Good governance lost to condescending spin
PAUL COSTIGAN Does red wine make you warm?
RICHARD CALVER
Angry voters growl at planners, too
IAN WOOD-BRADLEY It’s magnificent magnolia time
CEDRIC BRYANT
CHOUDHURY
PERCHED ON THE ROOFTOP OF THE AWARD WINNING BURBURY HOTEL, OVERLOOKING THE CITY, LAKE AND LEAFY BARTON IS CANBERRA’S MOST EXCLUSIVE HIGH TEA.
By Danielle NOHRA
IN her short legal career Farzana Choudhury has already achieved a lot in a space that works with some of Canberra’s most vulnerable people.
“I always had an interest in social justice issues and did and do a lot of volunteer work around the community,” says Farzana, 30, who was awarded the Young Lawyer of the Year award at the ACT Law Society’s annual dinner and awards night in August.
Farzana can’t pinpoint what drove her to work with some of society’s most vulnerable people, but she says it’s something she’s always wanted to do.
“I always wanted to work in an area where I could help people who are experiencing disadvantage,” she says.
Farzana, who lives in Canberra’s inner north, is a senior solicitor of Street Law, a program of Canberra Community Law that provides outreach legal services for people experiencing or are at risk of homelessness.
But before getting her “dream” career with Canberra Community Law, Farzana was working in a graduate role in a Federal government department after moving from Sydney to Canberra in 2013.
While working full time, Farzana also went on to complete her graduate legal diploma and masters at ANU.
When Farzana started at Canberra Community Law more than five years ago, opportunities
opened up for her to head some programs in the human rights space.
One saw her establish Street Law’s health jus tice partnership with the Junction Youth Health Service last year, and since has been working alongside health practitioners and youth work staff to address the unmet legal needs of young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
“I established the Junction Youth Health Service to reach more young people and try and ensure any legal issues are dealt with as early as possible before they escalate,” she says.
“For the clients we see at Street Law, what might not seem like a massive issue could be come a big issue.
“[And] the law can have barriers and I want to give more people access to the legal system and make sure people know what their rights are.”
While the award was completely unexpected, Farzana now wants to use the platform it has given her to raise awareness of some of the ACT’s most disadvantaged people.
Over the past financial year Farzana says 51 per cent of Street Law’s clients experienced do mestic or family violence, 70 per cent had a disability, 58 per cent were women, 15 per cent had dependent children and 14 per cent were young people (under the age of 25).
“It’s always important that we’re giving clients the time and space to tell their story to us,” she says.
“There’s links between people having legal issues and it impacting on their health.”
Which is why Farzana believes it’s important to help get these people in a better position through the legal advice.
“Legal advice can help people get into public
Since 1993: Volume 25, Number 35
housing as early as possible,” she says.
One client who has really stood out for Farzana was a young woman with three children.
She was living in a refuge after fleeing domestic violence, which occurred in a public housing property.
“Housing ACT alleged she owed a lot of money because of damage to the property but a lot of it was related to domestic violence so we were able to reduce the debt significantly,” she says.
Farzana says that was really powerful for the woman because she was already facing homelessness and couldn’t afford to pay the debt.
Another huge issue Farzana regularly deals with is getting people without any identification
“A lot of our clients will lose key identification because they might be homeless, they might not have stable accommodation or they might be fleeing a domestic or family violence situation,”
“I think the general population might not realise how big of an issue homelessness is.
“There are a lot of invisible forms of homeless -
“There’s plenty of gaps, too. There’s no crisis accommodation for people under 15 and a lot of people with pets find it difficult to find crisis ac -
Over the past five years Farzana has also established the Women in Prison Legal Empowerment Sessions (WIPLES), a series of legal education seminars and advice clinics with the goal of supporting and empowering women in prison.
At the same time she volunteers with several community organisations such as the Night Time Legal Advice Service, Beryl Women Inc, the Women’s Centre for Health Matters, Homeless Connect Canberra and the International Tenants’ Day.
Farzana is also helping to organise the annual Canberra Homelessness Connect event at Canberra City Uniting Church, 11am-3pm, on October 17.
“On the day, homeless people can access free services and support such as hairdressing services, food, pet food and an ID clinic,” she says.
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A DESIGNER-label shoebox forced a part of Braddon to be locked down on Thursday.
Police were called in after the “suspicious” package was delivered to a Department of Agriculture office in Mort Street, between Girrahween and Elouera Streets.
After more than 90 minutes of delicate examination and dexterous unpacking by bomb squad officers, the Vans box was declared harmless.
SPRING has sprung and Canberra is blooming but if people took seriously the frightening magpie attack warnings dominating social media, the streets of the capital would be empty.
ANU Anthropologist Dr Siobhan McDon nell tweeted: “This time of year the blossoms are stunning but the fear (of magpie attacks) is real”.
Another tweet told the world: “If you ever come down under, you need to visit Canberra with the most aggressive magpies in the world”. Yet another reported a magpie stealing a donut from someone’s mouth “mid bite” at ADFA.
ALREADY under constant threat from cyclists and trams, Canberra pedestrians now have a new nemesis, the e-scooter. Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury is reportedly grappling with “developing a framework that encourages the use of e-scooters, while not compromising road safety”.
The scooters, which can reach speeds of
25kph, are currently illegal in the territory. Reports from Brisbane, where the twowheeled, battery powered vehicles were introduced last year, revealed more than 100 riders have presented at emergency departments with scooter-related injuries in the first two months of operation.
MIXED among recent speculation across the border on the future hue of the once bellwether seat of Eden Monaro, comes news a former member may be keen on returning to the political game. According to the “Sydney Morning Herald’s” “CBD” column, Peter
Hendy is campaigning hard to fill the vacancy created when NSW senator Arthur Sinodinos flies to Washington DC to replace ambassador Joe Hockey. “CBD” reminded readers it was at Hendy’s Queanbeyan home that “Turnbull and his allies met on the Sunday evening before Tony Abbott was rolled”.
A HASTILY arranged rally on Parliament House lawns objecting to the treatment of a Sri Lankan family from Biloela in Queensland included many first-time protesters holding aggressively worded placards.
Around 250 attended the Father’s Day
event, staged to send a message to the Morrison government over its harsh treatment of the Tamil family that has been fighting deportation for the past 18 months.
Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh appeared to be the only pollie to take time out from his Father’s Day to show support.
Placard-waving Anne, from Canberra, was very angry but possibly missed the bastardon-Father’s-Day connection.
A FAMILY home condemned for demolition in Belconnen may be among the last of its type in the area. The ageing and paint-chipped weatherboard house, tucked away on a large block in the desirable suburb of Weetangera, will be levelled to make way for a block of units (what else?). A longtime local lamenting the loss with a millennial was stunned to learn the youngster had never heard of a weatherboard house.
THE world of chilli chomping has been turned upside down after two Welshmen shared the honours at Canberra’s 5th World Curry Festival’s chilli-eating competition. Joint winners Rob and Pete remained upright and respectable after 90 minutes and 10 different types of chillies, each greater on the SHU (Scoville Heat Units) scale than the one before. Ten other contestants fell along the way, with those susceptible to supercharged
When Isabelle enrolled in the Kumon Maths program in Year 5 she was already good at Maths. Despite being so young, she knew she wanted to be an engineer and that achieving this goal required a very high level of Maths ability. Her Mum, Julie suggested enrolling in Kumon Maths to ensure her skills were strong and Isabelle agreed.
Isabelle embraced the Kumon worksheets and progressed to her school grade level topics within a few months. After eight months of Kumon, she was completing “algebra” and starting “simultaneous linear equations” topics which are approximately three years ahead of what she was learning at school.
spiciness treated on-site by medics. And how do you treat someone who’s chowed down too much chilli? Ambo: “You can’t treat stupidity”.
