City Hub 19 March 2020 by Alt Media

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By Jamie Apps s the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic continues to worsen around the country, and particularly here in Sydney, drastic measures have been implemented to keep the community safe.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government are prohibiting all “non-essential public gatherings of greater than 100 indoors and 500 outdoors.” It’s a decision which will have severe impacts across the arts and entertainment industries. On Tuesday the Federal Minister for the Arts, Paul Fletcher, met with entertainment representatives via teleconference and released the following statement. “It is clear that COVID-19 presents significant issues for our arts organisations – and like all Australians, they are showing great community spirit in calmly and efficiently dealing with the circumstances they are facing in the near-term so we can come through this challenging period”

Minister Fletcher also reiterated that businesses in the entertainment and creative fields are entitled to the cash flow assistance which were announced in last week’s $17.6 billion stimulus package. Under this program small to medium businesses can receive support to help them to continue to pay employees, up to a maximum of $25,000. According to a press release from the website I Lost My Gig Australia, run by various entertainment industry bodies, the total lost income from cancelled events as of March 17 sat at $100 million, with 65,000 job opportunities lost and over 380,000 individuals impacted. This week has seen many major cancellations. In particular the Sydney Royal Easter Show will not occur for first time since the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919. On Wednesday afternoon the Sydney Film Festival announced that for the first time ever they would be cancelling the event. Vivid Sydney, ANZAC Day Commemorations statewide, the Sydney Writer’s Festival have all cancelled as well.

“This is an unprecedented, deeply upsetting and challenging time for everyone, but the health and safety of authors, audiences, staff, publishers, volunteers and our community must come first. We urge our audience and community to support authors and local booksellers in what is sure to be a challenging year,” said the Sydney Writer’s Festival. In terms of venues the Sydney Opera House and the City Recital Hall will shut their doors until further notice, while the Enmore Theatre has cancelled or postponed all events through the end of the month. For some other events/venues, such as Sydney Biennale, the Stanley Street Gallery, Galerie Pompom, the Art Gallery On Darling, and Pro Wrestling Australia (PWA) it is critical that the doors remain open. Even if this requires more stringent cleaning, crowd control measures, or alternative methods of performance. Tomorrow night rather than run their scheduled live event in-front of a live audience PWA will instead be running a live streamed event behind closed doors.

“These new restrictions will have a HUGE impact as an independent pro wrestler,” explained PWA wrestler Steph De Lander. However, De Lander also sees this time as an opportunity to hone her craft, “I’m kind of viewing this the same way I did when I was out with an injury... if this is a time where wrestling is taken away for a little bit, I should try and use it to get creative and find ways to still be working on my brand in a non-physical sense.” For comedian Sam Wade the community spirit of the arts scene will help pull him. “I have a bunch of really good people around me, and most of them are trying to get through this together. We have to look out for each other, now more than ever!” The public can show their support for the creative and live music industries in a number of ways. They can donate to Support Act at supportact.com.au - a charity delivering crisis relief to musicindustry workers. They can stream, share and buy music by Australian artists, buy their merchandise , or just reach out to people in the industry to make sure they are okay.

If you or someone you know needs support, there is help available: Support Act Helpline: 1800 959 500 Lifeline Hotline: 13 11 14 or text their helpline on 0477 13 11 14

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city hub 19 MARCH 2020

HubNEWS

Naked MP was “sleepwalking” (See p.5)

Pell’s fate still awaits HubARTS Giant Dwarf To Reopen: Just 10 days after an exorbitant rent hike forced Giant Dwarf out of their old home they open their new home. (See p. 6)

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The elaborate coat of arms of convicted pedophile and disgraced former archbishop, Cardinal George Pell

Group Editor & Publisher: Lawrence Gibbons

By ALLISON HORE n 11 March 2020, the High Court of Australia moved to reserve its decision on Cardinal George Pell’s final appeal of his conviction for historic sexual offenses. The appeal, which was lodged in September last year, is the Cardinal’s last option to challenge the ruling against him after a lower court rejected his attempt to challenge the verdict last year. In June last year, Pell was charged with “historical sexual assault offences” by Victoria Police for sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996 at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral, not long after he was appointed as Archbishop of Melbourne. Pell, who once served as treasurer for the Vatican, is the most senior member of the Catholic church to be charged with sexual abuse.

News Editor: Alec Smart Contributors: Alec Smart, Allison Hore Cartoonist: Sam Mcnair Arts Editor: Jamie Apps Contributors: Erika Echternach, Irina Dunn, Madison Behringer, Mark Morellini, Olga Azar, Renee Lou Dallow, Rita Bratovich, Olga Sedneva Advertising Manager: Georgina Pengelly Cover Photo: Alec Smart. Revellers wear plague masks and WWI gas filters to attend events without contracting COVID-19 coronavirus Designer: Nadia Kalinitcheva Advertising: sales@altmedia.net.au Mail: PO Box 843 Broadway 2007 Email: news@altmedia.net.au, arts@altmedia.net.au Ph: 9212 5677 Fax: 9212 5633 Website: cityhubsydney.com.au If you have a story, or any comments you’d like to share with us: news@altmedia.net.au @CityHubSydney

Two trials

The case went to trial twice, first in September of 2018, which resulted

in a hung jury. After the second trial, three months later, the jury unanimously found Pell guilty of four counts of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16 and one count of sexual penetration with a child under the age of 16. The 78-year old was sentenced to a maximum of 6 years in jail, of which he has already served one.

 is there any reasonable

doubt as to his guilt? Pell’s lawyers raised questions about the timeframe in which the abuse occurred, suggesting the five to six minutes during which the abuse was said to have occurred was unrealistic. On Wednesday, Walker told the court that it was implausible that the offences took place after a busy Sunday mass.. Walker said that while the witness statement was compelling and believable, it should not have been

enough for the jury to make their decision beyond reasonable doubt. “The true question is not ‘Do I believe the complainant’ but whether, ‘having believed the complainant, is there any reasonable doubt as to his guilt?’,” he told the court. “It is an extreme fallacy for anyone to assume the credibility of the complainant will supply an answer to reasonable doubt raised via evidence to which the complainant says nothing.”

Indelibly marked

But Prosecutor Kerri Judd disagreed, and thought that the victim’s testimony was enough to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. She said that the victim’s knowledge of the layout of the priests’ sacristy supported his accusation, as it was an area typically closed off to the public. “Something has happened when he’s in that room. It’s indelibly marked on him,” Judd said. “Something significant happened in that room.” city hub 19 MARCH 2020

HubNEWS

Passas is sorry-not-sorry J

by ALEC SMART ulie Passas, Inner West Council’s controversial Liberal Party representative for Djarrawunang Ward (Ashfield), has caused another stir concerning her alleged hostility to homosexuality. On 11 March the Inner West Courier published Passas’ official apology to a gay neighbour, Daniel Comensoli, whom she vilified 26 months earlier in November, 2017. The apology appeared in small print on page 86 of its 88-page weekly edition. The apology itself is in the necessary legalese that the authority - the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal – demanded on last August when they found Cr Passas’ guilty of homosexual vilification under anti-discrimination laws, and again at her unsuccessful appeal on this January. She was also ordered to compensate Comensoli $2500.

Amended amends

However, Passas’ addendum in the newspaper, titled “Comment regarding the above apology,” has raised new questions about her sincerity. It reads more like a reluctant ‘sorry-not-sorry’ from a naughty child disciplined for

“After viewing the [same-sex] announcement at Prince Alfred Park with a friend, “I went home and decided to fly a rainbow flag outside my apartment to celebrate what the LGBTI community had achieved. “Soon before I left home to join the celebrations on Oxford Street,” Comesoli wrote on Nov 25 in a Facebook post 10 days after the altercation, “I was confronted outside my home by my neighbour Julie Passas, who also happens to be the Deputy Mayor of the Inner West Council. She demanded that I remove the flag because it was offensive to her culture and religion.

Cr Julie Passas was ordered to issue an apology to Daniel Comensoli, but it arrived with some reluctance. Photo: Facebook

worming their hand into a biscuit tin. “Notwithstanding that the Tribunal found against me, I stand by my comments,” Passas wrote. “I also continue to deny any vilifying conduct on my part. I have always been, and remain, a defender of individual freedoms and rights, and of respect for other persons, irrespective of gender, sexuality, religion, race and age.” She said the flag violated strata regulations.

On Nov 15, 2017, Passas, the thenDeputy Mayor of Inner West Council, allegedly abused her gay neighbour, Daniel Comensoli, with a tirade of offensive comments after she saw a rainbow flag hanging on his balcony. Comensoli displayed the flag in celebration on the day the national plebiscite on legalisation of gay marriage – aka Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey – passed.

“After standing my ground and telling her that I would not take it down, Passas shouted for the whole apartment complex to hear that only “until [I] could breastfeed and have children”, should I be afforded the right to marry.” Thereafter, Passas pursued a long and determined argument to present Comensoli as the source of their altercation, leading to her unsuccessful appeal against her conviction for vilification by the NCAT.

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HubNEWS

The Food Rescuers Naked MP was ‘sleepwalking‘

by ALEC SMART he Addison Road Food Pantry, a food-relief operation in Marrickville run by the Addison Road Community Organisation (ARCO), is experiencing a substantial surge in users since the COVID-19 coronavirus began infecting Australians. The Food Pantry rescues fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and other quality tinned and packaged foods, as well as household products, from being thrown into landfill and offers them to the community at affordable rates. Rosanna Barbero, ARCO CEO, revealed attendance at their “food rescue and food security” supermarket, whose primary users are low-income and disadvantaged people, has accelerated over 30 per cent a day in the recent weeks. They’re now feeding over 2000 people a week.

Casual workers affected

Most of the new arrivals requiring assistance are casual workers and students, who’ve been temporarily released from their jobs in venues, cafes, restaurants, theatres, galleries and cinemas (primarily the entertainment and arts industry) by employers unable to pay them during this sudden downturn in trade. “We’re seeing people who’ve lost their jobs being told: ‘Don’t come back for at least two weeks!,’” Barbero revealed. “They’re panicking. Some of the foreign students don’t have families to return to, others can’t afford their rent. There’s no government service to help them. We’re providing them the most basic human right of all: the right to food.” Mark Mordue, ARCO Media and Communications Manager, added, “Australia is one of the highest casual-

A NSW Govt MP was twice in a night found ‘sleepwalking’ outside his Potts Point unit home.

By Alec Smart NSW politician was twice found ‘disoriented’ in one night and escorted back to his Potts Point apartment by police. Gareth Ward MP, the New South Wales Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services in Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s cabinet since 2019, was found naked at 11.30pm on Wednesday, March 11, trying to enter an apartment that wasn’t his home. Police were called to investigate following reports that an “unknown man was attempting to open the front door of a unit.” After determining that the 38-year-old MP was in the right building but trying the wrong door, they escorted him back to his unit and called paramedics, because he “appeared to be disoriented.” “Officers from Kings Cross Police Area Command attended a short time later, locating a naked man standing in the doorway of another unit, and after determining that was his residence, escorted him inside,” a NSW Police statement confirmed.

Addi Road’s Food Pantry has seen a 35% increase in people needing food assistance since coronavirus hit. Photo: Alec Smart

She attributes this to businesses, especially those employing casual labourers, suspending their employees without pay to cope with COVID-19 transmission fears. The problem is exacerbated by the Australian Federal Government’s policies that she insists marginalise the poor. “We’re operating in a climate where the government has cut funding to not-for-profit services like ours, while at the same time they’ve introduced user-pay services.,” she said. “We don’t need a privatised system where the condition for accessing essential services like food requires that the user pays for it, when most of our users can’t afford it.”

work economies in the world, which means we have a very high proportion of our population with no job security, pensions and limited disposable income. “But they don’t have choices, they’ve been excluded from the mainstream society workforce and so they’re the first to suffer in times like these when people are laid off work. This coronavirus is social and economic as well as viral, because it exposes the weaknesses in our society. And the most vulnerable people are turning to us for help. “However, talking to people who use our services we find they don’t feel alone during this crisis, despite the media sensationalism saying it’s dog-eat-dog out there.”

