City Hub 14 March 2019

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WestConnex dirty secrecy games

BY WENDY BACON Fresh evidence of poor air quality in St Peters has been deliberately hidden from parents and the community by WestConnex. This includes higher levels of fine particulate matter which is known to be dangerous to health, especially to that of small children and older people.

WestConnex quietly turned on eight monitors along the Stage 2 route between Kingsgrove and St Peters in December 2018. These monitors can be observed on the internet in real-time. Three of these monitors are in St Peters – one in Burrows Road, another on the corner of Church Street and Campbell Street, and the third on the grounds of St Peters school near Silver Street.

No-one told the parents of children attending St Peters school that realtime information about pollution is now available. Even the Air Quality Community Consultation Committee (AQCCC) has not been informed of where its representatives could find the readings. The AQCCC advises WestConnex about monitoring and air quality complaints.

Parents kept in the dark “Parents at St Peters Public School have been kept in the dark about the pollution we are living with every day. It’s particularly galling to know that they’ve been collecting data on air quality and not sharing it with us. And when WestConnex opens, we’ll have two unfiltered exhaust stacks within a few hundred metres of our school, and our community preschool,” said Dr Chris Ho, a parent and senior lecturer at UTS. After three months, all monitors show a rolling average of above 8

micrograms per cubic metre or 8 µg/ m3, which is the national annual limit.

The three St Peters monitors show an average of above 10 µg/m³.

Medical research has found that there is no safe level of PM 2.5, which has been linked to cancer and heart and lung disease.

any NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) monitor in 2018.

The Minister for WestConnex, Stuart Ayres, the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) and the EPA have repeatedly assured the community that the air now, and in the future, will be safe. In truth, St Peters children have spent five years of their lives in an area that is significantly more polluted than other parts of Sydney.

There is no safe level of PM 2.5, which has been linked to cancer and heart and lung disease Long-time resident Anne Picot submitted her strong concerns about the air quality assessment to the EIS process. She said, “We’re sick of being treated as second-class citizens when our health and safety are involved. The recent Parliamentary Inquiry reported substantial evidence of the adverse impact of pollution on our health so the government can’t pretend it doesn’t know. The Environment Protection Authority) EPA, RMS, NSW Health, the Education department and (Premier) Berejiklian must be held to account”.

The St Peters monitor that recorded the highest levels of PM 2.5 is on Church Street, close to homes, apartments, a childcare centre and the school. It is currently averaging over 11 µg/m³.

The monitor near Silver Street, at the back of the school, is averaging above 10 µg/m³, as is the third monitor on the WestConnex St Peters interchange.

The pollution levels are higher than anticipated in any year by the WestConnex Environmental Impact statements that were prepared by

Chris Ho and her daughter arriving at St Peter’s Public School. Photo: Chris Ho

contractors AECOM. The pollution levels are likely due to surface traffic and construction.

In this and other projects, NSW Planning has approved an approach that does not quantify construction impacts as it is assumed they can be “mitigated,” which is clearly not the case.

When asked about the high results, University of NSW professor and leading air quality researcher Guy Marks agreed that “the construction impacts do appear to be

significant and the issue should be addressed”.

After the new M5 tunnel opens, Stage 3 involves three more years’ construction in St Peters. Surface traffic will dramatically increase and an unfiltered stack will be opened.

The EIS anticipated that air quality will slightly worsen in most parts of St Peters after the tunnel opens.

This prediction is similar to the one recently exposed in Haberfield and Strathfield where monitors recorded higher PM 2.5 levels than

Long-term impacts underestimated These results have implications for the Stage 3 WestConnex and Camperdown, Annandale and Rozelle communities. As each EIS builds on the last, the construction impacts of massive construction sites and the long-term impacts will have been underestimated as well.

So far, the NSW EPA, NSW Planning and RMS have refused to accept responsibility for investigating the high levels of air pollution around WestConnex sites.

The Inner West Council has also been slow to act. In February, Greens Councillor Rochelle Porteous moved a motion that Council write to the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition and seek a meeting with the EPA. Mayor Darcy Byrne and the rest of the Labor and Liberal Councillors did not support the motion, which was narrowly lost. The Greens and the “Coalition against WestConnex” are calling for a halt to Stage 3 and a reassessment of the risks, especially in light of reports that satellite imagery shows subsidence from WestConnex is greater and extends over a wider area that predicted.

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BY MICHEL HITCH Following the deaths of five people at NSW music festivals since September 2018, and the cold fact that drug-induced deaths have now reached their highest number in 20 years, the matter of reforming drug policy in Australia has reached a critical point for many.

The Greens MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, is one of those people.

The Greens support a harm minimisation approach for drug use, and strongly oppose the state government’s recent “no drug use” policy.

This policy is embedded in the “War on Drugs” mentality, which has demonstrated itself to be as effective as the “abstinence is awesome” approach to sex education.

Health and safety a top priority Ms Leong told the City Hub that the current laws do not match community values, noting that health and safety should be the top priority in government approaches to drug use.

“We need better measures to recognise the reality that people take drugs in our community and what we need to do is make sure that they’re safe when they’re doing it,” she said.

“We also need to make sure that they’re not punished, when all they need is help.

“What we know is that for too long some politicians and political parties have been exploiting the issue of drug use in our community as an excuse to get tough on “law and order”, when a more constructive and safer approach is better education and better health care support.”

Ms Leong said that zero tolerance laws are nurturing an unhealthy relationship between the public and the police, especially among marginalised groups.

With the NSW State Election around the corner, the harm minimisation. Photo: Wikicommons

“What we know is that this kind of tough policing actually prevents people from reporting serious crimes involving sexual violence and other kinds of homophobic or racial attacks,” she said.

“We know that people who are marginalised, and who have less power and influence, are the ones who suffer disproportionately when these tough law and order approaches are implemented in our society.

“I have serious concerns that we could see aggressive policing through the use of sniffer dogs and strip searches in public places. These not only have a direct effect on the people involved, but they also breach fundamental human rights.

They also have the regrettable effect of allowing people to see police as a force for punishment rather than as a source of help.

“We need to see community policing that protects the interests of the community, not policing that is there to implement a political agenda being pushed by the government of the day.”

The Uniting Church’s service arm, “Uniting”, is fighting alongside the Greens in separating drug use and criminality. It launched its “Fair Treatment Campaign” in October 2018, a campaign that aims to reform criminal drug policy in Australia.

