170601 citynews

When fake news hits home

SONYA FLADUN

Social madness on the roads

CHRIS COLEMAN

Spring's in the air – for optimists!

CEDRIC BRYANT

BABY

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Colourful trooping of the colour

THE corps of staff cadets and the Band of the Royal Military College will present the annual Trooping of the Queen’s Colour at Gallipoli Reach on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin. The traditional ceremonial parade, which celebrates the official birthday of the Queen, will be held at 10.15am on Saturday, June 10, and will be reviewed by the GovernorGeneral Sir Peter Cosgrove. The public is welcome to attend and there is no charge for admission. A folding chair and a blanket are advisable.

The “Trooping the Colour” ceremony dates back to the 16th century when, each evening, a regiment’s colour was escorted through the ranks of troops to ensure that soldiers would be able to recognise their own on the battlefield.

Danijela’s recipe for her son’s future

By Danielle Nohra

AS a 15-year-old living with Down syndrome, there was uncertainty about what Anthony Vrkic would do after he leaves school.

But that’s less of a worry these days for his parents Danijela and John Vrkic after they came across the American Doughnut Kitchen during a trip to Melbourne last year.

The couple believed they had the right recipe to start something similar for Anthony and not long after returning to Canberra they established Krofne, a for-profit business with an aim to sell a European yeast-styled doughnut.

The key was a four-generation-old recipe passed down by Danijela’s Croatian mum who migrated to Australia in the ‘70s when Danijela was two.

“The reason the recipe is more special than anything is because it’s giving us the opportunity to provide Anthony with employment,” Danijela said.

Danijela left her job in the public service in November to put all her efforts into Krofne, which began selling the doughnuts at the Old Bus Depot markets in

October and has since moved into wholesale supply as well.

“When we were at the markets we thought: ‘We have the capacity to put another staff member on’,” Danijela said.

So Krofne hired 24-year-old Brent, who also lives with Down syndrome, to help serve alongside the Vrkic family, which consists of Anthony, his parents and his older two sisters.

“Brent absolutely loves it, it’s meaningful employment for him,” Danijela said.

“He listens to instructions and works just as fast as anybody else.”

It’s a long process making the Krofne doughnuts, taking about six hours to mix the dough, let it sit, roll it out, cut it and then leave it to rise.

“But it gives me great satisfaction to see the smile on these kids’ faces,” she said.

And it certainly gives Anthony a smile, who said he looked forward to going into the commercial kitchen (provided by Communities at Work) early on Sundays to help fill the doughnuts. He then goes to the markets where he sells the Krofne doughnuts.

Krofne currently offers three flavours, including Anthony’s fa-

Since 1993: Volume 23, Number 19

vourite Nutella, as well as triple berry jam and a more traditional Croatian flavour, rosehip jam.

On top of loving the taste of the doughnuts, his mum said Anthony also enjoyed working because it brought meaning to his life.

“Anthony needs to be able to go buy a pair of jeans or shoes, with his own money, like anyone else can,” Danijela said.

“I think businesses are scared of employing these young adults because they may need additional assistance.

“What I would love to see is if each business in Canberra took on a person with a disability because it would make a huge difference.

“They have feelings and hormones and everything else like we do and want to be loved, accepted and feel useful.”

Danijela said she would also be going into Anthony’s school, Black Mountain School, on Wednesday mornings to teach students how to roll, cut and fry the Krofne doughnuts.

“I think it’s an absolutely fantastic opportunity for students to learn new skills,” she said.

Contact Danijela on 0409 846906 or email hello@krofne.com.au

Arts & Entertainment 19-21

Cinema 21

Dining 21

Crossword 23

Gardening 22

Horoscopes 23

Letters 10

News 3-11

Politics 7

Socials 13-15, 18

Cover: Surrogate mother Amey Bencke with fathers-to-be Nik, left, and Kristian. Photo by Amanda Hobson from AJ & ME Photography. Story page 11.

for

is taken by Ian Meikle, 9b/189 Flemington Road, Mitchell.

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MATTERS

Russ and Jack put on a turn for ‘Twiggy’

AUSTRALIAN acting royalty came to town to assist in giving out a large sum of money.

Coffs Harbour residents Jack Thompson and Russell Crowe added starpower to a function at which WA mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest announced a donation of $400 million to be spread among a range of charitable causes including cancer research. Crowe, who has worked with Thompson several times, including the ‘90s Aussie movie “The Sum of Us”, told the audience he first met Jack at the age of six while helping his mother, a caterer, on the set of a movie in which Thompson was starring.

STILL on people with large piles of money, Canberra has its first billionaire. Canberra Airport owner Terry Snow has climbed the “Australian Financial Review’s” top 200 Rich List from 84th last year to 59th this year. According to Rich List editor John Stensholt , Snow’s burgeoning bank balance (up from $658 million to $1 billion) is due to previous lists under-valuing the Canberra airport precinct.

THE memory of former Prime Minister Robert Menzies continues to get a workout in the political campaign against decentralisation. Member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann read a letter from Canberra resident and Menzies’ daughter, Heather Henderson, to the parliament. The essence of the passionate correspondence was Menzies’ quote from the 1950s: ”We are stuck with Canberra, whether we like it or not, so we might as well do it properly”.

NO surprise more local motorists are flashing their headlights at oncoming drivers to warn of speeddetection vans. Several sets of new stats point to a spike in the number of drivers who have been “pinged”,

The essence of the passionate correspondence was Menzies’ quote from the 1950s: ‘We are stuck with Canberra, whether we like it or not, so we might as well do it properly’.

some of whom are now clearly keen to “even” the odds. The capital’s mobile speed cameras wrote $4 million worth of fines in 2015-16, double that of the previous financial year. With extra vans raising more revenue at more sites the next set of figures is sure to get more than headlights flashing.

CONSTRUCTION of a security fence to block access to the lawns on the roof of Parliament House is about to begin amid questions over its appearance and cost. At a Senate Budget Estimates hearing, Senate President Stephen Parry was unable to nominate the cost or reveal the design of the fence due to national security issues. It’s estimated $126.7 million is to be spent on a range of

security measures to further fortify the building.

CANBERRA’s six-time gold medal Paralympian Michael Milton continues to scale new heights. The 44-year-old, who had his left leg amputated above the knee due to bone cancer at the age of nine, competed in the recent 10th annual Ultra-Trail Australia 50-kilometre event at Katoomba, finishing in a time of 12 hours 8 minutes.

Milton is the first person to attempt the event, the southern hemisphere’s largest trail running race, with one leg and on crutches.

CLOTHES strewn across the carpark at Scrivener Dam last week at first glance appeared to be another irritating example of a lazy citizen dumping rubbish at an out-of-the-way location under the cover of darkness. One curious onlooker conducted a more forensic examination that revealed the scattered garments were all women’s, including underwear, bearing expensive designer labels. Her theory: a rare twist on the classic relationship revenge of him tossing out or slashing her precious fashion collection after a serious indiscretion.

AN innovative charity that created a practical solution to a growing social problem has been recognised by a Canberra community group. Orange Sky Laundry, which was founded in Brisbane in 2014 by two mates who saw a need to provide a free mobile laundry service to the homeless, has now expanded to all capital cities including Canberra. The service, the first of its kind in the world, won the Innovation category at the 2017 Volunteering Awards for the Canberra region for using technology and knowledge to enrich the community.

Actsmart offers a range of free programs for ACT businesses including:

• support to implement efficient recycling and waste management practices

• obligation free onsite energy and water assessments

• rebates of up to $5,000 (on a cost share basis) to upgrade inefficient equipment

More than 1000 ACT businesses have already signed up to Actsmart programs.

Carving stories into wooden spoons

By Kathryn Vukovljak

IN search of a creative outlet and with a lifelong love of woodworking, Fiona Glover started carving spoons on a whim and says she’s become hooked on the calming, meditative practice.

Fiona now sells her work around town as Twig to Table, and hosts spooncarving workshops at retail space Meet Gather Collect in Aranda.

“I’d been interested in woodworking since school but never pursued it until I joined the public service and had three children – being busy in life, I felt I was missing out on a creative outlet,” she says.

“Family and work life could be stressful so I did a spoon-carving workshop a few years ago at the south coast and found it the most relaxing, absorbing, meditative practice. It really worked for me.”

Fiona says she also took a beginners woodworking course and made a chair and other pieces of furniture, but found

that spoon carving was the ideal way to work with wood from home, without needing a great deal of machinery.

“I don’t have a workshop at home, but I can carve spoons with minimal tools, and take my work with me most places, as long as people don’t mind knives!” she says.

“It’s something you become completely absorbed in, just focusing on what you’re creating, working with the grain, and you really lose track of everything

else that’s going on around you.”

Fiona says she uses a lot of waste wood, pieces that would otherwise go into a fire or landfill.

“I get off-cuts from cabinet makers, lovely pieces of wood, mostly Australian but also exotic species, that aren’t of any use because they’re too small,” she says.

