Canberra CityNews May 6, 2010

CityNews May 6-12

news

Zissler: Time to speak out The ACT Government needs to tackle the 40 suicides of 2009 with the same vigour as the 12 road deaths, Lifeline’s new CEO tells ELERI HARRIS IN less than a month the Senate Community Affairs References Committee will report on its inquiry into suicide in Australia, but Lifeline Canberra CEO Mike Zissler is already on the front foot targeting new groups in the community he says are at risk.

The former head of TAMS wants to focus resources on youth and women, following new statistics on self harm and suicide in the capital and in the wake of a $78.3 million Federal Government commitment to national youth mental health service headspace.

Zissler says that the ACT Government needs to tackle the 40 suicides of 2009 with the same vigour as the 12 road deaths.

“Despite common misconceptions suicide is the biggest killer of women under 34, it’s not breast cancer or cervical cancer or skin cancer, it’s not women being killed in cars,” he says.

“If you’re a woman under 34 the most likely cause of death is suicide. If you’re a man under 44, again it’s not prostate cancer or lung cancer, it’s not alcohol, it’s not road traffic, it’s suicide.

People don’t understand that. It’s an ignored statistic.

“In Canberra last year we took just shy of

INDEX May 6-12, 2010

Since 1993: Volume 16, Number 18

Arts&Entertainment Budget 2010 Crossword Dining Horoscope Letters Movie reviews News Property Social Scene Sport Sudoku

26-29 17-20 35 29 35 12-13 28 3-15 36-40 22,24 4 35

FRONT COVER: Treasurer Katy Gallagher by Paul Dorin.

Budget 2010 starts Page 10.

briefly

Record house price

THE sale of 27 Mugga Way, Red Hill, for $7.3 million, to an unidentified local businessman, sets a new record in house sales in the ACT. The previous record was for 6 Moresby Street, Red Hill, which sold for $4.5m in November.

Doug O’Mara and Scott Crossman, of Ray White Canberra, handled the sale on behalf of Mrs Sophia Efkarpidis and her family.

Macklin takes the prize “CITYNEWS” columnist Robert Macklin and co-author Peter Thompson, have won the $30,000 Blake Dawson Prize for Business Literature for their book “The Big Fella – The Rise and Rise of BHP Billiton”. Thompson and Macklin were awarded their prize by writer Thomas Keneally.

Starlight walk

CANBERRA branch of commercial real estate agency CBRE has raised $7900 for the Starlight Foundation’s Walk for a Wish appeal from sponsors and participants in a walk around Lake Burley Griffin.

Lifeline CEO MIke Zissler... “I am calling upon the media to talk about suicides.”

21,000 phone calls. When we listen to those phone calls, and that’s our job, to listen to people and help them through crisis, about 80 per cent of those are about loneliness, social exclusion, pain and suffering. They’re hurting because of family separation, because of trauma in their lives, drugs and alcohol. But 20 per cent of those phone calls are people on the brink of or in the act of committing suicide.

“Suicide is mostly preventable. If someone’s really determined to kill themselves they will, however the fact that Lifeline has a role suggests those people don’t want to kill themselves.

“It can’t just be up to Lifeline and other organisations, because a community response is

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required. To do that we, of course, need to talk about suicide, understand what the issues are and then do something about it. We need leadership from politicians, but also from the mums and dads in this community.

“In the past suicide’s been a a taboo subject for the media. As you know, there’s been a lot of guidelines about not reporting on suicides.

The problem with that, of course, is that no one knows about it.

“I am calling upon the media to talk about suicides, to report them, not glorify them, not to give gory details, but to actually talk about what’s wrong in a community that lets so many young men and women kill themselves.”

Donny on 2CA

VETERAN American pop star Donny Osmond is hosting a new, nightly music show on 2CA, weeknights from 7pm-10pm. Program director Don Dawkins says the show will feature lots of classic favourites and fun.

New magistrate

LORRAINE Walker has been appointed a magistrate for the ACT. For the past 10 years Ms Walker has worked as a barrister in the ACT and has extensive experience in her 23 years in the profession including being a partner of a law firm, a crown prosecutor, a solicitor, and a legal officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Ms Walker begins her role on July 19.

Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au Political reporter: Eleri Harris, 0414 618493 eleri@citynews.com.au Lifestyle editor: Kathryn Vukovljak, 6262 9100 lifestyle@citynews.com.au Arts editor: Helen Musa, 0400 043764 helen@citynews.com.au Design and photography: Silas Brown, 0412 718086 Designer: Joran Dilucian Accounts manager: Bethany Freeman-Chandler accounts@citynews.com.au Distribution and circulation: Richard Watson, 6262 9100 circulation@citynews.com.au

42,001 copies a week Six-month audit to September 30, 2009

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, of Suite 1, Level 1, 143 London Circuit, Canberra.

CityNews May 6-12

news

Under attack: How John ignored the warnings Nobody ever died of embarrassment, but many have died from heart attacks, especially men. ELERI HARRIS discovers that not seeking help is predominantly a male issue.

Just ask John Hargreaves LABOR MLA John Hargreaves says he’d rather be at the pub than the gym these days, but two years ago he had a heart attack.

It obviously didn’t kill the former Government minister, but it did mean having a stent inserted in his arteries and enforced exercise.

But he believes the attack could have been prevented.

Knowing the warning signs and taking quick action is the key message of the Heart Foundation’s new campaign, “Will you recognise your heart attack?”, launched as part of National Heart Week.

Hargreaves had experienced symptoms for months and may have had more than one heart attack without knowing what it was.

“I didn’t recognise these as symptoms of a heart attack, I just thought I was getting old.

And I was getting old, but I actually had a heart condition and blocked arteries as well,” he told “CityNews”.

Heart disease kills 500 people each year in the ACT and both Hargreaves and the Heart Foundation emphasise the importance of seeking medical advice if you’re experiencing any symptoms at all.

“At night when the pain used to visit me I would sit up and wait for it to go away,” he said.

“I put it down to being a smoker for 40 years.

The warning signs PAIN, pressure, heaviness or tightness in one or more parts of the upper body (chest, neck, jaw, arm(s), shoulder(s) or back) in combination with other symptoms of nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness or a cold sweat. People who have had a heart attack have described a feeling of being generally unwell or “not quite right”. Each can be a clear warning that the person is about to have a heart attack and needs to act fast.

CityNews May 6-12

MLA John Hargreaves... “I’d rather be girly and alive than blokey and dead.”

“But then, for the first time, the severity of the pain made me throw up and I thought: ‘Oh something’s a bit wrong here, but it’ll go’. My beloved wife, on the other hand, didn’t believe that and, as all good wives do, she rang for a medical opinion.

“Off we went to hospital and then we found out I had actually had a heart attack and suffered a blocked artery.

“I need to get the message to all the blokes out there, it’s okay to be a bit girly. You know, I’d rather be girly and alive than blokey and dead. It’s a fat lot of use being dead and in the ground. So the trick is to get help, you know?

Go to the doctor and say, I’ve got this pain in my chest, it might be nothing.

“Most blokes can tell you one or two symptoms of a heart attack, as soon as either one of these shows up you should have it checked out by a GP or the hospital itself. Nobody’s going to be critical of a person who goes to hospital with

Photo by Silas

a pain in the middle of their chest or shortness of breath because it’s not a heart attack.”

Heart Foundation CEO Tony Stubbs agrees.

“Many Canberrans will delay calling for an ambulance because they are afraid of being embarrassed if it turns out they are not having a heart attack. The Heart Foundation is sending a message that nobody ever died of embarrassment, but many people have died from heart attacks because they didn’t get help quickly enough.”

“35.3 per cent of all deaths in Australia are caused by heart disease,” Stubbs said, explaining that not seeking help was “predominantly a male issue”.

“It’s [heart disease] the biggest killer of men and women in the ACT. In Australia last year there were 48,000 major coronary events – 40 per cent fatal. That’s why there are two major parts of the campaign: recognise the warning signs and call 000 quickly.”

sport

The cap fits – wear it!

TIM GAVEL explains why a salary cap is vital for the future of team sport

SOME NRL players have called for the abandonment of the salary cap; this is the ultimate in self interest without any regard for the consequences.

As well as bringing parity to the league, the salary cap effectively saves clubs from sending themselves broke.

Time and time again I have seen sporting teams tumbling into a financial black hole as the result of bidding wars for players.

The salary cap of $4.1 million is there for a reason.

Firstly, the money provided by television rights is divided evenly across the 16 clubs. Secondly, only half the teams would have the ability to pay players above the salary cap.

If the players want eight clubs in the competition, let’s dump the cap. We will end up like English Premier League Football where the 20-team competition is dominated by four wealthy clubs. In fact, since the Blackburn Rovers won the title in 1994-95 only three teams Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have won the Premier League. Other teams promoted to Premier League are often relegated within the next couple of seasons. Some clubs are paying 85 per cent of their income in wages.

The salary cap provides an even playing field; it supposedly spreads the playing talent. If it the cap was to disappear, I have no doubt that some clubs in the NRL would fold.

The richer clubs, such as the Roosters and Brisbane, would be able to stockpile talent in a similar fashion to Chelsea. Clubs such as Canberra would suffer because they have less ability to source corporate backing.

The AFL put a salary cap in place in 1987. This season the cap is $7.95 million per team, but there are concessions for rookies and veterans.

Super Rugby teams are capped in that most of the senior squad is paid around $110,000 a season.

In other words, the Brumbies would be paying Matt Giteau the same as Mitchell Chapman. A player’s wage is topped up considerably from the Australian Rugby Union if they are Wallabies or have the potential to be Wallabies.

The grey area, and one that is causing heartache, is the third-party deals. Players can earn money from corporate sponsors only if they source it themselves.

It can’t be initiated by the clubs. Rival clubs have suspicions about under-hand dealings, but it is hard to prove.

The ARU is believed to be looking at tightening the rules on third-party sponsorship.

Hopefully, in the cold hard light of day, NRL players calling for the salary cap to be scrapped will understand that an open-slather system is not sustainable.

CityNews May 6-12

news

The ANU Gentleman’s Club... a group for guys to talk about guys’ issues when girls aren’t around.

Photo by Silas

Gentlemen who like to care and share

By Eleri Harris

ON a Friday night, at the Wig and Pen in Civic, a group of 25 young dandies are gathering in a dim-lit corner, clutching pints of fancy beer, nervously adjusting bow ties and looking to the head of the table where 20 year-old ANU arts student Ben Duggan holds court.

Baby-faced and suited-up, word slips around the pub that they are the ANU Gentleman’s Club and this is their first meeting, but it’s not what you think.

As Duggan explains later, the club is not about strippers or sexually exclusive networking, it’s about providing support and information for men about men with depression – Beyond Blue for the 18-25 set at the ANU. “The ANU Gentleman’s Club was founded last year by a group with myself and my mates,” Duggan says.

“We got together to do Movember. We all grew moustaches and had a bit of fun for a month and I’m sure a lot of our girlfriends weren’t very happy about that, but that’s okay.

“This year, a couple of our friends went through a bit of depression and one of the

guys I knew from primary school committed suicide and I thought well, it’s a pretty big issue in terms of men not talking about their issues.

“Guys have this habit, I think, of not talking about things and then saying: ‘Oh, I’m a guy, I can just deal with it, it’ll be all good’, but how high can the pressure get before something happens? Like what happened to my friend.

“We thought... maybe we should start up a group for guys to talk about guys’ issues when girls aren’t around and guys can just talk around blokes and feel a bit more comfortable.

