CityNews

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Scooters galore, but who knows how they’re going

By Andrew MATHIESON

THE urban landscape around Civic, Acton and Braddon will never be the same.

Neither will pedestrians walking at pace along already busy footpaths.

It’s not quite a sign of the apocalypse, but the newfangled e-scooters have made navigating Canberra akin to avoiding the proverbial horseman.

Spotting a man in a suit and tie capped off with a dignified stack helmet on has been as common a morning sight as that same man riding on the verge of intoxication later that night into the darkness.

Most of the 1500 e-scooters lie littered on the horizon, unscrupulously dumped where they stopped, since their introduction last September.

It’s an anarchic sight not seen since the unbridled escape of the shopping trolley loose in suburbia.

Operators Neuron and Beam were given the green light to trial Canberra’s electronic devices in a rare competitive synergy to keep the wheels turning.

To illustrate how much they are on the same page, both told “CityNews” the response has been “overwhelmingly positive” from the thousands of trips.

“Of course, there have been a few

people who are still undecided about e-scooters – that happens, particularly in the early days of a new program, but it’s just overwhelmingly positive,”

Neuron Mobility regional manager

Richard Hannah says.

Their reach has even stretched as far north as Belconnen and right across Lake Burley Griffin to Can berra’s inner south.

The service that costs a buck to unlock the e-scooters and 38 cents for every minute gripped behind the handlebars is giving short Uber trips a run for their money in this age of transport frivolity.

“Many are making trips they wouldn’t otherwise have made,” Mr Hannah says.

“E-scooters are inexpensive when compared to many other forms of transport, and if you choose an escooter over a car for a short trip, it significantly reduces congestion and emissions.”

After success in foreign markets, unlimited growth potential for the future commercial journey promises to last longer than their batteries will.

Canberra is hardly Singapore, but fewer cars on shorter trips is a win.

None more so than the profits going into the pockets of providers that both declined to reveal their early financial returns on the rentals to “CityNews”.

They instead, at least publicly, espouse a holistic viewpoint that

Since 1993: Volume 27, Number 6

Arts & Entertainment 21-23

E-scooters… Big Brother’s influence starts the moment potential joyriders download their app, click on the prompts and type in their details.

e-scooters are in Canberra for the greater good.

“There will be more progress in how micro-mobility providers integrate into existing transport systems and how they share data with councils and alike, so they can better plan the cities of the future,” Mr Hannah says.

“We’ll continue to develop our products, e-scooters and other micro-mobility options, and aim to provide Canberra riders with the very best options.”

It would seem that the profitability of their Canberra operations can only be harmed by rising cases of vandalism.

There is an admission it is “impossible” to eliminate deliberate damage to

Managing Director: James Anderson, 0404 077605, james@citynews.com.au

e-scooters that is factored into costing models.

The devices are installed with GPS connectivity to a server where they can be immobilised, locked and temporarily unusable until retrieved for repair.

“Thankfully cases of repeat offending are rare,” Mr Hannah says.

“We generally warn people and try to re-educate them, but we can also suspend their accounts if they have been riding dangerously or if they continually break the rules.”

Big Brother’s influence starts the moment potential joyriders download their app, click on the prompts and type in their details.

The trips are logged so their location can be linked to damaged e-scooters.

“Vehicle loss can be a significant negative impact on a scooter company’s bottom line,” Beam Australia and NZ director of expansion Tom Cooper says.

“We are fortunate that loss due to theft or vandalism has been low in Canberra and well within our projections.”

Despite “topple detection” notifying which e-scooters are down and out, Canberra staff appear to struggle to catch the eyesore of strewn vehicles left on their side and not repositioned.

How many end up obscurely lost in the wrong suburbs, not even the best technology can tell.

But any thoughts of absconding over the border to Queanbeyan has been dismissed.

They are “geofenced”, that allows providers to control the power source to where they ride and where they are parked.

Suspicions the e-scooter software has been hacked were dismissed after sightings of young kids illegally riding them with milk crates for saddles.

“We have no concerns over the software and have a robust testing and implementation process whenever we make changes to our firmware,” Mr Cooper says.

“While we have been made aware of a few instances of minors riding the escooter, this has not occurred through any problems in the software.”

29

19 News 5-20

20 Seven Days 6 Cover: Architect Sarah Lebner.

Photo by Danielle Nohra. Story Page 8.

Director: Kate Meikle, kate@citynews.com.au

Senior advertising account executives: David Cusack, 0435 380656

Tracey Avery, 0477 939999

Advertising account executives:

Damien Klemke, 0439 139001

Karen Davis, 0427 410442

Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au

Digital news editor: Danielle Nohra, danielle@citynews.com.au

Journalists: Andrew Mathieson, andrew@citynews.com.au

Nick Overall, nick@citynews.com.au

Belinda Strahorn, belinda@citynews.com.au; Nathan Schmidt, nathan@citynews.com.au

Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au

Arts editor: Helen Musa, helen@citynews.com.au

Production manager: Janet Ewen

Proof reader: Glenda Anderson

SEVEN DAYS

Is this the refurbed bridge over troubled water?

BRIDGE is the word of the week for me; the one on Commonwealth Avenue and the club in Fyshwick.

Commonwealth Avenue Bridge has been top of mind since the recent announcement that the federal government was going to spend $137 million on its refurbishment.

It’s an elegant example of its time and construction began in March, 1961, when Canberra was in drought and it was built over a dry riverbed before being opened in November, 1963. It took until the following April for Lake Burley Griffin to fill for the first time.

I hadn’t realised that sewer mains are cleverly incorporated into the superstructure and the south-east pylon is actually a vent. I also discovered that when Waterloo Bridge in London was demolished in 1936, some of the large, flat stones from it were donated to the Australian government. Heaven knows why, but they can be seen under the bridge, on the northern shore.

So, what’s happening now? With 700 jobs on offer, the NCA is going to strengthen the bridge to prevent structural damage, widen pedestrian pathways and replace vehiclesafety barriers.

Tellingly there was no mention in the funding or scope of works of the ACT government’s unapproved, but naked ambition to hoik the tram over the lake and (now) on to Mawson. So is Commonwealth Bridge in or out of the project?

Who knows, but within a week of the funding announcement, up pops tram driver Chief Minister Andrew Barr and his ticketcollecting Transport Minister Chris Steel both terribly keen to share the news that the federal government had just granted environmental approval for the 1.7-kilometre Stage 2a construction of light rail from Alinga Street to Commonwealth Park. Planning approvals are still to come from the NCA and the ACT Planning and Land Authority, but the project will raise the London Circuit road level on either side of Commonwealth Avenue. That’ll take two years to complete.

for years now, but the profligate government isn’t listening to him, nor Treasury it would seem.

AND the other bridge… in December Belinda Strahorn reported the impending demise of the Grand Slam Bridge Centre in Fyshwick after 31 years under the ownership

Anne Weber

A search for a possible buyer has borne no fruit and Anne’s folding her hand on Friday, March 5.

“The thing about bridge is it’s really good for the mind, it keeps it active, you are always learning and it’s so friendly, it draws people from all walks of life,” she told Belle.

“So many friendships have been made here and that’s the biggest thing they are going to miss is the friends.”

out of budget funding this year.

Cheryl Guthrie, of Jerrabomberra, has shared this shocking photo of herself, a victim of a footpath fall in Benjamin Way, Belconnen, in October 2018.

“It was only repaired in January, 2019, after many phone calls. Legal action is being taken.” No surprises there. Anyone else got a footpath tale to tell? (editor@ citynews.com.au)

AT the risk of sounding sexist, I have to admit women in beards do nothing for me. But it would seem to be a state the federal member for Eden-Monaro relishes.

Reporter Andrew Mathieson was able to confirm at the city terminus press call that riding the three-stop rails to Commonwealth

He’s got an FOI copy of the ACT public service briefs prepared for incoming ministers in light of the recent ACT election in which Treasury bluntly warns: “The current gap between spending and taxation is not… sustainable over the medium term, and as soon as practically possible the government will need to put in place a detailed strategy to return the budget to balance and start repaying debt.”

If it sounds familiar, ex-chief minister Stanhope has been saying much the same

IN the last edition I wrote about the statistically sad state of repair of Canberra footpaths. There are thousands of little, painted, white arrows marking what must be kilometres of neglected pavements in a situation made more farcical by the ACT government’s five years of extolling the virtues of its Age Friendly Suburbs Program (“an ACT government commitment to improve path network infrastructure and connectivity in suburbs that include a large proportion of residents aged over 55 years”), which runs

Council on the Ageing (COTA) ACT invites you to participate in our Art and Photographic Competitions.

Judges will be looking for a photograph or a piece of artwork that captures a moment or tells a story about an older person’s life or older people’s lives.

We welcome entries that embrace a little fun, humour or show a dimension or aspect of the separation that some seniors have felt during the COVID pandemic.

All photographs and artworks must be submitted by Friday, 16 April 2021.

To read the full Terms and Conditions and categories, to enter or for more information visit the COTA ACT website cotaact.org.au or phone 6282 3777.

For there on Queanbeyan’s main drag, outside Kristy McBain’s electorate office is an image of the politician in a full, flowing white beard. At first glance, one might think it was just a Christmas affectation, but it must be something more serious… I mean, it is February already!

Ian Meikle is the “CityNews” editor and can be heard weekly on 2CC’s “CityNews Sun day Roast” news program, 9am to noon.

Community Art and Photographic Competitions

Architect with designs on more-affordable homes

By Danielle NOHRA

WHILE many architects dream of making architecture more accessible, Sarah Lebner is doing it.

That’s what Australian Institute of Architects’ president Alice Hampson said about Sarah, 32, of Gungahlin, when she was announced as the winner of the National Emerging Architecture Prize.

The award was unexpected for the principal architect at the multi-disciplinary firm, Light House Architecture and Science.

“I always dreamt of winning the state one. Some of the state winners have always been my idols so I was pretty blown away [to win the national prize],” says Sarah after she was applauded by the prize jury for her work in making quality, architect-designed homes more affordable, and for her role in educating the community.

A farm girl from SA, she moved to Canberra to study ar-

chitecture at UC, before joining the Light House team in 2013.

Since then, she’s been work ing on rethinking the design process and making it more accessible and affordable for people to build energy-efficient, cost-effective homes.

“Design tends to be seen as a luxury service, but actually it can really help people achieve better and more affordable out comes in their homes,” she says.

“There’s still this percep tion that architecture is an elite service but increasingly, practices like our own are re ally motivated by helping people with more ‘average budgets’ to achieve great things.”

Sarah’s goal is to change the construction industry and how people live, and describes some of the things done in the housing industry as “madness”.

For example, she says homes are rarely facing in the “right” direction even though it doesn’t cost any more to do so.

“Facing a home the wrong way in Canberra is like choos ing to park your car in the sun for the rest of your life,” Sarah says.

“It’s madness to me,” accord ing to Sarah, who says just that one change in the design process

Sarah Lebner…

“Most

homes are just people looking at what their neighbours are doing and replicating

it.”

for cooler homes in the summer. “When we think about the use and purchase in our lives like cars and mobile phones and even handbags, and then when we take our house, which is usually the single biggest purchase of our lifetime, we seem to think that design thinking is not important,” she says.

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bours are doing and replicating it.”

A big part of energy efficient homes is actually clever design so having a smaller, more effective footprint.

“Nationally, the percentage of people that use an architect when building a new home is less than four per cent.

“I would love to see people thinking a bit more about what’s possible with their home. We spend so much of our time in our homes and they’re the one place where we do have control of how they operate

BRIEFLY

The size of homes is one thing that people are replicating, Sarah says, with Australia topping the charts when it comes to building the biggest houses in the world, and Canberrans building the biggest houses in Australia, according to a recent Commsec report.

But Sarah says this push towards building big houses is a product of lazy design or a poor attitude towards design.

“A big part of energy efficient homes is actually clever design so having a smaller,

Museum tours resume

AFTER a long interval due to COVID-19 restrictions, tours of the ANU Classics Museum’s collection of ancient Greek and Roman antiquities are resuming. Organisers say they will be conducted on the second Friday of each month at 12.30 pm, the first being on Friday, February 12. Tours are free but registration is required by calling 0438 883373.

