CityNews 180930

Zed and the plotters will be back MICHAEL MOORE

Bishop moves to checkmate neighbours PAUL COSTIGAN

When rugby’s love runs cold CHRIS MAC

NEW SEASON

Designer YUMI MORRISSEY heads to the coast for inspiration

NEWS / cover story

Designer Yumi takes to the coast for inspiration

By Danielle Nohra

CANBERRA fashion designer Yumi

Morrissey was at a beach taking photos with her new drone when she captured something she just had to use for her fashion label, Zilpah tart.

“I originally got the drone because I enjoy photography,” says Yumi, 33, of Flynn.

“But when I took the drone to the beach and saw how amazing it looked from above, I thought it had to be a print.

“If you’re standing on the beach, it’s a totally different perspective than from above.”

Using her photos from Forresters Beach on the central coast and photos from Mossy Point near Broulee on the south coast, Yumi is about to launch her new spring and summer collection.

They’re her first prints that aren’t Canberra based. In the past she’s used ACT icons on her designs such as Parliament House, which she says is her most popular print.

“I sold a lot to public diplomats overseas and public servants,” she says.

Many of them told Yumi they bought the dress to “break the ice” and use it as a talking point at work events.

But she’s hoping to expand the brand beyond Canberra and currently has stockists in Brisbane and Melbourne

INDEX

Arts & Entertainment 23-25

Cinema 24

Crossword 27

Dining 25

Gardening 26

Horoscopes 27

Letters 7

News 3-11

After this collection is released, Yumi will start working on her autumn and winter collection but says she always finds her spring and summer collection the easiest.

“I find the spring and summer collections easier because I really like the bright colours,” she says.

“The autumn prints I plan a year ahead because if you wait until the leaves are orange, you already need to

says she always starts by choosing a theme, which then guides the prints and styles.

“Once I’ve chosen the final design, I’ll put them on a storyboard on the computer and put the prints to scale so I can see what they’re going to look like,” she says.

This gives Yumi an idea of where the patterns will sit and avoids any unflattering big horizontal lines going

Since 1993: Volume 24, Number 32

Politics 11

Socials 12-14 Sharon Zhai and Kershawn Theodore in “Madama Butterfly”.

Photo by Jeff Busby. Story Page 23.

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and Aged

“Some photographs are more difficult than others,” she says.

“But the beach prints created some really cool patterns, especially at the point where the print is flipped.”

And while the styles of the dresses change with the new patterns, Yumi always keeps two styles – the crossfront dress and the T-shirt dress.

“They’re styles that suit everyone,” she says.

This collection uses a lot of sheer

fabric because it reminded Yumi of the water.

“This collection is more feminine as it captures the magic of the ocean,” she says.

Yumi says everyone is invited to the launch of the new collection at the CARDIF Collective store in the Woden shopping centre, at 6pm, September 7, where the original photos also will be hanging.

zilpahtart.com.au

WHEN IT MATTERS

SEVEN DAYS / the week of madness

Nothing like a leadership spill to lift the ratings

ONE of the few winners from a drawn out and bruising political leadership battle is usually talkback radio.

The medium again brilliantly kept pace with the extraordinary and unprecedented twists and turns leading up to the appointment of Scott Morrison . And for local talk stations there was the potential for a ratings spike due to the spill playing out during GfK’s Canberra radio survey.

STILL on the wireless and ScoMo’s former bestie Ray Hadley took exception to Nine’s chief political editor Chris Uhlmann’s accusation that shock jocks “waged war” against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Uhlmann countered with: “Unfortunately, the people in the media who yell the loudest seem to have the biggest glass jaws when you point this out”. A furious Hadley opened Thursday’s show – syndicated through 2CC – taunting Uhlmann on his “Labor” leanings.

WITH the greatest respect to Uhlmann, I may be better qualified on the fragility of the Hadley jaw. I once had the temerity to criticise Sydney shock jocks (without naming anyone) and copped a four-minute spray from Hadley at the top of his national radio show the following day. And to make sure I got the message, the following threat was emailed to my boss: “I copped another spray from your drive announcer yesterday. It’s very simple, given he commands about 6.9 per cent of the audience and I have 12.4 per cent, can you tug his coat please, otherwise he’ll cop both barrels to a much larger audience, every day from here to eternity… Ray Hadley.”

BUT the conservative civil war and its destructive fallout had nothing to do with energy policy or tubthumping shock jocks. According to Coalition Leader of the

House Christopher Pyne it’s the fault of we ordinary Canberrans, the parliamentary press gallery and our shared love of a good old party game.

Speaking days before the first spill, Pyne told Radio National’s Fran Kelly : “Everyone in this building and this city loves a leadership story”. The man known as “the fixer” described growing speculation of a spill as no more than “a parlour game, fun in Canberra but doesn’t impress the general public.”

FORMER NSW

Premier Mike Baird was just another face in the crowd on the Parliament House lawns on Friday as news floated down of a new prime minister. Baird, who impressively returned to private life after resigning in January, 2017, was in Canberra for a financial industry conference. Baird said Morrison “was a good friend” and “a good man” and added “the country quickly needs to get behind him”.

necessary for political success, Dastyari told former Canberra radio jock Ryan Jon and his crew on Perth breakfast radio: “If we were in Venezuela or Eastern Europe, there would be a convoy of Toyota HiLuxes heading towards Parliament with AK-47s in the backseat”.

HOWEVER, another high-profile former pollie who refuses to fade into the ether post-Canberra had a bizarre take on the leadership spill. Former NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari suggested we should be grateful we are able to change our leaders.

No stranger to the mathematics

WHILE Machiavellian manoeuvres played out on the hill, machinations of a more mundane and municipal nature bubbled away below in the ACT Assembly. A more equitable spread of portfolios has been achieved with the instalment of an eighth minister Chris Steel, but Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay would no doubt rather flick his gaming responsibilities. Ramsay has imposed a new set of rules for the distribution of funds from ACT clubs, a body which has long been at loggerheads with the government. ACT clubs have retained the right to allocate compulsory community funding but will pay an extra levy into the Chief Minister’s Charitable fund.

AND the final word on the past seven days goes to the Liberal ladies who lunch. Overheard in Manuka, pre spill #2, a declaration they would never vote Liberal again. Hell hath no fury...

PLEASE NOTE:

CANBERRA MATTERS / when

developer Bishop moves to checkmate his neighbours

MANY development proposals challenge residents. The residents of part of Campbell are definitely dealing with something different. The developer is the Anglican Church of Canberra and Goulburn. And it looks as though the residents’ dealings with the church-as-developer are not turning out to be enjoyable experiences.

On Sunday, August 12, residents formed the Campbell Community Association (CCA). In the years before the formation of the CCA, residents had been clear that their top priority was a master plan for the whole suburb and any further changes should wait till this has been completed. It looks as though one resident, the Anglican bishop, has not accepted this popular approach as he pushes ahead with a development in Rosenthal Street, Campbell – the Anglican bishop’s official residence. In 1973 a concessional lease was granted (being at no cost) for this site. A local priest and family now occupy the house as the bishop lives

Maybe it’s time for the bishop to pause this questionable development and to talk not through a planning consultant, but directly to his neighbours to achieve better outcomes for all.

in Goulburn.

This is where it gets confusing.

Locals have had to respond to a development application (DA) for a suite of supportive care townhouses to be built on this site. But the site is not zoned for this.

It seems that while attention has been on the DA, another process has been happening to have the concessional lease altered so that the church can build and sell the townhouses for the special purpose of supportive housing (the target market being aged people requiring support). Does this look like a game being played at the expense of the residents?

The Anglican Church needs cash fairly quickly as a result of the findings of the Royal Commission into Child Abuse. This proposal is that plan put into action. The trouble being that as the taxpayers have already paid for this site through the concessions, the lease may soon be converted

to have profits not come back to the taxpayer, and the consequences will be changes to the amenities of this suburb that are not being agreed to by the locals. People are paying multiple times for the actions of this church.

This is yet another instance whereby a very generous concessional lease could be turned to profit for the leaseholder. There have been several of these recently. Usually it is sporting clubs. As has happened before, we are seeing a large corporation leaning on the planning minister to sign off on a generous gift. Do we expect the ACT planning minister to do the right thing by the residents or to respond to the pressure and keep the bishop happy?

Then there is a list of queries about placing the supportive housing units in this part of Campbell; definitely not in easy reach of the local shops (all uphill to return); this corner on Rosenthal Street is notoriously dangerous with drivers taking short cuts and not slowing down (aged residents will be risking everything as they exit and enter); two-storey townhouses means stairs for aged

people requiring assistance (makes sense?); there is no parking on this part of the street and they plan for just two visitor parking on site. The parking arrangements are as bad as any of the townhouse DAs popping up in an ad hoc manner across Canberra. At a time when the churches need to build trust and respect, this church does not seem to be going out of its way to work with the residents beyond the very minimal requirements to drop leaflets, run a couple of information sessions (called consultations, but we know what that means) and not much more. Maybe it is time for

the bishop-as-developer to pause this questionable development and to talk not through a planning consultant, but directly with residents, his neighbours, to achieve better outcomes for all – not just for the church. And the ACT planning minister and the chief planner should get on with the long overdue master plan for Campbell.

Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

With all villas now complete and only a limited number remaining for sale don’t miss your chance to discover over 55’s

MAYBE it’s time the people of Canberra threw out the out-of-date Labor/Greens government.

The current Labor/Greens government is systematically ruining and poisoning this beautiful city of ours. The rates keep going up and they keep spending on things that are unimportant or unnecessary. They have ruined Northbourne Avenue and will do the same elsewhere when the light rail gets extended.

The Labor/Greens are also eliminating all the green space in Canberra and cutting down all the trees on the light rail route that will also have an impact on our health, not just physically but psychologically. I believe it’s time for a change.

Let’s face it, any government would have to be better than what we have poisoning what was the bush capital and making it into a concrete jungle.

Vi Evans via email

Yet essential things are not getting funded, they are cutting out bus routes and bus stops making children, the disabled and the elderly walk long distances. But it’s not surprising; Chief Minister Andrew Barr said publicly that he was not interested in the views of the over 40s so why should he care if they have to walk a longer distance to catch a bus? The Labor/Greens don’t care about the businesses in Gungahlin. Meegan Fitzharris said: “While construction impacts on local business, there is light at the end of the tunnel”. Yet people are losing their livelihood right now.

RE letter writer Jan Kicenko’s confusion about housing labels (CN, August 8): “affordable housing” is simply housing built to be leased out by an agency such as CHC Affordable Housing where the properties are leased out at about 75 per cent of the market rate. This is supported by incentives from the Federal government in the form of the National Rental Affordability Scheme and other incentives from state governments.

The ACT government is working with developers to release affordable housing packages where tenants are basically paying rent to eventually own the property. I cannot find any information for individual landlords to enter existing properties into the scheme,

so I am a little concerned that this is a stitch up between Labor and their developer mates.

You can find out more through Access Canberra on 132281, via email at affordablehousing@act.gov.au or search for that term for the option to register interest in an affordable home on the Canberra Connect or ACT government website.

Alex Satrapa, via email

Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au or write to the editor at: 9b / 189 Flemington Road, Mitchell 2911 Write

As Australia’s energy system transitions the Australian Government is making energy more affordable. We’ve turned the corner on electricity prices and reined in the power of the network companies. We’ve secured agreements with retailers to give customers a better deal – saving you hundreds of dollars a year. And we’ve ensured there’s enough gas for Australians before it’s shipped off shore.

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reader HOWARD CAREW is grumpy at the painful demise of affordable housing in Canberra.

WE had affordable housing from the 1950s to the 1980s in Canberra and elsewhere in Australia.

This was achieved by the then Federal government providing affordable land sold, in many cases, over the counter.

Since then land has steadily become more unaffordable.

In the ACT, housing unaffordability is a selfinflicted problem and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, we had a Federal government overseeing public housing in the ACT and, secondly, there was a provision for over-thecounter sales of blocks.

At the moment land developed by private firms is predominantly sold by auction. This plus the fact that land is artificially kept on short supply means that competitive bidding has driven up the price of land sharply.

The ACT government, because of light rail in particular, can’t afford to ensure affordable housing. It needs the high land prices and the high rates that follow to stay in the black as far as the Budget goes.

There is no way any low-income, prospective home buyers could have an affordable home using ACT government schemes. The accepted definition of an affordable home is one that costs around one third of a person’s income.

With self government, the housing market started to change for the worse. The concept of having a large public housing mix in the ACT

took a battering. Both the Labor and Liberal Parties were determined to reduce the 13,500 public housing dwellings by selling off as much as they could and since then the public housing stock has dropped to around 10,000 units. Since 1995, the criteria for applying for a public housing unit has been tightened with wait times blowing out from just inside three years to five. And the proportion of homeless people has risen roughly by the amount of public housing sold off. To any logical mind the result is a condemnation of the ACT government.

Since 1995 we have gone from having a low proportion of homeless people to having the second highest proportion in any Australian city. The auction system – where developers can outbid new entrants to the housing market – has seen the cost of housing more than triple over 20 years. This has created a situation where you cannot reduce the price of land without financially hurting people who have bought houses at the current price.

Howard Carew has owned a printing business for 30 of the years he has been in Canberra. Since semi-retirement he has been active in community affairs.

Grumpy is an occasional column dedicated to things that get up your nose. Readers are invited to vent (no more than 300 words, please) at editor@citynews.com.au

MUSIC WHEREVER HE GOES!

GRUMPY 2 / rugby league

Rugby’s love runs cold

Broadcaster CHRIS MAC has had a gutful of Rugby League’s inconsistencies and blunders and has blown the whistle on watching the game.

AFTER more than half a century, my love for the game of Rugby League has died.

I’ve delayed writing this for several weeks because I wanted to be sure.

And now, I reckon, increasing numbers of other life-long devotees to “The Greatest Game of All” have come to that conclusion as well.

This decision has not been because of the efforts of the team I follow...yes, it’s the Canberra Raiders. What drove me to this was what I perceived was happening TO the Raiders, as well as other teams.

The “crunch”, to use one of those well-worn sporting cliches, was several weeks ago, when the “Green Machine” was trying to stay in the finals race in a game at Cronulla’s Shark Park. At the time, my wife and I were on a short holiday in Townsville, in of all places the Cowboys Leagues Club.

While having dinner, the game being played in far away southern Sydney was on the big screen across the room.

Fair tries disallowed again and, remarkably, a try allowed against the boys AFTER a touch judge raised his flag to “stop play”. Seriously?

A string of frustrating referees’ decisions,

inconsistencies and blunders throughout the season came to a head. I looked across the table at my lovely lady and we said, as one:

“That’s it, we’re done”.

I had delayed doing this but this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

A story written by Fairfax journo Andrew Webster two years ago came to mind, where a senior league official (unnamed so far, Andrew, please spill the beans!) had allegedly told Raiders officials his wish, and that of the National Rugby League hierarchy, was that the Raiders would simply wither on the vine and die. They were getting in the way of another team in Brisbane and maybe one in Perth.

Let’s just say I have joined the dots. To the CEO of the NRL, Todd Greenberg, I say, this has driven away a bloke who followed the game for more than 50 years.

Season ticket, gone. Pay TV subscription (owing to this and my family being fed up with the endless repeats, but that’s another story!) gone.

To Raiders CEO Don Furner, coach and Raiders legend Ricky Stuart, skipper Jarrod Croker and all the boys, I’m sorry I cannot deal with this any longer.

Maybe I will come back to a game I have followed, written and broadcast about in this city for 35 years. Thanks to all of you and all the players and officials at the Raiders and the local league I have had the privilege of working with over the years.

For now, though, it is a very sad “adieu”.

Chris Mac broadcasts on 2CC and 2CA.

10AM - 5PM

THURSDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2018

SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB, WODEN

Canberra’s biggest sustainability expo will feature keynote speakers, inspirational seminars, interactive and innovative workshops, exhibitors and networking opportunities.

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Queanbeyan salutes special ‘moments’

THE double-handled solid silver cup is a little tarnished, the engraving on its plaque well worn, but given it was presented 121 years ago to the first internationally-recognised sports star to hail from Queanbeyan, it’s in remarkably good shape.

George Gribble received the trophy in 1897 in Dublin from Queen Victoria in recognition of his dominance of the ancient equestrian art of “tentpegging” – retrieving ground targets with a lance while on horseback – at a military tournament honouring the monarch’s jubilee.

It’s just one of the rare and unusual items to form part of an exhibition for the area once known as the Land District of Queanbeyan: “180 Mementos | 180 Years”, which runs from September 28 to October 14.

Queanbeyan was officially proclaimed a village on September 28, 1838, a decade after the first settler called it home. To mark this milestone, 180 historically significant and little-seen objects will be displayed throughout the city at

various venues and businesses including The Q Performing Arts Centre, the library, the Queanbeyan Sporting Gallery, the local museums, and the Royal Hotel.

It will encompass a number sourced from private collections as well as some nominated and voted for by the public – and a selection will even be available for closer inspection and monitored handling.

According to one of the organisers, “CityNews” columnist and social historian Nichole Overall, each memento is a window on to the development of the region, from the pre-European history, to the instigation of a town with a population of less than 50, Queanbeyan’s significant role in the establishment of Canberra and its more recent incarnation as cosmopolitan centre.

“Many know us thanks to our impressive list of champions including international names such as rugby legend David Campese, acclaimed author Miles Franklin, and onetime Bond, George Lazenby, who grew up here.”

