Upper Yarra
Tuesday, 9 April, 2024
Tree felled, resident clashes with council
An invitation to Yarra Junction for every man
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Mail A ‘wheely’ great day at Wandin North Primary School
See Real Estate liftout inside
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A Star News Group Publication
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Up against the world By Callum Ludwig
L-R: Stephen and Casey Cameron are training hard in the dojo to prepare for upcoming competitions. 399212
Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS
Wandin North siblings Stephen and Casey Cameron are continuing their ascension in competitive karate as they both prepare for some exciting tournaments. Both students of Wado Kai Australia Karate-Do in Mooroolbark, Stephen and Casey have each represented the state and country in karate and are looking to qualify for the World Championships in Italy in October. Stephen is heading off to the Oceania Championships in only a few weeks time and said he is pretty nervous this time around. “I’ll be the youngest of them all, as a fresh 18-year-old, I’ll be going straight to the seniors. Normally the seniors is 18 plus, but they give a subdivision called Under 21s between 18 and 21 but for Oceania, the seniors are normally selected rather than the new guys into Under 21s,” he said. Turn to page 28 for more
Sound of silence The Australian Government’s Standing Committee on Communication and the Arts opened an inquiry into the country’s live music industry in the wake of some of the largest music festivals being cancelled and some of the most iconic venues shutting down. Danny Grant was an organiser of the Hello Sunshine festival held at the Caribbean Park in Scoresby in March. He has also garnered a following of almost 40,000 people on his TikTok page ‘Danny-
Rants’ for his insight into Melbourne’s nightlife and music events over his two decades in the industry, having promoted, owned and ran nightclubs, music festivals and other events. Mr Grant said the need for the inquiry is well-founded, with Covid-19 having had a massive effect on the industry and with support having been offered for a year before the industry was left to fend for itself again. “We need more major investment in Australian artists, currently, we’ve got a bad dollar and we have to pull out more American or
worldwide artists to try to pull crowds or get interest and I think that can be attributed to the lack of support that a lot of music industry has had from the government currently in Australia,” he said. “It’s making those boundaries and challenges harder to pass over in order to get people to get off the couch and come to an event and the old, solely Australian lineup is almost becoming impossible to be able to facilitate to make sure you get a crowd.” In 2024 alone, well-established events like Groovin’ The Moo (poor ticket sales) and
Splendour in the Grass (‘unexpected events’) were cancelled ahead of time and the Pitch Music and Arts Festival was called off on the second day of the four-day event due to extreme heat. In the last decade, Falls Festival didn’t return in 2023 despite making an initial comeback from Covid-19 enforced cancellations and a bushfire emergency in 2019, FOMO was cancelled in 2020, Mountain Sounds in 2019, Stereosonic in 2016, Future Festival in 2015 and Big Day Out in 2014. Continued page 6
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By Callum Ludwig
We buy copper, brass, aluminium, etc . . . We Buy Steel Clancy Road, Mt Evelyn | www.evelynrecycling.com.au
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