With over 8,000 overdoses, 13,000 referrals, and zero deaths, the harm minimisation impact of the MSIC cannot be denied In a statement to City Hub, a Uniting Church spokesperson said that the evidence supporting harm minimisation was overwhelming, and that health-based efforts such as the MSIC have had an overwhelmingly positive impact in the community. city hub 14 MARCH 2019

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Newtown electorate profile

By ALLISON HORE The state election is now only two weeks away and the race for the NSW parliament is on its final leg. And with the polling margins between Labor and Liberal drawing ever closer, those seats currently held by crossbenchers will be the ones to watch.

One such seat is Newtown, which stretches from Surry Hills and Redfern in the east to Lewisham in the west.

Although it has existed since 1904, it was merged and then abolished in the 1990s.

For the 2015 election, the seat was recreated and Greens member Jenny Leong has held it since then. Ms Leong moved to Newtown in 1996 when she was just 19 years old, but her Aunty Norma. Photo: Supplied as advocating for accessibility upgrades career as a human rights campaigner to train stations and campaigning with Amnesty International took her against WestConnex. around the world.

The Liberal government has already had eight years and look what they’ve done  Before entering the NSW parliament, Ms Leong sat on the University of Sydney Senate and was president of the university’s Postgraduate Association. She also unsuccessfully ran for the federal division of Sydney in 2004 and 2007.

During her time in parliament Ms Leong has been particularly focused on rental rights, she tells City Hub, as well

Minor parties nominate candidates In the 2015 state election it was, predictably, a Labor candidate who ended second to Ms Leong, with 30.8% of the primary vote to Ms Leong’s 45.6%. The Liberal party received only 17.8% of the primary vote.

With neither major party holding the seat it’s not a surprise to see that many other minor parties are also contending for the seat. The Sustainable Australia party, Animal Justice party, Small Business party and Keep Sydney Open have all nominated candidates for the seat.

City Hub spoke to Aaron Le Saux, candidate for the Small Business

and a lack of social housing that is the biggest issue facing the electorate. And she has personal experience in this. Last year she was sent into a housing crisis by rental increases on her Erskineville home.

But Ms Leong, who is the housing spokeswoman for the Greens and has regularly spoken at rallies on the issue, says that it was Labor policy changes which allowed the state of the housing economy to get to the point it is at.

Jenny Leong. Photo: Supplied

Party, late last year. He said it was the difficulties his Surry Hills business experienced as a result of the Light Rail construction that inspired him to run.

“Crown Street was epic. It was one of the best places in the Sydney scene and having a 50% drop in foot traffic for a business is absolutely devastating,” he said.

Of all the contenders it’s Labor candidate Norma Ingram who poses the biggest threat to the incumbent. Ms Ingram is a Wiradjuri who grew up in the area, and has been active in the political scene for most of her life. This is her first run for office.

“We’ve really been represented for such a long time by males, nonAboriginal males. I’m really proud that in federal government we’ve got some

Aboriginal people represented. But we need more in NSW,” she tells City Hub. “We need that representation of Aboriginal people for our voice. I don’t want other people talking on my behalf as an Aboriginal person.”

In her career, Ms Ingram has been chief executive of both the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and the NSW State Aboriginal Land Council. She has also facilitated training programs at the University of Technology Sydney and was the senior Aboriginal co-ordinator at TAFE. She also served as an advisor to Sydney City Council on Indigenous issues, but says she wants to be the one “making the policy,” not advising those who do, and is proud that Labor has chosen her to run for Newtown.

For her it’s housing affordability

No public housing sell-offs “Under the previous Labor government, we saw sell offs of public housing and that opened the door for the Liberals and Nationals to sell off even more. The Greens are committed to having no sell offs,” she says.

Though analysis says that Ms Leong is safe in her seat, she isn’t taking the campaign for granted. But Ms Ingram says she has had a lot of support on the campaign trail and feels confident about her chances.

She says that the only way to ensure the Coalition doesn’t form a majority in parliament is to vote for Labor.

“Make your vote count. There’s either going to be a Labor government or a Coalition government. The Liberal government has already had eight years and look what they’ve done,” she says.

Ms Leong says she would “rule out ever supporting” a Coalition government, but says it would be up to parties like the Greens to provide checks and balances to a Labor government.

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Powerhouse move rejected

BY KYLIE WINKWORTH The Legislative Council’s long-running Inquiry into Museums and Galleries in NSW wrapped up, recommending that the government not proceed with the controversial relocation of the Powerhouse Museum (PHM).

Instead the Powerhouse should be restored to its former glory, and the government should build a new cultural institution in Parramatta.

The two-and-half-year inquiry, one of the longest in Parliamentary history, received nearly 250 submissions that were overwhelmingly in support of keeping the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo and developing a new museum in Parramatta.

The Report’s conclusions and six recommendations were the only ones that could be drawn from the expert submissions, evidence and analysis of the secret business case papers that the Government tried to hide from public scrutiny.

The final Inquiry Report lays bare the twists and turns in the government’s plans and rationale for the relocation of the Powerhouse.

Chair of the Inquiry Robert Borsak identified the confusing public narratives about what the move will actually achieve, what will be built in Parramatta and what will occur with the Ultimo site.

With the dry understatement that has characterised his chairmanship, he noted that, “It has been extremely challenging for this committee to ascertain what the true driving forces and reasons behind this policy decision are”. Indeed.

Flimsy, confected and unsubstantiated case Committee members deserve a medal for wading through the 4,500 pages of documents that reveal the flimsy, confected and unsubstantiated case for “moving” the PHM.

In fact, the new museum at Parramatta would be just 21,200m2, which is half the size of the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo.

And the new museum’s exhibition space would also be only half the size of the Powerhouse, raising doubts about how many of the PHM’s priceless transport and engineering objects would actually be displayed at Parramatta.

The Inquiry probed the failure of the MAAS Trust to defend the interests of the museum and the NSW community against the NSW government’s naked grab for the museum’s assets.

The Trust has become a meek, obsequious, fawning vassal of government and property developers

The neglected Powerhouse has run out of steam.

Photo: Lawrence Gibbons

Reading all the business case papers was more than the President of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) Trust could manage. In evidence to the Inquiry last November, Professor Glover seemed confused about the massive 68-storey tower planned for the Parramatta museum site.

He was also wrong about the government’s plans to shrink the Powerhouse, suggesting that the Parramatta museum would be bigger.

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city hub 14 MARCH 2019

Dr Nick Pappas, former president of the MAAS Trust, explained the board’s obligation to protect the museum’s long-term interests for the people of N SW. A statutory trust is not a vehicle for government intervention or influence. The museum’s board has responsibility for the control and management of the museum’s property and the long-term oversight of the museum’s interests. Regrettably, as he told the Inquiry, “we have watched as the Trust has instead become a meek, obsequious, even fawning vassal of government and of property developers.”

