CityNews 200910

A parable of trains, trams and lying politicians

JON STANHOPE

A city cries out for proper master planning

PAUL COSTIGAN

Murder and mystery of the missing women

NICHOLE OVERALL

BREEN & GONE

Canberra’s champion runner sprints happily into retirement

NEWS High-rise fears looming over Adelaide Avenue

By Belinda STRAHORN

A SECTION of the North Curtin Horse Paddocks, unaffected by the controversial West Basin land swap, may fall victim to highrise development under a Barr government.

That’s the fear of the Canberra Liberals, who believe the nine-hectare strip along Yarra Glen and Adelaide Avenue, left over from the land swap with the National Capital Authority (NCA), remains in the ACT government’s hand.

While its future is officially undecided, Liberal member for Murrumbidgee Giulia Jones fears it’s headed in the direction of a “Northbourne Avenue style” multi-storey development.

“The 30 per cent of land obviously is adjacent to that part of Adelaide Avenue and Yarra Glen and we assume that it will be for multi-storey along that route,” said Jones.

The Canberra Liberals have already announced they would abandon the ACT government’s proposed redevelopment of West Basin, and obstruct a Commonwealth deal to build a new embassy precinct on nearby horse paddocks in Curtin, retaining the pad-

docks for recreational use.

“CityNews” has viewed a section of the National Capital Plan Draft Amendment 95 which states that 30 per cent of the Curtin horse paddocks adjacent to Adelaide Avenue “be iden tified for residential development”.

The parcel of land’s inner-south location and proximity to the route of the planned city-to-Woden light rail line makes it a top development prospect.

Jones says the Barr government must come clean on its plans for the area.

“They like to talk about the shiny tram, but they don’t like to talk about the high-rise that tends to accompany it, everywhere else that light rail has been built there’s high rise; it’s a sig nificant change to lifestyle and travel and the look and feel of the place, and the government needs to be honest about it,” she says.

“There’s a lot of discussions and a vision clearly for that part of the world from government personnel, but they are not being upfront with people about it. What I’m saying is be honest, just tell people, people have a right to know what the plans are.”

The purpose of Draft Amendment 95 – North Curtin Diplomatic Estate and Urban Areas is to change the land-use policy of Block 4 Section 106 and part of Block 5 Section 121 Curtin to facilitate the development of a new diplomatic on the site would be subject to strict oversight from the authority. Buildings and major structures must be set back 15 metres from block boundaries adjacent to Yarra Glen, and no access is permitted from Yarra Glen.

Public consultation on Draft Amendment 95 closed on July 7. A spokesperson for the NCA said 127 submissions received from individuals, industry, community and the ACT

Tait,

RICHARD BAKER, PARTNER

government in response to DA 95 are currently being reviewed and a full consultation report is being compiled.

A spokesperson for the ACT government said the proposed amendment for the nine-hectare portion of land would be subject to a future city-to-

The ACT government wouldn’t be drawn in on whether the plans for the nine-hectare portion of land would

“The problem we have with the ACT government is that they are never open about these things until after they’ve announced it’s happening,”

“It’s like so many things under Andrew Barr and Shane Rattenbury, they say: ‘We know better than you what’s good for you, rather than justifying what the vision for Canberra should be, we are going to tell you at the last minute when it can’t be undone’.

“People have a right to know what the plans are and that’s why we would not go ahead with that especially given it has not been discussed with the

Jones says the Canberra Liberals position on the entirety of the North Curtin horse paddocks, including the block of land in question, remains clear.

“We will not be building residential on that block or any of the horse paddocks, they’ll be handed back to the people of the ACT,” said Jones.

No really, Libs shame Labor in policy for the poor

POVERTY raised its uncomfortable head in the ACT election campaign and from a counter-intuitive quarter.

According to the ACT Council of Social Service, before COVID-19 there were more than 37,000 people living in low-income households, including nearly 8000 children. Almost 26,000 Canberrans were living below the poverty line. That’s a lot of people and too many children.

Columnist and former chief minister Jon Stanhope writes passionately and regularly about how he believes the Labor government he once led has forsaken its traditional base – the poor and the disadvantaged – for succour among the city’s “selfish middle-class”. It’s not a message the government of now 19 years likes being reminded of as it drives up and sends low-income families into dour tower

or chasing an affordable home over the border.

The ACT Master Builders weren’t mincing words this past week when they pasted Labor on land prices, saying: “It is not accurate to describe Canberra’s affordability problem as a housing-affordability problem. The ACT has a land-affordability problem.”

But back to poverty. Astonishingly, it was Liberal leader Alistair Coe who took a stand for the poor and disadvantaged, and proposed on election his government would establish a taskforce to deal with the causes and symptoms of poverty in Canberra.

“Unlike other cities, poverty is not as obvious or visible in Canberra.

However, in every suburb and in almost every street there are people living below the poverty line,” said Coe. “By almost every measure, Canberra is the most expensive city in the country.”

He then cheekily asked Jon Stanhope to chair a poverty taskforce and that was the sound of jaws dropping across the city when the former Labor chief minister accepted.

All just a political stunt, Chief Minister Andrew Barr predictably sniffed, but Coe said it would bring a huge integrity to a potential taskforce.

And that brought out rare praise for the Liberals from ACTCOSS, whose CEO Emma Campbell said: “While we await to hear more details of the commission, we welcome this announcement which responds to calls in ACTCOSS’ election platform.”

ANU demographer and social researcher Dr Liz Allen told our political reporter Belinda Strahorn: “I think it’s a fantastic sign to see that a political party would want to invest into an inquiry in to what is hidden in Canberra, and that’s this issue of poverty.

“My concern is that there is a level of complacency within the Labor/Greens coalition and with that complacency we don’t see these kinds of innovations or determination to address these issues around homelessness and poverty.

“We do a disservice to ourselves because we have hidden poverty in Canberra that makes it hard for young people and their families to survive.”

When baited on radio as to whether Stanhope’s consorting with the enemy would put his life membership of the Labor Party at risk, Barr responded: “That’s not something I give a rat’s arse about, frankly.”

And, at last, there was a spark of controversy in this tepid campaign.

Ian Meikle is the “CityNews” editor. He can be heard on the “CityNews Sunday Roast”, 10am-noon on 2CC.

Another hammer and sickle fanboy in the Labor ranks...

COMMENTATOR Gerard Henderson has picked up on UnionsACT president and Labor candidate for the seat of Kurrajong Maddy Northam’s recent photograph of her in front of a hammerand-sickle poster on the wall of her campaign office, which was pictured in “Seven Days” on August 20.

In his “Weekend Australian” column he says: “The symbol was adopted by the Bolsheviks at the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin and his followers. It was supposed to represent the common interests of the industrial working class and the peasants. In fact, both groups – especially the latter – suffered under the Communist regime that was called the Soviet Union, headed by Lenin and his heirs.

“Trade union officials and aspiring Labor Party politicians should know better. They should be aware that the hammer and sickle was the symbol of choice for some of the most vicious and murder ous regimes the world has known.”

Which might make Labor Murrumbidgee candidate Tim Dobson wonder about the company he’s keeping. Here he is pictured with T-shirted volunteer Tim SP. All rather chummy, just a couple of Labor comrades on the campaign trail. But a quick check of the non-candidate Tim’s open Facebook page reveals, alongside a pair of smiling dolphins, the Communist symbol.

Tim SP’s hammer-and-sickled Facebook page.

Now in our democracy, Tim SP is perfectly at liberty to showcase whatever he wants, but one is left wondering how this reflects (again) on the Labor image.

Listeners respond to new digital radio

KATE MEIKLE looks at radio’s emerging digital world of DAB+ – a smorgasbord of new and familiar stations that Canberrans are starting to enjoy.

RADIO listeners have been quick to tune into the new DAB+ radio stations since DAB+ digital radio was permanently broadcast from July last year.

According to a Canberra radio rating survey by GfK, 54,000 Canberrans listen to DAB+ radio every week. The DAB+ stations, which include new stations plus more familiar AM and FM commercial stations, SBS and the ABC, reach a weekly audience equivalent to 14 per cent of the city’s total population aged 10 years and over.

Michael Jones, general manager of Capital Radio, says that because radio can be consumed on so many platforms that it has adapted well to the digital age: “More people are trying DAB+ radio stations and never go back,” he says.

The survey data also shows that audiences are spending four hours and 47 minutes listening to the DAB+ stations in an average week.

Standing for “digital audio broadcasting”, DAB+ offers more choices to the listener with more radio stations and better sound quality.

It also promises better reception quality in areas such as Conder,

Chisholm, Kambah and Jerrabomb erra, as well as along the Federal and Barton Highways, and Mur rumbateman.

Michael Jones says that the move to DAB+ radio had been planned for many years before its launch, simi larly to the move from analogue to digital television.

“Radio is going through the same process as TV. But the old platform of AM and FM will continue. Radio is more ubiquitous, there’s radios in cars, they are portable, they are all over the place. There is not a plan to phase out AM and FM, but DAB+ is an additional platform with many benefits,” he says.

Michael says that DAB+ gives the listener a significant upgrade in sound quality, easy tuning and on-screen information such as song titles, news and weather.

“You can also rewind DAB+ radio,” he says.

“There’s a lot more to choose from with additional channels that can also be streamed from smart speakers.”

The two top-rating DAB-only stations in Canberra are Coles Radio and My Canberra.

something different, especially My Canberra which Michael describes as “current hit music with a sprinkling of older hits” hosted by wellknown broadcaster Rob Duckworth in the mornings.

“We have put in a lot of effort with positioning this station and including announcers, news and traffic updates. Canberra hasn’t had anything like this before,” he says.

Snow Digital, The Edge, Club Lime Radio, KIX Country music station and the chill out music station, Hit Buddha.

DAB+ radios are now being fitted into 75 per cent of new cars. Listeners can purchase a DAB+ radio enabled device, stream the DAB+ radio stations to a smart speaker, via online or onto their mobile phones via RadioApp.

Seniors show cancelled

THE Rotary Club of Canberra has cancelled this year’s Rotary Seniors Concert for the first time since it started in Albert Hall in 1985.

The club says COVID-19 issues with the age of the audience, the use of massed singers and the need for social distancing has led to this decision.

With the support of COTA, the audience of up to 350 seniors has been entertained by choristers from Sing Australia choirs, accompanied by a variety of local musicians and soloists.

The club hopes to hold the concert next year.

Bold charity stall

Relay for Life Team, the Bold Bandannas, will be selling hand-knitted beanies, homemade preserves and a range of hand-sewn items, including children’s dressup clothes at the Belconnen Markets’ charity stall, 8am-5pm, over the weekend of September 19-20.

