENT HOUSE!

October is Safe Work ACT Month

briefly sport

Mark McCabe, Work Safety Commissioner WorkSafe ACT, Office of Regulatory Services

October is Safe Work Month in the ACT. More importantly it is an opportunity for all organisations and their workers to focus on work health and safety.

This year’s theme “Safety in Construction” is an appropriate one, following the release of the ‘Getting Home Safely’ Report in November 2012.

The report was the result of the inquiry into the health and safety practices in the ACT construction industry, prompted by the number of construction site fatalities in the ACT (four between December 2011 and July 2012).

In February 2013, the ACT Government acknowledged the findings of the ‘Getting Home Safely’ Report, accepting all 28 recommendations and also accepting responsibility to implement those recommendations where it had control of the implementation process.

Those in the construction industry will know, as a result of the inquiry, WorkSafe ACT focused its resources on site visits and inspections of the construction industry in 2012-13, and this will continue into the future.

When a parent, partner or child of a construction worker sees them leave for work in the morning, they expect them to return home at the end of the day. WorkSafe ACT is committed to improving safety on construction sites in the ACT and ensuring that every worker comes home safe.

WorkSafe ACT will be holding a number of seminars and information sessions throughout October. We strongly encourage those in the industry or those completing home renovations to view the program to see if any of the events are relevant.

For more information on specific events for Safe Work ACT Month 2013, visit: www.worksafe.act.gov.au

For better or worse; why I will miss Jake Equestrian fund raiser

Sports commentator TIM GAVEL gives a wartsand-all salute to the Brumbies’ departed coach

JAKE White, I will miss you. Sure, we had some battles over the past two years, but I have enormous respect for what he was able to do at the Brumbies, taking the side from its worst performance to the Super Rugby final in the space of two years.

He turned around the culture of the Brumbies; from a rabble, back to their rightful position as the leading Super Rugby team in Australia. Under Jake players knew their responsibilities and there was little in the way of misbehaviour off the field.

His strength was appointing the right people, putting structures in place, with Laurie Fisher and Steve Larkham doing much of the day-to-day coaching.

I realise we are just small cogs in the wheel, but from a media perspective, he was hard work.

Jake came to the Brumbies from a background of being savaged by the media in South Africa. Everything was scrutinised in the same way AFL is in Melbourne, where sport is more than sport and it infiltrates virtually every aspect of life.

He coached South Africa to the 2007 World Cup. Instead of becoming a longterm Springbok mentor, he became a casualty of politics and was unceremoniously shown the door. The media played its role in his demise and he emerged scarred from the experience.

He had little understanding of the Canberra market with its competing codes and the need to promote the Brumbies.

South Africa is a country where rugby is dominant and everything else is a distant second. His view, that he had arrived in another region where rugby dominated, was probably fortified as he walked through the streets of Manuka and watched the “Rugby Club” on Fox.

He gave me the impression from day one that the media, in particular, was not to be trusted; to be given as little information as possible lest it might fall into the wrong hands.

One of Jake’s issues was the filming of the final training session before a game.

In the past we were able to film a good 20 minutes, but under Jake’s watch, we were lucky to have the camera rolling for a couple of minutes before being told that was enough.

The belief that the opposition team was able to interpret moves from a news story with the average shot lasting three seconds is laughable.

The naming of the team seemed to get later and later in the week even though the players were told as early as Monday.

We were often criticised by the public for not running new-player profiles, but it wasn’t through lack of trying. Players we were keen to profile often had media bans slapped on them; prop Dan Palmer’s column in “The Canberra Times” was canned; personality was, apparently, to be discouraged and the Brumbies supporters were the poorer for it.

From the pulpit of Jake’s rugby world he would often say at media conferences he wanted crowds of 20,000-plus, but failed to understand that the code was in dire need of promotion in Canberra.

There was no free-to-air coverage, people didn’t know the players and rugby was struggling to find an audience.

Many didn’t even know the game was on such was the lack of promotion.

I complained to the Brumbies management, but I got the impression their hands were tied because the team was successful and the players were happy and you don’t mess with a winning formula. It was classic siege mentality; the media on one side and the team on the other.

As for his reasons for leaving, I have been told he wanted to leave when he missed out on the Wallabies job. I have also been told he wants to be a father to his two sons in South Africa and nobody can begrudge him that.

As I have said, Jake White can take plenty of credit for turning around the Brumbies on the field. For that, he should be lauded, but he has left many of us in the media contemplating that it could have been so much better.

THE Equestrian Park Fundraiser Ball will be held in the Silks Room at Thoroughbred Park on Friday, November 15, to assist the park to further develop its infrastructure. Competitor and commentator, Tim Dreverman will be MC and the night will kick off with stunt riding from the performance group “Girls, Girls, Girls”. Tickets from Horseland, in Fyshwick.

Help for slow readers

A NEW charity aimed at helping ACT families with struggling readers who can’t afford private tuition and/or clinical assessments, will be launched at Lellow Children’s Store, 24 Lonsdale Street, Braddon, 3pm, on October 23. DSA Dyslexia SPELD ACT will also offer support, advocacy and a mentoring service along with evidence-based information on reading difficulties (particularly dyslexia) and expert tuition. More information at the DSA Dyslexia SPELD ACT facebook page.

Le grande fun

TELOPEA Park School’s La Grande Fête will be held from 2.30pm-7pm on Saturday, November 2. Reckoned to be one of the largest public school fêtes in the ACT, it promises multicultural food, fun, a medieval display by “battle sports” group The Hundred Swords and the annual Canberra French Car Clubs display. More information at telopeapnc.org.au

Help me, Honda

ROLFE Honda, Belconnen, has supported local charity the Ted Noffs Foundation in its successful request to the Honda Foundation for the use of a new Honda Odyssey for 12 months. Rolfe will also provide free servicing of the car over the next year, says dealer principal David Jameson.

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Astonishing diatribe against monarchy

I READ with astonishment Robert Macklin’s diatribe against the monarchy (CN, September 26). While I am a proud supporter of the constitutional monarchy, which I consider has provided Australia with unparalleled stability of government and a democracy second to none, I am not so vain as to imagine that others may see things differently.

Many Republicans advance earnest and honestlyheld beliefs which are sometimes worthy of more than a moment’s thought, although they do not ultimately stand up to scrutiny. But Macklin’s assertions fail the test of historical veracity and commonsense.

