CityNews 210415

Shot in the arm may not be a shot in the arm

ROBERT MACKLIN

Stay calm, sooner we’re vaccinated, the better

MICHAEL MOORE APRIL 15, 2021

Night the government flattened housing hopes

JON STANHOPE

How the mayor’s wife did something with her life

BELINDA STRAHORN Anxious wait for fate of 440 Watson trees

DANIELLE NOHRA Ken holds court at his cellar door

RICHARD CALVER

MUSIC GETS ITS MOJO BACK

Canberra International Music Festival returns to the stage

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NEWS / Section 76, Watson

Residents face anxious wait on fate of 440 trees

By Danielle

NOHRA THE Watson Community Association is anxiously waiting to see if almost 440 trees will be removed to make space for an ACT government development in north Watson.

The final tree assessment report for Block 2, Section 76, between Aspinall Street and the Federal Highway, Watson, advises the tree removal of almost 440 of the 689 trees on the block, in preparation for the medium-density residential development It is something that the association strongly opposed in its recent submission to the government, with association chair Megan Mears saying: “In the ideal situation, the tree boundaries would be maintained by the ACT government and not included in the land to be developed for residential use.”

The association submission in response to the draft variation plan made 13 recommendations to the ninehectare development that foreshadows a residential development (up to 200 dwellings), with a building maximum of four storeys, demonstration housing, a craft workshop, a social enter-

INDEX

prise and a one-hectare neighbourhood park.

Three of the 13 recommendations made were around the trees on the block with the association calling for the retention of all trees, pointing to the ACT government’s own target of a canopy tree cover that is 30 per cent by 2045.

“This new government strategy, the urban forest strategy is that Canberrans enjoy equitable distribution of canopy coverage. If you remove those large stands of trees, it’s really not helping that,” says Megan, 55, of Watson.

“We believe it’s important to maintain the character of Section 76, which is currently surrounded by trees on all sides so removing those trees is not in support of maintaining that character.”

While the draft variation plan does note the desire to retain a portion of the trees on the western boundary of the block, due to the trees being a habitat for the threatened Superb Parrot, the association doesn’t believe that is enough.

“Our recommendation was that the trees down that eastern boundary, those large pines, would be included into the parkland and wouldn’t be available for residential development,” she says.

“There doesn’t seem to be any clear guidance about what’s going to happen

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Megan Mears… “It’s important to maintain the character of Section 76, which is currently surrounded by trees on all sides.”

Photo: Danielle Nohra to the trees along Aspinall Street.”

While Megan understands that some of the trees are old and would need replacement, she’s not sold on the idea of replacing some of the exotic, established trees, with natives.

“Could you imagine going to Narrabundah and Yarralumla and saying: ‘Sorry those street trees are inappropriate, we’re going to remove them and put in natives’,” she says.

However, she fears that much of Watson will lose its ability to have magnificent, established trees with the suburb being divided into more and more smaller blocks.

Managing Director: James Anderson, 0404 077605, james@citynews.com.au Director: Kate Meikle, kate@citynews.com.au Senior advertising account executives: David Cusack, 0435 380656 Tracey Avery, 0477 939999 Advertising account executives: Damien Klemke, 0439 139001 Karen Davis, 0427 410442 Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au Digital news editor: Danielle Nohra, danielle@citynews.com.au Journalists: Andrew Mathieson, andrew@citynews.com.au Nick Overall, nick@citynews.com.au Belinda Strahorn, belinda@citynews.com.au; Nathan Schmidt, nathan@citynews.com.au Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au Arts editor: Helen Musa, helen@citynews.com.au Production manager: Janet Ewen Proof reader: Glenda Anderson Distribution manager: Cameron Sparks

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“Older Watson had larger blocks so both the government and the residents could grow big trees and with all the smaller blocks in medium density, you don’t have that capacity for it to ever have large established trees,” she says.

“Lots of the really desirable parts of Canberra have very leafy canopies but in the long term there won’t be the room to have those established trees here.”

Overall, Megan says, the association would love to see the government work with developers who have the same goals that they do as their baseline.

