Why tenants should be afraid of Mr Fluffy JOHN GRIFFITHS
How baby stuff started Veronika thinking
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Taking baby love and stuff to market
Kathryn Vukovljak reports
WHEN they had their daughter Madelyn, journalist Veronika Cox and her partner Adam Charif discovered just how much stuff the average baby goes through.
“We realised there’s a constant supply of preloved baby goods in fantastic condition floating around at any given time,” she says.
While connecting with other new mums, she says she found that a lot of them were busy making and selling items or running small businesses in their spare time.
It inspired Veronika, 33, to start the Muddle Puddle Market, which combines pre-loved baby items with handmade items, and for which she’s been nominated for an AusMumpreneur Award.
She has also started the Canberra Baby & Beyond Expo, which will next month bring together more than 100 exhibitors from around the country.
“Without a market like Muddle Puddle, you wouldn’t know about these businesses, and I love that I’m creating a place where they can all come together and promote themselves,” she says.
Once she had the idea for the market, the rest fell into place, she says, when she connected online with around 250 people who were keen for a stall.
The first market in November was such a success – stalls sold out in less than two hours – that Veronika now runs one every month, in various locations, and organises each one from home.
briefly
“Being organised with a little one at home is still a bit of a work in progress,” she says. “I try to have very set times where I work, but more often than not, I’m up working later after Madelyn has gone to bed.
“Each month involves sorting through applications and making sure there is an eclectic mix of stalls.
Brave Canberrans get a medal
THREE Canberrans feature among the 22 Australians awarded the Bravery Medal in this year’s national bravery awards. They are Shane James Allen, of Calwell, who rescued a teenage boy being swept along a flooded drain and Gilmore neighbours James Bodsworth and Colin O’Hare who physically restrained an assailant with a knife. Mr O’Hare was injured in the hand.
Showing care
ELLINI Holloway, from the Australian War Memorial, is the guest speaker at Weston Creek View Club’s lunch meeting at the Southern Cross Club, Woden, on Tuesday, September 2. Her subject is “Care Packaging during World War I”. Lunch is $24 and visitors are welcome. Bookings to 6281 3110 by August 29.
Trivia at the Federal
THE Federal Golf Club is holding a trivia night in aid of Communities @ Work, 7pm, on Friday, August 29. Tickets are $30 (includes supper) and bookings to 6281 1888 or at the club’s reception desk.
Fashion with a purpose
SOROPTIMIST International of Canberra is staging a fashion parade to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and for homeless women in the ACT at the Albert Hall, from 3pm on Saturday, August 30. The afternoon includes bubbly and canapés, raffles and lucky door prizes. Tickets from 6282 2210 or email bollens@netspeed.com.au
“We try to announce each event about a month in advance. This means I’m not trying to juggle multiple events at once, and also means people can only book one or two markets at a time –which is important as the market is constantly growing, and we love to be able to offer space to brand new businesses at each one.
“I also organise a promotional campaign for each event, and source new venues and locations for the market.”
Veronika says her main focus is to provide a friendly atmosphere.
“Muddle Puddle is such a part of me – so much love and care goes into planning each event, working to maintain flexibility for stallholders, which is super important when so many have little ones of their own, and gaining new customers, that it has always been an incredibly personal event,” she says.
As a mum to a busy toddler – who the markets are named after, as Madelyn is “enthusiastic about splashing in puddles!” – Veronika says she’s understanding about the issues that come with being a stallholder and a mum.
“These mums are doing an amazing job just being there, let alone creating all the things they do,” she says.
“We’re very flexible – we have to be! With kids, anything can happen,” she says.
Veronika and Adam attend every market, and are the ones welcoming customers, talking with stallholders and handing out showbags at the front doors.
“The atmosphere, mostly thanks to the warm, genuine nature of our stallholders, has been the most delightful thing to experience, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world!
“I love that feeling that another market is just around the corner.”
The first Canberra Baby & Beyond Expo is at the AIS Arena, 9am-3pm, over the September 27-28 weekend.
Market organisers Veronika Cox and Adam Charif with two-year-old Madelyn… they attend every market welcoming customers, talking with stallholders and handing out showbags. Photo by Gary Schafer
CHIEF Minister Katy Gallagher’s call for more “high profile” women to fill the new Assembly seats will have struck a congenial chord with many Canberrans.
However, it would be a pity to confine the quest to those who have already made their mark. Many’s the flower that blushes unseen in the rich garden of our suburbia.
Of course, the more women in politics the better. They get upset when one calls the other a “cow”. But look around the world at what their male counterparts have been up to lately. Not too many women at the political helm in the Middle East, for example.
And while the AUSMIN talks between America’s John Kerry and Chuck Hagel and Australia’s David Johnston and Julie Bishop were relatively low key, PM Tony Abbott seemed to be fairly spoiling for a fight in the killing fields of Iraq.
BACK home Immigration Minister Scott Morrison suddenly found an extra 4000 refugee places for “Christians and Yazidis” under threat in that troubled land. No doubt our own Muslim communities shook their heads in wonder. What did it say about Tony’s call for their involvement
The more women in politics the better. They get upset when one calls the other a ‘cow’. But look around the world at what their male counterparts have been up to lately.
in “Team Australia”?
ABSOLUTELY no truth to the rumour that Treasurer Joe Hockey is a Labor Party mole. No, honestly. His crack about poor people not driving their cars as much as rich ones was just a bit of fun to lighten the mood (as were those crocodile tears of apology).
Ricky Muir, the Australian Motoring Enthusiast senator, got the joke with his lovely line about country folk riding their cows to town. Nice one, Joe.
FRIGHTENING to hear of the attempted abduction of that eight-year-old boy at Nichols. Full marks to the lad for resisting the demands that he get in the car then running to his school. But what’s really sad is the effect the story will have on parents everywhere. Gone are those careless days, it seems, when walking home from school each afternoon was a
beaut childhood adventure.
SPEAKING of changing times, there used to be a journalistic rule that suicides were unmentionable for fear that vulnerable readers might follow suit. If true, the blanket coverage of Robin Williams’ departure will have terrible consequences. Either that or it will disprove the theory once and for all.
THE police raid on an alleged drug factory in Hume is yet another example of the way actions today trash the association with the heroes after whom they were named. Alexander Maconochie, the penal reformer, doesn’t deserve the rotten prison that bears his moniker. And Hamilton Hume, our greatest native-born explorer, would be appalled at such goings on in his namesake. Hume’s amazing achievements were driven home recently at a meeting in
ROBERT MACKLIN
Yass where a remarkable collection of interested parties – from the towns and cities along the Old Hume Highway, national heritage, tourism and motoring groups – formed a body to transform the highway from a thoroughfare to a tourist venue, much like Route 66 in the US.
OUR own Scarlet Pimpernels, MLAs Giulia Jones and Vicki Dunn, promised to release their plan to rescue our sex workers from their fate this month. Not long now till there’s dancing in the Fyshwick streets!
robertmacklin.com
Cover: Veronika Cox with twoyear-old daughter Madelyn. Photo Gary Schafer. Story Page 3.
Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, Level 1, 143 London Circuit, Canberra.
Surrounded by gorgeous parklands, Crace is perfect for a young family to play, a solo hike or to simply admire the flora and fauna around you; taking in the natural beauty Crace has to offer.
CRACE IS THE PLACE TO BE IN CANBERRA AND FOR GOOD REASON
Living in Crace means not having to go far to find everything you need. The Crace Central retail precinct includes Supabarn supermarket for fresh produce, Club Lime gym for the fitness enthusiasts and a medical centre, all at your doorstep. FROM $309,900
Bars and cafes in Crace, like District Bar, are sure to become social staples of Canberra; offering great food, drinks and atmosphere.
politics When corruption comes to town
Labor has received millions through donations from clubs and yet not one MLA has stood aside from voting on legislation where there is an obvious conflict of interest.
NEWCASTLE is the largest NSW city outside of Sydney and, with about 300,000 residents, is not far off the size of Canberra.
Opponents of self-government cite Newcastle as a model for a local council system for the ACT. However, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has found Newcastle to be a cesspit of political corruption. Will the ICAC provide lessons for ACT politicians?
