CityNews 210527

MUSIC GOES TO WAR

Armed with her saxophone, JAIME GRECH will be on stage for the all-star, emotional ‘Vietnam Requiem’

NO OUTCRY AGAINST THIS SHAMEFUL ‘OBSCENITY’

The ACT’s rate of Aboriginal imprisonment is an obscenity that we, as a community, have calmly and without protest taken in our stride.

LUXURY 3 & 4 BEDROOM TERRACES IN RED HILL

STAGE TWO COMING SOON

Stage 1 of Stockland’s Terraces at THE PARKS are now sold out. The highly anticipated release of Stage 2 is coming soon. Register for the VIP release prior to public launch and be the first to discover the elevated finishes and design elements that feature prominently in this collection. The Terraces are spacious, architecturally designed and surrounded by stunning parklands, meaning you can focus more on lifestyle and less on maintenance.

Register for the VIP release prior to public launch: THEPARKSREDHILL.COM.AU/TERRACES

Colliers 1800 345 127

Visit the Display Suite Mon–Fri 11am to 3pm and Sat & Sun 10am to 4pm 165 Discovery St, Red Hill ACT 2603

If you’re injured in a motor vehicle accident or at work, you could face time off work, loss of income and mounting medical costs.

Maliganis Edwards Johnson help families protect their rights and get fair compensation. And if you don’t win you don’t pay.

NEWS / Save Kippax Playing Fields

‘We have to hang on to the green space we have’

By Nick OVERALL

A RESIDENTS’ action group says they’d be “crushed” to see their local playing fields demolished for the expansion of the Kippax Fair Shopping Centre in Holt.

The group is fighting to save the fields after the ACT government rezoned the area for major commercial development last year.

Chris Watson, chair of Save Kippax Playing Fields, has walked across the ovals for more than 50 years and says it would be a “tragedy” to see the area go.

“They’re used for sports, recreation, relaxing and all sorts of things. We see people here all the time,” says Chris.

“We’re not saying that we don’t want any development of the centre. We are not against an expansion. This particular proposal is just the wrong idea.”

Belconnen’s rapid population growth has seen calls for more shops and parking in the centre since 2013. The demand is being particularly driven by Ginninderry, a suburb expected to reach 30,000 people over the coming decades.

Originally, the ACT government’s

2015 draft master plan recommended a redevelopment of surface car parks out the front of the centre, a suggestion that Chris and the action group believe would be better for the community.

However, the government says sepa rate community consultation from the owners of the Kippax Fair Shop ping Centre saw support for retail expansion over the playing fields. This would eventually see a variation to the Territory Plan and the government is now calling for expressions of interest from developers to build on the fields.

“We believe the majority of people are against using the ovals for devel opment,” says Chris.

“At one meeting the Belconnen Community Council asked people to raise their hands if they supported de velopment over the fields, one person in a room of about 80 people did.

“There’s going to be a larger popu lation and more densification in the years to come, we have to hang on to the green space we have.”

The group is also extremely worried about the increased flood risks associated with the development, as evidenced by a 2020 report that was not released until after the rezoning of the fields.

The report, updating the results of an original 2015 study, was commissioned by the ACT’s planning directorate and found that the development

recommending redevelopment of the car parks presented no major flooding risk.

Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said the study was sufficient for rezoning the land and showed that flooding and drainage issues in the area could be managed.

Despite the issues raised by the Save Kippax Playing Fields group,

panel, involving the Belconnen Community Council, which agreed the centre’s expansion over the playing fields could “result in an excellent outcome, if done well.”

However, according to the Save Kippax Playing Fields group, the consultation was not representative of the community.

“The community panel was a closed-

shop affair; we had no idea about that sort of thing,” says Glenys Byrne, another member of the action group.

“They were supposed to present a number of options and at the end of the three meetings they just embraced the one choice to expand across the ovals.

“We feel we are not being represented by the government or by the

Mr Gentleman said work is underway on the first stage of the expression of interest and is anticipated to commence by the end of May. Following this, the land will go to a competitive

It comes after the government deemed the owners of Kippax Fair “not eligible” for a direct sale of the

To Chris and the action group though, there are a whole range of issues that have not been given the consideration they deserve.

“It’d also see the demolition of a former walk-in health centre which would be terrible,” he says.

“There’s also a need right now for a quality, well-designed playground for young children and Kippax sadly does not have that.

“They had to fight to hang on to Central Park in New York, well we are fighting for Kippax, to keep this green space for generations now and generations to come.”

Arts & Entertainment 27-29

Canberra Matters 15 Cinema & Streaming 28

Crosswords 30-31

Dining 29 Garden 26

Horoscopes 29

Letters 18

News 5-19

Politics 6, 12

Seven Days 8 Cover: Army sax player Jaime Grech. Photo by Holly Treadaway. Story Page 27.

Mitchell.

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

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

Graphic Designer: Douglas Lima

Proof reader: Glenda Anderson

Affordable luxury at your fingertips.

Experience our freehold independent living community, a hidden secret between Canberra and the coast set amongst lush green rolling hills and the cleanest air ever.

BRAIDWOOD - VOTED THE BEST NSW RETIREMENT LOCATION

• Summerfield is specifically designed, built for over 55’s and surrounds the original homestead.

BUY NOW

Spend a week at Ramada Hervey Bay Gateway to Fraser Island

Plus $1500 food & drink voucher

Simply mention this ad when registering your inspection

Expires 30th June 21

*Conditions Apply

• Independent living with architecturally smart, quality homes each with a small parcel of freehold land, solar systems, designer kitchens and bathrooms and most feature vaulted ceilings to allow natural light to flow through the home.

• Limited to only 56 homes making it an exclusive yet supportive community.

• Surrounded by heritage listed countryside on three sides with a brand new hospital.

• Best club house view in Australia, indoor heated pool and arts and craft centre.

• Low fees to maintain garden and facilities.

• Unique historic town, open rolling hills and a unique and welcoming community.

POLITICS / Aboriginal imprisonment

No outcry against this shameful ‘obscenity’

OVER the last eight years, the number of Aboriginal people sent to prison in Australia has increased by just over 50 per cent.

Without argument, this is a national disgrace.

Over the last eight years, the number of Aboriginal people sent to prison in Canberra has increased by 279 per cent. The highest rate of increase in Australia.

Of the Aboriginal people currently in prison in Canberra, 90 per cent have served a prior sentence of imprisonment. It is the highest recidivism rate in Australia.

An Aboriginal person in Canberra is 19.4 times more likely to be sent to prison than a non-Aboriginal person. The highest rate ratio in Australia.

Without argument, this is more than a disgrace – it is obscene.

It is an obscenity that we, as a community, have calmly taken in our stride. There have been none of the usual public indicators of concern let alone outrage; no letters to the editor or harrying calls to talkback radio. No ABC television special investigative report. No motion of censure or of no confidence moved in the Legislative Assembly. No public inquiry. No picket outside the prison, police stations or the courts. No mass rally or demonstration outside the Legislative Assembly. In fact, no rally or demonstration anywhere.

I met her recently for a coffee and a chat. We talked about her ordeal in being forcibly strip searched as well as more broadly about the reality of detention in the AMC.

Julianne has written an open letter about her ordeal. This is part of what she wrote:

“On arriving at the Crisis Support Unit, I was placed in a cell where everything can be seen. There were also five to seven men housed in the unit who can see everything that occurs. Whilst I was laying on the bed, four female officers, two male officers, two male nurses and five male detainees had a full view.

All officers and nurses enter my cell to strip me naked to check I had nothing on me – for my safety I’m told. The female officers were in full squad gear while the rest were there to watch. The intention was to remove all my clothing by cutting my clothes clean off.

An Aboriginal person in Canberra is 19.4 times more likely to be sent to prison than a non-Aboriginal person. The highest rate ratio in Australia. Without argument, this is more than a disgrace – it is obscene.

At this time I was menstruating heavily due to all the bloodthinning medication I take.

Here I ask you to remember that I am a rape victim. So you can only imagine the horror, the screams, the degrading feeling, the absolute fear and shame I was experiencing.”

The details of Julianne’s ordeal, while she was in the care and under the control of the ACT government and its officers, has been widely reported.

Open Sat & Sun 10am to 4pm Weekdays by appointment

Jane: 0400 472 577

The only reaction from Canberrans has, I fear, been a stifled yawn as we turn the pages of the paper or change the television channel to avoid the tedium of being confronted by the occasional short cryptic report touching on the reality of indigenous disadvantage in Canberra, our home.

It is an accepted political truism, as evident in the ACT as anywhere, that there are no votes in prison reform or in being seen to care about the welfare of people caught up in the criminal justice system.

If anyone doubts that I invite them to reflect on our and the ACT government’s nonchalant indifference to the state of the Alexander Maconochie Centre and to the rate at which we in Canberra lock up Aboriginal people and ignore their needs.

I have recently been especially agitated about the state of the justice system in the ACT.

My agitation has been heightened by the insight I have from working in an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation, namely Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service.

I have, through my employment at Winnunga been privileged to work alongside its CEO, the indomitable Julie Tongs, an outstanding and fearless leader of the local Aboriginal community and have met and come to know clients with criminal records and a history of detention in the AMC.

As I have mentioned previously, one such person is Julianne Williams, who was the subject of the now infamous forceful strip search in front of men, both prison officers and inmates, in the AMC. I have known Julianne for a number of years and we have over time become friends.

No resident of the ACT, who takes an interest in local news, would not be aware of the salient details of the way she was treated. Julianne also lives with a range of very serious medical conditions, which were also revealed in media reports about her strip search.

In our recent conversation I asked Julianne whether she was surprised or disappointed by the apparent lack of local interest in or concern about the treatment which she endured at the hands of the ACT government, in our names.

I told Julianne that I had not seen, since the media reported her treatment, a single letter to the editor, an editorial or opinion piece, any in-depth television exposure, calls for a rally in front of the Legislative Assembly or indeed anywhere, or any expression of anger or outrage at her treatment other than by me and Julie Tongs.

I drew Julianne’s attention to the understandable anger in Canberra and across Australia and the massive outpouring of support which Brittany Higgins justifiably received following the appalling ordeal she had suffered, also in Canberra, and asked whether the contrasting responses to the two incidents had occurred to her and her reaction to that.

Julianne looked at me, smiled ruefully, and said: “Jon, I am an Aboriginal woman with a criminal record, do you seriously think anyone other than my people would care about anything that was done to me?”

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.

It’s the sweet life as Al escapes the wonky rates

WE’D wondered what life after politics would be like for Coe and now we may know. Think Willy Wonka.

After 12 years of banging his head against Labor, the former opposition leader is escap ing the territory’s rapacious rates regime for a sweet life in the country.

Al stuck his head (and his hand) up at a recent auction and snagged retiring Rowe’s chocolate shop over the border, near Murrumbateman, for a reported $1.7 million.

None of this, of course, will truly come as a surprise to sharp “CityNews” readers who may have had a foreboding in March when reporter Belinda Strahorn wife Yasmin

To wit: “For now, this ‘exciting’ new chapter of their lives means Yasmin can turn her attention to other things.