And best-case scenario? The trees

Community pushes for ‘something really special’ – Page 6

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are kept outside of the development.

However, the best-case scenario for another Watson resident, Max Pouwer, 66, is for the development to not go ahead at all, and for the space to be turned into a revegetation site.

“We’ve already got so many housing estates in Watson and quite high density, my preference would be to keep this as a natural area and possibly improve it in terms of replanting with other native vegetation, rather than turning it into another high-density development,” he says.

But Max, a Friends of Mount Majura member, can’t see that happening, saying the development would be difficult to derail now.

“If it’s going to go ahead maybe we can remediate a few things, and the thing that concerns me the most is this potential of planting new exotic species,” he says.

“But on the other side, they should be left because they’re already mature and provide a habitat for the Superb Parrot.

“These are all mature trees, 50 years old or more, you can’t replace that. It will take another 20 or 30 years, even if you have fast-growing species, before you’re going to have the same habitat that you had before.”

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SEVEN DAYS

Lonely, sudden end to the story of a feisty writer JOURNALIST Rosslyn Beeby’s body was formally identified at the Phillip mortuary this past week. It was a lonely, Eleanor Rigby moment.

The reclusive former reporter, ill with gastric flu, had fallen and died suddenly and alone at her riverside Queanbeyan home.

Death from “unknown natural causes”, the coroner’s certificate plaintively records.

Neighbours noticed she hadn’t been seen and one of her cats was pacing in agitation.

They called the police who broke in and found her. She’d been dead for anywhere up to a week.

Trying to track down someone to confirm her identity and, in the absence of any family, police put the confronting task to her friend of 18 years, “CityNews” arts editor Helen Musa.

I never met Rosslyn, but I knew her huge reputation as the distinguished and respected science and environment writer for “The Canberra Times” and have felt fraternally moved by the sad passing of a fellow journalist.

A former arts reporter at the Melbourne “Age” and a Radio Australia journalist, she was responsible for breaking many local and national stories and, in 2009, was awarded a Jefferson Fellowship by the US Congressfunded East-West Center to study US climate change initiatives.

I also knew, through Helen, she’d said some kind things about “CityNews” and, over the years, given us leads to stories.

cation could only be achieved by shouting,” he writes. He’s right. La Rustica is a personal favourite of mine and here’s the tip, Jack: book a table to the right of the bar as you go in, it’s way better there or outside. Anywhere else doing your head in? Email editor@ citynews.com.au

The leads came after Beeby was catapulted, voluntarily redundant, from the “Canberra Times” on July 20, 2012, with unseemly speed and no formal farewell from management after almost nine years of service.

It took until this past week for the paper to finally get around to farewelling her unwanted talents... with an obituary.

Fellow redundee and former features editor Gillian Lord fondly Facebooked that “Rosslyn was a prickly, feisty person and a fine journalist who was never afraid to speak truth to power and call things as she saw them.

“She was a beautiful writer with an incisive mind and an assiduous researcher.

Having worked with her for more than a decade, I remain in awe of her gift for craft-

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ing a well-constructed story with grace and elegance, and her lovely turn of phrase.”

Born in Gippsland, Victoria, in 1952, she graduated in arts from Monash University in the 1980s before joining “The Age” as an arts reporter. She moved to the Blue Mountains working at Radio Australia, World Wildlife Fund, then on to Canberra.

After leaving the “Times”, she took a job as Australia-NZ editor with the London-based global research think tank Research Professional News, from which she had only retired before Christmas.

“She was a fearsome, often uncompromising, advocate for wildlife, especially kangaroos and koalas, and had a huge network of friends and colleagues in the ecological

community,” Helen Musa recalls.

“But she had become increasingly reclusive.”

WATSON reader Jack Palmer took up my recent invitation to nominate noisy restaurants. He pointed to La Rustica, at Kingston Foreshore.

“While the service was excellent, the noise level was intense and self energising as the echo-reflecting room caused conversation speech level to rise so that verbal communi-

IN declining a lunch invitation, my friend Tom replied to say he’d be interstate with some other retrobates. He meant reprobates, but it got me thinking about what a cool word he might have unwittingly invented.