“So I talked to a couple of people at the Student Association and stuff like that and they were a bit like: ‘Oh I don’t know, but it seems like a good idea, the name is a bit controversial’, but we thought that’s the best part of it because people get interested and say: ‘Well, what is this thing? What is this ANU Gentleman’s Club?’

“The idea of the club is to get guys together, having a bit of fun and talking about issues, because if they talk about issues in a fun environment they’re more likely to open up.

“I think the real problem with guys is that they hold back. They don’t look at an issue and go: ‘Wow, I’ve really got to talk to all my friends about this because what if I’m going through the same thing as other people’.”

Focusing on recruiting ANU students via Facebook and word-of-mouth, Duggan hopes to combine activities such as wine tasting, golf and paint-ball with information sessions about depression and mental health.

He’s looking to get representatives from mental health organisations such as Beyond Blue and academics with specific knowledge on the issue to come and speak, providing sound advice and the social context for naturally forming support networks.

Aiming to get a crew of 50 together for male-sponsored events such as Movember and White Ribbon Day at the end of the year, Duggan says he hopes they can make a real difference to the lives of young men in Canberra.

For more information about the ANU Gentleman’s Club email anu.gentlemen@ gmail.com

Why the Federal Budget matters to Canberra

WIN

weekend passes to the Canberra International Music Festival

Valued at $450 apiece, “CityNews” has three weekend, double passes to performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (May 14-16) Full details at www.citynews.com.au

CityNews May 6-12

WITH around two million square metres in office space, Canberra is the third largest office market in the nation, way out of proportion to our population size. And around 60 per cent of our commercial buildings are tenanted by the Commonwealth.

So Federal Budget decisions on Tuesday, May 11 matter greatly to the ACT economy, not only on State and Territory funding generally, but also on the Commonwealth’s own staffing and accommodation issues, In its outlook for the March quarter, Access Economics notes that the tough times we went through during the GFC were affected by different conditions from those which hit the rest of the country.

The pace of commercial construction in Canberra wound down, it says, that raised

Property

By Catherine Carter the unemployment rate; and retail slowed due to interest-rate increases.

Our positives included businesses and government departments buying new machinery and equipment, responding to generous Federal incentives. And we benefited from recognising the need to increase the pace of land release, with the ACT Government taking action to make up for past shortfalls.

Doing that allowed our housing construction sector to swim strongly against the national tide, “with activity strengthening remarkably, up by more than 40 per cent throughout 2009”.

But “the Territory’s medium-term prospects have hung in the balance ever since it became clear that Federal Government expenditure needed to be reined back over the next few years”.

Access says the Feds are still talking about winding back spending, but the recent surge in industrial commodity prices will provide “a notable top-up of Federal finances”, and that might reduce the intention to tighten funding to the ACT. Certainly, now is not the time to pull back. Funding should be reinstated for the National Capital Authority and its projects, such as the overdue upgrade to Constitution Avenue.

Catherine Carter is the executive director of the Property Council of Australia (ACT)

CityNews May 6-12

CityNews May 6-12

opinion

Ambition wins out, Gai readies to serve ELERI HARRIS finds herself in a bedroom in Yarralumla talking politics and the past with the all-but-elected Labor candidate for the seat of Canberra.

The bedroom of Gai Brodtmann and Chris Uhlmann is immaculate, white carpet meeting floor-to-ceiling bookshelves facing a wall of glass overlooking a blue-tiled swimming pool.

He is political editor of the ABC’s “7.30 Report”, she is the recently annointed Labor candidate for the safe seat of Canberra and this is the first interview I have ever done in anyone’s boudoir, least of all one in leafy Yarralumla.

Why the bedroom? Ms Brodtmann had deemed it the best place for natural-light photography at Labor candidate Gai Brodtmann... “It’s been an interesting process, this pre-selection process, that time of the day. because it’s given me the chance to actually reflect on why I am Labor, why I have the values I Dressed entirely in black, she sits poised and have.”

Photo by Silas prim on the edge of an armchair, her favourite working-class matriarchy, my great-grandmother In the late 1980s Brodtmann studied PR at seat in the house, politely offering tea.

“I’m a Canberra girl,” she says. “I’m Canberra and grandmother were domestics and my father RMIT, where she set up a Labor Club and was left us when I was quite young so it was a difficult elected president of the student union. now.”

“I moved back to Melbourne and came back up A communications consultant who measures childhood.

“My mother was very big on education and here in 1990 to study a scholarship I was doing, her life in 10-year terms, Brodtmann has lived in the bush capital for a quarter of a century and is a financial independence and so I got an education, a Royce scholarship, a PR scholarship, and I decided to stay because I wanted to pursue governLabor party stalwart, having handed out her first as did my sisters.

“My mother is a very keen advocate of the arts, ment work and I fell in love and fell in love with how-to-vote cards in the 1983 Federal election.

“My interest in the Labor Party has been there even though there wasn’t much money, she man- Canberra and that’s it,” she says. forever,” she says. aged to cobble together money to subscribe when “I was in foreign affairs for 10 years and also But, hailing from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, we were younger. To have a cultural dimension to Attorney General’s and then moved into my own the 46-year-old’s taste for books, gardens, dinner your life is really important to enriching you. business in 2000 and I’ve had that for the last 10 parties and theatre, tastes seems disconnected to “I came to Canberra in the early ‘80s to study an years.” a blue-collar background. economics degree at that time, but I flunked, so I Politics appears to be next on Brodtmann’s to-do “I’m a Melbourne girl,” she says. “I’m from a ended up going to an arts degree.” list, beating favourite Mary Woods by 14 primary

votes in Labor pre-selection, she is set to replace Annette Ellis in the upcoming Federal election.

“It’s a huge change, but I’ve always had political ambitions,” she says.

“I’ve been involved with the party for 27 years.

I’ve been a member for more than 20 years.

“It’s been an interesting process, this pre-selection process, because it’s given me the chance to actually reflect on why I am Labor, why I have the values I have.

“I’ve tried to advance the fairness and equity issues through my work and also through my community work and through the party.”

Brodtmann says decades of experience with the Australian government will improve her performance should she be elected.

“I’ve got a very good understanding of the process in terms of how things come up to ministers and also I’ve worked in political offices,” she says.

In her spare time, Brodtmann volunteers her PR services to community and charity events, naming the Terry Connolly ORGANised Walk for organ donation and a CFMEU theatre program for the disadvantaged as her greatest achievements.

“My voluntary work keeps me very in touch with the community. So I am in touch and will always be in touch. It’s my natural approach, I am consultative, that’s the approach I’ve taken to the pre-selection process, it’s the approach I’ve taken to my life and that’s why I think my business has been so successful. I’m inclusive, consultative and I will continue with that approach in the next phase.

“I’m not taking anything for granted. I’ll be out there door-knocking, letterbox-dropping, speaking to people whenever I can.”

CityNews May 6-12

10 CityNews May 6-12

the gadfly

With second thoughts on CO

briefly

2

REGULAR readers can relax. The ethical dilemma over the trapped (cute) dolphins that were eating all the fish in Lake Tuross has been resolved. We no longer have to decide between the demands of the fishermen to “neutralise” them and the tender-hearted souls who wanted to keep them until they had eaten themselves to death.

A big flood came along recently and burst through the sandbar, opening the lake once again to the sea. Alas, it also killed one of the three dolphins, but at least the others were able to return to the big water and the lake’s fish stocks could be replenished. It also opened our other lake – Coila – and reconfigured the coastline. In fact it has added another dimension to Tuross’s charms with two new swimming beaches.

However, there’s another factor at play beside the flood: it is of course global warming which is raising the height of the oceans slightly. And this, we are told, is a very bad thing.

Now, I am not among those who doubt the fact of global warming and the part played by humanity in causing it. But, I am not totally convinced by the doomsayers who tell us that some warming of the planet from an increase in greenhouse gases – mostly CO2 – is a total disaster in the making.

By Robert Macklin

a dose of dorin

A slight ocean rise will open the lakes more often. Maybe we will we have slightly fewer freezing Canberra winter nights. And if the summer temperature occasionally reaches 40 that’s not the end of the world... particularly if it encourages the slackers in the ACT Planning Department to ban the O’Malley horrors and insist on better design.

Their little pony

JOHN Gallop, president of the business group The Carbine Club of the ACT, presents Pegasus executive officer Simone Doherty with a cheque for $5000, which will go towards the sponsorship of Jennifer the pony. Pegasus is a not-for-profit community organisation that provides equestrian activities for people with a disability at Pegasus Farm, Holt.

Climate change is not a job for the politicians. They just confuse the issue.

CO2 is not an instrument of the devil. After all, plants breathe it and according to economist and scientist Tim Curtin, who gave a seminar on the subject at the ANU recently, increased CO2 would actually improve the world’s crop yields. And weather forecasters simply don’t know whether we’ll get more or less rain and where it might fall.

We need to make well-founded decisions to reduce our dependence on oil and coal; to encourage innovation

Ivan grabs ISP in conserving energy and developing more sustainable sources. We need to live more in harmony with our environment by designing our buildings better; we must stop throwing stuff away and learn a new version of the 3Rs: recycle, repair and restore.

And is all this international tourism really necessary? Why not holiday nearby rather than at Port Douglas or the South of France?

(Even the dolphins come to Tuross for a vacation).

But climate change is not a job for the politicians. They just confuse the issue. The people should take it into their own hands. We could start by developing a Climate Change Network through our local government bodies to exchange ideas; monitor progress; and run competitions for, say, The Greenest Town or Shire.

And where better to begin the movement than right here in Canberra. robert@robertmacklin.com

TRANSACT has bought ActewAGL’s 50 per cent share in the internet service provider Grapevine. In a letter to customers, TransACT chief executive Ivan Slavich says it is “business as usual” and that the ownership change will not affect any “bundle” agreements that customers have with ActewAGL and TransACT.

Furniture display

THE CIT 2010 Exhibition of Excellence in Cabinet/Furniture Making, showcasing the work of selected final-year students, is on display at the upper level, Canberra Centre, until May 16. Visitors are encouraged to vote for the People’s Choice Award, which will be announced on May 11.

CityNews May 6-12 11

letters

Not to worry, Mrs Murray THANKS to Elizabeth Kirk’s claim (Letters, CN, April 22) I have had some very fast talking to do on the home front. You see, I’ve been telling my wife for the past 18 months that I have been going to shopping centres with Senator Gary Humphries and assisting him in his meetings with constituents. It’s been a fantastic excuse to get me out of Saturday morning household chores, and now the dishes every Tuesday and Thursday evening.

As part of my fast talking I have had to do some impromptu (and mighty fast) research and, by using a print media search engine, came up with some quite illuminating facts. Since the last Federal election I have discovered that the other senator from Canberra, Kate Lundy, has appeared 474 times whilst my own local member, Annette Ellis, has only revealed her whereabouts on 220 occasions. Over the same period of 30 months Gary has been discovered by the paparazzi on 568 occasions.

At least these statistics might help me avoid the rolling pin this evening. But unlike Ms Kirk, my wife understands politics and is aware that the ALP knows that they are guaranteed one senator and two MPs each election and so don’t need to show their faces, whereas Gary continuously has to work his butt off. Come to think of it, when was the last time anyone saw Bob McMullan at an open Canberra function?

So if my wife is reading this, I truly have been with Gary all this time... honestly!

Cycle danger

Bill Murray, Banks

CYCLISTS should have dedicated cycle paths. When they use footpaths they are a danger to themselves and pedestrians, particularly older pedestrians. In the interests of safety, it is time for the ACT Government to develop paths that meet the needs of both sections of the community.

