City Hub 5 September 2019

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2019 Sydney Update

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Here is an update on some of my work: • I’m supporting Sydney’s bid for WorldPride 2023, a massive LGBTIQ festival that celebrates our achievements and diverse LGBTIQ communities, while reminding us of reforms needed to advance equality and remove discrimination.

www.alexgreenwich.com

• We’ve received lots of submissions and are holding hearings for the Joint Select Committee on Sydney’s Night Time Economy, with great ideas from Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the City of Sydney, resident and business groups.

• The Legislative Assembly passed our Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 59

to 31, reflecting the strong community support to take abortion out of the Crimes Act – the first Legislative Council vote supported the reform, with amendments considered mid-September.

I’m committed to working for a liveable, sustainable and progressive Sydney for all.

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Snippets by ALEC SMART Ship avoid Randwick Council is engaging specialists to research potential impacts of a proposed third Sydney terminal for cruise ships at Molineux Point and Yarra Bay in Botany Bay. Mayor Kathy Neilson tabled the motion on 27 August and the council voted overwhelmingly to endorse a budget of $50,000 to fund the research.

The NSW Government is preparing a strategic business case for the terminal, which envisions cruise ships docking at one of two adjacent sites on the northern side of Botany Bay - Molineaux Point and Yarra Bay - both requiring the construction of a massive wharf and surrounding infrastructure.

Opponents of the plan claim wildlife, including a seal colony, will be negatively impacted, and toxic sludge buried beneath the silt will be released into the bay when it is dredged.

Much of Yarra Bay is only a few metres deep, so substantial dredging will be needed to accommodate large vessels, stirring up contaminated sediment from decades of poor waste disposal from surrounding industry.

Furthermore, the height of newer ‘mega’ cruise ships may intrude upon airspace used by passenger jets landing and taking off from Sydney Airport.

Yarra Bay Beach and Frenchman’s Bay have been nominated by Randwick Council for heritage listing. Council minutes noted: “a cruise ship terminal in Yarra Bay and Molinenux Point will have potentially detrimental environmental impacts on the heritage significance of Yarra Bay .. as the first point of contact between Aboriginal people and European Settlers, including Yarra Bay Beach, which was the first landing place for Governor Arthur Phillip prior to settlement of

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The new building, which includes an outdoor children’s play area, an indoor café, six study rooms and The Pavillion event-hire room with a kitchen, integrates contemporary design themes with the conserved heritage elements of the original hospital building. Over 20,000 new books were added to the collection, bringing the total to 85,000 books. The entire second floor is now dedicated to the Council’s historic art book collection.

NSW Govt is preparing a strategic business case for a cruise ship terminal at Yarra Bay. Photo: Alec Smart

Sydney Cove in 1788; and Yarra Bay Reserve where a number of encounters are recorded between the Aboriginal population and Captain James Cook’s expedition in 1770. Other heritage significant sites include .. the use and occupation of the La Perouse area and Yarra Bay by Aboriginal peoples of the Bidjigal and Cadigal groups and their unbroken connection to the land over 7500 years.”

to vulnerable pets in need across Australia.

“Since 2016, we’ve donated millions of meals to pets in need around Australia,” said Barry O’Sullivan, General Manager, Mars Petcare Australia. Recipient groups include Animal Adoption Agency, DCH Animal Adoptions, Homeless Cats Helping Hand, Inner City Strays, and West Connect Domestic Violence Services.

Gone to the dogs At the end of August, a group of animal charities, including PetRescue, Mars Petcare, and PETstock, came together to facilitate and distribute over 21,300 kgs of free pet food to 37 rescue groups and community outreach organisations across NSW. $175,000 worth of food was donated to aid scores of NSW rescue pets in need. Laurel Richardson, PetRescue Program Coordinator, said, “Every donation helps to provide a welcomed reprieve for volunteer-run rescue groups and local outreach organisations, allowing them to continue to save the lives of, and provide dedicated quality care to pets that are in need.”

Food donations are part of PetRescue’s ongoing partnership with Mars Petcare and PETstock to provide millions of dollars’ worth of free food

Smoothing rough edges Malabar Pool is closed for five days this week while council contractors smooth the rough edges. Work will be done to repair the surface area around the edge of the pool, which, according to Randwick Council, is “uneven, sharp, full of cracks and difficult to walk on with bare feet. The area will be smoothed with concrete and a textured surface will be created to keep it from being slippery. This will improve community access and safety for all.”

The pool is expected to be reopened on the weekend.

Bookish The new Marrickville Library and Pavillion is open on Marrickville Rd, and to celebrate the opening the library will be hosting a year of tours, events and programs.

Tram track Woollahra Council are inviting comment on the concept design for the proposed new accessible path trail that will follow the historic tramway route through Gap Park.

According to the council: “The proposed path will connect the Military Road end park entry in the north to Old South Head Road in the south. The pathway will take visitors along the historic tram route, a bushland rock escarpment and an exotic rain forest gully, a quite different experience to the exposed Coastal Walk path hugging the cliff tops. The asphalt path will be 2 metres wide and include rest areas, habitat boardwalk, sandstone log wall, and interpretive / wayfinding signage.”

You can add comment to the online survey via the council’s webpage.

Nine lives Channel Nine, which merged with the ailing Fairfax Media last year and took on publication of their historically-independent Sydney Morning Herald, Age and the Australian Financial Review newspapers, hosted a lavish corporate fundraiser for the Liberal Party on Monday 2 September.

Hosted by Channel Nine’s CEO, Hugh Marks, corporate sponsors and Liberal Party supporters paid $10,000 a head to dine with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher at Nine’s TV studios in Willoughby.

The event was organised by the Liberal Party’s fundraising section, Australian Business Network, although Channel Nine paid the cost of the catering bill.

An estimated $700,000 was raised for the Liberal Party from the event.

It will be interesting to see whether the Herald’s future political allegiances and editorial guidelines will realign, especially after Channel Nine’s $113.94m offer to acquire the remaining shares in Macquarie Media from Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. Macquarie Media own 2GB Radio, home of ultraconservative shock-jock Alan Jones.

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Sign doubt signed out

BY ALEC SMART Danny Lim, the 75-year-old Chinese man renowned for wearing cheeky sandwich-board style signs at prominent traffic junctions around Sydney, has had his conviction and $500 fine for offensive conduct overturned by an Appeal Court.