It was Britain which did more than any other nation to end slavery – has he never heard of William Wilberforce? And research has shown that many convicts were definitely not victims of the industrial revolution; many of their number were dishonest folk, including my own convict ancestor, who should not have been surprised at their fate. But this is all beside the point. Australia is a proud, independent nation and this is attributable to our British constitutional and legal heritage, not despite it.

Gary Kent, convener, ACT & Region Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy

‘Distorted tirade’

AS a republican I have no difficulty in putting a logical and rational (not an emotionally distorted ahistorical tirade) case for a republic, why is Robert Macklin incapable of doing the same? (“Reboot the republic”, CN September 26).

Martin Gordon, Flynn

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What’s the problem?

HAVING read the Moore v. Jensen articles (CN September 26) I wonder what motivates Nick Jensen’s opposition to marriage equality.

If his views represent the Australian Christian Lobby, then he should know Australia is a secular society where equality is important and laws are not based on religion. Mr Jensen failed again to explain how two adults in a loving, committed, mutually supportive relationship are a threat to someone else’s marriage, or the institution of marriage in general. Why is their relationship less worthy of recognition as marriage?

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Where is the equality? No answer.

He is simply wrong to claim the ACT Government vote “will change the definition of marriage for the rest of Australia”. The nation will be watching, but other Parliaments will have to make it happen for them.

Under the Rudd plan which Mr Jensen says Australians rejected, churches would have the option but no church would be forced to conduct a same-sex marriage ceremony.

If the ACT Government takes a similarly reasonable approach, I cannot see a problem for Mr Jensen.

Brett Gray, Monash

Thanks for the bull!

I THANK Brendan Keogh, president, Australian Family Association, Bendigo, for his deeply philosophical and illuminating dissertation on animal husbandry (Letters, CN October 3). It’s great to hear from a real bull expert.

Barry Rollings, via email.

Syrians need a hand

IMAGINE houses in your street bombed and your neighbours left homeless. Imagine that every 17 seconds a fellow Australian is forced to flee in fear of their lives. This is all happening to the people of Syria, most of whom just wish to go to school, work and live a normal life.

Children deserve to laugh, play, and learn each day without the constant threat of death or injury. Their parents, uncles and aunts deserve to have a roof over their heads.

For many of us, Syria seems a long way away, though almost every night our TVs reveal pictures of almost unimaginable suffering.

Every day over 3000 volunteers and staff from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement put their lives on the line to assist those who need medical care, a place to sleep or something to eat. Syrian Arab Red Crescent is assisting at least two million people a month. The broader Red Cross Movement is also assisting tens of thousands of refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.

Help us to reach out a hand to the people of Syria so they can have at least the basics they need to live and survive through these terrible times. I urge you to donate to the Syrian Crisis Appeal, visit redcross.org.au/ syriacrisis

Robert Tickner, CEO, Australian Red Cross

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Healthier Work / advertising feature

Tile shop lays good health foundation

WALK into the Fyshwick and Mitchell stores of Beaumont Tiles and the two things that might strike you are the smiling faces of staff and the big bowl of fruit on the counter.

The smiling faces are a result of each team member directly benefiting from the initiatives that Beaumont Tiles has put in place through the Healthier Work Program.

The bowl of fruit, to replace the biscuit tin, is one of these initiatives and customers and suppliers are also enjoying the healthy snack alternative.

A free ACT Government service, the Healthier Work program provides businesses with tools, resources and advice to encourage people to participate in healthier activities throughout their working day.

According to Huw Jones, technical and sales consultant at Beaumont Tiles, Healthier Work program was the push they needed towards creating a healthier work environment.

“We’d been thinking about trying to make our workplace healthier, but didn’t know where to start,” he says.

“So when we heard about Healthier Work we gave them a call.”

From there, he says, the process was simple.

“Adrian from Healthier Work came out to chat with us about what we wanted to do

and really took the time to understand how we operated,” says Huw.

“He also encouraged us to talk to each member of staff to find out what it was they were hoping to achieve.”

Designing a program that took into consideration the different ages, fitness levels and health requirements of staff was crucial according to Adrian Ison, from Healthier Work.

“There’s no point coming up with a blanket solution that’s going to be irrelevant or inappropriate for some people,” he says. “So we work very closely with businesses to help them design a program that has a range of initiatives that is inclusive of everyone’s needs.”

Huw elaborates, saying: “Well, the staff in the retail show room have different considerations to the guys in our warehouse.

“For instance the staff in the show room felt that they could benefit from gym passes, whilst the guys in the warehouse were already pretty active so they wanted to focus more on quitting smoking.”

With Adrian’s help, Huw and the team designed a program that covers issues such as healthy eating, exercising, reducing stress and quitting smoking.

“Each week we supply a bowl of fruit in our staffrooms and our front counters,” says Huw.

“We supply passes for staff to do strength fit classes at a local gym. We provide nicotine replacements to help our smokers quit – we even had one of our storemen hypnotised!

“And we’re planning a golf day that the whole team can enjoy – which is a big move for us as normally we don’t get the opportunity to enjoy activities outside of work.”

Six months into the program, Huw and his team are already noticing some tangible benefits.

“A few of the staff have organised regular fitness classes that they go to outside of what we’ve organised.

“We’ve had a lot less sick days this past winter than what we normally have and on the whole, everyone is a lot happier, because they love the fact that management is doing something to benefit them.

Healthier Work is part of a joint

Australian, State and Territory Government initiative under the National Partnership Agreement on Preventative Health. Healthier Work is a free ACT Government service established to support employers to develop health and wellbeing initiatives within their workplace. Visit healthierwork. act.gov.au for more details.

‘This area’s really happening; the city centre is moving further and further towards City West’

THE Hellenic Club in the City is celebrating four years since its doors first swung open on Moore Street in the City West precinct.

“The club is really going from strength to strength,” says manager Mick Douros. “It‘s been extremely rewarding over the past four years watching it grow and keeping the Hellenic Club culture alive and it makes me extremely proud to be part of such a wonderful organisation.”

In that time the stylish and comfortable venue has been part of a process of reinvigoration taking place all around it on the western side of the CBD.

“When we moved in, it was pretty quiet,” explains Douros. “There were a few scattered cafes around, but now there are residential buildings popping up left, right and centre, there are government departments and UniLodge has tripled in size. This area’s really happening; the city centre is moving further and further towards City West.”

In line with the revitalisation of the surrounding area, the Hellenic Club has refreshed the former RSL Club premises in a number of ways, most recently to provide an outdoor space for up to 35 people to eat, drink and be merry.