“Our story though is even more rich and varied with extraordinary and far-reaching successes in everything from

business and industry to cultural pursuits and the arts.

“This exhibition is another chance for us to present some of these amazing stories, people, and events in an engaging and interactive way, highlighting our journey which, to a degree, also charts the progress of a nation.”

Another rarely seen item

will be the first gravestone ever erected in the town, the year after its proclamation.

On January 31, 1839, the baby daughter of the district’s first police magistrate, Captain Alured Tasker Faunce, was buried alongside the Queanbeyan River. In one of the many engaging mysteries to have emerged from the

area, the grave and marker belonging to Anna Maria were somehow lost until, incredibly, stumbled across almost a cen tury after her passing. It then disappeared again before be ing rediscovered after almost another four decades.

Now the stone fragments, with parts of the inscription still readable (“Beneath This Stone an Infant’s Ashes Lie”), reside at the Queanbeyan Museum. Stored away due to their fragility and importance, on this occasion they’re being presented as a particularly poignant physical representation of the passage of time.

Sustainability expo

ACT businesses are invited to learn practical and innovative ways to sustainability at the Actsmart Business Sustainability Expo at the Southern Cross Club, Woden, 10am-5pm, Thurs-

Jumpers for joy

“Reminders such as this give something of an idea of the harshness and isolation of those early times and also the enduring connection to this place,” says Nichole.

“Descendants of many of the pioneering families, including the Faunces, continue to live here almost two centuries on.”

“180 Mementos | 180 Years” will be launched at The Q theatre, 5.30pm7.30pm, Thursday, September 27, all welcome. To confirm interest and for further details and venues hosting mementos, email qbn@ qbncityofchampions.com.au or see 180Mementos.wixsite.com/qtown

JAZZY Jumpers rope skipping club, based in Amaroo, has returned from the World Jump Rope Championships in Orlando with a swag of international medals. Eighteen Jazzy Jumpers competed in the championships and collectively brought home 21 medals including some gold medals.

Republican essays

WITH a $1000 first prize, year 10, 11 and 12 students are invited to take part in the Republic Essay Competition, which aims to encourage future leaders to reflect on Australian civics and citizenship. The subject is “Young Australians deserve to have a say on an Australian head of state. Discuss” and essays are invited up to 1000 words. Entries as a Word or PDF document need to be in by 5pm, August 31 to essay@republic.org.au

Zed and plotters will be back

Seselja could not hide his despondency following the failed coup. He backed the wrong horse on Tony Abbott. He also backed the wrong horse on Peter Dutton.

THE political storm has calmed. The coup failed. A compromise candidate is now Liberal Party leader and prime minister while the conservatives lick their wounds. However, it is just the eye of the storm. The calm may last beyond the next election – but the Liberal Party remains divided.

Journalist Margo Kingston tweeted: “The far right struck for the chance to destroy centrism”. Even more incisively: “We are watching the death of the Sir Robert Menzies Liberal Party due to the expulsion of liberalism”.

And ACT Senator, Zed Seselja was up to his armpits in this.

The conservatives bungled this coup, however, they will regroup and try again. Their ideology is just too strong. They are evangelists set on establishing a conservative party with the Liberal Party branding. These are the plotters and the conspirators that Malcolm Turnbull was referring to during the week of madness.

The outgoing prime minister also exposed considerable backing for the “insurgency” from powerful forces beyond the parliamentary party. In his final media appearance as PM, he commenced by outlining the achievements of his “progressive” government. The point would not be lost on the reactionaries who had launched the mutiny.

Seselja could not hide his despondency following the failed coup. He looked like he had been kicked in the stomach – or lower. He backed the wrong horse on Tony Abbott. He also backed the wrong horse on Peter Dutton. His ideology trumped his loyalty to Malcolm Turnbull, who had appointed him as a minister, exposing a two-faced behaviour.

From the beginning of his political career Zed Seselja has been a proud conservative. He has been clear where he stands regarding his ideology. The senator, and former Leader of the Opposition in the ACT, has also been building a party of conservative members. This is why liberals in the ACT have been deserting the local Liberal Party allowing

the number of conservatives to come to ascendancy. Zed is part of this push not only locally but federally.

With Canberra being generally left of centre, unless things change dramatically, it seems that he will continue to back a losing side. As one listener commented on ABC radio, Zed is out of step on failing to support equal rights for the ACT (as I outlined in this column last week) and in plotting against the prime minister.

Columnist Michelle Grattan warned that a Dutton win would put “a stranglehold on the Liberal Party’s throat”. Others have described the move as attempting to “Trumpify the Liberal Party”. More like “Pauline Hansonify the Liberal Party”.

Engineers of the putsch have also been rewriting history. Seselja told local ABC radio that the Liberal Party was going back to its original base as conservatives. Menzies would roll in his grave! While attempting to rewrite history, there is also an attempt to redefine their political position. The traitors who moved on Malcolm Turnbull would see themselves as conservatives. In reality they are reactionaries.

The next steps are interesting. Commentators have emphasised the importance of unity if the Liberal Party is to survive and have any chance at the next

election. Self-interest will now demand unity, knowing that disunity will mean a drop in popular support followed by electoral disaster. For ordinary members, this could mean a loss of their own seat. The party will show unity for a time. The unity of the next few months will mark the eye of the storm. The only question is when will it pass and the full force of the hurricane of division reappear.

The reactionaries, under the leadership of people like Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton, simply cannot stand liberal ideology. It is embedded in their DNA. They will not give up. As illustrated by ascent of reactionary politicians such as Seselja and local Liberal leader Alistair Coe, it is clear the same is true in the ACT. It is simply a matter of time before the wars of ideology resume.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health in the Carnell government. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.

SCENE / around canberra

SCENE / around canberra

At the Orthopaedics ACT cocktail party, Woden

At the opening of Canberra Parklands Central Apartments, Dickson

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 new office opening of Nexia Canberra, Civic

WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK

The time to put yourself first

WHEN it comes to health, many women are great at caring for others but often put themselves last.

From September 3-9, women will be encouraged to put their own health first during the 2018 Women’s Health Week.

Founded by national not-for-profit organisation Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, the campaign has been a permanent fixture on the Australian health calendar since 2013.

“By signing up you’ll receive free health tips, recipes, videos, podcasts and more, aimed at inspiring you to live a healthier life,” says Jean Hailes director Janet Michelmore.

This year more than 60,000 women are expected to take part in more than 1500 events around the country and already 25,000 have registered to receive the free health-related content

Adult playground for having fun with fitness

NOT all women like going to the gym, which is why owner of Aerial Sports in Mitchell, Cher Albrecht, created an adult playground, where women and men can get fit, while having fun.

She says about 80 per cent of Aerial Sports students are women, who enjoy building strength and endurance in a fun atmosphere.

“Your workout is secondary, while exploring what your body can do on the apparatus being the focus,” Cher says.

“We encourage playing, which isn’t just for children, so we wanted to create an adult playground in a safe and nurturing environment for adults to get their play on and gain friendships while staying fit.

“We try to discourage competitiveness, and encourage everyone being supportive of each other and wherever they are in life.

“Some of our students have just had babies, and though they can’t do everything others might be able to do they are still supported and encouraged to keep at it.”

Aerial Sports has classes for all levels such as regular aerial, silk, lyra and trapeze.

“Our school is unique in that adult classes run on a casual basis, rather than term, which allows adults with busy schedules to come when it suits their schedule – and not lose out on money because they can’t make an entire

Aerial Sports, 17a Darling Street. Call 6262 0215, email info@aerialsports.com.au or visit

Hands-on help with preventative care

INJURIES, pain and stiffness affect women in many ways, and can prevent them from maintaining their fitness and health goals, says physiotherapist Erani Fernando, of Hands-On Physiotherapy.

“The team at Hands-On can help facilitate recovery from these conditions and help you regain function, enabling you to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” she says.

To help women stay healthy, which reduces the risk of conditions such as heart disease, type II diabetes and osteoporosis, Hands-On Physiotherapy can tailor exercise programs to suit any individual.

“[Staying healthy] helps to keep your bloodpressure levels and cholesterol levels in a safe range,” she says.

Erani says menopause can also increase a woman’s risk of developing osteoporosis due to a drop in oestrogen levels.

“Women can reduce the risk of osteoporosis by performing weight-bearing and resistance training exercises regularly,” she says.

Other issues Hands-On Physiotherapy sees often are hand and wrist problems such as de Quervain’s tenosynovitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

“These conditions can start due to changes in hormone levels through pregnancy and the volume of heavy repetitive tasks involved in caring for a new baby,” says occupational therapist Elissa Moss.

And for mums who are faced with mastitis, HandsOn can work with them to improve their breastfeeding experience.