Lim, a veteran peace and environmental campaigner who displays slogans - often risqué and involving cheeky word-play - on tabards, appeared before magistrate Jacqueline Milledge at the Downing Centre Court on Friday 30 August, where the verdict was delivered.

City Hub sat alongside Lim in Court where there was much lighthearted banter between the judge and litigants, despite the serious nature of the proceedings. At one stage, while Lim was in the witness box, NSW Police solicitor Senior Sergeant Rick Mansley cross-examined him with Lim’s companion animal, a 14-year-old chihuaha-pomeranian named ‘Smarty’, sat on his lap!

Play on words The ruling came exactly a year after another successful appeal for one of Lim’s ‘trade-mark’ signs that called Tony Abbot a ‘Cvnt’. On that occasion Judge Scoting ruled: “The language used was clearly a play on words. If the appellant’s conduct was offensive.. in my view it was only marginally so…. Politicians and their views are often subject to criticism in public.”

Danny Lim at an Extinction Rebellion march in Sydney in August. Photo: Alec Smart

Lim was effectively exonerated and permitted to call then-Prime Minister Tony Abbot the C-word.

The Judge criticised Danny Lim’s arrest as “heavy-handed and unnecessary The sign that got him into hot water again on 11 January this year outside Barangaroo used another corruption

of the C-word, said: “SMILE CVN’T! WHY CVN’T?” Lim explained to City Hub that it was written to read as a conversation between two people, intended to provoke a smile at what he perceived were stony-faced and often sad people going back and forth to work.

“I try to make them smile with my signs. If you can’t smile, why?”

Lim’s solicitor, Bryan Wrench, of Murphy’s Lawyers – which worked the case pro-bono - showed the court photographs of his client wearing

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city hub 5 SEPTEMBER 2019

his provocative signs alongside a mixture of prominent politicians, including Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, then Labor leader Bill Shorten, Labor Senator Kristina Keneally and Australian Conservatives’ Senator Cory Bernardi.

The judge accepted these submissions but pointed out that she wasn’t surprised that politicians were keen to be photographed with Lim when the slogan he wore mocked a political opponent or an opposition policy.

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Provocative and cheeky In her summing up, Judge Milledge said to Lim that she found his sign “provocative and cheeky, but not offensive”. She accepted Lim’s solicitor’s submission that the French Connection UK clothing store in Circular Quay, close to where Lim was arrested, uses a double entendre on a profane word, similar to Lim’s sign. The British clothing chain spells its name FCUK, which hundreds of children pass every day, most fully aware of its implied meaning.

However, Judge Milledge, herself a former police prosecutor, was critical of Lim’s arrest in January and described it as “heavy-handed and unnecessary”.

She was particularly scornful of Senior Constable Ashley Hans, the senior police officer who oversaw Lim’s arrest, who aggressively marched Lim towards a police truck, despite his cooperation.

“Lim was a compliant arrestee, unnecessarily handcuffed. He was in the midst of removing the sign but the police were physically traumatic and walked him some distance to a truck…

“Hans said to the probationary constable [Hodges]: ‘They’re all social justice idiots!’ but they were all ordinary citizens, random people, not handpicked protestors. Calling them ‘bloody idiots’ is awful. That attitude has no place in the constabulary!”

In condemning the police arrest she paved the way for Lim to sue the NSW Police. Lim told City Hub that his solicitor is preparing a case.

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5

NSW gambles with democracy

No lifesaver needed: Crown Casino under construction on the shores of Barangaroo. Photo: Alec Smart

BY WENDY BACON The NSW Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) has already established a strong case that NSW Labor disguised a prohibited $100,000 donation from Chinese businessman and property developer Huang Xiangmo by organising ‘straw donors.’ A number of minor supporters and donors have admitted that they signed false declaration forms in 2015. One of these, property manager Leo Liao, tragically committed suicide rather than exposing his family to the pain of exposure.

Like the picking apart of all scandals, the ICAC hearings are gripping. There are replete with accounts of bags of cash, secret meetings and embarrassing moments when evasions and lies are exposed by documentary evidence.

‘quarantined’ what she knew and gave evidence that she talked to no one about it until she was required to be interviewed by the NSW Electoral Commission and NSW ICAC. Murnane was the first casualty when NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay called for her to be suspended from her job.

Ex NSW MP Ernest Wong, who hosted the Friends of Labor dinner, has not yet finished his evidence but has already been accused of lying to ICAC. He denied that he sold the top dinner table for $100,000 to Huang but after several minutes of evasive answers was shown an email in which he said he had sold the table. It was on this table that Federal MPs Bill Shorten, Chris Bowen and State MP Chris Minns sat.

Cash in an Aldi bag NSW Labor Community Relations Director Kevin Cheah told the Inquiry that Huang Xiangmo delivered $100,000 to then NSW General Secretary Jamie Clements in an Aldi bag. At the time of writing, Clements has not yet given evidence. He resigned as NSW General Secretary amidst sexual harassment allegations, which he denied, and was convicted and fined for a data breach in 2017.

NSW General Secretary Kaila Murnain, who took over from Clements, gave evidence that she was told

by NSW MP Ernest Wong that there were problems with donations from a 2015 Chinese Friends of Labor dinner and that property developer Huang Xiangmo was involved. She immediately rang ex-Labor Senator Sam Dastyari, who had himself just resigned from the Federal shadow front bench over questions about his relationship with donors. They met in his car that evening and he advised her to seek legal advice from Labor lawyer and Holding Redlich partner Ian Robertson, who she said told her to do nothing, tell no one and not keep notes.

This evidence will be denied by Robertson.

Murnane also admitted that despite receiving this information, she signed a response to questions from the NSW Electoral Commission which was prepared on her instructions by another party officeholder and which she knew was not correct. She admitted, she

Donations diversion Conveniently for the NSW Coalition government, the donations scandal has diverted attention from another potentially explosive issue. A powerful NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority [ILGA] inquiry will examine whether gambling giant Crown Resorts should be allowed to keep its Darling Harbour high roller casino licence after Nine media revealed that its Australian operations are in business with high roller junket operations involved with organised crime. and money laundering.

The Inquiry will also decide if James Packer has breached his license when he agreed to sell his Crown stake to his ex-partner in Macau casinos Lawrence Ho. If she finds that there is a problem, Inquiry judge Justice Patricia Bergin has been asked to recommend how to fix it.