Harold Grant, Campbell

I’m furious...

KEVIN Rudd has abandoned action on climate change to some distant and uncertain future. I am furious, which is why I just signed the declaration of no confidence in his leadership on climate change.

Kevin Rudd lost the courage of his convictions. He needs to hear loud and clear that he just lost our confidence as a result.

Join me and sign the declaration: www.getup.org.au/campaign/ ClimateActionNow&id=1052

12 CityNews May 6-12

Vanessa Morris, via email

Letters are invited from “CityNews” readers. Let loose to ed@citynews.com.au or write to the editor at GPO Box 2448, Canberra 2601. Letters of 200 words or less stand a better chance of publication.

It’s not apathy

I DON’T think its apathy that stops the submissions [to the ACT Assembly’s Inquiry into Live Music], more that the method used to get input are irrelevant to the audience of musicians and music lovers (CN, April 22, “Music crisis: No-one’s listening”).

I’m in local music scene and reckon if you give a few key players a recording device to “interview” people and a couple of beers at the Phoenix one early evening, similar for the folk clubs, blues society, heavy metal crew in Belco, new southside venues... [chair] Mary Porter and crew will quickly get audio of the opinions and experiences the inquiry wants to know about.

They need to take social media input as core submission methods, too – set up capacity for text subs, start a Twitter conversation, do more to advertise the Facebook group – at the moment Facebook suggests we submit in the usual boring, last-decade way of writing a document or letter.

Sally Ruth via email

It’s not right

FIRSTLY, credit where it’s due – the Government is looking at the issue of live music in the ACT, but they can also take the due criticism – no-one knew of their inquiry! So it comes as no surprise that they have had little response.

The George Harcourt Inn has been hosting live music for 30 years. In recent years the suburb of Nicholls has evolved and, what do you know?

People can hear the live music.

The ACT Government is pursuing urban infill policies so more and more people will be complaining unless allowances are made for live music venues.

Venues in the ACT do not make money putting on live music. I can name the number of live music venues in the ACT on one hand – and this is the nation’s capital. Shame!

Let’s not let the vocal minority win this one. Let’s do something about supporting live music in the ACT. Talk to your local member, send an email to inquiry chair Mary Porter (porter@parliament.act. gov.au), discuss it with friends, but do not sit back and wonder whatever happened to live music in the ACT when it disappears or is driven underground or reduced to a whisper of its former self.

Gil Miller, publican, George Harcourt Inn

All about Canberra, all the time twitter.com/city_news

in reply

Greens are the ‘best hope’ for the future YOU might disagree with how the Greens positioned in the Senate about the Government’s CPRS package, but to describe the Greens, as columnist Robert Macklin did in this publication, as a political movement whose policy and practice is not focused on sustainability is wrong.

We all know that there are some urban myths about the Greens: that we are all single-issue environmentalists; that we are unwilling or unable to compromise (oh please, check out our Senate and Assembly records); and that we will oppose anything that does not fit within a narrow band of what we consider “pure”.

None of those myths are true. The Greens’ Senate record is impressive, demonstrating a capacity to negotiate and compromise without rolling over.

On climate change, we Greens stand ready and willing to negotiate in good faith with government and others because we know it is im-

LIN HATFIELD DODDS, Greens Senate candidate for the ACT, replies to columnist Robert Macklin’s recent assertion that when it comes to climate change the Greens are the enemy of the future... perative for Australia to urgently address global warming.

The Greens made every attempt to negotiate with the government on the CPRS, preparing a raft of constructive amendments to improve the legislation. The Greens would support small steps, as long as they are in the right direction.

What we would not do, on this or any other issue, is give up. We won’t give up on our shared future by supporting legislation through Parliament that locks in failure, and we won’t give up on our shared future by pretending that anything – no matter how flawed – is better than nothing.

The science is incontrovertible. Global warming is hitting us now.

On climate change, we need strong targets, and assistance that supports our adjustment to a clean future rather than rewarding the bad habits of the past. We have put forward a constructive compromise proposal based on the work of Professor Garnaut that has already attracted widespread support.

Recent history tells us that Federal government works best when the government of the day does not control the Senate, but can work with the Opposition or a constructive balance of power party.

In the real world, there are shades of grey Last week Property Council chief Catherine Carter bemoaned the problems of planning disputes in the ACT. Here planning boss NEIL SAVERY puts the criticism into perspective THE recent decision by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) to reject the development approval of a building on the Kingston foreshore has attracted much commentary in the media.

The tone of some of this commentary suggests that the rejection of ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA) decisions by ACAT is a regular occurrence. In fact, very few development applications are subject to appeal. In 2008–09 there were 71 appeals out of 2312 merit track development application decisions.

Of these about 50 per cent were resolved through mediation. Of the rest, ACAT supported ACTPLA’s decision in about 98 per cent of cases heard.

ACTPLA doesn’t dispute the fact that there are weaknesses in the planning controls for the Kingston area and has been working

with the Land Development Agency (LDA) on clarifying the provisions, particularly with respect to height.

Writers to letters pages have called for tightening of planning laws, arguing that this would surely lead to fewer appeals and give developers certainty.

All planning systems are subject to tensions including those that exist between what is prescribed by law and the discretion allowed through provisions that are designed to convey policy objectives without prescribing the outcome.

Even where planning rules are entirely prescriptive they are still subject to individuals or companies wanting to push the boundaries.

They are still tested.

The ACT’s development assessment system, including the framework of the Territory Plan, is based on a leading practice model,

which provides certainty through rules while at the same time providing flexibility through criteria if the lessee wants to depart from the rules.

This flexibility allows for more variety, innovation and response to market conditions and, while there is some flexibility, there are also limits on how far a development can depart from the rules.

The alternative to this system is to take planning rules to the extreme – dictating every outcome. While black and white might work in a perfect world, in the real world shades of grey exist. It is in this imperfect world that the development assessment system operates.

Neil Savery is the chief planning executive, ACT Planning and Land Authority

After this year’s Federal election, Australia is likely to have a sensible and constructive balance-of-power party in the Senate: the Greens – a party guided by a full and publicly available suite of policies, ready to negotiate but never to give up.

Despite Robert’s spray, the Greens are our best hope for the future.

letter It’s all about rights AS usual, the development industry’s Catherine Carter is banging the drum about the need to get any and all regulation out of the way of developers trying to get on with their business (CN, April29).

But in questioning the recent ACAT repeal of an ACTPLA approval in Kingston, she neglects to mention that the appeal was led by another developer. Likewise, she ignores the critical role the right of appeal plays in the wider community’s democratic role in protecting its lifestyle from inappropriate development.

Carter’s unending lobbying, plus Government overreaction to the GFC, have led to significant undermining of community appeal rights, but any rights will always be too much for her.

The simple fact is that ACTPLA does not always get it right, and the community needs to have a fall-back option of being able to dispute a decision.

Land management authorities will always have legal disputes. The solution is not to continually erode legal rights, but for their governments to always ensure adequate resourcing for the resulting legal expenses, over and above other planning business.

Carter also calls for the Territory Plan to have every variable bolted down to a fixed number. But she ignores that it is her own industry that regularly calls for flexibility in planning laws to allow for innovative solutions to problems and introduction of new ideas, and rightly so. The Territory Plan already has such flexibility to choose between code and merit tracks.

People can be forgiven for wondering what exactly is the development industry’s position on things when Carter is so often at odds with those she claims to represent.

Alan Kerlin, president

Gungahlin Community Council

CityNews May 6-12 13

14 CityNews May 6-12

transport

When users really start paying for roads The introduction of a road-user charge in the Netherlands could be the first step in changing transport cost structures around the world, say ROGER BURRITT and JOANNE TINGEY-HOLYOAK ON November 13 last year the Dutch Government approved the introduction of kilometre-based charges for heavy goods vehicles and passenger cars to be fully implemented by 2018.

With transport the third largest and second fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, the Dutch experience will be important to observe.

The road-user charge in the Netherlands will see payment made for each kilometre driven, all carefully monitored thanks to Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to be installed in each vehicle. Every company, non-profit organisation and public sector body will need to track and record the level of costs associated with kilometre-based charges, as will many individuals.

The GPS will not only record each journey but also take into consideration the speed, noise pollution, road damage, time of travel (peak and non-peak) and climate change gas emissions of the vehicle.

Through broad consideration of these critical factors affecting current congestion levels, the scheme not only

captures the environmental impact of using the road but takes the debate much further by forcing emphasis on sustainable mobility, rather than a narrow focus on the current vogue in environmental issues – reduction of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

As to be expected, in the new Dutch scheme vehicles, including trucks with larger carbon dioxide emissions, will pay a higher price to use the road network.

Despite the growing mood of governments and manufacturers to push forward low-emission electric cars, A roundabout in Rotterdam... the Dutch experience will be important to observe. even zero-emission vehicles will be charged to use the road, thereby high- est road networks has been met with a model, such as that proposed by the lighting the broader costs of vehicle positive reaction in general, primarily Dutch, which considers not just cliinfrastructure establishment, use and because of the Dutch Government’s mate change gas emissions but the maintenance to society. long-term planning for such issues. broad implications of road use.

Although the charge will be much Discussions and engagement of the Currently, all cars whether for perless than for a normal car, electric cars public in debate over a period of years sonal or commercial use, shoulder a still use the valuable road system and has meant the system is well under- uniform excise charge of 36.1c a litre potential road damage, road rage and stood and generally perceived to be on petrol, and 19.6c a litre on diesel. congestion remain large factors in the fair and equitable.

Should the outcome from the introsustainability equation. Electric cars In Australia there is discourse duction of the road user charge scheme will still need to contribute to these amongst economists concerning the in the Netherlands be successful, it costs to society. level of prices that should be set for could serve as a model that would alThe proposed introduction of a road transport. The arguments have low Australia to move forward with charge to use one of the world’s busi- not yet developed into a successful a user-pays scheme thereby making

progress toward reductions in transport-generated greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately, sustainability of our road network.

Those who oppose the road-user charge principally base their arguments on the potential for privacy breaches which accompany the GPS tracking process. However, the UK Environmental Transport Association claims the satellite technology, which acts as a tracking device, is no more invasive than using a GPS mapping system, or sending an SMS. Introduction of the road-user scheme will result in savings for many drivers as the fuel and vehicle excise duties and purchase tax of 25 per cent will be abolished, reducing variable and fixed operating costs and fixed costs of investment. In their place will be the charge per kilometre.

The promised effect by government is a tax-neutral outcome overall, but heavier users of roads will end up paying higher amounts for the provision and maintenance of road infrastructure.

Prof Burritt, formerly of the ANU, is the director of the Centre for Accounting, Governance and Sustainability at UniSA in Adelaide. This subject, part of the university’s ongoing research into transport, is one of many research projects underway at the centre. Ms Tingey-Holyoak is a research scholar at UniSA.

CityNews May 6-12 15

16 CityNews May 6-12

budget 2010

Michael Moore: Boring Budget with a bite for public servants

Eleri harris: Pedal down on the transport plan

Two years off, for good behaviour THE recovering ACT economy will come out of deficit two years sooner than the gloomy sevenyear predictions of last year.

In delivering this year’s Territory Budget, Treasurer Katy Gallagher told the Assembly: “We are bringing forward our return to surplus target by two years to 2013-14.

“The net operating balance for 2010-11 is a deficit of $83.9 million. By the last of the outyears we expect the deficit to have reduced to $50.3 million.

“Over the past 12 months we have driven our savings task and achieved $48 million worth of savings towards our target.

