Cinema

Gadfly 235 By Robert Macklin The Albanese Government’s response to the Chinese cour ng of our Pacific neighbours is pre y much on the money. It’s focused on the new government’s climate change policy. And it leaves open new immigra on measures to increase islanders to both temporary and permanent employment in a country crying out for people to fill a range of desperately needed skills. Add to that a program to raise islanders’ educa on standards both at home and in Australia. Coordinate the policy with Jacinta Ardern’s New Zealand, and the Chinese – having failed to gain consensus for their latest proposal - would eventually fold their tents and redirect their expansionist ambi ons to other more easily infatuated areas of the globe. It won’t be easy and there will be speed bumps along the way – like the provision of yet more housing in a market stretched to breaking point; and a trade union movement seeking to raise wages at a me of growing infla on. But the real test will be to con nue to compete with China in an arena where behind the goal posts at one end is the Defence Establishment - captained by Drum Major Du on - barracking for ba le. While in the press box the Murdoch media is firing up the fans in the cheap seats to wave the flags of combat. And as usual, the old Generals will be figh ng the last Pacific war. That’s when my old boss, John McEwen as External Affairs Minister in 1940, organised a coup against the Vichy French administra on of New Caledonia with their links to Japan, replaced them with Free French volunteers, and carted the Vichy folk off to Vietnam in a Norwegian freighter. This denied the Japanese an air base at Noumea and an American General later told him it shortened the war by six months. The parallels are obvious, the more so since Albo clearly established an immediate chummy rela onship with Joe Biden at the Quad mee ng in Japan. But let’s not forget the smoke and mirrors that cloak all such demonstra ons of eternal friendship and diploma c loyalty. One corner of the Quod, India’s Narendra Modi is a democrat in name only. Every ins nct of the man is taking him down the path to Hindu autocracy. His administra on is u erly corrupt and riven with the lunacy of caste. He refuses to condemn Pu n’s war on Ukraine, let alone join in the West’s support for the defenders. At another corner, Joe Biden is facing a disaster in the Mid-Term elec ons that will lose him the House of Reps and the Senate; and with the Supreme Court already in Republican hands, he’ll be a doddery lame duck even if he’s around to run for a second term in 2024. And since V-P Kamala Harris has lost all the support she briefly enjoyed and the rest of the Democrat cupboard is bare, either Donald Trump or his equally scary Florida Governor Ron DeSan s will rumble into the Oval Office. And neither would give a hoot for the South Pacific, the climate ‘hoax’, or Joe’s pal Down Under. This is not necessarily bad news. But it does mean that we shouldn’t depend on Quads or ANZUS Trea es – and especially not AUKUS where Britain and the US are just in it for the money – in the form of a submarine fleet. There is, however, an obvious alterna ve: We could finally accept our geographic reality and have the good sense and maturity to develop our own independent foreign policy, one that incorporates an accord with the South Pacific, Indonesia and Southeast Asia. We could seek our security not from Asia but in Asia? Or did someone else say that already?

Reading—A beer with Baz The ba ered lounge chair on the verandah of the country pub beckoned Bazza, and he sank into its past. As per his rou ne he had woken early to the distant impa ent, rooster reminding the sun to throw some needed warmth on the frosted paddocks. Na ve bird life had provided an overture for a sun that teased the sky with shades of orange, a welcome sight a er all the rain.

He had spent the morning in a flurry of human ac vity with ques onable purpose with media in its various forms bombarding his senses. It was a relief to drive without exaggera on, pending doom or imminent invasion spewing from suited mouths. The winding trip from Braidwood into the depths of the Araluen Valley always twigged images of bushrangers and secret hideouts from a many years ago reading of the novel, ‘Robbery Under Arms’ by Rolf Boldrewood (Thomas Alexander Browne). But today…….for some reason, or perhaps for every reason, he wanted to reread Kenneth Slessor’s poem, Country Towns from the comfort of the pub verandah; Country towns, with your willows and squares, And farmers bouncing on barrel mares To public houses of yellow wood With "1860" over their doors, And that mysterious race of Hogans Which always keeps the General Stores…. At the School of Arts, a broadsheet lies Sprayed with the sarcasm of flies: "The Great Golightly Family Of Entertainers Here To-night"– Dated a year and a half ago, But le there, less from carelessness Than from a wish to seem polite. Verandas baked with musky sleep, Mulberry faces dozing deep, And dogs that lick the sunlight up Like paste of gold – or, roused in vain By far, mysterious buggy-wheels, Lower their ears, and drowse again…. Bazza sipped his schooner and sank further into the old lounge. He took a reassuring, long look up the lonely main road……and surrounds not too dissimilar. He thought of the reader eighty years hence. Country towns with your schooner bees, And locusts burnt in the pepper-trees, Drown me with syrups, arch your boughs, Find me a bench, and let me snore, Till, charged with ale and unconcern, I'll think it's noon at half-past four! There was just enough early winter sun for Bazza to do the same. Have a beer with Bazza at john.longhurst59@gmail.com

Reading Will The Pav get a men on in the NSW ICAC forum into pork barrelling?

When Deputy Premier John Barilaro and then-arts minister Don Harwin signed off on the Regional Cultural Fund grants in late 2018 a Bega gallery was rated the top funding priority in a regional arts grants scheme but missed out while a the Batemans Bay aqua c and cultural centre, ranked 72nd, got $8 million.