TASMANIAN senator Jacqui Lambie is optimistic if nothing else. The crossbench senator has attempted to introduce some civility and decorum into the Canberra bubble. As a member of a committee looking at repealing the medivac legislation, Lambie told the Morrison government to “show a few man ners” and respect for the timetable for considering laws on refugee medical transfer.
Isabelle now had time to focus on her other subjects at school. The skills she has gained at Kumon will help her, like many other students before her, to achieve her goal and become the engineer she wants to be.
‘Her confidence to pursue her dream is higher than ever before thanks to Kumon’ says Julie.
Kumon Maths and English programs cater for children from preschool to year 12 with a daily approach to developing excellent academic skills.
The Kumon Instructor tailors your child’s study program based on their specific needs. Students attend Kumon classes twice each week and receive homework to do every other day.
We have four Kumon Centres in Canberra located throughout the city. We’ve collectively helped thousands of students improve their Maths and English abilities for almost 30 years.
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THIS city has a serious governance problem. Chief bureaucrats and ACT ministers often make announcements that people have trouble taking seriously. The same meaningless and condescending spin.
Government ministers look like puppets with strings pulled by bureaucrats.
Take for instance the announcement on Friday, August 16, that Minister Chris Steel’s bureaucrats had come up with as a brilliant way to solve a problem caused by his government’s mishandling of public transport. Weekend buses were not showing up, leaving commuters stranded. Minister Steel announced an inspired solution to change some buses from arriving every hour to every two hours!
You have to wonder about a government that speaks so proudly about such an absurdity.
Over in the Health portfolio there have been announcements by past and present health ministers on the Woden Valley
ACT ministers often make announcements that people have trouble taking seriously. They look like puppets with strings pulled by bureaucrats.
Hospital hydrotherapy pool.
The minister repeated the claim that it had to close because of the pool’s outdated mechanisms. It was staggering to watch the dumb statements by politicians that the southside people who use the pool should travel across to Belconnen to use other facilities.
Meanwhile, other experts agreed that the pool was a potential danger to maintenance staff but with special equipment and allowances for the dangerous working conditions, this work could be undertaken – that’s what technical people do when provided with the correct gear. No amount of bureaucratic fumbling around with spin could avoid what was obvious to the people affected, that a new southside pool will be needed urgently.
It was a governance issue being handled badly by unthinking politicians mouthing the words of bureaucrats who are paid to know better.
Let’s talk planning, where good
governance seems to be absent permanently. On Tuesday, August 6, a statement appeared announcing that the chief planner, Ben Ponton, had cancelled what was known to “key stakeholders” as his Environment and Planning Forum.
This happened because one attendee kept asking questions about what was considered a bunch of inappropriate technical changes to the planning rules that had been made by the chief planner. The answers Ponton gave were not accepted and so the questions continued. Ponton cancelled the forum. Easy!
But not to worry, the same statement included this from the chief planner: “I take engagement with community and stakeholders very seriously”.
The ACT government has refined its expertise to say such worthy stuff repeatedly while doing the exact opposite. These disingenuous statements have become the norm with alternate facts constantly pouring forth from the politicians and their agencies.
A perception remains among many in the community sector that planning decisions are made by an independent body called the ACT Planning and
Land Authority (ACTPLA).
The reality is that the legislative power of ACTPLA is held by one person, the chief planner, the planning directorate chief answerable to the planning minister, Mick Gentleman. Is this good governance?
The chief planner, and his spokesperson the planning minister, have been going on about having a new Territory Plan (holiday reading, anyone?).
The planning directorate has been busy with meetings and setting up new ways to have their chosen groups linked to development of the plan.
The consultations and workshops are being run by the same bureaucratic culture, the same spin merchants, the same bureaucrats making inappropri-
ate and condescending statements. What could go wrong?
Residents are understandably cynical that any new plan could deliver anything close to people’s visions for the city. What is missing is a comprehensive examination of how this Labor/Greens government planning processes are devoid of good governance linked to a humane approach to dealing with people’s lives and aspirations. This is needed to come before any new plan.
Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.
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CONSCIENCE votes in parliaments recognise deep commitment of particular individuals to matters that cannot be resolved within a political party.
Sometimes called “free votes”, they attempt to move away from the hurly-burly of political machinations, to deal with such issues as abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment.
However, the debate in NSW over decriminalising abortion reveals that intolerance, fanaticism and lack of respect for other moral perspectives can undermine the privilege of other parliamentarians. The same has been true in the ACT.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is being held to ransom by two members of her own government. Without significant amendments to the Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019, they have threatened to move to the cross benches. Considering the government’s slim majority, they know their outrageous demand would force the Premier into a minority government.
It is neither thoughtful nor respectful for one or two members of parliament to attempt to push their view on such an issue by any form of bullying, let alone threatening government.
On seriously controversial issues the conscience vote allows members of parliament to find the majority view without being tied down by the usual party line. Rather than delegating to the minister or shadow minister responsible, each person has to come to their own conclusion. The use of coercion, intimidation and threats undermines respect for others’ beliefs.
Conservative MPs Kevin Conolly and Tanya Davies have threatened the Premier showing total disregard for anyone else’s view. Although a very small minority, their personal beliefs trump all others!
Speaking at St John’s Anglican Cathedral in Parramatta, Tanya Davies said: “I am one of those two, and there is another colleague of mine, who have told the Premier and the Deputy Premier that if they do not make essential amendments to this Bill, we will remove ourselves from
the party room”.
The irony is that Tanya Davies was formerly the NSW Minister for Women who made her anti-abortion views apparent on the first day of her appointment. Claire Pullen, of the Women’s Electoral Lobby, expressed her concern pointing out at the time: “The overwhelming majority of people in NSW are pro-choice and we would want a Minister for Women who is prepared to trust women and doctors to make personal medical decisions”.
The MP representing Riverstone, Kevin Conolly, pointed out that the “nature of the Bill”, the “way it was introduced and expedited”, put him in an untenable position.
The deferral, engineered by those of a like mind, is not enough for Conolly who wishes to use the delay tactic more extensively. His statement revealed his real intention: “This extreme Bill should be defeated outright and a new proper process commenced which would allow the community time to have input”.
This year the ACT will be home to a remarkable array of over 35 Mental Health Month events which aim to maximize the wellbeing of individuals and the wider community and encourage people to live mindfully and seek help.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian… held to ransom by two members of her own government. Cartoon: Paul Dorin
No matter what the input, it is clear he will never change his mind. Playing politics with the issue is not just in the domain of the Liberals. Walt Secord, from Labor, used the opportunity to undermine the Premier and drive the political wedge.
His statement included: “Gladys Berejiklian has caused this backbench revolt by her absolute lack of leadership”. He was fuelling divisions between the Premier, the Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Transport Minister Andrew Constance on the one hand and the Police Minister, David
Elliott, and the Corrections Minister, Anthony Roberts, on the other.
A similar stoush occurred in the fourth term of the ACT Assembly when independents Paul Osborne and Dave Rugendyke pushed to have major restrictions placed on abortion services in the ACT.
A centrepiece of their attempt required women seeking a termination to be given a booklet with information on pregnancy including pictures of foetuses. They were referred to as “unborn infants” and originally to be pictured inaccurately as though cute babies of different sizes.
The political threats centred around the budget and challenges of no-confidence in the Chief Minister. Debates on these sorts of moral issues are challenging. For the majority of Members of Parliament, no matter what their personal view, they are conducted in a thoughtful and respectful manner. This facilitates a genuine conscience vote.
It is neither thoughtful nor respectful for one or two members to attempt to push their view on such an issue by any form of bullying, let alone threatening government.
Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.