Dr Pappas criticised the Trust’s failure to interrogate the business case for the museum’s move, and the appointment of new trustees to a board now dominated by property interests and advocates for the destruction of the museum.

“Nothing betrays the government’s cynical view of the Trust’s role than these controversial and, I would say, brazen appointments. In my view the government could not have acted with more disdain towards the Powerhouse’s legacy and its place in the cultural landscape of Sydney.”

A tawdry side-show One of the Inquiry’s most important recommendations is to establish a Select Committee on governance in the arts and culture.

More devastating disclosures of governance and management failures at the Powerhouse came with the release of transcripts of in camera evidence to the Inquiry. Witness B described a senior management dominated by careerists from art museums, with little understanding of the collection or interest in the PHM’s core family audience.

Witness C revealed more about the failed fashion ball and the drunken antics of senior museum staff at the after-party in the director’s office. The ball cost $388,000 and raised just $78,000. Taxpayers covered the shortfall of $215,000.

This is more than just a tawdry sideshow. The government’s business case for the Parramatta museum expects the same management team that ran the fashion ball at a huge loss to raise significant sponsorship to finance the new museum.

In the year no expense was spared on the fashion ball, MAAS posted a $15m deficit.

Important objects were moved out of the Powerhouse to make way for the ball. Last year the museum spent more on decorations for the fashion ball than on acquisitions for the collection. Does this sound like a trust fit to manage a $1.5b museum project?

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Randwick ambulance “super” station

Mascot’s NSW Ambulance Station. Photo: Vanessa Lim

BY VANESSA LIM NSW Liberal Government plans to build a Randwick ambulance superstation and downgrade surrounding eastern suburb stations to Paramedic Response Points (PRP) has sparked concern for possible delayed response times.

Despite reassurance from NSW Health that response times won’t be affected, critique from the Health Services Union NSW argues that a centralised super station disadvantages locals furthest from their superstation.

HSU NSW Secretary Gerald Hayes said, “The superstation will centralise paramedics in one location and without an increase in resources response times will blow out”.

But NSW Health said the Randwick superstation would be close to the main roads of the eastern suburbs to ensure response times targets would be met.

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Superstation’s centralised placement A NSW Health spokesperson said, “The Randwick superstation will be situated on the corner of Darley Road and King Street, adjacent to the TAFE NSW Randwick campus.”

When constructed, the Randwick ambulance superstation will be where most staff stay on standby until called to a PRP during their shift.

A NSW Health spokesperson said, “The superstation will sit at the heart of the Randwick Paramedic Response Network and is where paramedics will start and end their shift.

The Paramedic Response Network is designed to ensure paramedics can respond to incidents as efficiently as possible; the new superstation is strategically being built close to the major roads of Alison Road and Anzac Parade for easy access to multiple parts of the Eastern suburbs”.

Though the Randwick superstation’s centralised placement near the major eastern suburb roads allows for easy access, this could also lead to

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problems during peak traffic.

Gerald Hayes said, “You’ll have paramedics covering a much larger network and in an area such as the south east they’re going to hit traffic and congestion whichever [way] they go. For a cardiac arrest patient, an extra five minutes or 10 minutes in an ambulance is a long time.”

Ambulance stations at Maroubra, Mascot and Bondi would be turned into PRPs. A NSW Health spokesperson said, “PRPs are stations that continue operations, but act as a “spoke” in the “hub-and-spoke” model that is the Paramedic Response Network. These spokes are smaller stations that will be supported by the hub of Randwick and is where paramedics will start and end their shifts.

“Based on operational need, paramedics may be deployed to a PRP during their shift. Operational demand will continue to be met with positive response times in this area with the added support of PRPs in the Eastern Suburbs.”

But extra PRP support around the eastern suburbs would only be met if demand was high enough. The extra travel staff need to do to reach PRPs would

Our job is to save patients’ lives and in an emergency situation every second counts add time to patients furthest away from superstations in cases of emergency. Gerald Hayes said, “Our foremost job is to save patients’ lives and in an emergency situation every second counts”.

Nine other ambulance superstations at Blacktown, Bankstown, Kogarah, Liverpool, Northmead, Penrith, Caringbah, Haberfield and Artarmon have been added since the first NSW ambulance superstation plans were first introduced in mid-2016.

A NSW Health spokesperson said, “Despite

an increase in Triple Zero (000) patient demand, in 2017/18, NSW Ambulance achieved an average response time of 7.5 minutes to the most urgent patients (P1A) against a target of 10 minutes.”

While the highest priority patients have had consistent response times around 7.5 minutes since 2013, the “Emergency” classified patients in NSW – ranked 3rd highest in priority, has increased response times from 17.6 minutes in 2016 to 19.6 minutes in 2018. This 11.4% increase in response time may in part be attributed to the increase of triple zero calls in 2017/18.

NSW Ambulance lacks resources NSW Ambulance still lacks enough resources to keep up with demand.

The usage of the nine other super stations in NSW may have also increased response time.

NSW Health said, “In the Sydney zone, which encompasses the Randwick, Bondi and Mascot sites, NSW Ambulance achieved an average response time of 6.7 minutes to the most urgent patients against the same target.

In the Sydney South Eastern sector, where the Maroubra site is located, NSW Ambulance achieved an average response time of 6.9 minutes to the most urgent patients against the target time of 10 minutes.

However, the current response times may be increased when the Randwick ambulance superstation is finoshed.

A NSW Health spokesperson said, “The community can be assured that NSW Ambulance is committed to providing the best pre-hospital clinical care to all patients across the region and throughout the state even at times of high demand.”

But with the increase of triple zero calls, NSW Ambulance still needs necessary resources to keep up with demand.

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city hub 14 MARCH 2019

Another Villawood death

BY JANE SALMON Another young man, Milad El Jabieri, died in Villawood Detention Centre on Monday 4 March 2019. He was from Iraq. He had a “cousin” in Sydney.

Milad El Jabiri and his family member had been refugees together since 5 years of age but had become estranged over time.

Refugee advocate Fabia Claridge, with whom Milad lived for eight months, said it was clear that whatever problems he had, he was very lovingly and carefully raised.

“It is very hard to imagine the distress of a mother who has not seen her beloved son for over a decade,” she added. “Imagine that it was your son dead by his own hand in a strange country. I cannot imagine the agony.”