“We’ve recently been approved to trade and serve liquor in our new outdoor area and we think this is going to be a great addition to the club, where members can sit and enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful weather,” Douros says.

New bi-fold windows have also been installed that connect the interior and exterior spaces and make the venue much more inviting.

Woden flagship.

“We want to make sure that this club can look after absolutely anybody and everybody, and I think that’s what the Hellenic Club in Woden’s done well for so many years, so following that model was an easy one.

“The Hellenic Club is all about giving back to the community and members.”

In line with that culture, the Club in the City welcomes people from a wide section of the community and makes sure to keep the membership fee low and offer

affordable pricing.

According to Mick, it is a popular place for students and has forged strong connections with the ANU, which is just a short walk away.

“We sponsor just about all the ANU sporting teams, so this is their home and we like to make them feel welcome,” he says.

“We offer affordable pricing and all of those great things clubs can do, yet we don’t look like a typical club; we’re a little bit more chic, we’re a little bit more sexy and we appeal to a wider audience.”

Sporting teams and other groups often meet at the venue’s two stylishly appointed upstairs function rooms: the 122-seat Atlas Room and the larger, 250-seat Poseidon Room, which features a large balcony with a unique outlook on the surrounding area. Both feature private bars and facilities for all kinds of events, from conferences and seminars to dinner parties and major celebrations.

Making the most of the space, the Hellenic Club in the City changes throughout the day, from a cafe serving breakfast to a bistro at lunch and dinner, with DJs, bands and other entertainment at night.

From steaks to gourmet pizzas, Douros describes the menu as “modern Australian with a bit of greek influence just stabbed in there every now and then”. There’s a wide selection of beverages, including eight beers on tap, deals throughout the week and, for a bit of fun, hungry members and guests can take on the “Sumo Steak Challenge”.

After a successful four years, Douros gives the credit to all who have supported the Hellenic Club in the City over that time.

“I would like to thank all of the members, guests and staff for supporting the club over the past four years and look forward to sharing many good times ahead.”

Canberra Confidential

No Alternative for Gardner?

CC hears of unhappiness at partner level of the emerging Smith’s Alternative bar and venue in Civic.

After only months together, its principal, veteran theatre producer Domenic Mico, is reported to be parting company with his minority shareholder and Fringe Festival producer Jorian Gardner

The spin is that Gardner is off to concentrate on his festival, but based on a $20,000 grant how much love can he really afford to lavish on it? While viewed in arts circles as something of an odd commercial coupling, the duo has in only a few months commendably given the venue a dynamic presence with many sell-out nights of performance and art. CC hopes the prevailing Mico can keep up the pace.

Earthly pleasures

ARE weeds considered “produce source from the backyard”? pondered one wag in response to “Down to Earth”, a whacky idea for a dinner in which diners provide produce sourced from their backyards, planned for A.Baker at New Acton.

“We write a seasonal menu, you provide the produce as part of your ticket price – and we all drink local wine. If you don’t have a veggie patch, bring some flowers or candles for the tables,” is the plan.

It’s on 6.30pm-10.30pm, October 21, tickets are $80. Bookings and promises to hello@ abaker.com.au

Faceless men with a special future

IT may look like a caucus meeting of Labor’s “faceless men”, but the 65 faceless and featureless calico dolls on the couch are the skillful work of president Joan Crook and members of the CWA’s Canberra Evening Branch.

They make “trauma dolls” for paediatric patients at Calvary John James Hospital, who are kept busy drawing features on their dolls.

For more than 20 years, the Canberra Evening Branch has got together every 2-3 months to make 60 to 90 dolls trauma dolls for the hospital from materials donated by members.

Frances Brown, of John James, says they currently have around 60 paediatric patients a month and the number is growing. “The kids enjoy decorating the dolls and take them to surgery with them.” she says.

Own goal

“AND do most people – even if they write for a living – need to know how to parse a sentence? Isn’t enough to just be able to write a coherent, decently spelt one?” Doh. That’s “Canberra Times” journalist Natasha Rudra arguing against ACT high school students being forced to study English and maths in Years 11 and 12.

Pricey ‘Times’

WHAT goes down, must go up, it seems in “The Canberra Times” view of the world. As its newspaper sales plummet, what better disincentive to getting punters to keep taking the paper can there be than a good, solid price rise? That’s the plan, CC hears, with the weekday edition rising 30 cents to $2 from October 28.

Remembering Malcolm

CANBERRA Theatre Centre director Bruce Carmichael was at the celebration at the Angel Place Recital Centre in Sydney to mark the passing of Malcolm Leech, former Canberra Theatre GM. Bruce reports that the celebration evening was overflowing. Apparently Malcolm told friends: “If it’s going to be morbid, don’t do it.” It wasn’t.

House number

CC was casting a laser-like eye over the list of Centenary numberplate charities and noticed two C85s listed (Master Builders Australia and the Olivia Lambert Foundation). The doubling up was a cock-up, but CC was curious about the MBA being a beneficiary. Turns out it runs a young builders’ program that’s also working on the construction of a charity house, and that’s why it gets to sell the numberplate.

Hearing Chimes

CHANNEL Ten’s “Bondi Vet”, Lisa Chimes, pictured, is appearing at the Crace “Pets Party in the Park”, 11am-3pm, on Sunday, November 3. Beyond Dr Chimes, there will be a range of experts at the Crace Recreation Park offering advice and tips. The event is free.

Lu Kewen who?

COLUMNIST and author Robert Macklin , just back from a speaking tour to China reports: “ Kevin Rudd (Lu Kewen) was said to be a person of continuing fascination to the Chinese people with his fluency in Mandarin.

“Alas, in lectures to more than 600 university students in three Shanghai and Xi’an universities last month, there was not one question about him… nor the slightest interest in his successor.” Which is doubly odd because Macklin is also Rudd’s authorised biographer.

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Best be prepared to

DEATH is life’s ultimate certainty, but few of us like to anticipate our own. All the same, passing away without preparation can mean a missed opportunity to leave behind a meaningful

legacy, or a painful and expensive drama for family and friends. In this short guide, “CityNews” asks some of Canberra’s experts for their advice on arranging an orderly departure.

When the pain is too much

SOMETIMES the pain caused by a death is too much, so Sonia Fenwick and Mandy Cox opened Canberra Grief Centre to focus on helping people find their own positive, constructive and ultimately healthy ways to come to terms with death.

“We experience a sense of grief from the loss of anything, like health or a relationship,” says Sonia. “Throughout life we tend to work our way through those losses okay, but often a death really throws us.