When the former Newcastle Lord Mayor, Jeff McCloy, handed out largess to Liberal candidates in their election campaign he hardly expected to be so caught up in a tide of deceit and fraudulent behaviour that would bring down a range of MPs from the NSW Parliament, including two members who were elected in seats within the Newcastle area. Tim Owen and Andrew Cornwell have both quit the NSW Parliament after it was revealed the Lord Mayor gave them $10,000 each. The Lord Mayor himself has now quit. McCloy went on to tell the ICAC: “They all come to see me for money, I feel like a walking ATM, some days.”
He might have been the Lord Mayor, but McCloy is also a multi-millionaire developer. It is interesting that as 89 per cent of voters in a “Newcastle Herald” poll of 3484 votes called for the Lord Mayor to step down immediately, his millionaire developer colleague, the nearby Port Stephens mayor, is reported to have told him to “man up” and “don’t resign”. There were attempts in the last days of the former NSW government to clean up the corruption including a ban on donations from developers.
Then Premier Barry O’Farrell went further. O’Farrell’s donation reforms fundamentally banned anyone not on the electoral role from donating, including corporations and unions. However, these amendments to legislation were overturned by the High Court in December. Newcastle and its surrounding towns are the losers. The reputation of corruption taints communities, which is why it’s important to ensure that it is clear and transparent about who is making what donations and to whom. It is too easy for donors to get around our systems in NSW, federally and in the ACT.
In the ACT, the most obvious example is the millions Labor has received through donations from clubs – money that has come from poker machines – and yet there has never been a case where an MLA has stood aside from voting on legislation where there is an obvious conflict of interest.
Reports earlier this year suggest that the four Labor Clubs, which serve alcohol, run poker machines and TAB gambling, raised $65 million last year.
The Liberals have the Free Enterprise Foundation. The ICAC was told that developer Nathan Tinkler donated $66,000 to the Foundation.
The suggestion was made that it may have been linked to “a systematic subversion of NSW electoral funding laws”. By moving donations across jurisdictions it becomes easier to work around differing anti-corruption laws. I have not observed embedded corruption in ACT politics. The people I have worked with have been elected to deliver a better society and have worked extraordinarily hard to do so. There are different views of what makes a better society – but when large sums of money are needed in order to get elected, people invariably become, at least to a certain extent, reliant on those who have made a donation.
The ACT Assembly report “Voting Matters”, which was tabled in June, recommends a restriction on the amount that can be spent in an election campaign – that is: “The electoral expenditure cap be calculated on the basis of $40,000 per candidate to a maximum of five candidates per five-member electorate, indexed annually”.
The committee also recommended donations be restricted to $10,000. By attempting to restrict expenditure and donations, the Select Committee was taking a step to avoid the sort of corruption that has become evident through the ICAC.
Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health.
dose of dorin
Is the AIS running the wrong way?
I VIVIDLY remember the days of walking through the Australian Institute of Sport and being energised by the constant activity.
There were prominent athletes from a wide range of sports preparing for competition somewhere in the world.
It’s different these days with the majority of sports using the AIS for camps only and utilising its world standard sports science facilities.
This is the way the institute has evolved with athletes and coaches staying at their home bases and coming to the AIS for specialist development or testing.
There has been a push for a less-centralised program and I can understand why hockey is in Perth, cycling in Adelaide and diving in Brisbane. Rowing, basketball and volleyball have remained in Canberra; there is still a swimming program, albeit at a significantly reduced level, with Ben Treffers and Alicia Coutts the lone AIS representatives in swimming at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Is the AIS simply there to monitor funding to elite sport and offer specialist facilities when required by individual sports? Has it become
Is the AIS simply there to monitor funding to elite sport and offer specialist facilities when required by individual sports? Has it become a shell of what it once was?
a shell of what it once was? Is it just a facility now rather than being a hive of activity striving for sporting excellence?
I find there is more activity, sporting-wise, at the University of Canberra as it strives to become Australia’s sports university. Athletes and graduates in the one area give a sense of purpose.
Perhaps the AIS should merge with UC or perhaps I am missing the point of the new direction of the AIS altogether.
Defending the value of sport
THE value of sport in Canberra is often misrepresented and dismissed by people who have little understanding of the benefits. I have received a number of calls in the wake of my last column in which I highlighted a sometimes-negative approach to sport by some in this city. In the column I suggested that Canberra didn’t have the
mindset to host major multi-sport events such as the Commonwealth Games because every time a new facility is proposed there is significant opposition.
Many suggested the value of sport was exaggerated while others questioned whether we should be using public funds to build a facility such as the proposed indoor stadium in Civic.
We can talk ad nauseam about health and the fact that elite sport of ten inspires people to be more active. Sport also provides a career path for many and is an industry in itself as well as offering a further benefit of living in a city this size.
One aspect that is often neglected is the tourism value of sport. When Canberra stages major sporting events, there is an influx of people
TIM GAVEL
who wouldn’t normally visit the city. It generates commercial activity. It might not be just a major sporting event, it could be a regional swimming carnival, a junior netball gathering or a hockey tournament. People who don’t like sport continually suggest that building new facilities is a waste of money. I am not suggesting that we build new facilities that cannot be sustained, just that we consider facilities that support and facilitate a thriving community.
Tram’s manipulative marketing push
THE Capital Metro website is filled with glossy pictures and motherhood statements that no right-thinking person could disagree with, but one comes away with the impression that it is all rather one-sided and glowy. Not surprisingly, this raises the question of whether one is being informed by an objective party or manipulated by a marketing exercise.
I genuinely do not know enough yet about the light rail proposal to make any confident statement as to the impacts, except to say that their strategic approach seems to ignore the basic fundamentals of strategic planning.
They don’t come to terms with the facts, and those facts include the inconvenient truth that plunging a great deal of public monies into a project that is extremely visible, that disrupts the city’s major traffic corridor for some indeterminate period and in the short to medium term involves cutting down a long slab of urban forest that people value and associate with the bush capital/garden city image, where cost blowouts are inevitable and political fallout unavoidable is a gigantic risk.
If they are to make it work, they need to get maximum buyin, and to do that they need to prove their case – not just at the beginning, but all the way through when things go wrong and elections highlight the difficulties and faults that will arise.
Having said that, I would also say that I really do hope they can prove that this is a project that justifies going ahead despite our relatively small population and extremely high car dependence. I’ve lived in many cities in my life: London, Geneva, Vienna, Paris and Brussels, New York and Philadelphia, Sydney, Perth and Hobart, and while I believe that Canberra offers a quality of life that’s unparalleled I also believe that we need to be seriously planning for 50 years from now, demanding excellence in all our infrastructure, and building an ACT economy that can support the widest possible range of employment types and revenue streams by capitalising on our assets. Jane Goffman, via email
Sonya Fladun mum in the city
IT’S always been hard working out when and how much of the world our children get to see.
I don’t mean travel, but rather the daily torrent of violence and awfulness that fills up a good part of our TV news programs.
We’re a household that’s always been preoccupied with what’s going on in the world.
My diplomat turned political staffer turned journalist husband has always been obsessive about the news. When we first met I wondered whether it was a form of addiction.
Truth is, I was much the same and the fact that for years we both worked at Parliament House meant that we were always plugged in, always monitoring what was going on at home or overseas. In more recent years our news consumption has diminished a bit.
Until recently we turned the news off when our kids were up and about. But as they’re getting older – now 11 and 8 – they are curious about the world and interested to find out what is happening.
So they often watch the news with us, especially early in the morning when we’re getting ready for the day and in the evening after dinner.
I don’t favour household censorship and we want our kids to have a realistic understanding of the world. That said, the news has presented some challenges in recent weeks.
We’ve had discussions about footage of the victims of the shooting down of flight MH17, scenes of carnage in Gaza and severed heads in Syria; in the last instance the grizzly details were mostly pixilated but ABC News 24 did include a distant shot that left nothing to the imagination.
Had we been forewarned, I would have changed the channel or otherwise distracted the kids for a moment.
Still I’d rather the opportunity of talking things through with my children than them seeing things unfiltered and without context.