Line dancing for seniors

LINE-dancing instructor June Tamment will be conducting classes at the Canberra Seniors Centre, 10am-11.30, Thursdays, from February 11. The club says no dancing experience or partner is required, just wear smooth-soled shoes and comfy clothes. It costs $10. More information from 6248 9509.

more effective footprint, so that you don’t have to build as much house and you can retain more backyard and save

One big way Sarah’s been helping to change the industry through the practice she works at is through its modular de -

“We looked at the projecthome housing industry, which has off-the-plan solutions but they’re usually really poorly

“They don’t deliver great quality or site-specific solutions, but then at the other end of the spectrum often engaging an architect is a timely and expensive process so we looked at how we could combine the best bits that worked from each of those ideas and that’s what we call our modular-design

“We have predesigned elements of a house that work together really well but then we pull them together in a custom way to suit each site, orienta-

“We’ve been doing a lot of work in the bushfire area but also flexible homes so people can work from home but the use of the home can change – adult children can stay at home and then we often design our homes so once kids leave home part of the house can be rented out so you’ve got that flexible use of space and another source of income.”

Sarah also impressed the judges with her book titled “101 Things I Didn’t Learn in Architecture School – and Wish I Had Known Before My First Job”, which has grown into a platform for helping students and graduates bridge the gap between study and practice. Her favourite tip from the book is titled “Make the most of being naive”, saying the beginning of a career is the best time to ask questions because everyone expects them to know nothing.

Learning from Deb

DEB Emmett, a team leader from The Smith Family will talk about the “Learning For Life Program” at the next lunch meeting of the Tuggeranong Day VIEW Club, Town Centre Vikings club, Greenway, 11am-2pm, Tuesday, February 16. The cost is $26. Visitors and interested ladies are welcome. RSVP to 6291 0800 by Friday, February 12.

New VIEW in Gungahlin

THE new Gungahlin VIEW club is holding a meet-and-greet for interested ladies at Eastlakes Gungahlin. Anyone interested in attending should email june3@iinet.net.au before February 15. VIEW Clubs of Australia offer a network for women, while supporting the work of The Smith Family.

A second opinion on hearing loss

An elderly woman with hearing loss came to my clinic for a second opinion, after she had recently been to a hearing aid sales person. I found the cause of her hearing loss was simply the fact that she had build-up of wax in her ears, the salesperson had failed to inspect them. You might be surprised how often this happens!

Here are some things to do to avoid getting ripped off:

1. A visit to the GP may save you from being ‘sold’ something when your only problem is wax in your ears.

Recently I was told by two different patients that they were quoted $16,000 for a pair of hearing aids. This seems a ridiculous amount of money to pay and is most likely not appropriate for the majority of people (or possibly anyone).

5. If you are a pensioner or partpensioner, or a DVA gold or white card holder, you should carefully consider if you want to use the free-to-client government hearing aids or if you’d like to top-up to a different hearing aid.

“In an unregulated market there is a lot of opportunity to take advantage of people. Yes you have read correctly, there is no licensing of people who sell hearing aids.”

2. Look for someone who is independent and can offer you unbiased advice, not just give you a sales pitch.

– Dr Vass

3. There are a range of hearing aid prices. Finding the right hearing aid might save you money and it will also give you the best chance of success.

4. Hearing aids can be expensive.

The free-to-client hearing aids are appropriate for many people, however if you have great difficulty hearing background noise (for example in restaurants) then you might trial the top-up hearing aids, but only if you can afford them. There are a range of top up options and prices, if you are disappointed after a trial, you should return them and trial the free-toclient hearing aids.

If you get the feeling the person you’re dealing with is just trying to sell you something, then take a step back and get a second opinion.

CANBERRA MATTERS / Dickson supermarket

Finally, supermarket plan gets to the checkout

A COUPLE of days before Christmas, a call came through from the Coles project manager to the Dickson Residents Group convenor that the new supermarket complex was to go ahead in May/June 2021.

Jane Goffman then did what we wish the government would do more often – she immediately informed locals of progress of this long-running development saga.

The reaction to the news has been positive. People are relieved that the long saga may be coming to an end and that another supermarket is coming to the Dickson area. Originally Aldi was to be part of this, but it went missing after the ACAT appeal in 2016.

Right from the get-go, residents did not oppose the concept of a new supermarket – they welcomed it. The problem was that the original proposals ignored many planning laws. When it went to the appeals tribunal, it agreed that potentially breaking 80 or more rules was not a good thing. How the hell did this get through

Right from the get-go, Dickson residents did not oppose the concept of a new supermarket – they welcomed it. The problem was that the original proposals ignored many planning laws.

the Planning Directorate? Did any heads roll? Did the directorate learn from this blunder? Did the planning chief admit that this was not good and pledge to fix this up. Nope – nothing happened except for all the usual fibs and spin.

Worse still, politicians sat on the fence.

Those that did say anything, came out with platitudes and spin – or was it more fibs?

But soon after the proposal was tossed out by the appeals tribunal, Coles’ project team, its new architects and the local residents sat down and worked through what could be acceptable.

New concepts and broad principles were agreed and put to a larger community meeting – where agreement was reached.

Eventually, new plans emerged and this is more or less what has led to the December announcement that something is to get underway by mid this

year. The community-led process was delivered despite the incompetence of the Planning Directorate.

About a decade ago, when this whole thing kicked off, no-one in this government had put in place anything resembling planning on how the centre was to operate when construction takes over the main parking area – a couple of hundred spaces next to Woolworths.

With construction not far away –guess what? Still nothing from the planners. Nothing from the City Renewal Authority (remind me what they do).

Are there any planners in the Planning Directorate? Who is the leader of these bureaucratic blunderers and do any of them take any responsibility for the lack of actions? Planning review anyone? Start with a few kicks where it hurts!

Shop owners are worried. It has been nearly a decade and still nothing. While welcoming the new supermarket, shoppers will have to put up with a mess of stuff going on.

main parking area going under with no immediate replacement until the new structure is done and dusted, the years in between will be a disaster for many local shops – except maybe the take-aways given those workers will need to be fed.

Recognition needs to be given to the years of volunteer effort that locals put in to get a better solution. There has been a heap of blood, sweat and tears – and on-going insults and fibs from this government.

A BETTER FUTURE

Some of this has to happen as it is a construction site. But given that it is a

There is so much more to say about this saga but it would be more than

this whole edition of “CityNews” to spell out the details of the goings-on by those who should be looking after the city – but do not. There’s a TV mini-series waiting to be written. Can the Planning Directorate and that other government agency avoid stuffing up the next stages? Fingers are crossed.

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

It’s always a fight for freedom of information

I HAVE lately been thinking it is probably time for a good hard look at the efficacy of the ACT Freedom of Information Act.

Last year I lodged a few FOI applications with ACT government agencies. In all of them only a scattering of the documents identified as falling within the request were released. In each case I asked the ombudsman to review the decision to refuse access.

Indeed, I have adopted the practice when making an FOI application of an ACT government agency to prepare a draft of a letter to the ombudsman seeking review of the decision to refuse access to the documents in anticipation of the inevitable decision to refuse access.

In all of the cases in which I have asked the ombudsman to intervene he has ordered the release of a significantly greater number of documents than initially proposed by the agency. What then is one to make of this?

If one was inclined to be generous it may be that the respective agency decision makers have been poorly trained, are new at the job or otherwise have simply failed to grasp the meaning or intent of the relevant provisions of the FOI Act. If one did not have a generous nature, there are doubtless other explanations that might spring to mind.

In any event, there is clearly, at a

The average time taken for the FOI Act to have been applied in relation to the applications I lodged last year was at least six months, if not more. In other words, five months longer than prescribed by the Act.

minimum, a need within the ACT Public Service for some pretty basic training in statutory interpretation.

One of the consequences of the need to involve the ombudsman in order to have an FOI request resolved in accordance with the FOI Act is, of course, an inordinate delay in the release of the sought after information.

I haven’t done the maths, but I would guess that the average time taken for the FOI Act to have been applied as intended in relation to the applications I lodged last year was at least six months, if not more. In other words, five months longer than prescribed by the Act.

One possible amendment to the FOI Act that has occurred to me as I wait and wait and wait is the inclusion of a provision in the Act mandating review by the integrity commissioner of cases where the ombudsman has ruled that a decision by an agency to refuse access to documents was clearly or at least blatantly contrary to the FOI Act. I am sure such a provision would help concentrate the minds of all involved.

Having said that, I am one of those who, when contemplating a questionable or even a clearly dodgy decision by the government have always been inclined to think it was most likely a result of incompetence, naivety or inexperience rather than malevolence or corruption.

I have, in recent days, enjoyed reading the fruits of someone else’s resort to the FOI Act, namely the incoming ministers’ briefs prepared in light of the recent ACT election. You can find the documents online.

There is, regrettably, little in the briefs that is new or of great interest. It would probably have been a lot more efficient and cheaper for the respective ACT government agencies to have simply provided the ministers with a copy of their latest annual reports. However, the briefs do contain lovely colour photographs of the entire ACT government senior executive service. I am not entirely sure why they have been included, but they are cute.

The blandness and essential irrelevance of the incoming ministers’

briefs led to me wondering why they were prepared in the first place. They are copious but of extremely limited utility. I am sure they will have already been filed away, most likely in the circular filing bin under the desk.

Pondering why bother wasting so much time and effort to prepare them, it occurred to me that they are in all likelihood victims of the FOI Act. Their many authors would have been aware that the documents would attract an FOI request and be made public and they have been drafted with that knowledge in mind.

Having said that, there are nevertheless a few fascinating snippets or insights into issues that one imagines are causing some senior executives across the ACT public service some sleepless nights and they are quietly signalling their disquiet.

The Treasury, for instance, included the following terse note in its brief: “The current gap between spending and taxation is not, however, sustainable over the medium term, and as soon as practically possible the government will need to put in place a detailed strategy to return the budget to balance and start repaying debt.

“Standard & Poor’s, while reaffirm-

ing the ACT’s AAA credit rating, has indicated that downward pressure on future ratings could emerge if the ACT’s deficits turn out to be larger or more prolonged than expected, resulting in a steeper rise in the debt burden than currently forecast.

“Moreover, continuing to run deficits will reduce the government’s capacity to respond to any future economic shocks and if sustained lower the ACT’s capacity to access market finance putting at risk the government’s capacity to deliver services.”

In a similar vein, ACT Health has been very blunt (surprise, surprise) in its assessment of the capacity of our current hospital infrastructure and services to appropriately meet our health needs. More on that later.

Jon Stanhope was chief minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998. He is the only chief minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly.

WEARE MOVING... MOVING... to 20 Collie Street in Early March

ALL ABOUT QUEANBEYAN

Growing Queanbeyan is bursting with experts

QUEANBEYAN is one of the fastest growing inland cities in NSW, and is continuing to grow, with the population expected to reach almost 62,000 this year, according to the QueanbeyanPalerang Regional Council.

And, with such growth comes a variety of passionate local businesses and services who make a trip across the border more than worthwhile. This week “CityNews” highlights some of them.

Theatre season kicks off with dark intrigue

PEOPLE love the theatre for many reasons, which is why this year’s season at The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre has something for everyone, says program director Jordan Best.

“Whether it’s music, comedy, drama, dance or something for the kids, it’s all here,” she says.

Kicking off the season is “Wolf Lullaby”, a dark and intriguing tale set in Tasmania where a nine-year-old girl is the suspect of an intense criminal investigation.

Presented by Echo Theatre, Jordan describes this chilling and exciting play, not so much a “whodunit”, but more of a “why and howdunit”.

Later on in the year, the feel-good hit “Mamma Mia” will take the stage, as well as a bonkers rendition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel “Jekyll and Hyde”, she says.

After a year that saw people not able to see stage productions, Jordan says she can’t wait to experience the feeling of theatre again.

“There’s an exchange that happens between performers and audience that you can’t get through a screen,” says Jordan.

“That performance you see is unique, and once it’s over it exists only in the minds of the people who were there, and each of those experiences can be different and distinct.

“You can’t replicate that feeling anywhere else.”

The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 251 Crawford Street. Call 6285 6290, email boxoffice@qprc.nsw.gov.au or visit theq.net.au

Refurbished in 2020, Queanbeyan Bicentennial Hall is an ideal location for large functions.

The versatile venue is suitable for a variety of functions and is comfortable for groups ranging from 280 to 576 people.

Suitable for:

• Live performances

• Weddings

• Formal dinners

• Galas

• Corporate events

• Tradeshows

• Civic receptions

• Sporting functions and award ceremonies

• Fundraisers

This venue is dressed to be elegant and sophisticated whilst still capturing the building’s history and character. Our dedicated functions team will provide you with friendly, professional service to ensure your function is a resounding success.

Reliable finance for working equipment

FOR about 40 years, Oatram Finance and Leasing has been specialist brokers in finance and leasing for working equipment such as trucks, earth-moving equipment, forestry equipment and recycling equipment.

“We help everyone get excellent rates, from large, well-known companies to individuals,” says director Andrew Barmin.