“A professional woman in her own right, Yasmin also sits on top of a delicious empire, a chocolate-bar business called Sweet Pea & Poppy, started while on maternity leave and co-founded with her mum.”

She told Belle: “After school I had dreams of doing something with chocolate or pastry but I didn’t know what that would look like. I always did something chocolatey on the side; I made all the corporate chocolate gifts for my dad’s business but it wasn’t until I went on maternity leave… that I turned my hobby into a business.”

Belle reported that from Yasmin’s Nicholls home, fitted with a commercial kitchen,

we started exporting to Japan this year,” Yasmin said.

“I’ve enjoyed what the business has become and where it’s going… I feel it has always taken a bit of a backseat to lots of other things in my life.”

The Murrumbateman property, about 30-minutes from Canberra, includes a business, shopfront and a separate four-bedroom cottage on more than nine hectares of land.

Ready to Move in Homes

responsible for the Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Museum and Gallery, the Nolan Collection, Lanyon Homestead, Calthorpes’ House and Mugga-Mugga Cottage.

Since starting in 1997, she’s seen nine different arts ministers, six board chairs (I was the first, actually) and attended every

She praised the roughly 900 people employed as staff members over that time, the advisory committees and volunteers and the more than eight million visitors and patrons attracted.

But then it’s curtain up on a new production as Harriet announced she would support and mentor the next generation of arts leaders through the establishment of a personal fund to offer professional development opportunities in cultural leadership.

Although she will stay on at the corporation while her successor is recruited – likely to take up to six months – she’s planning

some academic research into cultural leadership and to pursue creative pursuits – she’s also a high-profile, emerging playwright.

I’M going to publicly congratulate the “CityNews” music critics for their collective professionalism in, again, skilfully reviewing pretty well every concert of the just finished Canberra International Music Festival. No other media outlet got close to matching

They are leading critics in Canberra and include Ian McLean, Clinton White, Graham McDonald, Len Power, Rob Kennedy and arts editor Helen Musa and their reviews – good and bad – are there for all to see at citynews.com.au

But after the contribution of 22 reviews, retiring festival chair Bev Clarke couldn’t muster a mention for them (or us) amid all the self-congratulation. Clinton White, moonlighting for esoteric “Limelight” magazine, was noted for a review and snapper Peter Hislop, who took photos at every concert for us, was lumped in with other photographers who occasionally dropped by.

I WAS grateful this week for words written 100 years ago by CP Scott , editor of UK newspaper “The Guardian” for 57 years.

This year the paper is celebrating its 200th anniversary.

In an essay for its centenary, editor Scott, a towering figure in local, national, and international journalism, so beautifully wrote: “A newspaper has two sides to it. It is a business, like any other, and has to pay in the material sense in order to live. But it is much more than a business; it is an institution; it reflects and it influences the life of a whole community; it may affect even wider destinies… It may educate, stimulate, assist, or it may do the opposite. It has, therefore, a moral as well as a material existence, and its character and influence are in the main determined by the balance of these two forces.”

UK comedian Barry Cryer’s favourite joke about comedy: “Analysing comedy is like dissecting a frog. Nobody laughs and the frog dies.”

Ian Meikle is the editor of “CityNews” and can be heard on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” news and interview program, 2CC, 9am-noon.

• Brand new architecturally designed spacious 2 & 3 bedroom homes now selling from $720k*

• A variety of floorplans to suit your individual needs

• Single level access

• Exclusive resident clubhouse with quality leisure and community facilities

• A gated and secure village offering mountain and golf course views

• Fixed Fees for Life

• Located close to the heart of Canberra and minutes away from Manuka and Red Hill Shops

For more information contact our Sales Manager Rob Rowe on 0438 254 043 or visit us Monday to Friday and by appointment on weekends.

Search www.liveattheaerie.com

Barr mute as Labor locals speak up for Collaery

IT was good to see Canberra’s Labor senator Katy Gallagher and MPs Andrew Leigh, Alicia Payne and David Smith joining the protest against the outrageous prosecution of former ACT Attorney-General Bernard Collaery last week.

But where, oh where, was Chief Minister Andrew Barr?

I have searched the records and can find not a single indication of his support for the lawyer whose only “crime” seems to have been a willingness to represent a whistleblower who dared reveal that the Howard government had spied on Timor-Leste for commercial gain.

Both are being prosecuted in the ACT judicial system under the very nose of the man who runs the place as “he who must be obeyed”.

Bernard and his client, Witness K, were

Where, oh where, was Chief Minister Andrew Barr?

I have searched the records and can find not a single indication of his support for Bernard Collaery.

arrested and charged in 2018 with breaching security information laws. Collaery, whom I’ve known as a decent and thoroughly likeable bloke for 30 years, has been charged with conspiring with Witness K and unlawfully disclosing information to the Timor-Leste government.

It’s alleged that the information re lated to planting listening devices in the office of the Timor-Leste’s cabinet during the oil and gas negotiations of the early 2000s and was “unlawfully communicated to various journalists at the ABC”.

The trial has been dragging on for the last three years, destroying Collaery’s legal practice and taking a heavy toll on his health. Yet he continues to provide pro bono legal advice to groups such as the Winnunga

And for all its conservative – even apathetic – instincts, the Canberra community has a very sympathetic attitude to Collaery. If he did overstep the mark, at least it would seem that he did so with the very best of motives.

Prime Ministers such as Scott Morrison talk piously of their defence of “Australian values”. Do they really

As an openly gay man, Andrew Barr knows all about the kind of bullying adopted toward folk whom the dominant group see as vulnerable to such tactics. One might have expected that he would at least register his disappointment that our courts were being used in this fashion. He was equally silent when “CityNews” revealed the secret trial

of Witness J who was actually jailed for nine months at the Alexander Maconochie Centre without the knowledge of his then Attorney-General, the Greens’ Shane Rattenbury. Did Barr know?

That case has been overshadowed by the seemingly endless proceedings of the Collaery matter. But I understand that, behind the scenes, Witness J and his lawyers are deeply involved in negotiations with two Federal government bodies. The talks are designed to extract a measure of “justice” for the decorated former military intelligence officer.

While incarcerated at AMC he wrote and later published, “Here, There are Dragons”, a fascinating account of his life in the prison.

It would not be surprising if he had further literary ambitions given the extraordinary pathway that took him from the battlefields of Afghanistan to civilian service in the embassies of south-east Asia.

Equally important is the need to set the record straight on the issues that surrounded the secrecy of his trial under the National Security Information Act, which lies at the base of both his and Collaery’s travails. The authorities, it seems, would prefer to see the whole thing barred.

robert@robertmacklin.com

NEWS / National Reconciliation Week

Rachel opens people’s hearts with her ‘big sing’

By Belinda STRAHORN

GROWING up on Sydney’s north shore, Rachel Hore didn’t know much about First Nations people.

Forty years later she leads a choir bringing indigenous and non-indigenous singers together to sing, heal and honour the oldest living culture on earth.

Hore, 59, is the music director and founder of Big Sing, a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates singing and choral events for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.

“When I grew up, I didn’t meet an Aboriginal person until I was 26 years-old and that’s probably quite normal in Australia,” Hore said.

Hore, a Canberra resident, has dedicated a large part of her career to promoting greater appreciation and awareness of indigenous music and culture.

Coinciding with National Reconciliation Week (May 27-June 3), she hopes to highlight the role singing plays in creating community and bridging cultural differences.

“Singing opens people’s hearts,” Hore said.

“When we come together, black and

white, to sing it becomes a beautiful vehicle for learning more about each other.”

Ten years ago, Hore created the first Big Sing event, Big Sing in the Desert, in central Australia.

The cross-cultural choral workshop, still going today, attracts around 120 participants each year with some Aboriginal women travelling 700 kilometres to attend the three-day event.

In a musical exchange, Aboriginal singers share songs and mission hymns in their language and Hore teaches the group new songs.

“That was the very first time that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal singers came together at a singing camp,” Hore said.

Since then, Hore has replicated the Big Sing concept, adapting it to different locations and communities across the country.

Big Sing by the Sea, in Forster, kicked off in 2017 and engages local Worimi and Birpai people in shared music and language development.

On the final day, participants perform a concert for the community.

“It’s singing and music, but it also brings in elements of the local culture, so we take people on a cruise to show them the local lakes where the Aboriginal people used to fish.

“Out in the desert there’s lots of weaving work and painting and we

culture that is shared depending on where the events are.”

The third Big Sing event is Singing on Deerubbin Shores in Richmond, NSW, at the foothills of the Blue Mountains.

Running for three years, the event celebrates Darug language and culture on Darug country.

“Deerubbin is the local Darug word for the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, the river that runs through the area,” said Hore.

“We have two Aboriginal musicians who are learning to be choir leaders, so they are leading that event and they are teaching songs in Darug.”

While some Australians remain unaware of Aboriginal history and culture, Big Sing choral events provided them with a space to learn, Hore said.

that’s the biggest Aboriginal community in NSW, but it’s quite hidden and many non-Aboriginal people don’t even know their local elders,” Hore said.

“But since these events, which have created a space where the local Worimi and Birpai culture is highlighted, people are starting to understand the Aboriginal history of their own area.”

Hore, an OAM recipient for her work with choirs and communities, is also a former graduate of the NSW Conservatorium of Music.

She said singing together creates a slow healing process and journey for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants.

Big Sing events are also helping to preserve rare and ancient languages.

“In the central desert we work with

women from Areyonga, Alice Springs, Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Titjikala, Mutitjulu and Docker River and they have pretty strong connections to their language and have preserved a lot of their language through singing hymns,” Hore said.

“The women love teaching us their hymns. They were introduced to them by the Lutheran missionaries.

“Other Aboriginal communities like to sing modern songs that they have translated into their own language and some Aboriginal songwriters are writing songs in their own language which we sing in a choir.”

Performers, across all Big Sing events, are a mix of young and old – the eldest is 80 years of age.

“We have people of all different ages coming from every state in Australia to participate in the choral events,” Hore said.

“The Big Sing experience is transforming us as Australians.

“I don’t see many places where Aboriginal and non-Aborigial people can be in the presence of each other and be on the same page in a safe and connected way.”

A movie night fundraiser in aid of Big Sing, screening “Teach a Man to Fish”, will be held at the Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU, June 2. Tickets via nrw.reconciliation.org.au

We are here to make owning a rental property easy, and can save you a lot of time, stress and money!

• Boutique Independent Agency

• Experienced Personal Service (Since 2001)

• No Hidden Charges (One flat-rate)

• No lock-in contracts

• Private Secure Portal to log in 24/7 from anywhere

• A synergy of Personal Service and Innovative Technology

If you have questions regarding your rental home or investment property or are considering a change in service Call 02 62874577 or email info@realestateAustralia.com.au

We look forward to hearing from you.

Rate spikes are ruining Civic for small business

ONE hand of the ACT government is making an effort to beautify Canberra’s Civic centre; the other, unfortunately, is busily undermining small businesses, and the associated vibrancy, that is key to keeping the area attractive.

Boarded-up shops are not just about an outcome of the pandemic. The issues go deeper.