Milad’s body may be returned to Iraq to meet with family custom ... but the dangers of relatives briefly leaving and re-entering Australia as refugees are many, as in the case of footballer Hakeen Al Araibi.

Addiction and mental illness Milad had attempted suicide when previously in Villawood. Addiction and mental illness were a part of his final weeks. Other Villawood detainees housed in the LaTrobe Section observed that he had hardly left his room.

He had been to court at 2pm on the day of his death.

Milad is not the first and he will not be the last.

In late January, a man from Sierra Leone called Musa also died in Villawood under similar circumstances.

In each case, refugee advocates heard about it before the police did.

And before that ... there was a death (of Sarwan Aljhelie) at Yongah Hill Detention Centre near Perth.

Another man in Villawood attempted suicide within 30 hours of Milad’s death.

A 27-year-old Afghan asylum seeker has been taken to hospital following his attempt to hang himself in the high security Blaxland compound of the Villawood Detention Centre (Thursday 7 March).

He was found around 5.00 am. His present condition is unknown.

He has been held in detention since 2012.

“The terrible toll of indefinite detention cannot be ignored any longer. The government is deliberately using immigration detention to inflict extra-judicial penalties. The suicides and attempted suicides that we are seeing in detention are the inevitable consequences of those policies,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

In 2015, a quarter of all detainees attempted selfharm. In a place like Villawood, that would mean that more than one hundred took that step.

Protests in the MITA and Yongah Hill detention centres against long-term detention and the Villawood’s prison like fortress. Photo:The Conversation arbitrary ministerial powers have been continuing for over 50 days. Milad had been part of the 2010 runners and scammers in with asylum seekers of rooftop protests at Villawood. every race. We offer no cultural sensitivity and few interpreters. Access to legal support has been cut back, too. The government is deliberately Then, if a detainee gets a bridging visa, we using immigration detention to starve them. Let them live in the streets!

If they are in community detention, they have inflict extra-judicial penalties no visa. They are very lightly supported by the Milad had been living in the community for government. some years. He had problems. He was unwell.

He had just been told he had no hope of staying Women must queue for sanitary pads in Australia. His entire decade long ordeal as an If they receive a bridging visa, they mostly asylum seeker was for nothing. He would be sent need to fend for themselves or rely on charity back. as the receipt of work rights is no guarantee of Sadly, when asylum seekers flee danger, war or work because of the language barrier, lack of trauma, we add more. child care (no childcare subsidy), no work skills, Visa overstayers and asylum seekers are no local work experience. Very few receive SRSS detained in crowded, chaotic centres that make (Immigration funded support). jails look luxurious. We throw foreign-born drug The meagre sums ($75 per week) made available

to community-based refugees from charities are only provided on the condition that no other income or resource stream exists. We even make women queue up for sanitary pads.

There are also repeated legislative attempts to ban phones in detention, only ever postponed by court injunction. I guess it is handy for Dutton or Scomo if detainees can’t call their lawyer ...

Australian Border Force makes their visitors apply in writing days in advance. Guards tell visitors off for being kind or generous. Food can only be brought in supermarket packets. Home cooking is vetoed.

We need a Royal Commission into all forms of Immigration detention onshore and off.

Most refugees are just brave, decent folk people with a ton of initiative trying to find a bearable way to live. The rest are flawed people, just like us.

And that is their right, too.

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Opinion

Tweedle dumb or Tweedle dumber?

By Peter Hehir Is anything really going to change on the 23rd of this month?

Let’s assume Glad the Impaler gets up and we are yet again subjected to another four years of her neoconservative brutality.

Everything that hasn’t been sold is then put up for sale, forgoing any pretence of morality or of acting in the public good. Public assets segue into private property.

The entire State becomes a private entity, run purely for profit. Even the prisons.

The public service is further eviscerated with the few remaining public assets given over to the multinational corporates. The screws are turned even tighter. Fiscal austerity becomes canonised and the user pays ethos is elevated to saintly status.

The Impaler and her predecessor’s litany of cock ups warrants examination. It’s pretty impressive. Not. Council amalgamations, the greyhound debacle, stadiums, tollroads, TAFE, poles and wires, hospitals, aged care and the Land Titles Office privatisation, unfiltered exhaust stacks, hi-rise - high density, coal seam gas, fish kills, the Opera House screen show, Yarra Bay cruise ship terminal, new coal fired power stations, the death of Sydney’s night life – except for the casino of course – the Powerhouse farce and the real fuglies like Urban Growth, the stacked Infrastructure NSW and the Greater Sydney Commission, to name but a few.

We could go on for days…

With the willing connivance of the Murdoch press, any pretence of acting in the public interest is swept away. Any alternate view is muzzled. In the way that it always was and the way it seems that it will always be. The pigs at the trough have free rein to urinate on us all from a great height.

Following in the footsteps of The Vandal, everything that she touches turns to shit.

or abused alcohol or drugs, if their parents weren’t dysfunctional, then they wouldn’t be in this mess.

They are the failures. Not the system…

Then, on the flip side, perhaps Daley and his apparatchik can manage to scrape together the numbers.

They should be able to, because Berejiklian, as CoS councillor Jess Miller so eloquently said at the recent Fix NSW march, “has managed to piss everybody off”.

But is there really much difference between them? Can the ALP say that they are truly free of the stench of corruption that hangs over them?

Are they really an alternative? Or are they just a paler, rougher imitation of the neocons?

Do they support tollroads? You bet they do. Just look at the Western Harbour Tunnel - aka Stage 4 of WestConnex. They say they oppose it but won’t admit that 40% of the WHT is already approved and is going to be built.

They refuse to tear up the contracts. They refuse to filter the exhaust stacks. Stacks that import, concentrate and release carcinogenic exhaust emissions that both parties and the RMS lie about by saying that they are “the world’s best practice”.

The frenzy of vote buying is in full swing.

Promises and largesse are dispensed like smarties as tweedle dumb and tweedle even dumber John Tenniel’s illustration of Tweedledum & Tweedledee from Alice in Wonderland electioneer their way around the State.

The marginalised among us, the poor and the resources, jobs, education and any hope of ever Is this what politics has sunk to here in NSW? old, become a forgotten people, with no voice, achieving any sort of equality. And this in their Where is the true democracy? The government drowned out by the roar of economic rationalism. country. The lucky country. The land that we took that acts in the interests of us all; that puts the In the minds of the ruling junta the people of by force and then spent 231 years denying that we public good above all else? the western suburbs are geographically morphed stole it; saying that they just gave it up willingly.