“We have a wide variety of lenders where we’re able to obtain finance from.

“We’re able to do older equipment as well as new, and know how to handle private sales.”

independent, Andrew says they’re able to give their clients options, especially now as

interest rates are the lowest he’s seen in his near 20 years of experience.

“They can negotiate a better price with pre-approved funds or we can negotiate rates on their behalf,” he says.

“We offer finance on second-hand vehicles over 10 years old and, [if, for example], you want an engine rebuild on a truck, we will have a lender who can handle that.”

Andrew says it all comes with an excellent service team who are happy to travel to clients at a time that suits them.

Renovations that compliment the region

BACKED with an understanding of the Queanbeyan area, Bordeaux Construction and Management knows how to do renovations that compliment the region’s historic charm, says Michael Milutinovic.

“We tailor it to suit the client so it’s the right renovation for the type of home and the street,” says Michael, who holds an unrestricted “A”-class builder’s licence in the ACT and is licensed in NSW.

But no matter the job, the family-run business, which has been delivering quality construction work for more than 37 years, says it doesn’t shy away from complex home renovations.

“We can really look at any type of construction [and] have experience across the board,” he says. Often, when it comes to renovations, Michael says: “[Clients] don’t want to move but they want to

maximise their quality of life at home as well as add a bit of value to their home while doing so.”

The business guides renovators through the design process to the end of the construction, according to Michael, who says whether it’s renovating the kitchen, adjoining a new master bedroom or ensuite, or even attaching a sunroom, they’ve got it covered.

To make the process as efficient as possible, the business works with interior designers and even has in-house joiners that can provide renovators with custom joinery solutions for their walk-in robes, ensuites and vanities, says Michael.

Bordeaux Construction and Management, 8 Aurora Place. Call 6299 4642 or visit bordeauxbcm.com.au

Providing finance and leasing for equipment in the construction, mining and farming industry as well as services for the public on all motor vehicles.

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ALL ABOUT QUEANBEYAN

Delivering quality windows, fast

MORE than 15 years ago, in a small factory, with a staff of five, Skyview Windows was created with the vision to supply quality products in the shortest possible lead times, says managing director Neil Thompson.

“The company mantra from day one was ‘Quality Windows, Fast’,” says Neil.

Since then, Skyview has grown and about 12 years ago expanded to a 2500sqm factory in High Street, Queanbeyan.

Neil says part of Skyview’s success is being able to work closely with customers and suppliers to ensure consistency in quality and supply is maintained.

Using dedicated, local people, Neil says all windows and doors are manufactured to Australian standards.

Framing store relocates to a bigger space

THE custom picture framing and gift store, Frame of Mine, is excited to greet customers in a new and bigger location, says owner Lara Montebello.

Lara, who has a background in photo restoration, has moved her store from Cassidy Arcade, where she said she had the smallest picture framing business in NSW, to a space on Gilmore Road.

Lara plans to take advantage of the new space, where she says she’ll stock things that can’t be found anywhere else, such as gifts that reflect her “quirky” personality, as well as Australian-made mugs and puzzles, and other items from brands such as La La Land and Have You Met Miss Jones.

For anyone looking for a real “statement piece”,

Lara recommends her selection of lamps, including night lamps, floor lamps and art nouveau lamps.

As for the framing, Lara says she works with the art piece to match it with the frame, using techniques such as colour matching.

“It’s an enjoyable process for me,” she says.

“I’m pretty happy with what I produce and my customers are always happy, too.”

To book a custom frame consultation, Lara says visit her on Facebook via @frameof or visit her in-store.

Frame of Mine, unit 2, 209 Gilmore Road. Call 0422 384568, email frameofmine@iinet.net.au or visit frameofmine.com.au

Players take on an all-time favourite

THE Queanbeyan Players has a whole new take on one of the most beloved films of all time, “The Sound of Music”, showing this March at The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, says co-director Alison Newhouse.

It’s the heart-warming story of nun Maria turned governess to the Von Trapp family of seven singing children, set against the dramatic backdrop of Nazi Germany’s rise to power, she says.

“Twenty-twenty has made producing theatre a tricky year for us, but the actors were so professional and they’re now so excited to be able to bring this production to the community,” she says.

Including classic songs like “My Favourite Things”, “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and “Climb Every Mountain”, audiences can enjoy an entirely new take on the beloved 1965 film, says Alison.

“All windows and doors are manufactured from a mixture of local and imported raw materials to ensure cost competitiveness and, unlike the major window companies, all the profits stay right here,” he says.

“Skyview is the only window company able to supply any powdercoat colour with no cost premium involved.

“This allows our customers to mix and match colour schemes for their houses without having to stick to the six standard colours our competitors offer.”

This season, Skyview is launching the “Texturer” colour range. Starting with “black” and “monument”, the Texturer colour range significantly reduces marks and blemishes on the powder coat finish.

Skyview Windows, 77 High Street. Call 6232 9977.

And Alison says it’s the perfect way to start 2021 after a year that’s left many of us a bit starved of entertainment.

A Queanbeyan player for almost 15 years herself, Alison says this production has seen the talented cast and crew showing heaps of passion and patience.

“It’s a special story. One that can put a smile on the face of young and old,” she says.

“The Sound of Music”, at The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, March 12-21. Information and tickets at theq.net.au

Innovative ideas for any metal project

FROM a custom, bespoke mailbox to a screening system for a home landscaping project, metal fabrication company Innovative Metalworx has a range of products available, but can also bring customers’ own ideas into reality, says owner Cheryl Moulden.

Their designs are crafted with the client so they have maximum input, and get exactly what they want, says Cheryl, who started the business in 2014 after years working in the residential building industry.

When it comes to their custom-made letterboxes, they range from 3D or light-box letterboxes that glow at night to custom fireballs with extravagant spherical fire-pits that really impress clients who have an eye for design, says Cheryl.

“We have a team of highly-skilled experts in metal

fabrication who can create items in raw-finish steel, powder-coated steel (in the clients’ choice of colour), stainless steel and Corten steel,” she says.

Innovative Metalworx’s range also includes precision laser cutter and sheet metal fabrication, a metal bending and cutting service, metal roofing, fascia and gutter, arbours, pergolas and carports, privacy screens, gates and fencing, balustrade and handrails, bespoke signage, custom-made car parts and Corten garden edges.

“The Corten steel edging is a weathered steel product that needs no painting and develops an on-trend ‘rusted’ exterior,” she says.

Innovative Metalworx, unit 1, 43 Aurora Avenue. Call 6232 9207 or visit innovativemetalworx.com.au

Putting riverside city real estate on the radar

FOR investors and home buyers looking for valuable locations, Queanbeyan should be on the radar, says EstateRealty principal Ben Stevenson.

“For many decades people of Queanbeyan have enjoyed this now booming riverside city,” he says.

“It’s a great place to live with so many fantastic and interesting shops and business owners.”

And, there’s been a huge shift in employer mindset when it comes to employee workplace arrangements, which has seen an increase in purchaser demand for property in regional areas such as Queanbeyan, he says.

“More flexibility on where you can live has created a phenomenon I like to call ‘mass migration’,” says Ben, who, backed with more than 20 years’ experience aims to exceed customers’ expectations with the trusted expertise from him and the EstateRealty team.

“It’s one of the catalysts driving Queanbeyan’s continued property growth.

“Since March 2020, covid has caused a dramatic drop in property for sale.

“If this trend continues, we will see added pressure on the buyers, and under the rules of supply and demand we can expect the capital

value of property to increase into 2021.”

EstateRealty, unit 1, 142 Monaro Street. Call 6297 3555 or visit estaterealty.com.au

Josh gets injured athletes moving again

SPORTS injuries will vary from person-to-person, which is why the owner of Dynamic Athletic Per formance and Rehabilitation, Josh Strahorn, gives clients programs tailored to their needs.

“People come in with injuries such as rolled ankles, twisted knees and shoulder injuries,” Josh says.

From here Josh, also an ACT Brumbies speed and rehabilitation coach, prescribes programs which focus on factors such as age, gender, the sport they play and their ability.

The aim of the program, accord ing to Josh, is to return the athlete back to sport stronger, faster and

rehabilitation and says Dynamic Athletic Performance and Rehabilitation offers athletic services such as group sessions, individual coaching and online programs.

“Exercise can be beneficial both physically and mentally,” Josh says, who believes everyone has the ability to reach their full potential.

“We [also] like to stay up-to-date with treatments and research.”

Dynamic Athletic Performance and Rehabilitation, 1 Bass Street. Call 0449 926165, email josh@dynamicathletic.com.au or visit facebook. com/dynamicathletic

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There’s more to Marion, the woman behind Walter

By Belinda STRAHORN

VIVID watercolour sketches that transformed Canberra from paddocks to a civic utopia, embody the work of the less celebrated half of the husband and wife team – Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin – the architects of Canberra.

On the 150th anniversary of Marion’s birth (February 14), there’s still a long way to go to properly acknowledge her consid erable legacy, says Peter Graves, the chair of the Walter Burley Griffin Society of Canberra.

A talented draftswoman, Marion was responsible for the plans that accompanied her husband’s entry for the 1912 design competition for the new Australian capital.

Not unusual for the times, Marion was relegated to a less prominent role in her husband’s design work.

“She had a 19th century view on marriage that a woman did not overshadow her husband,”

says Graves.

“But there are all sorts of inferences that Marion was a better architect than Walter Burley and it was her artwork that won them the prize and if you look at those original designs of Marion’s, they are absolutely superb.”

Despite being born in Chicago, Marion – one of the first licenced female architects in the world –left her legacy in Canberra.

But Graves, a retired federal public servant, argues that Marion’s legacy is all but invisible to a handful of Canberrans who know about her.

“The Marion Mahony Griffin view at the top of Mt Ainslie is the only place in Canberra where you have recognition of her name,” he says.

“We have in the past suggested a statue, but you have to fight hard

to get statues in Canberra.”

An institute to remember where Canberra came from and who designed it, would be a good place to start, Graves suggests.

“What we would like to see is a Griffin Institute established here in Canberra to acknowledge and honour Marion but also Walter, a place where architecture students could come and learn more about them and perhaps do post graduate architectural work.

“It’s important to have something permanent, not just a one-off burst of fireworks everyone forgets because this year is also the 60th anniversary of Marion’s death, she died in 1961 on August 10.”

Born in Chicago (February 14, 1871) Marion’s early career as an architect began in the studio of world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. This is where she met her husband and business partner Walter Burley Griffin.

Unique among her contemporaries, Marion promoted progressive ideas, as relevant today, 150 years after her birth, as in her own time, says Dr Anne Watson, curator of “Paradise on Earth”, an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, dedicated to Marion.

“She was definitely a woman ahead of her time,” Dr Watson says.

BRIEFLY

“She struck out as a female architect in a very maledominated profession, in a time when most women could really look forward to a life of children and domesticity.

“Marion was highly intelligent and very knowledgeable about a whole range of things; her and Walter were kindred spirits because they were interested in similar things like social equity and democracy, a lot of progressive philosophies.”

Dr Watson’s exhibition points to the progress made in recent years to acknowledge Marion’s design talents and achievements, and her efforts in pioneering a role for women in the architecture profession.

During Marion’s lifetime she would never have expected to receive the same level of recognition as her husband. According to Dr Watson, it was clearly a very different era.

“You have to look at her career from the point of view of a woman in those times and she was probably content enough to stay in his shadow to a point,” Dr Watson says.

“In her biography the ‘Magic of America’, Marion refers to Walter all the time and when he is credited for projects that we know she was the primary designer on, she takes no umbrage.

“But the interesting thing

Lunch with Vintage Reds

JOHN Merritt will speak on “History of Labour History” at the next monthly lunch meeting of the Vintage Reds, an organisation of retired unionists (including teachers, nurses, journalists and academics). At the Tradies Dickson, from 11am, on February 16. New members welcome, call 0408 433192.

Calling all Cats

is there are a number of her drawings that she later donated to institutions in America that have Walter’s signature inked out and we presume that was her doing that.

“I guess it’s possible later in life in the 1950s when the issue of women’s rights and women’s independence were coming to the fore that maybe a bit of resentment crept in, but that’s hypothetical.”

What is certain, is Marion’s role as a trailblazer for women in architecture needs to be given greater prominence and greater attention paid to Griffin’s original concept for Canberra.

“I’m sure reminders of what the Griffins planned for Canberra and the philosophy behind those plans should be in the public conscience and should be considered in current and future planning of Canberra and I suspect that is not happening,” Dr Watson says.