“Despite the recovery in our economy, the losses sustained by our Budget will take longer to remedy. The origins of this structural deficit were in the fiscal shock of the global financial crisis and deficits were accepted on a temporary basis. The Budget’s underlying deficit is forecast to peak in 2010-11.”

She said that in the 2009-10 Budget, the Government had adopted a plan to return to surplus over seven years.

“We readjusted our spending and achieved savings,” she said.

“This approach has paid dividends to our local economy and has assisted us in achieving the small surplus of $54.2 million expected for 2009-10.”

She said the revenue outlook had improved since the last Budget, with the increase in the GST pool, housing market revenue and income from financial assets.

“Combined with solid population growth in Canberra, and the targeted investment of the ACT Government, we expect to sustain the momentum of our local economy,” she said.

She described the Budget as one of “preparing our city for the future”.

“We are a Government that is not afraid of making tough decisions and will look to drive future improvements in the way we fund Government services for our growing city,” she said.

“Around two thirds of the savings required to return the Budget to surplus are incorporated in this Budget. The remaining savings will be achieved in future Budgets.

“Savings will be achieved through a

Labor’s ‘attack on families’ Families will be taxed on homes, taxed on cars and won’t be able to find GPs. Meanwhile, Jon Stanhope’s Arboretum will get star billing, says Opposition Leader ZED SESELJA

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope mops his brow as Treasurer Katy Gallagher takes a question at the Budget lock-up press conference.

Photo by Silas number of targeted actions including the application of an efficiency dividend across government, wages restraint, reduction in the provision for unforseen expenditure (Treasurer’s advance) which has been mitigated through our substantial investment in services growth, and the deferral of the street-tree planting program.

“We are introducing some limited increases to fees and charges in this Budget. Parking fees will increase, in line with our objectives

to encourage a shift to alternative modes of transport.”

She said additional revenue was expected through improved compliance with the Change of Use Charge.

Borrowings of up to $450 million are included in the Budget to partially fund the infrastructure program.

“We have budgeted for affordable pay increases for our workforce. We will continue to exercise wage restraint.”

CANBERRA families will be slugged with massive fees on new homes and car parking, while legacy projects like the arboretum will get huge increases in funding.

This is an anti-family Budget built on fees and fines to pay for years of reckless spending by ACT Labor.

At its core is a massive tax on home and apartment buyers and renters. The so called “change of use” charge is actually a tax on homes, and is budgeted to hit property owners with an expected slug of over $89 million.

That’s a massive hit that will have to be paid for by all new home buyers and renters – $89 million straight out of the home owners’ pocket. The announcement in this Budget must be seen as the first step in introducing a house tax – and it will come, the deficits and continued reckless spending demand it.

On top of that is a huge slug on all the families using cars; car parking revenue is expected to increase by 30 per cent, 21 per cent extra in parking fines and 27 per cent on traffic infringements.

As if this isn’t bad enough, Katy Gallagher has found $26.3 million for the Arboretum, with an astonishing $3 million set aside for just the opening ceremony.

Of all the infrastructure we need, the arboretum is not high on the list, yet it is the second-highest spend in this Budget.

Meanwhile, there is nothing in here to recruit, support and retain GPs. Absolutely nothing.

Yet the amazing thing is that revenue is higher than ever, in fact there is a prediction of more revenue than pre GFC levels. The economy is strong, but the Budget is weak. We are still expecting an underlying deficit of $470 million over four years.

This attack on families is a direct result of this Government’s reckless spending. When all is said and done, families will be taxed on homes, taxed on cars and won’t be able to find GPs. Meanwhile, Jon Stanhope’s Arboretum will get star billing.

02 6120 2222 e. canberra@psl.com.au

CityNews May 6-12 17

budget 2010

reaction

Chris Peters, Canberra Chamber of Commerce

Meredith Hunter, ACT Greens Convenor

Roslyn Dundas, ACTCOSS

WHAT’S been delivered by the Treasurer is warmly welcomed by the chamber, it continues the services to our community with no slashing and burning of expenditure and it also provides for our on-going growth, particularly in the areas of an extra 5000 residential properties, additional health services and additional transport.

There’s also additional funding to help address our skills shortage and a small amount to further assist tourism.

The Budget will continue in deficit for a few more years, but we believe that it’s better to continue to encourage economic recovery, to enable the Territory to return to growth and surplus through that, rather than reducing expenditure.

The investment in public transport shows a positive step towards building a more sustainable city.

Deficit spending must be carefully targeted on initiatives that deliver benefits for the future and there is not enough investment in things that will save money and make money in the years ahead.

This Budget doesn’t adequately address the real long-term challenges of climate change and an ageing population.

Some of the areas in which the Greens expect better investment in around waste, energy and water efficiency and preventative health.

So while it’s pleasing to see some of the Greens initiatives have been adopted, the Budget does not represent fiscal policy that will take us into the new green economy and maintain prosperity into the future.

WHILE there are some welcome intitiatives in the 2010 Budget, we are concerned that there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the vulnerable in our community provided in this Budget.

There’s some good stuff going on in reation to mental health and the Canberra Woman’s Legal Centre, there’s some small stuff that we’re very pleased to see, but we’re concerned that there hasn’t be a bigger picture commitment given to the most vulnerable in our community.

Catherine Carter, Property Council (ACT) IN the ACT Budget this year there is some some good and some bad for the property sector in Canberra.

The good news in this Budget, is we haven’t identified any new taxes and the Government has put its foot on the pedal for a strong, accelerated land-release program to respond to housing affordability problems. This is supported by a strong injection of funding into infrastructure and capital works.

The bad is that despite the identification of resources for infrastructure and capital works, the ACT Government has not been able to deliver on previous capital works programs.

We welcome the increased parking fees, and have always been of the view that in order to acheive the view to provide a sustainable transport plan that parking prices need to be adjusted.

But the complicated change-of-use charge is the most significant for us in the Budget.

Chris Faulks, Canberra Business Council THE ACT Government has focused its expenditure on core services including health, education, transport and infrastructure, with only $77m in the way of expenditure on new programs.

Canberra Business Council supports this approach as it means the Budget will return to surplus two years’ earlier than forecast.

In particular, the accelerated land release of 10,000 residential sites over the next two years will improve housing affordability, critical in attracting more skilled workers to live in Canberra.

The $22.6m for the National Arboretum and $1.9m in Floriade is recognition of the importance of tourism. Transport is a major component of the Budget, with $97m committed, but the council feels this is only the first step in this critical area.

The council is disappointed at the increased reliance of the ACT Government on property taxes – this time, in the form of increased revenue from the change-of-use charge.

18 CityNews May 6-12

Penny Gilmour, Australian Education Union I think it’s a positive Budget for education and we’re particlarly pleased to see the funding of the Teacher Quality Institute as registration for teachers in the ACT is valuable into the future.

Extra money for programs is welcome, but we are concerned for the School Based Management Review Implementation. There’s $600,000 there and the Government says take us on trust, but there are no details provided. That will need to be tested when we see it.

Efficiency dividends is the major cause of concern, because it adds up to $10 million or so, plus unallocated savings, to me that translates as cutting services in schools themselves.

There are some good things, there is money for education, which is pleasing and we hope to see more when the Government looking to fund teacher salaries in the next Budget.

Emma Robertson, Youth Coalition of the ACT THE Youth Coalition of the ACT, the peak body for youth affairs, acknowledges the challenges faced by the ACT Government in developing the 2010-11 ACT Budget, and welcomes many of the new initiatives.

However, the Youth Coalition is disappointed that the implementation of the goals of the ACT Young People’s Plan 2009-2014 has not been identified as a priority for the 2010-11 financial year.

For a Government that is aiming to invest in the growth of Canberra, and develop a sustainable footing for the future, it is essential that investment in young people continues to be seen as a priority.

John Hibberd, Conservation Council (ACT) THE ACT Budget is substantially a developer’s budget, although some balance is achieved through funding for three iconic conservation areas: Mulligan’s Flat Sanctuary, Jerrabomberra Wetlands, and Tidbinbilla.

As usual, the Budget papers are strong on motherhood, but short on detail – and the devil will be in the detail. For instance, it is impossible to ascertain the level of funding and staffing for key on-ground management of our conservation lands.

Noting the Budget statement on accelerated land development which would see 10,000 new dwellings in Canberra over the next two years, only 1700 of these dwellings are to be infill – this will see more natural lands go under houses, and does not meet the stated aims of the Territory Plan which identifies a 50/50 balance between greenfield and infill.

Size clearly matters when it comes to Budgets… Treasurer Katy Gallagher illustrates a point.

Photo by Silas

budget review

budget 2010

Boring Budget with a bite for PS The quirky little bits…

By Michael Moore

HE was so pleased with himself at the media scrum that it was almost impossible for Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, to contain the smirk on his face.

He was explaining that it is the eighth time in a row that he has been able to end the year with a surplus. He was speaking just before heading into the Assembly for the presentation of the 2010-2011 Budget by Treasurer, Katy Gallagher.

His comments illustrate the smoke and mirrors of the Budget process. For almost all Stanhope Governments’ Budgets since 2002 there have been no predictions of a Budget surplus – and yet they have all come in with a surplus.

In this year’s Budget, the deficit is predicted to be $83.9m growing to $135.8m the following year, and then $95.5m and finally to $50.3m in the 2013-2014.

The smug look, the barely suppressed excitement on the face of the Chief Minister, though, indicates that he actually expects the outcome for this year and all these out years to be surpluses.

Why the tricky approach? This way they can keep the pressure on the bureaucrats and ensure Ministers toe the line.

Any Chief Minister or Treasurer who is soft on underlings is likely to have real difficulties containing expenditure. There is always pressure to spend However, if backbenchers were to be there – where more. was John Hargreaves? Perhaps he was embarrassed Chief Minister Stanhope keeps the pressure on by the content. with the Treasurer’s help. She is onside – the top job The challenge for boring Budgets is to try to dress could be hers before too long! them up in attractive finery. Last year the Budget She gave a cute answer at the press conference papers were a green hue whereas this year they are when asked about her ambitions – the response was a soft, conservative blue. to explain how much she likes the job she is doing.

Despite the pretence at public transport as the key Of course, Stanhope has managed both jobs so – the colour was appropriate and, unless they fall for there is no reason to think the same possibility has the ruse, the Greens must be gnashing their teeth. not occurred to GalMuch, much more lagher. is spent on roads than The Greens must be Although it is probon public transport. ably the most boring The emphasis is on a gnashing their teeth ACT Budget in 20 years, “growing city” – in fact, there is an attempt to the Budget is framed in inject some life by creating a little fear, doubt and these terms. Whatever happened to the notion of susuncertainty about the future. tainability? Surely we need sustainable populations It is a Hanrahan Budget. Remember the charac- to get a sustainable environment and a sustainable ter in John O’Brien’s classic Australian poem and economy. his apocryphal words – “we’ll all be rooned” and Trying to please the Greens does require a little perhaps more importantly “before the year is out”. more smoke and mirrors. The biggest item under This Budget was so boring that it needed support the heading of Climate Change and Sustainabilfrom Labor back-bencher Mary Porter at the press ity in Budget Paper 2 is the implementation of the conference. I can’t remember when a backbencher Strategic Bushfire Management Plan – a good thing last attended a Budget media briefing. in itself, but hardly an environmental or sustain-

MICHAEL MOORE trawls for the Budget’s oddities:

ability driver. When combined with the whitegoods and other household bulky goods collection plan, it accounts for about half of this section of the Budget.

Smoke and mirrors!