Language programs

THE Canberra Academy of Languages, a not-for-profit specialist provider of senior secondary languages, is holding an information evening about its 2021 programs via teleconference from 6pm on Thursday, September 24. More at cal.act.edu.au and the video link is available from info@cal.act.edu.au

Rotary mango deal

WODEN Daybreak Rotary is taking orders for what it promises to be delicious, high-quality mangoes from North Queensland. All profits from this fundraiser will go to Rotary’s partner, ShelterBox, which provides international disaster relief. Email wodendaybreak@ outlook.com for more information.

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Prediction: the south will stay true to the Liberals

There are 25 seats up for grabs in the October 17 ACT election and there is one seat in each of the five electorates of five members that will effectively decide the election – the fifth seat. In a series of articles political reporter BELINDA STRAHORN will analyse the fate of each of the “fifth seats”.

THE five-member, five electorates of Brindabella (Tuggeranong), Murrum bidgee (Woden-Weston), Kurrajong (the inner south and inner north), Yerrabi (Gungahlin) and Ginninderra (Belconnen), will almost certainly return a minimum of two Labor and two Liberal politicians each, with the final seat in each of the five elector ates up for grabs.

These are the seats that will decide the election and where the minor parties and independents are resting their hopes. The reality is their chances are slender; and other than probably the Greens, it’s unlikely they will get a quota in their own right, but it’s not impossible.

You don’t need to be a political ex pert to predict that almost certainly the Liberals will hold at least 10 seats in the chamber, Labor would equally be confident of holding 10 seats and the Greens will hold one.

The Liberals are seemingly well placed to win three seats again in the southern suburbs district of Brindabella (three Liberal, two Labor), where the Liberals enjoy a large concentration of support. So, this gives the Liberals the prospect of a minimum of 11 seats. It’s likely that Greens leader Shane Rattenbury will hold on to the fifth seat in Kurrajong (two Labor, two Liberal, one Greens). In the final shakedown, it may be Rattenbury’s support that keeps Labor in power. After all, he’s done this for two terms and served as a cabinet minister in the latest Barr government.

What do the experts say?

Former Chief Minister and “CityNews” columnist Jon Stanhope, the only ACT Chief Minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly, believes you can “almost” certainly call 22 of the 25 seats right now. “Twenty of the 25 seats can be assumed based on history, it’s not always been thus, but there’s been a change in the last 10 to 15 years where Labor and the Liberals have tended to win two seats in each [electorate],” he said.

Labor’s wild card

“I can’t see why there would be a change in Brindabella and I don’t believe there will be a change in Kurrajong, so in my assessment the three seats that will be of most interest – and I think this is the case with all three parties – are Murrumbidgee, Ginninderra and Gungahlin [Yerrabi].”

If Stanhope’s spot on, the election battleground will effectively be fought in three key electorates; the crucial southern electorate of Murrumbidgee; Canberra’s northern most electorate of Yerrabi and the Belconnen-based electorate of Ginninderra; each will play a critical role in deciding which party wins office.

Werner-Gibbings, a former staffer for the member for Fenner Andrew Leigh, has run before, you might remember his dapper mugshot on posters stuck around the territory at the 2016 ACT election. In his favour, Labor’s “glamour” candidate dominated the preselection vote among Labor members and achieved 0.4 of a quota, some 700-800 votes behind Burch and Gentleman.

Former independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and “City News” columnist Michael Moore believes Werner-Gibbings is “in with a chance” if he campaigns well.

“The best example of this is that nobody had heard of Alistair Coe and he got into an electorate where nobody was an outstanding candidate,” said Moore.

“It really comes down to the campaigning because Labor will get a fairly evenly distributed vote, so Werner-Gibbings has just got to

you think Labor’s on the nose, you don’t vote for a minister you look for someone else to vote for and the advantage of Hare Clarke is that you can punish the incumbent and still have the party you prefer, so there’s an advantage to him [WernerGibbings] there.”

In a less likely scenario should Werner-Gibbings significantly increase Labor’s share of the vote in Brindabella, then Moore argues the fifth seat could change hands, but concedes it’s unlikely.

“There is a chance that Labor could lift a seat there, it’s the fifth seat and it’s vulnerable and you cannot underestimate the campaigning capacity of Labor so that seat is still up for grabs and will depend how well they campaign. But I do think that the Liberals will maintain three seats in Brindabella.”

Drawing on his personal experience of contesting his first ACT election, Stanhope also makes the observation that non-sitting

out and has a commitment to Labor principles, then they would present a real danger to Joy Burch and Mick Gentleman.”

Unless the mood of the electorate changes dramatically in the coming months, there’s not much chance the Labor Party vote will improve in Brindabella and it’s reasonable to assume that the Liberals will hang on to the fifth and final seat in Brindabella.

“In the last few elections the Liberals have been

to the point that the Labor Party vote

but at this stage it is reasonable to assume that the Liberal Party would be quite confident that they would hold three.”

As with any election there are surprise results and upsets in the making, and this election will be no different.

Hold the sausage, the virus has us voting earlier

The ACT Election Commission estimates that as many as four in five people will cast their vote before polling day on October 17, which raises some interesting campaign BELINDA STRAHORN reports.

CALL me old fashioned, but I get a kick from casting my vote on polling day.

My first vote was in 2001, when John Howard stormed into victory again. It was Howard’s third consecutive win and after losing considerable ground in the 1998 election, the government increased its majority in 2001.

I’ll always cherish the feeling of being old enough to enter a booth and cast my vote. My mum was working at a local country polling booth at the time, a small booth that had taken up residence for the day in a humble CWA hall, a much-loved place that’s housed dances, supper clubs and concerts over the years.

Once I’d cast my vote I felt like I had completed an important rite of passage, I was ready to engage in the country’s future as an adult. It remains a fond memory and was a great feeling at the time. And that excitement has never gone away.

Like a lot of traditions, voting is changing over time and covid has

hastened the move away from voting on the day.

Pre-polling has come of age. It opens for the ACT election on September 28 and research has found that early voters tend to repeat this behaviour at subsequent elections. So chances are if you voted early at last year’s federal election, you’ll probably get your democractic responsibility out of the way as soon as possible this ACT election.

Prof

is going to happen in 10 years is internet voting.”

The ACT Election Commission estimates that as many as four in five people will cast their vote before polling day on October 17, meaning voters could have a clear indication of who will be victorious within the hour of booths closing.

Political marketing lecturer at the ANU Dr Andrew Hughes says voting on election day is dying a slow death.

Dr Hughes, who votes early, argues

stand in a line and I think that it will be the worst this election in terms of numbers we are going to see at pre polling, because people will be very conscious of getting the virus,” Dr Hughes said.

But the rising number of voters dodging polling booths on election day, means voters miss out on a “democracy sausage”, which can have effects on community groups, who enjoy a financial windfall on the day.

ties often put off making big policy announcements until much closer to the election.

“People already know the track record of an incumbent party that forms government, but with an opposition party they have to formulate policies and try to get them publicised and argue the case for them and they would usually do that over the course of a three to four-week election campaign,” Prof McAllister said.

Dr

on election day is dying a slow death.

that early voting is a cultural shift, a matter of convenience, where voters can “switch off” once they have exercised their democratic duty.

“People want it out of the way, then they don’t have to listen to the advertising, to read the articles, they can detach from the election and I think we have seen an increase in early voting for that reason, people are disengaging from the process,” Dr Hughes said.

Pre-poll voting reached more than 50 per cent in July’s Eden-Monaro byelection, a trend Dr Hughes foresees this territory election.

“We are all so busy these days and with coronavirus we don’t want to

Ian McAllister, distinguished professor of political science at the ANU, says that early voting is fundamentally changing the nature of election campaigns.

“An election campaign is supposed to be an opportunity for a party to put forward a platform and a set of policies and then voters scrutinise them, they question the parties and the candidates about what they are going to do and then they make a choice,” Prof McAllister said.

“All of that is going by the board so the nature of accountability through an election campaign through people voting on a single day is fundamentally changing.”

A potential drawback is that voters, especially those who are not rustedon supporters, may cast their ballot before all parties have released their policies.

This is problematic, as major par-

“But if a significant amount of people are voting well before election day they can’t do that, they have to do it much earlier and it becomes more difficult to get their message across.”

Alas, it would be annoying for a voter to hear of a policy they support or oppose after already voting.

Prof McAllister predicts a time, in the not-so-distant future, where voters will revert back to the model of voting on election day, but in a different format.

“What is going to happen in 10 years is internet voting, where everyone will vote on the same day. The problem is the technology is not there in terms of security and convincing voters that it’s secure.”

Who knows what the political landscape will look like then. But for now, I’ll keep leaping out of bed on election day, toddling off to do one of my favourite things – voting at my nearest polling station.

COVER STORY / Melissa Breen

Winning Melissa sprints happily into retirement

By Danielle NOHRA

AUSTRALIA’S fastest 100-metre sprinter, Melissa Breen, has been all about the slow life since retiring last month.

It’s walking and Pilates for the 29-year-old, who’s been rushing around for the past 15 years, and had planned to rush around for a little longer but then covid hit and everything changed.

Her plan was to retire as a three-time Olympian after qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but when the games were pushed back, Melissa started questioning if her time to retire had come.

“In 10 or 50 years time, am I really going to care that I went to three Olympics?” says Melissa, who lives with her partner and former coach Matt, in Bruce.

“I always had in my mind that I’d go to the Tokyo Olympics and then retire as a three-time Olympian, but covid changed everything. It changed my

perspective of what was really important, it changed my mo tivation levels and it changed what I wanted to get out of life.”

For so long sport was number one for Melissa, but she got to a point where she was on the track and she started thinking: “Why am I doing this?”

“I never had that thought in 10 years and I realised I needed to acknowledge those thoughts,” she says.

“I really hadn’t mused it at all. The thought of not being ‘Track Mel’ would have been too overwhelming to ponder.”

As a five-year-old, Melissa started athletics at Tug geranong Little Athletics Club because her older brother was doing it.

“I wanted to do everything that he did as that annoying younger sister,” she says.

“I really enjoyed running but I wasn’t very good at the longer events. I loved the shorter dis tance events. I wasn’t a stand out athlete [either], I was really young and just loved it.”

It wasn’t until Melissa was 10 as a spectator at the Sydney Olympics with her family, watching tens of thousands of people watching something she did every day, where she

to do.”