“Our social constructs set us up to think we should always be positive and happy, and death doesn’t quite fit into that so it’s not something that we talk about,

and I think the other thing that’s changed is our rituals around death; when it does happen we no longer know how to behave.”

Mandy and Sonia can also run support groups for people dealing with specific traumatic experiences such as a suicide or the death of a child, and services for professionals who face death in their line of work, including workshops to prepare them and debriefing if it gets too much.

Canberra Grief Centre, 1/21 Napier Close, Deakin. Call Sonia on 0409 966 515 or go to canberragriefcentre.com.au

Everyone needs to have a will

THE first thing to know about making arrangements for your own death is that you are not too young or too healthy to worry about it.

“Everybody should have a will and it must be up to date,” says the principal of Campbell and Co. Lawyers, Barbara Campbell, adding that her firm prompts clients to update every five years.

An accredited family law specialist and arbitrator, Campbell has many years of experience in estate and succession law, for which she will soon be accredited as a specialist as well.

She says that when someone dies without their

affairs in order, what they leave behind is rarely split up how they would want and might be eaten up by legal fees in an unnecessary and traumatic dispute.

“What is fascinating is that the trauma for families is far greater with a problem around a will than with things like divorce and custody of children,” says Campbell. “They move on after family law problems, but they rarely move on after an estate fight. The emotional pain fractures families for the rest of those people’s lives.”

Campbell & Co. Lawyers, 1/1 Phipps Close, Deakin. Call 6288 8852 or go to familylawyer.com.au

The Canberra Grief Centre provides specialist grief and bereavement services including:

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Mandy Cox and Sonia Fenwick have extensive experience in grief and bereavement. Counselling services are offered to anyone who has experienced the loss of:

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leave a meaningful legacy

Speak up about the service

PEOPLE often jokingly describe how they want their funeral to be, but how many of us actually tell the people closest to us what we really want?

“Even if you don’t arrange and prepay for your funeral service, it really doesn’t hurt to speak with your family about what sort of service you want,” urges Clayton Perry, of the venerable family-owned funeral business Grantley Perry and Sons. It might sound weird and family members might not want to listen, but he’s right. It doesn’t hurt and in his experience, even just a few basic ideas can make “a world of difference” to grieving family members.

“With a pre-paid funeral plan, people come in and tell us what they want, we itemise everything for them and give them an exact cost, at today’s prices,” explains Clayton. “If they decide they want to prepay it, then that service is guaranteed regardless of how much funerals go up in the future.”

This takes the financial burden away from family, but also the difficulty of deciding on details such as flowers or music, details generally more meaningful when chosen by the departed anyway.

“There are still some options available to the family,” says Clayton, “and a lot of the time when people prepay, they leave some parts blank for the family to choose.”

He goes on to explain that by law, the money cannot be held by the funeral directors, but is kept safe until needed by a regulated financial institution: Funeral Plan Management in the case of Grantley Perry and Sons.

The 22-year-old family business offers extra services like video recording and remote viewing over the internet for distant relatives, and happily organise special touches like bagpipers or violinists, a release of doves or perhaps the scattering of ashes in a special place.

Clayton says his family do their best to accommodate even the most unusual of requests, and adds that there is no wrong time to call or wrong question to ask.

“When someone passes away, all they have to do is contact their funeral director,” he says. “It doesn’t matter where or how the person has died, we can tell them what the next step is. Or if they just want to get someone initial information, even if they haven’t chosen me as their funeral director, I’m more than happy to give them advice on their options and what to do next.”

Grantley Perry and Sons, 7/12-16 Sandford Street, Mitchell. Call 6241 4101 or go to perryfunerals.com

Get your estate planning right

ESTATE and succession lawyer

Lisa Barlin, a founding partner of Griffin Legal, points out that dying is something you’re only going to do once, so it’s important to get estate planning right.

“It’s a difficult topic and often it’s easier for people to put it on the backburner than face it,” she says. “No one likes to deal with their mortality, but when people don’t properly plan for their death, what often happens is their loved ones are left in a pretty ordinary position after they’re gone.”

Barlin says inadequate estate plan-

ning “creates unnecessary tension”, which can erupt in bitter and costly disputes, but even in pure financial terms it makes sense to seek expert advice on estate planning.

“One really important thing to know is that with proper planning, you can actually save the estate thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in taxes,” she explains.

“It’s interesting that people are often happy to pay lawyers to look after the conveyance of their house when they sell it, but then they don’t for wills, when in fact a will or an estate plan is transferring everything

they own upon death, making it one of the most important legal tasks for all people, and something your family will be very grateful for in the long term.”

Griffin Legal, Level 3, 54 Marcus Clarke Street, Canberra City. Phone 6162 1613 or go to griffinlegal.com.au

The power of the ‘living will’

SOLICITOR Cheryl Welsh, from Just Law in Bungendore, underscores the importance of “enduring power of attorney” and guardianship – two separate documents in NSW, but combined into one in the ACT – and also recommends considering an advance care directive, or “living will”, the document many people use to avoid being kept on life support.

“A living will is a progression on ‘enduring guardianship’,” Welsh explains. “It goes through all the various diseases that you may have in future. You talk to your doctor about it when you fill it in so they can tell you what sort of treatment opportunities there are for each particular illness.”

She adds that people who don’t have much wealth to their name –especially young people – probably have a lot more than they think,

because many typical superannuation funds include a life insurance policy that can pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the circumstances.

Welsh says people often die with more than one super account they never rolled over into a single fund, leading their family to receive unexpected death benefits from all of them, adding up to a very substantial legacy the deceased person could have chosen to allocate more thoughtfully.

“You may have a beneficiary nominated, but the trustee of the fund still makes the final decision,” she explains. “You can also make a legally binding nomination and they have to follow it, but that may not be the best way to go because your circumstances might change, so in some cases it’s better to do a binding nomination to your estate,

for all your legal requirements in both NSW and ACT

Have you thought about what will happen to your loved ones after your death?

Here are a few things you may need to think about?

Do you have an up to date Will?

Do you need an Enduring Power of Attorney or an Enduring Guardian?

To discuss all matters relating to your estate planning and estate please contact Just Law – Bungendore t: 6238 0219 fax: 6238 1250 email: admin@justlaw.com.au 4/33 Ellendon Street, Bungendore NSW

then the will decides where it goes.”

Consolidating assets into the one estate in this way can make the process clearer and simpler when the time comes, and again highlights the importance of having a properly witnessed, comprehensive and up-to-date will.