Hands-On Physiotherapy, 1/43 Mawson Place, Mawson. Call 6286 6467, visit hands-onphysiotherapy.com.au or email email admin@hands-onphysiotherapy.com.au

Small classes and personalised Pilates

PILATES classes can help with bone density, strength, flexibility, blood flow, maintaining a good posture and quality of life, says Core Essentials Pilates owner Sven Smith.

With many classes, such as “Circuit Pilates”, “Mat” and “Reformer Pilates”, Sven says Core Essentials Pilates keeps its classes small and personalised.

One class in particular, “Move”, is a full-body workout, designed for anyone who wants to challenge their strength and co-ordination, balance and stability, while calming and focusing the mind.

This movement-and-dance-inspired class is

grounded in controlled Pilates principles, fusing low-impact Pilates with dance cardio and small apparatus.

“Move” emphasises connection of the body and mind, appealing to a student’s physical and mental wellbeing.

But if these classes don’t suit, Sven says Core Essentials Pilates can tailor something for the individual.

Core Essentials Pilates, Level 1 / 14 Barker Street, Griffith. Email admin@coreessentialspilates. com.au, call 0410 598542 or 0488 349747, or visit coreessentialspilates.com.au

WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK

Scans offer early diagnosis of endometriosis

Canberra’s Pelvic Floor & Women’s Health Specialists

Her Physio is a specialised physiotherapy service for women of all ages

A GROUND-breaking ultrasound that can diagnose six of the seven forms of pelvic endometriosis is now available in Canberra at the JUNIC Specialist Imaging & Women’s Centre, says Dr Uche Menakaya.

This ultrasound approach that was recently described in the “American Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine” is important for early diagnosis of endometriosis, which Dr Uche says is key.

“When you’re diagnosed early, it tends to reduce the complication of chronic fatigue and reduced fertility,” he says.

Endometriosis occurs in 1 in 10 women in Australia and is present when the tissue, similar to the lining of the uterus (womb), is outside this layer.

Before this scan was available, Dr Uche says it could take up to eight years for a woman to be diagnosed.

“The disease can occur in many different forms with some women with endometriosis having one or more of these different forms present at any one time,” he says.

By using this scan, Dr Uche says it’s cost and time effective, and enhances women’s understanding of the disease.

“Most importantly, it gives women more control over who manages their surgery and where it is performed, enabling them to ask the right questions regarding

Specialist help with effects of domestic violence

Marita’s serious about pelvic-floor health

THERE is no better time for women to address their pelvic-floor health, says Her Physio’s Marita O’Shea, especially since this year’s message for Women’s Health Week is about putting “you” first.

Marita, who is a pelvic floor and continence physiotherapist says for many women pelvic-floor health is something that they experience difficulty with.

“Problems such as pelvic floor muscle weakness, urinary incontinence, bowel problems, vaginal prolapse and pelvic pain are very common but also can be very difficult to talk about,” she says.

And, according to research, 65 per cent of women in a general practice waiting room report incontinence yet only 31 per cent seek help.

Health challenges can arise at any stage of life - during pregnancy, as a new mum, when juggling the demands of work and raising a family, or easing into retirement

Did you know?

• 1 in 3 women who have ever had a baby, experience urinary incontinence

• 1 in 5 suffer from poor bladder and bowel control

• 1 in 2 experience symptoms of vaginal prolapse

• 1 in 5 experience pelvic or sexual pain

At Her Physio we treat and help manage bladder and bowel problems, prolapse and pelvic pain.

Marita O’Shea Continence and Women’s Health Physiotherapist

B App Sci (Physiotherapy)

B App Sci (Ex Physiology)

Post Graduate Certificate (Continence and Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation)

SUPPORTING all people affected by domestic violence is essential work that needs to be a national priority, says the Domestic Violence Crisis Centre’s director of client services Dearne Weaver.

This year the Domestic Violence Crisis Centre celebrates 30 years of supporting the Canberra community through services such as a 24/7 telephone crisis counselling service, face-to-face visits, support to access emergency accommodation, help with legal and court matters, support programs for those who’ve experienced or witnessed violence and those who want to stop using violence.

“The potential health impacts of domestic violence are significant,” Dearne says.

“The most common are stress induced sleep disorders, headaches, depression, anxiety related disorders, PTSD, many physical health issues, [as well as] drug and alcohol issues.”

And then, Dearne says the least common but most extreme health outcome is death.

“Unfortunately health issues can continue long after immediate safety has been addressed, particularly for children,” she says.

Dearne says timely support at critical times, such as the support provided by the Domestic Violence Crisis Centre, increases people’s resilience and supports better health outcomes.

“Having access to a specialist service which can provide support, information, referrals, advocacy, safety planning, safe accommodation, and longer term supports is essential in providing families with the opportunity to lead safe and fulfilling lives,” she says.

Domestic Violence Crisis Centre. Call the crisis hotline on 6280 0900 or visit dvcs.org.au

“Working with a pelvic-floor physiotherapist to improve your pelvic-floor strength, bladder and bowel habits can significantly improve your quality of life,” Marita says.

“I provide specialist physiotherapy services to assess and help women manage these problems.

“I also do postnatal checks for new mums to assess pelvic-floor strength and abdominal separation and provide guidelines for returning to their pre-baby exercise routine.”

Marita says every woman can benefit from a pelvic-floor assessment.

“You may not have symptoms now but these can develop with ageing and menopause,” she says.

“Pelvic-floor awareness is important and being proactive about your pelvic-floor health is essential.”

Her Physio, Deakin, call 6282 2033, Bruce, call 6180 8500 or visit herphysio.com.au

EMPOWERING WOMEN

• Community based specialist women’s health centre

• Pioneering the ‘one stop’ model of care for quality women’s health services

• Global leadership in the pre surgical diagnosis of endometriosis using ultrasound

• Advanced laparoscopic surgery

• Bulk billed Colposcopy services

• Early pregnancy assessment centre

NEW SERVICE Laser therapy for vulvovaginal indications

Phone: 02 6178 0470 • Fax: 02 6113 0743

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To take advantage of this offer email hello@womenwithcents.com.au www.womenwithcents.com.au FOR JUST $99

WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK

It’s essential to

feel good, says Yvette

SPECIALISING in remedial, pregnancy and sports massage, Massage Essentials in Tuggeranong helps women (and men) feel good, says owner and remedial massage therapist Yvette Croft.

“When you feel good, you actually get out and exercise,” she says.

“Remedial massage helps you feel good, it keeps people going and it helps them de-stress, especially if you’re an office worker who’s stuck in a chair.”

Or if women are pregnant, says Yvette, who works on their lowerback pain, sciatic pain and helps them get through their pregnancy.

“Our bodies change so much during pregnancy, so it’s important to make sure we’re looking after ourselves and our baby as well,” she says.

Yvette also sees a lot of active

students, elite sports people such as the Canberra Raiders and office workers who are stuck at a desk all day. She can do myofascial dry needling, which works on trigger points and relieves tension from the muscles, and is a level two sports trainer so can help with injury prevention and recovery.

She’s a big believer in the healthy effects of massage, however, warns people to make sure they’re getting treatments from someone who is qualified.

“It’s so important to make sure your therapist has had the training they need,” she says.

Massage Essentials, 5 McKenzie Street, Kambah. Call 0408 860486, email massageessentials@bigpond.com or visit massage-essentials.com.au

Good financial health makes lots of ‘Cents’

to Natasha

“FINANCIAL health and our relationship with money affects our physical health,” says Natasha Janssens, who founded Women with Cents in 2016 to help women make “cents” of their finances.

The idea began after Natasha started engaging more with mothers’ groups on social media following the birth of her first child in 2014.

“[It] opened my eyes to the lack of financial resources available to women,” she says.

“Many women were turning to their mothers’ groups for financial advice and often it was a case of the blind leading the blind with some advice being plain risky and inappropriate.”

Natasha says Women with Cents is a community that gives women the necessary tools to make better

financial decisions and achieve financial independence.

“The more we talk about money with each other, the more we realise that we aren’t the only ones facing particular challenges,” she says.

“If you want to succeed in any given area it is important to surround yourself with like-minded people who will help you stay focused and committed to your goals and that’s where the power of the community lies.”

And, Natasha says, research suggests that financial advice improves people’s ability to manage finances which, in turn, leads to better health, happier relationships and an increased sense of wellbeing, especially for women.

Visit womenwithcents.com.au

Melanie’s pathway: movement, massage and mindset

NEW to Gold Creek, MMM Wellness provides people with a pathway to wellness and vitality through movement, massage and mindset, says its director

Melanie, who’s a massage therapist, chair yoga instructor, meditation teacher and holistic coach, offers all these services at MMM Wellness to help women, and

“For women in particular, I think they focus so much on family and work, they don’t take time to focus on

“It’s really important to take that time out and focus

Melanie says there’s many benefits of massage such as alleviating stress, encouraging better sleep, and reducing muscle pain, as well as aches and tension.