I also think it better for them to get a glimpse of the real world, awful as some of it can be, and gain some understanding of the consequences of violence than have them desensitised by spending hours playing first-person shooter computer games – that’s something that is banned in our household.
In a world where a lot of horror is easily accessible via the internet, it’s better to be proactive and realistic about when children look at conflict and violence. It’s hard to get the balance or timing right, but there are limits to how protective one should be.
So in our household the news is going to stay on in the evenings, though one or both parents will always be on hand for quite a while yet.
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Tenants should worry about Mr Fluffy
WITH good reason there’s been a lot of talk about the Mr Fluffy insulation scandal.
This month has seen the death of an electrician exposed to the toxic houses and there are still in the order of a thousand houses with wispy asbestos fibres leaching through them and into people’s lungs.
Despite announcing this week that former tenants can find out about past houses they’ve lived in (which is not much help for avoiding affected houses on the market right now), the ACT Government’s first instinct has been to protect the interests of the affected homeowners.
As a result there is a resistance to create a public register of houses to be avoided beyond, by January, law-enforced high-visibility tags in meter boxes for Mr Fluffy houses at least making it easier for tradespeople to know when they are working on a house with loose-fill asbestos.
The ACT Government, in a breathtaking piece of blissful, wilful, naivety, notes that landlords are legally required to disclose the status of the houses to tenants.
Let’s cast our minds on all the other things people are legally required to do that don’t happen all the time.
They’re not meant to run red lights or drink drive. They’re meant to pay award wages and send PAYG tax to the tax office and super payments to the nominated fund. They’re meant to run safe construction sites.
Even if we contend that most Canberrans are law abiding, it’s hard to avoid the ugly reality that some are most definitely not.
Canberra is a city weighed down with regulation, but precious little compliance enforcement except when powerful interests are threatened
How is a former tenant developing mesothelioma supposed to identify exactly which house was the problem and seek redress 20 years after being exposed to asbestos?
It gets worse when you think about group house situations.
Often the lease-signatory who might have been informed of the problem is years gone with the house sharers turning over and the landlord barely involved as long as the rent turns up.
It’s all very well to say share-house lessees should do more to formalise their tenancy arrangements, but people living in share houses are normally doing so because they lack other housing options.
Do we really trust every tradesman in town to not shove their apprentice into the roof to get the job done? All of them?
What about handymen and friends of friends who have no trade accreditation or training but find themselves pressed into service?
Canberra is a city weighed down with regulation, but precious little compliance enforcement except when powerful interests are threatened. If people could be relied on to voluntarily do
the right thing we wouldn’t have ended up in this mess in the first place.
The ACT Government is whimsically hoping that the Abbott Government is going to stump up millions of dollars to compensate homeowners so they can demolish the houses and start again.
One hopes the demolition process will be done carefully but one suspects, based on history, that the lowest price method that holds up to the bare minimum of scrutiny will again win out. I wouldn’t want to live next door when one comes down.
John Griffiths is the online editor of citynews.com.au
JOHN GRIFFITHS
Winners... winners... winners
WINNERS of “The Wolf of Wall Street” DVDs are: Alison Kendal, of Kingston; Christine Crosswell, Conder; Christine Aldred, Griffith; Matt Withers, Dickson and Imogen Saunders, Aranda.
WINNERS of the “CityNews” passes to “Our Man in Tehran” were: Amanda Medcalf, of Cook; Christine Crosswell, Conder; Nandhini Nagaratnam, Kingston; Breanna Gasson, Deakin and Gabrielle Hooton, Macquarie.
Canberra Confidential
Sad science
SCIENTIST Dr Kara Youngentob, an American working at the CSIRO, recently visited the “empty shell of a research facility that was the Yarralumla CSIRO campus”.
In a plucky Facebook post she says that there are plenty of empty offices but some of the remaining scientists are being housed three or more to a room because the new CSIRO has a policy that each person only gets a certain amount of space.
“I learned today that one defiant scientist tried to go sit in an empty room so he could think in quiet. He was summarily reprimanded and sent back to his allocated shared-space,” she writes.
“To the powers that be, he is not a person, he is not a leader in his field, he is not shaping the future of Australian industry, he is just a piece of policy and he must fit into a set of rules that were not designed for people like him, or the work that he does, but nonetheless he must spend his days, his life, like this.
“More likely though, he will leave us and go to a country that appreciates his work. Here, he is just treading water, like so many of us with no certain future. Where is the sense in this? This is how Australia treats its leading scientists.”
Successful little Fella
THOMAS Campagna , the 10-year-old Canberra Grammar student who featured on the cover of “CityNews” earlier this month, was last night awarded the title of Rookie Stella Fella at a fundraiser at the Duxton Loft, O’Connor, for the local Stella Fella campaign. Thomas is organising a fundraiser of his own – a celebrity touch football challenge on November 9 at Greenway Oval, Tuggeranong in aid of Project Futures. His target is $5000.
Say hello to Jack
IN May “Canberra Confidential” gave Civic spinner and first-time dad Jamie Bradnam a firm tickle for suggesting the process of announcing his wife’s pregnancy “really did feel like a public relations campaign” and urging him to keep the birth off YouTube. The good news is that Jamie’s been in touch: “You’ll be pleased to know my boy Jack arrived five weeks early and I didn’t video a thing :)”. He sent a proud picture, too. Congratulations to all the Bradnams, large and small.
Platter chatter at the Lyons shops
DOWN in Lyons shops is eclectic little cafe
Stand By Me, run by brother and sister team
Ben and Phoebe Holland . New to the hospitality industry, they’ve created a homely, cosy vibe where vinyl plays exclusively in the background – they encourage you to bring
Toast of the night
FORMER senator Gary Humphries was doing a masterful job as MC at the Eisteddfod Choral Challenge at Llewellyn Hall brightly filling the time as choirs arrived and departed the stage with small talk and buy-the-program announcements.
It starts with listening.
Hmmms
MUM in the shower when fiveyear-old son appears with her iPhone announcing there’s someone calling her. As he opens the shower door she reaches to grab the phone before it gets water on it and realises it’s a FaceTime call. You may have heard her screams on Saturday!
HARD Love… “Courtney Love just cancelled her interview with me,” tweets the ABC’s Jolene Laverty. “I hope it’s not because I tweeted her a picture of me dressed up like her.” Do you want to tell her?
your own records to listen to, or donate them in return for free goodies.
Ben says the food is generous, hearty and rustic, the coffee awesome and they do all-day breakfast on the weekends. Their sister Allison bakes for the cafe, too.
As one choir departed, having included an indigenous-influenced “Waltzing Matilda”, he stopped the conductor to ask how the singers had achieved the cupped-hand sound of the didgeridoo. Unconvinced at the ease of the technique, Gary said it might be best achieved by gargling with methylated spirits. Trouper that he is, he pressed on with nary a blink.
CC’s Garran snout returns a dozen eggs to a supermarket having bought them with an expired “use by” date. Cheery shop assistant refunds money and returns the eggs to the shelf. She counters his protests, saying: “It’s okay, they’ve all expired”.
AND still they tweet… the unapproved Capital Metro train set, smugly comfy in getting its latest tranche of $23.5 million through the Assembly, maintains its daily slew of mindless tweets to a pitiful handful of followers. For example: “Congestion is crippling our cities, what’s the solution?” And in case you can’t guess, there’s a link to one of a series of facile corporate videos on YouTube.
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Cafe owner Ben Holland.
Photo by Gary Schafer
Dr Kara.
Social event of the week / L’Arche Genesaret International
AN epic truck trip from Kathmandu to France in 1974 was the beginning of a lifelong journey just as confronting and exciting for Eileen Glass.
LYN MILLS
In France she visited a friend volunteering at L’Arche Genesaret (“Ark of Faith and Healing”), where founder Jean Vanier had established his first “community”, the heart of an international network of small communities caring for the intellectually handicapped.
From France she went to Canada as a volunteer spending two years in Winnipeg, returning to Australia and starting the first L’Arche Genesaret community in Bungendore and then to Canberra.
