Community ………………3 to

South Coast Property Specialists (Carlene Franzen) Tips: Have You Heard of the “VESPA” Phenomenon?

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 You probably have heard of the VESPA phenomenon, but you just didn’t know Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 that someone has given it a name. One of Australia’s top demographers, Bernard Salt, has named the huge trend of people moving out of big ci es into the regional areas the “VESPA” phenomenon which stands for Virus Escapees Seeking Provincial Australia. He adds to the clever acronym by saying that “They’re scootering out of our capital ci es in search of their very own ‘Bonnie Doon escape’ and retreat,” He confirmed what many of us have been thinking (and observing) that the coming of COVID-19 “has presented a great opportunity for many Australians to rethink their lives: Are they in the right job? The right rela onship? Are they in the right city? Are they in the right housing?” He went to say: “With the opportunity now to work from home, many people have been encouraged to come out of the fashionable inner city, hipster apartments and to look at three and four-bedroom, twobathroom plus a ‘Zoom room’ home in the suburbs with a garden, or in fact, to move beyond the capital city to regional ci es, within striking distance of the major capital city in each community,”. He believes that it’s not a short-term trend either and it will hold the real estate and property markets in good stead over the next five years. He believes it is the children of the Baby Boomers who are coming out of their apartments and buying homes, indica ng that the “mini boom” is being driven by demographics as well as by the coming of COVID-19. He as added that Australia’s ability to navigate COVID-19 has a racted “entrepreneurs and businesses, immigrants with skills, and students and visitors who want to be part of Australia”. “That’s going to drive a lot of energy into the Australian market around the middle of the decade”. So more very posi ve news for the real estate and property market.

Expressions of interest sought for former bowling club site

Expressions of interest are being sought from developers for the sale or lease of the former bowling club site in Batemans Bay. Eurobodalla Council purchased the land in 2016, leased it to Transport for NSW in 2018 for the new bridge construc on compound, and is now taking the site to market. The current lease with Transport for NSW is expected to expire in July 2022. Located on the highway opposite the new Bay Pavilions, Council is marke ng the land as ideal for tourist accommoda on, conference facili es, restaurants and cafes, and residen al accommoda on. The opportunity is adver sed on Tenderlink and display ads were placed in metropolitan newspapers on the weekend. The expression of interest is the first stage of a two-stage procurement process that will shortlist respondents who may then be invited to a request for tender process. Council was aware of a number of companies interested in the site following an expression of interest process late in 2016, and expects more in this round now the bridge is complete and the Bay Pavilions are taking shape. Councillors resolved in August 2017 to endorse construc on of the Bay Pavilions on the southern part of the Mackay Park precinct to allow for the development of the former bowling club site, and again in March 2018 to proceed with an EOI for development of the site.