“I like working with Tasmanian blackwood and Huon pine, they’re beautiful timbers, very hard and they have

such character and variation to them.

“I also work with green wood – in Canberra there are a lot of street trees that are coming to the end of their life and they either need pruning or removing. Arborists are wonderful and if I ask them nicely they’ll cut me a branch or two and I can use that.”

Fiona says it was never her intention to start a business.

“I started documenting my work on Instagram as a bit of a personal journal and to show I have a practice if I wanted to carry on with study, but because of the account I had people contacting me asking if I could make them spoons and it kind of grew from there,” she says.

With a love for creating something that can be used and appreciated for years, Fiona says she enjoys being able to talk about where the wood has come from, and the story behind each piece.

“People seem to be appreciating handmade items a bit more now because we do have such a consumerist culture, and perhaps there’s a little bit of fatigue around that,” she says.

“I’ve also had people contact me who’ve had special trees that have fallen, and asked me to make something for them from that, which is really lovely.”

Prices start from $25 for a small spoon, available at the National Library, Craft ACT and Meet Gather Collect, Aranda. Visit instagram.com/fi.glover/

At The CAPS Clinic we pride ourselves in o ering our patients the very best dermal treatment options that will improve the texture, tone, rmness and overall health of their skin. Thanks to advanced laser technology, we have the ability to improve existing collagen whilst also stimulating new collagen production.

By understanding collagen and how it works, we can slow the ageing process and keep you looking younger for longer. The skin is the largest organ of the body and is made up of 3 key layers - the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layer.

EPIDERMIS

The epidermis is the outermost layer of skin and is the part you can see. It provides a waterproof barrier which is made up of layers of skin cells. When we are young, the life cycle of a new skin cell is approximately 28 days. As we age this process slows down dramatically and the epidermis thins leading to a more dull appearance and dry skin.

DERMIS

The dermis is where our collagen and elastin live. These bers give support, exibility and strength to the skin which in turn gives us our smooth and youthful appearance. From age 25, our production of collagen naturally depletes, causing it to show visible signs of ageing such as sagging, lines, and wrinkles.

SUBCUTANEOUS LAYER

Finally, our subcutaneous fat layer provides insulation and padding. As we get older, our fat pads thin and fall with gravity and we lose facial volume, again adding to an aged look.

The rst step in protecting collagen degradation is sun protection. Alarmingly, 80% of skin ageing is caused from sun exposure, making it the most harmful factor contributing to skin health. UV exposure along with smoking, stress and a high sugar diet all speed up the degradation of collagen at a fast rate. Protecting your skin and reducing these external factors can reduce this premature ageing.

Women’s naval salute

Ex-members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service are invited to join a local group who meet informally each month, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the service over lunch on Sunday, November 26. Partners/carers will be welcome. Call to 6286 5052 or email gwenfryer@grapevine.com.au.

Strings attached

PRIMARY and high school students will be stars of the ACT branch of the Australian String Teachers Association’s 7th Canberra String Festival at Wesley Music Centre, 22 National Circuit, Forrest, June 3-4. Open to the public, entrance is free and programs are $5.

Sound of men

THE Canberra Men’s Choir will perform a wide range of songs including opera, folk, religious and gospel genres at a free concert at St John’s Church, Reid, from 2.30pm on Saturday, June 17. Anyone interested in learning more about the choir should call 0407 909602.

The second step in restoring collagen is the use of fractionated laser treatments to restore the skin back to its youthfulness. There are many lasers available on the market, but LaseMD is revolutionary in optimal skin regeneration. By gently renewing the skin’s surface, you can achieve a refreshed, youthful glow - removing years from your appearance. LaseMD is safe for all skin types and conditions with less heat produced compared to similar technologies on the market. With minimal discomfort, there is no need for anaesthetic making it a fast and extremely a ordable treatment.

LaseMD works by stimulating collagen production by delivering just the right amount of energy to the right depth within the skin. This energy triggers a natural response within the skin, jumpstarting the regenerative process producing new collagen. The laser creates microscopic channels within the skin which help damaged tissue and unwanted pigment to be removed creating a more even tone and texture. The microscopic channels also act as a pathway for enhanced delivery of vitamins and antioxidants directly to the site they are needed to nourish, repair and further promote healthy skin.

in the city

When fake news really hits hurtfully home

WE hear and read a lot these days about fake news. Fake news is apparently everywhere. Cries of fake news abound.

It’s become a standard political response to news that people don’t agree with or that harms their interests. Fake news! The cry goes up as an instant, stock response, and by the time anyone checks things out, the 24-hour news cycle has rolled on to the next instant and ephemeral controversy.

But how much fake news is there really? I can’t answer this question but I have been thinking about it intensely owing to personal experience and observation. Fake news often doesn’t mean all that much when it’s about people and events far away, but it’s a big deal when you know the people directly concerned.

In my case the fake news relates to my sister. She’s Cassandra Thorburn, wife of the Channel Nine “Today Show” presenter Karl Stefanovic. For those who don’t pay attention to morning television, and that includes a lot of us, Karl is reportedly the highest-

For the better part of a decade Karl Stefanovic has been cracking jokes and presenting himself as an exemplar for Aussie fatherhood, very publicly doting on his children and spouse. But that narrative has now changed.

paid media personality in the country. He’s a big celebrity in the small pond of Australia’s show biz elite.

Hundreds of thousands of people imagine that in some way they really know Karl because his smiling face is on their television screens each morning. Many people see more of Karl than they see of other members of their own family. For the better part of a decade he’s been cracking jokes and presenting himself as an exemplar for Aussie fatherhood, very publicly doting on his children and spouse.

But that narrative has now changed. Not surprisingly there’s intense media interest in Karl’s abrupt separation from his wife Cass and his very public new relationship with a model and fashion-shoe designer.

Many people are probably not interested in this, but clearly enough are to keep the tabloids and magazines in a frenzy of purported scoops and picture features. The paparazzi have been tasked to not only aggressively promote the new “loved-up couple” and their entertainment and fashion interests, but also to harass my sister and her kids at school sports events, grocery shopping, beachside holidays and even putting out the household trash.

I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of a painful marriage breakup and the distress felt by the children, all of which has been magnified by

intense media attention. The secrecy provisions that surround proceedings in the Family Court are also an important thing to bear in mind.

However, what I will say is that I have been absolutely gobsmacked by the tidal wave of, yes, you guessed it, fake news – absolute fabrications, fake anonymous sources, falsehoods and garbage that has filled not only dubious magazines but also newspapers that supposedly adhere to editorial standards involving a commitment to truthful and fair reporting, checking facts and delivering news rather than outright fiction.

As a family member I was astonished to see one major newspaper report that the two sides had reached a settlement of their affairs with a purported division of assets and income, and arrangements to share custody of the children. I was then further astonished to see that “reporting” cut and pasted across a dozen papers and websites without anyone actually checking the facts.

When there was some actual journalism that suggested that the purported settlement might not have taken place, indeed that previous reports were “absolute garbage”, other outlets simply ignored that, preferring to stick to a script that had been adroitly inserted into the media narrative by public relations consultants trying to rework the image of a media asset.

Remarkably, newspapers preferred to get columnists and contributors to offer provocative opinions on falsehoods and unverified rumours rather than actually check facts.

eroded professional standards and the demands of constant churnalism so that they are often mere channels for other people’s agendas.

I have a personal and emotional interest in this matter that I don’t expect other people to share. My purpose here is not to argue the rights or wrongs of things.

But on the basis of personal experience I have come to a realisation that fake news abounds, indeed we are drowning in it, and that there is little that is random or accidental about it.

So much of what we read has been manufactured, crafted for purpose.

It’s often the work of well-resourced public relations and image management firms, working for the rich and powerful. At the same time, much of the media has been hollowed out

It’s a sad state of affairs. It really hurts when members of your family are on the receiving end of fake news. But it’s not just the tabloids where fake news thrives. I wonder what it means for bigger things, like politics, business and the health of our democracy. Nothing good I think.

SONYA FLADUN

Security risks of getting greedier not greater

THE Federal Budget recently slashed an additional $300 million from our international aid budget.

With each Budget our nation illustrates that it cares less and less for those in much greater need than ourselves.

This approach is not only selfish, it is short sighted and divisive.

Australia is not on its own in cutting international aid. Donald Trump has just submitted a budget for approval that undermines the UN and its range of organisations.

It proposes cuts in the order of $US4.6 billion from humanitarian assistance and global health spending. It proposes to cut around a third of the funding for diplomacy and overseas aid.

The Trump budget is identified as “A New Foundation of American Greatness”. It specifically slashes funds being channelled through the UN, development banks and nongovernment organisations.

The irony is not to be missed. Americans may well feel that they are going to be “greater” through this process.

Outsiders, particularly coming from developing or emerging economies, will hardly recognise this as “greatness”.