“Chair yoga provides a low impact way to increase strength, flexibility and balance, while also teaching you how to relax,” she says.

“And meditation is a self empowered and natural way to greatly improve mental, physical and emotional health.”

But no matter what reason women come to MMM Wellness, Melanie says she aims to provide a space for women to explore not only their body but their mind.

And for people who are interested in massage,

• Limited Memberships • Top Tier Personal Training

• Signature Classes

• Yoga, Boxing and Mobility Sessions

• Complimentary Parking

• Heated Indoor Pool 25 metres

• Steam Room, Spa and Sauna • Strength Floor • Cardio Zone

• Mudd The Spa

Mudd The Spa offers five private relaxation suites, including a couples room, a custom-designed Vichy Shower wet room and relaxation lounge.

Exclusive spa treatments and rituals for both men and women including facial, massage, hot stone massage, vichy shower, performance body treatment wraps, manicure, pedicure, organic spray tanning and waxing and tinting therapies.

To book your experience phone 6162 0909 • www.mudd.com.au

WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK advertising feature

Riana’s offers holistic skin and body treatments

RIANA Janse van Rensburg is inspiring women around her through her beauty, dermal skin care and medical services at Riana’s Health & Skin Care Clinic.

“Feeling good creates a wave of positive outcomes,” she says.

Located in Greenway, Riana’s Health & Skin Care Clinic offers a range of holistic skin and body treatments, which are supplemented by equipment such as wellness vibrollage, high-tech lasers and advance facial equipment.

“I have a total wellness machine for body and mind rejuvenation (proellixe), the Lotus Gyno Laser for vaginal problems (laxity, dryness, incontinence, infections and lack of sensation) and facial machines for sun damage – to name a few,” she says.

But Riana’s Health & Skin Care Clinic also provides services such as cosmetic tattooing, skin-lesion removal, hair removal and dermal fillers.

Riana’s Health & Skin Care Clinic, Office 1/146 Scollay Street, Greenway. Call 6166 2265, email ihccentre@gmail.com or visit riana-centre.com.au

Exercise daily, that’s the key to staying healthy

“THE number one thing women can do to maintain their health and keep disease at bay is exercise daily,” says Lisa from Fernwood, who recommends all women exercise 30 minutes a day.

“It will not only improve your cardiovascular health but also help you maintain a healthy weight, body mass index, and lower your risk of developing endometrial cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer, which are all linked with obesity,” she says.

And even though going to a gym can be intimidating Lisa says Fernwood Fitness only employs friendly and approachable women to make its members feel welcome and comfortable.

“We’re not just a gym; we’re a whole support network,” she says.

“When you’re not working out, you can keep in touch with us and our members on our Fernwood Facebook page, sign up to one of our online programs for more motivation, enter one of our competitions, or read the latest health information on our blog or in our Fernwood Magazine.

“Or just drop into the members lounge to say ‘hi’.”

Lisa says their members are always saying positive things about Fernwood, such as one woman who said: “The ladies here have changed my life. I have lost weight, gained friends and have increased confidence.”

Fernwood Fitness, visit fernwoodfitness.com.au

RIANA SAYS… PERMANENT MAKE-UP

Riana Janse van Rensburg completed her basic training in 1994. Since then she has completed advanced, master, paramedical and camouflaging courses in permanent make-up.

Today Riana specialises in:

• Brow designs (hair strokes, french shading and 3D designs).

• Eyeliner designs (colour stacking, shading, smoking and blocking).

• Lip designs (full, lined or blended).

Riana specialises in correcting the work of unqualified/inexperienced tattooists on new clients’ brows.

Riana also offers free consultations to women who have suffered trauma, stress and embarrassment from the work of inexperienced tattooists. Riana sees on average five ladies a week who have been through such a traumatic experience.

Riana specialises in permanent make-up, a cosmetic technique that uses tattoos (permanent pigmentation of the dermis) to produce designs that resemble make-up, such as eyelining and other permanent enhancing colours to facial skin, lips and eyelids. It is also used to produce artificial eyebrows,

particularly in people who have lost them as a consequence of old age, disease (such as alopecia totalis, chemotherapy or a genetic disturbance) and to disguise scars and white spots in the skin, such as vitiligo. It is also used in post breast surgery to restore or enhance the areola.

WOMEN’S HEALTH WEEK

Women adventurers on the big screen

DEDICATED to all women across Australia to make good health a priority, the Women’s Adventure Film Tour will be at Dendy Cinemas on September 5.

The tour is an official part of Women’s Health Week and showcases stories of women adventurers, which are rarely seen on the big screen.

It’s a celebration of women who are doing extraordinary things and are aimed to be enjoyed by both women and men of all ages.

This year’s tour includes 12 short films, half of which feature local adventurers such as Australia’s best female rock climber, Monique Forestier.

It’ll also showcase the youngest Australian to reach the summit of Mt Everest, Alyssa Azar; record-breaking

expedition cyclist, Dr Kate Leeming and international snowboard competitor, Michaela Davis-Meehan. Viewers can also get a glimpse into the life of competitive adventurer and world champion trail rider Janine Jungfels, and Australian and NZ Olympic skiers Anna Segal and Janina Kuzma.

This is Women’s Adventure Film Tour which is the original women’s adventure film tour, created in Australia in early 2017, and it has since gone on to screen in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK.

“Women’s Adventure Film Tour”, Dendy Cinemas, 148 Bunda Street, 7pm-9pm, September 5. Bookings to womensadventurefilmtour.com/australia

Emily offers lots of help to staying healthy

WOMEN are more active and are working longer hours than ever before, so keeping on top of aches, pains and stress is vital to stay ing healthy, says CARM Therapies’ founder and co-director Emily Avery.

“When you feel good on the inside, you often also look happier and more vibrant on the outside,” she says.

Which is why CARM Therapies offers a variety of services to cater for women’s health and wellbeing such as acupuncture, remedial massage therapy and yoga for treatment and support of pregnancy related

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Moods of Madame Butterfly

By Helen Musa

THE role of Madame Butterfly, CioCio-San, the tragic heroine of Puccini’s opera, “Madama Butterfly”, is one of the most demanding in the repertoire, but soprano Sharon Zhai is up for it.

A fully staged version of the Puccini classic is coming to Canberra, conducted by Warwick Stengårds with an 11-piece chamber orchestra and chorus drawn from Woden Valley Youth Choir.

It’s a solo debut with Opera Australia for Zhai, who trained at the Central Conservatory of Beijing, took out a masters from the Sydney Conservatorium, performed for eight years in Italy, married an Italian auditor from KPMG, then moved with him to Australia at the end of 2016.

While she has sung many principal soprano roles in Italy, including Gilda and Desdemona, this is the first time she has played Cio-Cio-San, the delicate butterfly-like child bride of Puccini’s opera.

“It’s a difficult role; I’m on stage most of the time, which is unusual, and the character is very challenging because she is always changing her moods and emotions… it’s not only technically difficult for me as a soprano, but it requires exceptional physical stamina to act at the same

time – but I enjoy it,” she says.

Briefly, the opera is set in late 19th century Nagasaki when Americans were making their first inroads into the country. Lt BF Pinkerton negotiates to marry a delightful young teenage girl, making no bones about his plan to return to the US and marry a “real” American wife – but CioCio-San has no idea of that and tragedy ensues.

“I love Puccini and ‘Butterfly’ is a symbol of all the women of the world,” she says.

“It’s not just a story from the past it is very appealing to people nowadays, too.

“Cio-Cio-San is a 15-year-old girl, she is very naive and falls in love with Pinkerton with no understanding that he is just after temporary pleasure.”

Zhai is well aware of her role as a Chinese woman playing a Japanese girl, but she’s done some research and says: “There are a lot of similarities; in Japan they used a lot of Chinese culture then formed their own culture, but a lot of the costumes and hairstyles come from China.”

Zhai points out that in the social context of the time and possibly even now, many Asian women regard walking out with a Western man as prestigious, but she is not just a Japanese doll, she is a loyal wife, faithful and prepared to wait for her husband – the Western way. She is also very brave, prepared to sacrifice her life for her child and she converts from her own religion to

Christianity for love.

“This is similar to me,” Zhai says. “I was a Buddhist, but then I married a Catholic and to get married in a church I had to convert to Christianity… nowadays many women convert to another religion for love.”

But Cio-Cio-San’s conversion papers over her deeper culture. Her father committed suicide on the orders of the Emperor of Japan.

“She wants to refuse her culture, but in the end she suicides – that is what her culture is told to do,” Zhai says.

In her own way, Zhai believes, Butterfly stands up for herself by committing suicide.

“She wants her son to have a better future and says; ‘For honour I must act this way’.

“Act One is famous for its very difficult love duet, but I enjoy singing it the most, it’s so beautiful.”