Melissa’s Olympic dreams were reignited when she was

championship in Poland as a year 12 student, and she missed the finals by one spot.

“I was absolutely devastated,” says Melissa, who turned that devastation into determination.

At the time, Melissa loved sport so much, she often thought school was an inconvenience.

As a student, Melissa’s mum would pick her up from school with food, so Melissa could quickly refuel before getting to AIS for training.

“It was hard trying to fit everything in but if it’s important to you, you just find a way to make it work,” she says.

At the end of 2008 Melissa ran 11.33 seconds, winning herself the title of the second fastest junior female for the 100-metre sprint in Australia.

“That sprint cemented the dream to make the Olympics and my belief that it was possible,” she says.

“For the next 12 years, every decision I made, I asked: ‘Is this helpful for running?’

“It was a choice. I was choosing to do everything I could to ensure I could perform at my best [because] talent only gets you so far.”

Over those years Melissa broke the Australian record for the women’s 100m sprint when she clocked 11.11 seconds at the 2014 ACT Championships, a record that was previously held for 20 years by Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.

Melissa also represented Australia in the 100-metre event at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, she won the 100-metre event at the Australian National Championships in 2009 and 2012, and represented Australia at three

Commonwealth Games.

“The 2018 Commonwealth Games was a huge moment for me. I was very injured beforehand and had a lot of sciatic nerve issues, and was on heavy medication to suppress the pain,” Melissa says.

“It was a momentous effort for myself and my team to get me to that start line. I was in a lot of pain but it was so joyful to experience a home championship.

“To have a home crowd advantage was something I wouldn’t have again, so I had to find a way. No matter what obstacles, I found a way.” Melissa made it to the semifinals but says it was mentally and physically exhausting.

Two years later and she describes retirement as freeing.

“It’s never where I thought I would be but it’s so freeing and it’s given me so much. I’ve travelled the world because of running, I’ve met my partner, Matt, because of running. There’s so many things that running has given me,” she says.

Melissa’s never really had a back-up plan, but an ambassador position with Lifeline, which turned into a job has been really good for her.

“It’s helped with purpose, direction and mental health,” says Melissa, who is the communications officer at Lifeline Canberra.

She says Lifeline has given her a purpose that’s not defined by how fast she’s running, and she says it’s also been great to wear clothes to work other than active wear!

What else is next for Melissa in retirement? Well, she says she’s never been able to try other sports during her career in case of injuries, and now that she can, she might give rollerskating a go.

“I’ve also enjoyed not being busy. I haven’t really veged out on the couch very much [and] I’m still doing a bit of coaching and will always be involved in sport,” she says.

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A parable of trains, trams and lying politicians

BEFORE moving to Canberra in 1969 to study law at the ANU, I lived at Wolumla, a hamlet south of Bega, with a population at the time of 96.

I love Wolumla and retain very happy memories of my life there. I attended Bega High School. In school holidays, from Year 9 to Year 12, I worked for local dairy farmers – Jim McCoy, Johnny Cochrane, Bill Cochrane and Col Blacka. The work was often tough, the days were long and my bosses were sometimes hard, but always fair.

Each of those men had an impact on my life. In those days, farming was a fairly solitary business with long hours working alone – for instance, on a tractor ploughing, mowing or raking or if on a dairy farm milking, shucking corn, feeding calves and sometimes pigs.

However, there were also long days of work done in company with others, for example loading, carting and stacking hay or fencing. In my experience the other was invariably the farmer or his sons and sometimes a second labourer from Wolumla or Candelo or on loan from a neighbouring farm.

Working with these honest, tough, hardworking and uncomplicated men had, as I said, a lasting impression. They lived by a code. A code which was once quintessentially Australian: a fair day’s pay demands a fair day’s work; be strong in the face of adver-

Excuse me if I appear to be a tad obsessed about the level of debt with which Andrew and Shane have burdened us. Debt of $7.7 billion when it hits in a couple of years will, I am guessing, be equivalent to close to 125 per cent of the ACT’s operating budget.

sity; bear your share of the burden of an onerous, unpleasant or demanding task; don’t judge those less fortunate or who may have erred and hold out a hand to those in need.

The conversation on these days ranged from good-hearted banter, gossip, homespun philosophy, the weather, football and the price of milk.

One subject which was never broached was politics, other than to affirm, if the conversation did accidentally stray on to the subject, that all politicians were by definition untrustworthy, liars, lazy, two-faced, self-serving bludgers.

This self-evident truth was apparently established, so far as the residents of Wolumla were concerned, sometime after January, 1888, following a whirlwind campaign visit to the far south coast by the then premier of NSW, Sir Henry Parkes.

Sir Henry visited all of the townships from Eden to Bega including my home town Wolumla. His principal campaign message, as interpreted by the residents of Wolumla, was that if

they put their trust in him he would connect the south coast to the ever expanding NSW rail network.

Implicit in Sir Henry’s pitch was not only was the railway coming but with it would come unheralded business opportunities, economic growth and rivers of gold.

In response to Sir Henry’s overtures the ambitious and entrepreneurial owner of the Wolumla Hotel, a very pleasant establishment, promptly renamed the hotel the “Wolumla Railway Junction Hotel” and so it was known for decades. It was only after it became clear, in the 1920s, that the Monaro rail link would not be extended beyond Bombala, more than 100 kilometres away, that the publican of the Wolumla Railway Junction Hotel, who had surely copped an endless pizzling about the puzzling name of his modest hotel, painted over the words “Railway Junction” and the pub reverted to the name by which it is known today, the Wolumla Hotel. And a lovely little pub it is and worth a visit.

Sir Henry Parkes.

The relevance of this meandering trip down memory lane and the reason that the Wolumla Railway Junction Hotel chugged into my mind is, of course, the recent announcement by ACT Labor and the Greens, in the face of the $7.7 billion of debt which they have racked up over 10 years, that they will not, for the time being, proceed with stage two of the tram, from Civic to Woden, but will nevertheless build a tram station at Woden in anticipation of the eventual construction of the tram line from Civic.

Excuse me if I appear to be a tad obsessed about the level of debt with which Andrew and Shane have burdened us. Debt of $7.7 billion when it hits in a couple of years will, I am guessing, be equivalent to close to 125 per cent of the ACT’s operating budget. I am also expecting that that level of debt will possibly be in the order of twice as high as the average across all states and the NT.

The reason for that is because for years before the arrival of the coronavirus, Labor and the Greens had been spending like there was no tomorrow and had racked up a level of debt and a run of deficits that were at best reckless and clearly unsustainable.

It is a major concern that the government clearly does not have a plan for dealing with the financial crisis that it has created.

My message, as I am sure you have twigged, is if you are the owner of a pub or a café or other establishment at Woden, hold off changing its name to incorporate the words “Tram Junction”, because it is highly likely that the tram won’t arrive at Woden in your lifetime. Just ask the residents of Wolumla.

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.

POLITICS / election 2020 TRAIL MIX

Minor parties call it as they see it

IT was a breath of fresh air listening to the views of would-be members of the Legislative Assembly at a recent minor party meeting.

Instead of the slick and controlled views of many of the major party candidates, there was a raw, unschooled passion. The speakers simply called it as they saw it.

Concern for the community came through strongly, understanding of major issues and disappointment with the current state of politics in the ACT. Responses to pointed questions of so many of these potential cross-bench members were thoughtful, caring and direct to the point.

I came away from the meeting hoping the crossbenches of the Assembly will be increased significantly. Sure, there were some naïve answers and, in some cases, very limited understanding of the workings of the Legislative Assembly and government. However, I suspect that this was not from those with some chance of getting elected.

The Canberra Progressives had called the meeting and invited me to chair it as a former crossbench MLA.

As with most of the other minor parties, the Canberra Progressives have developed policies that are publicly available.

Along with David Pollard in Yerrabi and the

Common to candidates was the issue of homelessness. For many, this issue illustrated that the government was failing to build an equitable society. It is what they had hoped for from Labor – but the issue was just one illustration of the government’s failure. Many suspected it would be worse under a Liberal government.

in having some candidates elected. But ACT elections are not easy to predict – and there could always be a surprise.

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The chances have improved following agreement amongst these candidates, including Murrumbidgee independent candidate, Fiona Carrick, to call on their voters to save their last preferences for the major parties (and for the candidates present, this includes the Greens). It will be a challenge to persuade their own voters that under the Hare-Clark electoral system, preferences may be distributed widely without any loss of the value of the vote.

Voters look at both issues and personalities. What does this person, or this party really think? Can I really trust the candidate to deliver on their promises? Even more importantly, can I trust this candidate to make a sensible decision on a matter that has not yet been raised?

Responses to the question on political donations were quite varied. The Canberra Progressives revealed a very strong party platform on integrity and ethics with limitations around accepting donations. David Pollard was quick to point out that he had not been offered much in donations other than from friends – but pointed to the corrupting impact of inappropriate donations from entities such as tobacco and developers.

Others followed suit with a number pointing to donations coming from very close friends and family. The Belco Party, along with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers were somewhat more relaxed about donations –but spoke to the issue of integrity.

On being asked about their top three priorities, The Canberra Action Party summed up with integrity, transparency and openness. These were common features amongst candidates. However, planning issues were raised again and again with concern about so many failures in Canberra. Solutions varied from seeking a truly independent planning authority to more effective community consultation.

Accusations of community consultation being a façade were repeated by a number of candidates. They suggested government decisions were often already in place and the consultation a pretence at understanding community concerns.

Common to candidates was the issue of homelessness. For many, this issue illustrated that the government was failing to build an equitable society. It is what they had hoped for from Labor – but the issue was just one illustration of the government’s failure. Many suspected it would be worse under a Liberal government.

The strongest theme was around accountability. A strong crossbench, working hard, they argued, can make government much more accountable. There were Jacqui Lambie and Ricky Muir characters amongst the gathering. These senators were initially raw and naïve – but both grew in the role, worked hard, called it as they saw it, and developed into very effective crossbench senators.

It will be interesting to see how voters judge cross-bench candidates on October 17, but they do deserve a chance.

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.

What Barr doesn’t give a rat’s about

Political reporter BELINDA STRAHORN files from the ACT election trail...

“THAT’s not something I give a rat’s arse about, frankly.” Could this be the campaign’s best one liner?

Ask me a few days ago and I would have said this election campaign has been far from scintillating, then Chief Minister Andrew Barr pulls out that pearler. His comments were made to ABC Canberra after a reporter asked if former Labor chief minister Jon Stanhope‘s commitment to chair a Canberra Liberals’ poverty task force would jeopardise his life membership with the Labor Party.