It is unfortunate that the half-built giant Crown monument to the pastime of high roller gambling was not subject to serious scrutiny before approval was given for Crown’s project partner Lendlease to build it. Back in 2012, James Packer considered the high roller his ‘gift to Sydney’ for which he needed bipartisan support. With sales assistance from News Corporation and sections of Fairfax Media, Packer was granted approval for his unsolicited bid from the Liberal government, but we should not forget that after the bid was announced, Labor criticised the

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Liberals for not supporting Packer quickly enough.

Packer got his bipartisan support.

Both major parties co-opted In fact, Crown Resorts is a classic example of how major corporations have co opted both major parties.

Ex NSW Labor secretaries, Carl Bitar and Marb Arbib, who was also a Labor Senator, still work for Crown.

Meanwhile the Board is packed with business heavies including Helen Coonan, long time Liberal Senator and Minister. She joined the Crown board immediately after leaving Federal politics in 2011, not long before Packer made his casino push. She is also Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia. Crown Resorts and James’ mother Ros Packer have made huge donations to Liberal and Labor branches in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia and Federally.

Politicians who suspect abuses happen keep quiet for the sake of party loyalty NSW citizens should be angry about both the Crown and political donation scandals. But it is also sadly familiar. We might say rather than ‘business as usual’, it is ‘corruption as usual’ in NSW. Since 2009, it has been illegal in NSW for property development and gambling companies to make donations. This reform only happened after a long campaign by the NSW Greens including ex-Senator Lee Rhiannon who established the Democracy for Sale site in 2002.

No sooner were the NSW reforms passed than party machines set about evading them. It’s only three years since ICAC made findings against ex Labor Minister and ALP rightwing factional bass Jo Tripodi, former Liberal MP Chris Hartcher, other Liberal MPs and staffers as well as developers for corrupt conduct that involved avoiding donation laws.

Both Liberal, National and Labor parties have also found ways of lawfully getting around NSW donation laws by channelling money through to

Federal accounts run by State branches. So long as this money is ostensibly for Federal campaigns, it can be given to state branches. This of course does not mean that favours and deals at a state level are not involved with those donations. Two of these companies that have used this technique are Crown Resorts and Huang Xiangmo’s Yuhu Group.

Huang Xiangmo’s visa has now been cancelled by the Australian government who suspected him of being an agent of influence. The narrative around recent donations scandals has focused heavily on soft power strategies.

Incorrect connections While there is no doubt that soft power is on the agenda of some donors, we should not forget that a share in the Sydney’s property game was also important. Huang and other family members’ major investments were in Yuhu Group. Huang has now sold his shares but the company, which is still involved in approved but yet-to-be-completed developments in Strathfield, Eastwood and in the CBD. Like Crown Resorts, Huang saw the advantage of hiring people with political connections. When the ex NSW Labor Secretary and Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal resigned from Parliament in 2013, he was made Vice President of Yuhu Group. Roozendaal resigned after some unpleasant ICAC appearances which damaged his standing and credibility. He was replaced in NSW parliament by Ernest Wong.

Roozendaal who recently left Yuhu Group has not yet been called to the NSW ICAC Inquiry but in the absence of Huang, who has declined to be interviewed from overseas, he must hold a wealth of information about all the contacts between Sam Dastyari, Federal MP Chris Bowen, NSW Chris Minns. Ex MP Eric Wong and Kaila Murnane - and Huang’s Liberal contacts for that matter.

Murnane meanwhile will be contemplating her future. Whether she was told to shut up or not, she appears to have done so. In doing so, she was following a long and damaging tradition of Labor party officials and politicians who know or strongly suspect that abuses happen, but for the sake of party loyalty choose to keep quiet.

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Tree felling falling-out

BY ALEC SMART The Greens and several independent councillors on the Inner West Council (IWC) are fuming after a revised plan for tree protection was amended at the last minute and voted into policy.

The aggrieved councillors claim they were ‘ambushed’ when it was revealed the amendments, which permit residents to fell trees within three metres of their homes, were prepared with the foreknowledge of Mayor Darcy Byrne, without their consultation.

At the IWC meeting on 27 August, councillors expected to vote on a Development Control Plan (DCP) to guide tree management, updating policy made before regional councils Ashfield, Leichardt and Marrickville were amalgamated to form the IWC in May 2016.

However, as Councillor Pauline Lockie (Independent, Stanmore) told City Hub, “Council’s Tree DCP had been on public exhibition for months. Councillors knew about it well before then, and we’ve had several chances to amend it before it went on exhibition.

“But instead of changing it then, Clr Victor Macri tabled nearly four A4 pages of changes on the night, which the Herald later said he’d worked on with Darcy Byrne.

There is no obligation to replace a tree “These changes rewrote big parts of the plan, and significantly weakened controls designed to protect our already low urban canopy cover in the inner west. This included expanding the criteria for trees that can be removed without any Council approval to ones within 3m of any structure on private property - houses, garages, fences, you name it. That’s a recipe for disaster in an area like

Inner-West residents are now permitted to chop down trees within 3m of their homes. Photo: Alec Smart

the inner west, where most trees would be within this 3m zone.

“I didn’t see any of them before they were tabled, and neither did the Greens councillors.

More to the point, our community has had no chance to review these changes.”

Greens seeing red The Greens launched a petition to counter the new DCP, stating: “Disappointingly, Labor just struck a grubby political deal with Liberal Councillors, voting to destroy the current Inner West Council Tree Policy and allow the removal of almost any tree without Council oversight. The Council had developed a new Tree Policy earlier this year which returned from public consultation with over 80% approval from the community.

This Policy was gutted by a sweeping last-minute amendment … Labor is trading the protection of our trees to secure the Liberal votes they need to keep the Mayor in power at the September Mayoral elections...”

Jeff Angel, Executive Director of Total Environment Centre, told City Hub: “We are extremely concerned about the implications for the Inner West… The pendulum has swung too far towards indiscriminate tree clearing …

“The inner west is typified by small lots and the 3 metres clearing zone would in many cases involve all trees on a property. There has been no environmental assessment of the impact of these major changes ... There is no obligation to replace a tree and, given the small lots, owners would be loath to plant another tree in the 3

metre zone encompassing the bulk of their yards ... The amendments are in direct contravention of the state government’s priorities to ‘increase’ Sydney’s tree canopy … Trees planted on public land won’t compensate as most residents don’t live near the green spaces…”

Massacre or management?

Will IWC’s amended Tree Management DCP encourage inner-west residents to launch the ‘tree massacre’ that Greens predict?