Just Law, 4/33 Ellendon Street, Bungendore. Phone 6238 0192 or go to justlaw.com.au

arts & entertainment

Stampede of Latino lovers!

By Helen Musa

A 100-SECOND Brazilian samba stampede at the ANU’s Sport and Recreation centre? Could it be yet another Centenary event?

Well, yes, but more than that, it’s the Canberra Latin Dance Festival’s way of saying “Happy Hundredth” to its home city.

Co-directors of the coming event, Ecuadorianborn sisters Andrea and Raquel Paez, couldn’t be more pleased.

“This year”, says Andrea, who holds a UC degree in tourism management with majors in Spanish and marketing, “double the tickets have been sold, we’ve got 30 or 40 more performances and we’re getting in more seating.”

And no wonder. As “CityNews” can verify from having attended last year’s sell-out inaugural festival, there is a huge subculture of Latin-loving Canberrans who crawl out of the office and, by night, become salsa kings and mambo queens.

Andrea has noticed “locals who’ve never performed giving it a go on stage in front of hundreds of people… people you wouldn’t imagine in Brazilian ‘thunder” costumes.”

This year, the Paez sisters promise, there’ll be innovations.

The first will be Canberra Latin Industry Awards, described by Andrea as “a new, great idea to recognise people who have contributed to the Latin dance and music scene in Canberra itself.”

In another new venture, a first for Australia they think, five Latin American ambassadors will introduce traditional dances from Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.

“We could only do that in Canberra, we have better access,” Andrea says.

Then there’s a “Jack and Jill” salsa competition that will offer patrons the chance to win a full festival pass for 2014. You can register on the day.

On the Saturday night, in the middle of the festival, running from October 18-20, the salsa,

bachata and zouk rooms will play host to their first “Suit and Tie” night, best-dressed prizes. That’s a ploy to “add a bit of glitz and glamour”.

With flamenco, salsa, bachata, reggaeton, samba, tango, mambo, bachatango, cha-cha, burlesque/ jazz, dancehall, zouk, lambada and pachanga, participants will come from the ACT, NSW, WA, Victoria, Queensland and, notably, the US.

The visiting contingent is headed

up by CoboBrothers Dance Co. Founded in North Carolina by James and Milton Cobo, it’s a showcase for freestyle specialist James and Milton, the “Flow Guru” of salsa.

Another key visitor will be Melissa Rosado, “The Mambo Princess”, an exponent of NY-style mambo “On 2”. She’s been dancing since age nine when she began taking classes with mambo king Eddie Torres in the Bronx.

And that mass samba parade? That’ll be the festival’s last hurrah on the Sunday.

Canberra Latin Dance Festival, ANU campus sport and recreation centre, October 18-20, program and bookings to canberralatindancefestival.com.au/Tickets.action

Senior stars step into the spotlight

THE comedy “A Month of Sundays” by Bob Larbey will undoubtedly be a showcase for the formidable talents of our best-known senior actors, such as Graham Robertson, Oliver Baudert and Micki Beckett. Free-Rain Theatre Company, at the Courtyard Studio, October 18-November 3, bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecntre.com.au

THE distinctive Iranian Film Festival will screen to Canberra audiences from October 17 to 20 at the Arc Cinema. Among this year’s films are the controversial doco about Baha’is, “The Gardener”, and a restored version of Bahram Beyza’s pre-revolutionary film “Downpour”. Details at iffa.net.au

MEMBERS of the Canberra theatre community were saddened to learn of the death of former general manager at the Canberra Theatre, Malcolm Leech, who originally came to Canberra to manage the Canberra Theatre Company for Carol Woodrow.

LOCAL actors Adrian Flor, Will Huang, Kelly Roberts and Ian Croker will feature in Canberra Philharmonic’s “Little Shop of Horrors”, coming up at Erindale Theatre from October 17 to November 2, bookings to philo.org.au or 6257 1950.

BILK Gallery is exhibiting a select range of glass master Klaus Moe’s finest works. “Choice of Colour – Klaus Moje”, at Bilk Gallery for contemporary metal and glass, Palmerston Lane Manuka until October 19.

THE annual Cranleigh-Capital Chemist Art Show will be opened on October 18 by Robyn Archer

and run through Oct 19, 10am-4pm and October 20, 10am-12.30pm at Cranleigh School in Starke Street, Holt. All funds from the sale of artworks will go towards a specialised music program for the 124 students. Featured artist is Kylie Heslop, who will display not only traditional canvases but her air-brushed motorbikes and skateboards.

THE inaugural “Sculpture in the Garden” at Lambrigg, on Tidbinbilla Road, near Tharwa, has been curated by Canberra landscape architect Neil Hobbs and will showcase the work of 28 artists working in a wide range of media. All works are for sale. Open 10am4.30pm, October 19-20. Tickets at gate or booking to opengarden.org. au or 03 5424 8061.

arts & entertainment

Sandra’s out of this world

“Gravity” (M)

AT last, an off-the-planet movie that obeys the laws of physics without trying to kid us that monsters are out there preparing to scare the tripes out of characters before a noisy, fiery cataclysm turns them into wreckage.

The film is visually beautiful. The human factors in director Alfonso Cuaran’s screenplay may stretch our credulity, but the depiction of Planet Earth from 1000 kilometres up radiates authenticity. The spaces beyond the characters as light changes during the motion of spacecraft are a major character in the drama, wordlessly giving information about what’s happening in the void without air to transmit sound and locating events that simply cannot exist on earth.

Sandra Bullock is splendid in the film’s principal role, medico Stone sent into space to repair the Hubble telescope (an incongruity that doesn’t mar the main plot thread). While the pilot (George Clooney) amuses himself wafting around trying for the record time spent in untethered EVA, Houston sends a message that Russia has destroyed a nearby space station. Time for the American astronauts to hurry home. But Dr Stone hasn’t finished her task.

Conjecture about how Cuaran created the images forming the film’s second half will not leave us any the wiser. Comparing them with “2001: A Space Odyssey” will serve little use. It’s regrettable that the story’s human component doesn’t match the film’s wider issues. But that doesn’t diminish the power of its tensions or the physical and emotional merit of Sandra Bullock’s performance.

At all cinemas

“Thanks for Sharing” (MA)

is to dislike the rest of the world. Until she meets Adam.

A TOP-drawer cast tells writer/director Stuart Blumberg’s intelligent and challenging story about people obsessed with an excessive behaviour driven by naturally-occurring chemicals that all humans produce in greater or lesser degree.