Barr says the move is just a political stunt, but Liberal leader Alistair Coe says it will bring a huge amount of integrity to a potential task force. It may have been a sleepy start, but this election campaign is heating up.

Mohammad Munir Hussain.

THE man who sought to have the 2016 ACT election declared invalid is having another tilt at ACT politics.

Mohammad Munir Hussain was announced as the Federation Party’s candidate for Yerrabi this week. Hussain was barred by the ACT electoral commission from running as an independent in 2016 because he did not have the required number of signatures on his nomination form.

Hussain said he was shut out of the race and applied to the Supreme Court to have his candidacy declared valid and the 2016 ACT election declared invalid. But the challenge fizzled, with a judge allowing Hussian to abandon the case citing “severe medical conditions”.

LABOR’S latest election commitment has some scratching their heads over their decision to commit to a project that doesn’t appear to tick any major boxes. Member for Kurrajong Rachel Stephen-Smith and member for Murrumbidgee Chris Steel announced a $5 million package for major road, parking and pedestrian upgrades at Pialligo on Monday.

A MINOR party running as a “protest vote” against overdevelopment and planning corruption across the ACT, will field candidates in all five electorates for the upcoming election. The Sustainable Australia Party will announce its candidates soon and is still on the lookout for a candidate to run in Kurrajong.

THE Australian Climate Change Justice Party has launched its ACT election manifesto with a long line of policies including a $2 billion, community led covid recovery package, a renewable energy plan, affordable housing for Canberrans, establishing a food bowl for the ACT through agricultural enterprise and community base funding for town centre councils. The party’s leader Petar Johnson says the policies offer an “alternative” to building infrastructure that the city “doesn’t need” and will invest in projects the “community wants”.

FINALLY, Belco Party candidate Alan Tutt is breathing a little easier this election knowing that his opponents aren’t also his neighbours. Last election Tutt, who stood for the Canberra Community Voters Party in Ginninderra, lived a few doors down from retired Labor MLA Mary Porter and across the road lived Chic Henry, who stood for the Australian Motorist Party in 2012 and is now running alongside Tutt as candidates for the Belco Party. The little corner in Hawker may have been known as a “political hotspot” but this time around, Tutt has the street to himself.

Murder and mystery of missing young women

By Nichole OVERALL

FOUR decades have passed since the young woman left a Canberra bar alone on the night of Friday, June 13. She has never conclusively been seen or heard from again.

On September 3, 2020, Elizbeth Herfort would have turned 59.

Her still unaccounted for disappearance has echoes of a number of other regional cases, including one of the capital’s most enduring unsolved crimes – that of the murder of 20-yearold Keren Rowland almost 50 years ago.

Having delved deeply into these individual situations, the nature of them makes it an unsettling investigation, added to because each occurred within living memory.

Many family and friends remain in the area and for them, the anguish of not knowing never recedes. Some relatives are also personally known to me, and I’m ever mindful of not causing them more grief.

However, in the wake of National Missing Persons Week, by bringing to the forefront the factual details, perhaps something will come to light that may provide answers. And resolution.

The “intelligent, thoughtful and kind” Elizabeth, just 18, left the ANU Union Bar on her own that 1980 evening after socialising with friends. She was wearing dark jeans, a brown angora pullover and brown runners with a “tan, leather shoulder-bag with a design engraved on the flap”.

In the then still small Canberra, buses were fewer at night and Liz was cash-strapped. Like others in that different era, she may have felt it would be safe to hitch a ride to her mother’s house in Woden Valley, less than a 15-minute drive away.

Around 9.30pm, a person “matching her description” was seen by passers-by seeking a lift along Commonwealth Avenue as it heads south from the civic centre towards Capital Hill, where eight years later the New Parliament House would rise.

One potential witness would later state he saw a slight female with a man wearing a distinctive hat standing near the back of a vehicle stopped along the thoroughfare. Whether it was Elizabeth or not remains unknown, as does her fate. The following morning, her mum woke to find she hadn’t come home. The only certainty was that those who knew her believe it was completely out of character for her to disappear and make no attempt at contact.

The parallels to another Friday night, nine years before, and the disappearance of another young Canberra woman, are striking.

On February 26, 1971, Keren Rowland, also slender with shoulder-length hair, wearing a knee-length patterned dress, was last believed

“I have dragged lakes and rivers, searched gullies and back tracks and spoken to thousands of people. I must know.” – Geoff Rowland, “The Canberra Times”, March 8, 1971.

to have been seen not far from the same area – along Parkes Way at the edge of Lake Burley Griffin. A female figure was walking towards a “dark-coloured sedan with NSW number plates” parked in front of Keren’s white Mini Minor, which had – surprisingly – run out of fuel. Even the time of night was similar, reported as somewhere between 9pm and 9.45pm.

Unlike Elizabeth, almost three months later, the young receptionist’s body was found in the isolated, densely wooded area close by the Canberra Airport. Due to the length of time out in the elements, the coroner’s report noted the cause of death was uncertain, most likely strangulation.

In 1993, the Canberra coroner Ron Cahill, ordered an inquest into Elizabeth Herfort’s “suspected death” despite no body being recovered – the first time this had occurred in the nation’s capital.

Unsubstantiated suggestions came to light, including a claim by two men that they’d abducted and imprisoned her. They later recanted.

The primary suspect, the man seen “acting aggressively” towards a young woman with “long hair” by the side of the road, had been publicly dubbed “Harry the Hat”. While the owner of the vehicle was identified and questioned, he declared that his car had been garaged the entire night. There wasn’t enough evidence to commit anyone to trial.

In the many years that have passed since, various theories, leads and suspects have been put forward. Even the ugly shadow of notorious, now dead, serial killer Ivan Milat, has fallen over both these cases – certainly he was known to frequent the region.

All of it has amounted to nothing.

And there are others, including the more widely known case of 17-year-old Megan Mulquiney who vanished on her way home after a shift at Big W at the Woden Plaza on a Saturday afternoon in 1984.

Ultimately, it’s the heartbreaking words of Keren Rowland’s father, Geoff, that continue to resonate: “It’s the not knowing that really hurts”. Sadly, he never would know.

Harrowing questions of what unfolded for each of these women still rightly haunt the Canberra community. The families deserve answers. And some peace.

For more on these investigations, see anoverallview.wixsite.com/blog.

Anyone with information should call Crimestoppers. If there’s anything here that is incorrect or you can add to, please contact the author.

CANBERRA MATTERS / planning

A city cries out for proper master planning

CANBERRA’S community groups

spend a lot of time assessing complex development applications. Development used to happen in the context of master planning for the area concerned. It doesn’t anymore.

Yet there is a government department titled – The ACT Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate. Who knows what it does. Anyone dealing with planning matters would know that this section of government does little of what is reflected in its grand title.

Within the context of the development underway in this city, there’s not a lot to boast about if you are committed to master planning, heritage, sustainability, biodiversity, green infrastructure, trees, and lots more including having a great city to live in and enjoy. This directorate is seen to constantly agree to proposals that work against all that.

The absence of serious planning is a concerning factor for community groups trying to respond to what is happening in

and around Fyshwick. The latest being a proposal to change the land use of the site known as Dairy Road, Fyshwick (a draft variation).

This semi commercial/industrial site is on the western edge of Fyshwick and east of the Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve. The Dairy Road complex currently contains industrial and warehouse buildings, most of which have been converted for offices, cafes and commercial businesses (eg a brewer).

The owners wish to further develop the site for a mix of commercial and residential uses (possibly 2000 residents).

Before changing anything about the use of this site, the next step should be to assess it in the context of the master planning for the Kingston/East Lake site (to the west) that is undergoing major residential development.

It should also be assessed in the context of the master planning for the rest of Fyshwick – the major indus -

trial/commercial area to its east.

The sad news is that this government has announced that it no longer does master plans. Unbelievable! This is one of the most fundamental of jobs expected of a properly functioning and well-led planning department. Doesn’t happen!

The proposal for the change of use for Dairy Road looks reasonable – depending on what follows – and provided the residential towers are a maximum of six not eight as mentioned. However, it is proving impossible for community groups to provide a comprehensive response as there are many unresolved issues with what is happening in the surrounding areas.

For instance – what the hell is the government doing allowing several major waste-management and industrial-level recycling facilities to be considered as appropriate for Fyshwick locations – some being very near to Dairy Road and their future residential buildings?

This light-industrial suburb has dramatically changed in the last decades. It now houses major retailers

HOURS

& Tue: 11am - 9pm

& Thurs: 11am - 10pm

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commercial operations. The logical next step would be to encourage major industries (think noise and trucks) to locate elsewhere – get them out of Fyshwick. The government should be putting a stop to enterprises that bring in more noise and pollution.

The other sensible step would be to develop master plans to encourage appropriate changes and consider other residential and commercial opportunities. It is going to happen – so why aren’t those in the Planning Directorate doing something about Fyshwick’s long-overdue master plans?

When considering what is happening in Fyshwick, another stumbling block is that this government does not have the strong environmental policies and legislation when compared to other states. There is insufficient monitoring of air quality and noise.

continually refuses to assess proposals in the context of the cumulative impact of other activities near to a proposal under consideration.

What is happening in and around Fyshwick represents all that is wrong with how the ACT Planning Directorate operates – or to be more accurate – what it refuses to do: its job!

The lack of master planning is also evident in Woden, around the Woden Valley Hospital, in Dickson, Civic and elsewhere. We do pay Minister Gentleman, his planning chief and the Planning Directorate to do planning – don’t we? Asking too much?

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

KINSHIP

THERE are more than 800 children living in out-ofhome care currently in the ACT – that’s one child in every Canberra classroom in need of care and protection, according to the ACT Together regional manager, Rebecca Jeffrey.

It’s startling, says Rebecca who admits that recruiting carers for Canberra’s most vulnerable children is a big challenge and the need for foster care is great.

“We need more people to be the protectors, the nurturers, the ‘for now’ or the ‘forever’ mums and dads,” she says.

During Foster and Kinship Care Week, which runs from September 13-19, ACT To gether, a Barnardos Australia-led consortium of agencies created to provide services for children and young people in out-of-home care in the ACT, is calling on more people to consider “stepping up” and becoming a foster carer.

someone saying a three-year old boy needed their care.

Skye, a long-term foster mother of three –aged 13, nine and eight – stepped up about 10 years ago when she and husband Peter found out it wasn’t possible to have children of their own.

She says becoming a foster parent was recommended to them by their fertility

Now, 10 years later, Skye says he is their eldest child, who was joined a few years later by a girl and then by their third child, another boy.