“If you look at Griffin’s Canberra plan there is very little development around the lake but there are lots of areas for parks and recreation and that’s not really being adhered to.”

Dr Watson will give a lecture at the National Museum of Australia on March 13, tickets via eventbrite.com

downstairs in the community room at the Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden. For more information, email canberracats@gmail.com

Heartfelt Heather

STROKESAFE ambassador Heather Hart is the guest speaker for the next lunch meeting of the Weston Creek VIEW Club at the Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden, from 11.30am on Tuesday, March 2. The cost is $30 for a two-course lunch. Visitors and interested ladies are welcome. RSVP to 6286 4626 by 5pm, Thursday, February 25.

Woden tram looms as an ‘expensive millstone’

JACK Kershaw proposed an alternative route for the tram from Civic to Woden (CN January 28). A more fundamental question is whether the tram will be a good investment?

There is a danger Light Rail Stage 2 will become an expensive millstone round ratepayers’ necks. The ACT government has now invited bids for a “design and technical consortia to provide consultancy services required to develop The Light Rail Stage 2 – City to Woden project”.

It is not clear how these services can be provided when the route has not been finalised.

All we know is that 19th century technology with permanent rail tracks and overhead wires will be the main transport mode. We also know that the Woden to city journey will take twice as long as the present Rapid bus service (30 minutes instead of 15), that the additional traffic lights planned for London Circuit will increase congestion in the city and that many cities are now planning to use electric buses instead of light rail.

Using 2018 numbers, we know that daily, in each direction, only about 0.1 per cent of Canberra’s population travelled this route. We don’t know how light rail will cross Lake Burley Griffin, if an environmental impact document has been prepared, what the total cost will be, and what, if any, infill is planned to replace the green spaces along

Adelaide Avenue.

If we used electric buses, there would be no need for such expensive infrastructure associated with rails and wires, the costs could be accurately estimated, and we would have a more flexible transport system. There would also be more money for our under-resourced hospital system and to plant the million trees promised by 2045.

David Denham, Griffith

Support for tram route

THANK you, Jack Kershaw, for your opinion piece (“Time to look for a better tram route to Woden”, CN January 28).

I hope that this alternative route across the lake is seriously considered.

Hilary Warren, via email

Court award was wrong

IN addition to concerns raised in “Honourslist temptations bring out the ‘real man’” (Robert Macklin, citynews.com.au, January 26), another range of public pronouncements from top-honour awardee Margaret Court would not impress many either.

As COVID-19 restrictions were quickly coming into force across Australia early last year, Court also attracted considerable criticism for defiantly proclaiming that her church would continue with its services because “we are in agreement that this Convid-19 (sic) will not come near our dwelling or our church family. We are praying daily

for you, knowing that we are all protected by the blood of Jesus.”

She advised her flock that “readily available hand sanitiser” and holy blood would provide sufficient protection from the deadly pandemic.

A top national honour should not be bestowed at the best of times, let alone now, on any nominated person who peddles dangerous theories or promotes personal beliefs that run counter to clear, grounded medical evidence and public health directions. Such an award candidate is not a sound role model for the broader public let alone the current generation of young people, regardless of what that person achieved decades ago.

As for the decision-making behind Court’s award, an attempt “to fix gender disparity” at the pinnacle of Australia’s tennis scene say anonymous members of the Order of Australia council, gender equity concerns in the tennis world or any other arena should not take priority over a nominee’s behaviour, public lecturing and other claims that run counter to public decency expectations and scientific evidence.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Page’s failing drains

WITH the Woden flood disaster being remembered as an event of half a century ago can it now be asked of the ACT government when work will be completed on correcting the Commonwealth government stormwater drainage planning stuff up?

This year streets in Page are closed (and buses rerouted) for mid-1960s too-smallinfrastructure to be replaced with bigger, flood-proof stormwater drains. Are there other bottom-of-the-hill suburbs where residents, fingers crossed, are muttering: “50 years and counting”?

Scared for the kids

SCHOOLS have barely returned from the summer holidays and the number of drivers totally ignoring the 40kph school speed limits is staggering.

David Brigden, Page

This urgently needs a blitz at school zones, particularly the peak times of children entering and leaving school.

We have five great grandchildren attending ACT schools and are in dread and fear of something happening to them.

Often the mobile speed cameras are in evidence, but often at the wrong time of the day. I understand there are 13 mobile speed cameras. Let’s get serious with all mobile cameras at schools in the morning peak time from 8am to 9.30am and then move to other schools in the afternoon from 2.30pm to 4pm.

This will be a blanket coverage of 130 schools in the week at peak times plus this can be supplemented with police and mobile cameras.

Bees love hollyhocks, too

RE gardening writer Cedric Bryant’s column “Hollyhocks, what’s not to like?” (CN January 28) bemoaning that they are rarely grown in modern gardens.

I have hollyhocks, some of which are fourplus metres, in my garden mainly because my bees absolutely love the flowers. They also flower at Christmas, and are beautiful.

Elizabeth Brenchley, via email

To really get the message across speeding over a certain kph during peak times will attract double demerit points. Or do we have to wait until we have a tragedy in a school zone?

Cedric and Gerdina Bryant, Watson

WHIMSY / cinema etiquette

Sit where you’re supposed to!

ANYONE who’s been to a cinema lately knows that aside from grabbing a choc top, there are three important things to do before watching a film in the covid era.

Firstly, buy your ticket online in advance. Secondly, actually sit in the seats allocated. And thirdly, glare at anyone who appears to be thinking about sitting right next to you – for heaven’s sake, leave a space!

That last one is really the cinema’s responsibility. And as far as I can tell, Canberra’s cinemas are leaving gaps between groups when they sell tickets. They’re doing their bit to meet capacity limits and to keep social distancing alive.

But some moviegoers don’t seem

avoid sitting next to a stranger, and living in fear of yet another person wandering into the theatre saying: “I think you’re in my seat”. I’m not entirely sure why some people ignore their ticket and sit in the wrong seat, although I strongly suspect that some are taking advantage of lax cinema staffing and simply wandering into cinemas without a ticket at all. Or maybe people just misread their ticket or their seat – it is dark, after all.

There would seem to be a very simple solution to all these problems. Usher. No, not the singer. You know, those people dressed in black carrying small torches. The ones that used to check your movie ticket and escort you to your seat. That’s YOUR seat, not someone else’s.

I can already hear the naysayers – how can the struggling

Well, that might be true. But with ongoing debate around how to support the hospitality and entertainment sectors once JobKeeper ends, here’s a chance for government to step in with some targeted support.

Hot off the heels of JobSeeker, JobMaker, HomeBuilder, PotatoBaker and all the others, I present to you… MovieMaker! A government-funded program to help cinemas employ at least one usher at every movie, boosting employment, ensuring a more covid-safe environment (give the usher a mask), and giving Australians the confidence to return to the cinema. Within covid capacity limits, of course.

Bringing ushers back to the movies? I’m giving that five stars.

Eddie

POLITICS / Election Funding Returns

Donation corruption hidden in returns

ELECTION financial disclosure returns for the ACT illustrate a major problem for transparency. And the ACT Legislative Assembly is largely powerless to stop this type of corruption.

The 2020 ACT election was the first one held under 2019 federal legislation allowing political parties to hide large sums of money. And the ACT Election Funding Returns show that major political parties are doing just that.

ACT restrictions on expenditure and donations are undermined considerably by the federal legislation. The ACT Election Returns that identify gifts to political parties give the appearance of transparency – but, in reality, only for local parties and independents. It is a different story on expenditure. Expenditure for Labor was $1,052,682 and for the Liberals $1,066,876. This is consistent with the cap on expenditure that applies in the ACT as a means of preventing corruption.

The ACT Elections’ site explains the limits for candidates as “$42,750 per party candidate to a maximum of 25 candidates (5 candidates for each of the 5 electorates)”. This allows a major party that is running the full 25 candidates a total expenditure of $1,068,750.

Money course for free

MONEY coach Robert Ardill says COVID-19 has alerted the community to more efficiently handle family finances. To that end he is hosting a free budgeting and money management course aimed at assisting participants to develop skills to manage debt, budget, save and have more control of personal finances. The course will be held at Tuggeranong Baptist Church, 23 Garratt Street, Wanniassa, 9.15am-12.30pm on the Saturday mornings of February 20 and March 6. Register at capmoney.org.au or email capmoney@tbcchurch.com.au or call 0402 007551.

Returns in the ACT apply specifically to electoral expenses and donations are only reportable if they amount to $1000 or more.

The larger donations revealed for the ACT Branch of the Labor Party came from a series of unions. The CFMEU, for example, donating $50,000 while the AWU have contributed $14,000 and the CPSU and SDA in the order of $10,000. There were also a series of individuals who made donations.

In marked contrast, the vast majority of reportable donations in the election return for the ACT Liberals came from individuals, with the majority of donations around $1500. There was one donation of $5000. The Greens received a personal donation of $10,000 and a series of others at below $1500. The largest single donation from an individual was $15,000, being the only reportable donation going to the Liberal Democratic Party.

There is a catch. The 2019 federal legislation means the particulars of any donation that has not expressly been identified as being for use by the ACT section of the registered party, or for ACT electoral purposes, is not required to be disclosed to the ACT Electoral Commission as a gift.

The 2020 ACT election was the first held under 2019 federal legislation allowing political parties to hide large sums of money.

And the ACT Election Funding Returns show that major political parties are doing just that.

The Greens spent $124,768, and in doing so, certainly received the biggest bang for their buck at the October elections. They secured an additional four seats in the 25-member Assembly, while Labor and Liberal Parties shed two seats each. What did not seem to help was spending more than $100,000 each on opinion polling.

The Greens, on the other hand, must have relied on their sense of community – which appeared to be much more effective. Or possibly they were taken as much by surprise by the results as most of the commentators.

These things are interesting. However, the real reason for publication of electoral financial disclosure returns is transparency in the political process.

Revealing who has donated significant sums to particular parties provides an insight into influence. Are the donations simply because a business or an individual thinks the community is better off with a specific party in power? Or, are the donations made to seek influence?

When donors contribute significant sums to multiple parties, what motivation could there be other than seeking influence?

The currently published Electoral

It is no wonder that trust in political parties is at an all-time low. A reading of the electoral returns in the ACT makes it look as though there are no sizeable donations for the major parties. The appearance is that the parties are simply supported by individuals. The reality is that the truth is not known. Where are the conflicts of interest? Transparency has flown out the window.

There is no Federal Anti-Corruption Commission. The key questions are:

• Does the ACT Integrity Commission have the power to examine all the donations made to our major political parties?

• Is it able to do what the ACT Electoral Commission cannot?

• Can the Integrity Commission determine the level of influence of major donors within its mandate of “preventing, investigating, and exposing corruption”?

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.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

‘I didn’t like Canberra and Canberra didn’t like me’

By Helen MUSA

“I’VE always been an argumentative little bastard”, poet, artist, fashionista and long-term lead singer and bass guitarist for The Church, says Steve Kilbey.

The legendary alt-rock artist, though born in England, grew up in Canberra and he’ll be here at Belco Arts and Tallagandra Hill Winery later in February for two marathon acoustic performances in which he revisits the debut albums by The Church, the 1981 “Of Skins and Hearts” and its successor, “The Blurred Crusade” from 1982.

Kilbey concedes that Canberra has changed a lot since the boring 1970s, when all bands were cover bands, but if I’d expected a genteel paean of praise for the nation’s capital, no chance.

“I didn’t like Canberra and Canberra didn’t like me… of all the places where The Church has played,

Lyneham High is famous for its elite music programs these days.

Music runs in Kilbey’s blood. His dad, uncle Joe, sister and mum all played the piano. His two eldest daughters had a band, and brothers John and Russell are music lecturers.

“I formed and got kicked out of bands all over Canberra, always writing my own music. Also, I didn’t like the cold and frost or the dry in the summer. I was a fish out of water.

“I moved to Sydney in 1978, it’s my favourite city. But I’m glad I was brought up in Canberra because I got used to rejection in a tough business… I’m glad it was inhospitable.”

Kilbey plainly has the gift of the

“Some musos can’t talk about what they do, but I’m one who can both do it and talk about what I’ve done – I like to sling words around.”

“I need to get back into a bit more poetry… I’ve released a lot of records lately. I’m getting my poetic fix by writing lyrics, which is not really the same thing.”

Talking of talk, there’s a famous story that when Kilbey was a highschool debater representing the ACT, his family billeted the 18-year-old Malcolm Turnbull, who charmed his mum but not Kilbey, who says he

was “a real square, but charismatic and as a debater, dynamite”.

Kilbey’s 40-year career has been quite an extraordinary one.