Gadfly 178 By Robert Macklin “America’s democratic experiment may well be nearing its end. That’s not hyperbole; it’s obvious to anyone following the political scene.” Vol 16 September 15th 2017 This rather startling assertion came last week from the studious and eminently sensible Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman. In a sharp New York Times analysis he predicted that if the Republicans returned to power, America could kiss its peaceable, constitutional democracy goodbye. Donald Trump’s term in the White House was not the cause of the impending upheaval, he said, rather it revealed the willingness of at least one third of the electorate to believe his outright lies, the most egregious being that he won the last presidential election, which was then ‘stolen’ by his opponent. Moreover, the mass credulity was not confined to his base, but included the vast majority of the Republicans in Congress. They are already positioning themselves for the mid-term elections in 2022 and using the Gerrymander – as well as newly-hatched state electoral laws – to retake the Senate and the House. Every Republican candidate must declare fealty to the Trump lie to gain a Republican nomination. Then either Trump or one of his apostles will become the standard bearer in 2024 when President Joe Biden will be 82 (if he makes it that far). Once they grip all the levers of power, they will govern, as Trump did, by a parallel ‘reality’ – branding truth as ‘fake news’ – forever, or until the second American Civil War. Another top American analyst, Tom Friedman, came to the same conclusion last week. But what neither was prepared to explore was the real source of that propensity to believe what reason says is untrue. It’s no coincidence that the ‘base’ is overwhelmingly drawn from America’s Christian evangelicals. They have been worshipping at the font of miracles and myths their whole lives. Fake news is their philosophical bread and butter. Indeed, American politics is infused with religiosity. No political speech is complete without a ‘God bless America!’ to set the applause ringing. That’s where Australia comes in. Religiously, we’re a pretty relaxed lot. According to the census, about a third of us are in the ‘no religion’ camp (where I reside); perhaps 40 in the ‘yes’ group with varying modes of attachment; and the last 20 percent dedicated believers in various faiths including the Christian evangelicals, and our Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The same Scott Morrison, remember, tootled over to the Trump White House licketty-split and actually joined the President in one of his political events. He’s a self-declared believer in ‘miracles’ though he has yet to declare that the Opposition or even Aunty ABC peddles ‘fake news’. Instead, he ignores the reality of science to pour $600 million into a stranded asset in the making – a gas fired power station. When questioned, his response is a non sequitur: ‘There are times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.’ Oh, and batteries? ‘Next question.’ It’s bluster and verbiage ad infinitum, and you have to admit he’s a master. His performance covering his tracks in the Brittany Higgins imbroglio is breathtaking. Same with the politicisation of the vaccine rollout where he changes course to grab the plaudits with an eye fixed on the next election. Same with the Uluru Statement from the Heart where, behind the bulldust, nothing substantial will happen while he’s in the Lodge…and on it goes. The only question is how long before Australia sees through the flim-flam to discover ‘Trump lite’ beneath? The answer, like America’s, will, I suspect, determine the fate of our own democratic experiment.

I have had the pleasure - and some mes the opposite - of playing in many bands over the last few decades. I Vol 16 September 15th 2017 have played guitar, bass and keyboards in these bands and o en more than Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 one. But of all these instruments the one that is o en the hardest is the bass. On the face of it that should not be so. A er all bass players are supposed to get it easy because they usually only play one note at a me. What could be hard about that? The bass is an essen al element in rock music. It’s not always an electric bass: listen to Stanley Clarke playing acous c double bass on Silver Blue from John David Souther’s 1976 album Black Rose, or Gary Tallent playing tuba on Wild Billy's Circus Story from Bruce Springsteen’s second (1973) album The Wild, The Innocent and the Estreet Shuffle (in my view his best). When you play an instrument, you rapidly realise two things. One is that there is really no point in playing it if you don’t play it in front of other people. If you are a bassist then that means finding other people to play with. The second thing is that, once you are in a band, and playing a gig then you are in a team. My working life (I never counted music as “work” even when I was making money from it) was full of the importance of teams. We knew that team was an acronym: together each achieves more. But in a band … well, that is the epitome of teamwork. You absolutely depend on the others, and they absolutely depend on you. It’s a discipline that you really don’t o en get in life. I recall a gig in the Jazz Club (there wasn’t much jazz there) in Hong Kong. The band was called Stunned Mulllet and I played keys. We launched into one song with a roaring D major chord. Unfortunately, I had forgo en to take the keyboard down a semitone from the proviso song. I came in with an Eb … absolute disaster. Star ng a song again in a live gig is never a good look. The only guitar I have ever made was a bass guitar. In 1966 I was 16. Iggy Pop said that the only reason a boy goes into a band is for the chicks. Iggy Pop may have been right in the mo va on but, in my experience, wrong in the outcome. Perhaps in these days of diversity these memories are to be cri cised. But as Jackson Browne says in Fountain of Sorrow “the future’s there for anyone to change, but you know some mes it seems it would be easier to change the past.” We can’t change the past. But we can go there looking for great bassists. There have been some truly great bassists and some truly great bass lines. Every now and then, when I am at the gym, Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer comes on. If you have never listened to this song - and even if you have - then listen to it now. The bassist is Tina Weymouth. That bass line holds the whole song together. Listen to the bass line in the break. The ming is impeccable. It has to be. Because in rock music it is the drums and the bass that hold a song together, that drive it along or hold it back, that sets the mood and creates the overall feel. Tina Weymouth is both a remarkable bassist and a remarkable woman. She had two children while with Talking Heads before being unceremoniously dropped by David Byrne when he dissolved Talking Heads. As a child of the 1960s I was hugely influenced by The Who and their use of controlled - and o en not