The wages policy continues on from the previous Budget. In this case, the projected savings against what was originally budgeted is $112m over the four years. Considering that the staffing figures across government will increase from 16,721 this year to 17,559, the savings will not be made by reducing staff. The money comes out of potential pay rises that had been previously allocated for ACT Public servants.

On average this means that ACT Public servants will be about $1500 worse off per year than was originally planned – or will fall around $6000 per year within four years. This is hardly the way to maintain parity with the Federal public service which provides the main alternative employment in Canberra.

The Budget is certainly boring – but for ACT public servants it does have a bite.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health in the Carnell government.

• Firearms fees are going to increase by about 50 per cent – this will mean an additional income of $105,000 per year. How many firearms are there in Canberra?

• Abolition of transfer of duty on caravans and camping trailers. This way it will help solve the housing crisis – it will be cheaper for people to leave Canberra.

• $270,000 on the free plant issue (a Canberra icon since the development of the city).

• Canberra Stadium $650,000 to upgrade the stadium televisions from analogue to digital. Wouldn’t set top boxes be a little cheaper?

• Ever wondered if road safety or revenue is driving traffic fines – this one has minimal, if any, safety ramifications: Traffic fine revenue increase is largely based on Automated Number Plate Recognition which is expected to bring $6m over four years.

• This Budget is printed in blue compared to last year which was a “green Budget”.

• It tries to be a public transport Budget (but spends hugely on roads compared to buses): • “To improve the reliability of our buses, the Budget provides $12.5m over three years for a real-time passenger information system which will provide accurate bus arrival information using GPS technology”.

A GPS system that makes vehicles more reliable? Everyone will want one. Even better than telling us we are late.

• Health now surpasses a $1 billion.

• $100, 000 to commission an Australian composer to write music to the Canberra Symphony Orchestra to help celebrate the centenary of Canberra.

CityNews May 6-12 19

budget 2010

Pedal down on Labor’s transport plan Up go the parking fees, in come the point-to-point speeding cameras and it’s all to get us on to a bus that, the Government promises, will be coming to a stop near you. ELERI HARRIS looks at the emotional centrepiece of this year’s Budget WHILE the Stanhope Government is touting a $97 million “down-payment” in transport as the centre-piece of the 2010 ACT Budget, a closer look at the figures hints more at a glittering bitumen bauble with many of the dollars earmarked for road upgrades and street-side infrastructure.

The most expensive project listed for the new “Transport for Canberra” program in the Budget is a $14.7 million provision to add a third lane on Parkes Way from the Glenloch Interchange to the Acton Tunnel.

This is closely followed by a $12.5 million investment in a real-time passenger information system, which seems to jump the gun a bit when most bus stations in Canberra don’t even have paper timetables posted.

Less than half that, $6.143 million, will be spent over four years on expanding the actual ACTION bus services, and that figure includes revenue from ticketing.

The Government has spent $8.5 million on bus services and $58 million on new buses over the previous two Budgets.

ACT Labor said the 2010 Budget hails “a new era in transport”, aiming to get people out of cars and on to bikes, footpaths and buses.

They have dedicated $1.35 million over the next three years to six point-to-point cameras, as well as announcing a massive $30.8 million increase in revenue in parking fees.

The initiatives contained within the “Transport for Canberra” program include the design

Selling the budget, it’s all in the name • This year: “Growing our city” • Last year: “Investing in our community” • 2008-2009 “Ready for the future” • 2007-2008“Taking the Territory Forward” • 2006-2007 “For the Future” • 2005-2006: “A Budget for the Community”

The Cabinet and Mary… Backbencher Mary Porter (far right) breaks convention and joins her Cabinet colleagues at the Budget lock-up briefing. Only John Hargreaves was missing.

Photo by Silas of bus priority measures on Canberra Avenue, Northbourne Avenue and Flemington Road, an extension of the REDEX service, $8 million worth of new bus shelters, nearly $5 million worth of park- and-ride/bike and ride facilities, as well as a $4.8 million investment in cycling and walking infrastructure.

While many of the initiatives – for example the bus priority measures on Northbourne Avenue and a commitment to road safety programs – have been long pushed for by the Greens, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope declined to give them credit for lobbying on transport.

Greens Transport spokesperson Amanda Bresnan pointed out that many of the transport initiatives form her party’s 2008 election commitments.

“In 2008, the Greens took a commitment to improving public transport to the election. The 2031 Public Transport Plan, the REDEX trial and a range of capacity building investments represents a new paradigm in this city,” she said.

“For a long time there has been an underin-

vestment in public transport. It’s been like turning the Titanic around, but things are starting to change for the better.”

The 2010 “Budget for a Growing City” and the emphasis on transport is clearly in line with the Government’s push for increasing inner city urban density.

Stanhope said the Government is preparing for a population boom.

“This investment represents the first down-payment on a new vision for transport – where bus services are closer to home and work, buses are more frequent and rapid, and more Canberrans choose to leave their cars at home... [it] will help to deliver the essential infrastructure and services needed to support our growing city.”

The page noting “Sustainable Urban Development” contains many environmental commitments, but zero financial commitments.

02 6120 2222 e. canberra@psl.com.au

20 CityNews May 6-12

Giraffe Visual Communication Management

advertising feature

New space takes Giraffe up in the world DYNAMIC design duo Steve Hugler and Damian Monaghan have a talent for great design and a commitment to growing their design business Giraffe Visual Communication Management.

Steve and Damian, along with their new web designer Paul Skrzeczek, have just moved into a stylish new office space at Flemington Corner.

“It’s very exciting, and this new office space is providing us with more room to grow the business,” said Damian. “We added some walls and painted everything, and it’s worked out well.

Complete with Trent Jansen stools, a pool table, skateboards on the walls, the odd giraffe figurine and a new games console with 60 games-in-one, the new office is an inspiring place to work and play.

“The new space is great, it’s refreshing – a new start,” says Steve.

Damian and Steve have more than 30 years combined experience in the design, paper and print industries, and both know the value of building strong local networks, and developing productive working relationships with clients.

“Our diverse client base provides us with good insights into delivering on the differing design needs in the marketplace,” says Damian.

When Damian started his home-based graphic design business in August 2001, he couldn’t have imagined that he would be running one of Canberra’s busiest design studios, alongside Steve, his business partner of four years.

Steve and Damian say that thanks to a renewed focus from the government on sustainable energy and the environment, Giraffe has become involved in some innovative new campaigns,

including the Television Energy Rating Labelling Scheme, the Solar Hot Water Rebate, and the Government’s Green Loans Program.

“We’ve been really lucky to be the designer of choice for these campaigns, and it’s great to see our designs out there in the marketplace,” says Steve.

He adds that another part of the job he really loves is working with small businesses, such as painters, plumbers, hairdressers and cafes, and helping them create a brand identity.

“It’s so rewarding to see local businesses,whose identities we’ve helped develop, growing and cementing a profile in the region,” he says. “It’s hard to get started, but we offer a cost-effective, successful solution – efficiently. We couldn’t be happier to see people we’ve worked with doing well.

“Our range of experience also means we are becoming involved with emerging designers and offer them great work experience opportunities, ensuring that local talent continues to thrive,” he says.

Giraffe can provide an entire design solution, from logo and website design to shop fronts and stationery.

“We make sure we give a quick response, and always aim to have a quote back by the next day,” says Damian. “It’s part of our service philosophy – we want every client to know exactly where they stand.”

The Giraffe team, from left, Paul Skrzeczek, Damian Monaghan and Steve Hugler... “We couldn’t be happier to see people we’ve worked with doing well,” says Steve.

“And we’re very no-fuss – we’re not precious,” says Steve.

“We get the job done. Design is so subjective – we might think we have created the ultimate solution and the best way to get the message across, but if the client doesn’t like purple and

we’ve used purple, then we’ll change it. We try to make the whole process as easy and straightforward as possible, so everyone’s happy.”

Giraffe, Unit 10, Flemington Corner, 189 Flemington Road, Mitchell. Contact 6242 9669

CityNews May 6-12 21

scene

invite us at silas@citynews.com.au

At the Order of Australia ACT branch event

At the Stilettos launch, Rydges Capital Hill

Kathy Tricolas, Susie Dunn and Liz Bomben

Derek Robson, Andrea McCourtie, Dr Malcolm Beazley and Debbie Errington

Margaret Wine and Joyce Goodman

The Stilettos… Melissa Aristotelous, Sally Jackson and Tina Meir

Jemmy Tarrant, Rick Meir, Marilyn Howarth and Noelene Edwards

At CBRE’s Walk for a Wish, Yarralumla Yacht Club

Christopher and Julie Long with Rhodanthe Lipsett

Diane Kargas, Adrian Bray, Dorothy Sales and Joan Post Lauren Stevens, baby Lachlan Van Gorph, Bree Creaser, Donna Dowsett and Phillipa Spears

Ginny Acworth, Heath Francis, Dr Jeff Harmer, Brian Finlay, Brian Acworth and Bruce Trewartha

22 CityNews May 6-12

June and John Woodfield with Glen Barclay

Emily Nicola, Kate Ineson and Michael Cusack

Marcus Hon, Karen Anderson, Mark Nicholls and Bug

Kip Tanner, Mary O'Connor, Coorinna Jones and Deb Barnes

CityNews May 6-12 23

scene

More photos at www.citynews.com.au

At Giraffe Visual Communications Management office opening, Mitchell At the April Schmooze, Legends Wine and Tapas Bar, Manuka

Steve Hugler, James Watt and Shannon Byrnes

Claire Kensit, Sandra Sweeney and Melodie Brophy

Brooke Sporer, Helen Sloan, Janelle Hillyar and Bev Monaghan

Richard and Maple Ko, Steve Mills, Judy Martin and Madison Sporer

24  CityNews May 6-12

Asta Stokell, Damian Monaghan and Anna Finnegan

Ruth Zochling, Ellyn Martin and Daina Neverauskas

Michael Zivkovic with Emily and Greg King

Claus Skrzeczek, Elaina Wood with Paul and Helen Skrzeczek

Francisca del Castillo, Julia Eaton, Mariana del Castillo and Jenny Shaw

Rocco Schirripa and Pauline Tye

Thea McGrath and Joel Wyse

Danielle Geld, Colin McCulloch and Diana Ryan

Nathan Hannigan, Kate Bouffler and Ana Ljubic

Emily White and Adrian Hales

all about living

arts | news | reviews | cinema | dining | horoscope | puzzles

Mum in the city

By Sonya Fladun

What is it about boys and guns?

Words: Eleri Harris Photos: Silas Brown

A touch of Cape Town THE Dutch Colonial style South African High Commission, on the corner of State Circle and Rhodes Place, is a stand-out on the embassy circuit with its gorgeous white pillars and sweeping parkland garden.

Since the residence and offices were built in 1956 and 1966 respectively, 14 commissioners and their families have influenced the garden’s style, planting trees and, in the case of Anthony le Clerk Kgwadu Mongalo and his wife at the turn of the new millenium, erecting sandstone statues – a taste transported from their earlier posting in Rome.

The current high commissioner Lenin M. Shope also arrived

in Canberra from Rome with his wife and three children in February last year, having worked previously in Havana, Cuba.

Mr Shope says the residence, designed by architect Morran Slater, is typical of Cape Town, which isn’t surprising since it was based on the design of Government House in that city and, at first glance, appears identical.

“If you were driving in Cape Town in the vineyards, you would see lots of houses that have this kind of style,” Mr Shope said.

Gardener Bill Hopkins has worked at the High Commission for 40 years and he says there has been an

attempt to incorporate aspects of South African landscaping as well.