Her experiences and achievements have been honoured with her appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia. But it’s the L’Arche community that demonstrates the unique and successful “healing power of a shared life” at the heart of the organisation.
At the 50th birthday for L’Arche International at the Hellenic Club, Woden, Eileen, now the vice-international leader, reflected on the organisation in a world conflicted on many fronts, where the true nature of our country is measured by how we value people at the margins.
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Courtney Necoloff, Kaylene Fleming, Eileen Glass and Valerie Spencer
Scott Andrea, Sue Andrea and Paul Jolly Pauline McCreath and Jan Tucker
Matt Prendergast, Leila Jordan and Therese Brennan
Alison Wicks and Kerry Glover
Elizabeth Archer and her mother, Diana Archer
Dominica Kazan and Jeremy Kensey Anne Walsh and Nathan Kensey
Chris Pond, Maria Edwards, Lynne Bliss and Viola Kalokerinos
At the ‘Stella Fella’ fundraiser, The Loft, O’Connor At India’s Independence Day reception, Yarralumla At ‘Follow-up Friday’ drinks, National Portrait Gallery
Michael Moore
Ian Meikle
Mark Parton
Marcus Paul Robert Macklin
Chris Mac Pete Davidson John Griffiths Helen Musa
Stephanie Lorenzo, Thomas Campagna and Alanna Davis
Nikita Singh and Charmine Bailey
Kate Ross and Penny Grist Jemma Posch and Ali McGavin
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Katrina Digby and Shandon Hogan
Danelle Edmondson, Grace Stripeikis and Sarah Bourchier
Kim Tatam and Karina Leotta
Sean Corkill and Dutch ambassador Annemieke Ruigrok
Claudette Bateup and Jody Barrett Michael Hunt and Sarah Yee Papiya and Milan Bhattacharjee
Jocelyn Evans and Kasi Albert
Joe Campagna, Candice Howard and Chris Davis
Usha Satija, Lata Malhotra, Madhi Jain and Rosy Kalra
Aeshe Bennett and Theresa Hall
Photos by Andrew Finch
Recreational noise takes toll on the young
LOUD noise can cause irreversible hearing damage, because it harms the delicate hearing mechanism in the inner ear.
“Noisy occupations were always a common cause of hearing problems, but nowadays it’s also recreational noise, especially from personal music players and noisy clubs and concerts,” says David Brady, chair of the Deafness Forum of Australia.
“That’s why hearing loss is increasingly affecting younger people.”
Another major cause of hearing loss is the natural ageing process. Over half the population aged between 60 and 70 has a hearing loss.
An estimated 3.5 million Australians are affected to varying degrees, half of whom are of working age.
If you’re concerned that you may be losing your hearing, tackling the problem early can improve both your hearing and your quality of life, including your relationships.
People who are fitted with hearing aids early are likely to get more benefit from them than those who put up with hearing loss for years before seeking help. It can take up to 15 years for people who clearly have hearing loss to get tested – a key reason for those long years in denial is the stigma of hearing loss.
What types of hearing loss are there?
From the Department of Health’s Office of Hearing Services’ website at hearingservices.gov.au
Hearing loss is generally classed as sensori-neural, conductive or mixed.
All hearing loss types can be either acquired (occur due to age, a disease process or injury) or congenital (something occurring or identified at birth).
Sensori-neural hearing loss occurs when there is a problem in the inner ear; of either the cochlea (sensori) or the auditory nerve (neural), which disturbs the sound signals being sent to the brain for understanding. This type of loss is most often seen with ageing but can be seen with noise damage. Sensorineural hearing loss is usually permanent.
Conductive hearing loss occurs when there is a problem in the outer or middle ear which stops the sounds reaching the hearing nerve. It can be caused by a block-
age in the outer or middle ear, or problems with the function of the middle ear bones.
The nerve usually works normally. This type of loss is often seen with ear infections. Conductive losses can sometimes be helped with medical treatment or surgery.
Mixed hearing loss occurs when there are problems with sounds travelling through both the middle ear and inner ear.
Levels of hearing loss
Hearing loss levels can be mild, moderate, severe or profound. This is decided with the results of your hearing test. A mild hearing loss usually means you have some minor hearing difficulties in some situations, while a profound hearing loss means you can’t hear any sounds without an amplification device such as a hearing aid or cochlear implant.
How does hearing loss affect me?
Sensori-neural hearing loss affects both the loudness and the quality of the sounds
around you. People generally describe this as being aware that people are speaking but not being able to understand them. This can be worse in noisy environments or over distance. This is called loss of sound discrimination.
Conductive hearing loss mostly affects the loudness of the sound. People with this type of loss do particularly well with hearing aids if they are indicated.
The level and type of hearing loss you have will decide whether a hearing device will help you. Not all clients want or need a hearing device. Some people may be referred for further advice depending on the results of their hearing assessment.
Protecting your hearing
Simple ways to reduce the effects of exposure to loud noise are by using hearing protection, as well as taking breaks from loud noise where you can, and by turning down the volume.
The best way to protect your hearing
What’s on
Hearing Awareness Week Expo, Hellenic Club, Woden, August 28 All welcome.
Official opening at 10:30am by ACT Disabilities Minister Joy Burch. Master of Ceremonies, Pete Halsey CEO ACT Deafness Resource Centre. Keynote speakers are David Brady, chair, Deafness Forum of Australia and Emma Scanlan, principal audiologist, Australian Hearing (audiology experiences in remote indigenous communities of the West Kimberley).
from loud sound is to wear ear plugs or ear
FREE HEARING AID TEST
Costco Wholesale Canberra, Majura Park, Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. Call 6246 7530.
muffs to reduce the loudness of the sound. Foam ear plugs can be bought from pharmacies or hardware stores. You can also have custom made noise plugs made by your hearing practitioner.
Musicians can invest in a pair of musician’s ear plugs. These have a special filter which helps to reduce the loudness of damaging sounds without affecting your ability to hear the music properly. These are a worthwhile investment and are available from your hearing practitioner.
(Formerly Canberra Cochlear Implant Support Group)
• Canberra Deaf Children’s Association
• Canberra Deaf Club
• Canberra Tinnitus Self Help Group
• Epilepsy Association ACT
• SHOUT
• SCIC Canberra
• The Canberra Shepherd Centre
Halsey CEO ACT Deafness Resource Centre
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS David Brady, Chair Deafness Forum of Australia
Emma Scanlan, Principal Audiologist, Australian Hearing
(Audiology experiences in remote indigenous communities of the West Kimberley) And a word from our Gold Sponsor Cochlear www.actdrc.org.au
David Brady.
Mighty Mitchell / advertising feature
Suburb with an explorer link
Mitchell was named in honour of Major Sir Thomas Livingston Mitchell, surveyor-general and explorer of NSW, and all the suburb’s streets are named after Australian industrialists.
Trusted repairers
PREMIER Automotive opened in Mitchell almost 20 years ago, and in that time the northside commercial district has doubled in size to keep up with the needs of the residential areas around it, says owner Rob Cunningham.
“We’ve gone from being a twoman show to employing seven staff now and we’ve really needed to do that to keep up with the demands of the growing Gungahlin area,” Rob says.
Offering all new-car servicing, brake and clutch repairs and all mechanical repairs, Premier Automotive also has a skilled team of qualified mechanics and the latest diagnostic equipment.
“We pride ourselves on providing quality repairs from people you can trust,” he says.
Premier Automotive, 5 Winchcombe Court, Mitchell. Call 6242 8450.
Utes for removals
UTES can be rented from as little as $65, for long or short-term hire, and are ideal for anything from rubbish removal to moving house, says Rob Cunningham from Rent-a-Ute.
Based in Canberra for six years, Rob says the company’s point of difference is that its fleet of Toyota Hilux utes have cages.
“It’s especially handy for people in the new and expanding suburbs who are getting rid of a lot of garden waste, because we’re close to the waste transfer station on Flemington Road.
“And if you’re moving house you still have to tie things down in the back of the ute, but it’s safer than a ute without a cage.”
WITH a focus on attitude as well as physical skills, Sirens Cheerleaders trains males and females of all ages to be great cheerleaders, says coach Rianna Macdougall.