An international figure with a cult following, a 2010 induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame and upward of 30 albums produced over 40 years, he prefers not to dwell too much on his former glories.

Like Paul McCartney and Sting, whom he acknowledges, he combines the role of bass guitarist with that of lead singer and says:

“It takes a bit of getting your head around… It’s like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time. Sometimes it’s too much and I have to fudge it a bit.”

He won’t be fudging it when he performs a “complete show with a bit of talk” at the state-of-the-art new theatre in Belconnen Arts Centre, the venue’s first music gig.

“I’ve done a lot of living,” he says.

“I’ve done a lot of good stuff and I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff – it’s a miracle I’m still here to tell the tale.”

He’s not planning on saying anything much about his wellpublicised former addiction to heroin, but he doesn’t mind sending out the cautionary message: “Don’t do it. It’s a bad deal”.

But the two albums he’s going to perform as “a kind of time capsule” solo are both pre-heroin.

“I’m telling the life and times of myself, the people in the band, the technology and the pub-rock scene, the engineers and the producers –everything I can think of… I don’t just stand there and play the songs, I’m trying to truly reflect the music, the words and the zeitgeist of the age,” he says.

“The Church is still going strong, it’s an ongoing idea,” he’s keen to remind people. He’s the only original member, although drummer Tim Powles has been with the band for 23 years.

“It was my idea, it was my band, a vision of how a type of music could be… It’s bigger than the individual people so if I should fall off my perch, I hope they’ll find a lead singer to replace me so that the band plays on,” he says.

“An Intimate Evening with Steve Kilbey” supported by The Dalmatians, Belconnen Arts Centre, 7pm-10pm, Saturday, February 20, book at belcoarts.com.au

Steve Kilbey supported by Woodface, Tallagandra Hill Winery, 4pm, Sunday, February 21, book at eventbrite.com.au Farmer Rosemary

CINEMA / reviews

Farmer Rosemary craves her neighbour’s love

By Dougal MACDONALD

“Wild Mountain Thyme” (PG)

IN 1988, American writer John Patrick Shanley won the Best Screenplay Oscar. In 2014, his play “Outside Mullingar” ran for 2½ months on Broadway, after which he turned it into a novel and then into the screenplay for “Wild Mountain Thyme”, which he then directed.

The title comes from a folk song. The lyrics and melody are a variant of “The Braes of Balquhither” by Scottish poet Robert Tanna hill and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith that Belfast musician Francis McPeake adapted into “Wild Mountain Thyme”. It’s a lovely song.

So what’s Shanley’s play, novel and now movie about after all this trans-Atlantic manipulation?

Stubborn farmer Rosemary (Emily Blunt) has her heart set on winning her neighbour Anthony’s (Jamie Dornan) love.

Anthony believes he has inherited a family curse that stops him responding to her blandishments. When his father Tony (Christopher Walken) plans to sell the family

Hamm), Rosemary, somewhat fed up with Anthony’s unwillingness to respond to her invitation, jolts him into pursuing her dreams that all along had also been his but he couldn’t express them.

The film belongs ultimately to Emily Blunt as Rosemary. In what might be called Act 3 of the film, she and Jamie Dornan engage in a dramatic confrontation that there’s never

And their performance of the song together is pure delight.

At all cinemas

“The Food Club” (M)

DESPITE its long and illustrious film industry, we don’t see many Danish movies nowadays. Which is a pity, because Danish filmmakers

have since 1906 delivered a steady flow of good movies that in their heyday equalled Hollywood.

I’d like to tell you that “The Food Club” is a worthy successor of its Danish predecessors. But I honestly can’t. Sure, its trio of principal characters gets to deliver some agreeably frank dialogue and behaviour, which I regard as a forward step in gender liberation. But too much of the film simply didn’t work for me.

Three longtime girlfriends are in the autumn of their lives. Marie’s (Kirsten Olesen) husband abandoned her on Christmas Eve. Eternal bachelor girl Berling (Stina Ekblad) outwardly denies her age and lives the sweet life. Vanja (Kirsten Lehfeldt), living with memories of her late husband, has difficulty moving on. The three women travel to Puglia in Italy together to attend a food course.

These background factors offer scope for a film that might have been amusing or dramatic or poignant. But I didn’t laugh or smile. I didn’t feel on the edge of my seat. The narrative was trivial, its principal characters too filled with self pity and its visual delivery listless.

At Palace Electric

“The Nest” (MA) REMEMBER Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street”? Greed is good. That was one in a long list of its use by men of substance wanting to make points in movies and real life, usually to justify wide-reaching actions. Writer/director Sean Durkin’s film carries that dictum a step further. Don’t spend money while you’re waiting for the cheque.

Rory (Jude Law) takes financial risks in the hope of profit. This time, he’s overstepping the do-not-cross line. And he’s so obsessed with the good life that will come to him and his family if the next deal comes off that he starts spending it before he gets it.

Rory’s profligacy is beginning to worry his wife Allison (Carrie Coon) who not surprisingly doesn’t mind the lifestyle that comes from living in an English country mansion, having a horse to ride and a good school for son Ben (Charlie Shotwell), sees the dangers but can’t persuade Rory to behave more sensibly. It’s a movie worth watching, gently paced, with only one dramatic element that Durkin’s screenplay wisely begins building up to before what we’ve seen coming indeed does arrive. No hullabaloo about it. Just an inexorable conclusion that is no surprise yet powerful in its credibility.

At Dendy and Palace Electric

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

King

By Nick OVERALL

of horror hits misses?

SLAP “Stephen” and “King” on any TV show or movie these days and it’s bound to get attention.

That’s especially the case after the two-part film adaptations of “It”, his seminal novel about the creepy clown who lurks in storm drains. Seems that audiences wanted to embrace their coulrophobia – the fear of clowns – because the films were absolute box office record breakers racking up a combined total of well over a billion bucks.

Ever since, production companies have been eager to snap up whatever they can of the author’s prolific oeuvre of stories which, including novellas and shorts, reaches somewhere over the 250 mark.

The latest adaptation causing a fuss is “The Stand”, a series streaming on Amazon Prime Video that’s based on King’s epic, apocalyptic, 800-pager from 1978.

The plot is brimming with characters split into two factions, fac ing off against one another in a world decimated by an influenza strain.

Regardless, the desire to want to form an opinion on the ending at all will likely keep many viewers watching right up until the end.

IT’S not the first time a King adaptation hasn’t quite hit the mark it promised to. Netflix not so long ago pumped up a new TV show adaptation of “The Mist”, about a boy and his father trapped in a shopping centre when an otherworldly storm terrorises their hometown. This isn’t to be confused with the 2007 film version that, despite some flaws, makes for a decent watch. Netflix’s venture was much more recent and despite it having all the money it needed to make its production values nice and shiny, “The Mist” (quite like “The Stand”) didn’t pull off the intriguing intricacies that its source material does.

King says he wanted to write a story “in the spirit of ‘Lord of the Rings’, set in contemporary America”.

It’s all a bit complex, but in the case of the book at least, one could say a “good kind of complex”, a kind that gets readers invested rather than confused.

However, the new show, despite its ambitions, seems not to have pulled off this thickly layered plot, making it a more “bad kind of complex”.

An over reliance on flashbacks, forwards, sideways and every other non-linear direction in an attempt to get back story out dramatically bogs it down.

Despite some criticism, firmly keeping eyes on the show is the clever promise of a new ending, written by King himself.

As one of King’s most well-loved stories, opinions are sure to be divided on the author’s new coda here.

In a bid to snap up any fiction of King’s they can, production companies might be rushing a little too fast to get them out to the public and in doing so are losing the quality storytelling on the way.

If you’re in the mood you can always find King classics scattered across streaming platforms that are genuinely great films.

For instance, ‘90s “Misery”, which stars Kathy Bates as the stalky fan of a famed author, is on Stan. It’s particularly renowned for Bates’ performance earning her the Best Actress Oscar, an incredibly rare feat for a horror film.

On Netflix, there’s Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 labyrinthine masterpiece “The Shining”, the film that made “Here’s Johnny!” common pop culture vernacular.

Binge has one of the most iconic coming-of-age films that many don’t realise is also an adaptation of a King story: “Stand by Me”. And, same platform, don’t forget the Tom Hanks tearjerker “The Green Mile”.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find what is perhaps King’s most emotionally sophisticated story adaptation anywhere to stream, a film that’s about as “classic” as you can possibly get: “The Shawshank Redemption”. With it currently holding the number one spot as highest-rated film of all time on the Internet Movie Database, platforms must be as raving mad as Annie Wilkes if they’re not trying to get it streaming.

Late-summer sizzler to launch season

ARTS IN THE CITY

By Helen Musa

TENNESSEE Williams’ famous play, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, directed by Anne Somes, launches the Canberra Rep’s 2021 season. A late-summer sizzler set in rural Mississippi, the play was made even more famous by the 1958 film starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor as the disturbed Brick and his frustrated wife, Maggie the Cat. Rep’s done it before – they know a good script when they see it. Canberra Rep Theatre, 3 Repertory Lane, Acton, February 18 (preview) to March 6. Email manager@canberrarep.org.au or 6257 1950.

CANBERRA Symphony Orchestra’s 2021 season kicks off on Valentine’s Day with “Chamber Classics: Forgotten Romance”, the first in a new concert series celebrating classical favourites and showcasing its musicians in intimate settings. A highlight will be Clara Schumann’s “Romance for Violin and Piano”. Albert Hall, 2pm and 4.30pm, Sunday, February 14, book at cso.org.au/forgottenromance or call 6262 6772.

THE Jewish International Film Festival returns this year with 51 films from 19 countries. The opening night film “Incitement” reveals the forces which incited Yigal Amir to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, while “The Last Vermeer”, starring Guy Pearce, sees an army officer tasked with investigating the paintings that fell into Nazi possession. Bob Dylan’s son Jesse Dylan directs “Soros”, about controversial billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros. Dendy, February 17-March 24, book at jiff.com.au

ADHOC Baroque singers are going back in history to perform “Il Divino Claudio”, music by Monteverdi and his contemporaries Leonarda, Cesti and Quinciani at St Paul’s Manuka, 2pm, February 14, book at trybooking.com/ events/landing?eid=703093&

ADELAIDE’S Angela Valamanesh, famous for her drawings, ceramic objects and watercolours informed by scientific, historical and philosophical ideas, has a touring exhibition called “About Being Here”, an exploration into the interconnectedness of life on earth – between human, animal and plant beings. ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, Cnr Ellery Cres and Liversidge St, Acton, until March 12.

WESLEY Music Centre Lunchtime Concert series resumes with Axel Ruge on double bass, and Hilda Visser Scott on harpsichord and piano performing works by Knut Guettler, Giselher Klebe, Louis de Caix d’Hervelois, Reinhold Glière and Giovanni Bottesini. Wesley Music Centre, 20 National Circuit, Forrest, Wednesday, February 17, 12.401.20pm. Book at trybooking.com/ BODOR or 6232 7248.

POETRY Poetic city will come alive to verse

By Helen Musa

CANBERRA has always been a poetic city, but a new festival puts that into upper case with the new “Poetic City Festival”.

The event is the brainchild of Jacqui Malins, familiar to readers as the director of Mother Tongue Multilingual Poetry, who says the city will come alive to the sight and sounds of versifying in performances, installations and events around town in March and April.

A highlight will be an outdoor poetry cinema running over two nights where short poetry videos will be screened and poets paid a fee of $50 for selected videos.

Then in “Haiku 4 You”, local haikus with an urban-flavoured slant will appear around the city on tear-off-strip posters for passers-by to take away.

Malins is also planning a live multilingual poetry performance as part of “Poetic City”, where poets will perform a 10-minute set of original poetry to a backdrop of projected images with English captions.

“It’s Mother Tongue’s fifth straight year now and I count it as a success,” Malins says.

making my own work.”

“The community has turned it into something wonderful. Some people do a poem for one time only and are satisfied and for others it’s been a stepping stone into being in the wider poetry scene.”

The venture was co-founded by Malins and fellow-poet Lauren Harvey in 2015, ready for the first Mother Tongue Multilingual Poetry Showcase at the Multicultural Fringe Festival in February 2016.

In a conscientious decision, they opted

DINING / BentSpoke Pontoon

for MCs who were multilingual or of diverse, non-white background, possible in Canberra’s diverse community, and found increasingly sophisticated ways of integrating poetry and translation or paraphrase.