MENTAL HEALTH MONTH LAUNCH COMEDY NIGHT
1 October, 2019 - 7pm The Dickson Tradies www.mentalhealthmonthact.org/launchevent
Come along to the official launch of Mental Health Month in the ACT! Help us promote positive mental health, break down stigma associated with mental illness and be entertained by some of the best club comedians in Australia! Purchase tickets online.
MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING EXPO
10 October, 2019 - 11am - 2pm City Walk, Civic www.mentalhealthmonthact.org/expo
The integral Mental Health & Wellbeing Expo is a free public event bringing the ACT community together to celebrate positive mental health and learn more about the services available in the ACT. Join 80 local organisations in a fun market day atmosphere with interactive activities, sausage sizzle and live music.
MENTAL HEALTH MONTH AWARDS CEREMONY
29 October, 2019 - 3pm Bradman Room, Manuka Oval www.mentalhealthmonthact.org/awards
The Mental Health Month Awards celebrate the outstanding contributions individuals have made to improve the health and wellbeing of the ACT community. All are welcome to attend the official awards ceremony. Free but please RSVP online.
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IT pains me to say it, but the “Uluru Statement from the Heart” is dead in the water. And it’s partly the fault of the Aboriginal men and women who spent all those months of consultation developing it.
Their ambitions are for a “Voice, a Treaty and a Truth Telling” of the injustices they have suffered from the moment of the colonial invasion. Singly and together, these quests are thoroughly justified. Indeed, they would transform, for the better, the whole concept of what it means to be an Australian.
• The “Voice” would bring an Aboriginal viewpoint to all the issues that bear upon the country itself, from the tending of the land, its foliage and its animal population, to the seas, the reefs, and the bounty of the deep. It would also give expression to Aboriginal views in the quest to bridge the gap between Aboriginal and mainstream health, education, housing, employment and mortality.
• The “Treaty” would give legal recognition to the ownership of our great southern land at a time when climate change threatens to produce millions of refugees who will test to the limits the
Once the broad mass of Australians, new and old, learn the real story of our Aboriginal past, they will respond with that precious quality we genuinely cherish: the fair go.
whole notion of territorial sovereignty.
• And the “Truth Telling” would cover all aspects of the Aboriginal dispossession, from the widespread massacres and murders to the stolen generations, the hurt and despair, and the in-built racist oppression still being suffered today.
But alas, they won’t happen. And for one simple reason: the authors of the statement insist that they be pursued in exactly their order – Voice, Treaty, Truth Telling. In doing so they’ve put the cart before the horse. They are asking Canberra’s politicians to enact these fundamental changes to Australia’s perception of itself simply out of the goodness of their hearts.
That idea has never been on Canberra’s political agenda.
I know this as one who has been engaged in either the heart or the margins of Federal politics since my years
on the personal staff of Deputy Prime Minister (and briefly Prime Minister) John “Black Jack” McEwen (1967-71); as the biographer of Kevin Rudd and, more recently, as a political columnist.
But as well, in the last few weeks I’ve been exposed to audiences around the country promoting my latest book, “Castaway”, which tells of the French cabin boy, Narcisse Pelletier, who was taken in by the Aboriginal people of Far North Queensland for 17 years from 1858 while at the same time that state carried out an attempted Aboriginal genocide. And what struck me most powerfully was not their profound ignorance of the colonial horrors, but their genuine hunger for the truth. This, I’m sure, is the key. Once the broad mass of Australians, new and old, learn the real story of our Aboriginal past, they will
respond with that precious quality we genuinely cherish: the fair go. Only then will they open their minds to the good sense behind the Voice and the Treaty. When that happens, the politicians will be confronted by a new imperative – an electorate that either wants action urgently or fellow travellers in the cause. Of course, the rock-ribbed racists will never change, but they have always been on the wrong side of history… until it’s a fait accompli and then they’ll find some way to take credit for it. That, too, is a lesson forged in the political fires of a lifetime.
So, for goodness sake, let’s get it right – Truth, Treaty, Voice! robert@robertmacklin.com
“CITYNEWS” columnist Nichole Overall, pictured, will entertain the ladies at the next lunch meeting of the Gungahlin Day VIEW Club with a presentation that marks the 55th anniversary of the inauguration of Lake Burley Griffin, including the significant role her fatherin-law, Sir John Overall, played in ensuring it came into being. It will be held in Nicholls, 11.30am-for-noon on Wednesday, September 25. Cost is $35. RSVP to 6262 2556 before 9pm, Sunday, September 22.
THERE will be a jumping castle, face painting and activities for children amid pre-loved treasures and treats at the Torrens Preschool’s annual Monster Garage Sale and Fair at Parsons Street, 10am-2pm, Sunday, September 22. Funds raised will support the school’s learning resources for children.
EXPO 2019, an annual exhibition of model ships, will display more than 100 model ships ranging from historic ships to more modern vessels, and navy ships. Each model is meticulously constructed with great attention to detail by members of the Model Shipwrights Society, TaskForce 72 (model naval vessels), ACT Scale Modellers’ Society and Canberra Model Boat Club. At Mount Rogers Primary School, Alfred Hill Drive, Melba, from 10am on weekend of September 21-22. Cost is $3 ($1, children and $7 for families).
Attention: Co-ordinators, participants and families: ‘Open Home’ Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September
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THE privileges of living in our democracy are many and varied: freedom of speech and association, universal suffrage, the right to petition Parliament and so on.
Democracy also affords its citizens the right to oppose development proposals.
People push back against redevelopment because they think it will undermine their neighbourhood’s amenity or because they believe it may contravene their local planning scheme or codes.
They may challenge a new development – especially if it is large and imposing and backed by an uncompromising government – on the grounds that public consultation and input was lacking.
Planning is about balancing private, government and community interests to enable individuals and communities to prosper and grow sustainably.
The success of our cities in international liveability surveys suggests planners get that balance right most of the time, but new challenges are emerging as demographic change takes hold.
Canberra is growing quickly, and to limit unsustainable (and expensive) urban sprawl, the ACT planning strategy is directing that 70 per cent of the future growth in new dwellings occur within urban areas.
The success of our cities in international liveability surveys suggests planners get that balance right most of the time, but new challenges are emerging as demographic change takes hold.
For many Canberrans, the scale of this change is confronting, and many believe the outcome – large-scale, high-rise buildings in high-density centres – has been preordained.
However, growth needn’t be all on a massive scale. A more moderate and graduated density in a range of established suburbs – where extra dwellings are accommodated in ways that reinforce and enhance existing neighbourhood character – is readily achievable.
But this type of sustainable transformation requires a subtle and nuanced conversation about density done well, allied with a planning process that is trusted to deliver great places for people.
Credibility is the cornerstone of all effective planning systems and processes – and if that cornerstone is weak the whole edifice is at risk of crumbling.
Maintaining the public’s faith and belief in the impartiality of planners and planning systems is not easy though, not when trust and confidence in governments and institutions more broadly are in long-term decline.
There are countless examples of egregious decision-making and poor behaviour from our elected officials that anger voters and undermine trust and confidence in our institutions.
Planning has been caught in this blowback. Mutterings about planners being out of touch with community sentiment are one manifestation of this.
Occasionally, entire planning departments have been slandered by suggestions that they’re pushovers when it comes to greedy developers and their cronies in elected government.
Generalisations like this betray a lack of understanding of what it is that planners do, and where and how planning fits into the broader governance picture. They can also mask a refusal to accept that places evolve over time to suit the changing needs of the people that live there.
Besides ensuring built-form outcomes are fit for purpose, planners make sure codes, documents and
processes work as intended and that they’re transparent and easy for the public to negotiate.
They also think strategically about how the future amenity and functional effectiveness of our towns, cities and regions can be improved.
Planners do not set strategic agendas or make final decisions on the scale and nature of future development. These matters are decided by governments, usually – but not always – on the advice and counsel of planners as technocrats.