If the people of this State are to be truly beyond the Great Dividing Range and are Any pretence of a social net, a safeguard to catch represented, then this can only happen if a banished to the inland desert. those who’ve fallen through the cracks is finally minority Labor government is formed with the A wasteland where the insects, the rivers and dismantled. The finger is pointed. Because those progressive independents and the Greens; thereby the fish are dying. Where in spirit the west joins all who have failed have only themselves to blame. keeping the worst excesses of the ALP in check of the others who have been disenfranchised; the If they’d paid attention at school, or hadn’t married and relegating Berejiklian and her cronies to the aboriginal communities struggling without water, abusive husbands or had children outside of marriage cheap seats.

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FEATURE

Angela Vithoulkas: Small Business Party

By JOHN MOYLE Driven by mistrust of governments and rising anxiety, voters are increasingly giving support to minority parties around the globe.

This trend has also played out in Australian politics since the early 2000s, with voter support for minority parties rising to around 20 per cent in the cities and 30 per cent in outer metropolitan and regional areas.

In NSW, around nine per cent of voters have indicated that they will vote for an independent party that is not Greens or One Nation.

Figures such as these are spurring Angela Vithoulkas on as she fields her fledgling Small Business Party in the coming NSW state elections.

Red tape is hampering small business start-ups The Small Business Party is placed above the line in Group R in the Upper House ballot, and while the party has not issued any preferences, it does not expect to receive any as they aim to keep all the bastards honest.

“It’s brought home to me just how out of touch the mainstream political parties are with their local voters,” Angela Vithoulkas, founder, Small Business Party said.

“They stand there issuing motherhood statements and they aren’t addressing the issues that are affecting the locals who are crying out for a plain English conversation.”

Having grown up in a small business environment, Angela left school early to start her own small business before successfully

running twice as a City of Sydney Councillor where she has been a strong advocate for residents and businesses since.

“Everyone said I couldn’t do it the first time, and then they said I couldn’t do it a second time,” Angela Vithoulkas said.

compliance issues, with this equating to $58K a year in unpaid wages.

“Red tape is made up of compliance burdens that successive governments go out of their way to install,” Angela Vithouklas said.

“Big business can cope with compliance because they can afford to pay specialists to deal with it.”

Ms Vithoulkas added that red tape is also hampering small business start-ups as it can take up to 18 months of state and local government paperwork before they can begin operations.

“We also don’t believe that there should be 6,000 pages of compliance being introduced by government each year.”

36% of small business located in regions

Operating her Vivo Cafe in George Street while under the threat of the light rail, Angela first unfurled her Small Business Party in the now infamous 2018 Wentworth by-election.

Her self-funded campaign made inroads in the crowded field that eventually saw the once safe Liberal seat fall to Kerryn Phelps, also an Independent.

“If anybody had been paying attention to the Wentworth by-election and the votes I got, and had the Liberal Party been more astute and asked for my preferences, that could have changed the outcome of that by-election,” Angela Vithoulkas said.

It is surprising that no party has lobbied this economic and social sector before when considering its importance and depth.

Across the state there are over 730,000 small businesses comprising single traders to low number employers employing almost 50 per cent of the total NSW workforce.

Over 36 per cent of all small businesses are located in regional NSW and 32 per cent of all operators were born overseas.

Construction, professional services, rental hiring and real estate make up the majority of small businesses by percentage, with professional service being another important sector.

“For the Small Business Party it is about the journey and for every small business owner

Disgust with mainstream parties

While high energy prices and the environment are also high on the Small Business Party’s agenda, it is free Out of Hours School Care, or OOHSC, that Vithoulkas sees as being a major policy.

“Women are spending up to $300 a week on OOHSC and it is hard for anyone to run a small business 9 to 5 when school hours are 8 to 3,” Ms Vithoulkas said.

From crowded headquarters in Sydney’s CBD, the party, with a small group of paid staff and Small Business Party founder Angela volunteers, is fielding lower house candidates Vithoulkas with early supporters.

Ciaran O’Brien in Coogee, Fiona Douskou for Photo: Ciaran O’Brien Sydney, Aaron Le Saux for Newtown and Glen Fredericks in Newcastle, while Ms Vithoulkas to know that we finally have representation is contesting the Upper House. geared for them,” Angela Vithoulkas said.

“We are trying to target all the different areas “We have done a lot of travelling across NSW, campaigning in places such as Wagga Wagga, of small business that are fed up with their compliance burden and fed up with the lack of Newcastle, Kiama and Bringelly,” she said.

With the electorates’ growing disgust with progress with small business advocacy.” mainstream parties dictating and not listening, this is Across NSW, small businesses on average one small party that could make a difference. spend 14 hours a week dealing with

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Alfie Gledhill, Beth Daly, Felix Jozeps, Shameer Birges, Kyle Kaczmarczyk. Photo: Heidrun Lohr

Written by Maryam Master and based on the best-selling novel by David Walliams this play, which has a talented cast of five, explores important social issues and should be great entertainment for all young families.

The play centres on a young boy named Joe whose father is a billionaire and how he learns to treat friends, bullies and how money ultimately doesn’t bring happiness.

“Because it’s for kids a

musical may sometimes be too hard for them to follow, so this ‘play with songs’ allows us to have more simplicity in the story and still have that upbeat nature of musical theatre,” explained Nicholas Starte, who plays the titular role.

There are many important messages resonated in this play for children and parents alike.

“How we’ve been brought up influences how we treat people. The biggest problem for Joe is that his dad throws

Grounded

This March at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre, George Brant’s stunning psychology thriller Grounded will take to the stage. A one-woman show that follows the story of an American fighter pilot, forced to stop flying when she falls pregnant unexpectedly, Grounded is an emotionally charged piece of theatre. With an ability to match her male

co-workers beer for beer and flight for flight, sole performer Emily Havea’s character is sent on a spiralling journey after having no choice but to stop flying.

“It’s pretty intense…but I’ve never been in a cast of one. It’s super empowering, it can be super lonely, it’s a lot of things all together in one. There’s nowhere to hide!” said Emily.

Her character is set to dominate the stage with a sense of vigour and thrilling empowerment. “The character is very much dominating in a very male-centric workforce…it’s a balance between her becoming a mother and being a boss-ass bitch,” Emily explained, going on to say, “I think what audiences will leave with is sort of an appreciation for how hard that balance is.”

Under the direction of Dom Mercer, Grounded is due to take audiences on a turbulent emotional journey, with Emily’s solo performance a stunning and riveting one.