Ana

Rita Sousa Sequeira, a

With each Budget our nation illustrates that it cares less and less for those in much greater need than ourselves. This approach is not only selfish, it is short sighted and divisive.

research associate at Murdoch University, argues in “The Conversation”, that these cuts provide a major risk to global security. The increasing disparity in wealth across the world, exacerbated by cuts to international support through aid, bodes ill for the future.

The long-term choice is international involvement managed through aid or through armed intervention.

The $US350 billion dollar deal over 10 years signed between Saudi Arabia and the US contrasts markedly with the cuts to aid by President Trump. It does not paint a hopeful picture for the coming generations.

In Australia in 2015 our contribution of gross domestic income was just a third of one per cent compared to the top per country donors such as Sweden (1.4 per cent), United Arab Emirates (1.1 per cent), Norway (1 per cent), Luxembourg (0.95 per cent) and Denmark (0.8 per cent).

Trump’s claim, as he slashed US aid, was that he wanted the rest of the world to pay their “fair share”.

Sounds like “fake news” when the 2015 contribution of the US was 23rd in the world at just 0.16 per cent of gross domestic income.

In the recent past the US, although 23rd in the world, has injected large sums amounting to almost $US30 billion to international aid.

Ana Sequeira pointed out the US has provided a strong financial leadership role in tackling issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

To put the funds into perspective, meeting the challenge of the ebola outbreak in western Africa from 2014-2016 took an international contribution of around $US3.6 billion. This included around $US40 million from Australia and a massive $US2.3 billion from the US.

It is to be hoped that the international community has learned

its lesson and will intervene more rapidly and more effectively in the very recent ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) has been financially weakened.

A vaccine now exists. However, identifying cases and managing epidemiological tracking and interventions require basic health skills and appropriate capacity.

There are currently more than 30 infectious disease outbreaks being dealt with by the WHO including such issues as measles and yellow fever.

Greatness is not ignoring our neighbours who are in strife. It is about being able to put ourselves in their shoes and to help in an appropriate way.

Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, has changed the way that Australian aid is delivered.

While I disagree with some of the changes in approach, modifying the way we handle international aid is appropriate. Slashing that aid is not.

As countries such as the US and Australia withdraw their funding

from the UN and organisations such as the WHO, the shortfall is being made up to some extent by private foundations.

This is not without its problems. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private donor to the WHO. It deserves congratulations. However, it also has considerable investment in unhealthy products such as alcohol and Coca-Cola. This does create a clear conflict of interest for the WHO.

Slashing our international contribution lacks vision.

Unless developed countries increase support for developing countries in a globalised world where wealth disparity is growing, we can expect increasing levels of conflict.

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

It’s party time at the Mint

Celebrate 25 years of Bananas in Pyjamas!

You’re invited to meet the Bananas, grab a photo opportunity and buy a special limited edition coin. You can also browse the shop and take a free tour to make it a ‘bananarific’ day out for the whole family!

The Bananas will be available for meet and greet at: 10:00 am, 10:40 am, 11:20 am, 12:00 pm and 12:40 pm.

Savouring the highway of knives and forks

That magnificent memorial to Hamilton Hume is not just a thoroughfare anymore – it’s a tourist attraction in its own right and you glide between destinations on a highway as good as any in the world.

IT is, without a doubt, the best hamburger (with “the lot”) in Australia.

I speak, of course, of the magnificent comestible created by the lady of the house at the only take-away in Tallarook, a couple of kilometres off the wondrous Hume Highway.

We found ourselves there recently while returning from Kilmore –another repository of splendid Aussie cuisine – where I’d given a talk to the Victorian Historical Society on my book “Hamilton Hume – Our Greatest Explorer”. But this was the first chance my wife Wendy and I have had to explore the highway named after my hero.

And we had no idea of the splendid provender that awaited.

It began on the outward trek at Gundagai where we stopped for lunch at the famous Niagara Café, with its booths unaltered since Prime Minister John Curtin dined there in 1942. Their hamburger and chips

(accompanied by a latte with an extra shot) and Wendy’s freshly fried potato scallop and calamari, were just the ticket to restoke the fires and take us to our overnight stop in Wodonga.

We called by the tourist information office where Jenny Allen directed us to the Quest Hotel, which provided a great apartment for only $97. We reached the Huon Hill restaurant by an internal bridge across the road. And there, alas, we had the only disappointing meal of the entire trip – whiting that tasted like chicken nuggets and Wendy’s “rigatoni” that better resembled her mum’s beef stew. The good news is that when we mildly complained they dropped both mains from the bill without a second thought (the chef was off that day).

We called by the Chiltern, 30 kilometres away, for breakfast where the bakery rustled up a scrumptious, freshly baked ham and cheese croissant each with hot, long blacks.

Kilmore hove into view about lunchtime so, buoyed by our breakfast bakery experience, we popped into Kilmore’s finest and sampled two more of the splendid meat pies from my long love affair with the unique Australian snack.

In fact, it was more like a meal and kept us going through the afternoon

at our B&B arranged by the Historical Society.

That evening we toddled into town and there discovered a chinese noodle shop that served the most fabulous laksa curry I’ve ever tasted – creamyrich, spicy, filled with fresh veggies and yummy noodles, it was more than enough to take us through the night till we attacked the B&B kitchenette with its selection of cereal, toasting bread and local jams and spreads.

Then came the talk which went pretty well – lots of books signed and sold – before we headed back north;

ROBERT MACKLIN

and by 1pm, feeling more than a little peckish, we came to the Tallarook exit. And since we’d grown up with the phrase that “things are crook in Tallarook”, we couldn’t resist checking it out.

It’s a charming little village with a pub, a post office and one general store-cum-take-away. And that’s where the lady of the establishment put together her magnificent hamburger of meat patty, fresh lettuce, thick tomato, sliced onion, bacon, egg, tomato sauce and (of course) beetroot between two firm buns held together by a cocktail stick.

Heaven on a stick.

On our way through Chiltern when heading south we’d noticed a restaurant-bar called The Vine and

that was our destination that evening. So after checking into the splendid Colonial Motel and walking through the town – which has barely changed since 1880 – we settled in at the restaurant.

There we feasted on an entrée of delicious “cone prawns” followed by mouth-watering sticky pork for me and sweet chilli chicken with stir fry veggies and rice noodles for Wendy… and all washed down with a glass or two of the local vino.

Simply wonderful.

Next day we made it to Jugiong, boyhood home of Richie Benaud and site of the famous horseback duel between the bushranger Johnny Gilbert and police sergeant Parry, which is memorialised in the main street by a local sculptor.

It was Mother’s Day and the newly renovated pub, the Sir George, was bursting at the seams with some 500 visitors from as far afield as Canberra. Little Jugiong has turned into a fashionable watering hole and food mecca. There’s even handicraft and kitchenware shops that would not look out of place in South Yarra. We stayed the night at the local motel where cheek by jowl sheep, cattle and a big Tamworth pig amused the neighbours’ kids as we enjoyed the sunshine of the motel courtyard. Next day we were home in 90 minutes, but here’s the thing: with one single exception it had been a gourmet’s delight. That magnificent memorial to Hamilton Hume is not just a thoroughfare anymore – it’s a tourist attraction in its own right and you glide between destinations on a highway as good as any in the world… Next stop the gym!

robert@robertmacklin.com

A decade on, Elizabeth still puts in

By Danielle Nohra

FOR her 50th birthday Elizabeth

McManus asked friends and family to donate to an Ethiopian charity rather than give her gifts.

rienced four “straightforward labours” Elizabeth says she is grateful to live in a country with good hospital access.

In Ethiopia, 93 per cent of obstetric fistula survivors give birth to a stillborn baby.

The charity, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, treats young women who develop an obstetric fistula (a childbirth injury).

Now, as she approaches the big Six-O, she is asking for donations to raise $10,000 for the charity to join the trip with 19 others that includes a visit to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and participation in the Great Ethiopian Run alongside 45,000 Ethiopians.

“For a few years now I’ve been aware that the Hamlin Fistula organisation runs a trip for interested supporters to visit the hospital, as well as indulge in some sightseeing and compete in the 10-kilometre Great Ethiopian Run,” Elizabeth says.

“This year I’ve decided to take the plunge and sign up, so I’ve started training for the run. Now I need to tackle the fundraising.”

As nurse and a parent who has expe -

They then live with a fistula, a hole between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum, which leaves survivors leaking urine or faeces, and sometimes both.

“You don’t choose where you get born. I could have been one of these girls,” Elizabeth says.

“I think that’s what’s really driven me. Most of the time, once they’ve had these injuries their husbands leave.

“The plight of these women, many of them mere teenagers, is heartbreaking as they face isolation and ostracism for the rest of their lives as a result of their fistula,” Elizabeth says.

Elizabeth pays her own travel costs and the $10,000 raised helps pay for surgery for the women and for the running cost of the organisation. Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia also provides the patient with literacy and numeracy classes, a new dress and money to travel home.

Social media madness out there on our roads

ARE you a Tweeter? Perhaps you want more details, so Facebook is the go. Maybe you prefer pictures, so you use Instagram. Or if you need moving pictures to get your fill of kittens, there’s Snapchat.