The story unfolds around a self-help group tormented by sex addiction, using methods similar to those for alcohol, tobacco or narcotics addiction. It’s an interesting concept deftly developed in the film.

Mark Ruffalo plays businessman Adam, celibate for five years. No copulation, no auto-eroticism, no exposure to temptations beyond those that commerce plasters on posters all over the city. A tough gig, but Adam’s comfortable with it after addiction wrecked his marriage.

Mike (Tim Robbins) is addicted to helping addicts recover. His marriage to Katie (Joely Richardson) has been blighted by the disappearance of their son (Patrick Fugit)

Chubby medico Neil (Josh Gad), not blessed with overt sex appeal, with a sex addiction that could lead him into professional and legal trouble, discovers a possible path to salvation when he meets barber Dede (Alecia Moore, a.k.a. Pink), sexually addicted since childhood.

The emotional response of Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) to a double mastectomy

This mix of relationships and emotional factors in a gently involving blend of drama, comedy and romance works pretty well on all levels. Watching it on the twelfth anniversary of quitting smoking, cold turkey had a special resonance for me.

At Palace; Capitol 6; Dendy

“Rush” (MA)

DIRECTOR Ron Howard has made a vigorous film about the Formula 1 rivalry from 1970 to 1976 between the cool, phlegmatic, intense, technically brilliant Austrian Niki Lauda (winningly played by German actor Daniel Bruhl) and ne’er-do-well Brit James Hunt (played by Australian Chris Hemsworth) whose only talent was driving very fast.

Peter Morgan, whose talent for dramatising seminal events in the lives of real people has led cinemagoers through enduring insights, has given Howard great stuff for this full-on actioner. In particular, the screenplay lets Howard junk all those watching-grass-grow moments and concentrate on the breathtakers.

The story’s events are embedded in history’s concrete. Spectators seldom get to see the underlying details. Howard puts his cameras up close and personal, sometimes so much so that the details are hard to discern.

At Dendy, Palace Electric and Hoyts

‘Annie’

hits – and misses

SET in depression-era New York, “Annie’s” tuneful score and appealing story about a relentlessly optimistic young orphan girl, offers excellent opportunities for star performances, and delightful roles for child actors.

Lydia Milosavljevic, who alternates the role with Clare Pinkerton, is delightful as Annie. Acting confidently and possessing a clarion-clear voice, she gives a feisty performance.

Judy Satrapa, who certainly looks the part, is subdued as the tyrannical Miss Hannigan, but could more fully exploit the comedic possibilities of the role. She receives good support from Dim Ristevski (Rooster) and Maigan Fowler (Lilly).

It seemed a strange decision for Don Bemrose to play Daddy Warbucks with a full head of slicked-back hair, given that the role is based on an iconic baldheaded comic strip character, however

“Annie”

Presented by Phoenix Players At ANU Arts Centre until October 19.

Reviewed by Bill Stephens

he brought a fine singing voice and strong presence to the role, though little chemistry.

Miranda Cookman was an attractive Grace Farrell, and Bill Lord an appropriately stately President Roosevelt. Directed by Kelda McManus, there are many effective moments, an irresistible children’s ensemble, a huge cast and a terrific band under Rose Shorney. Pity, therefore that, on opening night, the show appeared under-rehearsed with the ensemble scenes lacking the expected polish, and the sparkle dulled by technical problems with scenery and lighting.

25 Gribble Street, Gungahlin Phone: 6241 4558

ME

TAKE AWAY PASTA

arts & entertainment

Amazing, just so amazing!

Gastronomy; is it the art or science of good eating? That’s the experience four of us had etched in our memories after slowly working through a divine 10-course “Great China West Dinner” at Malamay.

The unique degustation menu took two months to create – planning, sourcing produce, testing dishes, re-testing dishes, choosing a great wine partner (Ocean Eight) and more refining. No joke.

Good eating – no, great eating – is Malamay’s raison d’être, which is why I want to write an encyclopedia covering every single dish, but that’s not meant to be. So I’ll touch on highlights to give you a flavour of why you need to book your own experience.

First, the inspiration. Malamay is part of the Chairman Group. And the Chairman Group includes Michelin-starred Chairman Hong Kong. Together these two restaurants decided to host this series of dinners and, not wanting

Wendy Johnson dining

to do anything by half measure, the Hong Kong team flew here to do so. Just like that.

Second, the theme. The team presents exciting dishes from an exciting food region, the great west of China, with its population of 20 million and rich food history.

Third, the ingredients. The team has handpicked premium local produce and flown in items from around Asia, including fresh young ginger, a type only picked the second and third week of September when it is firm and crunchy, 15-year aged Chinese wine and Pu Erh Tea, the best available in China.

Fourth, the dishes. Where do I begin?

The king prawns with sweet chilli jam, presented in a tiny cone, was a superb start. The jam is made in-house as it is in midwestern China with dark palm sugar, tamarind and fresh herbs. To the side was crunchy witlof and tucked inside amazing chicken smoked in

Pu Erh, which gets better (and more expensive) with age. The first mouthful is smoky and then the sensation gets stronger until you’re in another zone. This is “experience food” at its best.

Seafood lovers will fall for the fresh prawns, stir-fried with shrimp oil and shrimp roe as a seasoning, so no salt is required. The prawns were served two ways and the super crunchy prawn head was to die for. We applauded the ever-so-thinly sliced taro, finely formed into thin crispy chips.

The mud crab steamed in aged wine was amazing. The Szechuan roast duck was amazing. The oxtail stew, featuring tastes of the Middle East, was amazing.

And dessert? Earl Grey custard with coconut sago pearls and candy that caused a surprising popping sensation in the mouth. Told you this was an experience.

Malamay, 1 Burbury Close, Barton, will stage this exclusive dinner, at $150, as part of Good Food Month, on October 11-13 and 17-19. Call 6162 1220.

Revue just can’t resist Canberra

By Helen Musa

“WE can’t wait to get to Canberra,” actor Drew Forsythe enthusiastically tells “CityNews”. “Apart from the fact that The Playhouse is the best theatre in the country, it’s a wonderful audience.”

Yes, it’s the notorious Wharf Revue, this year entitled “Whoops!”

The show has already played Parramatta, Casula and Wollongong, so Forsythe figures it’ll be “well and truly run in” by the time it gets here.

This year “they” will be regulars Amanda Bishop, Jonathan Biggins and Forsythe, with Simon Burke and pianist Andrew Worboys replacing Phil Scott, who’s been having a year off overseas.