Bass guitars. Two is not Bass guitars. Two is not Bass guitars. Two is not Bass guitars. Two is not enough enough enough enough

controlled - feedback. My Genera on was an anthem for 1960s youth with Daltrey’s brilliant stu er on the line “why don’t you all ffff … fade away?”. It took Country Joe MacDonald & The Fish at Woodstock in 1968 when they sang Feel Like I'm Fixin to Die Rag: give us an F, give us a U … you remember it. Well, I do. But the other thing about My Genera on is John Entwhistle’s bass. Listen to the first verse. What are his fingers Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 doing? Then he gets a solo at 56 seconds in. It s ll sends shivers up my spine. It is Entwhistle and his bass that hold that song together, that drives it along. There are so many other great bassists who are integral to the bands they play in: McCartney (The Beatles), John Deacon (Queen), Jack Bruce (Cream), Roger Waters (Pink Floyd). The thing about these bassists is that they played in bands that were good or great. But there is one bass player that stands out above all these. His name is Leland Sklar and he is the most famous bass player that you never heard of. He turned 74 the other day. I first no ced him as the bass player on Jackson Browne’s first three albums and for some reason I watched out for him on the sleeve notes of the albums I perused in the record stores (where have they all gone?) and that I bought. He was studying at the University of California when he met James Taylor who asked him to play bass at a few gigs. Neither thought a great deal of it but Taylor’s career took off with 1970’s Fire and Rain. Sklar played bass on Taylor’s third album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1970). Interes ngly. the bassist on Tayler’s first (1968) album was one Paul McCartney. Anyway, Sklar’s career took off. He did turn up in a band called The Sec on in the 1970s with guitarist Danny Kortchmar, keyboardist Craig Doerge, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel - Wikipedia describes The Sec on as an instrumental group but there are definitely vocals on the album that I have. But Sklar is a session musician. He has played on over 2,000 albums with musicians such as Karla Bonoff, Jimmy Buffet, Glen Campbell, Kim Carnes, Leonard Cohen, even Engelbert Humperdinck - the list goes on. Being a session musician is not easy. Sklar is a brilliant bassist and there’s no doubt that he has influenced the arrangements of the numbers that he has played on. But at the end of the day a session musician is a hired hand, a hack hired to do the bidding of a superstar’s ego. Quite how one copes with that is difficult to imagine. But that one thing that you do not need is an ego. He is well-recognised in the industry as a bassist extraordinaire: Gibson and Warwick have both named bass guitar models a er him. What a man. So, next me you’re listening to a piece of music have a thought for the bassist plugging away at the bo om end. And check to see if it is Leland Sklar. It probably is. And I do s ll “hope I die before I get old”. It’s just that defini on of “old” changes.

Leland Sklar: bassist Leland Sklar: bassist Leland Sklar: bassist Leland Sklar: bassist extraordinaire ... and that beard! extraordinaire ... and that beard! extraordinaire ... and that beard! extraordinaire ... and that beard!

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018

Sand Talk How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

By: Tyson Yunkaporta

What happens when global systems are viewed from an Indigenous perspec ve? How does it affect the way we see history, money, power and learning? Could it change the world? This remarkable book is about everything from echidnas to evolu on, cosmology to cooking, sex and science and spirits to Schrodinger's cat. Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from an Indigenous perspec ve. He asks how contemporary life diverges from the pa ern of crea on. How does this affect us? How can we do things differently? Sand Talk provides a template for living. It's about how lines and symbols and shapes can help us make sense of the world. It's about how we learn and how we remember. It's about talking to everybody and listening carefully. It's about finding different ways to look at things. Most of all it's about Indigenous thinking, and how it can save the world. About the Author

Tyson Yunkaporta is an academic, an arts cri c, and a researcher who belongs to the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves tradi onal tools and weapons and also works as a senior lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges at Deakin University in Melbourne.