Whether intentionally or not, Civic is surrendering open walking places and lively shopfronts in favour of more residential tower blocks and malls. The unique character of the centre of Canberra is becoming like every other city in the world.

Instead of celebrating differences and the advantages of a planned city, Canberra is inexorably falling into line with unplanned cities across the world. This may suit the giants of property development, but the changes in character undermine the benefit of being an average

The ACT government has been systematically reviewing leases

Instead of celebrating differences and the advantages of a planned city, Canberra is inexorably falling into line with unplanned cities across the world. This may suit the giants of property development, but the changes undermine the benefit of being an average Canberran.

in Civic to ensure that they are financially compliant with the purpose clause. The purpose clause defines whether a piece of land can be used, for example, for business purposes, entertainment or perhaps residential use. The more options available often increases the value of the land.

The higher the value of land, the greater the revenue from land tax and rates. A business-oriented purpose clause has been most valuable in the past. With developers seeking to build more and more apartments, the value of residential land has increased exponentially.

One case has seen a tenfold increase in the value of the land when the government reviewed the purpose clause. A long-term operator of a small business is on what turns out to be a lease that may also be developed for residential. Suddenly the business

is no longer viable thanks to vastly increased rates.

Although ACT revenue is facilitating a transition to allow time to meet the much greater payments, it simply enables the business time to wind down and work out how to close. This is particularly frustrating when the business is not the owner of the land but will be forced to pay much higher rents to cover the increased costs. An additional frustration is that the benefit of the increased value of the land goes to the landlord rather than the tenant.

In principle, the leasehold system was designed to ensure that the community benefits from increased value of the land. However, perhaps the government should be taking a more nuanced view and finding a way to protect small businesses. Appropriate planning controls on the centre of the city should be implemented to allow small businesses to thrive in an appropriate environment, not just in big, central malls built at the whim of giant developers.

As small businesses close, others

that invariably means more and more large chains rather than locally owned stores. These chains are common to malls all over the world. They have their place. They just ought not dominate retail and other small businesses.

The large apartment buildings with minimal setback, add to the impression that the planning of our city is not in the best interests of ordinary Canberrans and, rather, is being dictated to by developers. No doubt it is frustrating for city planners to be constantly criticised. However, their role is to provide advice to the government and if that advice is overridden by big companies, they will continue to be criticised. The role of the ACT government is to consider the advice in the light of the Budget, the financial well-being of the community and the long term character of

government!

The role of the members of the Legislative Assembly is to review what the government is doing and to ensure that the balance favours the “community good”. It is not in the interest of the community to have local small businesses pushed further and further from the financial and administrative hub.

Unless Canberra can find an appropriate balance between protection of small businesses and raising revenue, the character of the city will invariably change. And it will not be for the better.

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.

Ombudsman buries Barr’s land-swap secrets

It’s taken more than a year to bludgeon, under freedom of information, details about the secretive land swap between the ACT government and the National Capital Authority. But despite appeals to the Ombudsman, the taxpayers remain blind to the values involved in swapping 32 hectares of land at Curtin for 2.8 hectares at West Basin. Reporter BELINDA STRAHORN discovers that elements of the bureaucracy weren’t too thrilled about the deal, either...

THE true cost of the controversial West Basin land swap deal remains hidden behind a series of heavily redacted documents, obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation.

In a secret deal which saw the Barr government hand over 32 hectares of North Curtin’s horse paddocks and securing 2.8 hectares of land at West Basin, for its lakefront development, as part of the land swap with the National Capital Authority (NCA).

The real value of the two parcels of land remains a mystery, however in email exchanges included in the FOI documents, a Suburban Land Agency director questions why the ACT government is providing the North Curtin horse paddocks to the NCA at “seemingly no cost”.

The series of email exchanges clearly implicates the office of the Chief Minister and its heavy involvement with the planning, financial and technical aspects of the project.

In one email, a policy director in the Chief Minister’s office wrote to a manager in the Chief Minister, Treasury & Economic Development Directorate (CMTEDD), saying: “Following our meeting about the various land issues under discussion…[has] there been any progress or updates you can provide… can you please remind me who was doing the work on scoping alternative options for West Basin that don’t involve reclaiming the

Minister’s office that: “The [CRA’s] advice is that absence of the lakebed site would significantly impact on the land available for development and viability of the precinct.”

Other emails between senior public servants confirm that without reclaiming the lakebed, the development at West Basin would not have gone ahead, because it would have been deemed financially unviable.

A project director in the City Renewal Authority (CRA) all but confirmed in an email to CMTEDD that without the land reclamation it would be “extremely unlikely that the estate would proceed”.

The West Basin project, given the green light in September last year, forms part of the Barr government’s long-held vision to upgrade the prime lakefront site.

The development stirred a great deal of community interest at the time, with 140 of 187 submissions lodged during the consultation period expressing opposition to the project.

The waterfront development will see about 2.8 hectares of lakebed land reclaimed, or filled in, and a boardwalk built along the redefined lake edge.

While the number of low-rise apartments to be built at West Basin, in the second half of the decade is unknown; the Chief Minister has said it would number in the hundreds, rather than the thousands as previously stated.

The documents released

been upfront with its dealings in relation to the North Cur tin horse paddocks and West Basin.

“It’s remarkable,” Mr Stan hope said.

“The government refuses to tell the residents of Canberra the value of 32 hectares of highly valuable land, in the ge ographical centre of Canberra, in Curtin, that they gave away. It’s a public asset, surely the public has a right to know its value.

“It has also redacted, albeit with the blessing of the Om budsman, the costs of the work that is currently underway at West Basin.

“That is public money, once again I find it remarkable that the government can spend public money and not tell us how much they are spending.”

Mr Stanhope lodged the FOI request for documents relating to the controversial land swap over a year ago, after the National Capital Authority (NCA) and the ACT government refused to divulge information requested by “CityNews” for the valuation of the parcels of land involved in the deal.

Dr Jenny Stewart, a professor of public policy at UNSW Canberra, argues that the West Basin development was dominated by the need to “maximise development revenue” from the sale of land in the precinct, hence the determination to reclaim part of the lakebed.

“The West Basin development was always poor plan

impression that the comparative methodologies employed in relation to West Basin, were being driven by the Chief Minister’s

other lake foreshores.

“The NCA would appear to have done very well out of the deal, clearly, its responsibility

potential for further alienation of the lake foreshores as the ACT government pursues its development agenda.”

Getting volunteers back to school

By Nathan SCHMIDT

VOLUNTEERS, who had helped struggling students through years of schooling, were ordered out of schools when the covid lockdowns took effect last year.

And now they’re in limbo, because even as restrictions have eased, some school principals have been reluctant to re-engage with volunteers, according to the president of the School Volunteer Program ACT, Nola Shoring. She says volunteers were asked to leave schools as lockdowns took place across the country last March. At the time, there were more than 140 volunteers in 35 Canberra schools. They assisted primary and secondary school children through programs such as building with Meccano sets, while others undertook activities around literacy, maths and other studies.

The number of volunteers has since dwindled to around 80, who will re-enter only half a dozen participating schools when the program resumes this term.

Many of the volunteers were retirees and Nola says: “For some of them, they were getting older and this has been the opportunity for them to go ‘I think it’s time. I’m too old to do this anymore’,” she says.

“We’ve been going for 15 years and some of our volunteers have been with us all that time.”

The volunteer organisation is now undertaking a recruitment drive for people who want to make a difference to apply.

They will need to be able to acquire a working with vulnerable people card, take training and make a weekly commitment for at least six months.

Nola is eager to bring more volunteers on board and start growing the reach of the program once again.

She says more children than ever will need the support of her volunteers.

“For most of our kids, they’ve missed a chunk of their education last year, and will need help to try and catch up,” she says.

But it’s not all academic.

Nola says children also suffered from losing the social aspect of schooling.

“They really missed not getting together with their teachers, not having play dates, not even going to see [their] grandma or aunty,” she says.

It’s the social aspect of tutoring that is a driving force for a lot of students and volunteers alike.

Nola says for some students, the interaction with their volunteer is the only meaningful interaction they might have with an adult that week.

For their mentors, too, they build a connection with their students through the years, as well as with other mentors, says Nola.

Monica Pflaum, 59, has been mentoring for about five years. In that time, she has mentored four different students in Woden Valley, three of whom are still in school. Two of them are in year 5, another in year 6, and one, who graduated last year, who Monica still reads with.

being able to read.

Chairman Tom calls it a day

LONG-serving chair of the Weston Creek Community Council Tom Anderson has resigned ending more than a decade in the role. The former public servant has championed causes such as getting better bus services in Weston Creek and Molonglo, more police and lobbying the ACT government for a bridge over the Molonglo River in Molonglo. Established in 1991, the Weston Creek Community Council looks after the suburbs of Waramanga, Fisher, Weston, Rivett, Duffy, Holder, Chapman and Stirling.

Sale of charity knits

catch up.”

“That one-on-one time spent with the child can make a huge difference. They’re set for life once they can read,” she says.

Some mentors have worked with the same kids for many years, says Nola.

“They know the young people are growing up and the opportunity to work with them is going to go.

“They’re very keen to get back in there and pick up where they left off.”

Prospective volunteers should call 0434 537555.

ORIGINALLY inspired by a lockdown challenge among residents at Kangara Waters Retirement Village in Belconnen, this year’s knitted work will be sold at a Winter Warmers Charity Sale. Residents have created a huge selection of scarves and beanies, which will be sold for $5 apiece at the village, 2 Joy Cummings Place, Belconnen (outside the Birrigai Cafe/Community Centre), 8.30am-12.30pm, on Saturday, June 5. There will be a table of other woollens and a raffle. Cash sales only.

Clarification

LAST week, in “Canberra Matters”, columnist Paul Costigan wrote that the YMCA was to build social housing on a corner of the site in Ainslie known as Bill Pye Park. The YMCA has clarified that it leases this land and that it is separated from the park by a fence and treeline. While Costigan concedes the YMCA is technically correct and that it is to build on the land it leases, not the parkland, he says: “Local residents know and treasure the whole site and have long understood that the corner site was for general community use. And that’s their point – they want that site to stay available for general community use. If the YWCA no longer requires it for their community use, the locals would like it handed back rather than being used for housing.”

CANBERRA MATTERS / more parks, please

Why doesn’t the government get open spaces?

WITH Canberra being a “city in a landscape”, why does the ACT government not understand the value of landscape and open spaces?

The Chief Minister’s favoured agency, the City Renewal Authority, has more plans for Woolley Street, Dickson – our China Town/Eat Street. It is indeed overdue for an upgrade. But the remnants of the authority’s former efforts remain as a testament to bad design and inappropriateness.

As with other areas it is supposed to care for, its urban design efforts demonstrate that it does not understand how public places work in Canberra.

The next Woolley Street upgrade should be about working with locals to make it a more attractive food street. It is not a playground. It does not need messy add-ons such as water features (although I love a good fountain).

It needs a thoughtful make-over that adds ambience, widens the footpaths, keeps the parking (re-arranged, maybe) and calms the traffic. Pedestrians, cars and bicycles could be safe in the same space. To stop it being a through-road, it should be one-way with a speed limit of 10 km/h.