“Cheerleaders are hard-working athletes who can stunt, jump, tumble and dance, role models with the positive, enthusiastic and supportive attitude a real cheerleader embodies,” she says.
Having been involved in numerous cheer programs in the past, Rianna says she knew a great program had to be founded on a great culture.
“Sirens Cheerleaders took off in Canberra in 2011 and is expanding its program rapidly,” she says.
“We now have our very own fully equipped cheer gym in Mitchell.
“We are constantly adding
squads, coaches, upgrading our gym, sourcing cool new merch, performing at bigger and better events, bringing home trophies, planning international trips and always trying to improve the way we do things!”
Sirens Cheerleaders, 5 Pelle Street, Mitchell, cheerleadersaustralia.com.au
Learn to stunt, dance, jump and tumble! Sirens Cheerleaders is the ACT’s top cheerleading program with a specialist cheer gym in Mitchell. Our coaches are dedicated, experienced and internationally accredited.
From 18 months up. Males and females. Beginner to elite. Competitive and recreational. Over 60 years combined coaching experience.
www.cheerleadersaustralia.com.au
with and without cages
The Australian Catholic University at Watson… small class sizes, easy access to teaching staff and a friendly atmosphere.
TERTIARY OPEN DAY
THIS year’s Tertiary Open Day will be held around Canberra on Saturday, August 30.
It is a collaborative event between Canberra’s five tertiary institutions; Australian Defence Force Academy, Australian National University, University of Canberra, Australian Catholic University and Canberra Institute of Technology. Each institution will be open to the public from 9am-4pm. More information at tertiaryopenday.com
Meet academics, discuss options
THE Australian Catholic University (ACU) is one of the fastest growing universities in Australia and has experienced the biggest increase of undergraduate students in the country.
It’s a public university and open to students from all beliefs and backgrounds. More than 20,000 students are enrolled across ACU’s seven campuses in Canberra, Brisbane, North Sydney, Strathfield, Melbourne, Ballarat and Adelaide.
The Canberra campus (Signadou) is located on four hectares of landscaped gardens at Antill Street, Watson, five kilometres from Civic, and has a swimming pool, campus lounge with pool tables and table tennis, and a rose garden at its centre.
With more than 50 years of education, the campus is recognised for its excellence in undergraduate and postgraduate study in education, nursing, para-medicine, social work and theology.
During the open day prospective students will be able to meet academics and current students, discuss entry options and talk to experts about individual career goals.
Advice on enrolment, support and university life will also be available throughout the day, along with a free barbecue lunch and entertainment.
ACU graduates rate their educational experience highly with one of the best rates of employment in Australia.
The university prides itself on its teaching and on the quality of the interaction between staff and students. Many of its courses involve practical components in which students demonstrate their skills and knowledge in real-life settings.
“Students at ACU’s Canberra campus are treated as individuals,” the university says.
“Thanks to small class sizes, easy access to teaching staff, outstanding support services, and a friendly atmosphere, our students feel encouraged to achieve their full potential and to become active members of society.”
Course information sessions will be held during the day (visit acu. edu.au/openday for a full program) and guided tours of the campus will be led by current students.
More information at acu.edu.au/openday Can’t make open day? Book a personal campus tour at acu.edu.au/visit
arts
checkpoint in “Self
Festival asks difficult questions
By Helen Musa
WITH painful stories coming daily out of Gaza, approaching the eleventh 2014 Australia Israel Cultural Exchange Israeli Film Festival, raises a lot of questions – and most are being asked by the filmmakers themselves.
The event, at Palace Electric Cinemas until August 31, includes different genres, ranging from short films and documentaries to full-length features.
But this year, symptomatic of the complex response from Israeli filmmakers to a troubled milieu, is the curious use of comedy.
Take the festival opener, the recent Cannes Camera d’Or winner, “Self Made”. Billed as a comedy and widely tipped to be the next Israeli Oscar entry there are not too many laughs, though the critics call it “Kafkaesque”.
Tel Aviv filmmaker Shira Geffen hit upon the idea after joining “Women’s Watch”, a group who stands at the checkpoint between Israel and Palestine.
Full of glaringly obvious symbols, it juxtaposes the lives of Michal, a cutting-edge artist who has removed her uterus for exhibition in a Biennale with that of a female Palestinian factory worker, Nadine (Samira Saraya), who longs for a child. Both lives are desolate and when a young female checkpoint guard loses it, the two women swap lives for a time – and nobody notices the difference. They don’t look alike, so it’s not meant to be naturalistic, rather a
look inside the mind. “Self Made” is hardly the “enjoyable comedy” described by one critic, but rather a surreal look at checkpoints, suicide bombers and Jerusalem the Golden.
In marked contrast is French-Israeli filmmaker Emmanuel Naccache’s film “Kidon”, an action comedy based on, of all things, the 2010 assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room, possibly by Mossad’s death squad, Kidon. Hardly a subject for comedy,
but as Naccache says: “When we were seeing pictures of the assassination three years ago, it was clear to me that it was the task of an ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ kind of movie.”
In this festival, anything goes in depicting turbulent events in Middle East affairs. You mightn’t like what you see, but it’s worth a look.
Israeli Film Festival, Palace Electric Cinemas, NewActon, until August 31, bookings to palacecinemas.com.au or 6222 4900.
COMPOSER Larry Sitsky’s 80th birthday isn’t until September but celebrations are beginning. On August 27, the famous artist will join his undergraduate student, Aaron Chew, to perform a four-hands piano concert in a “Lunchtime Live” concert in the Wesley Music Centre from 12.40pm -1.20pm. On the menu will be Poulenc, Mozart, Debussy and Barber, so you’d better get there early.
ROWAN Harvey Martin will conduct the National Capital Orchestra at Gunning Shire Hall at 2pm on August 24. “War & Peace” marks the centenary of the start of the Great War through a musical contemplation of how it impacted upon Delius, Elgar and Vaughan Williams. The soloist in Elgar’s “Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra” will be our former Artist of the Year, cellist David Pereira. Tickets at the door.
HERE’S something unusual; from August 26 to September 1, emerging artists Clare Jackson and Georgia Black will collaborate at The Front in Lyneham in a drawing performance on to the gallery wall on alternate days. One will leave objects and instructions for the other to draw on during the following day.
FIFTEEN years ago artist Naomi Crowther sold her first painting at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra and still does. Now she’s been invited to show four of her works, which incorporate silver leaf, vintage wall papers and found objects, in Sydney’s King’s School Art Show, which has in the past featured figures such as John Olsen and Ben Quilty.
THE Queanbeyan Art Society is gearing up for its blockbuster in Canberra’s City Walk, which is annually transformed into a forest of art marquees. There is a small entry fee per work ($15 members, $20 non-members) to be donated to this year’s charity, Snowy Hydro SouthCare. Visit qarts.com.au for details on the event (September 20-28) and to download an entry form.
Helen Musa arts in the city
Composer Larry Sitsky.
Nadine (Samira Saraya), at the
Made”.
A scene from the comedy “Kidon”.
Humanity’s horror ride to nowhere
“Snowpiercer” (M)
FROM South Korean filmmaker Joon-ho Bong comes a futurist cinematic parable that refuses to compromise on its discomfiting bits (from the opening frame until about a minute before the final credits).
In the 2030 decade, a botched attempt to halt global warming has led Planet Earth to freeze solid and dead. Around it, squillionaire Wilford (Ed Harris) has built Snowpiercer, a self sustaining train carrying a microcosm of humanity on a perpetual journey. At the back, lower-class people ride in hard class, fed on blocks of synthetic food, controlled by brutal guards. Toward the front, behind the engine that keeps the whole thing going, well-to-do people live in comfort.
The plot resembles the 1381 revolt by English peasants against cruel conditions or in 1917 when Russian workers overthrew the Tsar. Leading the Snowpiercer revolt is Curtis (Chris Evans), supported by Gilliam (John Hurt), security expert Nam (Kang-ho Song) and his daughter Yona (Ah-sung Ko). Leading Wilford’s supporting functionaries (our city knows how important this group is for implementing policy) is Mason (Tilda Swinton sporting a prosthetic overbite turning this magnificent woman and sublime actor into a frightening bully and, like all bullies, a coward).