At the Fringe again in 2017, with Malins’ alone at the helm, Asefeh Abedini, Vesna Cvjeticanin, Karina Palomita and Anita Patel created “Homespun”, a multilingual work in six languages. When the Fringe folded, Mother Tongue joined the National Multicultural Festival in 2018 and ran the Languages Showcase in 2019 and 2020, also presenting poetry nights at Smith’s Alternative, and in the past year, Zoom sessions which have brought in poets around the world.

“The event remains voluntary and it’s grown steadily, which is exciting, but there’s a limit as to how much I can fit in while earning a living and making my own work,” Malins says.

She lives the “gig” life, doing projects with bodies like Tuggeranong Arts Centre while carrying out her own art practice, which brings together printmaking, text, video, drawing, photography and performance.

After the festival, Malins will be stepping back and she’s looking out for poets who live in Canberra and are interested in being part of Mother Tongue’s future.

Pontoon pop-up at the lake

SIZZLING summer days are all the better sitting outdoors with an icy cold beer or a glass of wine and some great food.

For another week – until Febru ary 14 – you can do just that at BentSpoke Pontoon, a cool pop-up on the water’s edge at Queen Elizabeth Terrace.

An activation by the National Capital Authority, which is more and more rolling out creative events along the lake, this pop-up has a great vibe. Music, an amazing food truck, around 50 large wooden picnic tables, loads of umbrellas and, of course, BentSpoke Brewing Co pouring those beers and wine.

The Tsuru Food Truck has a small menu, but don’t let that worry you. The dishes pack a punch on flavour and the three operators in the truck were super busy serving a steady stream of customers.

We love Asian street fare and, hand on heart, Tsuru’s bao buns were some of the best we’ve ever had. Making these buns is serious business for Tsuru. We opted for the BBQ hot and spicy pork belly although we wouldn’t hesitate to give the tofu teriyaki and shitake a go (both $20 with seasoned chips). The pork was

The salt and pepper squid was sensational… little nuggets which we dipped into the creamy Kewpie mayo ($18). We shared the two dishes and they both hit the spot. Also on the menu are two burgers – grilled cheese and a chicken schnitzel ($22 each with chips).

From BentSpoke we ordered a glass each of the Lerida Estate pinot grigio ($12 for 150 ml), always a top drop. Red lovers can enjoy a Lerida Estate shiraz and a prosecco is also on the menu (both $12).

Some of BentSpoke’s most famous brews are on tap, available in small or large ($6-$8.50 for a

BentSpoke Brewing Co is the brainchild of Champion Australian brewer Richard Watkins and Tracy Margrain, who travelled the world downing brews and drawing inspiration for their own operation here in Canberra as they did so. The pair always seem more than keen to get out and about in the community and are now a pretty famous part of the Australian beer scene. It’s great to see.

BentSpoke Pontoon is open Thursday 3pm-9pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm-10pm and Sunday 12pm-9pm, until 14 February.

“It would be wonderful to see it go on if there’s someone else who wants to take it on… I can’t bring the same energy to it, it’s time to pass it on to someone else,” she says. “I’m happy to pass the brand on or help someone create their own brand.”

Interested Canberra poets should contact Malins at mothertonguemultilingualmic@gmail.com.

“Poetic City Festival”, Canberra, March 15-April 26, follow at facebook.com/poeticcitycbr

To get involved in the festival, poets can:

• Email up to five haiku to poeticcitycbr@ gmail.com with the subject line “Haiku 4 You” by March 19.

• Poets should email a link to videos by March 12 to poeticcitycbr@gmail. com with the subject heading “Poetry Cinema”.

• Multilingual poets based in or near Canberra should email their poem to mothertonguemic@gmail.com by February 26, with an English translation or paraphrase and 10-20 usable images.

MUMS AND BUBS

Fun and educative ways to support children

BEING a parent is one of the most rewarding experiences, but it can also be one of the most challenging, especially as parents navigate their way through a whole new lifestyle. Whether it’s supporting mums with newborns, giving a child a leg up on their education, or finding something fun to do as a family, “CityNews” speaks to Canberrans who can give parents a helping hand.

Giving kids a head start on schooling

KIDSTART Southside Education and Activity Centre understands that the first five years of a child’s life are crucial for development, says owner Kristen O’Connor.

“Kidstart offers classes for children from five months to five years of age to develop them socially, physically, emotionally and intellectually,” she says.

Operating since 1996 and located in Wanniassa, Kristen says Kidstart offers three distinct and ageappropriate programs to ignite in kids a love of learning.

This includes a “pre-preschool” program for children to attend by themselves in the year before preschool.

“It focuses on literacy skills, social skills and all round school readiness so that children can thrive in a school format,” says Kristen.

KidStart is proud to have just welcomed their 21st class of three-year-olds into the program.

“It has been amazing to see 21 years worth of threeyear-old Kidstart kids and their families growing, loving, enjoying and benefiting from the program,” says Kristen.

“By allowing them to thrive in an educational setting and experience the joy in exploring and achieving we hope learning will be a lifelong passion for all our Kidstart kids.”

Kidstart Southside Education and Activity Centre, 65 Sternberg Crescent, Wanniassa. For enrolment enquiries visit kidstart.com.au

Helping mums breastfeed with confidence

THE Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) offers information and support to more than 80,000 mothers each year, says Canberra group co-leader Emily Stait.

“We know that successful breastfeeding depends on confidence, knowing you can do it and having good information,” she says.

“We aim to provide information on breastfeeding and support mothers in their journey, making them feel comfortable and safe.”

In Canberra, the ABA team of breastfeeding counsellors, community educators and volunteers organise local events and activities to help mums on their journey.

This includes playdates at playgrounds

around Canberra, where mums can meet others who have “been there”, says Emily, “We post regular updates on our Facebook page and website to keep mums up-to-date on all our upcoming events,” she says.

The ABA also has the “Mum2Mum” app, which allows mums to find information based on their child’s age, as well as record baby’s feeds, sleep, nappy changes and features a button to directly access the ABA’s helpline, “live chat” or website for resources to help with breastfeeding.

“In 2021 we have heaps planned,” says Emily.

“We want to get back out there and continue to build our supportive community.”

Popular, practical kids’ products that last

OWNERS of online baby and kids shop CAI Design, John and Helen Kane understand the difference that good quality, practical and stylish products make to caring for children.

A childcare centre director for more than 20 years, and a kindergarten teacher before that, Helen says “there’s nothing worse than a bib that won’t absorb dribble or a sheet that doesn’t wear well”!

John and Helen’s shop CAI Design sells textiles for children and babies, including bibs and face washers, bedding and sleeping bags, hooded towels, aprons, change mats and art smocks.

“Parents want to use items that are well made and will last. We make sure that everything in the store is exactly that,” says John.

“We supply to around 200 childcare centres throughout Victoria and several in Canberra, who recognise the quality.”

Their range includes products from New Zealand-based store Mum2Mum, which was started by two mums who created the Wonder Bib to help them deal with dribbly babies, reflux and eczema.

“The bibs are very popular and practical, designed with the kind of attention to detail that only a parent would know about,” he says.

Mention the “CityNews” mums and bubs feature for a five per cent discount on any order.

Visit caidesign.net

Australian Breastfeeding Association services

in the Canberra region

The Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) is the largest information and support service for breastfeeding in Australia. ABA is known as an authority worldwide.

Canberra group is a source of friendship, resources and fun for many women. We offer mother-to-mother support, social contact, discussion meetings and breastpump hire. We look forward to meeting you and your family.

Our group covers the suburbs of Canberra and the surrounding areas of NSW, including Queanbeyan, Yass, Bungendore, Goulburn and Braidwood.

BREASTFEEDING HELPLINE

The FREE Breastfeeding Helpline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Trained volunteer counsellors answer calls in their own homes. Call 1800 mum 2 mum 1800 686 268.

ANTENATAL EDUCATION

LIVECHAT

Trained volunteers provide evidencebased information about breastfeeding via LiveChat at breastfeeding.asn.au Mothers and their support people can be referred to breastfeeding counselling if needed.

We’re here for you.

ABA runs breastfeeding education sessions for expectant parents. The sessions are presented by trained volunteers who give up-to-date information and insights into breastfeeding and parenting in the early days. We have a limited number of free sessions available, please email canberra@breastfeeding.asn.au to find out more.

BREAST PUMP HIRE

Breast pumps are available to hire from the Canberra group. Trained ABA volunteers hire out the breast pumps from their home. They are available to assist with questions about using the pump, expressing and storing breastmilk, and breastfeeding.

MUM2MUM APP

mum2mum has been designed to provide you with all of the breastfeeding information and support you need at your fingertips. Search for breastfeeding information based on your baby or child’s age. Find the answers to some commonly asked questions. Plus you can keep a journal for your baby or child or record their feeds, sleep and nappy changes. You can also easily access ABA’s National Breastfeeding Helpline, LiveChat, the website and our store for resources that may assist you in your breastfeeding. Members receive information straight to their phone based on their child’s age and development up to 12 months, including answers to common questions that families have for babies at the same age.

an unforgettable wild experience!

Canberra’s National Zoo and Aquarium features a combined aquarium, metropolitan zoo and easily walked open range section, as well as amazing up-close and personal animal encounters and tours.

Explore the recently opened Adventureland, a truly unique playground featuring a total of 55 activities including various sized fibreglass animal sculptures for children aged 2-12 to explore and play on.

Why not become a member today and explore all that the zoo has to offer! Our memberships give you access to the zoo for a full twelve months. If you come once a week, you are just paying $2.50 a visit!*

MUMS AND BUBS

School inspires through its teaching

DREAM.

Discover.

Grow. They’re the three qualities that The Anglican School Goo gong wants to inspire in their teaching, says principal Merryn Clarksmith, pictured.

“We focus deeply on agile, collaborative learning that reflects a real-world environ ment,” she says.

lot of

“Desks are not positioned in rows and sliding classroom walls allow learning spaces to be easily transformed into breakout collaborative spaces.”

The Anglican School Googong is growing incredibly quickly, says Merryn, with enrolments throughout the year groups going fast.

Currently the school offers classes from kindergarten to year 10, with a roll out to year 12 happening over the next two years.

“We also pride ourselves on building relationships,” says Merryn.

“Not just between student and teacher, so that each individual can be focused on, but also between student and student, and teacher and teacher to facilitate a strong community spirit.”

Students are also encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities such as music, drama, dance, chess, gardening, cooking and social sport, to encounter educational experiences outside the classroom, says Merryn. “We pride ourselves on teaching students important, real world skills,” she says.

The Anglican School Googong, 136 Gorman Drive, Googong. For enrolment enquiries visit googongschool.nsw.edu.au

New ‘adventure’ playground has something for

CHILDREN can monkey around with life-size, fibre-glass gorillas at the National Zoo and Aquarium’s “adventureland playground” this summer, says zoo manager Jemma Walsh.

The playground is one of the newest additions to the zoo and is considered by Canberrans to be one of the best in the ACT, she says.

It features 55 activities such as slides and raised walkways, as well as the miniature menagerie of replica animals, such as bears and hippos.

“There is something for everyone in the playground, from the little ones to about 14 years of age,” says Jemma.

Off the back of a busy school holiday period when more locals than usual came to visit the zoo, she says parents are taking advantage of

everyone

the 12-month membership program to make weekly visits.

Parents with small children often bring them during the day to “burn off” energy, while parents with school-age children come in the afternoons, says Jemma.

“We have lots of kids that love coming in and visiting their favourite animals whether that’s one of our beautiful big giraffes, or our lion family or tigers,” she says.

“Penguins are also another big favourite of the kids.”

And for those rainy days, Jemma says the aquarium is a favourite.

National Zoo and Aquarium, 999 Lady Denman Drive, Yarralumla. Call 6287 8400, email frontdesk@nationalzoo. com.au or visit nationalzoo.com.au

Enrolling Now

NEWS Outside-the-box author wins a top sci-fi prize

By Nick OVERALL

GILLIAN Polack is the author of weird and wonderful fiction that’s been praised for not just for being outside the box, but far, far away from it all together.

original sci-fi novel from last year that has seen particular recognition head her way.

“The Year of the Fruitcake” tells the tale of an alien anthropologist inhabiting a human perimenopausal body, all played out in the ACT.

The “out-there” originality of “The Year of the Fruitcake” is just the start. It was recognised with multiple accolades, including the prestigious Ditmar award for best novel, an honour annually awarded for achievement in Australian science fiction.

Gillian had been nominated for the award six times before and could not believe it on learning she’d won the top prize.

“I have a piece of paper telling me I’ve won it and I still can’t even believe it. I’m incredibly excited,” she says.

Several of her stories are set in the capital, something not often seen in popular fiction.

It’s a place she’s called home for 30 years and she’s eager to show a side to the city not seen before.