“There are seven acres of park-like garden with lots of lawns and garden beds with some South African flowers, particularly protea and agapanthus,” he says.

“We’ve got a few trees planted by various ambassadors and there is a small maze designed by former commissioners.

“The droughts have been an issue in the last few years, but we’ve just installed 32,000 litre rainwater tanks and we use bore water – the minerals in bore water supply a lot of foods for the lawns, which is why they look so good.”

High commissioner Lenin M. Shope in his office.

GROWING up, I always loved a good gun battle.

With my trusty silver, six-shooter cap gun, I spent hours re-enacting Custer’s last stand or the shoot out at the OK Corral.

There are dozens of photos of me, as a child, engaged in shoot outs with my brother and friends. Admittedly, we were all army brats, so guns, bombs; indeed, pretty much anything that went bang was thought to be a lot of fun. In those days no-one really thought anything of it.

Later, when we lived on a property in the Adelaide Hills, I learned to shoot real guns as it was expected that you would know how to use a rifle to deal with rabbits and foxes. By the time I was in my teens guns held little mystery.

After this upbringing, you’d think I would be pretty easy going with my own children playing with toy guns. But, when I had my little boy, I was determined he would be one of a new generation that wouldn’t have anything to do with guns.

It didn’t quite work like that. I’ll never forget the day when my three-year-old cherub, pulled a stick on me aiming it squarely at groin level lisping loudly: “Pill you, mummy, pill”. I was horrified. Where had he learnt this from? We had no guns, toys or otherwise, of any description in the house.

A conversation with some other mums revealed that the kids at the childcare centre had been playing pretend shoot outs. In the absence of actual toy weaponry (strictly banned, of course), sticks, toilet rolls or just fingers were brought to bear on the target.

The more we denied our boy a water pistol or laser gun of his own, the more he craved one.

So we succumbed and let him have his toy guns (nothing too realistic).

A couple of years on and the toy guns are gathering dust. “Guns are boring”, he says.

Their forbidden lure and mystery has all but vanished. He’s much more interested in Meccano and science experiments. I’m relived, but also a wee bit regretful. After all, I’d found there was a lot of fun to be had with a few high-powered water pistols on a hot summer’s day in the backyard.

CityNews May 6-12 25

arts&entertainment

reviews

Presence of the past

New York rep company is undeniably more heavy-handed than Ludwig’s more famous work “Lend Me a Tenor”.

Cate Clelland and her excellent cast struggle with that unwieldiness, and though there are plenty of laughs to go around, the gags don’t always work.

Ian Croker and Barbara Denham play ageing stage stars George and Charlotte way over the top, allowing a great deal of sympathy for the “straight” characters such as Buffalo weatherman Howard (Jim Adamik), pregnant soubrette Eileen (Carol Whitman) and rebellious daughter role (Naomi Milthorpe).

With all the farcical door-banging necessary in this farce, the set holds up pretty well and the flattering costumes designed by Helen Drum add a vintage 1950s flavour.

Visual Art

“Trevor Nickolls: Other side art” Drill Hall Gallery, Acton, until May 23 Reviewed by Anni Doyle Wawrzynczak AMID the 47 paintings and drawings spanning 35 years of Nickolls’ career, baby Wandjina spirits, resembling Aboriginal cherubs, sit in the lotus position on boomerang suns; Aboriginal comic-book figures sunbake beside rivers on grounds striped like massive beach towels.

Humour shines, colours pop; love hearts and symbols of higher consciousness are repetitive motifs; nature, mark making, the language of the theatre, fine drawing skills and the polemics of black/white relations are just some of the many influences at work in Nickolls’ extraordinary oeuvre.

There are two fine examples from his 1978 exhibition, “From Dreamtime to Machinetime”, where the artist first articulated an enduring visual language developed in Canberra from 1975 to 1978.

Nickolls’ modern-day spirit woman, Wanda Wandjina, stars in “The adventures of Wanda Wandjina” (oil on canvas,122x211cms, 2001). Seated in Nickolls’ favourite FJ Holden, Wanda, Rover Thomas (Nickolls’ exhibiting partner at the 1990 Venice Biennale) and Nickolls’ himself, in his guise as the comic book super hero, green alien painter, road trip through a canvas

26 CityNews May 6-12

“Metamorphosis” by Trevor Nickolls. that is densely packed with a truly astonishing multiplicity of influences and references. Don’t miss it.

Gags don’t always work THEATRE

“Moon over Buffalo”

By Ken Ludwig, directed by Cate Clelland for Canberra Repertory, Theatre 3, until May 15.

Reviewed by Helen Musa THIS three-laughs-a-minute play set behind the scenes of a fading upstate

Wayne Shepherd’s set has that lightness of touch, but Liz Bradley’s production of the early, four-act version of the play is uneven, with the young lovers all labouring too heavily over the script.

Happily, the centrestage is occupied by a delightful set of eccentrics. Judy Crane’s Lady Bracknell is surely the acme of her long acting life as she descends on the other characters with righteous moral indignation.

The pairing of Gabriel Hyslop as an over-earnest Miss Prism with Geoffrey Borny as an obscure Dr Chasuble is a masterstroke. Graham Robertson doubles grumpily as manservants Lane and Merriman.

As for the play’s famous handbag, what was the props department thinking of by producing a synthetic modern carrying bag?

Importance Odd songs of being even of our past THEATRE “The Importance of Being Earnest”

By Oscar Wilde, directed by Liz Bradley for Free Rain Theatre.

At the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre until May 16.

Reviewed by Helen Musa

THIS seminal farce by Oscar Wilde requires a light hand as it defies convention to create a topsy-turvy world where style is more important than substance, absence of cucumber sandwiches becomes life-threatening and gentlemen are praised for smoking.

MUSICAL REVUE

“Tin Pan Aussie” The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre Season closed Reviewed by Bill Stephens BEST known as a purveyor of political cabaret, John Shortis has a passion for early Australian songs. With “Tin Pan Aussie” he celebrates this passion by revealing some of the unusual songs he has discovered from trawling the National Library’s vast sheet-music treasury.

Peter J. Casey.

He’s given them context and relevance to devise a show that is part history lesson, part political cabaret – and wholly entertaining.

Acting mainly as narrator, Shortis draws parallels with America’s Tin Pan Alley to trace how Australian popular songs reflected our historical and political development, illustrating with songs that are moving, mundane, silly, obscure and sometimes comfortably familiar.

The musical load is brilliantly borne by fellow enthusiasts, Ian Blake, Peter J. Casey, Jon Jones and Dave O’Neill, who between them play a bewildering number of instruments, and by Moya Simpson, who plays a variety of characters including hillbilly yodeler, Shirley Thoms.

Some sound and lighting glitches did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the opening night audience for this clever home-grown show that pays tribute to an important aspect of Australia’s musical heritage.

arts&entertainment

Irish with every step Irish dance is not all straight backs, hands by the side and action from the waist down, says Kieran Cavanagh, artistic director and producer of the National Dance Company of Ireland.

“Our choreography does a lot more… it’s a lot more expressive than that,” he says.

Cavanagh, a theatre man and not a choreographer, is about to launch the company into a 10th anniversary tour aimed at bringing the magic of Irish dance in a distinctly patriotic form.

A former professional musician, he was approached in 1998 by RTÉ, Ireland’s

ARTS IN THE CITY

By Helen Musa

national television and radio broadcaster, to put together a dance troupe that could accompany performances by the National Concert Orchestra. That’s how the title “National” came about, and they haven’t looked back, playing to more than five million fans in 36 countries.

The National Dance Company of Ireland... “Rhythm of the Dance” will focus on old Ireland seen through all forms of dance.

In earlier days, the troupe incorporated a mini ballet troupe of about six dancers in order to expand the dramatic range of their performances, but this is its 10th birthday and “Rhythm of the Dance” will focus on old Ireland seen through all forms of dance, but mostly the solo Sean-nós dance and the step-dancing derived from community dancing at the crossroads.

“There is one sequence inspired by the 18th-century Irish famine and that’s about as ancient as we get,” Cavanagh says.

While the troupe wants to attract young people, the target audience for 2010 is the international Irish diaspora, so they’re giving in to sentiment. Cavanagh notes that most expatriates will comment: “It’s great to show Ireland in its modern form, but it’s good to feel the old Ireland, too.”

To this end, then, the company’s live orchestra made up of pipes, Irish harp fiddles and flute will perform several nostaligic music-only sets with three Irish tenors.

There shouldn’t be a dry eye in the house.

And what will be the sentimental highlight of the night? Well, the tune may be assocaited with Londonderry in Northern Ireland and words may have been written by an Englishman, but the National Dance Company of Ireland is very happy to adopt as its anthem that old favourite “Danny Boy.” “Rhythm of the Dance”, Vikings Club, Erindale, May 21. Bookings to 6121 2131 or www.tuggers.com.au

“It’s great to show Ireland in its modern form, but it’s good to feel the old Ireland, too,” says artistic director Kieran Cavanagh.

CityNews May 6-12 27

arts&entertainment

Unloved Colin can’t cope “44-Inch Chest” (MA) WHEN the grey-haired woman said: “Awful!” after the screening of Malcolm Venville’s ensemble piece, I replied: “Challenging”. We are both right.

Anguish overwhelms Colin (Ray Winstone) after discovering that his wife of 20 years (Joanne Whalley), not loving him as he loves her, has taken a lover. Four London underworld types kidnap the young man for Colin to execute however he chooses.

Peanut, whose vicious energy dominates the dramatic structure (a chilling performance from John Hurt), insults and abuses everybody within hearing, exposing his fears and hatred of not only women, but also gay men. Meredith (Ian McShane), openly gay and malevolent, is ambivalent about women. Archie (Tom Wilkinson), in middle-age still living with his mum, is there mostly to alleviate boredom, while middle-class git Mal (Stephen Dillane) fancies himself as something of an intellectual.

Winstone is powerful in his delivery of a man compelled by associates each with their own entrenched attitudes to confront a situation he is culturally and emotionally unequipped to deal with.

A correspondent to the International Movie DataBase, reporting that Louis Mellis’s screenplay uses the f-word 162 times, was perhaps too busy counting them to enumerate the number of c-word references, some derogatory, others anatomical.

This slathering of pejoratives is commensurate with the film’s powerful exposition

28 CityNews May 6-12

CINEMA

By Dougal Macdonald of dysfunctional social and intellectual environments, surprising but not a defect.

At Dendy

“The Concert” (M) RADU Mihaileanu’s film tells what happens when, 30 years after being dismissed from the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra during Brezhnev’s attack on Jewish participation in Soviet culture, conductor Andrei (Aleksei Guskov), reduced to cleaning the theatre’s offices, intercepts an invitation from a Paris theatre for the Bolshoi to replace an American orchestra that has suddenly cancelled.

Andrei and his cellist buddy Sasha (Dmitri Mazarov) set about persuading his players from the ‘60s to leave their current menial jobs to take the gig at two weeks’ notice, impersonating the current Bolshoi band which sounds pretty crappy.

They blackmail former KGB operative and orchestra manager Gavrilov (Valeriy Barinoy) into managing the venture.

Together they con the Paris impresario (Francois Berleand) into engaging star fiddler Anne-Marie (Melanie Laurent) to play the Tschaikovsky concerto although she has never performed work by that composer.

On these foundations “The Concert” builds delicious comedy combined with a belligerent sub-text about getting even for

arts in the city

past insults from the regime en route to a deeply emotional finale. Musically, it covers a wide range. It’s predictable, but resolving its problems adds great fun to its tensions, setting its dramatic clichés at naught.