The behaviour of Snowpiercer’s characters ranges among tragic, distasteful or cruel. The plot stretches willing suspension of disbelief to its limit while keeping a firm grip on message. We are killing our planet. The possibilities for human behaviour as that
death approaches are impossible to predict, but will not be pleasant. That might be a good reason for seeing the film.
At Dendy and Palace Electric from August 21
“Begin Again” (M)
THE only expectation I had about Irish writer/ director John Carney’s film was that I’d probably find the music not to my taste. And so it was. However, its music-making processes compensated.
Gretta (Keira Knightley) enjoys writing songs that others will perform. Her musical collaborator and bed-mate Dave (Adam Levine) is about to stray.
Her best-friend pianist Steve (James Corden) persuades her to sing her latest composition at a bar gig where Dan (Mark Ruffalo) is drowning his sorrows. Dan, once a successful music entrepreneur who understands the industry’s cut-throat nature, sees Gretta’s talent. We’re aware since the film began of Dan’s personality issues, partly the result of the break up of his marriage with Miriam (Catherine Keenan).
Gretta and Dan put together a band to record her compositions among the unpredictable wild sounds of New York’s streets. These are delightful moments from every aspect. The instrumentalists play, sing and act with joyous virtuosity. Miriam gets involved
when her and Dan’s teenaged daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) reveals musical aspirations. When Dave tries to make amends, Gretta gives him the flick with a no-nonsense song. Without doubt the film belongs to Keira Knightley despite reservations about her singing, which I thought thin and reedy. But she’s not the star for her singing. She’s on screen more than any other cast member, dominating it with delicious bubbly smart qualities. The camera loves her, no matter from what angle or what lighting set-up. Since her debut aged four in 1993 she’s made 49 films and TV episodes. Versatility is her game and she plays it brilliantly.
At Palace Electric
“The 100-Foot Journey” (PG)
TWO restaurants face each other on the outskirts of a French provincial town.
Le Saule Pleureur (The Weeping Willow) has one star in “Guide Michelin” but Mme Mallory (Helen Mirren) is desperate for more. Ambition could not be made of sterner stuff. Or tighter discipline. Mme’s sous-chef in training Marguerite (Charlotte le Bon) is as much a dish as anything that comes out of the kitchen. The Kadam family, fleeing political riots in Mumbai, is opening a restaurant across the road. Papa (Om Puri) knows every survival trick in a competitive business world. Handsome
DOUGAL MACDONALD
• Thousands of Beads – glass, crystal, pearl, wood, shell, stone, metal, acrylic, seeds etc.
• Tools, Findings and Stringing Materials
• Frequent workshops from Beginners to Advanced
• Pearl knotting, re-stringing and jewellery repairs
eldest son Hassan (Manish Dayal) who learned to cook at his late mama’s knee, will cook his heart out to show conservative French palates that Indian food is pretty wonderful, too.
It’s going to be pots, pans, whisks and knives at a hundred paces. And rather jolly fun to watch.
Predictability, thy name is low-tension cinema. At times the delightful plot of Lasse Hallstrom’s film using Steven Knight’s amusing adaptation of Richard Morais’ first novel stretches credibility almost to breaking point. It takes a subtle swipe at Moderniste Cuisine, using liquid nitrogen to cook little more than a mouthful of food costing an astronomical amount. Hassan has become a celebrity chef in Paris but yearns for family and Marguerite. Papa and Mme look like becoming an item. I just wanted to get home to cook rogan josh!
At Palace Electric
Brisbane choir wins title
QUEENSLAND all-female choir
Canterbury College Cantabile Choir won the National Eisteddfod Choirs Division’s Australian Choral Challenge at Llewellyn Hall on Saturday night. The choir also took home the Best Performance of an Australian Composition and the 19 Years and Under titles over the two-day eisteddfod.
Australian National Eisteddfod, Choirs Division 2014 results: 10 Years and Under, first place, Canberra Grammar Year 2 Choir; 12 Years and Under, first, Arawang Primary School Senior Choir; highly commended, Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, Sydney; Contemporary Choral, first, Southern Voices, Victoria; second, Echology, the University of Newcastle Chamber
Choir; Sacred Choral, first, Echology; second, Southern Voices; Multicultural Section, first, Bel Cantare Choir, NSW; second, Echology; third, Kompactus, ACT; Australia-Britain Prize, first, Kompactus; second, Echology; 19 Years and Under, first, Canterbury College Cantabile Choir, Brisbane; second, Radford Camerata Choir; 12 Years and Under Championship, equal first, ACT Primary Concert Choir and Turner Trebles; Popular, first, Divine Divas of Sunbury, Victoria; second, Brindabella Chorus, ACT; Australian Choral Challenge first, Canterbury College Cantabile Choir; second, Echology; Best ACT Choir The Resonants; highly commended, Divine Divas of Sunbury and Bel Cantare; Best Performance of an Australian Composition, Canterbury College Cantabile Choir; ArtSound FM One Hour Recording Session for an ACT Choir Kompactus.
Ambition triumphs in unusual concert
“Magnificat”
Coro Chamber Music
At All Saints Church, Ainslie, August 16
Review by Clinton White
IT was an ambitious undertaking; two settings of “Magnificat” written 250 years apart (J S Bach and Arvo Pärt) and Pärt’s “Magnificat-Antiphonen”. And they were not performed in sequence, but intertwined to make a single work, full of contrasts.
Coro, under the masterful direction of David Mackay, sang the modern works a cappella, while a chamber orchestra, led by Barbara Jane Gilby, accompanied the Bach.
Overall, this unusual concert was successful, particularly the very thoughtful programming. There was a quandary though. The Bach needed a more reverberant space.
But the good if rather dry acoustics of All Saints was perfect for the Pårt with the audience able to enjoy the space between the notes, exactly as Pärt intended.
At times the tempi in the Bach wandered a little and some of the slower movements dragged a bit. But the soloists acquitted themselves admirably in their very challenging pieces.
The Pärt elements were this concert’s strength. The choir maintained the unaccompanied pitch beautifully and really excelled in creating mystery and anticipation.
The concert opened with a string quartet building volume from almost imperceptible sounds in Pärt’s “Fratres” and concluded just as quietly with Gilby’s beautifully expressive performance of the Allemande from Bach’s “Partita No 2” for solo violin. After many curtain calls for Mackay, the capacity audience got a reprise of the Bach opening chorus, ending this thoroughly enjoyable concert with a rousing flourish. music
arts & entertainment / dining
Clement loves sharing the love
NEVER one to shy away from a challenge, chef Clement Chauvin has switched from fine dining at Water’s Edge to transforming the food experience at Kingston’s Kennedy Room.
The hours are more manageable, but what inspires Clement is Canberra’s love affair with sharing innovative dishes, created with quality produce and skill. And did I mention the plating? It’s nothing short of art.
If you’ve never eaten Clement’s creations, you’re missing out. Love of food and respect for food is his philosophy.
Born in Lyon, Clement knew when young that he wanted to be a chef and at 18 was sweating it out at two-Michelin-star Pic in a military-style kitchen. He then put in the hard yards at two-Michelin-star Nicolas Le Bec, also in France, and later got little sleep slaving away at Gordon Ramsey’s Claridges in London. Clement eventually fell in love with an Aussie woman and now calls Canberra home.
But back to the Kennedy Room; it’s a bar and so dining on busy Friday and Saturday nights comes with a bit of noise. You can settle in
Photo by Gary Schafer
of tastes is superb ($24).
Several options fall under “grilled”, including a gorgeous Riverina Black Angus sirloin ($35, 350 grams) and 100-day, grain-fed eye fillet ($36, 220 grams). A shorter, more refined list of pizzas, made with a new type of dough, is now available.
And desserts? To die for.
Clement’s cooking gives the Kennedy Room a true competitive edge in a market where sometimes food can be a big blur. Absolument incroyable.
at the tall communal bench tables or in the restaurant section, which features an endearing wall-sized photo of Kingston in days gone by.