Residents have every right to be sceptical of a government-sponsored review of a strategic document –especially if it appears the intention is to radically change existing development patterns.
But it’s not tenable to argue that certain neighbourhoods should be quarantined from changes happening elsewhere.
Likewise, governments cannot ride roughshod over community expectations without risking their electoral mandate or, more importantly, jeopardising their social licence to engineer change.
One way governments have sought to bridge the public credibility gap
is by strengthening accountability mechanisms.
Planning departments and agencies, too, have bolstered the integrity of their systems, put new codes of conduct in place to guard against conflicted decision-making, and invested in more effective public engagement techniques.
This city’s planners recognise that a rigid regulatory system and a contested development process will not support a more discretionary, design-led approach that enables design excellence to become the rule rather than the exception.
With a compelling urban vision, Canberra can thrive in the 21st century. To create and deliver that vision, we need high-quality planners and a well-resourced and trusted planning agency.
Ian Wood-Bradley is the president of the ACT division of the Planning Institute of Australia, which represents qualified urban and regional planners across the country.
A LOVE of dogs and passion for grooming them means Debbie Hart enjoys every second of her work running Central Bark Pet Styling in Gungahlin.
Dog-lover Debbie is the new owner of Central Bark, which used to be Wolfies VIP pet styling Gungahlin, located at Yerrabi Pond.
“We offer the same services as before, from doggy daycare, walking and puppy socialisation, to a simple wash and dry, a full groom, de-shed or a breed-specific groom,” she says.
“The only difference is the ownership and name.”
Debbie has bred and trained horses and dogs (including kelpies, border collies and Jack Russell terriers) over the past 35 years, and has been doing professional grooming for nearly three years.
She also runs BarkRoyal, a smaller dog salon and daycare at her home in Nicholls, and says she wanted to extend her work to an extra grooming business because she loves working with dogs.
“I’m doing what I love, all day – spending time with dogs and transforming them,” she says.
“Dogs are amazing, they’re all so different but loving and loyal. At the end of a busy day you come home and they are always so happy to see you!
“Our focus is on giving dogs a positive experience and it helps that all the staff at Central Bark love working with dogs so much, it really shows.”
The team at Central Bark includes manager Sara Farrell, who has continued through as the manager from Wolfies VIP, as well as full-time and part-time dog bathers and groomers.
“Between us, we have more than 60 years’ experience with animals!” says Debbie.
“It’s important to us that all the dogs we groom go home looking fantastic, but it’s even more important that they go home feeling happy and loved.
“We treat all dogs with love and kindness, as much as their owners would, and we look after their individual needs on a case-by-case basis, whether they’re nervous, hate baths or think they’re at the vets!”
Open Monday to Saturday from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Debbie says Central Bark can take between 15 and 18 dogs a day for grooming. Prices depend on the size of dog and type of hair.
“It’s important to us that all the dogs we groom go home looking fantastic, but it’s even more important that they go home feeling happy and loved,” says Central Bark owner Debbie Hart.
From tiny chihuahuas to giant Alaskan malamutes, every dog of every size is welcome, says Debbie.
“I like working with nervous dogs, helping them to relax,” she says.
“I have a soft spot for rescue dogs and we offer their first groom for free after
they’ve been rescued.
“Service dogs are half-price, and we work with hearing-assistance, seizure-detection and emotional-support dogs.”
Central Bark Pet Styling, 90a Phyllis Ashton Circuit, Gungahlin. Call 6174 4203, email info@centralbarkpetstyling.com.au or visit centralbarkpetstyling.com.au
IN 1964 all Canberra suburbs were provided with an annual hard rubbish pick up service.
While the ACT government scurries around to deliver another such arrangement over the next five years to help, in part, improve aspects of the visual amenity of our city, it does little to counteract the impacts on neighbourhoods and visitors of the development-site eyesores that spring up across the city, often for years on end (“16 years on, is this Canberra’s worse building mess?” Paul Costigan, CN, September 4) .
Residents of Banks will soon be among the first to use the new annual bulky household waste collection service, but they, like many Canberrans, are still forced to live with an unacceptable degree of local development ugliness that should be easily preventable.
Sites are usually razed quickly to the ground, left empty to collect rubbish, weeds and sometimes languishing building work, the sight of which becomes more apparent over time as cheap and inadequate fencing deteriorates into a permanent vista of tattiness and is never replaced or improved.
Multiple suburbs have been paying in many ways for these visual blots on the urban landscape for far too long. Now more sites are being left to moulder away, including down the kilometres-long strip whose intensive renewal is justified as a means of creating a transformative and appealing gateway to the national capital.
We already face up to three decades of transitional urban ugliness which now may
be exacerbated by a slow-down in residential densification and construction.
It would therefore help to have renewal sites, at all stages of development, well-cordoned off with high, good-quality screening, with relevant government and developer contact details attached. Over the life of a site, a program of regular monitoring and maintenance of such temporary infrastructure and any vestiges left of surrounding landscaping would help to improve the liveability of and pride in the surrounding areas.
Sue Dyer, Downer
OVER the last 25 years or so, living conditions in new, multiple-dwelling developments have drifted back towards the wretchedness of the Industrial Revolution.
And that’s despite government attempts to prevent that with “codes” (that developers have simply watered down).
Having encouraged widespread landlord investment, those developers tell us we must accept lower living conditions here. No, to that!
We need new rules across Australia for: improved aspect ratios (longer external walls)
for all forms of multiple dwellings; improved cross ventilation; solar access for all units (not just a percentage as now); improved privacy and overlooking arrangements; all bedrooms or sleeping areas to have windows; discrete in-unit entry areas; improved acoustic and vibration measures; increased common landscaped areas on natural ground (not over underground car parks); mandated, larger than at present, minimum living-dining areas; no mechanical equipment on balconies unless they’re larger than a certain floor area and do not impede outlooks; natural light for all com mon access areas; no lifts directly adjoining units; and more.
The currently highly protected “market” will have to adjust.
COLUMNIST Paul Costigan has a go at author Tom Greenwell for daring to suggest that Walter Burley Griffin’s plans supported the idea of some development at West Basin. Had he troubled to look at Griffin’s plan accompanying his article, he would have seen development sites both sides of Commonwealth Avenue down towards the lakeshore, a road system including a circular curved lakeshore “boulevard” and buildings extending around to Acton Peninsula. His suggestion that the West Basin foreshore is “natural” with “soft edges” is also wide of the truth. In fact, most of the northern foreshore to East, Central and West Basins is
hard edged, with masonry retaining walls. Griffin’s plans show curvilinear formed lake edges with adjacent boulevards around the three basins.
Richard Johnston, Kingston
with a lead on, particularly on the paths and ovals near our home in Stirling. Repeal this new dog rights infringement law – at least for dogs who can prove they can behave themselves off the leash and are not a dangerous breed.
off lead and which ones aren’t. This girl is now eight years old and has rarely walked
Don’t Labor Members of the ACT Assembly own dogs? Do they know nothing
Sure, there should be laws against dangerous breeds in suburban areas. That’s the main problem. Not dogs like our Honey walking around sniffing, taking an interest in what’s going on and doing wees. Dogs need the freedom to walk freely on our paths under the supervision of their owners and run on our parks and ovals without the “Dog Gestapo” handing out fines. Dogs need their freedom just as much as humans.
There should be laws against people locking dangerous breeds up all day, on their own and never taking them for a walk. Some breeds should be banned within the
Does this little girl look vicious to you? Here she is on the Black Stump in Blackall, Queensland; a real mean bastard, I don’t
John Miller, Stirling
Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au or write to the editor at: 9b / 189 Flemington Road, Mitchell 2911 Write to us
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HOME-phone connections have halved since 2001, when more than 96 per cent of Australians had one at home.