As with “Romeo and Juliet,” it’s no secret what happens at the end.

“Her final decision to commit suicide is heartbreaking,” Zhai says.

“She sends a message to Pinkerton to come back in half an hour, then at the moment he sees her, she kills herself in front of him – it’s very powerful, it’s shocking.”

John Bell’s “Madama Butterfly,” performed in English, Canberra Theatre Centre, September 6-8.

Big year for satirists’ own big year

ARTS IN THE CITY

BUNGENDORE satirists Shortis and Simpson are cooking up “The 1948 Show” in a tribute to the year of their births. And what a year it was, they say; the Holden was launched, Israel, North Korea, apartheid, Scrabble and the Polaroid camera were born. They’ll be performing numbers such as “Nature Boy”, “Too Darn Hot”, anti-apartheid protest songs and classics from other 1948 babies such as James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Lulu. At Ainslie Arts Centre, Elouera Street, Braddon, Friday, September 7. Bookings to eventbrite.com.au or 6182 0000.

necropolis, Rookwood Cemetery, showcases more than 40 artworks to be strategically placed alongside the historic monuments. Artists include Barak Zelig, from Kambah, and Melinda Brouwer, who lives in Ainslie, to where the Rookwood Mortuary Station was relocated in 1958, becoming All Saints Anglican Church. At Rookwood Cemetery Village Green, September 1-October 1.

MARUKI Community Orchestra returns under the baton of John Gould, with Wagner’s “Rienzi Overture”, solos from Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 4 and Rachmaninov’s Symphony no. 2, said to be “music of hope and redemption”. At Albert Hall, 3pm-5pm, Sunday, September 2. Bookings to marukicommunityorchestra.org.au or tickets at the door.

NOW in its 10th year, the unusual “Hidden” outdoor sculpture exhibition at Sydney’s huge

POET Paul Hetherington, from the international poetry studies at the University of Canberra, is launching his book “Moonlight on

Oleander: Prose Poems” with Cassandra Atherton as guest speaker. At the National Library Foyer, 6pm, September 6. RSVP to 6262 1424.

THE Song Company and director Antony Pitts will be here with “Four Colour Season”. The program focuses on the seasons, the sky and the gum leaves in voices and dance from Chance to Vivaldi as the vocal ensemble collaborates with Bundjalung and Wiradjuri dancer and choreographer Thomas E.S. Kelly’s Karul Projects. Music from young Australian composers Alice Chance and Patrick Baker will feature. At The Street Theatre, September 7. Bookings to thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

Chick-flick for the more mature

By Dougal MACDONALD

“Book Club” (M)

THIS is the first feature directed by Bill Holderman whose career in movies has been mainly producing docos and short films.

It’s a mature-age chick flick that looks at issues confronting older women (and, occasionally, also their men) who’ve been successful as mothers and in business.

It’s to Holderman’s (or perhaps co-writer Erin Simms’) credit that the screenplay understands things in a dramatically-fertile paddock that do or don’t loom large in the lives of such women. The result is 104 minutes of movie time mature enough to avoid the dramatic traps of chick flicks aimed at the younger set. Who are these mature ladies? Leading the pack is Candice Bergen, dispensing justice on a Federal Court Bench, not worried by a thickening body or the emptiness of her apartment (save for a lethargic white cat).

Diane Keaton plays Diane, scared-offlying mother of two adult daughters, one about to give birth. Mary Steenburgen has a good marriage with a dullish husband who shares ownership of a restaurant and a lifeseeking diversion. And Jane Fonda, whose once lovely features here

plastic surgery or time’s ravages, or both, is Vivian, who has one use only for men and it’s not economic ‘cos she owns a boutique hotel.

What book are the ladies reading this month? “Fifty Shades of Grey”. And in ensuing months, that title’s successors. Fortunately, those publishing successes receive but scant attention in the story as does Erica Jong’s better-written chick-lit “Fear Of Flying”.

At the day’s first screening, I was the only bloke in the cinema. I sat a few seats away from two ladies probably early in their geriatric stage who made little sound of enjoyment, amusement or disapproval. I enjoyed it, mainly because while I could never aspire to the story’s higher economic bracket, its mix of characters and

than just about every other chick flick I’ve seen.

At all cinemas

“West of Sunshine” (M)

A RUN-TIME of 78 minutes does not inhibit this low-budget, small-scope film from saying useful things about people and life.

Shot in a variety of Melbourne locations, some of which may have been in Sunshine, writer/director Jason Raftopoulos’ feature debut accompanies courier Jim (Damian Hill) on a day that’s going to deliver to him a choice collection of surprises, some happy, others not. His job car isn’t working so he has to use his own. His 13-year-old son Alex (Ty Perham) needs a lift

to school and isn’t happy about his father’s dalliance with another woman. Jim owes about four grand to a tough criminal who wants repayment today.

And after winning enough at the track to settle the debt and leave a little over, he has been following up by making the classic mistake that many gamblers make – using winnings to chase more winnings. The film builds its tension as Jim’s day progresses. Alex may be having a day off school but it’s not giving him much joy. Nobody wants to help Jim financially. And his creditor has a pair of low-brainer bullies eager to give Jim a good kicking.

As an example of cinematic creativity, “West Of Sunshine” has good things going for it. It’s credible. It’s truthful. It looks good. Film festivals here and overseas have respected it enough to nominate it for awards and even to give it one. The end of Jim’s and Alex’s day brings mixed outcomes that avoid cliché. What’s not to like about all that?

At Palace Electric and Capitol 6

“The Happytime Murders” (MA)

BRIAN Henson’s career as a director is heavily weighted by animation and puppetry that have delighted children of all ages in most countries. So what’s a Brian Henson movie doing brandishing a classification that excludes kids not yet 15 years old?

Up the Creek with hapless Roosters

By Helen Musa

IN 2014, Canberra publicist

Coralie Wood staged a riotous launch of a film entirely made in Wagga Wagga and directed by comedian Mark Grentell, familiar to Canberrans as a host at the CAT Awards.

The 2014 low-budget comedy, “Backyard Ashes”, told of a cricket match between two antagonistic neighbours after the accidental incineration of a prize cat.

It went on to be the fifth highestgrossing film ever released in Wagga.

since World War II, she says the film is timely, placing the larger global tragedy into the smaller context of Australian rural life in what she calls “a beautiful, Aussie, innocent way”.

MELBOURNE 9 September 2018 artscentremelbourne.com.au 1300 182 183

CANBERRA 22 September 2018 canberratheatrecentre.com.au (02) 6275 2700

Well, it’s because Todd Berger’s screenplay is set in a city where the major industry is pornography, performed and marketed by muppets. Its theme is that somebody is murdering the cast of popular TV series “Happytime”. Where would TV be without a copious flow of murder?

You can show porn without crossing the line separating simulated sex involving muppets made of fabric from actual sex between living humans. And not crossing the line is what “The Happytime Murders” does. Just. Delivering much less bare human skin than you might find in films rated M, it has earned an MA classification for a robust vocabulary and images of rag dolls cavorting as humans do. This film is touted as a comedy, but it’s not either form of funny. Nor is it erotic, stimulating, ribald or obscene by contemporary standards. I have difficulty categorising it into any creative or stylistic genre. Watching it, the feeling suffusing me was, how dull!

At Hoyts, Dendy, Capitol 6 and Limelight

Producer Anne Robinson was on the ground from the start with the original creators, Grentell and comedian/actor/writer Damian Callinan and tells “CityNews” that the film, done on “a couple of hundred grand”, had been a risky game.

Now the same team is back with a new movie, “The Merger”, shot in Wagga Wagga and surrounding shires, and it’s just enjoyed its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It opens in Canberra and cinemas around the country on August 30.

Based on a stage show of the same name by Callinan, “The Merger” looks at the growing phenomenon of refugees settling in country Australia.

It tells the story of former professional football player Troy Carrington, who has returned home to the fictional clapped-out town of Bodgy Creek. He is persuaded to coach the hapless local footy team, the Roosters, where he sees an opportunity to recruit refugees from the Regional Support Centre to turn the team’s fate around.

Robinson, a seasoned operator in the film industry, says it’s been shot with the support of Screen Australia, Create NSW, and the City of Wagga Wagga.

She says “The Merger” ticked a lot of boxes. With the world facing the worst humanitarian, refugee crisis

According to Robinson refugees speaking 120 different languages have settled in Wagga Wagga, where there are 60 Iranian families alone. “Regional Australia is changing, but a lot of people aren’t wanting that change, that’s what the film deals with,” she says. The film was shot in 30 locations around the Wagga Wagga region, with lots of support from the town and happily, she reports, there actually is a Boggy Creek in the district, so they only had to change one letter in the sign.