“We did speak to the Canberra Theatre people very early in the year,” Forsythe says, “but I suggested a lot of things we never got round to doing.”

Initially, they thought of setting the whole revue in the hell of a

perpetual election cycle, he says, “but when Julia Gillard called an election October 14, that knocked the idea on the head, so we went for the Theatre of the Absurd, which left itself open to a lot of

different scenarios.”

Forsythe likes going back to his classical theatre training when writing scripts. Who, for instance could forget his representation of Rupert Murdoch as King Lear a couple of years ago?

Unrepentant, he’s turned his attention in 2013 to “Hamlet” or more specifically “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”. He and Biggins are the two hapless courtiers trying to work out what’s going on. Bill Shorten is cast as the melancholy Dane, Julia Gillard the demented Ophelia singing the habanera from “Carmen” and Alan Jones a venomous Polonius. The Player King acts out “the murder of political dignity”.

Slightly less classical is a “Turn back the Boats” version of “Master and Commander”, with Scott Morrison as the master and The Asylum Seekers headed up by Judith Durham and Athol Guy. The revue begins with “The Abbott Family”. And then there’s a short burst, “in full Restoration-era

drag”, showing Bronwyn and Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and Eric Abetz celebrating “the Restoration of the Liberals”. Newcomer Worboys gets a gig as the Dalai Lama, and there’s a light-hearted Arab Spring piece for good measure.

Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer address the world from the bow of the Titanic and manage to sink it. The team will finish up looking at the Labor Party through the eyes of disaffected Labor voter Dorothy, while Bob Carr as the Straw Man, Paul Keating as the Tin Man and Kim Beazley as the Cowardly Lion go off on an adventure trying to meet The Wizard, Bob Hawke.

As Forsythe says, in the understatement of the interview, “our show is built for the kind of people who live and work in Canberra”.

“Whoops!” the Wharf Revue at the Playhouse, October 15 to 19, bookings to 6276 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd

Martha double-checks some tricky claims

MARTHA was in the office to sign her income-tax return and wanted to double-check her eligibility for a couple of possible claims.

“Gail, last year you claimed the mature aged workers tax offset (MAWTO) for me, but I can’t see any reference to it in this year’s return. What’s happened?” she asked.

“Well, Martha,” I replied, “there have been many changes in the past year and MAWTO is one of them. In order to have a valid claim for this offset, you need to have been born before July 1, 1957, and your income from working needs to be less than $63,000.

“The phrase ‘income from working’ does not appear on the tax form, but is defined as the total assessable income that is a reward for your personal effort and any income from any business that you carry on plus any reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer super contributions (as shown on your payment summary) less allowable deductions.

“In your case, income from working exceeds $63,000 so you are ineligible for this offset.”

Martha then raised income protection, admitting she was a bit confused about whether it could be claimed.

“I looked very carefully at the policy documents that you provided and for a variety of reasons the policies are not deductible,” I advised her.

“The basic requirement for deductible insurance is that the premiums relate to the earning of assessable income. The Tax Office takes the view that the premium paid could result in the benefit of income and, therefore, a deduction is allowable. Sometimes policies include income protection and death and disability cover.

“Premiums for death and disability cover are not tax deductible, so if the premium for the income-protection component can be ascertained from the insurance invoice, then that portion only can be claimed. If the amount cannot be ascertained then the whole premium becomes non-deductible.

“The policy for which you provided the policy benefits page is called ‘recovery care’. It does not include any benefits for salary continuance. It provides reimbursement of the cost of home help, cash for 13 weeks if you are confined to bed after a serious accident and/or a lump sum, a serious accident benefit, broken bones benefit and accidental loss of life benefit.

“This differs from income protection in that you are ensuring against an accident rather than against loss of income, so the premiums are not tax deductible.

“With an income protection policy the insurer usually advises you of the amount that is tax deductible. This did not happen.

“I should mention that if you receive a payout on a sickness and accident policy then that payout is generally included as assessable income.”

On that basis, Martha signed her return saying: “I don’t how I’d get through all this confusing detail without you. Thanks.”

If you need advice on any tax-claim matter, contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd.

puzzles page

Joanne Madeline Moore

your week in the stars / October 14-20

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

It’s a wonderful week to complete unfinished tasks, as Mars moves into meticulous Virgo. Saturday’s Lunar Eclipse (in Aries) fires up your passion for ambitious projects and spectacular schemes. But you may come down to earth with a thud on Sunday, when you realise blind enthusiasm isn’t enough … getting others onside is the secret to making things happen!

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

With Mars charging into your creativity zone it’s time to write, sing, dance, perform, paint or play music as you draw on the richness of your imaginative world within. Thursday is your pick of the week, as Venus/Uranus aspects activate your romantic side. Attached Taureans … plan a special surprise for your partner. Some single Bulls will fall in love-at-first-sight.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

Aim to be creative rather than confused at work. Cooperation and clear communication will get you a lot further than confrontation, so aim to be a gracious and genial Gemini. Saturday’s Lunar Eclipse urges you to be more adventurous in your approach to life, as you take a calculated risk and do something that challenges you. Forget the safety net and just go for it.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Crabs are capricious creatures and mood swings are likely this week, as the tension builds leading up to Saturday’s Lunar Eclipse. If you keep busy (and physically active) then it will take your mind off your escalating (and exhausting) emotions. And have you been viewing a neighbour or relative through ridiculously rose-coloured glasses? Get ready for a wake-up call!

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

The hard work you put into your family life now will pay off handsomely further down the track. But don’t just talk about what you plan to do … demonstrate your commitment by the actions that you take. With impulsive Mars moving through your money zone (from October 15 until December 8) resist the temptation to be extravagant with cash and careless with credit.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

Mighty Mars marches through your sign (from October 15 until December 8) so it’s time to be bold and brave, as you tackle challenges with extra Virgo vim and vigour. Venus is visiting your domestic zone (until November 5) so find creative ways to encourage more health, harmony and happiness at Villa Virgo. Caring for loved ones will leave you with a warm inner glow.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Don’t be a wilting Libran wallflower! With vivacious Venus (your ruling planet) visiting your communication zone, you’re in the mood to mix and mingle; chat and circulate; socialise and schmooze. Under the influence of Saturday’s fiery Lunar Eclipse, some loved ones will behave in unpredictable ways so be extra tactful, avoid controversial topics and tread carefully.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

Are you stuck in a Scorpio rut? It’s the perfect week to shake up your usual routine, especially at home or work. Physical, mental and emotional wellbeing are also highlighted, and a health issue may come to a head and demand to be addressed. Your secretive side shines on Saturday, when you do all you can to hold your tongue and be incredibly discreet.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Sagittarians do things in a big way … which can include overindulging in food. With hedonistic Venus in your sign (until November 5) comfort eating is likely, as you enjoy too many fatty foods and sweet treats. So try to cheer yourself up in ways that don’t add to your waistline. Relations with a child, teenager or friend will be lively this weekend (and unpredictable).