This halving has occurred over the last two decades as new technologies including mobile phones, broadband internet and subscription TV have made increasing in-roads to Australian households, says Michele Levine, CEO of research company Roy Morgan.
She says the incredibly fast takeup of these new technologies and the almost ubiquitous usage of mobile phones (now used by 95.9 per cent of Australians) has accelerated the decline of the home phone.
Now less than half the population has a home phone connected (48.6 per cent), down 9.5 per cent from a year ago.
These findings from the “Roy Morgan Single Source Survey” are derived from in-depth, face-to-face, personal interviews with more than 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.
The research shows that Australians with access to subscription/pay TV services at home has risen to 66.5 per cent over the past 12 months, up 4.9 per cent from a year ago (61.6 per cent in June, 2018), and up a stunning 37.4 per cent since June 2015.
Levine says the exceptionally fast take-up of subscription TV over the last few years is attracting a field of
competitors keen to grab a piece of the action.
“The stunning growth in subscription TV in Australia is clear by looking at the trends for rival technologies over the longer term,” she says.
“From almost nothing in 2015 well over half of the population (57.1 per cent) now has access to subscription TV or SVOD (57.1 per cent) in mid-2019.
“This growth has been largely driven by Netflix which is now available to 11.5 million Australians only four years after launching their Australian service early in 2015.
“However, Netflix is being increasingly challenged by ‘cashed-up’ rivals keen to gain a foothold in the growing market and prevent Netflix from gaining any benefits from incumbency and market power.
“Rival subscription TV services including the locally-owned Stan, accessible by nearly three million Australians, as well as international competitors such as Amazon Prime Video and YouTube Premium are also growing strongly in Australia and providing
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, January 1999-June 2019. Average annual sample n=53,193. Base: Australian population aged 14+.
an increasing challenge to Netflix.
“The recent ‘tie-up’ between Netflix and long-term Australian Pay TV provider Foxtel presents opportunities for both as well as representing a somewhat defensive move as Apple TV+ and Disney Plus are set to enter the
Australian market in the near future.
“Disney Plus is set to launch in Australia in November with a price of only $9 per month setting the price point below both Netflix and Stan and with a yearly cost of only $89 –cheaper than the monthly price of
many Foxtel packages.
“The stunning rise in subscription TV in recent years remarkably means that more Australians now have household access to the likes of Netflix, Stan and their rivals than a home phone connection.”
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WITH an enormous range of different businesses that call Fyshwick home, the busy commercial hub has been a suburb in Canberra since the 1920s.
But a couple of years earlier it was destined for something else. And, in early 1918, an internment camp was built between the railway line and Canberra Avenue.
It was known as the Molonglo Internment Camp, although it was also referred to as a concentration camp. The site was intended to accommodate 3500 German and Austrian nationals being expelled from China, but once the camp was established in May 1918 the internees were no longer destined for Molonglo.
Instead, the camp housed 150 detainees transferred from the NSW Bourke Camp. It closed in late 1919 after the internees were deported to Germany.
After its closure most of the camp’s buildings were sold off, with the remaining buildings being converted to house construction workers, some of whom were unemployed returned servicemen.
Gradually the camp buildings were moved to other camp sites around Canberra and the roads used to service the camp became the first streets of Fyshwick.
These days it’s a busy commercial hub well known for the enormous range of different businesses that call Fyshwick home. Here are some of the leading ones…
Team builds decades of trust
WITH almost 40 years’ experience in home building and renovations, Kenro Services is passionate about providing quality, reliability and trustworthiness to its customers, says owner
Mark O’Shea.
Mark, who has operated the business with fellow owner Ivan Radovanovic since 2000, says the Kenro team includes employees and long-standing contractors that are all qualified, insured and licensed.
“We do everything by the book and will only use licensed tradespeople who make sure the job is done right,” says Mark.
“We have been around for a long time and have built up a trustworthy reputation.”
From knock down rebuilds, to extensions, room renovations and decking, Mark says Kenro Services works with its customers to achieve their
vision for their home.
“We do a lot of bathroom, kitchen and laundry renovations and project manage the whole job, from the design, demolition, rebuilding, electricals, plumbing, grouting and clean-up,” he says.
“We also transform outdoor entertaining areas by building decks from hardwood or other materials such as plastic composite.”
Mark says Kenro Services prides itself on prompt responses and quote turn-arounds and is committed to establishing an open line of communication with their customers.
He says their customers are so happy with the work Kenro does that they tell their friends and ask them back for their next home project.
Kenro Services, 20 Isa Street, Fyshwick. Call 6239 3211 or visit kenro.com.au
FOR high-vis workwear, safety equipment and boots, Seears Workwear has the lot, says a Seears spokesman.
Located on Barrier Street, Seears Workwear is family owned and operated, run by Pat Seears and his son Shane.
The 1400 square-metre store sells clothing and safety gear for pretty much every kind of industry and worker, he says – from building labourers, chefs, blue and white-collar workers to hospitals, major companies and government departments such as Defence.
“We also have a corporate section, where we provide a free measure-and-quote and free delivery service,” he says.
“We are a very competitively priced business and are always negotiable on large bulk orders.
“We offer a full embroidery and screen-printing service, too.” Seears keeps a huge range of stock on the premises and sells online.
Seears Workwear, 60 Barrier Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 4111 or visit seearsworkwear.com.au
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LOCATED on Townsville Street, Latin Motors owner Damian Jones has all car owners covered, no matter how minor or major their car repairs are.
The family-owned, long-established workshop opened its doors in 1979 and specialises in European makes and models.
But, Damian says the repair centre is equipped with professional-grade autorepair tools and equipment, which enables Latin Motors to service all vehicle makes and models.
“We always put our customers first, making sure they are notified and assured if there is any extra work found on their car,” he says.
Damian, who did an apprenticeship in European cars, says he appreciates their fine engineering.
have more than 13 years of experience in all European vehicles,” he says.
reliable, honest and efficient customer service and information to my customers, notifying of any additional work required prior to it being carried out.”
Motors, customers can feel comfortable knowing they’ll be liaising directly with the mechanic who is working on their vehicle.
and the customers. I am able to provide a personalised service,” he says.
Latin Motors, 56 Townsville Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 5586 or visit latinmotors.com.au
By Helen Musa
IT was a terrific turnout last week when the Canberra community packed into the Larry Sitsky Recital Room to mark the famous Canberra composer’s 85th birthday, but when it comes to musical celebrations, it’s the Russians who really know how to do it in style.
Sitsky will be honoured with a long weekend this month of musical festivities by the Moscow Conservatory as an artist who, though not born in Russia has, through his heritage, contributed to the Russian musical tradition.
“CityNews” caught up with Sitsky and his wife Magda last week at their home in Chifley as they were preparing to leave for Moscow with their daughter and Canberra pianist Edward (“Teddy”) Neeman, who will perform a sonata by Sitsky at the event.
It was supposed to be a surprise event, but Neeman knew all about it long before Sitsky did, having been tipped off by Anna Borisova, the Russian PhD student who is writing her thesis on Sitsky, that plans were afoot.
Sitsky tells us: “When I got an email with the invitation, I thought it was a hoax, so I answered in a silly way, but after a few more emails I realised it was real.
“When they said that they would shell out for transport there, I realised it was serious and our embassy in Moscow has been very supportive – I got in touch with them to make sure it wasn’t a scam.”
It wasn’t and both the Australian and Russian diplomats have since combined to make sure it runs smoothly.
The weekend of September 27-29 will feature musical performances on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday and a formal reception at our embassy on Monday, September 30.
Sitsky, who has lived in Canberra since the 1960s, has thoroughly involved himself in the community here and written his greatest works in the
real.
ACT, including his massive opera “The Golem” and even a musical score for Splinters Theatre of Spectacle’s fiery production of “Faust.”