Councillor John Stamolis (Independent, Balmain) is highly sceptical. He told City Hub: “I proposed 3 amendments before supporting this new tree policy. These were: 1. To increase the canopy in the business zone from a target of 15% to 25%.

2. To provide information on Councils’ website to assist residents with replanting.

3. To provide quarterly statistics to monitor the new policy. (Any new policy needs to be carefully monitored to ensure positive outcomes such as increasing canopy.)

“If the policy doesn’t work, we will rethink it immediately. It’s not about reducing canopy but giving a little more power to our residents to manage their environment.”

A professional statistician who worked for the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 20 years, Clr Stamolis explained, “Growth in tree canopy in the Inner West started in the early 1970’s and has increased every year since then. Our tree canopy today is 18%. If you compare this to other similar inner-city areas, we are leading the pack ... Our target is 40% over the years ahead.

“I have great trust in my fellow residents and in Council to continue to increase tree canopy.

I also want to show that our tree policy respects tree owners, that we value them and thank them for their commitment and contribution to our environment. You need to work with residents.”

The Greater Sydney Commission is reviewing the effectiveness of the planning framework to deliver the Government’s vision for the Western Harbour Precinct and Pyrmont Peninsula, as the western gateway of Sydney’s CBD.

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Come join Marie Bashir in celebrating the 265th birthday of another former Governor of NSW Captain William Bligh. Tickets to this special event include a high tea with champagne and a tour of the Maritime Museum’s current exhibition Bligh: Hero of Villain?

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9

Dangerous Gums

BY VANESSA LIM In August 2019, an Eastern Suburbs’ couple spoke out about their four-year battle with Woollahra Council to cut down a dangerous tree. Julie Benson and Ken Khavin, who want to remove the gumtree next to their house, say that unpredictable falling branches could harm children in the neighbouring park. They have been arguing that the gumtree is too dangerous to stay but council has denied their request to remove the gumtree several times in the past year.

Woollahra Council said, “Council has received several applications from the property owner for two trees to be removed due to minor damage to a timber fence and paving of a courtyard in an adjacent property. On each occasion, our qualified arborists investigated and the trees were assessed as healthy with no signs of decline – as no hazardous branches were present, removal of the trees or pruning did not need to be carried out.”

This issue has raised concerns from more locals such as Tim Clifford, an environmental activist who agrees that large gumtrees can be a hazard.

“I think it comes down to councils not wanting to maintain gums unless it involves full removal.”

Gumtree incident close to home Clifford described a gumtree incident he witnessed a few years ago when his mother was struck by a falling branch and a window of their house was shattered.

“Council doesn’t do anything to stop the branches from being a hazard. Our window was smashed by a branch about four metres long. It needed trimming but they all grow up past the powerlines and the wind knocks them down.”

Tim Clifford said that proper maintenance or complete removal of gumtrees was needed to ensure safety. Woollahra Council maintains that its tree maintenance program regularly assesses trees in parks and reserves, as well as trees

located on private property that overhang public spaces.

Tim Clifford mentioned that the age of tree was important. “They’re old trees and are still living but they aren’t designed to be near houses and buildings in the first place.”

Saving Sydney’s Trees, a group with over 12,000 supporters, said that poor placement of trees was a key issue in urban environments.

“Any tree that is poorly located can present challenges in an urban environment, particularly when planners and designers fail to undertake professional site planning to determine the right growing conditions in the planning stages.”

The group maintained that poor planning contributed to tree problems and that it was possible for gumtrees to exist in an urban environment.

Tree-lined streets have an economic advantage in sales records “Given the fundamental importance of existing trees in ameliorating the climate crisis, it is unbelievably irresponsible to do anything that undermines the health of our existing urban forest.

When gums are stressed, they can drop branches, but their importance in carbon sequestration, habitat provision, temperature control and pollution protection far outweighs their perceived hazards.”

Tim Clifford agreed that while gumtrees could be dangerous, the low tree rates in the southeastern suburbs, where he lives, was a big concern.

“We need to consider how we’re going to manage the ridiculously low tree canopy cover without having to cut down gums unnecessarily.

This contributes to urban heat sinks and fewer

Saving Sydney’s Trees fought to save these gumtrees in Bundock Street Randwick. Photo: Saving Sydney’s Trees

habit corridors for animals stretching to Botany Bay,” he said.

Saving Sydney’s Trees argued it wasn’t the type of tree that was to blame, but that poor maintenance caused the problems.

Monitoring the tree canopy Tree rates are a major issue in Sydney. Saving Sydney’s Trees is dedicated to increasing the number of trees, as well as maintaining the trees in an area.

“Audit of our canopy has not been done since 2013, when 20 per cent of our existing canopy was being held in private yards. Randwick Council Area at that stage had 14 per cent cover (this included Centennial Parklands, which overlaps with the City of Sydney).”

Given the amount of development and

Kelly Reed, 24 Originally from: UK Now lives: Sydney

deforestation in Sydney, not to mention across Australia, the likelihood that the tree population has increased is minimal. Australia is now considered a global hotspot for deforestation, with some predicting the loss to be three million hectares of land by 2030.

Saving Sydney’s Trees alluded to the benefits of maintaining trees in an urban environment.

“Tree-lined streets have an economic advantage in sales records, temperature controls and ambience for those who live near them. Trees also filter pollution, mitigate floods, and provide habitat for other plant and animal life that creates the natural neighbourhood we live in.”

Saving Sydney’s Trees also mentioned benefits such as improved mental and physical health in a greener environment.

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School’s out for global warning

BY VERONICA ANASSIS School students will meet for urgent climate change action at the Domain in Sydney on September 20 as part of a national protest to abolish coal mining.

Supporters of the “Schools Strike 4 Climate” movement are marching once again, fed up with governments not treating climate change seriously.

Australian students in the hundreds of thousands are skipping school to march across major cities and five dozen regional towns.

In Sydney, union members, working adults and an estimated 2,000 uni students will join them.

They are rallying for an ambitious complete shift to renewable energy generation and exports by 2030. The youths are outraged that new mining projects, including Queensland’s highly contested Adani mine, continue to be supported by federal government. Along with the threat of damage to the Great Artesian Basin and sacred Indigenous land, the mine will expel 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon pollution and take up $4.4bn in government subsidy funding.

Frontline of climate crisis “Australia is already on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” said Schools Strike 4 Climate. “Just at the time when we need to ramp up climate solutions, we have elected a government that is helping billionaire companies like Adani open the floodgates to new coal, oil and gas projects which put all of us in the firing line of more dangerous climate impacts,” they said.