Skye says she delights in her family, which became even bigger because of their close connection with the children’s birth families.

“I think that if you have the capacity and love to foster children, do it,” says Skye.

Another couple, Catherine and her wife Shondy, who have a five-year-old, wanted to grow the family so decided to become foster carers.

They are currently caring for a little boy in a concurrent care situation.

“It means that he is placed with us while his long term care is being assessed, that might mean he will return to his parents, or end up in our care for the long term,” Catherine says.

Sensei Jasmine’s firm lessons for little people

MY son has become a karate kid. During the covid lockdown, he started attending Zoom lessons twice a week and really got into it. We found it was a good way for him to relieve frustrations and be active when playgrounds weren’t an option.

He also enjoyed the structure of having to log into a “class” and was able to see other kids also on the screen.

His teacher, the wonderful Sensei Jasmine was incredibly positive, encouraging and en ergetic – even with the challenges of teaching remotely she was able to create a great sense of fun and excitement. Having hosted many a ho-hum Zoom work conference, I admired her ability to transcend the digital barriers and be “larger than life” on the iPad screen for my son. I figured if he enjoyed karate via Zoom, he would love going to training in person.

With the lifting of restrictions, he arrived at the dojo (karate hall) and met his sensei (martial arts teacher). She is the perfect mix of strength and kindness and there is no doubt she could kick the crap out of you.

Illustration: Karl Speller

In the large dojo in Fyshwick, classes soon came back to how they would have been run normally, with a few important hygiene and distancing requirements.

It didn’t take long for him to settle into weekly classes, accompanied by his dad. And he looks pretty cool in his karate uniform!

A few weeks ago, my husband also took along our daughter, the little “boss baby” of the family to watch her big brother. It wasn’t long into the training before she was invited by Sensei Jasmine to join in.

Being only four, I wondered how she went being in a class with the older children, but my husband assured me that she did a great job and kept up with the exercises.

Last week, it was my turn to take the children and I saw it all in action for the first time. I was amazed at the sensei’s ability to capture the attention of many children – especially mine!

ards, explaining to them that they need to keep focused and work hard.

I felt I was learning more about parenting from this young, strong woman than I have from anyone in a long time. Perhaps she could run a class for parents, I mused.

Sensei Jasmine had the kids in the palm of her hand... I felt I was learning more about parenting from this young, strong woman than I have from anyone in a long time. Perhaps she could run a class for parents?

On arrival, the boss baby took to being “shy” and held on to my leg. Sensei Jasmine had her measure immediately. It only took one firm but kind: “Come on, let’s stand over here” and off went the boss, no complaint!

The boss baby sure has met her match with Sensei Jasmine.

The rest of the 45-minute class was nothing short of a transformation – Sensei Jasmine had the kids in the palm of her hand. They were quiet, calm and co-operative. They listened to everything she said. Her instructions were clear and direct. She was encouraging and upbeat but also held them to high stand-

If only I could channel my inner sensei… I started daydreaming… how easy would life be if I captured my kids’ attention and commanded the respect that Sensei Jasmine did. Why couldn’t I do it? I wondered.

“She talks to the kids as though she expects to be obeyed, whereas when we talk to the kids it’s like we are expecting to be disobeyed, as we usually are,” my husband reckoned.

Older children were involved in the training session, giving my kids the chance to watch their skills in action and learn from them. An excellent way to encourage mentoring in the older children and helping to motivate and inspire the little ones. Jasmine has been teaching them that things are worth working hard for and some gentle messages about bullying and standing up for yourself. Great life lessons.

How I wish I could bottle the empowering and positive environment of the dojo and bring it home with us. When I asked the boss baby if she wanted to continue with karate, she replied she did, but didn’t want to wear the uniform. She said she wanted to wear a tutu instead!

I smiled, as I knew that despite what the boss might say at home, the moment she stepped into the dojo, Sensei Jasmine would make sure she wore her uniform and fell into line quick-smart... even if I can’t.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Fun ways to keep the whole family entertained

WITH warmer weather, there’s no better time to come out of winter hibernation and enjoy these spring school holidays. Whether it’s inside or outside, Canberra has some great experiences and fun ways to keep the whole family happy and entertained. Here are some of them…

PLAYING at the slot car tracks at Way2Fast is ideal for kids who love cars or nostalgic parents who played with Scalextric as kids, says owner Steve Bywater. Kids aged five and up can enjoy racing with family and friends on four different tracks, which range from four to eight lanes.

“Our tracks will take 1:43 scale, 1:32 and 1:24 scale electric motor cars, driven by a hand controller,” he says.

“We are able to space out groups so that people aren’t too close together, to comply with social distancing.”

Steve says they have hand sanitiser and disposable gloves provided, with all controllers and cars cleaned after use.

Way2Fast is Canberra’s largest retailer for slot cars and spare parts, offering more than 20 manufacturers such as Scalextric, SCX, Revell, Slot it, Pioneer, NSR, Carrera and MJK.

Its ready-to-run remote control cars include Traxxas, Team Associated, Tamiya, Team Magic, Ninco, Arrma, Lossi and HPI.

“We carry parts and accessories for these and offer service and repairs, too,” he says.

In terms of slot cars, Way2Fast sells AFX cars, repair kits and tracks.

Way2Fast can host birthday or Christmas parties, corporate functions, and gift vouchers are also available.

Way2Fast, Unit 2, 20 Essington Street, Mitchell. Call 0424 453544 or visit way2fast.com.au

PARROTS, finches, doves and quail are among the birds ready to interact at the Canberra Walk-in Aviary this school holidays, says owner and manager Mick Logan.

the chance to get up close and personal with a range of friendly, free-flying birds,” says Mick.

ACT for boys and girls aged five to 18, on weekends, weekdays and school holidays, say head coaches and operations managers Eric Bonnett and Danny Hately.

The FSA launched in Canberra this year, though it originally started in 2008 in Melbourne, and has moved to every capital city around Australia.

“We brought the program here because we wanted to give kids in Canberra a better and

“While not all birds will interact with you, visitors get the chance to observe, up close, species of birds that otherwise would be hard

“We provide a small plate of food and a tub of mealworms and you can wander

The aviary is a 1000sqm planted walk-in enclosure that has more than 500 birds from about 65 different species from Australia and

Numbers are still limited for social distancing, but the aviary is open as usual.

more professional opportunity for development, with a clear pathway to help them chase their footballing dreams,” says Eric.

“I love coaching football because of the kids and the passion I have for the sport itself.”

The academy’s programs include weekly clinics for beginners, elite squad training, a centre of excellence program, which is by invitation only, position-specific coaching, one-on-ones and holiday camps.

In 2018 and 2019 FSA was awarded “Best National Primary School Activity” for five to

“Providing the weather is fine you can have a great time feeding the birds, taking photos or just observing our feathered friends,” Mick says.

Gold Creek Village has three other attractions, as well as cafes, gift shops and a garden centre, so it’s a great place for a day out after visiting the aviary, Mick says.

The aviary is operating its summer trading hours of 10am-5pm, with the last admission at 4.30pm. It’s open every day, including public holidays, except Christmas Day.

Canberra Walk-in Aviary, Unit 13, Federation Square, O’Hanlon Place, Nicholls. Call 6230 2044 or visit canberrawalkinaviary.com.au

12-year-olds at the What’s On 4 Kids Awards.

Both Eric and Danny have 66 years playing experience between them, as well as 17 years coaching experience.

“Being able to play a major role in the growth and development of the young players in their playing and personal lives is why I love coaching,” says Danny.

Football Star Academy Canberra, visit sportstaracademy.com/football, email act79.football@ sportstaracademy.com or call 1300 372300.

Come along and see the friendly free-flying birds that can be photographed and fed.

Scrap ‘theme park’, build National War Museum

THE physical arrangement of the National War Memorial, as a combined cenotaph and war museum, has never really been satisfactory.

The central dominant section is a very fine cenotaph. The symmetrically placed, but separated side display components are limited and not clearly identifiable. That fundamental problem will not be solved by the planned profligate demolition of the fine new Anzac Hall, and the installation of a massive “theme-park” component, at the rear of the complex.

That scheme should be scrapped and its funds allocated to a new purpose-built National War Museum, including indigenous elements. It could be built at an evocative place elsewhere in the Central National Area – for instance on the original National Museum site at Yarramundi Reach, opposite the Arboretum. Anzac Hall could be for a special namesake exhibition, directly linked to the main memorial/cenotaph.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

The Minister for Indifference

I WRITE to applaud Alison Chapple’s efforts to engage Minister Steel and City Services in the defence and maintenance of our urban environment, especially in residential zones (“Residents bridle against government’s neglect”, CN, September 3).

I was particularly interested in the quoted responses from Chris Steel, of a type that have

ments to avoid any specific commitment to investigate the shortcomings complained of. They all ring true to this minister’s routine indifference, but also to his advisers’ behindthe-scenes hostility towards those who would have such issues discussed.

I spent a year attempting to persuade known offenders to comply with the Litter Act, then another six months trying to engage Fix-My-Street and City Services in the same task without receiving a supportive response, before turning to the minister. His office repeatedly blocked requests for interviews and delayed replies to letters. When answers were finally extracted they

refuse to act on the obvious.

More to the point, they convey the government’s reluctance to defend suburban streets and shared spaces or to ever prioritise issues important to mere ratepayers.

If ministers can be courageous and frank enough to simply state that their government is not presently interested in arresting urban degradation because the topic does not fit with current priorities, or because of fiscal constraints we can no longer afford this luxury, they might actually boost their own credibility and even win some votes. Instead we get stonewalling or the closed door in lieu of dialogue, and political minds impervi -

ous to the contemplation of the longer-term consequences of environmental neglect.

I recently received a sort of “peace-pipe” letter signed by Minister Steel, almost a year after he had postponed writing it. Predictably, it offered nothing to suggest he will now actually punish litterers – in fact nothing new at all. So why should he bother to correspond now?

Richard Gorrell, Belconnen

Another sad day for Woden

THE ACT government announced the site for the new ice sports facility in Greenway, Tuggeranong.

It is now likely that Woden will lose its ice rink and pool. This is in addition to the basketball stadium, bowling greens, tennis courts and the pitch n putt – effectively the ACT government is overseeing the dismantling of Woden’s recreation precinct in favour of high-rise development.

I expect there will be one ice sports facility in Canberra so it should be centrally located to provide access to more people, the city and Woden are the two central hubs.