I even worked out a definition: “retrobate” – someone growing old disgracefully. While there was nothing in the three dictionaries and style book on my desk, the online “Urban Dictionary” has claimed it: “Retrobate – one who can’t or who refuses to walk the bleeding edge of technology, preferring old, reliable tools.” To wit, a Luddite.

Ian Meikle is the editor of “CityNews” and can be heard on the “CityNews Sunday Roast” news and interview program, 2CC, 9am-noon.

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CANBERRA MATTERS / Section 76, North Watson

Community pushes for ‘something really special’ WHEN the Watson Community Association (WCA) puts forward the community’s views about a proposed development, it does a really thorough job.

In 2019, the association published its aspirations for the suburb and included visionary stuff that could happen with the new areas in North Watson.

Needless to say, the Planning Directorate largely ignored these aspirations and the new areas are not the models of suburban development that should be happening in the 21st century.

The government is now pushing forward with the rezoning of a significant block in North Watson, being Section 76 between the highway and Aspinall Street. This parcel of land has been in play for development for a decade.

The locals are not objecting to the development going ahead, but have taken the constructive approach of seeking views from the local community. Their processes of gathering ideas have been comprehensive and have involved an enormous amount of work. Those doing this are to be congratulated.

The community is asking again that their hard work be taken seriously by those that make the decisions on the style of developments to happen.

At this point I have to point out some gigantic flaws in their thinking.

6 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

The Watson community is asking the bureaucracy, being the ACT Planning Directorate and the Suburban Land Agency, to listen and to alter how they work. Not much chance of that.

For instance, the planning CEO, having been a long-term resident within the planning bureaucracy, has been in the top job for four years this month. Happy anniversary! And how much has he delivered on the many promises to reform the planning system to make it more accessible and focused on people? Zero.

The Watson community is looking to the government to take the opportunity of the rezoning of the North Watson site to deliver an attractive suburban precinct. It has listed thought-out recommendations that actually align with many of the promises made by politicians now sitting in the Labor/Greens coalition government.

To quote one small section from the comprehensive submission: “WCA maintains that the proposed medium-density housing on Section 76 can and must co-exist with a

Section 76 at North Watson, between the highway and Aspinall Street… in play for development for a decade.

Photo: Paul Costigan landscaped, garden city plan and that future developments should be resource efficient and environmentally friendly.

“The WCA believes future development must be in accordance with Canberra’s original concept as a garden city and that gardens and landscaping must be designed into any development from the start, not tacked on as an afterthought. We believe that that ACT government should only work with developers who meet this standard as a requirement.

“General community access needs to be planned for, such as public gardens, benches, areas for small groups to gather, to make up for loss of amenity that is currently available on this public land.”

The above represents the common

sense approach being taken by the Watson community. The concern is, based on experience, that it is asking the bureaucracy, being the ACT Planning Directorate and the Suburban Land Agency, to listen and to alter how they work. Not much chance of that, I suggest!

Instead, the time has come for politicians to step up and to insist that changes to planning and urban development happen now – not in some distant future. They need to acknowledge that what the Watson Association is asking for makes a lot of sense in the context of what these

same politicians talked about going into the last election.

Local politicians need to deal with the reality that ACT planning and development agencies are dominated by a “Yes, Minister” culture – bureaucrats who say anything, but carry on doing what suits their alternative universe.

Here’s the message for local politicians, Andrew Barr, Rachel StephenSmith, Rebecca Vassarotti and Shane Rattenbury: read the Watson submissions, and give them a call.

This is not the time to be guided by the retrograde views of the planning bureaucracies. Now is the time to work directly with the Watson community to deliver something really special on Section 76 North Watson.

Locals have heaps of creative and intelligent ideas – talk to them.

Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

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POLITICS / don’t panic

Stay calm, sooner we’re vaccinated, the better

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Australia’s roughly 850,000.

Even considering the inconvenience of our most recent lockdown in Brisbane, Australia is not in immediate need of being vaccinated.