I’ve been several times and will be many more. Lots of places have share plates, but you won’t find frozen salt and pepper calamari here, or pre-made commercial dips.
A shining star is the Asian-style beef tartare ($20), which has the right kick of chilli and is delightful with crunchy beef tendon crackers and a wasabi sauce. Did I say delightful? I meant sensational! The caramelised pork belly is as sexy as Clement’s
accent, with house-made celeriac remoulade, coconut mayo, beetroot and cashews ($16).
Mains are also on the new menu. If you crave something lighter, Clement shows his true colours with the Salade Niçoise, which originated in the Côte d’Azur region, an area known for its seafood, olives and sunshine. This vibrant salad dances on the plate and the combination
When a heart goes missing
By Helen Musa
MARY Anne Butler is basking in the success of just having won the NT Literary Award for best play.
The playwright/performer for “Highway of Lost Hearts”, coming to The Street next week, is the daughter of a Canberra diplomat. She first studied at ANU, where she joined what is now NUTS (National University Theatre Society).
She’s also a graduate in acting from the Victorian College of the Arts, but that’s not what does it for her. In fact she never enjoyed acting until Lee Lewis, director of “Highway”, more or less “tricked” her into reading the play and cast her on the spot.
Her character wakes one morning to find her heart is missing. She feels nothing, so with her trusty dog (whose name is Dog) she decides to go and look for it in the Australian outback.
Sadly, the story was inspired in 2008 when a friend died in a Sydney Harbour boating accident. Butler drove from Darwin, where she had moved in 2002, to see where the friend had been killed and in the process “found my heart was missing from my chest… my friend’s death was the nail in the proverbial coffin.”
Yet playing the part with Lewis’ clever directing, which intermingles
Anne
the belly laughs with the sorrow, has given her back “my joy in performing”.
One thing Butler did get out of boring old acting school was a knack for character study that, in part, led her to writing in the early 1990s.
Later her play “Half Way There” toured the NT and Queensland, she won the 2012 Birch, Carroll and Coyle NT Literary Award for screenwriting and the 2010 Darwin Festival Playscript Award for “Dragons”, and “Highway of Lost Hearts” was published this year by Currency Press.
The character that she plays is incredibly naïve, in her view, yet Butler believes she has written a personality quite removed from her own – and that’s the nature of playwriting. And did she ever find her heart again? Yes, she asserts, “I think you have to actively look for your heart, to get to the point where you’ve got nothing to lose, but some people can’t do that.”
“Highway of Lost Hearts”, The Street Theatre, 7.30pm, August 26-30, bookings to 6247 1223 or thestreet.org.au
Kennedy Room, 25 Kennedy Street, Kingston. Call 6162 2318. Closed Mondays. Hours vary during the week. Not always open Sundays as promised on the website and front door, so check first.
BY ABC
DIRECT FROM THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES IN GLASGOW
Join Tim and a distinguished panel of sporting personalities for a memorable annual lunch that helps support the dreams of people with disabilities.
BRASSEY HOTEL, BARTON from 12pm, Friday, SEPTEMBER 5
TICKETS: $75 (tables of 8, $575)
Bookings to Rose at info@brassey.com.au or to allankey.org
La Scala Italian Restaurant
Celebrating 25 years of excellence and welcomed as an accredited member restaurant to The Academy of Italian Cuisine for accurately displaying Italian culinary traditions and innovations.
Centre Cinema Building, Garema Place, Canberra City 6248 8338 www.lascala.net.au
Shogun Restaurant offers superb Japanese cuisine. Combing the Japanese classic favourite of SUKIYAKI, SHABU-SHABU, SUSHI, SASHIMI, TEMPURA ETC, and TEPPANYAKI.
Phone: 6248 8888
1st Floor, Garema Centre, 70 Bunda Street, Canberra City www.shogunrestaurant.com.au
As sexy as chef Clement’s accent… caramelised pork belly with house-made celeriac remoulade, coconut mayo, beetroot and cashews.
Mary
Butler in “Highway of Lost Hearts”. Photo by Brett Boardman
gardening Growing passion
WHILE Daphne is a hugely popular plant around the globe, an ideal companion shrub is Pieris or pearl bush, whose small white or pink flowers resemble a string of pearls.
It’s flowering now, as is Daphne, although not with the same delicious fragrance. But it’s rather more interesting in its own way as the flowers appear at the same time as the distinctive new red leaves.
Pieris is also an ideal companion for rhododendrons and azaleas, preferring an acid, well-drained soil.
Creating Sustainable Gardens
Glenbog Nursery and Landscaping
Pine needles are a great acid mulch, especially when the top layer of needles is pulled back and underneath is a rich mulch of composted needles. They are perfect for digging into the soil and on top.
If your soil is heavy clay, lightly dig it over and apply liquid Multicrop Groundbreaker, which has the advantage of soaking deeply down and sideways in the soil. Gypsum, so popular with garden advisers, will stay only where you have dug it in, which is usually only a spade depth. In addition, planting acid-loving shrubs on a mound helps with drainage.
SOME of the most popular Pieris include P. Formosa, which gives a clue to their origin across the Eastern Himalaya. This variety was introduced into the West by plant hunters in about 1858.
One of the most famous of these was George Forrest, after whom many plants are named, including P. Forrestii, which is classified as one of the most beautiful of all shrubs with its brilliant red young growth and the large, slightly fragrant white flowers borne in long conical
panicles, growing up to 2.5m. I included this variety with azaleas and a backdrop of a large camellia into my design of the courtyard of the National Film and Sound Archive.
OTHER varieties include P. “Bert Chandler”, which is bred in Australia by Chandler at his nursery in the Dandenongs. The young foliage is salmon-pink, changing to cream then white and finally green. It was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit in 1977.
Look out also for P. japonica, P. floribunda and P. “Christmas Cheer”, which are readily available in garden centres at this time.
SEPTEMBER 1 may herald spring, but in Canberra I prefer to call the spring equinox on September 23 as the season’s start.
The wattles are already bursting forth in their brilliant yellow. Although hard to accept in any other colour, look out for the stunning Acacia leprosa “Scarlet Blaze”, the world’s only red wattle and selected as the State flower of Victoria for the Bicentenary of Federation in 2001.
As rare as the Wollemi Pine, a single plant was found growing in the north-east of Melbourne in 1995. From that plant many were propagated, which is just as well because the original plant is now dead.
Jottings…
• Cut back old foliage on ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus to encourage new growth.
• Prune apple and pear trees.
• Start preparing the veggie garden for spring planting. Add garden lime and work into the soil along with Neutrog Seamungus, which is a combination of seaweed and free-range chook poo. Beans in particular like a lime soil.
• Check bulbs, tubers and rhizomes in storage to see if any are rotting and remove from the healthy plants, especially dahlias.
• Prune crepe myrtle, which only flower on new season’s wood.
• Spray peach and nectarine trees with Bordeaux or Kocide once the pink of the flowers starts to show. Include the ground under the trees.
• Cow manure is the best for gardens, as it is weed free. Cows chew the cud which destroys even fine weed seeds. Remember, manure is not a mulch. Your home-made garden compost and manure goes on to the garden beds first and then mulch with Canberra Sand and Gravel’s Organic
CEDRIC BRYANT
Acacia leprosa or “Scarlet Blaze”… the world’s only red wattle.
Pieris or pearl bush... a great companion for Daphne.
puzzles page
Joanne Madeline Moore
your week in the stars – August 25-31, 2014
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Expect to feel a bit sluggish early in the week, as Saturn slows down your manic Mars energy. The New Moon activates your wellbeing zone so pay close attention to your health and fitness via a revised diet or updated exercise program. If you establish some order and routine in your daily life, then you’ll have the time and energy to make the most of your numerous talents.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
Home is where the heart is this week, as you nurture loved ones and get stuck into all sorts of overdue domestic chores. Plus find creative ways to make your home more happy and harmonious. With the New Moon energising your entertainment/hobby zone, you need to do more of what you love. Get physical, creative, musical, sporty – whatever you prefer - it’s time to get to it!
GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
A spontaneous conversation and unexpected news leads to an action-packed week. You’re keen to communicate with a wide range of people at work and within your local community. Expect your home life to be a bustling hive of activity with people coming and going, and emotions running high. You’re bursting to speak your mind on Saturday, but is that such a sensible idea?
CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
You’ll feel mighty moody this week, as the stars stir up buried emotions and your Crab defenses go up. Don’t take things too personally. What others say isn’t necessarily what they mean, so think things through before you jump in and over-react. Prosperity planet Jupiter blesses financial matters – as long as you don’t put your head in the sand and spend more than you earn.
LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
Has your enthusiasm for a domestic project taken a nose-dive? Saturn reminds you to shoulder your share of the work. Contributing your talents brings much satisfaction. But you’re susceptible to false flattery on Saturday so don’t be sweet-talked into doing something you really don’t want to do (especially involving money). Take off your rose-coloured glasses and face facts!
VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
The week starts well as motivation levels are high, and you power through projects with extra Virgo vim and vigour. But – as you work your way towards the weekend – things slow down and you switch into procrastination mode. Time to heed the wise words of birthday great, Mother Teresa: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
Are you expecting money to land in your account? Some Librans will experience delays, as Saturn slows down financial transactions. Others will find themselves with unforeseen extra expenses. Attached lovers, your partner could surprise you with an unexpected gift or intriguing proposal. Singles, don’t look for love in the same old places. Aim to be much more adventurous.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
Early in the week feels like one step forwards and two steps back as Saturn dampens enthusiasm, delays projects and stymies progress. But with a slow and steady Scorpio approach you’ll get there. Expect some confusing conversations on Saturday, whereas Sunday is super for diving into a mystery novel, attending local community functions or planting projects in the garden.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
Are you bored at work or looking for employment? Fresh professional pastures are calling Sagittarius! With Mercury moving through your career zone (until September 2) strive to communicate your credentials and numerous talents to a wide audience, both in person and online. Foreign friendships are also favoured, as you reconnect with an old friend from faraway shores.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
You’re incredibly busy but don’t neglect the personal touch Capricorn. If you are too business-like with loved ones, then you may find yourself left out of the loop or excluded from a social occasion. And is there a personal problem you’re stressing about? Rather than obsessing endlessly, talk things through with a trusted friend or colleague. You may be worrying unnecessarily.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
The New Moon always indicates a shift of gear in an important area of life. This week the heavens signal a fresh start for adventurous Aquarians involving an intimate relationship or money matters. If you are attached, your partner may surprise you with an unusual request. Are you sick and tired of being single? Venus trines Uranus, which is fabulous for falling in love very fast!
PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
Your greatest asset at the moment is good health so do all you can to maintain or improve your physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. As birthday great Ingrid Bergman declared: “Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” On Saturday, strive to be honest and to the point Pisces. Otherwise you’ll just confuse others with rambling rants and mixed messages.
Across
4 Who was the longest serving Australian prime minister, Sir Robert ...? (7)
8 What is an introductory part, as of a speech, book, etc? (7)
9 What do we call the income of a government from taxation and the like? (7)
10 To refrain from taking part in a war is to be what? (7)
11 Which lesser tracts of land are completely surrounded by water? (7)
12 Name the cavity at the upper end of the human windpipe (6)
14 What is a vitally important stage in the course of anything? (6)
18 What are periods of ten years? (7)
21 Which SA gulf separates the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas? (7)
22 What describes a body of followers in attendance upon an important personage? (7)
23 Name the sticks made from the tough stems of particular palms (7)
24 What is a small seedless raisin? (7)
25 Name particular periods of time as marked by distinctive events, etc (6)
1 Which type of dog with drooping ears is used in hunting and as a pet? (7)
2 Name the most brilliant planet in our solar system (5)
3 Which term describes dead and putrefying flesh? (7)
4 Who, in Arthurian Legend, was a venerable magician? (6)
5 Name a particular type of orange (5)
6 What do we call one of the major divisions of a cricket match?(7)
7 Which other term describes clairvoyants, etc? (5)
13 Name the scale used to express the magnitude of a seismic disturbance (7)
15 Which Australian artist painted “Shearing the Rams’’ in 1890, Tom ...? (7)
16 What is an alternative term for dawn? (7)
17 To state as true, is to do what? (6)
18 Name the simplest of the three Greek orders of architecture (5)
19 Which term comes from an Italian title prefixed to the given name of a woman of high rank? (5)
20 Which word means brilliance of success, reputation, etc? (5)
Sandy came to see me frustrated at having to lodge and pay BAS every quarter.
“Gail, as you know, my business is very small and it’s frustrating to lodge quarterly, which is how my former accountant set up my business. “
Sandy’s annual turnover is less than $75,000 and is likely to be so for the foreseeable future, so I told her: “You are not required to lodge and pay the BAS quarterly. In fact, you are not even required to register for GST, but I am aware that you prefer to be registered.
“This is a really good time of year for you to change to annual BAS lodgement, as you have not yet lodged a BAS for the 2015 financial year. I can register you for annual BAS lodgement right away, which will save you a lot of administration time. There are, of course, a few conditions attached to doing an annual BAS.” Sandy thought that was “heaps better” and wondred if she satisfied the other conditions.
“The most important thing for you is that the election needs to be made before October 28 otherwise you will have to wait for another year to do it,” I told her.
“You will also need to make sure that you are eligible for annual registration every year. We will help you keep an eye on your business turnover and eligibility for annual GST registration. It is also a condition of annual GST registration that you need to change to quarterly registration when you realise that your turnover will be going over the $75,000 GST threshold. You must do this within 21 days of realising that you need to be registered for quarterly GST.”
“As a sole trader you can also register to pay income tax instalments (PAYG) annually if your income tax for the year is less than $8000.
“If you are eligible to register for an annual PAYG instalment and you are registered for GST then you must also be registered to pay GST annually, otherwise you cannot elect to make an annual PAYG instalment.
“Even though you do not need to register for GST, because you choose to do so, you must issue tax invoices to all your customers and pay the GST that you collect to the ATO. You can also claim input tax credits on your purchases.
“Your annual BAS needs to be lodged and paid when you lodge your income tax return, whereas the annual PAYG instalment needs to be paid before October 28 after the end of the financial year to which it relates.
“Obviously using the annual payment method will be much easier for you administratively and it means that the GST can be correctly calculated before you lodge and pay your annual BAS and income tax return.”
Sandy was happy at having an easier, annual solution and endorsed my advice to register her business for annual GST and annual PAYG payments.
If you have any queries about your registrations contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd on 6295 2844
to downsize!
INCREASED FEES
Fees on a home certainly add up when you factor in garden upkeep, rates and bills like electricity, water, gas and mortgage repayments, all for a large home with an abundance of space you no longer have the need for.
INCREASED CLUTTER
The kids have moved out, there’s too many empty rooms causing clutter and messes just to fill those spaces. Why pay for such a large commitment if it’s no longer needed? Now is the perfect time to make that all-important move to a new home.
INCREASED STRESS
The list of chores as a homeowner can sometimes seem endless, can’t it? The lawn has to be mowed, the trees kept off the neighbour’s yard, plumbing issues, taking the bins out and cleaning leaves out of the roof gutters. Do you really want to spend your precious free time completing all these tasks after a long day or week at work?
VS
DOWNSIZED FEES
The cost of maintenance on your home is drastically reduced in apartment living through body corporate fees that will save you thousands!* Think of all the holidays, cars and those welldeserved impulse buys you can now indulge in after making the big move.
DOWNSIZED CLUTTER
Downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean losing space or value. GEOCON offers apartments with expertly fitted inclusions creating dream kitchens, stunning bathrooms and shared open areas that include swimming pools, barbecue areas, relaxing lounges and vegetable gardens!
DOWNSIZED STRESS
The ACT Government’s downsizer concession scheme has been extended until 31 December this year, providing all you downsizers with a major discount on stamp duty for homes under $595,000; paying only $20 for properties purchased before then!* Pair this with GEOCON’s payment plans, and downsizing becomes the easiest, cost effective and best thing you’ve ever done.