“The play is really written so excellently…it’s such an excellent piece of writing,” said Emily, “it’s going to be beautiful. I think all the elements that I’ve seen coming together are going to play out in a really excellent piece of theatre.” (MB) Until Mar 23. Riverside Theatres, Corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta. $37-$49+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.riversideparramatta.com.au

a&e

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city hub 14 MARCH 2019

money at everything so that’s all he knows – he throws money at problems and when that doesn’t work, he doesn’t have any other options. How parents interact with the world is how they’re going to be teaching their kids how to interact with the world, as kids will invariably start to mimic.”

Starte is adamant that even the youngest of children should resonate to the themes in this play.

“The nice thing is there’s so much fun and silliness in the show, but it all leads to these nice deep lessons. I think from a young age as soon as you start dealing with people outside your family group and even within your family group, everybody learns these lessons and it’s useful for kids at that age to start learning things like empathy and compassion.”

(MMo) Mar 15-17.The Seymour Centre, City Rd & Cleveland Street, Chippendale. $39+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.seymourcentre.com

12 STAGE 14 SCENE 15 Sounds 15 SCREEN

REVIEW: Salome

This is as extreme as opera gets! Richard Strauss’s Salome goes to the very edges of human experience, encompassing the lewd, erotic, forbidden, sanctimonious, deranged, macabre, grotesque.

And yet it is also humorous and entertaining.

This Opera Australia production directed by Gale Edwards has wit, imagination, and daring, and is certainly not for anyone with a feeble constitution. The Biblical story of Herod’s stepdaughter, Salome, infamous for requesting - and receiving - the head of John The Baptist on a silver platter, has been an inspiration for many creative minds over time, including Oscar Wilde whose play, Salome, is the basis for the libretto here.

Lise Lindstrom is spellbinding in the central role; vocally riveting, but also intriguing in her physicality and emotional expression. It’s a uniquely demanding role, full of vacillating passion, and a final

repartee. Alexander Krasnov is imposing as Jokanaan (John The Baptist) while still showing believable vulnerability.

The set is very clever, establishing mood and making visual commentary. A backdrop grid of animal carcasses intimates decay and morbidity.

At the rear is a long table occupied by guests at a feast, eating and drinking and separated from centre stage by a ribbon curtain. At the centre is a raised, circular platform, surrounded by steps. In the middle of this is a dimly lit grill the trap door to the cell in which Jokanaan is being held captive and from which his Photo: Prudence Upton voice ascends at given gruesome 10 minutes or so of moments. intimacy with a very real Audience response is unified looking head. The interpretation and palpable; all the jokes land of Salome’s iconic Dance Of The and you can hear a pin drop Seven Veils is genius (it’s too during the final scenes. much of a spoiler to say any Followed by a standing ovation. more). Andreas Conrad as (RB) Herod and Jacqueline Dark as Until Mar 26. Opera House, Herodias, display a comic-level Bennelong Point, Sydney. of disdain for each other and $47-$361+b.f. Tickets & Info: have some wonderfully vitriolic www.opera.org.au

Inside Making A Murderer And The Staircase The incredible success of the two Netflix series, The Staircase and Making A Murderer, proves that people never get tired of hearing a good crime story. So popular were these shows which focused on the judicial process in two highly publicised murder cases - that the lawyers involved in each have been invited to share their experiences on stage as part of an international tour. David Rudolf was the defence lawyer for Michael Peterson, the author accused of murdering his wife who was found in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase in their home in 2001.Asked why he believes true crime is so popular, Rudolf says: “I think it’s the same thing that attracts people to craning their necks when there’s a car accident.

There’s a macabre fascination with something that appears to be a very horrible situation.”

Although the Peterson trial has

Arts Editor: Jamie Apps For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au and don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter at @AltMediaSydney

concluded, argument and speculation continue and there are still many unanswered questions.

“It was not your normal criminal case, you know.

Normally when there’s a death and a criminal case and a murder charge, the issue is ‘who did it’ […] In this case, it wasn’t a ‘who dunnit’ it was a ‘what happened?’” explains Rudolf.

It’s a case that has more twists, mazes, and stairs to nowhere than an Escher drawing.The evidence was mostly speculative and circumstantial, with a heavy reliance on blood spatter analysis that later turned out to be deliberately false.A previous death in Germany, and Peterson’s concealed bisexuality were considered evidence, but there’s one thing that comes up repeatedly at audience events: “Well people really want to know about the ‘owl theory’, so at events, I spend some time

David Rudolf

Billionaire Boy

going through what the circumstantial evidence is that could support the ‘owl theory’.”

As for whether we will ever really know the truth, Rudolf doesn’t think so.

“I honestly don’t think there’s a single piece of evidence that would determine it one way or another.” (RB) Mar 21. Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Rd, Newtown. $74.55-$156.10+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.enmoretheatre.com.au

Contributors: Emily Shen, Irina Dunn, Jade Morellini, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Olga Azar, Rita Bratovich, Sarah Pritchard, Shon Ho, Riley Hooper, Erika Echternach, Joseph Rana, John Moyle, Madison Behringer, Allison Hore, Renee Lou Dallow, Renee Dallow, Alannah Maher.

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REVIEW: Exit The King

Chippen Street Theatre, hidden away in a back lane in Chippendale on the northern side of Cleveland Street, has bravely taken on Ionesco’s absurdist farce, Exit The King, written in 1962.

At a time when he thought he was going to die, Ionesco wrote this work that explores the metaphysical question of the best way to die.

When King (Leof Kingsford-Smith) is told his domain is disintegrating and he is going to die, he refuses to accept his impending death.

He has an entourage helping him along the way. They include his first wife, the imperious Queen Marguerite (Kirsty Jordan) and the doctor (Gerry Sont).

His first wife, the every-tearful Queen Marie

(Clay Crighton), attempts to reassure him he is not dying and all will be well.

Around these raging royal emotions is the eccentric maid, played with John Cleese-like spasticity by Alison Windsor, who provides much of the visual wit in this production.

Josef Schneider plays the role of the guard.

Director Anna Jahjah wrings maximum mania from this talented cast, whose ensemble work was terrific.

The circle marked out on the floor of the stage marked the limits of the characters’ world, and their frenetic marching around the edges serves to emphasise the little world they really inhabit.

If I have one comment to make, it is that the King’s costume – shorts and t-shirt – seemed unnecessarily informal.

Chippen Street Theatre is one of several small theatres that are serving their audiences well with some really interesting and offbeat productions on offer.

This is one of them. (ID) Until Mar 16. Chippen Street Theatre, Level One, 45 Chippen Street, Chippendale. $28-$38+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.chippenstreet.com

REVIEW: Monopoly Monopoly might not normally be considered a spectator sport, but Steven Hopley’s new play configured around the immortal board game has all the thrills and tension of a Wimbledon final.