He and Magda have raised a family here and he always comes across as more of an Aussie than anything else. In fact his mother was from Irkutsk in Siberia and his father from Vladivostok. Both became part of the caravan of Russian-Jewish émigrés who went to China in the wake of the Russian Revolution and later emigrated to Australia.
Born and raised in the French Concession area of Tianjin but schooled in the English Concession, the young Sitsky was used to crossing borders daily, so when at age 15 he landed in Sydney, it was hard to believe that there were no such barriers here. “And no one gave a stuff,” he reports.
Sitsky took to Australia like a duck to water, edited a youth magazine, started
studying engineering, switched to music, and ended up as an academic at the Queensland Conservatorium.
From there he was headhunted to help galvanise the ACT into musical activity. Once here, he found himself composing more than playing.
In the meantime, learning of his fluency in Russian, the Federal government sent him to Moscow as Australia’s first cultural ambassador to Russia during the Cold War, after a cultural relations agreement was signed in the early 1970s.
Russia was freezing. The pipes burst in a big music library and everything was different – there were flowers thrown on to the stage, the final rounds of a ballet competition were screened on national TV, and even the exiling of controversial composers showed that the authorities believed they had influence.
Heady stuff for a young artist, but
the sceptical Sitsky came to realise that composing in a cultural vacuum here gave him a certain freedom.
“You’re not bound to anyone, no expectations are formed, it can be liberating,” he says, but academia is the only way a composer can survive in Australia.
As part of his Canberra birthday celebrations (the real birthday is on September 10) he played a couple of pieces, but as a self-described “composer-musicologist-pianist”, he has decided not to perform when he goes to Moscow, so has politely declined, telling his hosts: “You have so many pianists, you don’t need me.”
Besides, he has Neeman, who will perform one of his sonatas, “Retirer d’en bas de l’eau”, which Sitsky based on the voodoo ceremony of purification by water.
He and his family can just watch, listen and enjoy themselves.
By Helen Musa
RECENTLY named Number One Burlesque Performer in the World by “21st Century Burlesque Magazine”, artist Zelia Rose will be here to run workshops and to star in “Decadence and Debauchery” at The Abbey, Gold Creek, September 20-22. Book at jazidaproductions.com
POP painter Johnny Romeo was a hit last year for Aarwun Gallery and he’s coming back with a new show, “Rocka Rolla”, a display of rambunctious kitsch pop works which re-imagines cultural icons. Opening at Aarwun, Federation Square, 6pm, Friday, September 20. The exhibition runs until October 5.
DAME Edna Everage’s “My Gorgeous Life” national tour begins in Canberra. “One of the reasons I am adored…is that I’ve always told you the truth; mostly the truth about yourselves, and even sometimes about me,” she says. At Canberra Theatre, September 17-19. Book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au
ALISON Plevey’s company, the Australian Dance Party, is set to debut her next full-length dance work, “From the Vault” in a secret warehouse, Dairy Road precinct, Fyshwick, September 21-22.
CANBERRA Youth Orchestra’s next concert will feature the 2019 CYO Concerto Competition winner, Nicholas Hilderson. As well, the orchestra, conducted by Max McBride, will play works written by ANU School of Music composers Kim Cunio, Frank Millward, Chris Sainsbury, Alec Hunter and Chloe Sinclair. At Llewellyn Hall, Saturday, September 21. Book at premier.ticketek.com.au
THE Glenn Miller Orchestra is returning to town with 24 musicians, singers and dancers taking a journey down memory lane to celebrate its 82nd anniversary. At Canberra Theatre, September 21. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre. com.au or 6275 2700.
“SPENCER” is playwright Katy Warner’s new comedy-drama looking at a gloriously dysfunctional Australian family. Told over the course of one weekend, it’s the story of a tight-knit family about to get a big surprise. There’s a language warning for this one. At The Q, Queanbeyan, September 19-21. Book at theq.net.au or 6285 6290.
THE Imperial Russian Ballet Company returns with “Swan Lake”, presented in two acts and following the original storyline where the virtues of love and forgiveness in the end conquer evil. At Canberra Theatre, 2pm, September 15 only. Book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au
“THE Irresistible” has been described as “like a good ‘Twin Peaks’ episode”. Told through multiple parallel narratives, it’s woven like a mystery or a sci-fi and is part of Canberra Theatre’s avant-garde program, Etcetera. At The Playhouse, September 20-21. Book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au
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White miso glazed salmon… the green-tea noodle salad and Asian slaw each added different textures.
WE had been paying attention to the buzz. Seven weeks of extensive renovations. A major investment in design and fitout. A new menu.
When the dust settled, we rocked in to see the final results – Ostani revamped. Do we start with the food or the fitout? Let’s go with the food.
Our party of five thought the menu was inviting (there’s a kids’ section too) and we loved that you can get free sparkling water (at the water station). What to choose? That was the challenge.
The dish of the day was the chimichurri beef cheeks. We agreed it was the least attractive on the plate, but the aroma was wonderful, and the beef couldn’t have been more tender ($29).
The chimichurri was as colourful and tangy as you’d expect, the black beans not overcooked and the grilled corn polenta a great texture. It causes a bit of food envy.
Another winner was my dish, which is going to be sensational throughout spring and in the warmer weather. Let me introduce the coconut and lime poached chicken salad ($22).
There was a mountain of edamame and broad beans (which I adore) and carrots on the plate. The coriander, mint and lime made the dish super fresh and the turmeric dressing was intriguing. The salad came with a generous serve of chicken, making
the dish substantial in its own right.
The white miso glazed salmon was a nod to the Asian influences we love in Canberra. The green-tea noodle salad and Asian slaw each added different textures. The sesame and ginger dressing received a tick of approval ($23).
At first the grilled spatchcock seemed a bit ho-hum, but when all the ingredients were combined the flavours started to shine through ($28).
At Ostani you order at the kitchen (which we didn’t realise) or the bar (which is where we landed). You grab a buzzer and then enjoy a drink while meals are prepared.
The amazing fitout, by award-winning design studio Capezio Copeland, is inspired by the Australian alpine landscape. Loads of wooden elements, raw concrete, an amazing round fireplace in a central location and a warm ambience. The outdoor area remains, graced with several fireplaces (still essential in Canberra even though spring has arrived) and comfy seating.
We. Will. Be. Back!
Ostani, Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton. Open Monday to Friday, 6.30- late. Saturday and Sunday, 11am-late.
By Helen Musa
“REINVENTING myself, that is my subtext,” choreographer and installation artist-turned filmmaker, Sue Healey says of “Capturing the Vanishing: A choreographer and film,” her newly-published “Platform Paper” for Currency House.
“I didn’t want it to be deeply pessimistic, I want my paper to be on a positive trajectory, but there needs to be a change in many things to do with how we perceive dance.” Healey, well-known here as the director of the company Vis-a-Vis Dance Canberra from 1993 to 1995, has been living in Sydney since 2000. She has created 10 significant films with cinematographer Judd Overton, including the featurelength film “Virtuosi” (2012) and a documentary about a group of senior dancers in Canberra, “The GOLDS” (2014), which have screened in more than 40 cities internationally.
As a visual artist she was a 2018 finalist in the 65th Blake Prize and a 2017 finalist in the Digital Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery for her six-minute “portrait” film featuring ex-Bodenwieser dancer Eileen Kramer, aged 103, and has shot footage on the lakebed at Mirramu near Bungendore of former “CityNews” Artist of the Year Elizabeth Dalman.
In 2019, she argues, there is a predicament in dance funding, so much so that at a recent “crisis” meeting of independent dance artists in Sydney, it became obvious to her that the emerging generation doesn’t expect to make a living from its art.
“I find this hard to swallow,” she says.
“The constant disappearance of dance makes it difficult to commodify, but also the way of making dance and the presentation of it have created issues working against the dance form.”