There is no transparency around negotiations with the owner of the current ice rink to redevelop the site into a double ice-sheet facility that is located close to public transport, hotels and restaurants.

The implications for the current facility are unclear due to the zoning for the site requir-

ing a pool and an ice rink, it is likely the facility will be boarded up until a solution is found.

The ACT government is inviting thousands of people to live in apartments in the Woden Town Centre, however they do not have a plan for where community facilities will be and how they will connect to form a community hub for the precinct. They have not had a conversation with the community about it.

Fiona Carrick, independent candidate for Murrumbidgee

More to free Wi-Fi

WHILE I am sympathetic to the (possible) links of free Wi-Fi to receiving spam, it’s far more likely Chris Mac (“Beware the wicked ways of free Wi-Fi”, CN, August 27) used his email address to sign up to a mailing list/ enter a competition and it got picked up that way.

I might also help readers who aren’t that tech savvy (and could be worried by this tale) to note that it’s just not possible to connect your phone to a public Wi-Fi (or any Wi-Fi for that matter) without taking a number of active steps.

If it connected passively on the day in question, it means you had taken those active steps to establish and remember the connection previously.

Either that or free Wi-Fi is part of a leftist 5G conspiracy to microchip us and establish a world government.

James Kendal, via email

Pollies emerging from their cocoons

THERE must be an election coming up – politicians are emerging from their cocoons!

I mostly don’t have a clue which pollies represent me either federally or locally. I know four names – Zed Seselja, Mick Gentleman, Bec Cody and Andrew Barr.

I know Mr Barr because his photo is on all the local news and political info, and he sometimes makes an announcement.

I know Mick Gentleman because I looked up the pollies to see who was responsible for the failed Coombs shopping centre and wrote to him. I received a well thought out reply, even if he did say he had no control over the centre.

I know Bec Cody because she visited us before the last election and was very friendly.

Zed Seselja is the standout because he faithfully replies to all my complaints. He is also free to vote the way those Canberrans who elected him want him to vote because the Libs allow conscience votes and are free to cross the floor. Labor reps cannot vote the way the people who elected them want them to vote because conscience votes are not allowed, and Labor pollies must tow the party line.

Rewa Bate, Coombs

Fast tracking a poor decision

ACT Planning and Housing Ministers lined up recently to announce, defend and eulogise the application of armour-plated “call in” powers that will fast-track the construction of a bulky six-storey residential complex within a swathe of long-neglected central Dickson land that is zoned for community and recreational use (“No surprises as Mick waves through ‘flawed’ plan”, CN August 26).

By shutting down community engagement another chapter is added to the sad history of this precious area that has been set aside as a community land bank for decades.

It also illustrates sensitivity to the veracity of longestablished concerns expressed by local communities whose vision for the creative revitalisation of the wider location surpasses anything put on the table to date by the government and its army of consultants.

It is strange that the Housing Minister also opined at the time of this announcement that she hoped that resorting to “call in” powers and fast-tracking planning approval processes would not “blemish” this residential project. In late December, under the cover of a real smokescreen and following weeks of consultations about her nonnegotiable location for such a development, this minister also stepped in to short-circuit planning processes by issuing an interim effect order that placed the project on a “faster pathway” and ensured that a residential complex could be built in a non-residential setting.

Any blemishes attached to this excision of much needed community-use and green space land in Dickson will be of the government’s own making.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Credit to good journalism

THANK you very much for “CityNews”. The articles and stories you bring each week are a credit to good journalism, long gone from the mainstream print media. Each week the read from the pens of Paul Costigan, Michael Moore and Jon Stanhope reinforce what good journalism written without fear or favour should be. Advertisers play a big part in “CityNews” being able to be available each week. They pay the bills. However, the ad on the back page of CN, August 27) raises a question for me; unless I am horribly mistaken, the image is from overseas. The double powerpoint is not Australian. Your client should have thousands of images they could have and should have used. The main electricity supplier for the city, I wonder why they would even have this image in their file.

Please continue the great work.

Bob Connors, via email

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Orton’s wildly wordy butler farce still delights

By Helen MUSA

FOR anybody nurturing an enhanced view of the salacious 60s, the anticipation of Canberra REP’s coming production of Joe Orton’s last play, “What the Butler Saw”, must be sheer delight.

For by the time of his savage murder at the hands of his lover, the actor Kenneth Halliwell in 1967, just after completing the play we’re about to see, Orton had produced an extraordinary list of eye-watering farces.

Nothing was sacred to this latterday Oscar Wilde, as birth, death, marriage, education and the law all came under his witty, merciless eye.

It’s not the first time round for six-time REP director Liz Bradley, who staged Orton‘s “Entertaining Mr Sloane” and “What the Butler Saw” years ago for The Players Company at UC.

“‘What the Butler Saw’ cleaned up at the CAT Awards,” Bradley says,

ARTS

possible proof that the terrifying humour of the plays might still go down well with audiences.

“It’s very wordy, great for people

IN THE CITY

who enjoy written words, but how it will go with the rest, I don’t know.

But it’s lots of fun, I actually love it.

“The humour is wildly fantastic.

Two casts, one great ‘Gatsby’

By Helen Musa

KIRSTY Budding’s new adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” is coming to Belconnen Theatre from September 15-19, complete with 1920s music played live by the Charlie’s Angels. There’ll be an adult cast starring Zane Jordan and Emily Mullamphy as Gatsby and Daisy and a teen cast featuring Lachlan Herring and Emily O’Brien in the same roles. Book at buddingtheatre.com

THE recent announcement that the debut production of the National Opera, Puccini’s “La Rondine”, has been postponed to late 2021 has a few local singers and artists disappointed. Two at least pulled out of Free Rain Theatre’s planned production of “Mamma Mia” to be in the opera, but now both are off until next year.

A NEW film co-directed by Stephen Page and featuring Bangarra dancer Lillian Banks as a young Cathy Freeman will be the ABC’s way of marking 20 years since the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Through archival footage, interviews and emotional dance sequences, “Freeman” tells the story of the race and its impact on the struggle for reconciliation and equality. Viewable Sunday, September 13 at 7.40pm on ABC and iView.

THE Stockroom allows M16 Artspace to show off online what

Emilie

Joe was an irresponsible young man and an astute observer… he’s having a go at the middle classes, but also at all levels of society.”

A Londoner through and through, he met Halliwell when they were students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and with him embarked upon a kind of a gay artistic spree, painting on toilet walls and drawing in library books, an offence for which they each got six months in jail, a time Orton later said “brought detachment to my writing. I wasn’t involved any more… And suddenly it worked.”

As he became flavour of the decade on the West End, Halliwell evidently got sick of it, Bradley notes.

The earlier play “Entertaining Mr Sloane” had a more serious edge to it, more like a Pinter play in Bradley’s view, but with “Loot” and “What the Butler Saw”, two of the funniest plays ever written, his theatrical touch was sure, as he thumbed his nose at England’s social classes and mores.

Briefly, in the play the innocent Geraldine comes to a psychiatrist’s consulting room for a job as a receptionist, only to find her prospective boss, Dr Prentice, requires her to undress.

In the matter of French farce, Prentice’s wife appears, but she’s no angel either, having been seduced by Nicholas, a young bellhop.

Enter the government inspector,

Dr Rance, who, after observing the mayhem, says he will use the situation he sees to develop a new book which will be full of “interest, buggery, outrageous women and Strangelove cults catering for depraved appetites – all the fashionable bric-a-brac”.

In other words, as well as satirising the abuse of power and the vagaries of bureaucracy, Orton is having a go at himself and the very conventions of the theatre. Much like Wilde.

Bradley and cast members David Cannell, Zoe Swan, Lainie Hart, Glenn Brighenti, Peter Holland and Thomas Hyslop are having a screamingly funny time but, and Bradley pulls herself up, “It’s got all the piss-take of farce, but farce is the hardest thing of all to get right and getting the timing is keeping us on our toes”. Hardest of all, she reports, has been learning to play it straight. Without that, as the late Kenneth Williams found when he tried to send up Orton’s characters, “it just won’t work,” Bradley says.

“What the Butler Saw”, Canberra REP Theatre, 3 Repertory Lane, Acton, September 10 (preview) to September 26. Telephone bookings only, 10am4pm, Monday-Friday, 6257 1950.

its studio artists, whether painters, sculptors, jewellers and fashion designers, have been working on. m16artspace.com/the-stockroom

CELLIST Rachel Scott and her former teacher, David Pereira, will be presenting a concert with favourite duos by Bach, Barrière, Bartók, Ross Edwards and Pereira himself. The pair were due to play in Sydney’s Coal Loader Tunnel near Balls Head in July, but because of COVID-19 that was re-scheduled for live streaming on YouTube. Bach in the Dark, Friday, September 18, 7pm-8.15pm Book at events. humanitix.com/bitd_cello_duo

“FLOW Line: Abstraction from the CMAG Collection” is the Canberra Museum and Gallery’s way of showing abstraction in art as a “potent

visual language”. Works by Vivienne Binns, Ham Darroch, George Foxhill, Thomas Gleghorn, Marie Hagerty, Richard Larter, Peter Maloney, Derek O’Connor, Michael Taylor, Ruth Waller, Guy Warren and even the late Rover Thomas will be on show MondaySaturday, 10am-5pm at CMAG, Civic Square, until November 7. Darroch and Warren will be in conversation with curator Virginia Rigney at 1pm on Wednesday, September 23.

THE indefatigable Padma Menon is staging a dance-contemplation workshop over the October long weekend just before the Goddess festival, “Navarathri.” The workshop from 10am-12.30pm on October 3-4, will be inspired by the text written by the philosopher Adi Shankara. Bookings and inquiries at info@movingarchetypes.com.au

How vision of the Virgin started a religious ripple

“Fatima” (M)

WE don’t see many movies from or about Portugal. It’s a small country that tends to keep its head down and stay away from media attention.

Italian director Marco Pontecorvo has made a film about a rural Portuguese community that might possibly have gotten more media attention had there not been something else more newsworthy going on in Europe at the time.

On May 13, 1917, 10-year-old Lucia Santos and her younger cousins Jacinta and Francisco were minding a small flock of sheep near the village of Fatima. That much is incontrovertible. But the fallout from that day is still having a ripple effect in the Catholic Church.

Pontecorvo’s film creates passages portraying what occurred on the 13th day of the next six months. For Lucia and her cousins went home that evening with a story that at first nobody believed. They had a vision of the Virgin who entrusted them with three secrets that she would reveal in full when she re-appeared on those six 13th days.