The 21st century – if the first 16 years of it are anything to go by – may be remembered as the “Social Century”. We have more ways than ever of communicating with each other. So many, that the days of phones being used to make actual calls may be numbered.

But I’d like to put something else out there as having numbered days. Several somethings, indeed several hundred somethings: Canberra drivers addicted to social media.

Being on the radio five afternoons a week doesn’t generally leave me a lot of time behind the wheel during the day, but a series of appointments far and wide across the ACT in the last couple of weeks meant I had to do a lot of driving. Maybe I’m slow to realise this, but some of the stuff happening on our roads is frightening.

Next time you’re stopped at a red light, cast an eye around at the vehicles nearby. I’ll almost guarantee you’ll see more than one driver with their eyes looking at a phone in their lap. If not that, then you may see someone casting furtive glances around for nearby police cars while holding their phone to their ear as surreptitiously as they can.

These behaviours are illegal. There are fines for it (if you get caught) but in the end, generally the worst that happens if done in a stationary vehicle is that traffic is held up because the driver is distracted and reacts a few seconds late to the light going green. Worse, and increasingly common, is the driver on a multi-lane road wobbling in and occasionally out of their lane. In the past we would have assumed drunkeness. Today I’d suggest it’s more likely to be a driver texting (or possibly browsing the web) while holding the phone on their steering wheel. I’ve seen three of those this week alone.

Sadly, it doesn’t end there. In the past fortnight I’ve seen drivers taking photos or

The driver, the front passenger and the two people in the back seat were watching a screen attached to the windscreen. While doing 95km/h on the parkway!

video while behind the wheel. I suppose we must be thankful that smart phones, even in the hands of dumb users, have autofocus on their cameras.

But the coup de grace came just the night before I sat down to write this week’s missive.

Heading north on the Tuggeranong Parkway, I noticed the car in front of me had what seemed to be very bright dashboard illumination. Or perhaps, I thought, it was a satnav device with the brightness turned up.

Then I overtook it. The driver, the front passenger and the two people in the back seat were watching a video. On a small screen seemingly attached to the windscreen. While doing 95km/h on the parkway!

I don’t know what the solution is. The behaviour has become endemic. Perhaps it’s time to adopt the advice from the old joke: “If you don’t like my driving, stay off the footpath” as our pathways soon may be the only place to drive free from the menace of distracted drivers.

Ironic footnote: Shortly after this article was penned, the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust confirmed the final distribution of its funds as it was wound up. It doesn’t take a trust to research how dangerous these behaviours are, but they still shouldn’t happen!

Chris Coleman presents “Canberra Live” on 2CC, 3pm-6pm, every weekday.

CHRIS COLEMAN

Clubs’ community contributions

THE Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education has launched an attack on community clubs, headlining a media release “Pokie Community Fund Rigged”. It included criticism of the contribution of community clubs to sport.

The community contributions scheme is not “rigged”, and the scheme recognises that clubs plough revenue back into the more than $500 million worth of assets under management – in large part to support sport and sporting infrastructure for all ACT residents.

The Gaming Machine Act 2004 charges the Gambling & Racing Commission to approve the contributions made by clubs (they audit them) for a stated purpose that will “have the effect of contributing to or supporting the

Tired of the arrogance

THANK you for the article “Dangerous dogs – much talk, little action” (CN, May 25). My favourite saying is; “The problem is at the other end of the leash” and this seems to be supported by the nature of debate about dog ownership in the ACT.

Since returning to Canberra last year, I’m astounded by the number of owners of all breeds who disregard the safeguards put in place by government and the position of John Hynes becomes understandable.

We’ve two dogs with histories of abuse, with years of work they have recovered and possess amazing temperaments (tested across a spectrum of stressful situations). However, one becomes scared when it is out walking on harness and is constantly approached by unleashed dogs whose owners always express upset when my dog barks at them. I’ve stepped in when both my dogs have been physically attacked – not something I’d recommend. Now a young mother, I’d rather not take the risk and exercise the dogs on private property.

I am a responsible dog owner and am tired of the arrogance/naivety of others who do not take the responsibility of pet ownership seriously. Please keep shining a light on this issue for the long-term benefit of everyone.

Jess White, via email

Bordering on the criminal

I MUST write following your article “Dangerous dogs –much talk, little action” (CN, May 25). The article portrays a Mr John Hynes as nothing more than an armed thug – supported by a photograph showing this individual armed with a baseball bat and a hunting knife.

I can only hope that following your article, the authorities have visited Mr Hynes and made it very clear that displaying weapons in such a threatening manner and with clear intent to do harm, as quoted from your magazine’s interview, is firstly disgusting and secondly bordering on the criminal.

development of the community or raising the community’s, or part of the community’s, standard of living.”

I don’t think any reasonable person would argue that spending on sport, from a grassroots level, such as junior footy, all the way up to an elite level, doesn’t lift our standard of living.

The territory budget for sport is more than $40 million, much of it allocated to elite and high-performance sport. Like clubs, the ACT government has wage and administration costs associated with the upkeep of 300 hectares of sporting grounds. They make money available – contribute, if you will – to the Territory’s budget to ensure that these important facilities are available and maintained.

That’s what governments do.

Accepting this, the question must be asked as to why we would treat the additional long-standing benefits

provided by clubs differently from those who also provide these types of facilities.

Why would this not be regarded as a community contribution?

Like the government, ACT clubs are “not for profit” and seek solely to benefit the ACT community.

Clubs maintain more than 400 hectares of greenspace for sporting use, six golf courses, 20 bowling greens, three cricket fields, five football fields, a yacht club, a basketball stadium, the race course, BMX track, many gymnasiums… and the list goes on.

The significant costs associated with the upkeep of these facilities are in large part under-reported for the purposes of the formal contributions scheme.

But even accepting this significant under-reporting of benefits, the reported spend via the formal contributions scheme has amounted to over $136 million since 2000.

“CityNews” needs to lift its game big time. I look forward to reading much improved standards of journalism in future editions.

Michael Doyle, Fraser

Defending german shepherds

WHY are you displaying a ferocious german shepherd dog on the front page of your May 25 edition when pit bulls are the subject of the two incidents detailed in the report?

The editor should be ashamed of himself for publishing such blatant hate mongering in relation to german shepherd dogs.

It reminds me of the early 1960s when I was walking a german shepherd puppy and people jumped back in horror when I told them that “the cute little puppy” was a

german shepherd dog.

I didn’t think that British/Australian propaganda invented decades ago is still rampant in this country today.

Klaus Inveen, via email

Doing the terrorists’ job

IN “The Daily Telegraph” of May 25 Miranda Divine quoted coroner Michael Barnes who criticised the consulting psychiatrist because he “underestimated the risk” Monis posed to the captives in the Lindt cafe, and said that Monis’ behaviour was “not consistent with Islamic State”.

The way the siege played out on the day proved him tragically wrong on the first count, but Man

The community contributions scheme acknowledges why clubs exist and where money is spent to benefit the broader community.

Surprisingly, some argue that the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, spends too heavily on elite sports like AFL, but I would say that’s hogwash! It enriches our city, brings people together and has a significant flow-on effect for local business.

For families, it provides their children with encouragement to participate in social activities.

The Chief Minister, in supporting GWS, has laid a clear vision that contributes to our community enormously. There will be someone in our community who will dream about playing for GWS and they will get their start at a local club.

Gwyn Rees, chief executive, ClubsACT

Monis’ actions and a brief examination of his history, showed that he was correct on the second.

ISIS doesn’t have a history of siege taking, every ISIS attack has involved suicide either by bomb or in a hail of bullets, anonymous martyrdom being as much the object as the act of destruction.

Monis deviated from both these modes of operation. He took hostages and drew maximum attention to himself in the process, only using the cause of IS to further his own sadistic/grandiose impulses.

George Orwell made the point that poor language leads to a dysfunctional political system. Journalists who add to the fear and anger by sloppy reasoning and sensationalist black and white morality are doing the terrorists’ job for them. Monis would be pleased.

Michael Jaffrey, Ainslie

Meter miseries

ActewAGL is at it again… four accounts almost identical despite the season and significant periods away on holiday.

Once again the latest bill is based on estimated meter readings! How can customers have any confidence in a completely discredited system based on estimates?

CEO Michael Costello finally admitted that his company had not handled the changes well. Apologies to his customers cost nothing. To make matters worse, the latest bill tells you how to read your own meter. What next, a supermarket-style self-checkout?

Does the company have any inspectors to read the meters?

Rob Elder, Flynn

Write to us

Letters are invited from “CityNews” readers. Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au or write to the editor at: 9b / 189 Flemington Road, Mitchell 2911.

Surrogacy surges despite screening problems

THERE has been a tripling of interest in surrogacy in Australia and the US in the last 12 months, says Sam Everingham.

“Yet we still lack any appropriate surrogate screening or matching service,” says Everingham, organiser of the upcoming conference Families Through Surrogacy.