About Tuggeranong: What have the residents of Tuggeranong done to offend the ACT government?

After a lot of advocacy, the government upgraded Anketell

Why does the Chief Minister pour hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars into the inner north through the City Renewal Authority to implement silly activation programs and pop-ups? Parks do not need to be activated. They need to be well looked after.

Street in front of the South Point Mall. It is so minimal and lacks any character that most people would be lucky to realise that so much money was spent. Then the government upgraded the laneway down to the lake. This laneway suffered from lack of use with design features that were overdue for an upgrade plus there was not a lot to attract people to this space – given that most people go to the mall or other nearby shopping precincts.

What Tuggeranong has now is a laneway with design by numbers – totally lacking in creativity. The upgrade is engineered to be boring. Is this what makes local politicians proud of Tuggeranong?

Walking through Haig Park a couple of months ago, it was clear these parklands can be popular on

a Saturday. The place was buzzing. There was better seating – and they were all occupied.

The paths had been improved and included lighting. The barbecue spots were busy and many groups had spread out on the grassed areas – that were in good shape. Several groups involved children having a fun time. The trees were looking good with new plantings taking their place alongside the mature pines. There was a great ambience. This is what it is like when a parkland delivers for the nearby and visiting residents. For the park designers this is what it is all about. Keep it simple and make sure there is well-maintained grass, lots of seats, places to cook, and toilets – plus lights for walking

Photo: Paul Costigan

through in the evening.

Any well-resourced government department can make this happen anywhere in Canberra. So why does the Chief Minister pour hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars into the inner north through the City Renewal Authority to implement silly activation programs and pop-ups? Parks do not need to be activated. They need to be well looked after. The whole city needs more parks.

Meanwhile, a new opportunity for a park has presented itself in the inner north. The racing club near Mitchell

has plans to redevelop a significant part of its site. The proposal makes it clear that it has land to spare and would like to make quick profits courtesy of the ad-hoc planning rules. Here’s an alternative idea. Move the racing club out of the centre of this expanding residential area and offer it a site away from the suburbs.

The present site could be used for limited well-designed housing developments undertaken by the government. The profits, instead of going to the racing club, could pay for the rest of the area (formerly the racing track) to be revamped as a large parkland with a rejuvenated wetland development along the nearby creek.

The whole city needs many more well designed and well-maintained parklands. What could be wrong with that?

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

EX-GOVERNMENT FURNITURE

SIT & STAND DESKS

Bulk shelving

• CHAIRS • WORKSTATIONS • SIT & STAND DESKS

• TABLES • SHELVING • FILING CABINETS

• BOOKCASES • LOUNGES • MAP CABINETS

Come in and explore our extensive range!

Snakes and ladders guide health

Here’s reader BOB COLLINS’ sequel to his story published on April 15 about his wife’s experience of having vital surgery to relieve chronic pain cancelled 30 minutes before the operation at Canberra Hospital on March 29...

MY wife, Rhonda, languished in hospital for 10 days, until April 8, when after all other pain medication and physiotherapy failed, an epidural was given.

This enabled her to walk about 20 metres, still in pain but mobile enough to go home and wait, which we did after thanking the nursing staff for their incredible care and patience.

Almost a month after cancelling, we met with an apologetic and sympathetic head of neurosurgery, who fitted Rhonda into his already busy schedule six days later, on May 3.

The wait after the cancellation could certainly have been longer had pressure not been brought to bear from a number of quarters.

So I’m writing to compliment the skill of the surgeon and thank the incredibly efficient nursing staff; express relief that the operation finally happened and offer brickbats to the Labor/Greens public health system!

Our experience certainly didn’t match the comments made in 2018 in the ACT government’s submission to the Inquiry into the Future Sustainability of Health Funding in the ACT viz: “Together with a comprehensive System Innovation Program, ACT Health

is pursuing reform to improve the efficiency and quality of publicly funded health services within the ACT.”

Similar comments have been made in the Legislative Assembly by the current Minister for Health about the exciting new expansion of the Canberra Hospital and the plans being made to ensure Canberra is well placed to meet all future health needs. I remain a sceptic.

Our experience is also confirmation of Tony Bryce’s opinion in his recent “CityNews” article (“I had to go private to get vital tests at Calvary Hospital”, April 29) that the weaknesses in the public health system are “largely hidden by the dedication of doctors, nurses and other frontline staff that bridge the gaps and just make things happen”.

Unfortunately, the public elective surgery system is akin to a game of “snakes and ladders”.

If you are booked in for elective surgery and have it cancelled, you’ve landed on a snake, and down the waiting list you go – how far down and for how long? Who knows!

However, while back down that list you become very, very ill, you’ll find yourself on a ladder and up the list

Think also of the prison officers

WHO’S taking care of the prison officers and their families they have to go home to after these riots?

The minister has no empathy or support for those prison officers involved or their families. They are just sent home and expected to be in a normal mindset after these violent, aggressive and personal attacks by detainees. I need to add these detainees are there because they have broken the law and been found guilty because they have committed a criminal offence.

For crying out loud, do your jobs as investigative journalists and help those who are working in the jails and don’t listen to the minister’s spin!

Andrew Sarri, via email

Beware of those can-do consultants

THE rise of consultant “can-do” outfits is a worry.

The recent expensive use of one such major outfit by the federal Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, in relation to covid drugs, has caused political and professional consternation.

The consultants apparently can’t abide highly trained, experienced professional specialists such as doctors, scientists and architects.

Many arise from large accounting, law and engineering firms – number crunchers and control freaks who have apparently extensively (and expensively) inveigled their way into politics and government.

When it comes to the crunch, those showy outfits often flounder, and their clients belatedly have to turn to the professionals.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

It’s still electricity for cars

also considering lessons the territory can learn from cities overseas.

May 13).

While renewable hydrogen has huge potential to reduce emissions by replacing fossil fuels in industry, there is not a strong case for vehicles. The main reasons are cost and efficiency.

A recent report by BloombergNEF concluded that: “The bulk of the car, bus and light-truck market looks set to adopt [battery electric technology], which are a cheaper solution than fuel cells.”

But the killer is efficiency. The reason why hydrogen is inefficient is because the energy must move from wire to gas and back to wire in order to power a car.

For a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), from 100 watts of electricity to make the renewable hydrogen, cool it, transport it, convert it back to electricity to power the vehicle, the output is only about 40 watts (40 per cent efficiency).

For an electric vehicle (EV), there is energy lost in transmission, charging and discharging the battery, but from 100 watts, the output is about 80 watts (80 per cent efficient).

In other words, the hydrogen FCEV is half as efficient as the EV. Given the number of vehicles in our energy-hungry world, wasting renewable hydrogen powering cars does not make economic or environmental sense.

On the other hand, the advantages of using hydrogen as an aviation fuel are well-known... but that’s another story.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria

Planner turns to ‘thought leaders’

CHIEF ACT planner Ben Ponton is reported as turning to nationally recognised “thought leaders” to help inform future design decisions for Canberra, while

Eight years ago, Ponton was reported to have “simplified” the ACT’s planning system by adding more than 100 new elements to the Territory Plan, giving each of them the innocuous title of “Suburb Precinct Map”, authorising them to permit land uses that would otherwise be prohibited and authorising them to prohibit land uses that would otherwise be permitted. He also created 19 “District Precinct Maps” that collectively cover the entire territory.

Provisions in those District Precinct Maps can conflict with provisions in underlying Suburb Precinct Maps. He did not provide a way to resolve such conflicts.

Ponton does not seem to be proud of those changes. Since 2014 he has insisted that he “merely relocated provisions”.

Will the “thought leaders” also consider lessons the territory can learn from its own chief planner’s efforts to “simplify” our planning laws?

Leon

Arundell, Downer

Government has a limited life experience

LETTER writer Sue Dyer (CN May 20) is absolutely correct about the ACT government’s lack of public toilet facilities.

A government run by people with no children, not out and about using public transport with them, or older parents, is lacking one of the fundamental connections with the community.

I add that the government cannot properly maintain the existing toilet facilities – soap and water are beyond its ability.

The government cannot learn because of its limited (or no) life experience of the fundamental older and younger human needs.

Christopher Ryan, Watson

OPINION / carbon dioxide

Add it up, light rail isn’t so friendly after all

How long will it take for the carbon dioxide generated by construction of light rail’s stage 2 to be recouped by the anticipated reduction in private-car use? That was the question architect PENLEIGH BOYD set out to answer...

THE construction of light rail Stage 2 will release vast amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. CO2 is the greenhouse gas most responsible for the climate change we are now experiencing.

The promoters of light rail assert that the rail system, once constructed, will reduce private-car use and thus overall vehicle emissions.

However, how long will it take for the CO2 generated by construction activities to be recouped by the anticipated lesser private car use?

Due to their current silence on the net carbon benefits of light rail, it would seem the ACT government needs some assistance with the calculations. Here is a starting point.

The primary materials used in construction of light rail are reinforced concrete and steel, for the tracks, and steel poles and wires for the power supply (noting that some sections of light rail Stage 2B will have concealed power).

Reinforced concrete accounts for some 8 per cent of the world’s total annual production of CO2 gas. Environmentally aware communities around

the world are endeavouring to reduce its use.

Likewise, steel production accounts for some 1.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per tonne of steel made equating also to about 8 per cent of total global CO2 emissions.

The following calculations are necessarily broadbrush (not having access to the detailed design). Those with access to the detailed design are most welcome to make their own calculations available to the public.

CO2 emissions from the concrete trackway

Total track route length 10.7 kilometres. With a trackway width of 6 metres and an average depth of 600 millimetres some 40,000 cubic metres of concrete is needed which amounts to 96,000 tonnes of concrete (at 2.4 tonnes per cubic metre). Reinforced concrete generates 80.2 kg of CO2 per tonne (www.sustainableconcrete.org. uk) thus producing 7700 tonnes of CO2 for the tracks alone. Bridging of Lake Burley Griffin involves elevated trackways (presumably reinforced

concrete) some 420 metres long adding an estimated additional 970 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

CO2 emissions from producing the steel needed for the tracks

There will be four rails running 10.7 kilometres totalling 42,800 linear metres of rail (minimum). At 50 kg per metre there will be 2140 tonnes of steel rail. Every tonne of steel produced generates 1.85 tonnes of CO2 (www. McKinsey.com) meaning 3959 (say 4000) tonnes of CO2 for the rails alone.

Poles and wires

Pairs of 7.5 metre high steel poles will be spaced at nominally 50 metre centres along the route (assume all overhead wires for the sake of this exercise – if concealed wiring is less CO2 emitting that would be beneficial). 428 poles at 7.5 metres high totals 3210 linear metres of steel pipe.

Each pole will be mounted on a concrete pad footing using nominally 1 cubic metre of concrete. 130 tonnes of steel poles plus 428 cubic metres of concrete totals another 320 tonnes of CO2 produced during light rail construction.

Light rail vehicles

Presuming 12 new light rail vehicles made in Spain (as for Stage 1) these vehicles, each weighing more than 40

JUMBO CROSSWORD SOLUTION

tonnes, result in some 500 tonnes needing to be shipped half way around the world, using fossil fuels all the way. At least Melbourne is smart enough to make its own trams.