Five young adults gather one evening for a friendly game of Monopoly. The get together is a regular thing for four members of the group, but on this night a work colleague of the host, Simon (Jasper Garner Gore) joins the group and upsets the established rituals and dynamics with his abrasive, unapologetically arrogant personality. It’s clear that until now, the group has conformed to unspoken rules regarding how they communicate and behave and these apply as much to the game as to their personal interactions. Simon challenges those norms on all levels, elevating the game stakes to real-world consequences and thus agitating underlying insecurities, motivations, and attitudes in the others.

The game is played in real time, each tossing the dice and moving their respective tokens.Though we can’t actually see the board, those familiar with Monopoly will instantly recognise the spoken references to sections of the board, cards and methods of play. Most will also relate to the unspoken understanding friends and family often have about who buys which properties and overall

civility. However, while a lot of the humour is based on this winking familiarity, you don’t need to know the game to appreciate the play. It’s fast, well-written and funny with relatable characters.Alison Lee Rubie is the diplomatic, pragmatic host,Angela; Danen Young is Emilio, a freelance photographer and aspiring Ferrari owner; Benjamin Kuryo is nice guy, Adam; and Emilia Stubbs Grigoriou is emotionally complex, high principled Jennifer.The ensemble works extremely well together and are near faultless with sharp, rapidly delivered dialogue.

On a bare black stage with minimal props, the focus is entirely on the characters and the game and it is riveting. (RB) Until Apr 25. El Rocco, 154 Brougham St, Kings Cross. $30+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.ticketebo.com.au

THE NAKED CITY

NOT WAVING DRONING!

With Coffin Ed I don’t know about you, but I am thoroughly sick of those much glorified flying ‘drones.’ I went off them in a big way when a few years ago I saw a bunch of hoons deliberately take down a seagull with one in a park. I shamelessly admit I now get a devious thrill whenever I see somebody flying one into power lines, a TV antenna or the branches of a tree.

I am tired of gratuitous drone shots in documentaries and TV news coverage and the idea of competitive drone flying is akin to watching lawn bowls after popping a Mogadon. I am sick of reading about some moron who flies a drone into aviation air space or over a neighbour’s yard to spy on somebody sunbathing topless.

And need I mention the sordid history of military-style drone attacks in Iraq, Pakistan and other unfortunate countries.

Whilst I am prepared to acknowledge that drones can be useful in spotting sharks at beaches, assisting in surf rescues and as surveillance following natural and man-made disasters, it’s their use as delivery vehicles that really makes me want to unleash one of those specially trained drone destroying eagles.

The ABC recently reported that “whining drones bringing burritos and coffee are bitterly dividing Canberra residents.” The story involved a company in suburban Bonython offering drone delivery of various fast food items within 10 kilometres of their base. It went on to say that already an action group titled Bonython Against

Drones (BAD) had been formed with 500 signatures on a petition urging the noisy, bird dispersing, flying gadgets to be banned.

Home delivery via drones is nothing new as we well know with Amazon and other big merchandisers already adopting the concept in the USA. It exposes a legal minefield of course with the law in most US states still to be updated to cover a myriad of possibilities with the new technology – like drones landing on small children and pets, duck hunters mistakenly shooting them down and remember the massive payout that McDonalds made to 79-year-old

woman who suffered third-degree burns when she accidentally spilled hot coffee in her lap. What happens when the backyard sunbather cops a similar piping hot brew when a delivery drone strikes a sudden wind gust?

There are of course many who endorse the idea of having pizzas and Amazon purchases delivered, in some cases in a matter of minutes, to their front yards or apartment balconies. How much people pay for this additional service I’m not sure, but I suppose it beats tipping the local pizza delivery guy – as well as putting him out of a job. In the brave new world, we may well see the kindly folk who distribute ‘Meals On Wheels’ superseded by the nonvocal and mechanically cold-hearted drones.

Whilst it only took a few decades for the internet to be infested with cybercrime, stand by for an explosion of illegal drone based activity. We have already seen drones dropping drugs into highsecurity prisons and whilst drones were used to locate the fugitive drug kingpin El Chapo, the cartels are now using them to carry out their filthy trade. If a drone can deliver a parcel from Amazon whose to say another ‘robber’ drone won’t be there in minutes to whisk it away.

The possibilities are as limitless as they are foreboding. If angry residents have their say, as they did in Canberra, we could well see specially sanctioned drone free suburbs, patrolled by massive birds of prey and even a crack marksman, ready to consign any noisy interloper to an inglorious descent of gadgetry gone bad.

Tamasein Holyman.

Photo: Brian Purnell

Dirty Dancing: The Immersive Cinema Experience

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city hub 14 MARCH 2019

Taking over The Domain in Sydney this week is the unforgettable immersive cinema experience: Dirty Dancing. Guests will have the opportunity to step into the world of Dirty Dancing – it’s 1963 and you’ve just arrived at Kellerman’s Mountain Resort.

Patrons are encouraged to dress in their favourite 60s attire, and to enhance the immersive experience all phones will be bagged and secured at the gate.

Once inside, guests will experience real-time the action,

romance and excitement of the classic film.

Dancing With The Stars icon Jarryd Byrne is the choreographer for Dirty Dancing and explains the uniqueness of such a large scale show. “…when you walk in you are not just coming to watch a show…the experience that you’ll have is like you’re turning up to the resort for a week and so happen to walk into the set of Dirty Dancing.”

In regard to what kind of dance

experience guests can be a part of, Jarryd says, “you’ll walk into an immersive scene of lifting, grinding, moving, shaking.”

Whether you’re someone who has always dreamed of dancing with the cast of Dirty Dancing or sitting back and watching the action is more your thing, there’s something for everyone on the night. Jarryd explains, “whether you want to participate or want to watch from afar, that’s the experience, we’re actually breaking the fourth wall.” At

sunset, punters will be invited to get comfy in front of the bigscreen and at 8:30pm a screening of the classic film Dirty Dancing will commence.

The show is set to be an unforgettable experience for all involved, with Jarryd saying, “I want people to feel the heat and be alive in every moment.” (RH) Mar 15-17.The Domain Sydney, St Marys Road, Sydney. $49.90-$129.90+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.ticketmaster.com.au

Globalisation, once nearly exclusively the realm of mega-corporations and big business, is spreading its wings in what one art critic has called the “post-passport generation.”