He says the absence of screening means Australian surrogates often drop out along the way and this, along with restrictions on compensation, advertising and security of parentage means many Australians continue to travel abroad to pursue their dreams of parenthood.

“The conference will address key issues such as what predicts psychologically healthy surrogate and intended parent relationships, the motivations of surrogates to carry and how they can give up a child,” he says.

Families Through Surrogacy conference, Victoria University Convention Centre, Melbourne, June 3-4. Visit familiesthrusurrogacy.com/australian-intendedparent-conference/ Kathryn Vukovljak reports

THE SURROGATE

THE MUM

I thought I’d be weeping with joy but it just felt right and I got straight into mothering.”

EMMA Wood never imagined she would have so many issues conceiving her second child, but after 10 years of failed IVF and four miscarriages she now has a five-month-old daughter, Anika, through domestic surrogacy.

Emma, 41, says surrogacy is booming in Australia because of limitations around international surrogacy, adoption and the use of social media to connect couples in need to surrogates.

“It had been hard enough for us to conceive the first time, after 18 months of trying and an operation,” she says.

“But in trying for our next baby, my husband Michael and I went through so much loss that it was hard to believe the surrogate pregnancy was happening until Anika was born.”

Emma will speak at the upcoming conference Families Through Surrogacy in Melbourne, offering an insight into the Australian experience of surrogacy.

“It’s certainly the hope that you’ll

I’m not giving away a baby. I’m giving it back to its parents.

DOULA, egg donor and surrogate Amey Bencke, 37, is currently pregnant with a baby for two dads Nik and Kristian and due at the end of June.

“I met my recipients through Egg Donation Australia while they were looking for a donor,” she says.

“In Australia you’re not allowed to advertise that you need a surrogate, so people rely on finding connections through friends, family and support groups.”

Amey says that as the baby was created with the help of an egg donor, with the parents already having one perfect embryo on ice, it’s not related to her.

“I get a lot of people telling me they could never give away a baby, and asking if I think I’ll change my mind. I just keep repeating that I’m not giving away a baby. I’m giving it back to its parents,” she says.

“We were incredibly lucky that it worked first go. I was already an egg donor and thought I could carry a baby for someone, too, if they were creating their own embryos. I figured pregnancy and birth was relatively easy for me, and this would be another way to help a couple become a family.”

Amey says that while surrogacy and egg donation are purely altruistic in Australia, reasonable surrogacy-related expenses are covered by the baby’s parents, such as doctors’ bills and prenatal vitamins.

“Altruistic surrogacy is legal here, but there are rules and regulations you have to abide by –which differ from state to state,” she says.

“We had psychologist evaluations, counselling, legal advice and fertility specialist appointments before we were approved by an ethics board to go ahead.

“Surrogacy certainly isn’t for everyone, but sometimes it’s the only option for people who

find an Australian woman to carry your child,” she says.

“Michael and I travelled from Canberra to Queensland six times during the pregnancy to be at the scans and to visit our surrogate Jessie Thomas.

“We still have a great relationship. We were in regular contact and although we couldn’t pay Jessie, we reimbursed her for whatever we could.”

Emma says that surrogacy has turned their family’s lives around, after connecting with her surrogate through social media.

“I was testing the water when I

Surrogate mother Amey Bencke.

Photo by Amanda Hobson from AJ & ME Photography.

are desperate for a baby but for one reason or another can’t carry a baby.”

Amey, who has three children aged 19, nine and seven, says that this pregnancy has been different to her own.

“I think I’m more conscious of every movement than I was with my babies. It’s a lot of pressure babysitting for nine months,” she says.

“The parents have trusted me with their baby and I want to make sure I give it the best start possible.

“I’ve also had a lot of complications, more than any of us ever anticipated. Severe morning sickness, a heart murmur, low blood pressure; it has put a lot of strain on me, my work and especially my family.

“My family are proud of me, but they will be happy to have me back to my normal self in the next couple of months. I’m really looking forward to playing at the park with the kids and going walking with my husband.

“It’s the little things that turn out to be the big things.”

Dad-to-be Kristian says it’s been a dream of his and Nik’s to become parents for some time.

“To find someone like Amey has been incredible, and means the world to us,” he says. “We were looking overseas for a surrogate but to find someone in Australia who was willing to help us to achieve our dreams, it restores your faith in humanity.”

joined a group on Facebook and almost straight away a post came up from Jessie saying she wanted to be a surrogate and that anyone interested should send her a message,” she says.

Emma, who was in Canberra and Jessie, from Rockhampton, started chatting and formed a friendship, and Jessie formally offered to be their surrogate after they and their husbands had met in person.

“It was an amazing offer and we were so excited, but we didn’t have any embryos at that point, so we found a Queensland doctor who fast-tracked

The Canberra Walk-In Aviary is a 1000 square metre planted walk-in aviary where the friendly free flying birds can be observed, photographed and fed. The Walk-in Aviary’s owners developed the aviary as a way to enjoy and share their extensive collection of feathered friends. It is our mission to allow people to interact directly with the birds. Visitors to the aviary walk amongst more than 500 birds representing 50 different species from Australia and around the world.

Visitors are given a small plate of food and some of the birds will come and interact with you.

our IVF and we had three embryos that were good to go,” Emma says.

After an early miscarriage and finding out that one of the embryos wasn’t viable, Jessie became pregnant on the third try.

“I was surprised at how natural it felt when Anika was born – I thought I’d be weeping with joy but it just felt right and I got straight into mothering,” says Emma.

“At the moment I’m at home with Anika and loving it all, and it’s great having a sibling for Ed, too – I think we had all given up on it ever happening.”

Our summer (September – April) trading hours are 10am to 5pm (last admission 4.30 pm). Our winter (May – August) trading hours are 10am to 4pm (Last admission 3.30 pm.)

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Offering personalised and attentive service, stunning reception venues and luxurious accommodation options for intimate or grand weddings of up to 350 family and friends.

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The Canberra Rex Hotel, 150 Northbourne Avenue, Braddon.

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E ) events@canberrarexhotel.com.au canberrarexhotel.com.au

scene / around canberra

At the opening of Highgate House, Kingston

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Get the right advice

THERE’S no single piece of financial advice that fits everyone.

Some people need help getting a loan, others need guidance starting a business and some just want to get the most out of their tax return. There is a choice of professionals in Canberra dedicated to getting the best financial outcome for the individual. Here are some of the best…

RAMS Manuka is a home-loan provider committed to making sure its customers’ mortgages are made to measure. Its lending managers are qualified to help clients with their property finance, and are available seven days a week. And if people don’t have time to call in to the RAMS Home Loan Centre, the team at RAMS Manuka is happy to come to them. RAMS is dedicated to listening and understanding its clients’ goals and unique situation throughout the entire process.

RAMS franchisee Neil Harlock.

BECAUSE of recent changes, it’s absolutely vital that people with superannuation get advice before the end of June, says chartered accountant Gail Freeman.

“It’s really important that they take advantage of this window to make sure they’re doing the best they can for themselves,” she says.

“After June 30, it may very well be too late!”

Gail is the principal of Gail Freeman & Co, which has been providing Canberra with financial services for 30 years.

“We provide tax advice, financial advice and superannuation advice,” Gail says.

“We can help a business prepare their BAS, we can do business plans, we can do financial plans, budgets and cashflows.

RAMS Manuka, Shop 19, Manuka Terrace Shopping Centre, Flinders Way. Call 6295 9440, email Manuka@rams.com.au or visit rams.com.au/rams-manuka/

“We can provide the direction on how to minimise their tax and how to deal with their super for their best advantage.”

Gail Freeman & Co has the capacity to provide advice on everything because the company keeps up to date, which means clients will only need to see one adviser. And, if people want services that aren’t available at Gail Freeman & Co, Gail says the company has a large network of professionals and can organise outside services.

Gail Freeman & Co, 9/71 Leichhardt Street, Kingston. Call 6295 2844, email info@gailfreeman.com.au or visit gailfreeman.com.au

to suit individual needs

The Strategic approach to financing

STRATEGIC Financial Services ACT was founded last year by Daniel Wood and Caroline D’Ambrosio who share 32 years of experience. With a background in the banking industry, Daniel and Caroline understand how much it has changed. They left banking because they didn’t want to be constrained and don’t want their clients to have to accept products offered by one particular lender.

They say they have the appetite for lending and know how to strategically structure the best financial options to meet the needs of their clients.

One of the things that Caroline specialises in is looking after customers with credit impairment.

“When there’s a mark, such as bankruptcy, a majority of lenders won’t touch you,” she says

“We help them find a loan, there are lenders out there that are willing to lend at competitive interest rates.”

Strategic Financial Services ACT also offers home-loan services, refinancing, car finance and Daniel specialises in property development.

Email info@strategicfinancial.com.au or visit strategicfinancial.com.au

Local with a national focus

WORRELLS in Canberra is a locally focused insolvency business that’s nationally resourced says partner Stephen Hundy.