Since their last protest in March, they’ve added transitioning fossil-fuel industry workers to their list of demands.

Sydney-siders swarmed the Town Hall in March alongside 150,000 strikers across Australia and millions from 125 countries. The upcoming strikes

The school strike movement faces credibility when its participants are under age. A spokesperson for Greenpeace, which is helping to set up and marshal the strike, told City Hub that despite being minors – with most participants not old enough to vote − young teens have the maturity to grasp complex issues and develop personal ethics.

“I certainly think 14-year-olds are capable of making decisions for themselves, of understanding what they value, and expressing their concern for the environment,” the spokesperson said.

School’s out for the global warming warning. Photo: Schools Strike 4 Climate

are expected to draw double that figure. They are taking to the streets just three days before the UN emergency climate summit in New York, hoping to send home the message that concern is growing all over the country.

14-year-olds are capable of making decisions for themselves “They need to walk into that meeting with our voices and demands ringing in their ears,” said Schools Strike 4 Climate.

“By taking time off school and work, together around the world, we’ll show our politicians that people everywhere want climate justice, and we’re not going away until we get it.”

Despite pledging $500 million to aid Tuvalu − at

dire risk from rising sea levels − the government’s stance on global warming in Australia remains staunchly conservative.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the Pacific Islands Forum just a fortnight ago, where Fijian officials accused him of refusing to budge on “red lines” or commit to warming limits of 1.5 degrees.

According to recent reports by the UN, even 1.5 degree warming targets will cause 90 per cent of coral reefs to vanish. This is projected to occur in the next two decades.

Alarmingly, even attempts to cap the warming at that level will require a 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030, and “net zero” by 2050.

Many students are concerned that progress is at a snail’s pace, and their future looks bleak.

Adults follow kids’ lead Many adults, too, are getting involved on the day, with colleagues collecting to pull mass workplace no-shows. Harrison Engstrom, a social media executive in Walsh Bay, has convinced six of his current and ex-work mates to take annual leave, or work from home on the day. Mr Egstrom was inspired by Australian tech company Atlassian, which is encouraging its workforce to join the global climate strikes this month. Mr Engstrom, 28, says he’s walking with students for basic things we take for granted and are at serious risk, like breathable air.

“We’ve only got 20 years max, and there have been significant noticeable changes to our environment in the last 5-10 years,” Mr Engstrom told City Hub. “With taking off one day, maybe half a day − worst case scenario you just work from home − what’s it going to cost you really?” he said.

“You’re not just benefitting the country, but the entire world. This [strike] is supported by millions. If you can add to that count, that’s the least you do.”

You can get involved in the strike by visiting http://www.schoolsstrike4climate.com

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FEATURE

Comedy Genius

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THE APPRENTICE

all clicks and changes everything ever really happens… The depths of comedy are quite crushing so you need to have something bolstering your fragile confidence at the start.”

Thanks to his success as a stand-up comedian Ó Briain has been able to segue into a number of other fields which leverage off of his previous mathematics and theoretical physics education. Back home in the UK Ó Briain has written two children’s science books and is one of the most in-demand television hosts, hosting BBC Two’s hugely successful Mock The Week, Stargazing Live, Robot Wars and Dave’s Go8Bit. In closing out our conversation with Ó Briain he wanted to reassure Sydney fans that they needn’t be worried about his performance despite having not performed in the UK all summer.

“I’m drumming on the table to get back up there, and although I haven’t done it all summer don’t worry about me being rusty after that break because that’s Brisbane’s problem. By the time I get to the State Theatre, the show will be back to its slick, polished perfection.”

Sep 13-14. State Theatre, 49 Market St, Sydney. $79.90-$89. 90+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.statetheatre.com.au

Photo: Supplied

When speaking with Ó Briain last week the excitement in his voice was obvious as he spoke quickly, jumping from one funny story to the next. When asked to explain his excitement Ó Briain said, “touring Australia is the fun part that you keep for the end of these long tours as a reward to yourself for having dragged your sorry ass around the middle of the UK.” Looking back to when he first started in stand-up Ó Briain never even considered the idea that he would make a lifetime career out of comedy, let alone be afforded the opportunity to travel the world. In fact, Ó Briain told City Hub that the main driving emotion for him to even attempt stand-up initially was envy.

“I was doing a degree in science and my university would hold these debates where someone would argue their case for a particular topic. I envied everyone who was able to do it… I’ve since found that envy is a great emotion to force people to get things done.”

Once the envy became undeniable Ó Briain would get on stage for the first time, surprisingly receiving a laugh and round of applause from the audience. A moment which he still remembers vividly, “I remember at the time thinking it was like the first hit of a drug, and honestly, I think I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.”

Without that initial gratification from the audience’s laughter, Ó Briain is unsure if he would still be performing today.

“I don’t think the idea of somebody failing year after year and then one day it

More Info:

By Jamie Apps Dara Ó Briain has become one of the UK’s most in-demand hosts and comedians thanks to his unique fusion of scientific facts with hilarious stories. Next week Sydneysiders will have the opportunity to experience his supersonic wit and provocative observations first hand when he arrives at the State Theatre with his latest live show, Voice Of Reason. Ó Briain has been developing, performing and tweaking Voice Of Reason since October of 2017. So by the time it arrives in Sydney, it will have been performed and revised over 170 times. This process of revision is something which Ó Briain said brings him great joy.

“One of the joys of comedy is dropping things when new funny things take over.

The weird thing about stand-up is that there are some stories you enjoy telling forever, but there are also stories that you enjoy telling 40 times before you get bored with them.”

After all of these performances though Ó Briain told City Hub that he still carries “the same piece of paper from night one in my pocket” as a sort of security blanket.

“That’s just something I’ve done for years… I can only remember one time that I had to use it, which was after an extended break of not performing. I got to a bit where I genuinely went ‘what the hell is next’ and had to look at the paper. When I looked though I realised bizarrely that the next part was focusing on Brexit, of all the many things that you’d like to forget in this part of the world.”

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT w

Ghost Sonata Photo: Georges Antoni

Using text from the original Swedish play by August Strindberg written in 1907, The Ghost Sonata was adapted as a chamber opera in 1984 by Aribert Reimann. It tells the macabre story of a student who stumbles into a house inhabited by ghosts souls trapped in Hell on Earth.

Opera Australia is staging it in their Surry Hills scenery

workshop.