The screenplay by Valerio D’Annunzio takes a balanced view of the effect that news of the vision created.

Harvey Keitel plays an American academic who engages the adult Lucia (played by Sonia Braga) when she was Sister María Lúcia das Dores in a gentle debate based on the difference between belief and knowledge.

To her dying day in 2005 aged 97, Lucia’s faith was unshakeable. The two younger

cousins were dead within a year of the first vision, in the 1918 plague.

So what goes on in the film? Its drama embraces many elements – pilgrims flocking to the village, church dignitaries trying to dominate the children’s insistence about the vision, strangers arriving seeking favours or intercession with the Virgin, pedlars of religious trinkets and the mayor trying to maintain order not only in the community but also in his bedroom.

I am a non-believer in any book-based and/ or bureaucratised faith. But I found “Fatima” an agreeable depiction of how mankind’s need for an all-embracing idea could be twisted to suit differing viewpoints. I have no idea how devout Christians will receive it.

At Palace Electric

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“The New Mutants” (M) YOU might be forgiven for asking, what was writer/director Josh Boone trying to achieve with this, his third movie for the big screen.

Box-office takings? Unlikely. There’s nothing in its 94-minute run time that even the world’s most bestest publicrelations flack could inflate its reputation into a crowd pleaser for all audience tastes.

Dramatic impact? Maybe. But only for the audience cohort that wants to be

energised by stories that at best are scary, at worst, silly.

Full of big stars? I don’t pretend to know the names of every up-and-coming young hopeful fresh out of American drama school but I’ve not heard of any member of the small cast of “The New Mutants”. Which doesn’t mean that some of them may make it big in future; but on the strength of their performances here, that seems improbable and/or impossible.

So, what’s it about. A young woman is running through a winter storm, pursued by unknown people who may wish her

harm. She takes shelter in an old hospital building, where she is classed as suffering an emotional condition and becomes one of seven patients, all with their own medical problems, all anxious to get back into the outside community regardless of their wellness.

And the hospital staff. You’d need to be desperate before you’d let the only one visible, qualified medico prescribe any medicine or perform any medical procedure on the sacred temple that is your body. Or call for help from any of the small group of tall skinny-as-rakes male attendants with strange-shaped heads.

The building’s more than a little dodgy, too.

And there’s a bear out there. Enormous. Red-eyed, bad mannered, worse tempered. Never opening doors, instead smashing them and the adjacent walls down to create openings wide enough to allow it through.

You might classify “The New Mutants” as a sci-fi horror fantasy. Choose one.

At all cinemas

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff Streaming help via a new app

IN our age of streaming, where it seems everyone has their own show they’re just bursting to recommend to you, we’re all a bit used to the old “I’ll have to check it out” or the classic “I’ll add it to my list”.

Well with a new app, and perhaps a new way we navigate entertainment, there’s no longer an excuse to forget about what series you’ve been told to go home and watch all in one night.

The aptly titled app “Bingie” just hit the Apple Store. A specifically designed social-media network for streaming.

Similar to what’s found on the website justwatch.com/au, which I covered in this column a few weeks ago, “Bingie” gives you a list of streaming sites, television shows and movies and, like Facebook or Instagram, a friends’ list to share them with.

Users can start conversations about shows, share them with others, and leave their own personal reviews and recommendations. I’m an Android user, and so far it’s only available for the iPhone, but you can bet that when released for my own device I’ll be downloading it quick smart and closely monitoring.

BUT what do I have to recommend this week in a more traditional format? I’ve been watching BBC’S new thriller “The Salisbury Poisonings”, now available on SBS On Demand.

It’s an account of the riveting true story of the poisoning of a UK intelligence officer (serving as a double agent) and his daughter, with a deadly nerve agent, all unfolding at a park bench in a city in England no bigger than Queanbeyan.

How the community and the heroes within it rally around to prevent a further possible disaster

is a captivating story and, as reviews attest, it’s brilliantly put together in this series. For a price tag of a few occasional ads on SBS On Demand and nothing more, this drama series is one of the most underrated of the year in a story not widely known but one that holds many fascinating, and disturbing lessons.

NETFLIX also recently secured the rights to stream the popular crime series “Hannibal”. It originally aired in 2013 but has now seen a huge boost thanks to the streaming giant giving it a jumpstart, with it trending at top three on the site.

The name may ring bells, especially if you’ve seen the 1991 best picture winner “The Silence of the Lambs” featuring Anthony Hopkins as the menacing, yet compelling psychopath.

“Hannibal” acts as a prequel set years before the events of the film, in which an FBI criminal profiler finds himself able to sympathise with the villain. The two strike a deal to help each other track down criminals of a similar mind to Hannibal himself.

To stand up to Hopkins’ portrayal of Lecter seems an almost insurmountable task. However, Mads Mikkelsen, a Danish actor who has built quite the reputation for his knack to play the bad guy (think the villain in the bond film “Casino Royale” or the Marvel film “Doctor Strange”), remarkably pulls it off, with a slimy, yet somehow sophisticated aura he brings to the role.

ON a more sombre note, after the tragic passing of legendary actor Chadwick Boseman, some of his work can be found on the streaming platforms.

Most recently, his role as a veteran in “Da 5 Bloods”, the Vietnam War thriller, can be found on Netflix. Also there is “Marshall”, where he plays a gifted young lawyer fighting against racial prejudice.

And, of course, in the role he described as the “honour of his career” he can be seen in “Black Panther” on Disney+, where he fights to inherit the throne of Wakanda, the hidden country of vast technological advancements that he is destined to rule.

Though his life was sadly cut so short, he lives on through his art.

More of Nick Overall on Twitter @nick_overall

By Helen Musa

THE newest exhibition upstairs at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, “Sidney Nolan and St Kilda: Memory and Modernism”, is a mixture of nostalgia and scholarship.

Reflecting CMAG’s intent to show different facets of the Nolan Collection, which it manages on behalf of the Australian government, the show features paintings, photos and records from the Foundation collection with four loans from the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne.

In a delightful twist bound to be popular with kids and their parents, the foyer holds Queenie the elephant from the Civic Merry-Go-Round, the very same carousel that Nolan rode on as a child in St Kilda, relocated to Canberra in 1974.

The decision made in the wake of the 2003 bushfires, when the collection was housed in a purpose-built gallery at Lanyon, was fraught with heartbreak, with Nolan’s widow Mary drawn into the controversy, as the Lanyon location in the bush – now almost a suburb – seemed a perfect match to the “Ned Kelly” series and the other works there.

It wasn’t just the bushfires. There was

the problem of visitation, with sometimes as few as 50 people visiting in a quarter.

But since relocating the collection first downstairs and then upstairs at CMAG, curator Virginia Rigney says it’s become possible to do children’s programs related to Nolan and to stage regular changeovers, providing exhibitions that will appeal to a broader audience and to bring to light information about the artist in new research and responses from contemporary artists.

When we caught up, Rigney was about to take off for a residency at the Boyd property, Bundanon, where she hoped to find connections between Nolan and Arthur Boyd, the brother of his wife Mary.

“Nolan is a gift to any curator,” Rigney says. “There were so many paths in his career because he was such a traveller, mentally and physically.”

This accounts for the variety in his subjects, from the Aussie digger to Dante’s “Inferno” to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” as well as the more familiar themes of bush Australia.

At the same time, she says, “there’s no point in making him the white man on the pedestal, as he had issues with women… it is possible to have a critical perspective.”

When people think about Nolan’s foundations, she says, they think about Wimmera or Kelly country, but it was

St Kilda, where he grew up and sought pleasure in the water and fun park, that was the most foundational.

In the show, film footage from the National Film and Sound Archive shows the rides he could have taken during his childhood.

“It’s all about movement and that exhilaration for me, he’s a very physical artist,” Rigney says, shown in his images of the Big Dipper, which are matched with some Albert Tucker photos of Luna Park.

In the four loans from the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne, the connection is made between Nolan and the other artists with whom he worked. He had not been to art school and followed his own instincts, but he knew the art world, seen in his black Matisse-like outlines in earlier work and in the ways he turned St Kilda, circa 1942, into the south of France, where he longed to go.

With the onset of World War II, his plans to travel to Paris were dashed and, stationed in the Victorian wheat belt, he painted both that landscape and the re-imagined fantastical landscapes of the Ferris wheel, the Big Dipper and the pier, which are captured in this show.

“Sidney Nolan and St Kilda: Memory and Modernism”, Canberra Museum and Gallery until March 13.

IT WAS the last Sunday of winter.

With COVID-19, many cafes and restaurants

Some haven’t re-opened on Sundays. Some are still focusing on just takeaway. Some were

bun and with house-made ‘stinger hot sauce’ ($21.75). The chicken was super delish and tender.

Also house-made was the tartar accompanying the fish and chips ($20.80), which was lovely and tangy and the batter on the fish light and crispy. It was a generous serve of fish (indeed all dishes were generous). The fish was perfect with a nice squeeze of fresh lemon.

The nourish bowl sounded amazing on the menu and oh-so-healthy – roast pumpkin, lentils, nigella seeds, cucumber, haloumi, tomato, avo, chicken and mojo rojo dressing ($20.70). The chicken, although sous vide, was dry and so was the haloumi.

2011 and it has a prime position on the square.

the name of the game with service levels very much in need of some tender loving care. But,

board which looked beautiful on the plate.

The zucchini puffs were fabulous and made our tastebuds dance ($19.50).

My burrito ($19.90) was packed with a generous amount of succulent beef and packed a punch on spice, which I love. It was served with sour cream which cooled matters down. My seasoned chips were cold.

The spiced Southern-fried chicken burger

The service started off badly and didn’t get much better. We waited and waited to be served and then we waited and waited for water and wine to arrive. I finally got up and asked what was going on. Our starter took ages to arrive and was served initially without side plates or cutlery, even though we specified we were sharing. We hadn’t finished the zucchini puffs when the mains bounced out. Twice we were interrupted by staff who had items to deliver but weren’t sure which table to take them to. We ordered a second bottle of the same wine but none was chilled. When we asked for ice we were told there was some in the wine bucket. And so it went on. We’ve been to Bittersweet many times over the years and never experienced anything quite like it. Must have been a very off day. Just as well the sun kept us warm

•

Taking steps to look good

HARD landscaping provides as much ambience to the garden as plants.

Many older homes have a boring approach to the front door with a couple of precast concrete steps.

This was the challenge in redesigning the front area for one of my clients.

Firstly, we got rid of the concrete steps and made the approach two ways; one set leading from the drive to the mini-patio area and the second leading on to the lawn.