In 2011 Stephen decided there was a gap in the market for specialised insolvency firms with a national focus.

Worrells assists and informs customers in situations such as liquidation and bankruptcy.

“We appreciate that it’s a difficult time

Worrells’ partner Stephen Hundy.

for people who are going through an insolvency matter, but we’re ethical and we deliver what we say,” Stephen says. Stephen says that Worrells is personal and accessible and has technology that is ahead of most other firms.

Worrells, Level 2, AMP Building, 1 Hobart Place. Call 6287 6000, email canberra@ worrells.net.au or visit worrells.net.au

AFTER a recent move, Actax Accounting is now located in Gungahlin Village.

Its owner Shakhawat Hossain says Actax Accounting does one-hour free consultations for new clients.

Following that, Shakhawat says: “We will quote a fee and our structure is really upfront, we stick to it.”

Actax Accounting has qualified accountants and registered tax agents who provide a friendly service.

Actax Accounting aims to be a trusted adviser and build long-lasting relationships with its clients through trust, integrity, transparency, meeting expectations and helping achieve financial goals.

Actax Accounting, Gungahlin Village, Level 1, 46 Hibberson Street. Call 6262 2779, email admin@actax.com.au or visit actax.com.au

At RAMS,

scene / around canberra

At the Menslink’s Midweeker, Griffith

At the Dementia and the Arts launch, Portrait Gallery

sundayROAST

Stay in touch with the names making news on Sundays from 10am as 2CC and “CityNews” present Canberra’s only local weekend news and current affairs program.

It’s a revolving panel show that brings to the microphone great “CityNews” commentators and 2CC personalities.

Be part of the conversation and call 6255 1206 between 10am and noon.

At the celebration of Africa Day, Albert Hall

arts & entertainment Remembering the change that

By Helen Musa

SAM Cooke’s unforgettable civilrights anthem “A Change is Gonna Come” is more than 50 years old, but it still packs a powerful punch.

That’s the theme and title of the National Museum of Australia’s newest exhibit, focusing on the 1967 Aboriginal Referendum and the 1992 Mabo land rights decision by the High Court.

“CityNews” caught up with its curator, Brenda L Croft, as the show was about to open.

No stranger to Canberra art lovers, Croft was formerly head of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the NGA. One of the busiest independent curators in the country, she’s completing a PhD at UNSW, preparing for a residency at Canberra Glassworks in September and all the while, working on a book about her dad, Joe Croft, a famous Aboriginal adviser in Canberra and a close associate of Charles Perkins.

She’s been working on a contract with the National Museum to pull together the show, but as she tells us, that “change” that Sam Cooke was waiting for and that we are still awaiting, “didn’t happen in a vacuum, there was a long period of activism from the 1920s and solid campaigning.”

When Croft got into the museum’s collection she was surprised at how relatively few objects there were that related to the Constitutional Referendum, so while she considers it a “privilege” to delve into the papers, she’s

had to pull in material from elsewhere.

“Every indigenous person was not elated by the referendum and Mabo… it’s not all kumbaya; it’s not all lovely,” she says.

She looks back to the initial optimism felt by people such as the early 20th century indigenous activist Pearl Gibbs; referendum supporter Faith Bandler; 88-year-old elderin-residence at Charles Sturt University, Ray Peckham and Bundjalung activist Joyce Clague.

But after the excitement, she says, the process stalled and the Black Power movement came about because nothing happened. Much the same frustration has been felt in the aftermath of Kevin Rudd’s 2008 Apology.

“We have to ask questions; it’s just about the most important moment in Australian history,” she says of the referendum, “and the same can be said of Mabo and land rights.”

Putting together such an exhibition

can be something of a curatorial poisoned chalice and anything to do with indigenous Australians and politics gets extra scrutiny down at the pub, but Croft asserts: “We have an obligation to talk about it in the right terms… what came out of the referendum was quite different from the reality.”

For instance, most people imagine Aboriginal Australians got the vote in 1967, but in fact servicemen had had it since the late ‘40s and everyone else since 1962.

What an extraordinary 90.77 per cent of Australians actually voted in favour of was this question: “Do you approve the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled ‘An Act to alter the Constitution’ so as to omit certain words relating to the people of the Aboriginal race in any state so that Aboriginals are to be counted in reckoning the population?”

In other words, it allowed Aboriginal

Australians to be counted in the census.

It wasn’t implemented overnight, Croft points out, and the consequences have still to be played out, but she believes “it’s much better to be able to sit down and talk”.

So what will we see in the show? Faith Bandler’s famous white gloves, worn while talking to non-indigenous groups, will join dockside activist Joe McGinniss’ wharfie’s hook in the main hall at the museum.

Then in the First Australians Gallery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders we’ll see the nullah-nullah owned by Jimmy Clements, the Wiradjuri man who walked from near Gundagai to be at the opening of Parliament House in 1927, and screen prints by poet/artist/Tent Embassy activist Kevin Gilbert depicting Pope John Paul II visiting Aboriginal lands in 1986.

There is also a film installation by Destiny Deacon and Virginia Fraser that includes

footage of Deacon’s ancestors from the late 1800s and firebrand artist Vernon Ah Kee’s huge artwork “Not an Animal or a Plant”, which refutes the mistaken view that Aboriginal Australians were initially classed as flora and fauna – that came with Federation.”

This is a necessary exhibition but not always an optimistic one. Photos taken of Bandler during 1967 show joy and optimism, Croft says, but those taken in 1992 show her looking angry and disappointed.

This will not be glossed over. “It is not always happy, but it’s not a bash over the head,” she concludes.

“A Change is Gonna Come”, National Museum of Australia, until January 30.

art

Dramatic prints that enthral

By Helen Musa

IT wasn’t all cherry blossoms and Madama Butterfly during the shortlived “Restoration” period from 1867 to 1912 when Emperor Meiji reigned in Japan, as the National Library of Australia’s newest exhibition shows.

“Melodrama in Meiji Japan”, featuring more than 20 artists, was made possible by a donation from the late landscape architect Richard Clough of hundreds of literary frontispieces known as “kuchi-e” (literally “opening picture”). These were coloured woodblock illustrations for the equally colourful novels and stories that were all the rage among women who often rented the publications during an era of increasing literacy and westerninfluenced industrialisation.

stories about women’s rights and one even propagating the virtues of drinking milk. Tales about social-class warfare abound and in one, “The Operating Room” from 1895, a countess falls in love with her anaesthetist.

Gary Hickey tells “CityNews”.

An expert on Ukiyo-e exponents and Hokusai (“The Great Wave”) and Hiroshige (“36 views of Mount Fuji”), Hickey has increasing respect for the kuchi-e artists.

As well as the age-old stories of winsome women and their drunken warrior-boyfriends, the books showed women taking on professional roles such as nursing and, in a whole genre of “bloke-lit”, country boys coming to the big city to live.

There are real-life stories of political intrigue and executions,

This is a rare opportunity for the library to show off works equally remarkable for their art and their words.

The works at the NLA were invariably produced by artists, not artisans, the exhibition’s curator

Their pictures, he believes, featured more flowing lines and more subtle colouring than that of their predecessors, but they gave them over to deluxe woodblock printmakers who, competing with photo-mechanical printing, used exclusive techniques such as mica or embossing.

arts in the city

Under a fellowship at the National Library, he has been supported by Mayumi Shinozaki, senior librarian in the library’s Japanese unit.

She’s been helping find captions for the more than 450 possible items for display, while also preparing guides who are naturally fascinated by the connection between Japanese art of the era and the European Impressionists.

Shinozaki is drawn to the “sad images” in time she says, a short period “where emotions were free to be drawn on”. Both before the Meiji and afterwards, when women were sent back home to become mothers of the nation, the kind of free expression seen in the love stories and the images that go with them was unique.

She tells “CityNews” that there were several different genres of novels – ideas novels based on social issues, chivalrous stories and domestic drama stories and men’s stories. Novelist Murakami Namiroku, who wrote fiction featuring chivalric gangsters, urged proper payment for this popular fiction and won.

“Melodrama in Meiji Japan”, National Library of Australia, until August 27. Free, no booking required.

Weaving’s new winter films

THE 5th Winter Film Series will soon be back at the NGA. Curated by Simon Weaving, now a lecturer at the University of Newcastle, the high points this year are new docos about medieval painter Hieronymus Bosch, fashion designer Dries Van Noten and enigmatic artist Joseph Beuys. At the James O Fairfax Theatre, 6.30pm, June 7-July 5. Bookings to nga.gov.au or 6240 6701.

UBIQUITOUS musical director Leonard Weiss is conducting Haydn’s “The Creation” for SCUNA, the ANU Choral Society, with soloists Rachael Duncan, Charles Hudson and David Greco representing, respectively, the archangels Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. Haydn wrote German and English versions of the oratorio – this will be in English. Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, 4pm, Sunday, June 4. Bookings to trybooking.com

CAPO Curatorial Internship Awardees, ANU Art History graduates Clare Fealy and Emily Stewart, are busy curating its third Emerging Artists’ Prize exhibition opening at Belconnen Arts Centre, 6pm, Friday, June 2 and running until Sunday, June 25.