“That’s absolutely perfect because the acoustics are very nice, and it’s a very nice space.[…] It’s absolutely ideal for what we’re doing and what we’re trying to achieve,” says Shanul Sharma who is playing The Student in the production. Sharma came to opera via an unconventional route, having previously sung heavy metal, rock, and Bollywood songs. As he

describes it, “They’re all just like colours on a palette.”

Singing heavy metal turned out to be good training for opera.

“The only way for somebody like me to get heard [over the loud music] was to sing very high,” Sharma explains. There’s also a strong element of drama and a tendency towards dark subject matter, which certainly prepares him for this role. The music is atonal, indistinct, chaotic, with no discernible melody.

“Not to say that this isn’t pretty, but it’s definitely not mainstream,” says Sharma. “It’s trying to depict a very dysfunctional Hell on Earth using the means of classical instruments…the music is there to provide texture rather than an accompaniment to the singers.”

Unlike traditional opera, there are no arias as such, but rather monologues and solo scenes. The

costumes and set will reflect the grim, gothic nature of the story.

While the opera sticks close to the original play, the music adds another dimension to the experience.

“A play is a play where a story is being told with costumes and sets and actors and everything, but as soon as you add the element of music or at least some kind of musicality in it, it kind of like, it reaches out to the emotional center of our brain,” says Sharma.

“If you’re a fan of theatre, you should definitely come and see it, but you have to throw your expectations out…be ready for an atonal onslaught that’s going to come your way!” (RB) Sep 11-14. Opera Australia Scenery Workshop,The Opera Centre, Dawson St, Surry Hills. $89+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.opera.org.au

The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign There is perhaps no landmark in the world more iconic than the Hollywood sign. A fact which makes it such a compelling setting for the opening moments of the latest work

by Joanne Hartstone.

Hartstone’s latest work, The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign, takes the audience through a three-decade-long journey through

the Golden Age of Hollywood. The story follows an aspiring actress who wanted nothing more than to be a star. However, as she walks the audience through her nightmarish encounters we ultimately learn not everything in tinsel town is happy and sparkling as these events ultimately seal her fate.

Although written prior to the

incredible #MeToo movement the show tackles the underlying systemic abuse of power that has permeated throughout the performing arts industry for decades.

Sep 10-14. Old 505 Theatre, 5 Eliza St, Newtown. $29-$35+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.old505theatre.com

Nine

Andy Leonard. Photo: Blake Condon

Nine, the musical, is based on Frederico Fellini’s film 8 ½, about a director who becomes creatively parallelised as he wrestles with his anxiety over a disintegrating marriage and middle age. The title of the musical alludes to the nine significant women in his life and also to his age when a particularly influential event occurred. Andy Leonard plays the director, Guido, in an upcoming production by Little Triangle. In a cast of 19 actors, he is the only man (although there is also a boy who plays a younger version of Guido).

“I’ve got more ‘talent crushes’ than I’ve had working on other shows,” says Leonard regarding the predominantly female cast. “They’re amazing, the women in the show. There’s some beautiful, beautiful voices. And they’re really generous performers and really, performers that are pushing the boundaries of what would be expected from the text.”

The script, Leonard admits, is inherently

problematic when viewed through the lens of modern sensibilities.

“He’s such a charismatic character and he exudes all this confidence and all that - but when you’re doing something like that today, you have to take a bit of a different slant on it,” says Leonard, suggesting you could draw parallels between Guido and people like Harvey Weinstein.

“Because, like a lot of successful artists, [Guido] does trample on a lot of people to get where he is. […] We’re showing his charisma, but we’re also showing what an arsehole he is.”

In line with the current zeitgeist, they’ve opted for a less optimistic ending for Guido in this production. In terms of staging, the set is sparse, stark, minimalist.

There’s a large film roll in the background, lots of stools, empty scripts scattered about - all reflecting Guido’s lack of inspiration.The costumes are black and white and it has a 1960s Italian cinema aesthetic. (RB) Sep 5-14. Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre, Cnr Cleveland St & City Rd, Chippendale. $30-$50+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.seymourcentre.com

a&e

13 STAGE 14 SCENE 15 Sounds 15 SCREEN

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

REVIEW: Avalanche A Love Story

This is not a conventional love story. It is a memoir of the author’s personal experience with a failed relationship and repeated attempts to conceive a child through IVF. Julia Leigh wrote about her emotional journey in an intensely honest book which she then adapted for the stage. The onewoman play received high praise when it was performed in London, and the same British actress, Maxine Peake, is performing the role of “Woman” in the Sydney production.

On a stark black stage with only a white desk furnishing it, surrounded by three bare white walls with a door in each, the casually dressed Woman addresses the audience directly. She starts her bio from when she was 19 years old and first met her soon-tobe husband at Uni. The narrative continues through to the present day, incorporating her husband’s infidelities, their divorce, a brief reconciliation, then focusing mostly on her varied attempts to get pregnant while her body clock ruthlessly ticked away.

There are minimal production elements including the occasional child that runs across the stage, and some prop effects, with the most dramatic staging occurring towards the end. The play is really all about the story and all about the singular performance.

Peake is excellent. She’s animated and engaging without being histrionic. Her comic timing is spot on - essential for a story that can weigh a little heavy at times.

It is in fact, the story itself which is the weakest point. It is anecdotal, and, while no doubt traumatic for the Woman, it would resonate with only a specific group of people.

As such, it could have done with some accessories in the way of more production, more humour or even some license with the story. However, the writing and Peake’s performance still make it a hearty 90 odd minutes of theatre. (RB) Until Sep 14. Roslyn Packer Theatre, 22 Hickson Rd,Walsh Bay. $81-$103+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Contributors: Irina Dunn, Mark Morellini, Rita Bratovich, Madison Behringer, Allison Hore, Renee Lou Dallow, Alannah Maher.

city hub 5 SEPTEMBER 2019

13

THE NAKED CITY

YOUR PYGMY POSSUM PET

With Coffin Ed For tens of thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of this land looked after the native animals, seemingly without a man-made extinction. Come white settlement and all that changed in less than a few centuries. The First Fleet brought rabbits with them, homesick colonials introduced foxes and more recently we have seen the proliferation of feral cats, dogs, camels, and cane toads.

As the ferals wage war against our native species, we only exacerbate the problem by destroying native habitat and doing our worst to undo those millennia of natural and indigenous conservation. We are now amongst the worst countries in the world when it comes to the extinction of native fauna.