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

The Lunar Eclipse stirs up your career and home zones so prepare for work worries, domestic dramas or family fiascos. Explain to loved ones that you need plenty of personal space, and make sure you pace yourself. A sense of humor will get you through. Be inspired by fellow Capricorn, Maggie Smith “Usually you can find a funny side to practically anything.”

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Don’t expect everyone to adore you at work this week Aquarius. They don’t care how smart you are, or how charming you can be. They just want to know you can get the job done competently, on budget and on time. Contributing to your local community in a voluntary capacity could lead you into exciting (and unexpected) new territory. Think big but start small…

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

It’s not a good week to make important decisions as partnerships will be confusing; physical energies low; and you may feel mentally confused. Sunday will be particularly perplexing for many Pisceans (as Mars opposes Neptune) so avoid tasks that require stamina and sharp thinking. Instead, aim for a lazy day full of delicious daydreaming and creative pursuits.

Across

1 What do we call the vast grassy plains lying in the rain shadow of the Andes?

7 Name a renowned town in central Mali, near the river Niger

8 Name the capital of New Caledonia

9 What is another term for a novice belonging to a religious order?

10 That which has a rank stale smell is called what?

11 Which Danish author wrote “The Ugly Duckling”, etc?

14 What is a different word meaning “occasional”?

18 Which compound turns red litmus paper blue?

19 What is a part, as distinct from the whole, of anything?

21 Name a sticky sugar based sweet

22 What is a pattern, or the like, used as a guide?

23 Which grasslike herbs are found in marshy places? Down

1 Which gland produces the hormone, insulin?

2 Name the pulpy residue from apples after crushing, in cider-making

3 Which level of quality is regarded as normal?

4 Name an abbreviated term for the ambulance

5 What is a writer also known as?

6 What is a carved representation of a person or an animal?

12 From which ornamental bottle is wine served at table?

13 What do we call those who are proposed for appointment to an office?

15 William Sidney who, was more readily known as O. Henry?

16 What describes a formula for preparing a dish in cookery?

17 What are some small boats also known as?

20 Name a Russian tsar described as “the Terrible”

home & garden

The flowering face of herbs

HERBS are going through a tremendous upsurge in popularity at the moment with the increasing number of cooking shows on TV.

Many folk think of herbs only for culinary purposes and forget their use as a great addition to the flower garden.

For example, there is nothing more showy than a border of Allium schoenoprasum or chives in full flower along paths – just look at the amazing detail of their flowers. Or Monarda didyma (Bergamot) named after Nicholas Monardes in 1577 with its culinary as well as medicinal uses. One of the most useful herbs in the kitchen is Petroselinum crispum or chives and a great filler for gaps in any garden bed. Herb books traditionally illustrate bunches of herbs hanging to dry, but this is not necessarily the most effective way for later use. Many herbs can be frozen with all the freshness of being just picked. Use some lateral thinking and grow the herbs in the general garden beds if nothing else to reduce pests and diseases.

MOST magnolias have completed their “wow” factor. So, when is the best time to prune them?

Established magnolias need little or no pruning. There are exceptions to this when, for instance, they have outgrown the space you gave them. For large, overgrown magnolias, select a few of the highest and widest branches to reduce height and spread. Although, it is always advisable to have a continuous process with any plant

uses.

Cedric Bryant gardening

to prune from the time of planting as they grow. This includes removing weak and badly placed growth such as crossing over branches. Then, after flowering, clipping back long, leggy growth to encourage more bushiness.

After recent wind storms check for damaged branches. For smaller varieties of magnolias prune once flowering is over. This gives the wounds/cuts a chance to heal before next winter and reduces the chance of dieback.

On this point, unless absolutely essential from storm damage, no pruning of deciduous trees or large shrubs should take place before the end of October. At this time the sap is rising rapidly and will pour out to the detriment of the cuts healing.

Betula pendula or silver birch are particularly vulnerable to this bleeding. This advice includes large shrubs such as the magnolia mentioned above.

MANY Canberrans do not realise that fuchsias can grow here. Some folk have tried growing fuchsias and, seeing all the leaves drop when frost arrives, assume they are dead. Those seemingly dead stems are now sending out new leaves and will be in flower by November. The Geranium and Fuchsia Society society meets the first Saturday of each month at 2pm at St. James Uniting Church Hall, 40 Gillies Street, Curtin. All are welcome. For your diary, its annual show is on Saturday, November 23.

Creating Sustainable Gardens

Glenbog Nursery and Landscaping

Just look at the make-up of a chive flower.

Jottings…

Grow long-stemmed rhubarb in a pipe. Equally with celery, for crisp long, white stems (unlike the green stringy celery sold in supermarkets).

Grass mowing is under way. Don’t pile clippings around the base of trees or shrubs. This will encourage “collar rot” and can kill even large trees.

Keep whipper-snippers well away from trunks/ stems. These machines are great ring barkers and can kill plants.

Add sugar/honey or glucose to the water of cut flowers to extend their life. Remove all leaves under the water.

Refrain from watering gladioli unless the weather is very dry.

• growers of drought tolerant and frost resistant plants

The Canberra region’s largest range of locally-grown plants – grown on site for local conditions. 314

• new garden creations and garden makeovers

• sustainable garden design and advice

• providing a value for money solution

Nursery open 9am to 5pm Wed to Fri 10am to 4pm Weekends.

glenbog@skymesh.com.au

We grow them hardy so you can watch them grow.

Help

Our crews have prepared the ACT’s electricity network for bushfire season. Help us keep you safe by preparing your property and keeping an eye out for bushfire hazards.

Make sure trees on your property are at least 1.5 metres clear of powerlines. For safety, an ActewAGL-accredited tree surgeon must be used to trim trees in close proximity to powerlines.

Stay clear of fallen or low powerlines and anything touching them.

Tell us if you see damaged or vandalised electrical equipment such as powerlines, substations, mini pillars or poles.

ActewAGL 24-hour emergencies and faults line 13 10 93.

If you see a fire or sparking call 000 immediately.