AUSTRALIA’S leading science fiction magazine “Aurealis” has produced its 100th issue and Canberra author David Tansey has contributed stories to both the first issue in 1990 and to the latest, in which his short story “The Cavity” appears. Visit aurealis.com.au

“CONTACT” is a new contemporary dance work choreographed by 22-year-old Jack Riley, a graduate of QL2 and the Victorian College of the Arts, who looks at the impact of personalised objects and technology on our bodies. At QL2 Theatre, Gorman Arts Centre, 55 Ainslie Avenue, Braddon, 7pm, June 9-10. Bookings to eventbrite.com

“SHORT+Sweet Canberra” is still alive and well, but has

been postponed to mid-April 2018 at the Canberra Theatre Centre’s Courtyard Studio. Meantime, there will be a writing workshop with festival director Trevar Alan Chilver from October 13-15, with a script deadline on December 15. All details at shortandsweet.org

WESLEY Music Centre’s “Lunchtime Live” series has brilliant young pianist Aaron Chew performing Chopin’s Sonata No.2 in B flat minor and works by Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu, at the centre, 12.40pm to 1.20pm, on Wednesday, June 7. No bookings required. Donation at the door.

THE 2nd “Girls Rock! Canberra” camp is running during the winter holidays. The five-day program is open to girls, trans and non-binary youth ages 10-17 years. Last year there were 42 participants and 35 mentors. At Ainslie Arts Centre, July 10-15, applications to girlsrockcanberra.com

SALUT! Baroque presents “Performance Practice”, music by Quantz, Geminiani, Rameau, Biber, Avison, Corrette, Mattheson, Ortiz and Fux. At the Albert Hall, 7.30pm, on Friday, June 9. Bookings to trybooking.com

ONCE called “Ireland’s Billie Holiday”, singer Mary Coughlan will perform jazz ballads, blues, rock, Irish songs and original compositions at 7pm in the Canberra Irish Club on Sunday, June 4. Bookings to trybooking.com or 6288 5088.

Tension builds on walking, talking Norman

“Norman” (M)

ANAPHYLAXIS, the most severe form of allergic reaction, is potentially life threatening and must be treated as a medical emergency. Epinephrine can reverse the symptoms within minutes.

That’s all today from Dr Mac. But anaphylaxis neatly bookends writer/director Joseph Cedar’s delightful New York/Israeli co-production, telling about the life and times of Norman Oppenheimer (Richard Gere). Don’t offer Norman a nut. It could kill him unless he immediately shoots up on his epinephrine pen. But before that happens, we’d like to learn more about this charming, insistent arranger of meetings between important people, whose office is a leather shoulder bag and cellphone buds almost never out of his ears, who walks rather than takes a bus or cab, dines on pickled herring on a cracker and for most of the film wears a handsome greatcoat over a well-cut suit and a cloth cap.

In the first of the screenplay’s four acts, Norman gatecrashes a conference, hijacks visiting Israeli deputy infrastructure minister Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi) and buys him an $1100+ pair of Lanvin shoes, thereby providing the film with a leitmotif and the basis for an ongoing friendship.

Three years later, Micha is President of Israel and Norman has his cellphone number. An Israeli natural gas project is in the offing. Norman, still walking everywhere and wearing that signature overcoat, is trying to raise funds to rebuild the synagogue led by Rabbi Blumenthal (Steve Buscemi). Field operative

dining

Alex (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is on Norman’s case. There is talk of conspiracy and corruption. Micha’s political future is at risk.

“Norman” is New York-born Joseph Cedar’s first English-language film. It has much going for it. Its political undertones are never far from the surface. Its growing tensions unfold deftly. The performances are top quality. Its whimsical observations are fun.

At Palace Electric and Capitol 6

“The Sense of an Ending” (M)

REMEMBER that delicious film “The Lunchbox” by Indian filmmaker Ritesh Batra? Now he is in London, where his film from a novel by Julian Barnes tells us about Tony (Jim Broadbent) who has a tiny shop in London where he repairs cameras, particularly Leicas.

Divorced from Margaret (Dame Harriet Walter), Tony gets a letter telling him that Sara Ford (Emily Mortimer), mother of his university girlfriend Veronica, has bequeathed to him the diary kept by his best friend at Cambridge who dated Veronica after she and Tony parted ways.

The plot moves between Tony’s university days and maturity when he and Margaret await the birth of their first grandchild from their lesbian unmarried daughter Susie (Michelle Dockery). It introduces more letters, to which the film doesn’t make us privy – not yet, anyway. It introduces minor characters of various relevance while building up to its

main course, as it were. What main course? Bring the adult Veronica on. Pre-release publicity blazons Charlotte Rampling’s name across the posters. Why are we being made to wait to enjoy the appearance of this superb actress and splendid woman? Tony has to wait as well. When the pair meet, we see that Veronica’s brittle personality hasn’t softened since she was holding Tony’s youthful testosterone at bay. Veronica isn’t letting the diary leave her possession. She’s burned it. And Tony learns that she has a son. Aha! Who’s the father? Avoiding cliché, the film leaves us comfortable with its treatment of smallscale domestic issues. Its tensions may be low-level, its conflicts may be slender, but a first-rate cast makes it work for our benefit.

At Palace Electric, Capitol 6 and Dendy

How sweet it is for Jasmine

By Wendy Johnson

HOW sweet it is to own a business called The Dessert Jar, which makes customers deliriously happy with pastries, cakes, cookies and all things sweet.

The story begins with Jasmine Seah, who has a special compartment in her tummy that she leaves empty so she can indulge in a sweet ending after every meal.

Jasmine eventually baked her way through a patisserie certificate. Then husband Alvin Kho got in on the act by falling in love with the idea of a desserts career. He, too, studied at the William Angliss Institute, Australia’s largest hospitality training provider, and is now the official dessert decorator.

The Dessert Jar was launched after two years of experimenting, planning and baking a mountain of sweets. I know this because around that time, I was given a small round biscuit by a local restaurant owner to try. My reaction was that the creator should start a business. And so it has come to pass.

cakes.

The Dessert Jar specialises in wedding cakes, special-occasion cakes, petit gourmet cakes and tarts, and a wide range of cookies all sweetly wrapped in a glass jar with a burlap cover. All desserts are crafted from scratch using the freshest ingredients. I confess that I’ve put my tastebuds to the test on several sweet products by The Dessert Jar. They’re all decadent without being overly sweet or sickly gooey. Each is a feast for the eyes. Yes, most desserts are decorated, but there’s a distinct quality about the way The Dessert Jar finishes off its products. The petite yoghurt and orange blossom cake, with buttercream, lemon meringue, a baked meringue kiss and bright flowers is one of my

fave edible creations. It’s so delicate and pretty.

The roasted green tea (hojicha) was inspired by a holiday to Japan where Jasmine and Alvin saw shop owners roasting their own green tea in porcelain pots over charcoal. They loved the smell and now import hojicha and pipe it on their small white chocolate and macadamia cakes.

Another wonderful small delight is the Persian Love Cake, with rhubarb, rose glaze and strawberry buttercream. Don’t get me started on the Belgian chocolate and salted-caramel dessert.

To die for is the old-fashioned baked cheesecake with an Oreo cookie base. It’s decorated with fresh seasonal flowers with baked and torched meringues delicately decorating the cake. It’s super creamy and stunningly beautiful. As for the bite-size cookies? They’re perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Something sweet but without the guilt (at least, only bite-size guilt). I love the chocolate-dipped Earl Grey; the cranberry, orange and almond; the hazelnut latte and the lemon-glazed lavender. Time to stop…

Visit The Dessert Jar at the Old Bus Depot Markets or cruise its photo gallery on thedessertjar.com and order online.

“Neruda” (MA)

AS Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (1904–1973) won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971.

Once a senator, he was a Communist who didn’t embrace the Marxist-Leninist version.

Combined with the power of his writings, Neruda’s political commitment and popularity put him offside with President Videla who in 1948 issued a warrant for his arrest.

Director Pablo Larrain (“Jackie”) has made an uncompromising yet amusing and brave film telling how police inspector Oscar Peluchonneau tried to execute that warrant.

With little if any information confirming that Peluchonneau actually existed, it

scarcely matters if he didn’t. In evoking an artist and the nature of his art, historical fidelity and literal-minded dramatisation go only so far. Fiction can bring us closer to the truth.

Telling what might have been, Guillermo Calderon’s screenplay finds mordant humour in the interplay between the poet’s readiness to risk his life in a battle of wits, a thorn as much in the side of his loyal wife Delia (Mercedes Moran) who accompanied him into hiding as it might have been in the side of the bumbling Peluchonneau, beside whom that other famous comic movie cop Clouseau looks like a genius!

Enhancing that effect, Gael Garcia Bernal plays him straight. In breathtaking Andes scenery, Peluchonneau’s final hours are sombre moments.