The CO2 produced is beginning to add up. The above does not include the 12 stops and their associated materials, extensive terrain levelling at London Circuit to Commonwealth Avenue, removal of mature trees on Commonwealth Avenue near Albert Hall and a myriad of other light-rail associated construction activities.

As a rough estimate it would seem not unreasonable to expect about 20,000 tonnes of CO2 to be produced by the construction activities associated with light rail Stage 2.

Now, to offset the CO2 produced during construction, how many commuters will need to leave their car at home and catch the light rail?

The equivalent Woden to Civic (or vice versa) car trip takes 15 minutes.

A 15-minute car trip generates some 2 kg of CO2 in a modern petrol powered car. Factor in the expected increase of electric-vehicle use and the recouping of construction CO2 will take even longer.

The estimated 20,000 tonnes of CO2 (20,000,000 kgs) produced during construction of the light rail means that some 10 million car trips need to be redirected onto the Woden/Civic light rail for the CO2 produced during construction to be offset.

Remember, the government’s main concern is to attract current car users on to the light rail. Already committed public transport users will simply switch from the present bus service to light rail, resulting in no reduction of private car use by them.

So, if (say) 1000 car drivers a day were to leave their car at home and catch the tram instead, then those 10 million car trips avoided would occur over a period of 5000 days assuming those catching the light rail make a return trip – i.e. two trips per day. Assuming a 5-day working week then 1000 weeks would elapse before the CO2 generated by construction was offset by rail system commuters using the tram instead of their private car.

One thousand weeks is some 19 years. By the year 2040 the light rail should have offset the pollution it caused during its construction. Remember, that is just getting back to zero net effect – no CO2 has yet been saved.

By the year 2040 we are only back to square one. Consider, too, the increasing number of electric cars in Canberra then light rail Stage 2 appears destined to become an overall contributor to CO2 pollution, not the environmental saviour some people have promoted it to be.

Penleigh Boyd is a registered architect who has lived and worked in Canberra since 1976.

Activities that keep children entertained and warm advertising feature INDOOR FUN

FROM a high of 38C in summer to a frosty low of -3C in more recent weeks, Canberra’s a place where it’s sometimes more pleasant to stay indoors. But keeping the children cooped up inside can leave many parents dealing with the dreaded declaration of “I’m bored”.

Never fear though, throughout the capital there are plenty of indoor activities to keep children entertained, and “CityNews” speaks to businesses who are experts in doing just that.

Navigating the ever-changing media world

THE National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) has a new program teaching students how to navigate the ever-changing world of media, says education coordinator Kate Harris.

“In ‘Media and Me’ students learn how to be aware when they’re looking at any media, whether it’s journalism, advertising, movies, YouTube, social media, even things just on their phone,” says Kate.

“It’s about kids being able to look critically at what they’re engaging with and ask questions like:

‘What is the intention behind this story, how is it affecting me or persuading me, [and] how can I be smart about using that media?’.”

Kate says the one hour program is adaptable right across the age range and allows students to get a look inside the archive’s collection of more

than three million items.

“We adapt the program for high school students, primary school students, even kindergarten students,” she says.

“In the ever-shifting technological world, algorithms are alway changing and advertising is getting smarter at targeting us, so the earlier we teach our young people about digital literacy the better.”

“And of course the program gives [people] the opportunity to experience our beautiful and historic building.”

“Media and Me”, at the National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Circuit, Acton. Call 6248 2000 or visit nfsa.gov.au

Holiday program’s selling fast

“BRICKS 4 Kidz offers children the opportunity to learn while enjoying the fun of lego,” says director Mark Jeffries.

Operating in Belconnen and Hughes, Bricks 4 Kidz is led by passionate instructors who use Lego to illustrate science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) principles.

“Our motto is kids learn through play,” says Mark.

“Kids retain information from touching, making, and doing much more than they do through memorising facts or figures.”

During the upcoming winter school holidays, Bricks 4 Kidz is offering workshops that focus on recreation and learning, but tickets are selling fast, Mark says.

Beginning on June 28 and running during the entire two-week holiday period, the workshops feature things children love, such as popular video games, superheroes and ninjas, he says.

“We’re running every day of the school holidays, but we also have after-school classes with a dedicated curriculum, workshops in coding and robotics using moving Lego, and birthday party programs,” Mark says.

It’s the environment as much as the

he says.

“That combined with the supportive and enthusiastic atmosphere our instructors create makes for a learning experience that activates the imagination.”

Bricks 4 Kidz, 125/99 Eastern Valley Way, Belconnen. Visit bricks4kidz.com.au/ act-northside or call 0481 240311.

INDOOR FUN

Indoor skate park welcomes beginners

THE Bank Indoor Skate Park lets children get out of the cold this winter and still stay active, says owner Aaron Gardner.

Located in Fyshwick, Aaron and his brother CJ opened The Bank Indoor Skate Park in 2018 with an ambition to create a space that’s welcoming to beginners.

“Most of the time when you go to an outdoor skate park they’re aimed at teens and older riders,” says Aaron.

“We wanted to focus on riders under 12 and do something that doesn’t already exist [by giving] them a chance to develop talent in BMX, skateboarding, scootering, roller-skating and roller-blading.”

In terms of a minimum age though, Aaron says there’s no limit.

“We’ve got a three-year-old who comes on his BMX and is absolutely wild, he does our biggest ramps no problems,” he says.

Safety, however, is always important at “The Bank” and Aaron says there’s an etiquette that they stick to.

“Helmets are mandatory, the youngest have the right of way, no swearing, no bullying, turn for turn,” he says.

For those looking for an “out there” party Aaron says “The Bank” is the perfect place.

“We have a few different packages but most of them come with complete venue hire, so it’s 600sqm of space all to yourself,” he says.

“It’s an activity where kids can get some confidence as there is that small risk factor, express themselves, put some work in and of

The Bank Indoor Skate Park, 3/86 Townsville Street, Fyshwick. Call 6239 2780, email rolling@tbisp.com.au or visit thebankindoorskatepark.com.au

Classes help build confidence in swimmers

GETTING children in the pool at a young age can be the key to helping them become confident swimmers later in life, says JUMP! Swim Schools Fyshwick owner Holly

are intimate and small in size, with parent and child groups having up to seven children, while independent classes are limited to four children, Holly says.

With classes for children as young as three months, Holly says babies tend to already enjoy the water.

“Whereas the older they get, they tend to have had experiences where they could have developed a fear of water [and] could be hesitant,” she says.

The classes, which cater to a range of ages and skill groups,

At JUMP! Swim Schools Fyshwick, Holly says it’s important to not give up on swim instruction over the cooler months.

“We find it very beneficial for children to continue swimming over the winter period so they’re ready once summer comes around again [and] they get back in the water,” she says.

The purpose-built pool stays above 32C all year round, sitting at a “comfortable” 33-34C in winter, Holly says.

JUMP! Swim Schools Fyshwick, 5/23-25 Iron Knob Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 5707, email fyshwick@jumpswimschools.com.au or visit jumpswimschools.com.au/fyshwick

Stephen’s raceway promises good fun

WITH family sessions held every Sunday during school term, parents can race against their children at Way2Fast Model Car Raceway, says owner Stephen Bywater.

Held weekly from 10.30am until midday, the Mitchell-based business, Canberra’s only slot car raceway, sees parents and children team up for a series of six races – three for children, three for adults, Stephen says.

Often, children coming in for the first time have parents who raced slot cars in the past, he says.

“The [parents] want to get the kids involved in something apart from computers [and] it’s actually quite good fun,” he says.

As for anyone aged 17 and older, Way2Fast Model Car Raceway holds sessions from 7pm every Wednesday.

With the weather getting colder and the days

shorter, Stephen has also extended his opening hours on Fridays until 7pm.

He says the extension of hours offers a great opportunity for business groups to do some team building or for older patrons to come in and race.

The custom-built, handmade tracks have excited Canberrans for more than a decade and the raceway features tracks such as six-lane NASCAR-style courses, or more complicated courses like overlapping eightlane ones, Stephen says.

Way2Fast Model Car Raceway also stocks leading brands of remote controlled cars, as well as accessories.

Way2Fast Model Car Raceway, unit 2, 20 Essington Street, Mitchell. Call 0424 453544, email way2fast2@yahoo.com. au or visit way2fast.com.au

Show takes kids on an interactive adventure

THE Q - Queanbeyan

Performing Arts Centre has two shows coming up that are perfect for children and families, says artistic director Jordan Best.

“The Owl and the Pussycat” is a retelling of the famed poem by Edward Lear that Jordan says children will be able to interact with.

“The children don’t just sit and watch, they get to help the owl and pussycat get to their destination,” she says.

“It’s a 45-minute, musical, interactive adventure with puppets, perfect for ages four to 10.”

But for those looking for a show that children and adults alike will “bust a gut” laughing at, Jordan says look no further than “Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark”.

“This show is a puerile and tremendously funny way to introduce kids to the idea of Shakespeare,” says Jordan.

“It’s done by ‘The Listies’, a comedy duo who have won awards at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the Sydney Theatre Awards.”

Jordan says this hilarious spin on Shakespeare is an hour long, and perfect for children aged five all the way through to adults.

“I don’t think I’ve ever laughed or smiled so much in a piece of children’s theatre in my life as I have with ‘The Listies’,” she says.

“The Owl and the Pussycat”, June 22-25, and “Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark”, July 5-7, at The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. Information and tickets at theq.net.au

advertising feature

Virtual reality takes people to other worlds

METAPHYSICA offers virtual reality experiences where children can do and see things impossible in real life, says co-founder Shannon Pickles.

Anyone as young as 10 – they just need to be at least 120cm tall to play – can bend the laws of physics or play with time and space in their exciting puzzles that require teamwork, Shannon says.

For fans of spectacle and adventure, there is “Jungle Quest”, which finds participants travelling through a portal into a mysterious floating world, or for fans of adventure, there’s “Huxley: Save The Future”, an adrenaline-fuelled adventure through a far-flung future, he says.

Metaphysica offers about six games and experiences for children and adults, each running for about an hour.

When participants come in, Shannon says they’re fitted with virtual reality headsets and given hand controllers to use in the game.

“[Participants] are all in the same room together,” he says.

“They can talk to each other in the same room, they can see each other in the game, and they can work together.”

Metaphysica is open by booking until 11pm daily and is a great option for children’s parties, with an arcade machine and space for tables for food and drinks, Shannon says.

Metaphysica, 30 Kemble Court, Mitchell. Call 6108 4516, email contact@metaphysica.com.au or visit metaphysica.com.au

Inner North Playschool is a licensed Playschool which provides exceptional early childhood education for 3-4 year olds in North Canberra.

Our aim is to enrich the child’s development in a safe and nurturing environment while having fun and making friends.

To enquire about vacancies contact us today.

www.innernorthplayschool.org

CANBERRA’S growing inner north is celebrated for being home to some of the territory’s oldest dwellings, with heritage listed areas including Gorman House, Ainslie Primary and Haig Park.

The inner north was even a base to the ACT’s original airport which, between 1926 and 1928, sat where the Dickson Library and playing fields now are.