Whilst there are numerous government and privately sponsored conservation projects, the outlook for many animals like koalas, quolls, and pygmy possums is far from positive. Feral cats are endemic throughout the country, with estimates that they kill a staggering 75 million native animals every night. In the more arid areas of Australia, it’s now even thought that their kidneys have developed so that they need very little water to survive. At present, there appears to be no successful way to stop this onslaught, with baiting and trapping having very little effect.

Whilst the destruction of native habitats, like increased logging on the North Coast of NSW, is a deliberate act, other impacts on native

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One of the more controversial conservation suggestions of recent years is the relaxing of laws that allow Australians to keep many native animals as pets. Professor Mike Archer of the University Of New South Wales has long been an advocate of exploring this possibility, as one way of preventing the extinction of many endangered animals. Not surprisingly many in the scientific community are aghast at the idea.

Archer however argues:

HIDDEN Rookwood Sculpture Exhibition 2019

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animals are more an accidental by-product of increasing urbanisation. The plight of the highly endangered pygmy possum, which lives primarily in Victoria’s alpine region, has recently been highlighted in the media. The tiny critter hibernates during the winter and has traditionally depended on a massive influx of Bogong moths to fatten up during the spring.

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WRITERS

Beginning this weekend four local Sydney artists will be given the unique opportunity to erect their sculptural works in perhaps one of the most unusual locations available in Sydney, the Rookwood Cemetery. HIDDEN is an annual event transforming the iconic cemetery into an open-air gallery which provides visitors a truly unique way to engage with and experience the cemetery grounds.

The four artists selected for the 11th annual event this year are; Lisa Tolcher, Ro Murray, Mandy Burgess, and Sylvia Griffin.

Placing sculptural artworks within the grounds of a cemetery may seem unusual but when examining the works of these four ladies it actually appears to be a stroke of genius.

The works of Tolcher celebrate the heroic women of the past, particularly those buried within Rookwood, who have

Fortress by Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess

paved the way for future generations.

For the team of Murray and Burgess, who have been collaborating since 2015, they will be erecting Fortress, which is a mini forest of seven blackened trees

surrounded by siren-yellow skirts.This lifeand-death image is a stark reminder to address the causes of man-made climate change before we all end up in a cemetery.

Finally, Griffin’s work addresses trauma,

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“The fact that cats, dogs, mice, rats, rabbits, ferrets, chickens and a host of other introduced species are defended as the only appropriate companions for humans reflects an arrogance that ignores the geographic accidents of history. If colonial humans had evolved first in and spread from Australia rather than Africa/Eurasia, I have little doubt that views about appropriate animal companions would be very different than those we now inflict on Australia.”

He also makes a good point when he suggests that had Tasmanians been allowed to keep the thylacine (aka the Tasmanian tiger) as a pet, then maybe they would not have been entirely extinct by the early 1930s.

There would be all manner of considerations with factors like diet and housing if the public were allowed to keep and even breed certain native species. However, it’s a suggestion that maybe needs further investigation and even a trial run with a few selected animals. If you believe the estimations we are currently losing over 20 billion mammals, reptiles and birds to feral predators every year. In desperate times, it’s surely worth a try.

And for example, were you allowed to raise a family of pygmy possums in your suburban bungalow, it would be lights on all night in late winter and early spring. The Bogong moths, who once descended on the alpine regions in their millions, would fly straight to you as a home-delivered food source. That’s one problem out of the way!

city hub 5 SEPTEMBER 2019

Angel Of Mine Audiences who enjoy unsettling psychological thrillers will be at the edge of their seats throughout this well-crafted, sinister and suspenseful Aussie flick which boasts a prominent cast of fine actors.

When Lizzie sees a young girl at a birthday party she believes it’s her daughter who presumably perished in a hospital fire many years earlier. Unable to move

on and seemingly unbalanced, her obsessive fantasy is fuelled further when she stops taking her medication.

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (Millennium Trilogy) is frightening in the pivotal role as the mother who is all alone and regarded as a mentally deranged woman on the decline.Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale), Luke Evans (Beauty And The Beast) and

Richard Roxburgh (Rake) also have major roles in this riveting film which is inspired by true events.

Is this beautiful, petite and softly spoken woman who celebrates her dead daughter’ s birthday simply grief-stricken and ‘living with a ghost’ or is a mother’s strong intuition at work?

Nothing will prepare audiences for the unpredictable yet satisfying twist in the climactic conclusion. (MMo) WWW1/2

memory and memorial culture. Her HIDDEN artwork, Slowly We Unravel, references death and the process of grief.

According to HIDDEN curator Kath Fries,“HIDDEN is a fantastic opportunity to engage Sydneysiders with the layered histories and current relevance of Rookwood as a working cemetery.The artists bring a diverse range of perspectives to the experiences and narratives of this unique place. HIDDEN invites the public to rediscover Rookwood through different eyes. Until someone attends a funeral at Rookwood, or has someone buried there, it’s a place that often goes unnoticed.Art and creative activities enable people to use the space in different ways and HIDDEN is just one of these.”

Sep 7-Oct 7. Rookwood Cemetery, 1 Hawthorne Ave, Rookwood. FREE. Info: www.hiddenrookwood.com.au

By Jamie Apps Occasionally in order for something beautiful to exist, we must endure tragedy. It is exactly this philosophy which inspired the initial creation of the Concert For Life event in 2015, and its subsequent return this year.

Concert For Life is a rare special event which coincides with World Suicide Prevention Day and will see some of Australia’s leading musicians come together for a very special concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music to raise funds for the Westerman Jilya Institute For Indigenous Mental Health in order to prevent Indigenous suicide.

Created by conductor Roger Benedict after he was personally touched by suicide when his godson took his own life at the age of 24. From that moment on Benedict has been dedicated to helping raise much-needed funds and awareness.

“After the first concert, so many people spoke to me about their own stories and experiences with suicide. It has touched so many people, I’m sure everybody knows someone who has been affected,” explained Benedict.

This year Benedict and his Concert For Life organising committee have set their focus on the plight of suicide in Indigenous communities.

This decision was made after Benedict discovered the

Concert For Life

heartbreaking statistics around Indigenous suicide.

“When we looked at all of the figures and realised that the figures for the Indigenous population are so shocking, 40% of child deaths in those communities are by suicide and the percentage fo youth suicide rose from 10% in 1991 to 80% in 2012, we knew that had to be our focus because you can hardly comprehend those figures.”