While there are famous actors in the film, such as Callinan, who plays the coach, John Howard, Kate Mulvany, Penny Cook and Nick Cody, with Fayssal Bazzi taking on the more complex role of Sayyid, the multicultural message required depth in the casting and it’s the supporting cast that really tells the story.

Director of photography Tony Luu was born on a boat as his family fled Vietnam, David Bridie’s film score includes refugee musicians, including Burundi ex-child soldier Farhad Bandesh. Many local refugees became extras, including Yazidi refugee Khato Izzeldin, who self-named “Iraqi Kev”, plays one of the Bodgy Creek Roosters team.

“Away from the rat race you don’t get paid as much as in the city and Mark, Damian and I have invested a lot into this film, it’s for the love, it’s almost a drug,” Robinson says.

But there are no regrets. With “The Merger” they found themselves sitting on an important world issue, so that the story behind the film became bigger than the film itself.

“Making a feature on this subject is part of a new movement worldwide,” she says.

“The most extraordinary people have come on board, like Amnesty International and the AFL, who are allowing trailers to be shown on the big screen at half time and handing out flyers.

“It’s a bit overwhelming – it’s a movement, everybody wants to be involved in change.”

MUSIC DINING / vapiano, civic

How Susanna beats the rap

By Helen Musa

NOT even the greatest fan in the world would claim that George Frideric Handel’s operas closely resemble real life, but that may all be about to change.

This year Tobias Cole, director of the company Handel in the Theatre and its lead singer, has hired Caroline Stacey to direct its coming production of Handel’s “Susanna” at The Playhouse.

She’s an opera expert with years of productions behind her throughout Australia and NZ, not least the Aussie premiere opera of Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges”, the Canberra production of the “Jane Eyre” opera and Sandra France’s searing bushfire opera, “From a Black Sky”.

She is not turning “Susanna” into a verismo opera, one of Handel’s Biblical tales disliked by the Bishop of London. Based on an episode from the book of Daniel, it depicts the arrest and trial of the virtuous wife Susanna on a trumped-up charge of adultery and her vindication at the hand of the boy prophet Daniel.

Central to the action is a scene where the lovely Susanna is spied upon as she bathes, the very kind of thing the bishop would have deplored, although Stacey assures us there will be no nudity.

Working together with her regular designer Imogen Keen she is striving to create a dominant visual image of a world in chains, fitting for “Handel’s intense and powerful emotional palette”.

“In listening to the music you just get an incredible array of pictures that come to mind,” Stacey says.

“Any performative style imaginable can be embedded in this work, but it demands strong physicality from the singers so that they inhabit this heightened landscape fully.”

Performed without amplification, the bone, muscle and sinews of the performers’ bodies become the canvas on which deep emotions

are painted.

“It’s incredibly uplifting in terms of a visceral experience, it allows you to step out of the banality of life,” she says.

“The gorgeous and the grotesque mix in a wildly surreal manner, taking us into the dangers, the ecstasies, the purity and the emotional experience of being human.”

“Susanna,” she notes, has a totally grown-up story dealing with the question of virtue, abuses of power between men and women, and systemic biases against women in society.

While the most famous scene is the one where Susanna is spied upon bathing by two elders, played by Robert Macfarlane and Jeremy Kleeman, the biggest dramatic challenge is to create a relationship between Susanna and the figure of the boy Daniel, who, in a kind of Emperor’sNew-Clothes-moment, is the only one who can see the truth. Alison Robertson, who plays Daniel, is in fact in her 30s, but captures the childlike quality necessary for the part.

One of the most interesting “characters” to Stacey is the “dramatic chorus”, hand-picked singers who act as a Greek chorus commenting on the action, asking questions and sometimes stepping into the action.

Stacey also praises the principals, saying: “They have strong, sophisticated opera backgrounds but are willing to inhabit their characters and respond to more abstract concepts.”

While Stacey has been preparing for “Susanna”, she has also been rehearsing “Venus in Fur” at The Street Theatre, and finds some issues in the two works remarkably similar, including the idea of women as victims of the “male gaze”, so she’s been closely working with singer Jacqueline Porter, who returns to the company as Susanna, to give agency to her role.

“Susanna”, The Playhouse, 7.30pm, September 1, and 2pm, September 2. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre. com.au or 6275 2700.

‘Euro-chic’ has its challenges

Vapiano loves to upsell. When ordering, I was asked if I wanted chilli, bread or cheese. I indicated my dish already had chilli but was told the staff ‘have to’ offer it again.

VAPIANO opened in the city with some fanfare last Easter. It’s the seventh location in Australia and the chain operates around 200 eateries in more than 30 countries.

Vapiano describes itself as a “Euro-chic chain for pastas, pizzas and more, ordered cafeteria-style in modern environs with a bar”.

We wish we’d read this website description before lunching. It would have helped manage expectations. With the expensive looking “Euro-chic” fitout, we weren’t expecting “cafeteria-style” ordering. More on this in a moment.

Vapiano is Italian through and through. The menu is extensive and covers all bases – antipasto, salad, pasta, pizza and dessert. With a fair few mains, you pay more for extras.

Produce is locally sourced “where possible” and vegans, vegetarians and those with food intolerances are well taken care of.

The sun-dried tomato pesto with my fusilli was intense and colourful ($18 without prawns, $23 with). I enjoyed the hit of chilli and roasted pine nuts. The ricotta added a lovely creamy element to the dish and the cherry tomatoes packed a punch. The dish included a generous serve of plump prawns. However, it wasn’t hot.

The spaghetti with fresh garlic in olive oil with chilli and parsley ($17 without prawns, $22 with) generated mixed feelings. First, it was only lukewarm. Second, there wasn’t any evidence of chilli. My friend went to the counter area to shake some dried chilli on the dish to spice matters up.

Vapiano’s is massive inside

@

Monday 1st October 6pm 2018

and out. We spotted a groovy looking square oak table in the back corner, surrounded by windows with the sun streaming through. An impressive olive tree grows out of the middle of the table and we loved the pots of herbs and bottles of olive oil and balsamic placed here and there. However, the bench seating proved to be awkward, especially with the cafeteria-style ordering. I sat in the corner without realising this meant there was no escaping unless I asked everyone along the bench to get up to let me out. It’s a lot of effort if you want to order a second drink or if you decide you want dessert – and inconvenient for those around you.

Vapiano loves to upsell. When ordering, I was asked if I wanted chilli, bread or cheese. I indicated my dish already had chilli but was

told the staff “have to” offer it again. They also do so when meals are delivered.

This is the chain’s second cashless restaurant. Service was pretty speedy on our visit.

GARDENING

cgsact@gmail.com

Less rain = more love for birds

AS spring arrives our national floral emblem, Acacia pycnantha (or Australian Golden Wattle) patiently waits for warmer weather to fully open in flower.

More of a small tree rather than a shrub, it is considered an invasive weed in South Africa, rather like our Acacia Baileyana or Cootamundra Wattle, which is not allowed to be sold in the ACT.

The next few weeks are ideal for visiting the botanic gardens to enjoy the spring flowers.

First call at the visitors’ centre and collect the “Fruit, Flowers and Foliage” leaflet, which provides a pleasant walk through the gardens identifying what is in flower or special interest in fruit and foliage each week.

Many of the flowers you see will not be available commercially as botanic gardens are like living museums, often preserving rare and endangered plants.

Just as the drought is having a disastrous effect on NSW, rainfall in the ACT is down considerably. Except for some recent, insignificant rain

our July total was just 7.8mm, the lowest since 1994’s 6.4mm.

Besides gardens, this shortfall has an impact on our wildlife, especially the bird population. There may appear to be plenty of water for birds. We have several lakes around the place, but most birds need fairly shallow water to be able to drink, stand in, dunk in and wash the dust off their feathers.

Which comes to garden bird baths, of which many are filled too deeply. I suggest a water depth to a maximum of six centimetres.

Ideally bird baths should be placed in an open space in the garden, not close to bushes or under trees where cats can sit and wait to attack. Birds like to see 360 degrees around them.

While currawongs are said to attack and frighten off most other birds, experience in our garden has been the opposite. While we have a regular pair using the bird bath on a daily basis, we also have top-knot pigeons, wattle birds, pee wees, parrots and, my favourite, the blackbird.

On occasions we have more than one variety in the bird bath at the same time, say parrots washing and top-knot pigeons sitting on the edge waiting for their turn.

Despite my earlier misgivings, Chris Davey from the Canberra Ornithologists Group told the Belconnen Garden Club recently that it’s okay to feed birds.

He suggested the feeding time should be in the evening rather than the morning or continuously

during the day.

In the early morning birds will wake hungry and look for food in the garden, worms and other insects coming closer to the surface during the night. In the heat of the day the worms and insects dig deeper making it harder for birds to find food, so additional feeding in the evening is recommended.

Jottings...

• Time to seriously prune wisteria,

cutting back the long trailing stems to just 2-3 leaf joints, similar to pruning grapes.