According to an ABC report the independent assessors praised Bega Valley Regional Gallery's applica on for $3 million to fund its renova ons as part of the NSW Government's $47 million Regional Cultural Fund. There were more than 150 eligible applica ons for funding as part of the scheme. Documents obtained by the ABC under freedom of informa on laws revealed the Bega project was overlooked in favour of an $8 million investment to help build the Mackay Park Aqua c, Arts and Cultural Centre in nearby Batemans Bay (The Bay Pavilion). TIMELINE: In July 2018 68 projects announced in Round One of the Regional Cultural Fund. Round Two was then officially opened with applica ons closing on Friday 21 September 2018. Following closure a sixperson panel included four independent assessors, as well as one representa ve from the State Government agency Create NSW and another from the Department of Premier and Cabinet. ranked all projects over a four-day mee ng. Gladys Berejiklian and the Member for Bega the Hon. Andrew Constance came to Batemans Bay on 26 March 2018 to announce $26m of funding towards the construc on of the Regional Aqua c, Arts and Leisure Centre at Mackay Park Batemans Bay. It was announced that "The $26 million in funding includes $18 million for the aqua c centre, and $8 million for the arts and cultural facili es." The $8 million was to come from Round Two that would not be open for applica ons for another six months and would not be judged and announced un l October 2018. But here it was, announced as granted, in March 2018 Gladys Berejiklian and the Member for Bega the Hon. Andrew Constance On the 15th August 2018 the Hon. LYNDA VOLTZ asked a ques on without no ce directed to the Minister for Resources, Minister for Energy and U li es, and Minister for the Arts. Given the Premier and the member for Bega jointly announced on 26 March that they would provide $26 million for a new indoor aqua c and cultural centre at Batemans Bay consis ng of $18 million for the aqua c centre and $8 million for the arts and cultural facility, where will the $8 million for the arts and cultural component be drawn from?

The Hon. DON HARWIN: As I informed the House yesterday, people should be aware that the Regional Cultural Fund round two is open. I imagine this project would be eligible but I need to check if there is an exis ng funding agreement. The Hon. DON HARWIN (Minister for Resources, Minister for Energy and U li es, and Minister for the Arts) (15:31): I may have covered this ques on in my answer yesterday but, if I did not, it is planned that round two announcements will be made before the end of this calendar year. I cannot be more specific at this stage. The Hon. Peter Primrose: It is supposed to be a compe ve process and you are announcing it already. The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian later conceded that grants to councils that were

approved in the nine months before the last state elec on (March 2019) amounted to pork barrelling, but said there was nothing illegal about it.

“It’s not something the community likes ... but it’s an accusa on I will wear,” she said. It’s not unique to our government,” Berejiklian said. “It’s not an illegal prac ce. Unfortunately it does happen from me to me by every government,” she said. Given that the 26 March 2018 announcement appears to include $8 million of pork it must have been known to the local member at the me that the announcement was premature knowing that Round One had not yet been announced and that Round 2 was not open for applica ons. Just how much did the then State member and the Eurobodalla mayor understand of the $8m pork chop that would become the Yuin Theatre? Not surprisingly NSW ICAC has advised it will hold a forum on pork barrelling sta ng:

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corrup on (ICAC) will hold a forum on Friday 3 June 2022 to examine the prac ce of pork barrelling, including whether it is lawful and ethical, and whether it could cons tute corrupt conduct under the Independent Commission Against Corrup on Act 1988. The forum, to be hosted by Chief Commissioner the Hon Peter Hall QC, will discuss whether: the prac ce of pork barrelling is lawful or unlawful, and whether it is ethical the conduct associated with the prac ce of pork barrelling could cons tute corrupt conduct under the provisions of the ICAC Act ministerial discre onary power in rela on to grant funding is at large, or whether it is subject to constraints and condi ons by opera on of the Rule of Law and, if so, the circumstances in which constraints or condi ons exist or operate. In rela on to the third point above, the panel will also canvass whether regula on of grant funding programs by statutory instrument is necessary to ensure, in the public interest, that public monies are only expended for public purposes, and the safeguards that are necessary in the public interest to prevent breaches of public trust arising in the course of such programs. The panel will be moderated by prominent journalist and author Kerry O’Brien and, in addi on to Chief Commissioner Hall, will comprise subject ma er experts including: Professor Anne Twomey, Professor of Cons tu onal Law and Director, Cons tu onal Reform Unit, University of Sydney the Hon Joseph Campbell, Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney and former judge of the NSW Court of Appeal Dr Simon Longstaff AO, Director of the Ethics Centre and Adjunct Professor of the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of NSW NSW Deputy Auditor General Ian Goodwin Professor AJ Brown, leader of the Centre for Governance & Public Policy’s public integrity and an -corrup on research program, and professor of public policy and law in the School of Government & Interna onal Rela ons, Griffith University. As the Commission is ul mately accountable to the NSW Parliament, the forum will be held at a room in Parliament House, commencing at 10.00 am, and will run for approximately three hours. It will be live streamed and will be accessible from the Commission’s website at www.icac.nsw.gov.au. Following the forum, the ICAC will prepare and issue a report se ng out its views on pork barrelling, including whether and how it relates to corrupt conduct, in due course. Transcript and video of the forum discussion are also intended to be made available.