Whilst the first Concert For Life event in 2015 was incredibly touching for those involved and successful in terms of fundraising, the event raised $40,000 in 2015, logistically it was

impossible to make it an annual event. For Benedict and the team behind Concert For Life, these events are so taxing because they bring together so many different groups, who wouldn’t normally cross paths. This rarity though adds to the experience for all of the musicians involved.

“Even though all of these musicians work in the same city they often don’t see each other. So it’s a real pleasure for them to play together, especially for a cause that they all believe in. There is a completely different feeling on stage when these groups come together to

SmartFone Flick Fest 2019

Sad Sachs

In our modern culture, everybody carries a camera.

Yet very few of us look at ourselves as cinematographers or directors. The global phenomena that is the annual SmartFone Flick Fest (SF3) looks to prove that perhaps we should, because as SF3 ambassador David Wenham said, “A filmmaker with a smartphone is only limited by the boundaries of the imagination.”

Now in its fifth year, SF3 has grown from a local Sydney event into a global sensation which now draws entries from each and every continent. The festival showcases the greatest films, of various lengths and

formats, which are shot entirely using smartphones.

Following last year’s sellout success at the Sydney Opera House SF3 is returning this year with an even bigger lineup of films as it takes over the Event Cinemas on George Street. The newest addition to the festival this year is the move towards feature-length filming with the introduction of the SF3 Feature program.

As part of this program, SF3 Feature will play host to the Australian premiere of Blue Moon by New Zealand’s Stefen Harris. The SF3 Feature screening will also include the SF3 Founders’ Pick Flick, The Reef by Sven Dreesbach.

Another new feature of SF3 this year will be the SF360 program, showcasing virtual reality filmmaking.

Finally, no self-respecting film festival is complete without a gala awards evening. The SF3 Gala Awards are a red carpet event which will screen 15 of the best smartphone films from around Australia and the world. Following the screenings an esteemed judging panel award the winning filmmakers, creatives and actors a share from a prize pool worth in excess of $40,000.

Sep 14-15. Event Cinema, 505 George St, Sydney. $10-$40+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.sf3.com.au

make music at the highest level but also for a wonderful shared cause.”

For the audience, Benedict hopes this special feeling translates, “Concert For Life is more than just beautiful music in a concert setting. When you listen to this music in this particular context it becomes a more profound experience.”

All of the funds from this year’s Concert For Life will be donated to the Westerman Jilya Institute For Indigenous Mental Health in order to fund scholarships which will be used to train Indigenous psychologists.

“Every $10,000 we raise pays for a scholarship for a young Indigenous person to complete their training as a psychologist before going out into the community,” said Benedict, “We focused on finding a program which was going to have a tangible impact on suicide prevention in Indigenous communities and this program allows us to see the link between the concert and the person who has been helped by the physiologist that we helped to train.

This is going to be something which has an impact for many many years.”

Sep 10. Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium Of Music, 1 Conservatorium Rd, Sydney. $99-$125+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.concertforlife.com.au

Bag Raiders - Horizons

Since first appearing on the scene in 2010 Bag Raiders have been leaders of an entire generation of electronic artists. During that time the duo of Jack Glass and Chris Stacey have been constantly evolving, growing, and maturing.Their long-awaited 12 track offering, Horizons, is the ultimate distillation of this process over the course of almost a decade.

With Horizons the duo delivers a record which balances electronic pop-house music elements and structures against live instrumentation and introspective songwriting with incredible precision.

Throughout the record Bag Raiders welcome aboard a cast of collaborators such as Mickey Kojak, Panama,Tora, and The Kite String Tangle.

These collaborations give the already great production of Glass and Stacey a fresh zing whilst remaining true to their vision.

Horizons is a compelling record which will cause the listener to quietly contemplate the storytelling within the music whilst also unbeknownst to themselves bopping away to the subtle bass-lines and melodies. (JA) WWW

QueerScreen Film Fest This year 29 LGBTIQ feature films, documentaries and shorts screen at the QueerScreen Film Festival and the theme is ‘light your fire’ since more than half of the films are about romance.

Lisa Rose, the Festival Director, is adamant that there is a film for everyone regardless of sexual persuasion and most of the program is suitable for heterosexual audiences. “Love is universal and many of the films are about love. Same But Different is a funny romantic rom-com from New Zealand which should appeal to all audiences as should Seahorse, an insightful documentary about a trans guy who wants to start a family and decides to go off his hormones so he can father his own child.”

Audiences who expect a bit of spice in their viewing can come along to the sexually explicit short gay films session. Renovation is a Brazilian short which examines a man’s self-body image as he moves from one sexual engagement to the next.

Festival attendees who enjoy talks with overseas guests should attend the screening of Same But Different as a Q&A will follow with producer Rachel Aneta Wills and writer/ director Nikki Si’ulepa.

And will heterosexual audiences learn anything about queer culture from films screening at this festival? “Absolutely! They will learn that queer people are just like them. That’s part of the thing about ‘lighting people’s fire’ - the passion and love. I think if people come and watch a film, they will be caught up in the emotion of it.” (MMo).

Sep 18-22. Event Cinema, 505/525 George St, Sydney. $17-$90+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.queerscreen.org.au

LISA’S HOT PICKS PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE: Winner of the Queer Palm at Cannes, this is a beautiful film which surrounds an 18th Century lesbian romance. Opening night film.

END OF THE CENTURY: Two men meet and realise they knew one another 20 years earlier. Mysterious, intriguing and very sexy.

KILLING PATIENT ZERO: A documentary about the man who was post-death falsely blamed and demonised by the media for having brought the aids virus to North America. A very important and moving film. city hub 5 SEPTEMBER 2019

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NINA CONTI

28–30 OCT

Beth Beth Steel lli ng Ste ellli ng STUDIO, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

13 & 14 SEPT STATE THEATRE

AS SEEN ON NETFLIX’S COMEDIANS OF THE WORLD

(With Her Mom In The Crowd)

(With Her Mom In The Crowd)

FRI 1 NOV

SEYMOUR CENTRE

WED 30 OCT

FACTORY THEATRE

FRI 1 NOV

THE COMEDY STORE SEE MORE COMEDY WITH THE JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL PASS * *terms and conditions apply

Hosted by

NICK CODY

FEATURING AN AMAZING LINEUP OF DIFFERENT INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL COMEDIANS EACH SHOW!

BOOK AT JUSTFORLAUGHS.SYDNEY 16

city hub 5 SEPTEMBER 2019

31 OCT – 2 NOV STUDIO, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

#jflsydney