“I love writing Canberra as a city,” she says.

“Canberra is a palimpsest*. It’s a manuscript, one in which many layers of writing get placed on top of one another as the years go on.

“It has so many layers that I don’t think a lot of people see on the surface, but pay close attention and they’re absolutely there, and they stretch back thousands of years.”

Gillian’s interests aren’t just limited to sci-fi; she has a doctorate in English, history and a masters of medieval studies, and these passions are more than showcased in her other works.

Included are books such as “The Middle Ages Unlocked”, which offers a guide to life in England from the 10th to the 13th century. Another, “Border Landers” tells the tale of an artist who discovers that her art can produce magic.

According to Gillian, the difference between

panels at conventions not just across Australia, but also internationally.

Her most recent appearance, through Zoom, was at a science-fiction convention held in Boston where she shared her eccentric expertise with fellow sci-fi enthusiasts.

Gillian’s proud to have found success doing what she cares so much about.

“I knew I wanted to be a writer and historian from eight years old,” she says.

“I read absolutely everything I could. I realised quickly that I just had to ask questions about the world. Through writing I can answer them.”

Now all these years later, Gillian has plenty of questions and answers she wants to write about yet. She’s been given two grants by ArtsACT to continue to write and has another ambitious and fantastical novel in the works.

To her, the most important thing about being an author is what it allows her to do for others.

As a Jewish woman and one with disability, Gillian embraces these parts of herself in her writing. She hopes that in doing so she might make those who feel “unseen” a little more visible.

“I use my fiction to test boundaries. ‘The Year of the Fruitcake’ is a challenging, hard read and I wanted it to be that way. I wanted to stop hiding myself,” she says.

“Writing has given me a voice, and if I can talk about or explore these things that people might be dealing with, disability or mental illness or otherwise, then I hope they might just feel a little less alone.”

* ”A piece of writing material or manuscript on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for other writing” – “Concise Oxford Dictionary”.

GARDENING

It’s a big soak before planting

With

Also if buying plants on a hot day, always take an old sheet or similar to cover over the plants while in the car, especially with hatchbacks. The heat in the car even on a short journey home can be extreme. When planting, it’s important to build a soil bank

round the plant capable of holding at least a nine-litre bucket of water.

If using a support stake always put this in place first.

At planting time apply a bucket of Maxicrop

Liquid organic seaweed solution, which will promote new root growth.

Give the new plant a bucket of water every week for the first few weeks, which is vital in extreme weather, such as we have had recently. Continue to apply the seaweed solution every few weeks.

To complete the planting, mulch around the plant, keeping it back from the trunk.

It is important not to build any material around the base of the trunk, especially wet material such as grass clippings or soil that can cause rotting of the bark (known as collar rot)

and possibly kill the tree.

The bark and the immediate layer under the bark, called the cambium layer, carry all the moisture and nutrients to the whole tree.

With all planting, be aware of services such as water, power, sewer pipes, Telstra etcetera.

Damaging them can be costly to repair besides all the inconvenience.

And always take into account the ultimate size of trees or shrubs you are planting. As a rule of thumb if a tree grows to eight metres it will grow to a similar spread, which means it will need to be planted no closer than eight metres from the home or any other buildings on site.

David Young, who worked with City Parks for many years and was on ABC radio giving advice, always used to say “look at the size on the label and then double it”.

One of his other excellent pieces of advice was that when killing snails, “put your foot on them, if you are anyway squeamish put shoes on first!”

PUZZLES PAGE FREE PUZZLES EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

Your

By Joanne Madeline Moore

February 15-21, 2021

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

There could be misunderstandings involving friends or finances, as Mercury is retrograde until February 21. Saturn squares Uranus on Wednesday and Thursday, which could also affect your bank balance or your peer group. Despite the disruptions, keep your dreams alive! Your motto for the week is from birthday great, writer Anais Nin: “Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back. A new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

Are you tired of being a paddock-bound Bull? This week the planets rev up your usually tentative Taurean nature and you’ll feel more restless than usual. So it’s time to break free from boring boundaries, go free-range and start exploring the world around you (in covid-safe ways). With Mars and Uranus both transiting through your sign, be bold and brave! Draw inspiration from birthday great, writer Anais Nin: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

A much-cherished goal or dream has temporarily been put on hold. With Uranus, Saturn and retrograde Mercury all stirring up your international wanderlust zone, it will be a while before you can escape on a globe-trotting adventure again. So make sure you are patient and stay covid safe! Look for exciting travel options in your own neck-of-the-woods. And don’t plan any social events or local getaways until after Sunday, February 21, when Mercury finally moves forward.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

Mercury is reversing through your money zone (until Sunday, February 21) so avoid being too blasé about a complicated issue (especially involving intimacy, trust, taxes, income, property, possessions or joint finances). A close relationship is also going through a rapid metamorphosis. Don’t hold onto the past… it’s time to jump out of your Crab comfort zone and move on. Keep what’s working in your life and let go of what isn’t. The trick is knowing which is which.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Be extra careful how you give and receive information (especially in close relationships) as Mercury is still reversing through your partnership zone. If you have doubts or concerns, then don’t hesitate to double-check. Plus avoid making major purchases, starting joint ventures or signing important contracts until after Sunday, February 21. Instead be patient and focus your attention on revising, researching or reworking current projects. When it comes to work, expect the unexpected!

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

Mercury (your patron planet) is currently reversing through your work and wellbeing zone. So it’s not a good time to initiate a professional project, apply for a promotion or look for a new job. Instead, wait until after Mercury goes direct on February 21. When it comes to a problem with a friend or colleague, avoid being impatient. There are no quick fixes at the moment. It’s a case of one step forwards and two steps backwards but if you are persistent, you’ll eventually make progress.

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

When it comes to sport, children, romance, friendship, creativity or hobbies, be proactive and shake things up. If you sit on the fence and let things slide, then change will come in a more radical form that’s harder to manage. Is it time to review and refresh your peer group list, and add some exciting new faces? Be inspired by birthday great, writer Anais Nin: “Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

Prepare for some drama, as retrograde Mercury stirs up issues with a relative or friend. Use your substantial diplomatic talents to find practical solutions to potential problems. The stars encourage ambitious plans and you’re keen to impress others, but don’t promise more than you can realistically deliver. The more stubborn you are Scorpio, the more difficult the week will be. It’s time to shake up your daily domestic routine and blast into exciting new relationship territory!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Expect some frustrations and delays, as retrograde Mercury confuses communication and slows things down. Try not to over-react. There will always be work to complete and mountains to climb. But perhaps a close friend or colleague needs your attention and affection right here and right now. Saturn (the planet of structure) squares Uranus (the planet of improvisation). So do your best to get the ratio right between being an organised Archer and a spontaneous Sagittarius.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Money matters look confusing, as Mercury reverses through your financial zone until next Sunday. And is a personal matter or a professional project weighing you down? Strive to get the balance right between fulfilling your responsibilities to other people and creating change for yourself. Uranus demands that you let go of some old habits, routines and beliefs that are no longer serving you. Then there will be room for new experiences, opportunities and people to come into your world.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

With Mercury reversing through your sign (and Saturn squaring Uranus) prepare for a few frustrating problems to head your way. Making a snap decision seems like a good idea but it could backfire badly and think twice before you blurt out something controversial that you later regret. You need to be clever and uncharacteristically cautious, as you consider situations carefully before you respond. You’re hungry for change but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Five planets (including Saturn and retrograde Mercury) are transiting through your self-sabotage zone, so there’s a tendency to be pessimistic. Despite the challenges, don’t give up Pisces… keep going! Your motto for the week is from basketball legend (and birthday great) Michael Jordan: “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” Channel your energy into meditation, contemplation, relaxation, yoga, journal writing and being kind to yourself.

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

General knowledge crossword No. 768

Alison McNamara | Director | Chamberlains Law Firm

The arrival of a new baby should be one of the most exciting and special times of our lives. But things don’t always go to plan and, unfortunately, pregnancy and childbirth complications do happen and can have devastating emotional and financial effects on you and your family.

We put trust in the medical professionals to look after us during pregnancy and birth, however, where you or your child have suffered injuries, which could have been avoided, you should consider seeking legal advice about making a medical negligence claim.

Across

4 What are forms of expression peculiar to a language? (6)

7 Name a mythical island first mentioned by Plato, said to have sunk into the sea. (8)

8 Which portable computer is small enough to be operated while held on one’s knees? (6)

9 Name the food of the gods of classical mythology, imparting immortality. (8)

11 What is a very small quantity of something? (7)

13 Which clear transparent mineral or glass resembles ice? (7)

15 Which Pacific Island is an external territory of Australia? (7)

17 To have made an outline map showing special facts, is to have done what? (7)

20 Which person undertakes to murder, especially for a reward? (8)

23 What, in chemistry, is a compound that is isomeric with other compounds? (6)

24 What are hybrids between the tangerines and the pomelos? (8)

25 Which term is descriptive of the fireside, or home? (6)

Down

1 What do we call the ascending axis of a plant? (4)

2 Name a town in NE Queensland, on the western shore of Trinity Bay. (6)

3 What is an abbreviated term for small trucks? (4)

4 Name the religion of the Muslims. (5)

5 To retard progress by means of obstacles etc, is to do what? (6)

6 Name a large animal of the deer family, which has enormous antlers. (5)

9 Name the region at the North Pole. (6)

10 Which tracts of land are completely surrounded by water? (7)

12 What is another name for a serviette? (6)

14 What might we call a minor earthquake? (6)

16 Who was Australia’s Prime Minister many times from 1908 to 1915, Andrew ...? (6)

18 What is energetic speed in motion or action? (5)

19 Name the conducting connection between an electric circuit and the ground. (5)

21 To be of sound mind, is to be what? (4)

22 Which expression describes a picture, image, or other representation? (4)

Childbirth complications can have serious consequences, including a physical and psychological impact, or a combination of both. While a successful claim cannot take away your loss, it can compensate you for your pain and suffering and help assist with the cost of treatment and any time off work.

Medical negligence claims in this area are varied and can include failure to properly manage the pregnancy, failure to delivery the baby in a timely fashion, failure to recognise signs of distress during labour, misuse of birthing tools, failure to properly deliver the complete placenta, failure to control blood loss, and failure to monitor the health of the baby following delivery.

Not only do we see medical negligence claims about the birth of a child, but we also see many claims when you have decided not to have any further children.

What happens in cases where you may seek sterilisation surgery to prevent conceiving another child but negligent performance of that procedure means that you conceive a child despite your decision?

In a recent NSW claim, a 39-year-old mother, referred to by the pseudonym, Jodie Lee, commenced proceedings against her obstetrician and gynaecologist claiming damages for negligence in the performance of a tubal ligation, where its failure led to an unexpected pregnancy.

The court found that the doctor had performed the procedure incorrectly and awarded damages in the amount of $408,700, noting that while there was no doubt the child was “loved and cherished”, the pregnancy and birth had significant adverse effects on Ms Lee’s life, her emotional wellbeing and her capacity to work.

If your pregnancy, birth or sterilisation experience has left you feeling distressed – you are not alone.

These matters can be complex and sensitive and it is important to ensure that you seek advice from an experienced medical negligence lawyer.

Contact us for a free first consultation with one of our personal injury experts to discuss your claim and your legal rights.

Astrologer NEIL SOMERVILLE takes a look at the lunar Year of the Ox...

THE Year of the Ox is one of great possibilities, but it’s also one requiring effort and discipline. Hard work and persistence will deliver and, coming after the traumas of 2020, a process of recovery can get underway. It won’t always be easy but with resolve, better times are ahead. For the individual, the Ox year offers opportunities and progress but these have to be worked for. To discover your prospects, look up the animal ruling your year of birth. As each lunar year begins late in January or early February, if you were born around this time check the actual year dates to find out which sign you were born under.

RAT

1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020

WITH charm, style and a friendly manner, Rats get on well with most. They are great at spotting opportunities and have good skills and judgment. Rats like company and particularly value family and social life.

An encouraging year for Rats with their resourcefulness and skills serving them well. In work, new demands will bring pressure but, by rising to challenges, Rats can make useful headway and do considerable good. New roles and responsibilities can be a useful platform to build on. An excellent year too for personal development and Rats should allow time to develop interests further or take up something new. Some additional ‘me time’ and attention to self can reward and benefit. Spending and money matters require care especially in view of additional outgoings. Throughout the year Rats will be grateful for support received and should be forthcoming about plans, ideas and hopes. The assistance of those around can make an important difference. Rats can also look forward to some special family occasions with achievements to celebrate and joint undertakings bringing worthwhile results. For the unattached, romance can add sparkle to their year. A busy year with good chances arising but one which also requires effort and discipline.