The front door area was enlarged with sufficient space for a small table and chairs and the old tiles replaced with slate to provide a uniform appearance, a great improvement to two concrete slab steps.

A FREQUENT request from those with a very small backyard was how to provide an entertainment area other than in the home and to fit into the small space.

While in the photo, the illustrated gazebo was in a larger garden, it would be equally ideal in a small garden.

In one place a children’s sandpit was incorporated to be

covered with a board when the table and chairs were in place. Obviously, this is perfect to locate a barbeque.

RHODODENDRONS, azaleas and japonica camellias will all now have a mass of buds with some possibly even with a few early flowers. It’s a good time to give them a final feed before they burst into their floral splendor.

I only recommend organic plant food such as liquid Maxicrop Seaweed Plant Nutrient. With the magnificent rain over the last few weeks this will be absorbed directly to the root zone, unlike granular chemical plant food which the rain would have almost certainly washed away.

I say a final feed because once they flower there’s no point feeding them until autumn, when the next year’s buds are appearing. At feeding time I also recommend adding a heaped tablespoonful of Epsom salts or magnesium to each standard, nine-litre watering can of water.

DESPITE the recent hail and storms, it’s amazing how most citrus still produced a good crop of winter lemons.

When picking, always harvest the fruit with a short stalk rather than just pulling it off the bush.

With the weather warming, it’s also the ideal time to plant citrus. It loves all the sun it can get with a northerly aspect as ideal. Lemons, limes and cumquats all grow well here.

Oranges can be variable because the weather

doesn’t stay hot enough long enough for them to juice up and sweeten properly. They typically need the long, hot summers that are experienced in citrus-growing areas such Leeton in the Riverina or Bourke.

PROFESSIONAL lawn maintenance operatives, the people who core and dethatch lawns, hate extended periods of dry and rock-hard ground (which can damage their machinery).

At present, the ground is still moist from recent rain and the timing is perfect to core the lawn. In any event, I recommend this is done before summer. The difference it makes to water penetration and keeping the lawn lush and green can be amazing, combined of course with regular feeding. I have used Paul Howard for many years, call 0412 483846.

PUZZLES PAGE

Joanne Madeline Moore

Your week in the stars – September 14-20, 2020

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

FREE PUZZLES EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

Restless Rams are ready to rumble so all forms of physical exercise are favoured this week (the more vigorous and adrenalin-pumping, the better). You’re also full of enthusiasm about a work decision or a close relationship but don’t jump to hasty conclusions. Remember your ruler Mars is reversing through your sign until November 14, so take the time to check the facts thoroughly first. Impulsive behaviour now could just lead to unforeseen problems further down the track.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

The New Moon energises your entertainment, romance and friendship sector. So clear your throat, polish your maracas and find a captive audience as you perform like a pro (or appreciate the creative efforts of others). You’re also in the mood to fall in love or nurture close relationships, as you enjoy connecting with loved ones via shared hobbies and common interests, either in person or online. Friday is fabulous for taking an abstract idea and turning it into a productive project.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

This week impulsive Jupiter squares your patron planet Mercury. Just remember there’s a fine line between being spontaneous and successful; and being hasty and foolhardy. So aim to be a calculated risk-taker, rather than a restless scatterbrain (and take extra care when driving). Attached Twins – avoid getting stuck in a romantic rut! Do your best to put some passion and pizzazz back into the partnership. Unhappily single? Love could be as close as the boy or girl next door.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

Communication is the buzz word this week Crabs! So it’s a good time to improve close relationships and community connections as the New Moon, Pluto and Saturn boost your people skills. Plus do your best to capitalise on any lucky opportunities that come your way (especially involving education, social media or your peer group). But be careful you don’t make a hasty comment to a loved one (on the phone, in person or online) that could be misconstrued.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

With Venus visiting your sign, you’re in the mood for an extravagant spending spree. But are you living in Financial Fantasy Land? This week’s New Moon (in practical Virgo) motivates you to shake up your attitude to money, as you strive to be much more savvy, sensible and grounded. Inspiration for the week is from actress Jada Pinkett Smith (who turns 49 on September 18): “I do a lot of reading, meditating and praying to stay as grounded as I can in this crazy world."

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

This week the Sun and Moon link up in your sign, which boosts concentration and sharpens your eye for hidden details. So it’s a terrific time to study, solve a puzzle, uncover a secret or find an item that’s been lost. Enjoy exploring various options Virgo - and don’t worry if you make a mistake! Be inspired by birthday great, earthy movie star Sophia Loren: “It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.”

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

Mars is reversing through your partnership zone until November 14. So a close relationship could feel as if it’s stuck in limbo or even going backwards. Plenty of patience and deft diplomacy will get you through! Fortunately, the New Moon gives your fertile imagination a welcome boost so don’t waste the opportunity to put your creativity to productive use. Be inspired by movie legend (and birthday great) Lauren Bacall: “Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.”

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

An idea you have could really take off but you must understand and accommodate the needs of others, not just your own. And it’s imperative that you have a practical and viable plan. Wonderful words and pie-in-the-sky promises mean nothing if they’re not backed up with action. So, if you make a commitment – keep it; and if you set a goal – work hard to achieve it. The Sun/Pluto trine is also terrific for spreading powerful waves of influence within your local or online community.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Don’t sell yourself short Sagittarius! It’s your time to shine as the New Moon, Saturn and Pluto activate your professional zone. A friend or colleague is enthusiastic about a work project but check the facts, figures and finances thoroughly before you make an important career decision. On Thursday, think (long and hard) before you speak, otherwise you could end up putting your foot firmly in your mouth. Discipline and self-control will take you far on Friday.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

It’s a cracking week for capable Capricorns as the New Moon activates your aspirations zone. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and complications, it’s time to set some inspiring new goals for the future. The Sun also trines Saturn (your boss planet) so you’ve certainly got the passion and motivation to get things done. But don’t let your desire to control everything (and everyone) get out of control! Aim to be disciplined and organised, but not obsessively so.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Tuesday’s Venus/Uranus square boosts your bohemian and tempestuous side, as you do something unexpected involving relationships, family or friendships. Then Thursday’s New Moon lights up your lust and loot zone. So some amorous Aquarians can look forward to a hot new romance or a revitalised old one. It may also be time to start a savings account or tweak a joint financial arrangement. On Friday, slow down and examine an issue in a serious and sensible way.

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Courtesy of the New Moon, a complicated relationship (of the romantic, platonic or business variety) is set to improve. Pluto and Saturn will also help to transform the partnership and gradually get it back on more stable ground. But avoid getting involved in confusing scenarios that lead nowhere (especially involving work, finances or social media) and steer clear of unreliable people who make outlandish promises. Friday is fabulous for group activities, in person and online.

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2020

General knowledge crossword No. 750

4 Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Edmund ...? (6)

7 Name the attendant who collects and pays the money at a gambling table. (8)

8 Who was the second person to walk on the moon, Buzz ...? (6)

9 Name a noted West Indian batsman, Viv ... (8)

11 To marry, is to do what? (7)

13 Which pine tree produces valuable softwood timber? (7)

15 What is an organised series of boat races? (7)

17 A violent storm is known as a what? (7)

20 What is an edible snail? (8)

23 What, in history, was a mounted soldier, armed with a long shafted weapon? (6)

24 Which parts of golf links lie between the tees and putting greens? (8)

25 What do we call one’s seniors? (6)

1 Which acronym describes a cold? (4)

2 What do we call a person who writes novels, poems, etc? (6)

3 Name a more common term for a fibber. (4)

4 Which alloy consists essentially of copper and zinc? (5)

5 What are exhibitions of the skills of cowboys riding horses, steers, etc? (6)

6 What are notices of the date of a person’s death? (5)

9 Name the first steam locomotive. (6)

10 Due rewards are known as just what? (7)

12 Which term describes journeying, as a medieval knight in quest of adventure? (6)

14 Geronimo was the chief of which Indian tribe? (6)

16 What are slender missiles called? (6)

18 What is the sending of messages over the internet? (5)

19 Which term describes persons in a condition of servitude? (5)

21 What is a deep-fried finger of potato? (4)

22 Name a quartz consisting of bands that differ in colour. (4)

Sudoku hard No. 275

Home

Brigitte rang to discuss her home-office tax claim for working at home during COVID-19.

She said she understood that she could claim 80 cents an hour for the last financial year and wanted to claim it for the whole year as she had worked from home all year.

“As you might guess Brigitte, it's not that simple," I told her. "For the 2020 financial year there are two rates that apply for claiming home-office costs.

"For any employees directed to work from home, the rate that applies from March 1 is 80 cents an hour to cover all home office running costs. Prior to that the rate is 52 cents per hour but you can also claim all of your additional costs.

"You don't have to use these rates. You can choose to calculate your actual electricity and gas usage and then apportion those costs based on the floor area of the house and then the actual usage of that area remembering that if you have some form of central heating that apportionment is required over a 24-hour period.

"In addition, you can claim for depreciation on the items that you use including computers and furniture, cleaning and phone costs, which I will explain in more detail, internet costs, computer consumables and any other expenses that you incur relating to your work.

“You need to keep a diary of your home-office use. The best way of doing this is to record the hours worked and the work you performed in either your electronic diary or your paper diary for a typical month in the year this is then extrapolated across the year.

"Claiming phone costs is also complex. You need to calculate the exact percentage of work use. The best way of doing this is to keep a record of your work calls as a percentage of total calls for one month and apply this across the year. You need to do this every year.

"It can be difficult to calculate when you bundle your phone and data or when you get a lot of calls included in the plan at no charge. However, a percentage can always be worked out. The Australian Taxation Office provides a methodology for making these claims in one of the documents on its website.

"So even if your costs are bundled you can still calculate the percentage for both phone and internet.”

Brigitte said “that sounds complicated”

I said: “We do it regularly, so provided you have the invoices and have recorded your hours and calls, it's not too bad.

"I should add that if you can’t provide a diary your costs are limited to $50 for the year to cover both phone and internet.

"I generally find that 52 cents an hour covers my clients’ costs. However, the 80 cents-an-hour rate is different; it covers all costs, so if you choose to use it you cannot claim for the phone, the computer or the other costs I referred.

"If you don't have too many other costs, 80 cents an hour is probably fine, but when I have calculated it, if you have additional costs, you are better to claim 52 cents an hour plus the additional costs.”

If you need guidance on any tax claims contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd on 6295 2844.

Disclaimer

This column contains general advice, please do not rely on it. If you require specific advice on this topic please contact Gail Freeman or your professional adviser.