It’s also home to institutions that are well-known nationally and internationally such as the Australian War Memorial and the Australian National University.

Growing since its early days, the population of the area is more than 48,000, with more than 21,000 dwellings, according to the 2016 Australian census.

Its businesses continue to grow, too, with a variety of dedicated businesses such as playschools, dance schools and gyms, that specialise in what they do.

RUNNING for more than 30 years, the Kim Harvey School of Dance director, Kim Harvey, loves running the school.

Operating from a bespoke building that was awarded the Australian Institute of Architect’s ACT “Art in Architecture Award” in 2016, the school offers classes in classical ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, contemporary, musical theatre, lyrical and open classical, as well as performance classes and conditioning.

“Our students are fortunate to have access to a world-class facility and our highly-trained faculty love working in the space,” she says.

Kim says she’s proud to have been

instrumental in the early training of future and current dance professionals such as Dimity Azoury and Cadi McCarthy.

“I love running the school: the interaction with engaged young minds, the opportunity to see students grow and learn, the sharing of knowledge and love of dance to all ages and the family and community that extends beyond the dance school,” she says.

Kim Harvey School of Dance, at “The Oak”, 11 Rosevear Place, Dickson. Call 6230 0425, email admin@kimharveydance.com.au or visit kimharveydance.com.au

Martha Graham

Playschool benefits children and parents

AT Inner North Playschool, children take their first step towards independence, says director and head teacher Margie Frawley.

A mother of five herself, Margie says the playschool runs between 9.30am and 1.30pm, two days a week, helping three and four year olds get ready for preschool.

“Giving the kids confidence, there’s free play and directed play, music, craft, puzzles, duplo, play-doh, and more,” she says.

“It’s so rewarding to see them socialise and develop, and it’s also just a lot of fun to be around them.”

While the playschool really benefits the children, Margie believes there’s great benefits for parents, too.

“We have two parent helpers every session. The parents get to know each other and at the end of playschool there’s always been some great friendships made,” she says.

“We also run a few events and fundraisers throughout the year which is great community building.”

For those interested, Margie says enrolments fill up fast so the sooner parents can express their interest, the better.

“We understand parents can be a little anxious as it might be the first time their child is away from mum and dad,” she says.

“But we start to hear from parents only a few weeks in that their kids are waking up and asking: ‘Is it a playschool day?’”

Inner North Playschool, corner Limestone Avenue and Grimes Street, Ainslie. Email innernorthplayschool@ gmail.com or visit innernorthplayschool.org

advertising feature

Gym offers a ‘unique’ fitness experience

AFTER working with teams such as the Australian Kookaburras and the Junior Canberra Raiders, Suzie Goodall, an international sports physiotherapist of about 18 years, now uses her expertise at the Powerhouse Gym in Lyneham.

Jointly run with Glenn Turner, a former Australian hockey player and two-time Olympian, Suzie says Powerhouse is a “unique fitness experience”.

“Our expert team not only has insights on injury prevention and athletic performance but we are always on the floor and training with our clients,” says Suzie.

“A big thing for us is correcting technique as that’s vital for fitness outcomes, and if somebody has an injury I’ll assess it right there and then.”

Particularly popular at the moment is their “Masters Class”, which Suzie says is for over 65s.

“Having worked as a nurse I’m passionate about the older community staying mobile and independent for as long as they can,” she says.

“We do joint nutrition and weight bearing activity for bone density, which helps prevent osteoporosis, and of course we work on cardiovascular health.

“We had a 75-year-old do a 110kg deadlift the other day, which was just stunning to see.”

In saying that, Powerhouse has classes for everyone to enjoy, Suzie says.

“We have a mums and bubs class, a kids club for ages 7-12, an athletes academy, a beginners class, and much more,” she says.

“It really forms a great community, with a mix from all walks of life that feel comfortable here.”

Powerhouse Gym, National Hockey Centre, 196 Mouat Street, Lyneham. Email info@powerhousegymcbr.com.au or visit powerhousegymcbr.com.au

NEW WINTER STYLES & COLOURS IN STORE NOW

Join our tight knit community of members, led by international sports physio Suzie Goodall and former Olympian Glenn Turner, with our team of experienced trainers

Choose from these classes:

Beginners

Mums & Bubs

Masters (over 65yrs)

Kids Boot Camp (7-12 yrs)

Athletes Academy (14-18 yrs)

Signature / Large & in Charge / Friday Night Lights

National Hockey Centre FREE Parking with great coffee and food at Pick up Stix café.

Call or email us to book your first class!

Brianne 0422 363 482 or Suzie 0438 474 844 info@powerhousegymcbr.com.au powerhousegymcbr.com.au

GARDENING

Cordon-style espalier involves training the trees at a 45-degree angle.

wall, railing or trellis, are ideal for smaller gardens.

This style goes back to the 16th century in Britain, where it made sense with the colder weather to espalier fruit trees against a brick wall to attract the heat of the sun.

The word espalier is French, and may originate from the Italian spalliera, meaning “something to rest the shoulder (spalla) against”.

Possibly the most suitable type of espalier is cordon training, considerably cheaper than trellis, which has a limited life in any case. The cordon method simply involves running a fixed line of wires to the wall or fence, about 30cm apart, threaded through cup-hooks with the trees trained at a 45-degree angle.

Traditionally, the best fruits to espalier are apples and pears. This is due to the growth pattern of the fruiting spurs living longer producing fruit and are easily trained with new growth.

WHEN growing climbing roses or star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) on a trellis on the side of a home, don’t permanently attach the trellis

be painted or maintenance carried out, simply unhook the trellis at the top and fold it out with the hinges on the bottom. This will not damage the plants.

EVEN though we’re now headed into winter, I’m still getting reports from readers of plants doubling in size or flowering out of season, thanks to the benefits of La Niña and regular rain over summer. As an example, in our garden we have horizontal wires strung between vertical posts supporting five varieties of spectacular, large, flowering clematis. About six to eight weeks ago, they had all finished flowering for the season and as usual, I cut all the old foliage to ground level, expecting no new growth until spring. Surprise, surprise! Clematis “Romantika” put on a massive spurt of growth, coming again into full flower a few weeks ago.

LAST year, grape-growing areas throughout the country suffered with damage caused by smoke taint from the bushfires. This year, with no massive heat waves and rain falling all year, at exactly the right time, it was reported in “The Australian” that vignerons are expecting the best grape harvest in the past 20-30 years.

I OFTEN receive emails telling me of extraor-

dinary items in readers’ gardens. For example, Des tells me the story of growing frangipani in Canberra. Now I thought this would be a real challenge, and I would never suggest it. We had one in a heated glasshouse in our nursery years ago in Yass, but outside? Des’ original frangipani was planted by the family in Waratah, outside Newcastle, in 1951. In 2009, a branch from the original tree was brought to Des’ home in Kambah and simply planted in a terracotta pot. Amazingly, it has survived winters outside since that time with numerous flowers every year. This just goes to show how wrong I can be at times!

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Latham’s ‘loud orchestra’ marches to Vietnam war

COVER STORY

By Helen Musa

WHEN army musician and sax player Jaime Grech joins classical saxophonist Christina Leonard on stage, their golden improvisations will soar in a musical triumph over one of our most contentious wars ever.

They will perform Ross Edwards’ “The Coming of Peace” in “The Vietnam Requiem” at Llewellyn Hall in June, with instrumentalists from the CSO, RAN, Army and RAAF Defence Force Bands and the ANU Chamber Orchestra.

“It’s a loud orchestra,” says director of the Requiem, Chris Latham.

“The saxophonists, who play throughout, are part of what I call ‘golden music’, also seen at the end in the song, ‘Shine Your Golden Light on Us’.

“Jaime’s got a lot of youthful energy and if she is the future of military music, we’re in good shape.” Ending on a positive, even healing, note is important to Latham, the music artist-in-residence at the Australian War Memorial and the brains behind the Requiem.

His “Flowers of War” project explores the musical dimension of our major fields of engagement in the 20th century. It follows two works related to World War I, “The Gallipoli Symphony” which premiered in Turkey in 2015 and “The Diggers’ Requiem” at

Llewellyn Hall in 2018. He’s skipped a couple of wars – he’ll get back to them.

But 2021 is the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of our troops from Vietnam, promised by Prime Minister Billy McMahon and delivered by his successor, Gough Whitlam and of the Battle of Long Khanh, which will be marked here on June 7.

Because the war is still very much a living issue for people, Latham admits that this work has a lot to do with mental health.

“If people can get to be more compassionate or if this can inform your practice as a musician, then I’ll feel I’ve done my job,” he says.

“Some of the history will be well-known to people in the audience and that is very powerful.”

As far as music audiences go, the ones packing into Llewellyn Hall on June 5 and 6 are likely to be atypical. There’ll be boat people, possibly hundreds of them, veterans coming to hear John Schumann sing “I Was Only 19”, and a large cohort which, judging by the usual age of concert-goers, could well have been anti-Vietnam protesters.

“The story is just so grim,” says Latham. “We’ve collected imagery to go with it, and we’ve been working very hard to ensure the accuracy of what we do… I’m trying to set the record straight.”

Latham’s star line-up of top brass from Australia and NZ services and representatives of the Vietnamese community will be matched by an online line-up of star musicians, including William Barton on didgeridoo, Bill Risby on keyboard, Paul Goodchild on trumpet and Minh Le Hoang and Slava Grigoryan on guitar, with an orchestra and choir

directed by Latham.

Act 1, “Songs of the Vietnam War”, involves popular music of the time, including “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” sung by Mark Williams, “We Gotta Get out of This Place”, sung by Normie Rowe and two songs by Vietnam refugee singer/songwriter, Phan Vãn Hung.

Act 2, “The Vietnam Requiem”, is more like its predecessors, a 12-movement work with newly com missioned works by top Aussie composers Graeme Koehne, Elena Kats-Chernin, Andrew Schultz, Ross Edwards and Latham himself, with a piece by the late Peter Sculthorpe.

Likely to have viewers reaching for the tissues in the very last moment is “In Paradisum”, to be sung by Phan Vãn Hung and “The Last Post” played by plucked string soloists over William Barton’s eloquent didgeridoo.

“The Vietnam Requiem”, Llewellyn Hall, 1pm, June 5 and 6, book via premier.ticketek.com.au

By David Williams & Paul Dwyer

CONVERSION SERVICE

Would you like to watch those old family videos once again, or listen to your favourite records on CD?

We can take your vinyl records or cassette tapes and put them onto CD and we transfer VHS tapes onto DVD.

Hello... Is There Any Body There?

By Ian Hornby

Belconnen Community Theatre

Opens this week and runs all weekend

Fri 7.30 pm. Sat 2 pm and 7.30 pm Sun 4 pm. Mon 2 pm.

Bookings: Canberraticketing.com.au Phone 62752700

Tickets also at the door A Tempo Theatre production. Tempotheatre.org.au

CINEMA / reviews

Journey across ocean of self-pity

“Death of a Ladies’ Man” (MA)

WRITER/director Matthew Bissonnette’s film observes ageing academic Samuel O’Shea (Gabriel Byrne) whose roving eye for women and an inability to perceive how his essential self is coping with the deal that life has handed to him, blends with a homage to Leonard Cohen’s 1977 LP from which it derives its title.