That’s where film came into her life, as her paper explains.
“I have found my own survival mechanism in dance by being more entrepreneurial and diversifying and it’s made me more adaptable,” she says, explaining how many dance organisations, not least Ausdance National, have had to close, leaving independent artists surviving on the smell of an oily rag.
Even before coming to Canberra, she had begun to notice how dance was being marginalised by what she calls “the lack of concrete artefacts”.
“Dance finds it so difficult to prove its value to everyone, but I realised that film could assist me in this process of proving the value of what dance is,” she says.
“Film has helped me find new audiences, suddenly people understood what I was trying to do.
“Younger generations live their lives through screens, so we must place imagery on those platforms; their brains are wired in a different way, so it’s imperative that we get into this.”
“Capturing the Vanishing: A choreographer and film” by Sue Healey, “Platform Paper No. 60”, available at currencyhouse.org.au
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4
“The Farewell” (PG)
THE promotional tag-line for this film is: “Based on an actual lie”. Few movies so honestly deliver their promotion material. This warm-hearted observation of a middle-class Chinese family has already garnered a healthy collection of awards from film festivals all over the English-speaking world.
Actress Awkwafina (born Nora Lum in New York of Korean/Chinese parents) plays Billi, whom we first meet getting two important messages. A prestigious university has rejected her application to enrol in a PhD program. And from China comes a message asking her please to come quickly because her beloved grandmother Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao, about whom I have been able to find nothing more than the name but she’s a delight to watch) has a serious medical issue from which she might die within a couple of weeks.
Writer/director Lulu Wang’s screenplay wisely presents the story in a nicely-crafted mixture of warm humour and family drama that’s easily recognisable. And in reflecting Chinese customs and faiths harking back millennia rather than merely centuries, it brings us fresh information to charm and reward us.
The “actual lie” of the promotion is that Nai Nai’s husband and her sister have laid down a rule – Nai Nai must enjoy her final days unaware of her medical condition. Even doctoring the report of a medical procedure from a hospital as modern as any in Canberra
is fair game.
Ends that justify means pose risks for their practitioners. Don’t be in a hurry to leave when the final credits start.
At Dendy and Palace Electric
DIVORCEE Lizzie (Noomi Rapace) looks at little girls in search of the infant daughter she lost in a hospital fire seven years earlier.
And now she’s convinced that Lola (Annika Whiteley) lives in the family of Claire (Yvonne Strahovski), her husband (Richard Roxburgh) and their son who’s about the same age as Lizzie’s son.
That’s the fundamental premise of Kim Farrant’s remake of the 2008 French film
“Mark of an Angel”. It’s made In Melbourne in an undefined era that, by the look of its cars, is definitely since the development of DNA profiling that courts of justice have deemed legal since 1983 and now is so well-known and common that it’s become affordable to folk wondering about their ancestry.
Watching Farrant’s film aware of that wonderful forensic tool was intensely frustrating for me. I couldn’t comprehend why Lola, Lizzie and Claire didn’t get their DNAs profiled.
Instead, “Angel of Mine” expects us to wear the notion that Lizzie’s insistence
By Richard Calver
A bear walks into a bar. The barman says, “What can I get you?” The bear says: “Hmmm…… a glass of house red.” The barman says: “Why the long pause?” The bear replies “Hey, I was born that way.”
I RECENTLY had the pleasure of meeting a bear of a man who is both passionate and caring about the wine he makes and articulate in the defence of the big Barossa reds that are an Australian tradition.
Kurtz Family Vineyards came to town, hosting an intimate wine dinner in the cellar room at Gryphons in Griffith. There were 14 of us who enjoyed a great selection of wines chosen by Steve Kurtz.
Steve produced his first vintage of the Lunar Block Shiraz in 1999. The 2016, released in 2019 to celebrate 50 years since the moon landing, has rich, ripe flavours with high alcohol content (over 15 per cent) that doesn’t knock your socks off but gives it the body you expect from a big Barossa red.
It will last a very long time but was drinking well on the night. It paired splendidly well with the osso bucco main course and gave you a warm feeling of contentment like being enveloped in
Shortly after this outing, 2CC asked me to have a chat on the radio about wine and I told the producer I would expatiate about “warming reds”. It gave me an opportunity to do two things, talk on air about the Kurtz wines I had enjoyed and, after some research (seriously!), to bust the myth that wine, or any alcoholic beverage for that matter, actually warms you up.
The Kurtz wines are from a producer who knows how to make full-bodied wine. My favourite was the 2016 Lunar Block shiraz. Steve tells us that this is his flagship wine, $65 for orders on the night that usually sells for $75 a bottle. Steve waxes lyrical about this wine and his family history.
In 1961, Steve’s mother and father purchased a 16-hectare property in the heart of the Barossa. Steve mentions that on July 20, 1969, mankind took its “one giant leap” and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. On the same day, Steve’s Mum and Dad bought an additional block. In honour of the moon landing, his father named it “Lunar Block”. The vines planted there are the oldest on the property.
capillaries just under the surface of your skin. When you have a drink, the volume of blood brought to the skin’s surface increases, making you feel warm.”
While you feel warm that is merely because the blood has moved away from your core to your skin, even causing you to sweat.
The alcohol plays with your mind, not just making you feel taller and younger but aglow. That is why it can be dangerous to drink in extremely cold temperatures and why some people who have been drinking die of hypothermia.
But in the confines of the Gryphon cellar with the heat being generated by human warmth, Steve’s skills as a raconteur and the marvellous, flowing red wine that was served generously and humbly by a top winemaker, it would have been churlish to delve too far into the sobering science of the effects of alcohol on the body.
“Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”
–Thomas Gray
(without a shred of justification) that Lola is her daughter and her divorcing of a man who still loves her were both right actions and tough luck, Claire, mistakes can happen.
The film’s acting is good and its middleclass Melbourne suburbs look attractive. But I cannot commend a film that depends for its dramatic backbone on a solution for which there is so resounding a contrary proof.
At Dendy
“It: Chapter 2” (MA)
TWO days short of two years ago, “It” (running time 135 minutes) was released in Australia. This sequel portrays the original characters 29 years later (running time 169 minutes).
Andy Muschietti who directed both films considers this one (written by Gary Dauberman) to be the second half of the first, rather than a sequel. Playing with words, methinks.
James McAvoy plays Bill, now a stuttering screenwriter with a problem about coming up with a happy ending.
Child actors in both films were asked who they would like to play their adult characters. That’s how Jessica Chastain got cast as Beverly, the only girl in the seven-member Losers Club at school in Derry, Maine, now
a fashion designer fleeing an abusive marriage. I hope this pair got paid lots, because “It: Chapter 2” doesn’t look likely to improve their professional standings.
Structurally, “It 2” flips between now and 29 years ago. It offers short character studies of the seven as adults, interspersed with progress toward a climactic and seemingly unending sequence in which the characters do battle underground with the 500-years+ old Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård, of the noted Swedish acting family) who wants to destroy the characters and the town.
In that sequence, the actors do their thing. But the film’s real stars are the behindthe-camera technical folk who toiled to make the fakery of that long sequence look real. The list of their names is endless.
For a reader, the fatuous proposition in Stephen King’s novel “It” delivers horror as the ephemeral product of his/her imagination alone. Its impact from moving images and sounds depends on others’ creative skills and a lumpy musical score.
Films like this have an audience. I don’t recall ever meeting a member of it.
At all cinemas
• Pick up by the bag $7 each
• Pick up by the trailer load $40 per trailer
• We deliver truck loads
MAGNOLIAS perform well in Canberra and now’s the time to select these magnificent shrubs and trees in flower in garden centres.
There are more than 220 species, with evergreen magnolias, such as “Little Gem”, grow ing naturally in the southern US down to Brazil and deciduous magnolias from the Himalayas to Japan.