• Rhodos and camellia japonicas will be a mass of buds to flower in the next few weeks. Give them one last feed now with a liquid certified organic plant food.

• Check for rats in the compost heap. With the dry weather they are heading into town. Make sure any rat bait is not accessible to pets or possums.

Joanne Madeline Moore

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Rambunctious Rams – you’re keen to call the shots but remember there’s a big difference between leading others and just being plain bossy. Domineering behaviour will lead to unnecessary dramas. So slip on your humility hat, as Venus encourages you to be a consultative Lamb (especially in close relationships). Then the New Moon urges you to establish a regular exercise routine and make healthier food choices. Green smoothies and quinoa chia cupcakes anyone?

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

Personal projects plus romantic and platonic relationships are favoured and it’s a wonderful week to mix business with plenty of pleasure. You’ll also gain some useful insights into the previously hidden motivations of a child, teenager, lover or friend. If you’re feeling restless, get out of the house or office and into the great outdoors so you can tune into the world around you. And have you lost contact with an overseas friend? As the planets align, they are ready to re-connect.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

When it comes to financial arrangements and shared resources, you need to be proactive and practical. Mars encourages taking action, while Saturn cautions you to do your homework thoroughly first. And are you utilising your mercurial talents? Make it a priority to showcase your marvellous mind this week. It’s also time to talk things through with a trusted family member, as Friday’s Grand Earth Trine inspires clever conversation and productive problem-solving.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

It’s a wonderful week to improve close relationships and community connections, as the Grand Earth Trine increases your communication skills, creativity and concentration. So do your best to capitalise on any lucky opportunities that come your way. But be careful you don’t make a comment (in person or online) that can easily be misconstrued. Your sense of direction is also scrambled so make sure you double-check your destination, especially when travelling somewhere new.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

It’s a wonderful week to initiate work projects and expand your professional influence, as the Grand Earth Trine boosts your public profile. With Uranus showcasing your unique talents (and the New Moon enhancing your self-esteem) you’re ready to shine! Be inspired by birthday great Freddie Mercury: “I always knew I was a star. And now, the rest of the world seems to agree.” But with Neptune scrambling your business acumen, get a second opinion before making a financial decision.

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

This week the Sun, Moon and Mercury move through Virgo, so you’ll be bold and extra brainy as you dazzle others with your methodical mind, broad general knowledge and close attention to detail. It’s the perfect time to analyse, research and problem-solve in proactive ways. Plus, with a boost from the Grand Earth Trine, you can climb any mountain and sail any stormy sea. But – when it comes to a confusing relationship – proceed cautiously and compassionately.

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

This week Venus visits your sign, and there’s a powerful and productive Grand Earth Trine. So you’ll be able to put a positive spin on a perceived failure, as you metaphorically transform an ugly pig’s ear into a beautiful silk purse! And do you feel stuck in the middle of a complicated family problem? If you want to get a recalcitrant relative onside, then tap into your natural diplomatic talents as you answer queries, clarify concerns and smooth furrowed brows.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

Education, joint ventures and group projects are favoured this week, as you display your leadership skills for all to see. There are opportunities for advancement via connections within your local community, but it will take creative teamwork and sustained effort to turn a lucky break into a long-term success. It’s also time to get some firm direction, as you formulate and articulate your personal goals and dreams for the future. Remember – you can’t hit a target if you haven’t got one!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Spontaneous Sagittarius – you have a natural knack for putting your foot firmly in your mouth. With Mercury and the New Moon activating your career zone, patching up problems with students, colleagues, clients or customers will be easier now than at other times. Your communication skills are firing, so make sure you’re using them. Friday’s Grand Earth Trine is fortuitous for business and financial matters. As long as you are smart, savvy and (unusually) sensible!

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Are you smack-bang in the middle of a major stuff-up (and feeling super stressed?) With Saturn moving slowly through your sign (until 2020) avoid the tendency to be a nit-picking perfectionist. And don’t be afraid of making messy mistakes… and learning from them. As birthday great Beyonce observes: “If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.” Friday’s Grand Earth Trine encourages you to be smart, strategic and flexible.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

This week there is a powerful Grand Earth Trine between your ruler Uranus, Mercury and Saturn. Which encourages you to bite the bullet and make a definitive decision. In order to make the best choice, look for smart, innovative strategies that can co-exist with the current status quo. Old and new can work well together! Sunday’s magical New Moon indicates a major shift of gear involving an intimate relationship, a property issue, financial matters or shared resources.

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Perceptive Pisces – your intuition will help you find the appropriate way to handle a delicate situation with a worried loved one or a frazzled friend. Don’t underestimate your ability to calm and console others. But promising more than you can deliver is a danger this week. If you pace yourself and take practical baby steps, then you’ll get things done without too much confusion and chaos. Are you looking for love? Be on the lookout for a bookish type who is a good talker. Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2018

Across

4 Name a British music hall star noted for his humorous songs which he accompanied on the ukelele, George ... (6)

7 What do we call one who obtains temporary use of something? (8)

8 Which term describes something extremely minute? (6)

9 Name a self-contradictory figure of speech. (8)

11 Name an infectious skin disease, caused by parasitic mites. (7)

13 What is a retailer of flowers, ornamental plants, etc? (7)

15 Which expression relates to the nature of fire? (7)

17 Which word describes that which is characterised by energy? (7)

20 Name the forest that was the traditional haunt of Robin Hood (8)

23 Who are descendants of the prehistoric people who spoke Indo-European? (6)

24 What is the backward flow of sea water, below the surface? (8)

25 Which African blood-sucking fly can cause sleeping sickness? (6)

Down

1 What is a mischievous deception, especially a practical joke? (4)

2 Which term may describe an earthquake? (6)

3 What is a pitcher with a wide spout? (4)

4 Name the monetary unit of some European countries. (5)

5 What do we call oblique-angled equilateral parallelograms? (6)

6 Name a very light brown colour. (5)

9 Which famous English university was founded in the 12th century? (6)

10 Name a large two-toed, flightless bird, native to Africa and Arabia. (7)

12 To have understood something instinctively, is to have done what? (6)

14 What is the dark, dense, igneous rock of a lava flow? (6)

16 Name the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II. (6)

18 Which imperial units of linear measure equal 3 feet? (5)

19 What is another term for offspring or progeny? (5)

21 What are bowls segments called? (4)

22 Name a particular woodwind instrument. (4)

Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

Shawn's in strife for late super payments

Shawn was mortified. He had totally forgotten to pay his employees' superannuation for two quarters and was worried about the consequences.

"Unfortunately, Shawn, this is a very costly error," I told him.

"When you pay superannuation late you have to pay the superannuation guarantee charge, which comprises the amounts you forgot to pay plus interest at 10 per cent and an administration fee of $20 per employee per quarter.

"There is a special form that you need to lodge with your payment with the Australian Taxation Office. The calculation date for the 10 per cent interest commences at the beginning of the quarter for which the superannuation was not paid.

"The real sting in the tail with the superannuation guarantee charge is that both the superannuation payment and the interest become non-deductible. This effectively means that you are paying the superannuation out of your own pocket as you do not get a tax deduction for it.”

Shawn was shocked. “Are you serious?” he asked.

"I'm afraid so," I told him.

"However, in May last year the government announced a 12-month superannuation guarantee amnesty, which runs from May 24, 2018, to May 23, 2019.

"Unfortunately, the legislation has not yet been passed, it has not yet gone to the Senate so it is unwise to act on it. Assuming that the legislation does pass through Parliament the amnesty states that if you voluntarily disclose your superannuation shortfall you will not have to pay the administration fee or penalties you would normally have to pay and you will be able to claim a deduction for payments made during this period. These include the unpaid superannuation and interest. It is a lot more attractive if these amounts become deductible for you.

"The other thing that you need to know about the proposed amnesty is that the period for which you are paying the unpaid superannuation must fall within July 1, 1992 and March 31, 2018. Payments for dates commencing after April 1 this year will not qualify for the amnesty.”

Relieved to hear about the amnesty, Shawn said he would keen an eye out for the legislation to pass.

I also told him that one of the other pieces of legislation that has not passed yet was the extension of the $20,000 instant asset write off.

"While in theory it's been extended to June 30, 2019, the legislation says that it ended on June 30, 2018. So if you're planning to buy a new, expensive item of equipment, its deductibility in full is still uncertain. "Obviously, if this legislation is not passed then the original rules will prevail, so items costing more than $1000 will have to be depreciated.

"It is always difficult when legislation is announced and then not passed in a timely fashion because the legislation often is not quite the same as the announcement so people make decisions and then find that their plans have been stymied because of a word that has been changed.”

Shawn left my office happy that he understood his superannuation obligations better and determined to watch out for the Bills to pass.

If you require any help on tax or superannuation contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd.