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city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

Why is the Powerhouse going?

By Kylie Winkworth There are many big questions begging answers from the Liberal Party.

Why was Malcolm Turnbull dumped as PM? Why are there so few Liberal women MPs? And in NSW, why is the government closing the Powerhouse Museum (PHM) to ‘move’ it to Parramatta?

The case for moving the Powerhouse Museum has been a morass of contradictions since it was first announced by former Premier Mike Baird in November 2014.

Infrastructure NSW stitched up the case for the Premier’s captain’s pick in its November 2014 State Infrastructure Strategy Update, claiming the Powerhouse was relatively remote, not in a cultural precinct, and should be urgently relocated to Parramatta.

How things change.

Now the Powerhouse site is back in a cultural precinct after the Arts Minister Don Harwin threw the idea of a creative industries precinct in Ultimo into the mess of justifications for demolishing the museum.

The Powerhouse must close so the government can develop a creative industries precinct with TAFE and UTS. Perhaps someone should tell the government that there has been a creative industries precinct in Ultimo since the museum opened in 1893.

Thinking big about downsizing, the government will jam a lyric theatre into the museum’s boiler and turbine halls, clog the site with high-rise, and leave a remnant design and fashion display somewhere on the Powerhouse site under a block of flats.

The Arts Minister told the Legislative Council’s museum inquiry last week that a creative industries precinct in Ultimo is critical to cementing Sydney’s reputation as Australia’s cultural capital.

The government’s latest idea for the Powerhouse site ignores the fact that Ultimo has been a cultural, creative and education precinct since the old Technological Museum, ancestor of the Powerhouse, opened on Harris Street in 1893.

The museum was co-located with Sydney Tech,

No reason for the Powerhouse Museum to ever leave Ultimo. Photo: John Moyle

around the corner in Mary Ann St, now part of TAFE. The two institutions were twinned by their wonderful polychrome brick buildings designed

by William Kemp, and adorned with fine sandstone carvings of native fauna.

The buildings evidence the long partnership between these two institutions, and the belief that great buildings are a necessary context for training the next generation of designers, tradies and creative people.

Lionel Glendenning’s design for the Powerhouse continued this tradition.

His Sulman award winning Wran building on Harris St references the museum’s foundation in the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition.

This distinguished building is slated for demolition for a block of high-rise apartments, cloaked in spin about a creative precinct.

Despite the government’s neglect, the Powerhouse is still is a wondrous showcase of the industrial revolution, and changing technologies of power, transport and manufacturing.

The museum’s decorative arts and design collections are grounded in this history and linked to the technologies behind their production.

All this will be undone when the museum is evicted from Ultimo.

The business case papers that underpin the move are frank about ‘rethinking’ the museum’s mission.

Applied arts and applied science will be narrowed to art and science, STEM subjects, digital projections and art installations.

The need for a Broadway-style lyric theatre in Sydney was recognised in the 2011 report Planning Sydney’s Cultural Facilities.

This was on the government’s desk when it came to power.

It is a shame the report’s key priorities were ignored while the government sprayed cash on trophy projects advanced by heavy-weight bankers from arts boardrooms: $245m for Walsh Bay, $244m for the garden-stealing unnecessary Sydney Modern project, and $228m for the Sydney Opera House.

All of this once in a generation cultural spend-a-thon was allocated without the benefit of a cultural policy or strategy, which is still in preparation.

The government overlooked the need for a lyric theatre in remaking Darling Harbour without a masterplan.

And it missed another opportunity to include a lyric theatre in the developer bonanza at Barangaroo.

Instead, almost as an afterthought, a lyric theatre will be crammed into the empty shell of the Powerhouse.

When it comes to tourism and cultural life there is no equivalence between a major state museum, open 364 days a year, showing our stories and the treasures of NSW, and a lyric theatre for American musicals with tickets at $200 a pop.

The government has already spent up big on theatres, but has found only $50m for the Australian Museum’s new travelling exhibition space.

After the demolition of the PHM’s temporary exhibition space, the largest in Sydney, the city’s museum and exhibition capacity will actually be smaller.

It seems that no one in government has looked at the statistics for the high value international cultural and heritage visitors, who contributed $13b to the NSW economy last year.

They are not coming to see Broadway musicals.

Their major interest is visiting heritage buildings and museums.

But what is the NSW government doing?

It is selling off our sandstone heritage buildings and demolishing a major state museum.

This leaves a big unanswered question for the Liberal government: why is the Powerhouse being demolished?

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By Lanie Tindale The Inner West Council’s new Deputy Mayor wants to “get back to the basics.”

Independent Councillor Victor Macri replaced Julie Passas as Deputy Mayor last week.

Cr Macri told City Hub he would like to use his role to improve council meetings.

“At the moment they’re very poor, I’d like to see them cleaned up, it’s a bit of an embarrassment to the community that the community leaders can’t seem to get their act together,” he said.

Cr Macri, who was the Mayor of Marrickville in 2012-13, called for his colleagues to focus on local issues.

“What we really need to do is listen to the people and get back to the basics,” he said, adding the council’s core issues were “maintaining the area - the traditional ones, the roads, the rubbish, the trees, our sporting fields, our community facilities.

“That’s what I believe the people that elected me really want to focus on.

“They want to get back down to ground level and stop dealing in state and federal issues because they won’t be resolved at the council level.”

Cr Macri, who has played in several Marrickville-based sports clubs, identified several democratic political philosophies, says he believes in “a fair go for everyone”, that “every voice should be heard” and that “everyone is important” but that “you can’t make everybody happy [and] if you do make a decision you have to be able to explain why”.

Victor Macri is elected as Deputy Mayor for the Inner West Council. Photo: Supplied

The former Mayor of Marrickville was born in Camperdown in 1964 and attended schools in Marrickville and Lewisham.

The hairdresser often speaks to locals at his salon on Marrickville Road, which he has operated since 1983.

“Sometimes, being on the ground and in the community gives you more capacity to

put more weight on things that are more merit-based.”

As Mayor of Marrickville from 20122013, Cr Macri claims he brought commonsense into the decision-making process, by respecting people and always trying to listen to what they had to say.

Cr Macri is one of three independents on the Inner West Council, and received preferences from Labor at the last local government election.

He insists this hasn’t impacted his voting decisions.

“Sometimes I’ll vote on the left side of politics, sometimes I’ll vote on the middle, sometimes I’ll vote on the right,” he said.

“I voted against the Labor Party motion on the Sydenham creative hub because I believe the Greens were right and Labor was wrong.”

Cr Macri strongly believes councils should not have political parties, and some of the new councillors are “inexperienced” and are “single issue councillors.”

“I believe there should be no political parties in council because council should be looking after doing the basic things,” said Cr Macri. “It should just be local people in the local area, looking after people in the local area.”

“The council is not united, the problem is there’s too many factions and political factions, the main principle we had at Marrickville Council is you play the issue and not the person.

“At the moment there’s too much playing the personalities.” city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

3

Phelps for Wentworth

by John Moyle Few independents have had their entry into federal politics as highly anticipated as that of Dr Kerryn Phelps.

For weeks the polling results for the upcoming by-election for Wentworth have carried provisos that the candidate positions would be affected if Dr Phelps decided to run, and now she has.

“It wasn’t on my radar three weeks ago,” Dr Phelps said.

“When Malcolm Turnbull was dumped, people in their hundreds came up to me and said that they were really angry with the Liberals and ‘will you please run’.”

Declaring her candidacy on the weekend, Dr Phelps was immediately greeted by the results of a recent ReachTel poll which put her at 12 per cent of the primary vote for the Saturday October 20 by-election.

Nowhere in its 117 year history will you find evidence to suggest Wentworth would vote any way but conservative, with the Liberals holding the seat since the party’s formation in 1944.

That was, until the Liberals’ spectacular meltdown in Canberra which saw Malcolm Turnbull, Wentworth’s most popular member ever, assassinated by Peter Dutton and his team of climate change deniers.

The conservative comfort zone immediately evaporated, and had the Liberals scrambling for a candidate who could at least rescue some of Turnbull’s majority, but instead of a clear way forward, ended up with a Melbourne Cup race of candidates who confused

The very independent Dr Kerryn Phelps. Photo: Supplied

and angered many in the electorate.

After a marathon pre-selection which lasted until 1.30am last Friday morning, the Wentworth branch of the Liberal party finally selected former Australian ambassador to Israel, David Sharma.

“I don’t think that flying someone into Wentworth is going to go well for the Liberals at all,” Dr Phelps said.

“The fact is that the candidate they have chosen hasn’t lived in Australia for much of his adult life and doesn’t know his way around the electorate.

“It seems to me that the people of

Wentworth need a local with local knowledge.”

While most Sydneysiders will recognise Dr Phelps’ political profile from her role as a City of Sydney Councillor, she has been a general practitioner in Double Bay for over twenty years and knows the issues affecting the area.

“The issues that I see important in Wentworth at the moment are the end of the leadership circus and maintaining a strong economy,” Dr Phelps said.

“We also need to start looking at

issues like salaries for aged care, health care and childcare workers so that we can maintain our essential workforce.”

The elephant in the room in Wentworth also sits in the Liberal party room.

It’s an elephant which has trampled a number of Liberal Prime Ministers, and that is the subject of climate change action.

Wentworth is possibly a far more progressive seat than the Liberals give it credit for and climate change action looks like being the single biggest issue if the views of Labor and the Greens are taken into account.

“We need to look at climate change action - the government doesn’t have a climate change policy at the moment and the future of our country and our planet relies on every country doing their part,” Dr Phelps said.

Other policies Dr Phelps will take to the electorate include reviewing Australia’s refugee policy, and in particular the impact on the lives of refugees on Manus and Nauru.

“I think that the way that the refugees are being treated in those places is a blight on the Australian character and it is a shocking thing for our reputation as a nation,” Dr Phelps said.

With her background in medicine and many years of public advocacy of a strong general practice, public health and medical politics it is not surprising that the government’s erosion of Medicare is at the forefront of her policies.

“The government has frozen

Medicare rebates to the point where they have cut general practices to the bone and general practices are the foundation of our health care system,” Dr Phelps said.

Preserving retirement incomes and bringing some certainty to retirees is also high on her policy list.

“I don’t think that it is acceptable from both major parties to have people who have spent their lives planning for retirement have their futures destabilised by government changing policy.”

This is not Dr Phelps’ first taste of political life as in 1999 she was elected to the NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association, and the following year was elected Federal President of the AMA. “Working with the AMA for several years we were in Canberra for half the week so I understand how that system works and how the decision making works,” Dr Phelps said.

Dr Phelps stresses that she will be running a grassroots campaign as an independent and will not be beholden to any political party.

“I’m a true independent and I am not intending to do any direct preferences,” Dr Phelps said.

Having to rely on a dedicated team of volunteers to get the campaign to the announcement stage, Dr Phelps says more volunteers and crowdfunding will be needed over the next five weeks.

A website KerrynPhelps.com has been set up for volunteers and donations.

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5

Bondi Pav rises with people power

By Georgia Fullerton Two years after strong public backlash, Waverley Council will start work on an upgrade to Bondi Pavilion next year.

The proposed development, which will cost an estimated $25 million, will be more of a “sympathetic restoration”, and will maintain the iconic building’s reputation as a cultural hub in the community.

The now Labor and Greens dominated council have released concept designs, which will include new seating in the theatre and upgrades to the internal rooms.

The concept design, developed by architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, will also conserve the beach-front facade.

Waverley Mayor, John Wakefield, said “For the people of Bondi and greater Sydney, this concept proposes a restoration and conservation of an already functional and beautiful building.

“It retains the Pavilion as a community and cultural centre, ensuring it is fit for the future needs of the community, and celebrates the role of the Pavilion in Australian beach and surf culture.”

The only part of the Pavilion which will be demolished is the wall at the northern courtyard.

A new amenities block will be built beside the northern wall and will be accessible from both the courtyard and the promenade.

Cr Wakefield said there will be increased space for theatre, live music, festivals as well as space for residents and visitors.

“The Gatehouse entrance and structure will be restored to become an inviting entry to the Pavilion, and will also serve as a stage area for concerts and performances as it now does.

More space will be provided for the art gallery and cultural activities in a highly visible and functional area.”

The Mayor promised the theatre will remain in its current location, with seating and staging

People power has saved the Bondi Pavilion for people friendly upgrades. Photo: Shane Rennie

revamped and improved back of stage facilities, adding “Technology for live streaming of performances and functions will be a crucial element of the success of this space”.

In 2016, the then Liberal-controlled Council proposed a $38 million redevelopment.

The development application, which was later scaled back, included a grand entrance and atrium.

The existing facilities would have been moved downstairs to make way for restaurants and cafes.

Liberal heavyweight and then Mayor Sally Betts claimed she received death threats over her proposal to redevelop the building.

The 2016 redevelopment proposal sparked widespread community outrage and a grassroots campaign against it.

Actor Michael Caton, who was a member of Save the Pavilion in 2016, says it is crucial to get everything under control, as the building has deteriorated in recent years.

“This would be common play for people that want to privatise it, but what council has realised is they have to do more to get the place up to speed, which involves a bigger budget than they initially would have foreseen,” said Mr Caton.

Bondi Pavilion attracts more than one million people each year to its community space, cafes and events.

Mr. Caton wants more investment in celebrating the history of the Pavilion “We want a Surfing and Bondi history museum on the lower level…Bondi has a great history and this museum could inform

and entertain visitors and also earn money”.

Paul Paech, who was also involved in the Save the Pavilion campaign, said this new proposal is respectful and intelligent, “This should have been progressed the first time around…the design proposals show that really good things happen when a local Council listens to the voices of its local communities.

“All of the intense work by the stakeholder committee has paid off.”

The Bondi Pavilion Stakeholder Committee was put in motion by Mayor Wakefield shortly after he was elected in September 2017.

It was established to give community members the ability to prioritise the desired uses of the pavilion.

Cr Wakefield said the previous concept designs had no conservation management plan.

Greens Councillor, Dominic Wy Kanak, said the public will approach the upgrade with caution.

“Our Community Members are generally supportive to the new Council’s carrying out of the public interest wishes for the Pavilion, but Council must still be watched by and held accountable to the people’s agenda for this ‘Common’,” he said.

Cr Wy Kanak insisted regenerating an enhanced arts and culture program should be the next step “There will be community consultation with groups like the Bondi Pavilion Stakeholders Committee, Bondi Waverley Precincts, Friends of Bondi Pavilion, national and international visitors.”

He said “I hear what people are saying about the support the commonwealth government should provide to local government in maintaining important cultural spaces like the Pavilion.

“Victories like the people power that prevented the Pavilion from becoming over-commercialised means there is hope in how our community can oppose and end selfish clandestine agendas.”

The public has until October 5 to provide feedback on the concept designs.

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Beer revives the Inner West

By Alec Smart Even the most attentive local may be surprised to hear Sydney’s inner west has a lot of breweries.

There are at least 15 operating within a five kilometre radius of Marrickville.

The enterprises are being helped by a NSW Government 12 month trial which commenced this month, allowing breweries to operate as small bars with up to 100 patrons.

Previously, they could only operate as bars if they had an on-premises license; otherwise they were limited to small tasting rooms with beer provided in tiny measures to enable a sample before purchase.

Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne, who, along with the Inner West Brewery Association, lobbied the NSW Government for the trial said, “This new legislation will give us the tools we need to cement the Inner West as the craft beer capital of Australia”.

If the trial is successful, the scheme will be implemented across New South Wales from September next year.

“I want the inner west to be for craft beer what the Hunter Valley and the Barossa are to Australian wine,” Mayor Byrne enthused.

“Having our own tasting room with a bar is really the only way small independent breweries will survive,” said Patrick McInerney, founder and director of Willie The Boatman Brewery in St Peters.

“Obviously, the more product you sell over your own bar means the less you have to sell wholesale, so you can increase

your profit and lower wholesale costs,” he said.

Mr McInerney said the scheme will benefit the community as “the locals get somewhere to hang out and meet their friends and we as a business get to reduce our emissions by not having our cars on the road so much, so it’s a win-win situation”.

Andrew Fineran, founder of Batch Brewing Company in Marrickville, concurs.

“More and more people are visiting the inner west because there’s more to do… so we’re experiencing an influx of people into the tasting room,” he said.

But with so breweries operating in a small area, are there now too many to be sustainable?

“We all sell wholesale as well,” explained Mr Fineran, “so on that side of the business it’s getting crowded.

“Thankfully we live in the Inner West Bubble,” Mr McInerney added, “So at the moment there is enough business in the area to keep everyone afloat.

Ian Kingham, Director of the Institute of Beer and author of Australia and New Zealand Beer Buyer’s Guide disagrees the market is becoming crowded.

“What the new law has created is a precinct, and Marrickvile is the hub,” he explained, “Marrickville is lucky because it has plenty of alternate lifestylers, such as hipsters.

“And because they’re in close walking distance, these ventures draw tourists in, keen to explore the different flavours,” Mr Kingham said.

“Originally you might go to Balmain

on a pub crawl if you wanted to sample craft beers, but now restrictive laws inhibit that, so you do a brewery tour around Marrickville area instead.”

Although it may now seem we are spoilt for choice, it wasn’t always so.

Sydney was, for over a century, dominated by two mega-breweries, Tooth & Co and Tooheys.

The latter was bought by New Zealand-Japanese multinational Lion Nathan, but Tooths fared significantly worse.

Purchased by a corporate raider in 1981, the company had its assets stripped and its brewing interests sold to Victorian rivals Carlton & United Breweries, which closed and demolished the flagship Broadway brewery and relocated to Queensland.

The removal of the dominant player in the inner west opened the door for smaller ‘boutique’ breweries to flourish, such as Pumphouse in Darling Harbour and Hahn Brewery in Camperdown, the latter founded by Chuck Hahn, former production manager at Tooth.

Hahn Brewery, now known as Malt Shovel Brewery, is among the expanding group of small breweries in the Inner West.

Will the mega breweries return and muscle their way into craft brewing?

Patrick McInerney is anxious of their economic power.

“Our biggest threat is not licensing, it’s interstate and international brewers coming into Sydney and selling their beer at super low prices.”

Ian Kingham is skeptical, “In any

Joel Cook and Patrick McInerney, head brewer and director of Willie The Boatman Brewery, St Peters, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart

market you have the leaders and followers, and what the leader can’t provide others create to fill niches.

“Big brewers can already leverage deals to sell their product in pubs and clubs, they won’t spend tens of thousands to steal business from small brewers.”

“The biggest threat to a micro brewer is another micro brewer offering a better consumer experience,” said Mr Kingham.

Big brewers are already in the craft beer market.

James Squire is owned by multinational food and drinks giant Lion Nathan.

Young Henry’s in Newtown - which recently hosted punk rockers Foo Fighters and brewed a special beer in commemoration of the band - is largely owned by Ingham’s Chickens, while setup funds for Rocks Brewery in Alexandria came from a family inheritance derived from several McDonalds’ restaurant franchises.

Yet they sit comfortably alongside small operations like Batch in Marrickville and Wayward in Camperdown, which this month won Beer Cartel’s NSW Favourite Craft Brewery Venue for the second year running.

Batch came second.

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7

False stats used in ‘War on Drugs’

By Sarah McLenaghan The drug related deaths of two people at Sydney’s Defqon music festival last weekend have led to calls for a drug policy focusing on safety and public health rather than punishment.

It has been revealed data measuring the level of drug possession incidents occurring in NSW has been double-counted for the last seven years, calling into question the legitimacy of drug policing programs across Sydney.

The significant oversight has resulted in the inflation of drug crime statistics commonly used to justify what advocates describe as an ineffective and harmful ‘war on drugs’.

Executive Director of NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), Dr Don Weatherburn admitted “We overstated the number of drug possession offences by about 30 per cent”.

The miscount occurred because of the police practice of recording an incident for every drug search conducted, as well as recording an incident for any charge or caution resulting from a positive test.

BOCSAR had been recording each incident as a separate occasion.

Calculations by the office of Greens MLC David Shoebridge based upon BOCSAR’s own numbers, indicate 85,805 reported incidents of drug possession or use in NSW never happened.

According to Dr Weatherburn the misreporting had a greater impact on perceptions of the amount of police activity than it would have had on perceptions of the amount drug use in NSW. “It’s basically a faulty measure of the level of police activity,” he said.

David Shoebridge said he was astounded the

Incorrect drug reporting strengthens the Greens fight against sniffer dogs. Photo: David Shoebridge.

miscount had been allowed to continue for so long.

“This is either a case of remarkable lack of self-awareness on the part of police or deliberate ignorance, and neither conclusion is attractive.”

Mr Shoebridge expressed particular concern

the incorrect figures might have influenced government decision-making.

“While much of the Liberal and Labor Parties’ approach to drug law is based on prejudice and shock jock politics rather than evidence, they do occasionally reference the evidence to support their arguments for more police, more drug dogs and harsher penalties,” he said.

“Unfortunately, they have had this overinflated data to help them in that and drive NSW further down the wrong path on drug law policy.”

Greens Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong, shared her colleague’s concerns.

“The reliance on BOCSAR statistics is crucial in terms of decisions around funding, resourcing and how policy is being changed and addressed.”

Leong criticised the government’s funding of the NSW Police Drug Dog Detection program and its impact on locals.

“What we know is that there is a complete overuse of sniffer drug dogs in certain areas of our city and that includes Redfern station, an area that has a high number of public housing tenants, a high number of students and young people, a high number of people from low socio-economic backgrounds and a high number of people that are Aboriginals,” she said.

The unrestricted use of sniffer dogs has been carried out despite figures which suggest that drug dogs falsely indicate the presence of drugs between 64 to 72 per cent of the time.

“It is unacceptable to see a scenario where we see the ineffective and inaccurate sniffer drug dog program being rolled out in a community that actually wants better community policing to address issues like domestic violence, issues like harassment,” said Leong.

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The drug dog program is not the only police practice that has been called into question in light of the findings.

Samantha Lee, Head of the Police Accountability Practice at Redfern Legal Centre, believes the error has driven an increase in the number of strip searches conducted on young people in NSW. Ms Lee states, “Our practice has spoken to a number of young people who felt absolutely humiliated after having to undergo a demeaning strip search upon trying to enter a music festival, with no drugs being found.

“Statistics reveal that our clients are not alone in this, with no drugs found on 10,224 (64 per cent) others subjected to a search last year.”

Dr Weatherburn said that BOCSAR are committed to ensuring that an error like this does not happen again.

He explained, “We have a lot of plans in place, not the least of which is every quarter to compare what we’ve got with what the police have to make absolutely sure if there are any discrepancies we can investigate them”.

While some believe a further response needs to come from government through an overhaul of drug policy and resourcing across NSW, after the Defqon deaths it seems unlikely there will be anything other than more crackdowns from Macquarie Street.

Independent Member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, said “Irrespective of the data, we cannot police and arrest our way out of problematic drug use”.

He suggested Australia look to Portugal’s decriminalisation of drugs as a way forward and pledged his support to “evidence-based drug policies” which put resources into drug use as a health issue and redirects police to drug trafficking and dealing.

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city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

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Sydney Gateway the canary in WestConnex coalmine

Sydney Gateway robs from hospitals and schools. Photo: Supplied

By Wendy Bacon Last week, Premier Gladys Berejiklain announced $2.6 billion public dollars would be spent on a Sydney Gateway, which would allow drivers to travel from Parramatta to Sydney’s airport without going through a single traffic light. $800 million of this $2.6 billion budget is supposed to sit inside WestConnex’s budget.

The remaining $1.8 billion punches a big hole in the $4 billion that Treasurer Dominic Perrotet boasted the WestConnex sale deal would leave for hospitals and schools.

The untolled Gateway will flow into WestConnex.

It’s a subsidy for Transurban, which controls Sydney’s private tollroad network.

The Premier’s promise will be familiar to those who remember that the ‘no traffic light’ claim was the one made for WestConnex when it was announced in 2012.

By repeating it, she hopes to bury the past.

Her attempt to do this began when she told Channel 7 news on August 10 last year that the Sydney Gateway “feeds into the project WestConnex but it is not part of it, it never was”.

The statement was clear but also a lie.

In fact, there are many documents that describe the Gateway as part of WestConnex.

The day before the Premier made her statement, Minister for WestConnex Stuart Ayres admitted under questioning from Labor’s Shadow Roads Minister Jodi McKay, “The question related to Sydney Gateway, which is not part of the WestConnex portfolio”.

In a brazen rewriting of history, he declared that the last stage of WestConnex was always the M4/ M5 link between Rozelle and St Peters.

The circumstances in which the Sydney Gateway disappeared out of WestConnex is a term of reference for the Inquiry into the Impacts of WestConnex being held by the NSW Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee.

WestConnex is enmeshed in secrets but even in that context, Sydney Gateway stands out as a canary in the coal mine.

The story begins in 2012, when Infrastructure NSW (INSW)’s Annual report described WestConnex as the “highest priority project to be completed in the first 10 years…the 33 km scheme includes an extension of the M4 to Sydney Airport”.

The Sydney Motorway Corporation (SMC) commissioned several private companies to help plan WestConnex including infrastructure giant Lendlease, which was granted $2,489,507 to undertake the Airport Access Link Reference Design.

The Inquiry should obtain this document.

Ex Macquarie bank and INSW executive Christopher Swann represented INSW in the SMC and was involved in developing the preliminary business case.

In January 2014, he shifted to the Westconnex Delivery Authority (WDA) to head the New M5 project, which included the Airport Link.

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city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

Swann signed the New M5 application to NSW Planning.

On page 1, the Gateway is described as a Stage 2 component.

The WestConnex Strategic Business case, which was released in November 2015, contained many references to the Sydney Gateway.

In January 2016, page one of the Stage 3 Planning proposal described the Sydney Gateway as part of WestConnex.

Then something shifted.

SMC contracts were secret but a NSW tender database search reveals that in February 2016, Roads & Maritime Services (RMS) awarded a $1 million contract to project management firm MBB Pty Ltd to manage roads for the Gateway.

The Gateway was now back with RMS. After the Stage 2 contract was awarded, Christopher Swann moved to RMS where he worked on the the Western Harbour Tunnel business case and managed RMS‘s relationship with SMC for the M4/M5 link.

In January 2017, he left RMS and joined Capella Capital, a Lendlease partner firm where he remained until recently.

Swann would be a useful witness for the Inquiry as seeks to track the circumstances in which the Gateway separated from WestConnex.

It took another 7 months before the government finally stated on August 9, 2017 that the Gateway was not part of WestConnex.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported that during this time, Ayres’ ministerial diary recorded he met with Capella Capital in May. On September 4, 2017, the ABC reported Lendlease had submitted an unsolicited bid to build the Gateway, which was likely to be tolled.

When she was asked when she first knew that the Gateway was not part of WestConnex, she said that “when we started to do the homework it was very clear that the definition of WestConnex... was the 33 kilometres of tunnels that finished at St Peters interchange”.

On November 13, the SMH reported the Government had rejected the Lendlease bid because it required a large government contribution or tolls.

There was good news for Lendlease when in June, Lendlease was awarded the contract for the M4/M5 project between Haberfield and St Peters, a project that Mr Swann worked on until he left RMS. It is also the major player in one of two consortiums tendering for the never before attempted underground exchange at Rozelle, for which the public will shoulder the risks.

Why was the Gateway, a fundamental part of the case for Australia’s biggest infrastructure project, split off from WestConnex?

Why have the Premier and Minister for WestConnex misled the public?

It’s now over to the Committee to hold the government accountable.

FEATURE

Deconstructing Architecture

By Rita Bratovich The Sydney Architecture Festival returns for its twelfth year with a program of events that will appeal to professionals, amateurs and the curious. With the overarching theme (excuse the pun) being “what makes a building truly great”, the festival will host a series of talks, exhibits and tours that explore architecture past and present; as a physical thing and a social construct; as it impacts the real world environment and our psychological environment.

“It brings together architects and members of the public. We like to say that it brings architecture out of the boardroom and studios to those who experience it first hand,” says Tim Horton, NSW Architects Registrar and Director of the Sydney Architecture Festival. That’s the general aim of the festival. This year’s program specifically addresses four milestones: the Sydney Opera House turns 45; Parliament House in Canberra turns 30; it’s the 100th anniversary of Jorn Utzon’s birth; and the school of architecture at University of Sydney celebrates 100 years.

Horton cites Parliament House as an interesting example of architecture meeting (or not meeting) purpose. It was originally intended to last 200 years, but now, just 30 years into its lifespan it requires major renovation, or, more likely, replacement. The growth in staff numbers was grossly underestimated. And there are things that simply can’t be anticipated, for instance, they are currently redesigning offices to accommodate standing desks.

“We need to constantly renew and refresh our buildings,” says Horton. He describes a concept created by Jorn Utzon, designer of Sydney Opera House and another man who worked with him, Richard Johnson: The Utzon Design Principles, that is, “how do we renew and give new life, but not depart from what makes it

special.” To answer that question, it’s necessary to go back to the source and determine what made the building special in the first place and what were the designer’s key thoughts.

While there’s a general consensus around the merit of the design of the Sydney Opera House, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder when it comes to design in general. Horton says the jury is still out on whether the much maligned “toaster” in Circular Quay is a great building.

Horton believes there are three integral elements to creating a great building: a masterplan; design principles; and having the right team. There needs to be a clear vision, a way of Photo: NSW Architects Registration Board realising that vision and people who are dedicated to the integrity of that vision. and the role of the creative individual in society.

The festival will look at ethics in an age of excess Horton believes ultimately, the professional “must hold the public interest and the public good as a priority.”

Photo: Dr Cristina Garduna Freeman is a Postdoctoral Stephen Pierce Research Fellow in the Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage at the University of Melbourne and one of the esteemed speakers at the festival. She is using data analytics and digital ethnography to help identify the social importance of architectural icons. In answer to “what makes a building truly great” she says “people make a building truly great,” again citing the Sydney Opera House as a good example.

One of the discussions that often flares up around design is that of whether “form follows function” has been satisfied. Because of the emphasis on its visual impact, the Opera House has often been at the centre of such debates, but Dr Garduna Freeman explains that “part of the function of the building was its exterior. It’s not just about the interior and the concert hall, it’s also about providing a sculpture back to the city and a sculpture on the harbour.”

Multidisciplinary Australian Danish Exchange, or MADE is a program run by the Opera House in which five architecture, engineering and design students from Australia and Denmark each, take part in study, mentorship and group projects based around architecture and the built environment. One of the alumni from the program, Awkar Ruel, spent time in Denmark and worked on a mock project that involved developing a community space. The idea is to help students go through the process and learn first hand how to design and bring a building to fruition. They work in a team that is comprised of students with varied skills, backgrounds and disciplines.

MADE alumni will be presenting a workshop as part of the festival. They’ve invited students from schools and tertiary institutions to participate.

Students will work in small groups, mentored by an alumni, and will try to solve a real world design problem using their combined skills.

“It’s not about the solution they come up with, it’s more about the process and getting the first hand experience of multi-media design in solving problems,” explains Ruel. One of the aims of this workshop is to show participants how bringing together people with different backgrounds can help open up new ways of thinking and finding solutions. They use the Opera House as a model to illustrate how collaborative input can enhance design thinking and ultimate production.

Ruel still marvels at the ingenuity that went into building the Opera House and holds it up as a masterpiece, truly an example of a great building.

Sep 28-Oct 1. Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point. FREE but bookings essential. www.sydneyarchitecturefestival.org

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Metamorphosis When Franz Kafka wrote the short story The Metamorphosis (published in 1915), he probably didn’t foresee that it would become a classic of absurdist literature, nor that his name would spawn a category of experience, “Kafkaesque.” The term encompasses the bizarre, the oppressive and the sense of alienation on the cusp of World War I, but its meaning filled a gap in modern experience that is yet to lose currency.

In the tale, Gregor Samsa awakens one morning as a bug (often interpreted as a cockroach).

He struggles to grasp his new state, beginning with how to flip over, and slowly reveals his life’s predicaments. Kafka wrote other pieces about his apprehension of Mr Gørski is a hilarious, chaotic caper premiering in Sydney as part of the Sydney Fringe. With a twinkle in his eye, a twist in his moustache and a slew of old school tricks and gags to delight audiences of all ages, Mr Gørski is a one-man clown show that combines cabaret and comedy with pantomime and audience interaction; it’s raucous fun, silly and tongue in cheek.

Mr G’s clown character is innocent and childlike, he doesn’t want to do any harm but leaves chaos in his wake. He is the dangerously entertaining entertainer. Featuring the voice of authority deeming Mr G too dangerous, he is on the run from the authorities and finds himself in a hideout.

The voice of authority comes through the radio and he has to find a way to tune it out….

The ‘man behind the mo’, Daniel Gorksi grew up in Melbourne in an eccentric artistic Polish family with the influence of big over the top characters.

He gained inspiration from old school performers like Chaplin and Keaton. Over his 20-year career he’s done extensive work in theatre, circus and training in acrobatics.

“I fell in love with performing ancient skills especially vaudeville and salon juggling, using ordinary objects in extraordinary ways. It’s the skills that keep the adults in the audience entertained and the up to date topics, like being true to yourself, overcoming your fears and resilience. Mr G’s got lots of courage, he fails but he tries again,” explained Gorski.

You might know him as Jango, the character from Hoopla Doopla on ABC TV. Mr G filmed 52 episodes of the series in just six months, near Beijing.

“It was a huge collaboration where we shared ideas for acrobatic routines, sequences and comedy sketches. It was ground breaking in that it was the first tv series to have physical circus performers from two separate countries on that scale in a set the size of a football field,” Gorski said. (MS) Until Sep 29. St Peters Town Hall, 39 Unwins Bridge Rd, Sydenham. $15-$30+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.sydneyfringe.com

a&e

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city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

his world, much of which comprised of being a German Jew living in Prague in the lead-up to the Great War, and The Metamorphoses is among his bestknown.

Opera Australia presents an unexpected interpretation of the story – a chamber opera. The Australian premiere of Australian composer Brian Howard’s Englishlanguage chamber opera will take place in unusual surrounds – Opera Australia’s Scenery Workshop at the Opera Centre in Surry Hills. Conductor Paul Fitzsimon and 12 musicians occupying centre stage, with six singers near the audience.

Baritone Simon Lobelson plays Gregor Samsa, the unfortunate young man beleaguered by

Photo: courtesy Opera Australia

responsibilities. Other performers include Opera Australia principals Julie Lea Goodwin, Christopher Hillier, Taryn Fiebig, Adrian Tamburini and Benjamin Rasheed.

“Metamorphosis is an incredibly dynamic tale – one that can’t be buried. It is the ultimate in strange,

alienating, dreamlike, and horrifying musings in modern life,” says director Tama Matheson. (OA) Sep 26-29. Opera Australia Scenery Workshop,The Opera Centre, 480 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills. $79+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.opera.org.au

Laugh While You Still Can Over the past few weeks the world of politics has become somewhat of a parody of itself, or even worse an outright laughing stock for the wider community.

Prior to the wild events we’ve witnessed in Canberra though politics was always fertile land for comedians to harvest material.

This weekend six scintillating comedic acts combine forces with Sydney’s Solidarity Choir to throw hysterical jabs and barbs at

apocalypse, conservative politicians, racism and all things associated with the coal-guzzling patriarchy.

The Laugh While You Still Can lineup features MC Trump And Abbott (aka Jonas Holt), Amanda Gary, Sean Bedlam, Bec Charlewood, Annaliese Constable and Suren Jayemanne.

Each of these comedians has built a reputation for themselves based upon their impeccable knowledge of the Australian political landscape,

which when coupled with the quick fire wit and outrageous comedic timing creates a riotous night out.

Opening up the evening for the comedians will be the Sydney Solidarity Choir which will set the foundations for a sophisticated evening of laughs. (JA) Sep 22. Leichhardt Town Hall, Cnr Marion & Norton St, Leichhardt. $12-$50+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.facebook. com/greenleftweekly

REVIEW: Jersey Boys This is the story of four young sons of Italian immigrants coming of age in 1960s New Jersey, in the bad part of town (doing time in jail was just part of growing up), forming a band and ultimately becoming Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons, one of the most successful pop groups of all time.

Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical but one where the songs are used organically, a natural part of the narrative, rather than being awkwardly imposed on an irrelevant story. Each band member contributes to telling the story, a chronological biography punctuated by performances of the big hits where they appear in the timeline.

12 STAGE 13 SCENE 14 Sounds 14 SCREEN

The cast is very strong and aptly chosen, making them believable as the four Jersey Boys of the title.

Ryan Gonzalez is Frankie Valli, diminutive in stature but with a voice twice his size, and pulling off the famous falsetto impressively.

Thomas McGuane is the sensitive songwriting genius Bob Gaudio; blue-eyed and innocent with an angelic voice. Glaston Toft plays Nick Massi, the tall, comic bass player and bass singer and Cameron MacDonald is the shifty, brash, street wise Tommy Devito who feels like he stepped out of a frame from Goodfellas. They are all really tight, both in song performances and the quick dialogue in between.

Photo: Jeff Busby

Mr Gørski

It’s a pared back production with a minimal, industrial looking set, simple choreography and few big effects. It relies a lot on the timeless appeal of the songs themselves, and the outstanding renditions by the cast, each of which brings spontaneous, lengthy cheers and applause from the

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

hyped up audience. Purists argue that this is not truly a “musical” by definition, but fans of good music, wit and feel-good entertainment won’t mind. (RB) Until Dec 9. Caption Theatre, 13 Campbell St, Haymarket. $69-$150+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.capitoltheatre.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 & Lili Sekkai, Joseph Rana, John Moyle.

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STALKER: THE MUSICAL Theatre-goers may be intrigued by the title of this musical which took three Australian writers several years to complete, but actress Emma Taviani explains that the show is not technically about stalking as the title suggests.

“It’s a satirical approach to love and all the ups and downs associated with falling in and out of love.”

The concept of this musical is similar to Foot Loose, but instead of dancing being taboo in the town it’s love that is banned.

“This town is in a parallel universe where people aren’t allowed to love and that concept started from a person who had a really horrible experience in her own love

life. She decided that love was too painful for anyone else to experience, so she created this world for people to live in without love - but inevitably as everyone is human people start to fall in love.”

The concept of stalking is an attempt to keep people away from each other, “to satisfy that need to be close to someone but from a distance.”

This is not a completely sung through musical and there are many scenes that are straight dialogue. Taviani described this as a comedy/drama and said it’s tongue-in-cheek.

“It’s dramatic but part of the comedy is the drama. It pokes fun at itself that’s for sure.”

The resonating theme is that love is painful and difficult, but always worth fighting for.

“It’s definitely for adult audiences. The humour itself is so clever that it does need a mature understanding of what’s been told.”

And what would it be like living in a world devoid of love? “I’m sure it would be blissfully ignorant!” laughed Taviani. “But as the show tells us it’s impossible. I think it’s human nature to eventually fall into something whether you understand what it is or not. If you didn’t know what it was you could go about your life, but you’d always feel like something was missing. Love is the meaning of life.” (MMo) Until Oct 6.The Depot Theatre, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville. $38-$45+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.thedepottheatre.com

THE NAKED CITY

THE GRUMPY GUIDE TO THE CURRENT LEXICON

With Coffin Ed Keeping up with changes in the ever evolving English lexicon can always be daunting – particularly in a world where many believe language in general is under threat. Some would point to the new ‘illiteracy’ spawned by a generation of mobile phone texters, Instagram style apps and the short attention span of tabloid click bait. Others put it down to the death of meaningful conversation as part of our everyday lifestyle, replaced by the monosyllabic grunts of an increasingly dopey youth – eg.“yo bro”.

Around a thousand words are added to our common day usage each year whilst no doubt a large number simply fall dormant. Many would argue that an annual cull would not be out of place, banishing some of the more hideous snap phrases and boo words to the dustbin of history.

So here in a few hundred words is your instant rough guide to some of the more glaring examples of words and phrases we could well do without and what many consider their real subliminal meaning. Before we start, a special mention to Pauline Hanson who breathed new life into a wellworn metaphor when she recently referred to “the white elephant in the room”.

MANSPREADING: Supposedly refers to a man spreading his legs on public transport, not only hogging the seat but hoping he doesn’t have a hole in his crotch.

PHOTOBOMB: The act of moving into somebody’s selfie when they are not looking. In reality an explosive device concealed in an old Kodak Box Brownie.

WHOVIAN: A name chosen by fans of Dr Who but sounds more like a vacuum cleaner to me.

WOOT: A word that is said to express enthusiasm or elation but might I suggest it’s the sound made by an owl with a wet beak.

SCREENAGER: A tech savy teenager although the word morphs into SCREAMAGER when they are caught watching porn and their laptop is quarantined.

GLAMPING: Surely one of the most contemptible words recently added to the lexicon – used to describe up-market camping but more like ‘DAMPING’ when your $5000 tent springs a link and the water floods in.

BINGE WATCH: A phrase which describes somebody watching the entire series of Breaking Bad in one hit - or possibly observing the activity in King Street Newtown on a Saturday night.

FLASH MOB: Forget about a spontaneous group gathering, it’s time to call the police when you spot a group of old guys all wearing trench coats!

COVFEFE: Sorry – only the twisted mind of Donald Trump can explain the meaning of this word.

LODESTAR: The word nobody in the Trump White House will now dare to utter.

LUMBERSEXUAL: A ruggedly handsome guy who kits out like a lumberjack as opposed to a slovenly dude who hangs out in his pyjamas – i.e. a ‘slumbersexual’.

MILKSHAKE DUCK: This was the Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year for 2017, chosen supposedly for its popularity amongst Twitter users but bagged by many as elitist bullshit. My tip for their 2018 word – BOLLOCKS! AND OUT THEY GO: BOOTYLICIOUS, BROMANCE, FAKE NEWS,VAPING, GIG ECONOMY, ALTERNATIVE FACTS, SMASHED AVOCADO, TWITTERATI, INSTAGRAM, SCENARIO, HIPSTER etc – and THE WHITE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Finally: LISTICLE: Refers to the kinds of meaningless lists you now encounter on the internet and in columns like this!

Genderfication The Leftovers Collective are pushing the boundaries and releasing an original artform which combines social experiments and classic works.

Genderfication explores the social norms of gender, comparing binary, non-binary and fluid gender identification, with biological sex.

The actors are each going to perform the same script in their own unique way to see if the audience knows, notices or cares about the perceived genders of the characters or performers. Actor, Kipp Lee said, “The Leftovers Collective came about when a bunch of less traditional actors tried to audition for Bell Shakespeare and they didn’t get the general audition so they decided to do it anyway. They have basically taken traditional old texts and they are presenting them with different genders and appearances, sort of trying to change what an audience expects from a Shakespearean or Jacobean script.”

While watching their show, they want audiences to stop thinking in a gendered way.

The Leftovers Collective is providing an opportunity for non-binary actors to perform freely in a space without having to worry about social constraints on gender.

“Being a non-binary performer and always being perceived a particular gender, it’ll be

nice to challenge that expectation in a place where people are more receptive for it. This is the first opportunity I’ve been given as a non-binary character to perform as a nonbinary person. That’s fairly radical in itself that something like the Leftovers Collective exists to create that space because coming into the world as someone who’s non-binary, I was expecting that if I wanted a role I was going to have to create it or compromise my gender almost,” Lee concluded. (JM) Sep 27. Surry Hills Library, Crown Street.

FREE. www.theleftoverscollective.com

REVIEW: Gweilo A Cantonese word for “ghost man” (used cheekily to describe Caucasians) Gweilo, together with the anime-boy styled logo, aptly describes the aesthetic here: kind of spooky and dark but with pop culture chutzpah. The soft colour scheme, clean curves and dimmed lighting give it a relaxed feel, but the brightly lit bar and neon sign save it from being too mellow.

Our gracious waiter/host, puts a shot glass filled with greenish liquid in front of each of us and explains that it’s a palate cleanser. It’s sharp, lemony-herbal-astringent and indeed, quite refreshing.

We each then order a cocktail - a highly recommended way to begin your meal here.

The cocktails are inventive and extraordinary.

Dragon’s Breath is their showpiece cocktail and is served shrouded in Applewood Smoke inside a bell jar which is placed over the cocktail and then removed at the table, freeing curls of misty smoke as if from a magic brew. If you drink the cocktail quickly you expel smoke!

This is somewhere to go with a group. The menu has been designed to be shared and the ambience will make sharing fun. Great value, handy location. Go in and say Gweilo!

At The Evening Star Hotel, 360 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills. Info: www.gweilosurryhills.com.au city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2017

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Photo: Ash Schumann

Jack River

By Jamie Apps For singer songwriter Jack River, also known as Holly Rankin, her debut album Sugar Mountain is a “souvenir of my youth” as it recaptures what she feels were her “most fascinating years of writing.”

Sugar Mountain is undoubtably a pop record but upon further inspection Rankin is a much more nuanced artists than any other within the genre. City Hub spoke with Rankin as she geared up for her national tour to gain more of an understanding of what shaped Jack River into the artist she is today.

For Rankin this record has been in the works for eight years and is a representation of her her life’s work up to this point.

“This record is very special and certainly didn’t come easy at all,” she explained, “I’ve chipped away at it through really fun times and really hard times, and now after years

I’ve got something that I’ve put my life into.”

Growing up in the small coastal town of Forster Rankin lived an idilic childhood until tragically her life was thrown into turmoil following the sudden passing of her younger sister in a freak accident.This event fractured a young Rankin’s psyche and forever changed her path in life.

“I was having a completely different experience to that of my friends.They were going to uni and getting jobs, having these bright teenage years. I was in limbo.”

Coupling this with her love for honest, heartfelt music and the mainstream pop music which surrounded her Rankin has forged a path and genre of her own.

“I grew up loving old American folk music, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez because they always had a great sense of honesty,” she recalled before continuing,“I always try to make sure that

Phoenix Collective Concerts - Heart & Soul Phoenix Collective showcases classical music with a uniquely Australian edge. This weekend the group is welcoming accomplished international performers, Dan Russell (violin) and Anthony Garcia (guitar) for a concert of rearranged and semi-improvised works, especially for this event.

For Phoenix Collective Director and violinist, Dan Russell, “you can’t get more intimate than sharing a musician’s thoughts and expressions as they improvise. You react in the moment: no chance to go back and

edit or rehearse again. It’s all your cards out on the table.”

Anthony Garcia says “Heart and Soul is a program that will blend traditional composition with these special improvised vignettes. In that sense, the audience will truly be part of the creative process - their emotional responses to the music feed-back to us and help generate something unique and original.” (JA) Sep 22. Hunter Baillie Memorial Presbyterian Church, Cnr Johnston St & Collins St, Annadale. $15-$86+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.pcmusic.net

Nothing To Lose

Visualise a cast of people categorised by society as fat. Imagine if instead of feeling bad about themselves, they felt empowered, alive and unashamed. Enter Nothing To Lose, a production which was designed to reclaim dance and movement for people with larger bodies.

Loro

The anticipated wait is nearly over, as the 19th Lavazza Italian Film Festival returns to celebrate another year of fine cinema from Italy, boasting a program of over 30 films which include hilarious comedies, dramas and documentaries.

“The festival will open with Academy award-winning 14

city hub 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

Choreographer Kate Champion joined forces with queer artist and fat activist Kelli Jean Drinkwater to create a production which was a sell out at the Sydney Festival in 2015, and this documentary follows the creation of the show from auditions to the final performance.

This is a fascinating peek into the lives of people who may not look like conventional dancers, but who are comfortable within their bodies in the performance space. As one performer puts it, “My body is what I share with an audience, and you can’t hate yourself and do that for too long.”

Nothing To Lose is inspiring, funny and most importantly makes us question our ideas of gender, desire and beauty. (LS) WWWW1/2

honesty is something that is always in my work because things don’t always have to be shiny.”

Whilst she still stands by the idea that things don’t have to always be shiny Rankin does want to ensure people that her show will have “lots of lights and sparkly things” to complement her heartfelt honest music.

With this tour being her biggest headline shows to date there are understandably mixed emotions in the lead up.

“I’m very excited and scared, because these shows are so big and there are so many people coming, but I feel like it will be a beautiful moment to share the album and be as honest as possible. It’s always so humbling to see people singing along because the songs have affected them in some way.”

Sep 28.The Metro Theatre, 624 George St, Sydney. $31.75+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.metrotheatre.com.au

Handsome - No Hat No Play New artist, Handsome, is releasing her EP No Hat No Play tomorrow, and music lovers can expect big things.

Not only did Handsome showcase her skills at BIGSOUND earlier this month, but her EP is an innovative blend of pop and electronica. If you close your eyes, the album sounds as if Florence And The Machine decided to dabble in techno.

Like Florence Welch, Handsome has impressive vocal talent and the ability to hit some powerful notes.

If her voice sounds familiar for a different reason, it could be because Handsome used to create music under the name Caitlin Park. She decided to switch her name to Handsome to pay tribute to her queer identity.

The new songs produced using her new name are stronger than ever, particularly the singles Save Some Love and Late Night Ball Game, which features Joyride. (EE) WWWW1/2

A Simple Favour Anna Kendrick is what’s really good about this movie. She has that 1970s doe-eyed, slight bodied prettiness (think Stepford Wives) that makes her trustworthy and instantly likeable, and precision comic timing that buoys up the script when it threatens to sag.

Kendrick plays Stephanie Smothers, a widowed mummy vlogger with a young boy at school who tries to fill the gaps in her life by volunteering for pretty much everything. Her son is besties with the son of Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) a high achieving fashion executive with blunt force directness, a power wardrobe, and devastating eyes.They form an unlikely bond over regular afternoon martinis, until Emily inexplicably vanishes after requesting a simple favour of Stephanie - to look after her son for a few hours. From here the movie devolves into

a where is she/who is she thriller but it becomes untidy and a little overwrought. It’s the dry comedy that allows you to forgive some of the plot pot holes and just enjoy the ride. (RB) WWW

19TH LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL director Paola Sorrentino’s new film Loro. It’s about the scandal-plagued infamous politician Silvio Berlusconi and I think it will give people a lot to talk about at the afterparty, where there will be cocktails, antipasti, gift bags, music and other Italian touches,” explained festival director Elysia Zeccola.

Events are always a major part of the festival and guests in attendance will be Italian actress Valeria Solarino who stars in three films at the festival and who will also be present for Q&A’s. Lisa Camillo a Sydney-Sardinian, will also be presenting a documentary which she produced.“There’s a platinum event for My Big Gay Italian Wedding and Closing Night with a digitally remastered version of

Dario Argento’s 1977 horror classic Suspiria.”

Italy produces many excellent films. But was it a difficult process selecting the final program? “It’s not difficult identifying which films will attract an audience, it’s part gut-feeling and part experience.

Finding time to watch them all was the hard part!” laughed Zeccola.

With such a wonderful selection of films on offer, Elysia was enthused when asked which would be her top three recommendations.“Dogman is a mustsee because it is the new film from the director of Gommorah and Euphoria because it’s Valeria Golino’s second brilliant directorial effort. Happy As Lazzaro

by Alice Rohwacher is also my personal favourite.

She’s such a talented director and the film has so many layers to it. I already want to watch it again!”

Two other films to watch out for are Boys Cry, a Rome-set crime-drama directed by twin brothers Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo and Love And Bullets, an entertaining musical which has won more awards than any other film at the Italian Academy Awards.

“Italians make great films and this year’s selection is the strongest yet. Come to the movies, be entertained and enjoy a little la dolce vita!” (MMo) Until Oct 7.Various Cinemas. $18-$80+b.f.. Tickets& Info: www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

WRITERS WANTED A Call Out for the Retired, Superannuated and Graduate Students

Program: 20th sept 2018

ausTraLIa’s GOvErMENT: PrOTECTION FrOM FOrEIGN INTErFErENCE WIThOuT CurBING Our huMaN rIGhTs stephen Blanks, President for NSW Council for Civil Liberties

Writers needed on local issues across the City Hub’s five distribution regions.

Must be able to write engaging and accurate copy and meet deadlines.

27th sept 2018

FuELLING War: ausTraLIa aNd ThE WEaPONs INdusTry dr. sue Wareham VP Medical Association for Prevention of War, Aust dr. hannah Middleton Peace activist, member of IPAN, & Australian Communist Party

24/7 Emergency Services CALL US NOW Same Day Service Quality Guaranteed Ontime Plumbers 10% Seniors Discount news@altmedia.net.au

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EvEry Thursday 6.15pm GaELIC CLuB, 1/64 devonshire st, surry hILLs www.politicsinthepub.org.au

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Now in its 12th year, the Honour Awards is an inspirational celebration of the LGBTI community in NSW as well as a fabulous cocktail event with a great silent auction and special guests.

WEDNESDAY 3 OCTOBER 2018 RED CARPET ARRIVALS 6PM Red carpet hosted by Candy Box

AWARD CEREMONY 7.30PM

Hosted by Andrew Mercado With perfomances by Cath Alcorn & featuring DJ Kate Monroe

IVY BALLROOM 330 GEORGE ST SYDNEY

Tickets $90pp inc. wine, beer, canapès and entertainment

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