White Rabbit Gallery’s latest show, Hot Blood, showcasing predominantly emerging artists from China, explores themes of history and identity in contemporary times, often through the use of new and cutting-edge technology. The exhibit was inspired by a visit to artists’ studios in China

by curator David Williams two years ago. He saw a video work, Peng Yun’s Miss Melissa and Mr Fish at 2.31pm, which particularly caught his attention.

“I used this work as the backbone to put the show together, which focuses on works which are playful, irreverent – and often subversive – and examine subjects ranging from sexual desire and bodily frailty to spiritual ecstasy and traumatic memory.”

Photo: Savannah van der Niet

Clea

By Jamie Apps Last year was a milestone year for Brisbane artist Clea as she released her first album and also signed with a major booking agency, which

Many of the works, though specific to realities in modern China, are indeed concerned with global issues, such as life (lives?) lived on the internet, the submergence of traditions in favour of progress and how the physical body interacts with forces of change. Notes Williams, “Unrestricted by national borders or western expectation, the artists in Hot Blood have castoff the markers of age, nationality and gender, to reflect on issues

further elevated her reputation within the Australian music scene.Achieving these two major milestones has given her a confidence boost as she prepares for an even more successful 2019.

Releasing the album Vermillion was a major step in Clea’s career and is a body of work she is incredibly proud of and happy to have been afforded the opportunity to create. The process by which the record was created was unique and rare, particularly for a new artist.

“I’m with a really good independent label which allows me to have a lot of control,” Clea told City Hub before further explanation, “My partner [Alistar Richardson] and I did it all ourselves in a hand-built recording studio in the Scenic Rim of Queensland. So we didn’t have any restrictions in terms of how long we could take.”

This freedom meant that the process was enjoyable, which certainly shines through in the record and has since translated into incredible success.

“It can be very hard to tell in this very digital,

Hotel Mumbai

Sometimes Always Never travel across England to identify a body. In a glum little B&B, Alan makes a bet on a game of scrabble and wins but the body is not his son.

Close camera work and attention to colour codes of the late 60s make this a gritty film. Jenny Agutter as the fed-up wife of the

behind the walls kind of world how a record is doing but the people who have put in the time to listen to it have responded really well.”

With such a positive response to the record, Clea is feeling reaffirmed in her musical abilities and direction, so much so that she has already begun work on the follow-up release.

“Any kind of positive feedback is a confirmation that I’m on the right track and can confidently continue to make as much music as I like and continue to release new albums as often as possible because now I know people actually listen.”

Towards the end of 2018, Clea received another confidence boost when she was signed to the esteemed booking agency New World Artists, which boasts a roster spearheaded by Tina Arena and Silverchair.

“It feels awesome to be sitting next to incredible artists like that, especially Silverchair who I grew up listening to. It’s a dream come true” Mar 15.The Lansdowne Hotel, 2-6 City Road, Chippendale. $17.83+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.thelansdownepub.com.au

The first shots - fired very early in the film - will cause you to gasp, and you won’t exhale until the end credits start rolling.The tension is relentless and real, partly because of what is playing out on screen, mostly because it’s a true story.The terrorist attack on Mumbai in 2009 lasted four days, held the city in lockdown, resulted in wanton death, injury, devastation, and held a world audience rigid with disbelief.

In terms of narrative, Anthony Maras’ film is a straightforward chronology of events. There isn’t a lot of back story or character study, and what we get feels a little cliched and generic. Dev Patel is charismatic and convincing as Arjun, the waiter whose day starts badly and gets considerably worse. Anupam Kher brings gravitas as Head Chef. Armie Hammer has not much to work with as a stereotypical American. His wife, Nazanin Boniadi has more of a journey, and their nanny, Tilda Cobham-Hervey gets most of the heroine drama.

It’s not a chill-out, feel-good film, but it is genuinely riveting. (RB)

WWW

An occasionally, bleak, but sincere and witty film that focuses on communication, or the lack thereof, between a father and son.

Alan (Bill Nighy) is a fussy tailor and father of two sons, one of whom has gone missing. He and his younger son Peter, (Sam Riley), must

shaping the contemporary age.”

Different audiences – western, eastern, old, young, whatever – will naturally have different reactions to Hot Blood. According to Williams, “This concept of human frailty will talk to any audience regardless of nationality, but prepare to be shocked!” (OA) Mar 15-Aug 4. White Rabbit Gallery, 30 Balfour St, Chippendale. FREE. Info: www.dangrove.net

B&B couple swindled by Alan and, Sam Riley as the younger son trying to have a solid relationship with his errant father, give sterling performances, which fully compliment Nighy’s understated yet intensely provocative style. (RLD) WWW1/2

Miao Ying Problematic Gifs -No Problem At All

White Rabbit Gallery: Hot Blood

Finn Andrews One Piece At A Time Finn Andrews, the frontman from The Veils, is set to release his first solo album One Piece At A Time.

Inspired by the end of a relationship, this entire album is dripping in sadness and soul.

If you have ever loved and lost, this album needs to be added to your playlist.

Not only does Andrews have strong vocal talent, but his deep emotion can be felt in each song, encouraging listeners to experience his pain, too.

Specifically, Love,What Can I Do? and The Spirit In The Flame will nearly melt you into a puddle of tears.

The pieces simply speak to the innermost part of your being, such as the transfixing Stairs To The Roof, which is a poetic work of art.

Nevertheless, the album’s title song does offer a glimmer of hope that even the most broken-hearted can learn to love again in time. (EE) WWWW1/2

Captain Marvel The wait is over!

Captain Marvel is based on the Marvel comics character Carol Danvers and is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

The long-awaited entry marks a few firsts in the MCU, including being the first female standalone film, as well as the MCU’s first female director, Anna Boden. The superhero film is co-directed by Ryan Fleck and features a huge cast of Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Gemma Chan and loads more.

The film is set in 1995 and follows the story of Danvers and how she becomes Captain Marvel. After a rescue mission goes wrong, Danvers finds herself captured and while escaping is hurled down onto Earth.

While trying to save Earth from alien conflict, Danvers starts to unravel her past and unlocks her true power.

A refreshing addition to the MCU family, Captain Marvel has an easy to follow storyline, funny dialogue and a huge amount of action. Fans are going to love it! (RH) WWWW

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JENNY LEONG MP 1

JENNY LEONG MP

A FUTURE FOR ALL OF US For more information see www.greensfornewtown.org/ourpolicies

Authorised by E Bacon for NSW Greens 3/275 Broadway, Glebe 2017. Printed by Q Printing, 62 Enmore Rd, Newtown 2042.

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city hub 14 MARCH 2019