It’s a three-act character study of a man forced to confront his weaknesses and unable to accept what he sees. The screenplay mercilessly observes Samuel’s voyage of self-discovery across an ocean of self-pity, often in company with his long-dead father (Brian Gleeson) who is wiser than he and less inclined to suffer his foibles gladly.

Samuel’s mind is beginning to betray his perceptions of his surroundings – a transgendered server with a tiger’s head at the local cafe, hockey players performing ice-dance choreography, and beautiful women who fall for his slick moves and literary banter.

Charlotte (Jessica Paré) becomes Samuel’s girlfriend after he turfs his wife out of the bed in which he catches her cavorting with a young lover. Charlotte’s persona offers him a chance to escape his life’s malaise in so many ways.

I came away from “Death of a Ladies’ Man” with a strong sense of a credible view of a man easy to like, hard to respect, in final analysis easy to feel sympathy for but unable to help.

At Dendy and Palace Electric

“Deux (Two Of Us)” (M)

SINCE its first release in 2019, the feature film debut of writer/director Filippo Meneghetti has garnered a string of award nominations (including nomination as France’s official entry at this year’s Oscars) and wins, but not a big box office result. Its subject remains controversial despite relaxations of recent years – women who love women.

Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Mado (Martine Chevallier) each own an individual apartment at opposite ends of the building’s top floor corridor. Friends, neighbours don’t know that at nightfall, Nina comes to Mado’s bed and returns to her own at daybreak.

The couple are planning to sell up and move to Rome. At a family dinner, when Mado plans to break the news to her divorced daughter Anne (Lea Drucker) and son Frederic (Jerome Varanfrain), she freezes up and cannot get the words out. Her children remain convinced that their late father was the love of her life. Nina inadvertently learns of Mado’s hesitation through a chance encounter with the latter’s real-estate broker (Herve Sogne) and loses her

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

‘Dexter’

temper on the street, spitting out that she’s tired of excuses and that the only person still uptight about a pair of old lesbians is Mado.

When Mado suffers a stroke that puts her in a catatonic condition for most of the rest of the film – Chevallier’s portrayal of that is nothing short of marvellous – Nina feels that her anger might have triggered the incident.

It’s great acting from both women. The story’s deep human tenderness should be having helpful effect on public attitudes about lesbian women. So it’s sad that, according to IMDb, the film’s cumulative worldwide gross to date is a mere $255,782. It deserves to be more widely seen.

At Dendy, Palace Electric

“The Godmother” (M)

DESPITE some minor shortcomings, this is a fun movie. Poorly-paid Arabic-linguist Patience (Isabelle Huppert) works for boss Philippe (Hippolyte Girardot) interpreting wire-tap conversations for the Paris police. She has a daughter at university. Her mother (Liliane Rovère) is in an expensive aged-care home that Patience really can’t afford but the staff, particularly Kadidja (Farida Ouchani), look after her well.

When Patience hears a phone conversation about a delivery of Moroccan hash involving Kadidja’s son, she feels that she has to tell her so that she can warn him. This leads Patience to become Arab-speaking Madame Ben Barka. She’s a lot smarter than clueless street-dealers Chocapic (Mourad Boudaoud) and Scotch (Rachid Guellaz), the crims who want their hash back or the cops who are starting to realise that Madame Weed is playing a new game in town. Patience isn’t greedy. She’s merely confronting a collection of vicissitudes that exceed her income. What’s a girl to do? The screenplay also has a dig at how French cops treat other ethnic and immigrant groups.

At Dendy and Palace Electric

resurrected to launch new streamer

YET another streaming service is throwing its hat in the ring to butt heads with Netflix, Stan, Binge, Amazon, Disney Plus and so on it goes, but is it worth the money?

In a blinding flash of originality, the new platform is called “Paramount Plus” and it’s set to hit Australian shores from August 11 for $8.99 a month.

site that lets users watch on demand everything that airs on the 10 Network for $9.99 a month.

That’s stuff such as “Survivor”, “NCIS”, “MasterChef”. If you watch any of these shows online, from August you’ll have to do it through Paramount Plus.

That’s because Network 10 and Paramount are assets of mass media conglomerate ViacomCBS.

For Netflix that’s “Stranger Things”, for Disney Plus its “The Mandalorian”, for Binge its “Game of Thrones”. Amazon Prime Video doesn’t quite have one yet, but it has promised a “Lord of the Rings” spinoff is on its way.

It’s not the cheapest service available in Australia, (that title still belongs to Amazon Prime Video for $6.99 a month), but it makes it a close second.

The market is already overflowing with services and stuff to watch, so what does Paramount Plus bring to the table?

Well it’s biggest drawcard is likely to be the continuation of “Dexter”, which is being sparked back to life nearly a decade after the show’s original conclusion.

A noughties hit, “Dexter” gave television one of its most iconic and controversial anti-heroes – a psychopath who takes his homicidal tendencies out on criminals, rather than the innocent.

“Dexter” wrapped up its eightseason run in 2013 with an ending many fans thought was dodgy to say the least, but the highs of the series have allowed it to cling on to a legacy nonetheless, one that’s being keenly capitalised on by Paramount Plus with the show’s renewal.

It’ll be a blow for Stan, which currently boasts the eight-season collection of “Dexter” but will lose the series once Paramount Plus hits the market.

For any Stan subscribers out there who have “Dexter” on their watch list, now’s a good time to watch it before it goes.

The release of Paramount Plus will also see a reshuffle of content that’s closer to home.

10 All Access is a streaming

Company this, ownership that, yadda yadda. The short of it is that the current 10 All Access subscribers are the real winners.

If they choose to subscribe to Paramount Plus they’ll get all the content from 10 All Access, plus all the new content from Paramount, all for a dollar less a month.

And although details on what more of that content may look like are still vague, it’s reported the service will feature around 20,000 films and TV episodes.

Despite this extensive offering, what Paramount Plus is going to need to really pull in new subscribers is a “wow-factor” series.

“Dexter” indeed has some pull, but not quite on the levels of the shows above. At this stage it’s not yet clear if Paramount Plus has one of these blockbusters they’ll really be able to hook subscribers with. For mega fans of “Dexter” the new platform might be a must have. For current 10 All Access subscribers it’s a guaranteed winner.

For everyone else it may be a matter of keeping an eye on it for a little while longer before getting excited.

At this point the idea of a sole streaming subscription to watch everything in one place is as truly dead as one of Dexter’s victims.

ARTS IN THE CITY ARTS IN THE CITY

Dylan gives his ancestors a voice

By Helen Musa

DYLAN Van Den Berg and his auntie, Gaye Doolan, make a formidable double act.

He’s the up-and-coming actor and playwright who just snared the coveted Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, as well as the Griffin Award and the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award in 2020.

She’s the former chair of the ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, and the Environment Reconciliation Action Plan Committee at the ANU Medical School, and now works with the National Cultural Educators and Cultural Mentors Network.

Both identify as Palawa Tasmanian Aboriginal Australians from the north-east of Tasmania, and both are linked through a close ancestral relationship, although Doolan prefers to call herself “more like his great-aunt”.

During his years studying Indonesian and drama at the ANU – the only university where he could do that – she’d come to watch him acting in plays like Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” and, as time went on, presenting plays in readings and workshops before he went on to study at the State University of New York.

DINING

Now, he’s the actor-writer, while she’s a cultural adviser on a journey of discovery about their common forebears through Van Den Berg’s prize-winning play, “Milk”.

The play has been admired by assessors of the Enright Prize for its exceptional originality, and is soon to be seen at The Street Theatre in the world-premiere production by Virginia Savage.

It’s a resounding triumph for The Street’s “First Seen” program, where it has been in development since 2018.

Not only have the three characters been expanded, but also the imagery in Imogen Keen’s set and costumes, the island soundscape by Peter Bailey and the lighting by Gerry Corcoran, which helps take the audience on a voyage through time and space, have been brought to life in the rehearsal room.

Briefly, a young Palawa man (played by Van Den Berg himself and, like him, light-skinned) takes a dark journey into self and country on a metaphysical island, travelling backwards and forwards between the early colonial years and the violence experienced by an ancestor (Roxanne McDonald), much like his great-grandmother.

As well, he meets her party-loving granddaughter (Katie Beckett) dressing up for a date in the 1960s.

“Milk” ends with a beginning, as his character is seen picking up a stone and leaving the island.

Since its earliest dramaturgical workshop, which I attended, the play has been considerably refined, especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement which has burgeoned in the last couple of years.

“Dylan sticks to his historical facts,” Doolan says.

“He hasn’t just made up things that would fit nicely in a story. He makes a contribution to truth-telling.”

“Auntie Gaye had done some research and found something about my great-grandmother,” Van Den Berg says.

“Yes, it seems that Augustus Robinson knew what she was up to,”

/ Tokyo Canteen, Kingston

The Canteen crew creating wonders

By Wendy JOHNSON

JAPANESE cuisine is hot in Canberra. We just can’t get enough of it.

Tokyo Canteen, which popped up at Eyre Street Market in Kingston several months ago, is pure evidence of our passion for the flavours of Japan. It’s pumping.

On a sunny afternoon we perched ourselves on one of the communal picnic tables in the centre of the market square to get our fix of Tokyo Canteen’s yum food.

The menu is a blend of Japanese favourites, plus some dishes created with innovative interpretation.

Dean Han, who was with the Chairman Group for years, including groovy Lilo Tang in Barton and Lanterne Rooms when at the Campbell shops, has got a good thing going with Tokyo Canteen. The food is amazing. It’s not expensive. The fitout is cool and contemporary. The location is in the middle of the action.

The compact all-day lunch menu (8.30am to 3pm) features dishes like Japanese curry ($19), barbecue eel ($26), udon carbonara ($21) and kuro vegetable salad ($18).

The panko chicken sando ($18) caught my eye, and it truly hit the spot. The thick slice of crumbed warm chicken – crispy on the outside and

The house pickles were tangy, baby cos lettuce crunchy and Japanese barbecue mayonnaise creamy. The lotus chips with nori salt were addictive (and I mean addictive).

Even my friend kept digging in.

All-day breakfast is also available, and my friend ordered the brekky okonomiyaki ($20). This Japanesestyle fritter is savoury and loaded with ingredients. Mushrooms provide an earthy flavour combined with cabbage and to perk up the flavours, Tokyo Canteen adds Japanese barbecue sauce. The fried egg is topped with heaps of bonito flakes. Other intriguing breakfast items include an umami mushroom toast, with exotic mushrooms sautéed in house miso ($19), a no-doubt amazing agedashi tofu ($19) and Ginza honey toast, for those who

matcha mascarpone, freeze-dried berries, matcha sticks and black sesame ice cream ($21).

How the crew creates such wonders in a tiny kitchen is mindboggling.

Kids are well taken care of at Tokyo Canteen. They can joyfully dive into crispy chicken on rice or tofu katsu on rice (both dishes $12).

Beverages at Tokyo Canteen include great coffees, Japanese soft drinks and a long list of premium Japanese teas, including a grapefruit green tea which sounds fabulous ($8).