While Garcia Bernal may have top billing, one of Chile’s favourite comic actors, Luis Gnecco, sweeps all before him as Neruda. In 1996, the late great Philippe Noiret played Neruda in the Oscar-nominated “Il Postino”. I am bound to say that in “Neruda”, Gnecco is right up there beside one of my favourite actors.

At Palace Electric

gardening Spring’s

GARDENERS are eternal optimists. Winter may start on June 1, but are we depressed with the thought of a cold, possibly wet winter with plantdestroying frosts?

Not a bit.

We look at it this way; there are just 12 weeks to spring… with its daffodils, tulips and blossoms on trees. And who will record the first blowfly of the season?

Those fat, broad-bean seeds planted now will provide part of numerous nutritious meals in spring. Ah, spring is in the air for garden optimists!

WHEN it comes to fragrant blossoms though, we don’t have to wait until spring as the first blossoms will appear about the middle of this month. They include the Japanese flowering apricots, Prunus mume “Rosebud”, growing to four metres by four metres or the slightly smaller “Splendens”. Both have delicately scented, double pink flowers and will appear in a few short weeks.

In the early days of Canberra, these plants were in numerous locations in town centres and parks. Through years of neglect there are only a few surviving, for example at Majura Avenue next to Dickson College.

For late-winter, early-spring blossoms it’s hard to go past the flowering almond, Prunus dulcis “Purpurea”. It has striking reddish-purple double flowers with dark purple foliage in summer. An upright, vase-shaped tree, four metres by three metres, it’s suitable for the average-sized garden, if there is such a thing anymore.

HOWEVER, as we look to spring in a few short weeks, there may be some thoroughly miserable days ahead and that’s when I recommend a good read. For instance, “The Invention of Nature. Alexander von Humboldt’s New World” by Andrea Wulf (2015). I borrowed it from the library and discovered Berliner Humboldt’s (1769-1859) amazing story. There are more places with his name than any other scientist, explorer or naturalist. He has more than 300 plants and 100 animals named after him. In North America alone there are four counties, 13 towns, bays, lakes, mountain ranges and a river named after him. It’s compelling reading for anyone interested in plants and nature.

THE ABC’s horrifying program “War on Waste” recently reported that one billion take-away coffee cups end up in landfill annually in Australia. For gardeners, they make great propagation containers. With a few drainage holes in the bottom,

they’re ideal as they don’t dry out as fast as black plastic pots, which absorb heat. Likewise, the used coffee grounds from a favourite cafe are great in the garden. For example, snails hate crawling over them. For years I recycled the old Café Bar plastic coffee cups and propagated fuchsias in them.

Jottings…

• Pest repellant plant hint: coriander, (Coriandrum sativum) spray used on apple and pear trees in winter will help protect them from woolly aphid attack.

• Eucalypt leaves can be put on the compost heap, but first shred them with the mower.

• Prune the old wood out of hydrangeas and take cuttings using used coffee cups.

• Plant asparagus and rhubarb crowns in cow-manureenriched soil.

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Mars (your power planet) is now charging through your home zone, until July 20. Which encourages you to be much more proactive about domestic matters, family relationships and household chores. Then Friday’s Full Moon encourages you to visualise your dreams for the future, and then act on them. Be inspired by actor Corin Nemec: “Never let life impede on your ability to manifest your dreams. Dig deeper into your dreams, believe that anything is possible, and make it happen.”

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

Venus is vamping through your sign, so you’re keen to flirt up a storm or call in a few old favours. It’s also a terrific time to indulge in Taurean passions like cooking, decorating, renovating, gardening, music or craft projects. Attached Bulls – things could get hot and heavy at Casa Taurus on Friday night, when the Full Moon invigorates your intimacy zone. Singles – you’re in a hurry to find a dependable partner but you’ll have to be patient. Take your time and don’t accept second-best!

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

With your ruler Mercury moving into your sign (where it joins the Sun) are you being the real you? Or are you living your life according to other people’s expectations? Heed the wise words of birthday great Judy Garland: “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” Friday night’s Full Moon urges you to focus on a rickety close relationship. Don’t worry if you’re going over old ground – that’s exactly what’s needed at the moment.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

No side-stepping Crabs! Dynamic Mars is now charging through your sign (until July 20). So strive to be extra kind, compassionate and proactive as you initiate ideas, launch passion projects and make progress in creative new directions. With the Full Moon activating your work and daily routine zone, chances are you’ll be burning the midnight oil later in the week. Pace yourself, otherwise you could experience a stress-related health issue (like a headache or stomach upset).

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

Tuesday is a fabulous day to put plans in place to follow your true destiny. The more adventurous the path is, the better. You’re also in the mood to socialise up a storm and pamper yourself, as you engage in compatible conversations and enjoy life’s little luxuries. Don’t assume you have all the answers though. You have much to learn from others – especially the children in your life. The Full Moon urges you to pay attention to the wise words that come out of the mouths of babes!

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

Mercury (your patron planet) is now moving through your career zone, until June 21. So, if you want to get ahead, strive to work smarter (not just harder). And, if you choose to take on a professional challenge, then you’ll find the benefits will far outweigh the difficulties. When it comes to a complicated family matter, avoid quick fixes. Instead, be patient and do all the research that’s required. Virgo vigilance and close attention to details will lead you to a satisfactory solution.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Communicating well with others is the key to a satisfying week. But don’t get carried away and exaggerate your ability to contribute. It’s much better to underpromise and over-deliver! The Full Moon also highlights your kind and charitable nature. So it’s a terrific time to get involved in volunteer work (especially within your local community) or lend a hand to a friend, relative or neighbour who’s in need. You really can make a difference if you think global and act local!

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

This week professional luck is waiting in the wings via extra business, a new job, an innovative idea, an unexpected offer or a surprise connection. So use your substantial Scorpio networking skills to drum up support, and don’t be afraid to ask others for help when it’s required. Friday’s Full Moon favours financial matters – as long as you have been scrupulous with facts and figures. If you can’t do the numbers yourself, then employ an expert who can sort it out for you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Friday’s fiery Full Moon (in your sign) promises an action-packed week. Your motivation and energy levels will be set on high – and so will your impatience. Saturn cautions you to be less hasty and a lot more strategic, as you steer clear of quick-fixes and instead, plan for the long-term. Good things will definitely come to smart Sagittarians who learn to wait. As birthday great Prince wisely noted: “Sometimes it takes years for a person to become an overnight success.”

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

With Venus and Mars in your relationship zones, it’s time to make romantic and platonic love a major priority. So your motto for the week is from Franklin P. Jones: “Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” On Friday and Saturday, lift your nose from the daily routine grindstone and take a look within. Indulge in some quiet contemplation, as the Full Moon stimulates your spirituality zone and you receive important guidance from your inner self.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Tuesday is terrific for love, romance, relationships, education and/or social media. Lady Luck is definitely on your side as you make positive changes and accept exciting new challenges that come your way. Later in the week your independent, rebellious Aquarian spirit is activated by the fiery Full Moon, when you feel adventurous and do the exact opposite of what’s expected. Others may be surprised (or even shocked) by your behaviour but you need to do what’s right for you.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Are you bored to bits with your job? This week the Full Moon (and Saturn) stir up your career zone, so some Fish will feel frustrated and frazzled with work (or lack of work). Be careful what you wish for – ambitious aspirations are fine but you also need to keep your feet on the ground. Other Pisceans will be given the opportunity to lead and/or influence others in some way. Don’t waste it. People are looking for you to come up with the goods, so get cracking and don’t disappoint!

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2017

Across

1 What was the profession of Figaro? (6)

7 Name the hero of Homer’s “Iliad”, whose point of vulnerability was his heel. (8)

8 To blush, is to do what? (6)

9 What do we call those authorised to act for others? (8)

10 Name the son of one’s sibling. (6)

11 What, in meteorology, is a line connecting points on the earth’s surface, having the same temperature? (8)

14 To rain lightly, is to do what? (8)

18 What is an unverified story handed down by tradition? (6)

19 Which defensive barrier is made with posts and stakes? (8)

21 Name a vast, nearly level, treeless plain of the arctic regions. (6)

22 What is an agreement, creating an obligation to do something? (8)

23 For time to slip by, implies that it does what? (6)

Down

1 Name a titled woman. (8)

2 Which great religious teacher was known as “the Enlightened One”? (6)

3 Name a renowned Sydney AJC racecourse. (8)

4 What do we call a small, thin piece of semiconducting material with electrical circuits etched on it? (4)

5 Name another term for a brood of chickens. (6)

6 What is a bolide, or shooting star? (6)

12 Name a dish consisting of beaten eggs served folded around other ingredients. (8)

13 Who was the comic-strip magician created by Lee Falk? (8)

15 What do we call a protector or supporter as of a cause, etc? (6)

16 Name small units of length in the imperial system. (6)

17 What is a list of matters to be brought before a committee? (6)

20 Who, in the Bible, was the first man? (4)

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