‘Sleepwalking’

Ward declined an invitation for a hospital examination by the ambulance crew. The MP for Kiama, south of Wollongong, has since denied accusations from political rivals that he was drunk. He went on to issue a statement claiming he was “disorientated” because earlier that day he had been in hospital under a “general anaesthetic for a procedure” an operation for kidney stones. A sleepwalking expert, Dr Robert Kaplan, insisted Ward’s claims of

sleepwalking outside his Potts Point apartment were quite plausible. However, an hour after the first incident, in the early hours of Thurs morning, police were again called to the apartment block, and this time found Ward walking around a communal area of the units, albeit no longer naked but in his underpants. Ward again refused a hospital checkup, but the following day, after police visited him a third time to check on his welfare, “given the man’s state of confusion during the evening,” Ward released a statement thanking them for “returning me to my residence safely.” No further police action is likely, and although Ward has publicly apologised, he avoided face to face questioning in parliament over the bizarre incident by conducting a telephone quiz by fellow MPs instead. This isn’t the first time Ward has raised eyebrows. On 28 Aug 2017, Ward claimed to have been the target of an attempted mugging while staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York after ordering a $100 massage from an online website. At 10.30pm, two men arrived and at some stage allegedly began filming him with a mobile phone in an extortion attempt. Afterwards questions were asked about what kind of massage Ward ordered from the website – which he wouldn’t divulge - whereupon he replied: “The claims requesting a special massage are untrue. I requested a normal massage as people on holidays will often do.” city hub 19 MARCH 2020

HubARTS

Giant Dwarf To Reopen

Frankie Pants & Mr Fox

n a piece of very good news for the Sydney arts and entertainment industry the Giant Dwarf Theatre are set to open the doors to their band new venue this weekend. The grand opening comes just 10 days after an exorbitant rent hike forced the Giant Dwarf out of their old home at 199 Cleveland Street, a place the had called home since 2014. Giant Dwarf Theatre will now be located at 280 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills. Giant Dwarf Theatre has secured a short term lease to the premises vacated in late 2019, after a decade in residence, by Sydney’s only artist-run live music venue Venue 505 (which continues to operate in Newtown as part of the Old 505 Theatre).

“This lease is a lifeline for Giant Dwarf Theatre,” said co-founders Nikita Agzarian and Julian Morrow. “We thought we’d have to close forever, but now we’ve got a few months to try and keep Giant Dwarf alive as a supportive home for comedy, music, storytelling, theatre, podcasting - and all sorts of new and exciting content - in Sydney. The new Giant Dwarf Theatre will open its doors at 6pm on Friday 20th March, ahead of FREE public opening show starting at 7:30pm which will feature an array of impressive Sydney artists to be announced soon. (JA) For more info: www.giantdwarf.com.au

elen Lear, a passionate children’s book author, tells a heart warming tale of a lazy neighbourhood cat who transforms into a modern day hero, Frankie Pants who at the stroke of midnight must save the neighbourhood from the devious Mr Fox. Inspired by her family’s beloved late cat Frankie, who used to laze around and snooze during the day, and becomes active and noisy at night. Lear illustrates the book as a way to keep Frankie’s colourful character alive in a fun, action-led book, with a positive and inspiring message to young children to always look out for their friends, being brave, being kind and helpful. “Near the end of the story a character called Mr Fox comes and steals the chickens while they sleep, and he [Frankie] goes and saves them from Mr Fox,” says Lear.

Originally from England, Lear adds “When we go home to visit family, there are always foxes in the garden and they come in and tend to steal people’s chickens so that was really where the idea came from.” The illustrator and graphic designer, Katya Swan, behind this inspirational story had brought the late Frankie alive into a fun, heroic character who saves the day. Don’t miss the online book launch with a live video reading of the story by Helen Lear, followed by a Q&A Session. A physical book launch event will happen once the COVID-19 restrictions are eased. (KC) Mar 22, 10:30am. Info: www.facebook.com

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city hub 19 MARCH 2020

HubARTS

Sydney Biennale NIRIN

Susan O’Neill

he 22nd edition of the Sydney Biennale, which recently opened at six cultural venues across the city, challenges us to think about the world from a refreshingly alternative viewpoint. Curated by the internationally acclaimed, multi-disciplinary Indigenous artist Brook Andrew, it brings together 100 artists and collectives from 36 countries. Andrew has named the exhibition NIRIN, the Wiradjuri word for ‘edge’. In Andrew’s opinion, “Communities, people and practices that have been pushed to the ‘edge’ are coming to the foreground.” It’s a development that has the potential to transform our society. As Andrew further explains, “It is time to listen to communities coming from supposedly ‘remote’ places, to listen to First Nations’ voices, to consider all issues together – from colonisation to climate change,” he says. At the Art Gallery of NSW, Andrew literally takes command of the centre stage. For the first time, paintings, sculptures, videos and installations are strategically placed alongside the familiar masterpieces of mainly European heritage in the Gallery’s 19th century Grand Courts. Reclaiming recognition and dignity for unknown martyrs is the theme of Josep GrauGarriga’s monumental Retaule

By Jamie Apps uch of the city/country is in lockdown, meaning international artists are unable to come here and perform. Luckily Irish sensation Susan O’Neill has been in Australia for almost a month now, so her scheduled live performances are still able to go ahead as planned. On Wednesday O’Neill will join award winning jazz pianist Matt McMahon for an intimate candlelit evening of music fusing soulful Irish folk, jazz and a plethora of other styes/ influences. Ahead of this performance City Hub spoke to O’Neill about living life on the road and her new album - Baby Talk. O’Neill’s tour of Australia officially kicked off on February 28 and sees her traveling throughout the country until April 26. With such an extensive tour on the horizon O’Neill told City Hub, “I feel like I’m built for this style of tour. A lot of people can find the road long and hard but I find total excitement and freedom in touring.” Although she is also quick to add that there are challenges to touring for such a long period. “Especially with this up coming tour being two months you have to remember that within any two month period in life you’re going to have your up and down days, so it’s important to allow for those wavers.” Despite the challenges O’Neill is so grateful to music for allowing her to travel so far abroad. “With the touring what makes it special is that you start to realise that you’re not living a life that anybody else is living... there is no other way that I could get this insight. It’s a sharing of experiences that no amount of reading could ever give you, so to get that with music is truly humbling.” Prior to embarking on this tour O’Neill spent much of 2019 recoding her new record, Baby Talk, which she explained saw her expanding her musical horizons even further. “I’ve really branched out into some new sounds

dels penjats (Altarpiece of the Hanged People) 1972-76 and its companion tapestry Martir (Martyr) 1972. The seemingly hand-rendered tapestries of varying shapes and sizes hang like dresses off the rungs of a towering steel scaffold that dominates one of the Grand Courts’ largest galleries. This year’s Biennale reminds us that only by listening to and fully embracing brave and resilient voices from the ‘edge’ can we truly harness the wealth of our collective accumulated knowledge and unleash its transformative power. Finally, Andrew’s Powerful Objects series includes a lowly black t-shirt that has its front emblazoned in child-like white handwriting with the phrase “The only Primitivism is Eurocentrism”. Yes, indeed! (MW) Until Jun 8. Various Venues. More Info: www.biennaleofsydney.art

his crime drama romance stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith as Queen and Slim respectively, two African Americans on the run after a racist policeman was shot dead in self-defence. The fugitives embark on a road trip and plan on escaping to Cuba. The film traces the “black Bonnie & Clyde’s” journey through Southern America, the people they meet and resonates their dream of being free in a non-racist America. After a dramatic beginning, the film dwindles into a slow-moving romance and seemingly alternates

into a visual geography lesson with endless and pointless camera shots of beautiful landscapes and sunsets. Credibility lapses as the film progresses. Queen, who happens to be an attorney, takes charge of the escape and her transition into crime is unrealistic. Jodie Turner-Smith’s acting is somewhat wooden at times and many of the storylines can best be described as contrived and laughable. The six-day manhunt comes to a haunting but predictable conclusion, as these fugitives who are viewed as

with this record. There are some folk sounds, some jazz and a little bit of African tribal influences. I was really trying to branch out into the range of possibilities in terms of the sounds we can make.” In terms of this week’s show O’Neill also believes that the recording process has influenced her live performance, saying, “I think my approach to gigging has evolved a bit more, so I’m really looking forward to exercising that to its fullest for these gigs.” One thing that will never change though is the power of O’Neill’s voice, which has been compared to that of Janice Joplin in the past. “I embrace that comparison with open arms and gratitude,” O’Neill explained, “I try to display as much of what I am capable of during a gig. I always try to pick songs that use and utilise many aspects of the voice because the voice can have these beautiful, vulnerable and tender moments where the crackle and the breaking of it is gorgeous. But then sometimes you just want this guttural roar that people can relate to. Both levels are important.” Mar 25. The Doss House, 77/79 George St, The Rocks. $65+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.thedosshouse.com.au

Queen & Slim heroes by the black community meet their fate. Ultimately, this film is overlong and underwhelming but does make an

important statement on the plight of the blacks as racial discrimination divided a nation. (MMo) WW1/2 city hub 19 MARCH 2020

city hub 19 MARCH 2020