The Montague Arts Associa on (MACS), a not-for-profit organisa on staffed mainly by volunteers has been Vol 16 September 15th 2017 made to close its doors a er five years of friendly, well informed service to tourists, the community, local Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 ar sts, and to the history of the region. The historical and family connec on that residents have with Montague Island is symbolised by the original Montague Lighthouse lens in the Lighthouse Museum part of the building that is wai ng in the dark (as we all are) to learn the exact purpose the Informa on Centre will be used for a er it is leased out at a commercial rent to an as yet unknown business. This decision will be made by the Eurobodalla Shire Council on the advice of consultants, but it is doub ul that residents will have any say. Will the changed func on and administra on of the Informa on Centre in the heart of town complement the history of the nearby Montague Island Lighthouse ,or will it simply ignore the importance of a valuable item kept in a special part of the part of a building that is being re-leased for commercial gain. (Somewhere for the kiddies to go and play while the grown-ups are enjoying a drink?) When deciding the future of the Informa on Centre/Marine Museum on crown land in the heart of Narooma Council needs to seriously consider its responsibility for preserving links with the past. Family, geographic and historic connec ons were seen as sufficiently important in the minds of locals such as Lindsay Quonoey to jus fy them spending me and money on a project to build a tower-shaped extension to the Informa on Centre in which to house the precious light and other marine artefacts. This had to be done in in a way that would sa sfy the requirements of the Federal Department of Transport and Communica on, the owners of the light. Finance for the extension was also contributed by the NSW Tourism Commission, the Bicentennial Authority, the Eurobodalla Shire Council, and the Narooma Apex club. The comple on of this challenging project was celebrated in 1990 at a func on a ended by a large crowd of ci zens, lighthouse enthusiasts, schoolchildren, and dignitaries, including the then Governor General, Bill Hayden, who officially handed the Light on long term loan to the Narooma community. As a highly-valued addi on to any mari me museum assurance is needed that the future of the loaned light is here where it belongs, near its island home. Thank you MACS for the respec ul and knowledgeable custodianship you have given the unique domeshaped part of our community building and its precious artefacts in difficult mes. May the next keeper of the Light and its memories be equally as concerned with extending the apprecia on and understanding of our rich local history and natural environment. Susan Cru enden Dalmeny

Reading Moruya Bypass Ac on Group say "it's a long way from done and dusted"

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 The recently formed Moruya Bypass Ac on Group are voicing a number of concerns around what they cite Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018 as a lack of genuine community consulta on, the transparency of the process and informa on which has not been included in the Strategic Corridor Op ons Report. A group spokesperson told The Beagle "We have asked Transport for NSW for this informa on and are calling for an extension of me to make submissions un l a er the following informa on is received and can be properly considered. 1. The ini al community consulta on which was used as a basis for the bypass op ons was conducted in March/April 2020. This was just a er the bushfires of 2019/20 and at the start of COVID-19 restric ons. People were not thinking about a future bypass. They were s ll trauma sed by the bushfires and then retrauma sed by a complete lockdown a month later.

The lack of engagement at this me is evident as only 232 people provided submissions, which is not representa ve of the diversity of the Moruya community. Moruya and surrounds has a popula on of over 7,000. Due to Covid restric ons, this ini al consulta on was largely online which would have excluded a large number of older or disadvantaged residents. 2. The current consulta on period was launched at a me when Telstra was servicing the network and many people only had intermi ent access to internet and mobile phone recep on. Much of the communica on from Transport for NSW was online and the community was only given one week’s no ce about the community consulta on sessions.