One great breeder is Felix Jury and his son Mark Jury, of NZ. They raise hundreds of seedlings of which only the top quality ones are selected for future breeding.
One of their most famous selections is Magnolia “Black Tulip” with deep purple-black blooms up to 15 centimetres across. Other Jury selections include “Burgundy Star” and “Honey Tulip” with golden, honey-coloured, tulip-shaped blooms.
They are available at most garden centres and ideally suited to our climate.
MANY magnolias are now a threatened species. The International Union for Conservation and Nature lists 121 as either endangered and some critically endangered.
Included in the list is magnolia stellata or star magnolia, which I have growing by our front door, interestingly with an amazing abundance of flowers, more than for several years despite the harsh growing season.
it is a rare species growing in the wild in a small area in the western district of Tokai in Japan. Growing to just three metres, generally the only pruning needed is to remove any dead or crossing branches.
AT this time of the year, I usually receive emails asking how to get rid of blackbirds. The complaint is they scratch mulch on to paths and lawns when looking for worms. But let me be clear; you are talking to the wrong person! I just love blackbirds. They have now arrived in our garden after spending winter in warmer climes. No other bird that I know of can sing all day long and never repeat a tune.
Another bird story; a certain teacher was telling her pupils to look out for magpies. She told them the birds are swooping earlier this year, due to climate change!
WHILE news broadcasts continually feature the drought, here’s an interesting statistic from “Country Life” magazine: “One inch of rain falling on one acre equals 27,154 gallons or equivalent to 113 tons”. Imagine the weight of water when
Orchid Society of
will be held
Avenue, over the weekend of September 21-22. It will feature exotic and native orchids plus orchid-related art. A large range of orchids in flower will be for sale plus all the materials for growing these exotic plants. Refreshments will be available. Admission is $2.
• When buying magnolias or any other shrub, be sure to check the ultimate size; some magnolia varieties can grow up to more than eight metres, not for the small garden!
• Encourage children into gardening by sowing sunflower seeds or marigold seedlings now.
• There is an increasing variety of daphne available and now’s an ideal time to plant.
Joanne Madeline Moore
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Avoid being a lightweight Aries. A delicate domestic situation or a tricky work issue requires deep thinking and deft diplomacy. So take off your bossy cap and slip on your humility hat instead! With Pluto on your side, you can transform a frustrating negative into an amazing positive! On the weekend you may worry about your future trajectory. If you meditate on the possibilities, then you’ll wake up on Monday morning with renewed motivation and a workable plan.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)
The focus is on friendship, creativity and productivity. So look for a project where you can combine these three elements in wonderfully transformative ways! But beware a false friend who doesn’t really have your best interests at heart. Attached Taurus – avoid getting stuck in a romantic rut! Do your best to put some passion and pizzazz back into the partnership. Unhappily single? You could find true love via an introduction from a work colleague or a close friend.
GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)
This week you’ll feel overwhelmed by work politics or relationship pressures. You’re keen to escape stressful scenarios and daydream the hours away but that doesn’t mean the problems will magically disappear! If you are a gullible Gemini, then you run the risk of being led astray by a smooth-talking partner, friend, relative, colleague, client or customer. You need to dig deep and have the courage, conviction and fortitude to forge your own path and follow your own dreams.
CANCER (June 22 – July 23)
Relations with family members are set to improve, as Mercury and Venus visit your domestic zone. Plus Saturn moves forwards, which should help a shaky close relationship gradually move on to more stable ground. On the weekend nebulous Neptune squares Jupiter, so avoid getting involved in confusing scenarios that lead nowhere (especially involving work, travel or international connections). And steer well clear of dubious people who make vague promises.
LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)
Under the influence of the positive Mars/Pluto connection, an idea you have (involving work, business or finances) could really take off. But you must understand and accommodate the needs of others, not just your own. And it’s imperative that you have a practical and viable plan. Wonderful words and pie-in-the-sky promises mean nothing if they’re not backed up with actual action. So, if you make a commitment – keep it; and if you set a goal – work hard to achieve it.
VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
Virgos are analytical creatures. And this week you’ll be given the opportunity to impress others with your methodical mind, multitasking skills and meticulous attention to detail. So don your detective cap and start solving a problem or getting to the bottom of a mystery ASAP. A close relationship looks very confusing on the weekend though. You think you know what’s going on but you really don’t have a clue! Perhaps it’s time to ask for an explanation and some clarification?
LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
The stars favour transforming a domestic negative into a positive, or spending time with a special family member. Mercury and Venus (your patron planet) are now visiting your sign, which highlights your natural charm and diplomatic skills. You’ll certainly need them in spades on the weekend, when the Jupiter/Neptune square blurs reality and confuses communication for everyone. So you may be called on to smooth troubled waters and soothe furrowed brows!
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
You’re in the mood to daydream, but be careful you don’t delude yourself about the true motives of a friend (especially where money is involved). Creative projects and spiritual pursuits are productive ways to express your imagination and tap into your intuition. It’s a good week to set ambitious goals that will transform your future in inspirational ways. The Mars/Pluto trine is also terrific for spreading powerful waves of influence within your local or online community.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
Neptune squares Jupiter (your power planet) so be careful you don’t get carried away with impractical dreams and impossible schemes. False optimism and unrealistically short timelines could also lead you to cut corners or take foolish risks. Success will come if you combine inspirational ideas with plenty of elbow-grease and patience. As Sagittarian writer George Eliot reminds us: “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
It’s a cracking week for Capricorns! On Wednesday, Saturn (your patron planet) moves forwards. So projects or situations that have been stalled since May will finally start to zoom ahead. Then the Sun and Pluto activate your sign on Thursday and Friday, when you’ve got the power and the passion to make things happen. But don’t let your desire to control everything (and everyone) get out of control! Aim to be disciplined and organised, but not obsessively so.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
It’s a good week to catch up with foreign friends, go on an adventure or study something that has always intrigued you. You need to discard superficial chit-chat and have something substantial to say. But Neptune scrambles your financial antennae. So avoid borrowing funds, buying property, making investments, going on a shopping spree or lending money to others because you’re liable to make decisions based on confusing information and fluctuating emotions.
PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
Are you full of fabulous ideas and abstract Piscean plans, but short on practical application? This week Neptune squares Jupiter, so there’s a tendency to either delude yourself or be deceived by someone else. You’ll need to keep your reality radar switched onto high, and fact check any questionable information that comes your way. Plus follow through on your long list of commitments. No matter how daunting they are, or how many obstacles are placed in your way.
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2019
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8 What is an aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family? (6)
9 Name an American game of football. (8)
11 What are long, deep, narrow valleys? (7)
13 What do we call a robot made to resemble a human being? (7)
15 Which word designates one who wanders about? (7)
17 Name a particular outdoor clock. (7)
20 Which ailment describes inflammation of the bladder? (8)
23 What is a characteristic style of pronunciation? (6)
24 What is a seemingly self-contradictory figure of speech? (8)
25 Which term describes a parliamentarian? (6) Down
1 What is a dam in a river? (4)
2 What is a large vulture of the New World? (6)
3 To agitate, is to do what? (4)
4 What is a reddish orange dye? (5)
5 To achieve or accomplish by continued effort, is to do what? (6)
6 To run away to marry, is to do what? (5)
9 What are persons of unusually great size? (6)
10 Which private soldier attends a superior officer? (7)
12 What is an electrician known as? (6)
14 Which part of speech modifies another part of speech? (6)
16 What, colloquially, do we call a person who endures pain bravely? (6)
18 Name one’s male relative. (5)
19 What is a more common term for a thespian? (5)
21 In classical mythology, across which river did Charon the ferryman transport the souls of the dead? (4)
22 What is a graven image known as? (4)