At Dendy

“Triangle” (MA)

NO STARS

FILMED off Queensland’s Gold Coast, although set in Florida, “Triangle” proposes that after capsising in sudden bad weather, five young adults out for a day’s sail are rescued by a large steamship aboard which there is no living soul although the buffet in the dining room is set for a pig-out.

Single mum heroine Jess (Melissa George) is the only one still standing when it’s all over. The plot follows a circular path along which events repeat themselves, people die and re-appear, the pile of identical corpses grows.

Ridiculous beyond belief, its increasingly transparent screenplay comprises large dramatic holes sewn together by slender threads. The staging would have benefited from advice from a mariner – sailors will either laugh their heads off or snort derisively.

If writer/director Christopher Smith had any intentions for his film, they aren’t apparent. Not scary, violent, sexy, comical, or convincing in any sense, Australia has no reason to tell the world proudly it’s one of ours. An evocation of the Marie Celeste it isn’t.

At Dendy and Greater Union

ANU Med Revue... May 12-15 at Belconnen Theatre.

Goal kicked before the curtain’s up

By Helen Musa

TUGGERANONG Arts Centre is taking a punt that, because every weekend millions of Australians play sport, many of them will pack into the world premiere of “Every Single Saturday”, a musical by playwright Joanna Weinberg starring Sydney professionals Melanie de Ferranti, Sara Grenfell, Matt Young and Geoff Sirmai. They’re describing it as a “football comedy hit”. Call me cautious, but can an un-premiered show be called a hit? May 11-15, bookings to 6293 1443.

A DRAMATIC story of love and obsession is about to unfold in the basement theatres of The Canberra Hospital! Well, not really, it’s the ANU Med Revue, about to stage “The Phantom of the Operating Theatre” from May 12-15 at Belconnen Theatre. The proceeds go to the ANU Medical School’s Fiji Village Project and the Newborn Intensive Care Foundation.

Bookings to www.anumedrevue.com THE Indonesian Embassy is justly proud of last year’s inclusion of batik in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage listing.

They’ve been busy showing off the art form to CIT arts and fashion students in Reid. During a demonstration of dance and batik at the ambassador’s residence, artist Venny Alamsyah, from Jakarta, astonished onlookers when she told them a two-metre piece of batik cloth can cost up to $A11,000.

RIGHT in the middle of Dance Week, BlakDance Australia has just launched “Treading the Pathways”, the first Torres Strait Island Dance kit for schools published by Blacklines Publications. The idea is to assist mid-career Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance artists in building national networks, professional development and career opportunities.

GOOD to hear the Queanbeyan Art Society has just presented a $2000 cheque to The Smith Family after the society’s recent art show at Government House. More than $6000 worth of paintings were sold on the day and 310 works were exhibited.

THE ANU School of Music’s Prof Adrian Walter and Dr Susan West have launched an imaginative, new approach to musicin-education. In the “Seventy Over Seven” series students will learn 10 songs for each year of primary school – kindergarten to Year 6. It will be available to schools on a trial basis.

THE bearded SA folk-rock musical quartet The Beards will be at the Front Gallery and Café on May 13.

arts&entertainment

Lazy lunch amid the gums DINING

By Wendy Johnson THE first thing we noticed when we walked into Ellacure was the large wall mural of shiny, silver spoons and forks, an in-house creation adding a quirky element of fun to this casual place to dine.

Located in Bruce, surrounded by gum trees and the odd kangaroo hopping by, Ellacure is one of the latest additions to the list of cafés and restaurants calling Canberra suburbs their home. It hasn’t been open terribly long, but is already picking up well-deserved awards and I’m envious my suburb doesn’t have an Ellacure.

It was a busy Sunday when we were arrived, with the café frantically trying to get ready for a large function after a super-busy breakfast, but we were taken care of and settled into seating on the large, outdoor patio. Ellacure is tucked into a housing development and we thought

Veal involtini on mash with mustard jus.

From left, zucchini and haloumi fritters and lemon tart with marscapone.

Photos by Silas how great it would be to live above such a happening place, especially one that serves a mean coffee.

Head chef and part-owner Andrew Hollands and his experienced team serve modern Australian cuisine with an Italian focus.

The chicken, pancetta, mushroom, sage and lemon risotto ($18) was delightful. The combinations of flavours were just right, the risotto freshly made and piping hot and the lemon added pucker power. Diner one, a happy camper and not much left in the bowl at the end of lunch…

The heartier parpadelle with beef and red wine ragu ($18) was all that a ragu should be. Tender enough to fall off the fork, with rich, intense flavours – a dish proving that slow cooking produces excellent results when the ingredients are carefully selected. Diner two, a happy

camper and not much left at the end of lunch…

Ellacure’s pizzas looked great. Fish and chips make their appearance on the menu as do other mains including an open steak sandwich, lamb cutlets and salmon fillet ($16 to $28). The wine list is an interesting read, with some great drops from the Canberra region and the prices are pretty darn reasonable.

We decided to pass on the sweets, but were convinced to give the cointreau and vanilla bean brulee with orange macadamia biscotti and cherry compote a go ($14). What a sensational way to end a lazy, Sunday lunch.

Ellacure, Unit 2, Proximity, Corner Braybrook and Battye Streets, Bruce (not too far from the Australian Institute of Sport); lunch – Tuesday to Friday and Sunday, dinner – Tuesday to Sunday. Call 6251 0990.

Lovely night with doomed Mario AMONG readers of a certain generation, who can forget the American tenor Mario Lanza, who became an international superstar overnight, then ate and drank himself to death at the age of 38?

With starring roles in “The Great Caruso” and “The Student Prince”, he was the idol of a generation and loved by singers as far apart as Domingo, Pavarotti, Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

Now the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre

is bringing us “Mario Lanza: the Loveliest Night of the Year”, named after one of his most popular songs. Roger Lemke, a Green Room Award winner who has worked with Baz Luhrmann and Cameron Mackintosh, will play the doomed Lanza, while ABC Classic’s star artist Annalisa Kerrigan will play the film soprano Kathryn Grayson.

It’s at the Q for five performances from May 13-15. Bookings 6298 0290 or www.theq.net.au – Helen Musa

ITALIAN OPERA GALA WINNERS

Mario Lanza... dead at 38.

THE winners of five double tickets, worth $138 each, to Rotary’s Italian Opera Gala at Llewellyn Hall on Saturday, May 8, are Maureen Bell, of Cook; Jenny Gregory, Murrumbateman; Glennda Heino, Waramanga; Matt Tindale, Jerrabomberra and Philip Henry, of Florey.

CityNews May 6-12 29

Canberra Wedding Fair

advertising feature

Where every bride’s fairytale begins THE 2010 Canberra Wedding Fair will be the largest gathering of exhibitors seen under one roof at the Australian Institute of Sport on Sunday, May 16, according to organiser Andrew Obst.

“More than 85 of Canberra’s finest wedding exhibitors will be on hand to help the bride and groom plan their dream wedding,” he says.

“The expo is a one-stop shop for those getting married, with aisle after aisle of exciting, informative displays.

“There will be amazing wedding cakes, floral displays, photography specialists and honeymoon ideas.

“And, of course, it’s all about how the bride looks!

“From beautiful hair and make-up demonstrations, jewellery displays and stunning bridal gowns and cutting-edge design.

“Fashion isn’t just for the bride and groom, but the entire wedding party – bridesmaids, mother of the bride and little attendants, every need will be taken care of.

“Spectacular fashion parades will take place at 11.30am and 2.30pm to inspire the bride and groom.”

A wide range of reception venues and all types of wedding transport will also be on display, including horse-drawn carriages, Rolls Royce, convertibles and limousines, according to Andrew.

“The Wedding Fair is every bride’s fairytale,

with outrageous and brilliant ideas for every type of wedding, all under the one roof for the 2010 bride,” he says.

Australian Institute of Sport, Bruce, 10am4.30pm, Sunday, May 16. Admission: $10, concession: $7, accompanied child under 10: free

Win a honeymoon in Port Douglas BE in the draw to win seven nights’ accommodation at the Rydges Sabaya Resort in Port Douglas in an executive one-bedroom apartment with spa bath on a private deck.

The winners will receive a bottle of champagne and chocolate-coated strawberries on arrival, and will also be treated to a sumptuous three-course dinner for two in Sakinah House and a one-hour Sabaya Spa treatment each.

To enter, register online at www.104.7.com.au or on the day at the Rydges booth at the wedding fair. The winners will be drawn on the day at 3pm – they will need to be there at the time their names are drawn to be eligible for the prizes.

30 CityNews May 6-12

Mother’s Day feature

Sunday, May 9

Dragons Abreast will be on Lake Burley Griffin supporting the Mother’s Day Classic.

Photo by Steve Taylor

Mums’ weekend gets a big splash of pink MOTHER’S Day weekend, May 8-9, will be peppered with hot-pink footballs, netball, joggers, paddlers and finger buns as people paint the Territory pink to raise awareness and show support for women and their families who are affected by breast cancer, according to Breast Cancer Network Australia.

Footy and netball clubs across Canberra will swap the traditional red football or white netball for a hot-pink match ball in support of breast cancer on Mother’s Day weekend.

AFL Canberra and Breast Cancer Network Australia is hosting the second annual Pink

Footy Day 2010.

Families and friends are encouraged to wear a splash of pink and head down to their local footy oval to cheer on the players on as they play for the Pink Lady to show their support for local families affected by breast cancer.

“Pink Footy Day raises community awareness of breast cancer, particularly in a hard-to-target group of young players (male and female), as well as team managers, club supporters, officials and spectators,” says Susan Pitt, breast cancer survivor and volunteer representative of BCNA. “Last year, the pink Sherrin was a huge hit with players, supporters, officials and sponsors,” she says. “This year BCNA has provided 50 pink Sherrins.

“The Tuggeranong Hawks will be supporting the day, and are hoping their patron, Federal Member for Canberra Annette Ellis, can toss the coin at their main game at the weekend.”

Visit www.pinkfootynetballday.org.au

CityNews May 6-12 31

Mother’s Day feature Head to the lake THE Canberra Mother’s Day Classic, a 10km run and 5km walk/run around Lake Burley Griffin, will round out the pink weekend on Sunday May 9 from 7.30am to noon.

The Mother’s Day Classic includes extra activities for kids and adults.

These include warm-up aerobics, roving performers, a food court, free massages, entertainment plus a kid’s activity area with face painting and a jumping castle.

Kids can enter the Mother’s Day Classic to walk or run so long as they have permission from their parent or guardian.

The ACT Dragons Abreast breast cancer support group will be paddling on the lake as a part of the event.

Visit www.mothersdayclassic.com.au

Making memories

WIN TICKETS TO SEE

MICHAEL BOLTON “CityNews” has five double passes, valued at $190 each, to Michael Bolton’s only Canberra concert at the AIS Arena on May 21. Details and entry instructions are at www.citynews.com.au/competitions

32 CityNews May 6-12

JAKELIN Verran, 2010 Barnardos ACT Mother of the Year, and Dr Maxine Cooper, Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, have launched the “What can I do for Mother’s Day?” campaign.

“The best gifts are often the simplest ones; a bike ride, a picnic or a trip to the museum, maybe this year we should look for ideas that give the longest memories and make positive choices for the environment and sustainability,” says Jakelin.

“We want everyone to thank their mothers for doing such great jobs but to also be responsible with their gift choices and think about the environment,” Dr Cooper says.