Tip for the year: Be prepared to adapt and act well on opportunities. There is much to do and gain.

Good times loom, but they will

OX

1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021

DETERMINED, reliable and hard-working, Oxen put much energy into what they do. They are thorough, well-organised and don’t like to leave things to chance. Loyal to loved ones, Oxen are admired for their dependable, no-nonsense ways.

A year of great possibility, with skills and fortitude serving Oxen well. However, to make the most of their own year Oxen should join forces with others. With support, goodwill and some luck, much can now be accomplished. In home life, shared activities are especially favoured, with key plans and hopes realised. Some too could have reason for a personal celebration with travel opportunities also appreciated. For the unattached, romance can help make the year special and all Oxen should make the most of social opportunities and the chance to widen their social circles. New friends and contacts could become important. In work Oxen will have the chance to make more of their skills and prove themselves in new ways. However, some patience will be necessary as problems could frustrate. Progress can help financially with Oxen enjoying carefully considered activities and purchases. Overall a satisfying year with relations with others favoured and commitment rewarding Oxen well. Tip for the year : Act on plans and hopes. With determination, many things can be accomplished. Also value relations with others. Those around can help make the year special and more successful.

TIGER

1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010

ACTIVE, enthusiastic and interested in many things, Tigers set about their activities with considerable energy. Full of ideas, they are creative and inventive. They’re also prepared to take chances to get what they want. Tigers enjoy socialising and have widespread interests. Although Tigers will sometimes feel frustrated by the slow workings of the Ox year, this can still be an important time. In work they should use chances to build on skills and adapt to changing situations. By doing their best and exercising patience, what is accomplished can be built on. Those who take on new duties should allow time to learn and get established. Caution is also needed in money matters, with Tigers advised to watch outgoings. More positively, Tigers will enjoy an increase in social activity with an interesting mix of things to do. New friends and contacts could turn out to be significant. Home life will be busy and here good liaison and advance planning will lead to more going ahead. Mutual interests should be encouraged. Tigers too should give consideration to lifestyle, including diet and level of exercise. Again this is a good year for taking stock, attending to self and furthering skills. Results may not always be immediate but can lay important foundations for opportunities ahead.

Tip for the year: Use the year to build and invest in self. What is accomplished can open up new possibilities.

RABBIT

1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011

WITH a kindly, understanding nature, Rabbits attach a great deal of importance to their home and social lives. They enjoy company and conversation and with their refined tastes they are all for an agreeable lifestyle. A good judge of situations, Rabbits are careful in their actions and wary of risk.

A demanding year and, throughout, Rabbits will need to keep their wits about them. In work, changing situations can bring new pressures but, by rising to challenges and preparing to adapt, Rabbits can succeed. In addition, new skills acquired or roles taken on can open up significant options for the future. Financial prospects can improve with Rabbits often spending on home, interests and travel. Again interesting possibilities can arise and, by discussing these with those around, plans and hopes can often come to fruition. With the pressures of the year Rabbits should also give consideration to wellbeing, allowing themselves ‘me time’ and aiming for a good lifestyle balance. Rabbits will also welcome social opportunities and chances to widen their social networks. In home life Rabbits will value the support of loved ones and should be forthcoming with ideas or concerns. Home projects and mutual interests will be particularly appreciated. A busy but potentially significant year.

Tip for the year: Rise to opportunities and challenges. Although a lot will be expected, the year’s gains can be far-reaching. Also draw on the support of family, friends and contacts.

DRAGON

1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012

BORN under the sign of luck, Dragons have great determination. They are resourceful, active and use their personality and strengths well. Dragons also have style, are sociable and enjoy many interests but value their independence.

A good year ahead and, while there will be times when Dragons will wish plans could be speeded along, with patience and persistence, things can go in their favour. In work, Dragons should concentrate on areas of expertise and build on knowledge and skills. Some could now take on more specialist duties and benefit from emerging opportunities. Headway made can help financially with good control and budgeting serving Dragons well. Dragons will also welcome the social opportunities of the year with some new friends and connections becoming important. Romantic prospects are also promising. One caveat though. Dragons should be wary of rumours or getting caught up in potentially awkward situations. Dragons take note. At home Dragons will assist and give sterling advice to loved ones. Shared activities can go well, with Dragons enjoying the realisation of special hopes and plans. Although the Ox year may lack the pace Dragons like, this can be a personally satisfying and constructive time.

Tip for the year: Take stock. Use strengths well and give time to self and loved ones. Rather than rush ahead, enjoy the present.

SNAKE

1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013

SNAKES are quietly ambitious. They know what they want and are prepared to work hard and wait patiently for the right moment. Snakes can be quiet and reserved but enjoy wide interests and are loyal to those close to them. A positive year but a demanding one too. To get results and make the most of opportunities, Snakes cannot afford to be slack. One particularly favoured area is personal development and, if a new pursuit appeals or another qualification could benefit, Snakes should pursue. In addition, attention to well-being and lifestyle balance can make a difference. In work, arising situations could challenge but will give Snakes the chance to prove themselves and further their skills. In money matters, Snakes should watch outgoings and remain vigilant. Domestically this can be a pleasing year with personal and family successes. In view of general busyness, it is important to have good cooperation and communication between all. Social life can also reward and Snakes should take advantage of opportunities to meet others and make contacts, especially in spheres of interest. For the unattached, romance can beckon. Snakes can do well in the Ox year and, with effort and willingness to further self, important progress can be made and a lot enjoyed.

Tip for the year: Look to develop skills and interests. This is an investment in now and the future, with much good following on from actions taken.

HORSE

1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014

STRONG-WILLED and hard-working, Horses have considerable style. They enjoy activity and have an adventurous, outgoing nature. They like company and conversation and present themselves well. Being independent-minded, Horses set about much in their own individual way. A promising year and, by giving thought to objectives and planning ahead, Horses will be able to gain a lot from the year. In work, good opportunities can arise, encouraging Horses to progress and take on something new. What occurs can come with a steep learning curve but will re-energise the career and prospects of many. To help situations, Horses should also liaise well with others and watch independent tendencies. Horses can also fare well financially with carefully considered purchases appreciated. Socially, Horses will welcome chances to meet with friends, although should be wary of lapses or making assumptions. A faux pas could cause problems. Similarly, in affairs of the heart, a year for keeping aware and remaining mindful. In home life, a lot is set to happen and ideally plans should be discussed and decided on in advance. Ample time too needs to be allowed for practical activities. Overall a constructive year with good opportunities for progress, but Horses need to watch their independent natures and act well on opportunities.

Tip for the year: Liaise. Build support and be mindful of others. These can be rewarding times. Use them well and make strengths count.

have to be worked for in the year of the Ox

GOAT

1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015

GOATS have a good understanding of human nature. Observant, caring and sociable, Goats like company and having support for the things they do. They also attach much importance to home life. Born under the sign of art, Goats are creative and enjoy the finer things in life.

A demanding year with Goats facing additional pressures and sometimes feeling ill-at-ease with developments. However, by keeping alert and adapting as required, Goats can do much to overcome the year’s more negative aspects and make useful headway. In work, new demands could concern but, by knuckling down and focusing on what needs to be done, Goats will have the chance to demonstrate strengths and extend skills. Any new position taken on can prepare the way for future possibilities. Personal interests can also bring pleasure as well as having a good social element, with Goats appreciating chances to meet and join with others. Home life can be busy and rewarding. Again mutual support and planning ahead will be to the advantage of all. Practical undertakings should not be rushed. Also more expensive outlays should be carefully considered and spending watched. A busy and demanding year but with interesting chances to develop.

Tip for the year: Join with others. Concerted effort and widening of social circles can bring considerable benefits. Also use opportunities to build on skills. Whether vocationally or with interests, efforts made can open up new possibilities.

MONKEY

1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016

RESOURCEFUL and good at spotting opportunities, Monkeys like to keep active and are interested in many things. They have good memories and with their sense of fun, enjoy company, conversation and an often busy home and social life.

A reasonable although sometimes frustrating year. Monkeys like to get on and do, but the wheels of the Ox year are slow-moving. This is a year for patience and to rein in more ambitious undertakings. In work, the best results will come from making the most of expertise and focusing on current objectives. For those eager to change there could be the chance to take on more specialist duties, with Monkeys enjoying new challenges. In view of costly plans and purchases, spending needs to be watched. Monkeys should also give thought to lifestyle balance with some modifications making a difference. In addition, personal interests can develop in an encouraging manner. Monkeys will also value their social lives and the chance to extend their social networks. For the unattached, a new romance could over time become meaningful. In home life, good planning can lead to much going ahead and being appreciated. Also at times of pressure, Monkeys should remember, “A worry shared is a worry halved”, with openness helpful. Overall a positive year and particularly for Monkeys to take stock and enjoy the present.

Tip for the year: Plan and focus on specific undertakings. By concentrating energy, more will be enjoyed and accomplished.

ROOSTER

1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017

ROOSTERS have considerable style and dignity. They enjoy company and conversation and are interested and informed about much. Roosters also like to be well-organised and to think and plan ahead.

Roosters are set to do well this year and can benefit from some excellent opportunities. In work, Roosters should look to progress and when an opening arises should actively pursue. With resolve and initiative, important doors can open and set many on a new and successful track. Progress can help financially with some benefiting from a bonus or gift. Carefully considered purchases will be appreciated, as will travel. In home life there can be memorable times with personal successes and family news to celebrate. In addition, many will be keen to proceed with home improvements with this very much a year for doing. However, with much happening, talking, listening and giving time to others will make an appreciable difference. Roosters will also welcome the increasing social opportunities of the year with personal interests bringing them into contact with other enthusiasts. For the unattached a chance meeting could be significant and affairs of the heart well aspected. Overall a promising year with determined action and arising chances rewarding Roosters well. Tip for the year: There is much to be done and gained. Value relations with others, for those around you can do much to help, as well as add to the year’s specialness.

DOG

1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018

LOYAL and caring, Dogs are very protective of loved ones. They are also direct and straightforward in manner and prepared to stand up for their beliefs. Dogs have a tendency to worry but are dependable and much respected. A variable year and although progress can be made, Dogs need to tread warily. Throughout, Dogs should liaise closely with others and adapt to changing situations. In work, many will face an increasing workload and additional pressures, including changes to routine. A lot will be asked but, by rising to challenges and focusing on duties, Dogs will have the chance to prove themselves and, with new skills or position, to build on. Dogs also need to remain disciplined in money matters and watch spending. Time too should be allowed for personal interests with a new pursuit opening up fresh possibilities. In home life Dogs will do much to assist others as well as be instrumental in key plans. By spending quality time together, home life can be a very special part of the year. Dogs should also make the most of social opportunities and chances to go out. This can not only help lifestyle balance but be personally beneficial. Overall a demanding year but, with care and awareness, Dogs can gain useful experience with successes to build on.

Tip for the year: Watch developments and adapt rather than resist. A year to proceed carefully and broaden skills and interests.

PIG

1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

OUTGOING, kindly and trusting, Pigs enjoy good relations with others, with their home and social lives especially important. They also like their pleasures and the finer things in life. Pigs are hardworking and use their skills and opportunities well. An encouraging year for Pigs, and by giving thought to objectives and planning ahead, a lot can be achieved. In work, new opportunities can arise, giving Pigs the chance to progress or, if wanting change or seeking a position, to take on something new. This is no year to stand still, with initiative and enterprise rewarding well. Progress made can help financial prospects with planned purchases, including items for the home appreciated. Travel opportunities could tempt, too. Pigs will also appreciate an upturn in social activity with interests pursued helping to widen their social circles. For unattached pigs, any new romance should be allowed to build steadily rather than rushed. Home life will see considerable activity with occasions to celebrate and ambitious plans carried out, including relocation for some. Much can be accomplished but this is a year favouring joint effort and forward planning. Overall Pigs can do well this year, but it does require commitment and acting well on chances. For the resolute, considerable rewards await.

SCHOOL

Tip for the year : Seize the initiative. Make the most of self and skills, and look to advance. This is a ‘doing year’, containing many well-deserved opportunities.

Neil Somerville is the author of “Your Chinese Horoscope for Each and Every Year”, published by Thorsons. Horoscope distributed by Auspac Media.

Year of the Ox attracts a new set of lunar coins

THE Royal Australian Mint has again developed a selection of lunar year coins, starting with this 50-cent piece celebrating the Year of the Ox.

Described as a “tetra-decagon shaped coin”, the Mint says it “honours the strong, open-minded and patient people who are born under the sign of the Ox”. Uncirculated, the coin is priced at $12.50.