Moruya has an ageing popula on and not all people are comfortable with technology. The only a empt by Transport for NSW to reach these people was the distribu on of 2,500 postcards and two local market informa on sessions. 3. The presenta on of the preferred op on by Transport for NSW in brochures and online was interpreted by many in the community as a “done deal” and this led to people not bothering to properly engage in the community consulta on process. The presenta on of the preferred op on as something Transport for NSW had already decided disempowered people who felt that a decision had already been made.

The survey which Transport for NSW are encouraging the community to fill out is skewed towards suppor ng their preferred op on. Ques on 6 asks ques ons which could be true of any of the bypass op ons. We are asking for this ques on not to be used as an indica on of community support.

4. The Moruya bypass - Strategic Corridor Op ons Report This report does not contain a detailed evalua on of op ons nor does include a jus fica on of the rankings used as the basis for recommending the Orange route.

The Value Assessment Rankings on page 78 are not substan ated within the report. We do not know how these rankings were arrived at and there are serious flaws in the logic used. For example, the Orange route received a ra ng of 1 for Sustainability even though it is acknowledged that it has adverse impacts on 4 of the 6 equally weighted criteria used to determine this ranking (page 83). How can that be? When asked about this at a community consulta on session, the Project Manager could not answer the ques on.

Reading—Moruya Bypass Ac on Group con nues Without a clear jus fica on for these rankings, there is no substan ated basis for the selec on of their preferred op on. 5. The transparency of the process The process largely excludes the community who are being asked to accept the selec on without being informed of the analysis that compared the five short-listed op ons. When the Project Manager was asked at the community consulta on sessions about the rankings table, he indicated that it was developed at the Value Management Workshop. There is no detail within the report about the process used to derive the rankings, source documents used, and how various interests were taken into considera on.

Cos ng, technical issues and risk assessment were considered in a Corridor Review Workshop but there is no detail within the Strategic Corridor Op ons Report about who a ended (agencies, consultancies etc), how Moruya’s interests were represented, conflict of interest issues or source documenta on. Many of these detailed assessments have yet to commence and will only be conducted on the preferred op on, not the other short-listed op ons. It appears that there has been no fully informed analysis of the various op ons and so there is no clear ra onale for how the preferred op on was arrived at.

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018

6. How will this bypass op on benefit the community more than any other? There are no plans for on and off ramps at North Head Drive, South Head Road or for the new Eurobodalla Health Service. The Orange op on will begin at Shelley Road and finish at Mountain View Road. According to Transport for NSW, it will need to be 5 metres high to go over the floodplain with piers situated 40 metres apart. It will then pass over the deepest part of the river, the exact loca on where the aerial firefigh ng planes needed to pick up water to save Moruya from the approaching bushfires in 2019/20. There is no commitment that the bypass will be 4 lanes and even if it is, it will only be 4 lanes for 8 kilometres and then the traffic will merge back into two. What is the point of traffic travelling at 100km per hour over 8kms? It will create increased noise levels for the community due to the speed the traffic will be travelling and the eleva on of the bypass. How will Moruya accommodate the construc on of the new hospital and a new bypass at the same me. There is an accommoda on shortage in the Eurobodalla which will not be resolved quickly. The community is s ll recovering and trying to rebuild a er the bushfires. People are s ll living in temporary accommoda on wai ng for rental proper es to become available. It will be difficult enough for the property owners who will lose their homes due to the proposed bypass to find alterna ve housing and this will be exacerbated by the need for accommoda on for construc on crews who will be working on the hospital and the bypass.

The Moruya Bypass Ac on Group Call to ac on: A er extensive ques oning at the community consulta on sessions, the Moruya Bypass Project Manager admi ed that their preferred op on is NOT set in concrete. The local community has an opportunity to have its say by preparing a submission or commen ng on the interac ve map on the Moruya Bypass website by June 14.

A group of concerned locals have banded together to form the Moruya Bypass Ac on Group. We are here to help the community voice their concerns about the process of selec on of the bypass op on.

Vol 16 September 15th 2017 Vol 28 December 7th, 2017 Vol 48 April 27th 2018