“What Can I do for Mother’s Day” cards are available from local libraries or the Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment’s website at www. envcomm.act.gov.au.

Sunday, May 9 Bubbles and breakfast, a treat for mum EVERYONE who books in for the Mother’s Day champagne breakfast at the Dickson Tradies, or orders a meal from the special Mother’s Day lunch menu at either the Dickson or Woden Tradies will automatically be entered into a prize draw, according to a spokesperson from the Tradies Club.

“There is one package to win at both clubs, with each package including a one-hour massage, a one-hour facial, a body exfoliation and wrap, a Pevonia Botanica sample gift set and a spa lunch platter and glass of champagne. That’s three and a half hours of indulgence, valued at $420 each.”

For a special start to Mother’s Day, the

champagne breakfast at the Dickson Tradies is a wonderful treat, says the Tradies Club.

“Our executive chef has put together a fantastic hot and cold buffet selection with a glass of champagne on arrival and a flower for every mum,” says a spokesperson. “Members of the Tradies pay only $25.”

For lunch on Mother’s Day, both the Twisted Fork at Dickson and the Country Kitchen at Woden have created special menus. All the regular favourites are also available.

Visit thetradies.com.au or call Dickson on 6162 5656 or Woden on 6285 1995 to make a booking.

Head to the park for fun CELEBRATE mum’s special day with a fun family day in Glebe Park on Sunday, May 9, from 11am3pm.

The free event will feature a stage show lineup, including The Robbie Williams Experience, said to be the number 1 live Robbie Williams tribute show in the country.

There’ll be market stalls, special giveaways and pampering opportunities for mum.

The packed program includes a performance

by Soul Juice playing pop, Motown and disco hits, and there will also be interactive Latin dance, cooking demonstrations, world dance shows, a massage clinic by Om Shanti College, many market and pamper stalls, mini golf course, Australian reptile exhibition, kids’ craft activities, temporary tattoos, pony rides and giant slide, exciting rides and activities, an animal farm and a toddler activity centre.

There will also be a great selection of food available for purchase, including barbeque,

vegetarian curries, Turkish gozleme, Greek kondosouvli, South American and Spanish foods, Dutch pancakes, cakes, fairy floss, snow cones, gelatos, ice cream and great coffee!

The event will be held at the southern end of Glebe Park, close to the Canberra Convention Centre.

CityNews May 6-12 33

Mother’s Day feature

Sunday, May 9

Buns turn pink BAKERS Delight bakeries across Canberra will be seeing pink up until May 12, as the annual pink bun campaign kicks off to raise money for breast cancer research.

Bakers Delight will donate 100 per cent of the sales of pink buns and paper Pink Ladies and $1 from the sale of every pack of pink tarts to the Breast Cancer Network Australia.

Bakers Delight in Dickson, Belconnen, Gungahlin and the Canberra Centre will combined bake more than 12,500 pink buns this year.

Italian treats A HOME-style, three-course set menu, Italian-style, is a wonderful way to show Mum you care, according to Carley Simpson, sales and promotions manager at Rydges Lakeside.

“This Mother’s Day we’re hosting an Italian-themed lunch, with entree platters to share, and a choice of delicious mains including a braised lamb lasagne and house-made pasta, and desserts such as tiramisu and passionfruit panna cotta,” she says.

Locanda offers modern Italian cuisine along with a vast range of delicious meat, poultry and seafood dishes in a contemporary and relaxed setting, according to Carley.

“In fitting with the restaurant’s Italian style, we are also offering every mother a beautiful gift basket, containing Italian wine, olive oil and biscotti,” she says.

Locanda features a traditional antipasta station and a mozzarella bar which add to the dining experience.

The lunch costs $59 per person and bookings are essential.

Locanda Italian Steakhouse, Rydges Lakeside Canberra, London Circuit, Civic. Call 6247 6244

34 CityNews May 6-12

your week in the stars

With Joanne Madeline Moore May 10-16

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Are you an impulsive Aries spendthrift? Is it time to plug the cash flow drain? With the New Moon activating your $$$ zone, it’s the best week of the year to commit yourself to a disciplined new financial plan. If you don’t trust your fiscal skills then utilise the services of a professional. Slow and steady wins the money race, Rams.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

Don’t get stuck in a Taurean rut! There’s more to you than your responsible, reliable, risk-free persona. With the annual New Moon in your sign, it’s time to revamp your appearance via a new hairstyle and wardrobe – plus reinvent your dreams and review your future. With a fresh attitude, you’ll be ready to take on the world.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

“Slow down, you move too fast …” Twins are usually in perpetual motion, as you rush from one activity to another, always on the go. This week’s New Moon is in Taurus, which encourages you to shift from go-mode to go-slow mode – if you can. Take the time to relax and re-charge your batteries, as you smell the roses along the way.

CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Friday’s New Moon should add some stability to your constantly fluctuating moods and emotions. A close relationship is going through tumultuous changes (like a snake shedding its skin) but if you can tune into a quiet place within, then you’ll always feel secure – regardless of the comings and goings of others.

general knowledge crossword No. 260 Across

Down

3 Which other term describes a wrestler?

7 What is a receptacle for sacred relics?

8 Name an emotional disorder in which feelings of anxiety, etc, dominate the personality.

9 To adjust to harmony is to what?

10 Name the German physicist who discovered X-rays in 1895.

11 Which word is descriptive of iron?

14 Name the cinema attendants who show people to their seats.

17 What is another term for a homonym?

18 An ancient calculating contrivance is known as a what?

19 To enable someone to cope temporarily, is to what (4,4)?

20 Which tool is used by bricklayers and plasterers?

21 Name a national memorial to those killed in war.

1 To shape a piece of wood with a knife is to do what?

2 To which alcoholic class does chartreuse belong?

3 What is an expression referring to all the members of a class?

4 Name an alternative term for progenitors.

5 What is a form of pasta cut into flat sheets?

6 Which other word is used for insurrections?

11 What is a person with an extreme enthusiasm for one matter or another?

12 Name the ninth month of the Muslim year.

13 Which term describes "briefly" (2,5)?

14 To dig up, is to what?

15 Which polygon has six sides and six angles?

16 Name a mass celebrated for the repose of the souls of the dead.

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2

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7

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

The air is electric with brilliant career opportunities for ambitious Lions. The question is – are you hungry enough? With the New Moon stimulating your work zone, now is the time to pounce professionally and proudly parade your talents. Bossy behaviour will only lead to dramas on the weekend, so slip on your humility hat instead.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

The New Moon activates your travel and adventure zone so rev up your motor and ricochet out of your usual routine, as you expand your horizons via local, interstate or overseas travel.

Be inspired by birthday great Cate Blanchett: “It’s important to travel and move and have a continual set of changing experiences …”

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Don’t allow a loved one to manipulate you Libra, as they try to persuade you to do something against your better judgment.

Have the strength (and common sense) to stand your ground and say no. Friday’s New Moon revitalises your shared resources zone, so you can expect exciting beginnings involving lust or loot!

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

Solution next week 5 6

4

8 9 10

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17 18 19 20 21

Sudoku medium No.31

Solution next week

Scorpios can be such stubborn souls. With the New Moon lighting up your partnership zone, you need to inject some fresh, flexible energy into your relationships. Knowing when to dig in and when to let go is the secret to success over the coming week. Sometimes you need to lose a battle in order to win the war.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Sagittarius is the sign of excess. You love to eat, drink and party to the max and have trouble saying no to that extra champagne cocktail or third slice of chocolate cake! The New Moon in your health zone encourages you to make a fresh start when it comes to diet and exercise. And are you up-to-date with your medical and dental checks?

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

Have you got the balance right between work and play? With the New Moon stimulating your leisure zone, put professional business aside this weekend and relax with family and friends.

Your motto for the next seven days is from Cate Blanchett: (born on May 14) “I live my life parallel with my work, and they are both equally important.”

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Aquarians are usually so busy saving the world that their family life can be sadly neglected. Not any more! This week’s New Moon falls in your home zone, so it’s time to roll up your sleeves and play domestic goddess (or god) to the hilt. Communication with a loved one improves, as you start to see them in a revealing new light.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Fish can often feel vulnerable and lonely. This week’s New Moon urges you to find fresh ways to connect with those around you at home, at work and within your local community.

Gung-ho Mars is in your work zone, so it’s time to get off your procrastinating Piscean behind and be more professionally Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2010. proactive.

Solutions

Crossword No.259 D U M P L I N G

E N G U E A U L U C O B I L E E N C Y S A M E N T A R E F O U O S L I N G S C E E S T R E U S E L E W K A S T E A L I N G S Y T E

Sudoku hard No.30

P D K Y D I P R V T I T I S T N L E X E S H F I L E V E N R G E R I A L E E X T R A S

CityNews May 6-12 35

all about property Offices look strong

Michael makes news

For sale... 17 Moore Street, Civic.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

By Tim Humphrey

CANBERRA’S office investment market is showing strong signs of activity as owners make the most of buoyant conditions.

Despite the looming oversupply of vacant office space in Canberra, Jim Shonk, director of investment sales at Colliers International, believes the demand for good quailty office buildings will continue to be strong throughout 2010.

“Interstate interest is continuing to drive the investment market above $5 million and I can’t see this letting up over the months ahead,” Mr Shonk said. “While there will be a increase in empty buildings over coming two

36 CityNews May 6-12

years, quality stock with long-term leases will always find a buyer.”

Similarly, Nick McDonald Crowley, regional director of CB Richard Ellis, is optimistic that the year ahead will be a good one from a seller’s point of view.

“There has actually been really solid demand from buyers so far and continues the trend from 2009,” he said.

Colliers itself currently has listed the largest building currently available actively for sale – 17 Moore Street, Civic.

The prominent office tower contains 6157sqm of space over seven levels with basement car parking for 77 vehicles.

The building is 95 per cent occupied by the

Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations on a lease which expires on October 31, 2016.

The remaining space is used by the Country Women’s Association which occupies approximately 300sqm on the ground floor on a “peppercorn” rent expiring in 2083.

The CWA previously owned the site up to the 1980s, and traded its old premises for the new headquarters in the redeveloped building, and 12 car spaces in the basement.

Tim Humphrey is editor of “Property Daily”, a market news and intelligence service focused on commercial property markets nationally. www.propertydaily.com.au

MICHAEL Ceacis, of Colliers International, has been ranked the number one agent in Canberra for the greatest number of office-leasing deals in the city’s top 20 transactions last year.

Having been involved in brokering 40 per cent of these office transactions over 1000sqm, Mr Ceacis believes that hard work and a focus on building relationships have been key to his recent success.

Leasing commitments he finalised (and which commenced) in the 12-month period included CSC Australia (2034sqm) at 15 National Circuit; Canberra Investment Corporation (1800sqm) at 64 Allara Street and Global Carbon Capture & Storage Institute (1530sqm) in the same building; Comcar Australia (1347sqm) in Fyshwick; the Department of Defence (1187sqm), also in Fyshwick; the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (1135sqm) at 44 Sydney Avenue; the

Top commercial agent Michael Ceacis.

Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (1075sqm) at 15 National Circuit and the Minerals Council of Australia (951sqm), as well as the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (1694sqm) leaseback also at 15 National Circuit.

“The last year has been a bit of a blur and it’s involved a lot of work,” he said. “I’ve always been someone who lets the results speak for themselves.”

All up, Mr Ceacis has 12 years’ experience in commercial property with the last four years at Colliers, where he is an associate director – government services.

–Tim Humphrey

CityNews May 6-12 37

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CityNews May 6-12 39

40 CityNews May 6-12