Tokyo Canteen is refreshingly different and its aim is to “bring a little memory of Japanese home-style meals into every day”. Gotcha.

Tokyo Canteen has ramen night Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 5pm (walk-ins only).

Jessica quietly takes the conductor’s baton

By Helen Musa

SINCE the last Canberra Symphony Orchestra performances in early April, artistic adviser Jessica Cottis has been renamed chief conductor and artistic director. The change came with no announcement, just a bit of editing in the program. But it’s high time. The Canberra-schooled conductor is one of our true stars. She now resumes a flourishing career in the UK, from where she’ll be planning the 2022 CSO season.

SYDNEY Dance Company’s full-length work “Impermanence”, is Rafael Bonachela’s newest creation. With a clear reference back to COVID-19 creating added poignancy, the company returns to the stage to find “energy, urgency, radiance and hope”. It’s danced to Bryce Dessner’s music composition of the same name, commissioned and performed by the Australian String Quartet. Canberra Theatre, June 4-5. Book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

Doolan cuts in. That’s a reference to the British preacher who helped negotiate between settlers and aboriginals in the so-called “Black Wars” of the 1820s.

He’s aware of the argument that it’s not good to portray deceased people in a play, but says it’s “okay”, because this is not a short story but a play, “a way of presenting stories that brings people together”.

“We don’t go into the theatre wanting all the answers, but rather posing the questions and that, to me, reflects life – I wanted to give her [the ancestor] a voice,” he says.

“Milk”, at The Street Theatre, June 3 (preview) to June 12, bookings at thestreet.org.au or 6247 1223.

CRAFT ACT has announced a limited edition of the late Robert Foster’s “F!NK” jug to mark its own 50th anniversary. “I like to think that when there is something really significant to celebrate, it’s a F!NK jug moment… like a wedding, anniversary or special birthday with a zero involved,” says CEO Rachael Coghlan.

SOPRANO Michaella Edelstein, who wowed audiences recently as Cherubino in “The Marriage of Figaro” and seasoned pianist, Robert Schmidli, combine their musical talents with busy work schedules in the same department at the Canberra Hospital. They’ll be performing “Romanticism around the Globe” at Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, 12.401.20pm, Wednesday, June 2. Book at trybooking.com or 6232 7248.

IN ArtsACT’S latest newsletter, we read that the late Klaus Moje, founder of the ANU’s School of Art & Design glass workshop, has been recognised in the 2020 ACT Honour Walk. They might also have mentioned other inclusions such as writer Lyall L Gillespie, who brought Canberra’s early history to life, and Ross Gengos, who ran the classical and jazz record shop Abels Music in Manuka, while serving on many arts boards.

JUMBO CROSSWORD EXTRA

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

By Joanne Madeline Moore

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Communicating well is the key to a satisfying week. But Mercury is in retrograde mode (until June 22) so don’t get carried away and exaggerate your ability to contribute. It’s much better to under-commit and over-deliver! A family member or a close friend is also looking to you for emotional support and encouragement. Not tactless comments, angry words or pointless power games. So simmer down, slip on your compassionate hat and adjust your approach accordingly.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

If you expect planned projects to proceed at a cracking pace then you’ll be sadly disappointed. Mercury is in retrograde mode (until June 22) so everything will take longer than expected. Plus Neptune is poised to muddle proceedings and provide plenty of distracting detours along the way. Despite the current celestial obstacles, you still need to draw up a wish list of your goals for the future. Remember – you can’t hit a Bull’s-eye if you haven’t got one!

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Mercury is retrograde so avoid making important decisions (especially involving work) as your thoughts and feelings will fluctuate during the week. The more you express the artistic and humanitarian sides of your personality, the less confused you’ll feel. So it’s a great time to create and contemplate, plus help someone in need. Tricky Neptune aspects could also aggravate sensitivities or trigger allergic reactions, so steer clear of food, drink and drugs that don’t agree with you.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

With Venus vamping into your sign (until June 27) it’s time for charismatic Crabs to sparkle and shine! Confidence is high (especially on Monday, Thursday and Friday) as you initiate a personal project or activate a creative joint venture. The planets also encourage you to dream big dreams, set ambitious goals and then work towards making your wishes come true. Be inspired by Hollywood legend (and birthday great) Marilyn Monroe: “We are all stars and deserve the right to twinkle.”

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Quit complaining Lions! This week’s fabulous Sun/Saturn trine provides a golden opportunity to get real about who you are and where you’re going. So don’t waste it. Despite pandemic problems and Mercury retrograde disruptions, it’s time to draw up a plan, get creative, and start making your dreams come true. Be inspired by entertainer, activist and birthday great Josephine Baker (who was born on June 3, 1906): “To realise our dreams we must decide to wake up.”

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

You’re keen to make some serious changes that could lead to more job satisfaction in the future. But Mercury is reversing through your work zone (until June 22) so avoid putting all your eggs in the career basket. Love, romance, fun, friendship and companionship are just as important. Your motto is from birthday great Marilyn Monroe: “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.” On the weekend, be on alert for fake news and unrealistic expectations.

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

This week’s stars encourage your obsession with perfection. But Mercury is retro so things won’t run smoothly (especially involving education and travel). If you adapt to changing circumstances, and accept mistakes and misunderstandings with good grace, then you’ll manage fine. Heed the wise words of entertainer Beyonce (who has Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto and her Ascendant in Libra): “If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.”

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

This week the planets shine a bright spotlight on your relationship with a child, teenager, lover or friend. Remember that Mercury is retrograde. If you don’t pay close attention to what other people are saying, then you’ll get your communication wires crossed. So listen up Scorpio! And you also need to be careful on the weekend. The Mars/Pluto opposition feeds on resentment and repressed anger. So try to express your pent-up feelings in appropriate and creative ways.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Neptune and retro Mercury confuse communication, so be careful you’re not viewing people through ridiculously rose-coloured glasses. Intuitive insights are highlighted, but don’t get so carried away that you head into the realm of pure fantasy. When it comes to a major goal, are you and your partner on the same page? If you’re single, can you differentiate a dream date from a disappointing dud? Clever Archers will avoid making important decisions until you’re seeing things more clearly.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

The Sun/Saturn trine will help you power through paperwork, take care of business or plan a creative project. You’ll feel focused and super fastidious. Just make sure that doesn’t translate into being an obsessive control-freak! Avoid being a gullible Goat on the weekend, when someone could try to pull the wool over your eyes (especially on social media). Stay alert. Aim to channel positive energy into friendships, neighbourhood connections or local community projects.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Nebulous Neptune and retrograde Mercury conspire to scramble your financial antennae. So it’s not a good week to borrow funds, make investments, go on a shopping spree or lend money to others (especially friends) because you’re liable to make fiscal decisions based on fluctuating emotions and confusing information. On Thursday and Friday, the Sun trines Saturn (in your sign) which favours pouring hard work and discipline into a creative project. Then you will really shine!

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

This week’s Neptunian aspects put you in the box seat for indulging in some major Piscean procrastination. But is that really such a good idea? Do your best to be creative (rather than confused) and determined (rather than dazed). You can expect some setbacks and disappointments but so what? Don’t use it as an excuse to pack your bags, give up and go home. Be inspired by birthday great Clint Eastwood: “If something doesn’t come up the way you want, forge ahead.”

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

General knowledge crossword No. 783

TIME TO PLAN FOR RISES IN SUPER CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

Simon and Jess came to see me, keen to know if there was anything in the recent federal Budget that could affect their business. Jess said they were particularly interested in superannuation as it was a big cost for their small business.

“Yes, there are a few changes to superannuation and tax, but not only from the Budget," I told them.

"The first one is that the superannuation guarantee goes up to 10 per cent from July 1. It has been 9.5 per cent for the last seven years. So this needs to be factored into all your budgets and cash flows so you make sure you can afford to pay it for your employees.

1 Name an Australian entertainer, composer and musician, Rolf ... (6)

8 Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of which number? (8)

9 To twist the body about, is to do what? (6)

10 Name a pair of gymnasium bars. (8)

11 What is a short, light doze? (6) 12 The Orient is known as the what? (4) 13 Who might show us to our seats in a theatre? (5) 16 To have walked over a long distance for pleasure, is to have done what? (5)

19 Which term describes that which is secondhand? (4)

21 How many players are there in a soccer team? (6)

22 What is something that deceives, by producing a false impression? (8)

23 To be thinly scattered or distributed, is to be what? (6)

24 What designates something that is gracefully refined? (8)

25 To which animal family does a mouse belong? (6)

Down

2 What are antennas also known as? (7)

3 What is a body of retainers in attendance upon an important personage? (7)

4 Which extensive plain has no trees? (6)

5 Name an alternative term for width. (7)

6 Which poisonous drink did Socrates take to die? (7)

7 St George is the patron saint of which kingdom? (7)

13 Name an alternative term for referees. (7)

14 The foliage and berries of which shrubs are used during the Christmas season? (7)

15 Name a principal Slavic language. (7)

17 Reykjavik is the capital of which Arctic republic? (7)

18 Name a US essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo ... (7)

20 To be thicker, is to be what? (6)

"This increase has already been legislated. So it is happening on July 1. Further increases of half a per cent are scheduled every July to 2025, when it increases to 12 per cent. There are no further legislated increases.”

I told them that a really important change, which still had to pass through parliament, was that the $450 a month minimum income threshold for employees to be eligible to receive superannuation guarantee payments was proposed to be removed.

"The date this will happen is the beginning of the financial year after the legislation receives Royal assent," I said.

"So be prepared to have to pay superannuation for all of your casuals and part time employees who earn less than $450 a month from either July 1 this year or July 1, 2022. Again, this will impact your business as you have a few employees who meet the criterion.

“While this may not impact directly on your business, there is also a proposal to increase the maximum withdrawal from the first-home savers super scheme from $30,000 to $50,000. This could be useful for your employees who are saving for a home.”

Simon said there was a lot of information to absorb, but was that the lot?

"Sorry, Simon, not quite. You need to know that the low and middle income tax office offset has been extended for an additional 12 months until June 30, 2022," I said.

"This means that all your employees who earn between $48,000 and $90,000 will receive an extra $1080 tax refund in their 2022 tax return as they will when they lodge their 2021 tax return. When they lodge the 2021 tax return they could also get additional refunds because changes were made last year to the tax brackets.

“There are also two other incentives that have been extended for a year. Businesses with a turnover of less than $5 billion can deduct the full cost of all assets purchased including improvements to existing assets until June 30, 2023.

"This concession was supposed to end in June, 2022. Coupled with this is that the temporary loss carryback provisions have been extended for another year.

"This is not useful for a lot of businesses as it only applies to companies but for you it could be useful to use the temporary full asset expensing. Then using the temporary loss carryback means that you can buy an expensive item, make a loss for the year and then get a refund of some of the income tax you have paid in the previous two years.”

Jess said: "That's more than enough for today, Gail! I'm looking forward to following this up at our next meeting.”

If you need guidance on the Budget, tax or superannuation contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd on 6295 2844.

This column contains general advice, please do not rely on it. If you require specific advice on this topic