The opening of the NZ “travel bubble” reminds us of the importance of international connectedness and international travel. With both our countries largely having COVID-19 under control, this border opening makes sense. However, it is also a reminder that global travel will never be a reality until a really large proportion of the world is effectively vaccinated.

For selfish reasons alone we should

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.

G?

million waiting. Australia does not need to panic. We would do well to take advice from author Douglas Adams who used the phrase Don’t panic on the front cover of his intergalactic guide to the universe in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series. dose of dorin Although not travelling the universe, it is time to look well beyond our own borders. Australia has sent vaccines and another AUSMAT team to our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea.

But is it enough?

Compare the few cases in Brisbane with that of PNG. In the last week, there have been 1643 new cases and eight deaths in PNG. While Australia is stabilising, our neighbour to the north is experiencing a significant increase in cases. At the end of the week after Easter, with about one third of Australia’s population, PNG has been able to deliver 250 vaccinations compared to

IN

ting a goal always makes sense to voters. A clear, unambiguous and aspirational goal brings people onside. Four million seemed attainable.

Setting a timeframe made sense.

The problems started with the hiccup of lack of availability of the vaccines. The political challenge for clear goals and targets is that things unravel when the strategy runs into logistical problems.

Australia has had fewer than 30,000 COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, and 909 deaths since the pandemic began. Worldwide, the figure is more than 132 million cases and nearly three million deaths. On a single day (April 7), France had four times Australia’s total with 8052 new cases and 426 deaths.

France should be panicking for vaccination – with more than 12 million vaccinated, they still have around 55

be playing our part in assisting with the vaccination of developing countries. However, there are also altruistic reasons. Don’t panic! The risk of dying of COVID-19 is much greater in low and middle-income countries as their hospital systems, particularly in the area of intensive care, are overwhelmed by demand.

Equity demands assistance.

France is challenging. However, compare its numbers to Brazil where, also on April 7, there were 92,625 new cases and 3829 deaths. Even the UK suffered 2797 new cases and 45 deaths on the same day. At least in the UK they have vaccinated more than 37 million people.

Until world leaders are prepared to consider equitable distribution of vaccines, pre-COVID-19-style regular global travel will be a pipedream.

It’s easy to misunderstand the focus of the more sensible parts of the media on failure to deliver on promises rather than failure to deliver on vaccines. Prioritising marketing ahead of action makes the Prime Minister and his government vulnerable to serious criticism regarding lack of substance.

LL

There is no need to panic with considerable difference between need and political messaging.

The media throng has been relentless on the failures of the government to deliver on its promises of efficient mass vaccination.

Four million people vaccinated by the end of March was a great target. It would have been terrific – had it been achieved. However, it was very typically a Prime Ministerial #scottyfrommarketing strategy. With lockdowns coming and going and other pressures on his government, Scott Morrison was looking for a clear strategy to move focus from his woes.

Set-

It’s easy to misunderstand the focus of the more sensible parts of the media on failure to deliver on promises rather than failure to deliver on vaccines.

SE

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THE GADFLY

Shot in the arm may not be a shot in the arm JUST when we thought the worst of this damnable pandemic was over and we could relax a little, suddenly everything changed – most notably the virus itself.

First came the UK variant, then the South African mutation and now it seems that in Brazil new forms of the virus are replicating themselves like some sci-fi creature from the Amazonian jungles… and who knows what’s brewing in the Congo and all those other sad African communities with barely an ICU bed between them.

A worldwide team of experts has released an analysis that declared: “We are in a race against time to get global transmission low enough to prevent the emergence and spread of new variants.

Many countries lack the capacity to track emerging variants via genomic surveillance.

This means the situation may be even more serious

What really troubles me is that even before I get that second needle AstraZeneca might well be obsolete. There’s absolutely no guarantee that one of these new killer strains won’t have slipped through the borders and run riot in one of our big cities. than it appears.”

All this is happening while the Australian rollout is missing the government’s own expectations by a country mile. And let’s not pretend that the vaccine we’re producing, Oxford University’s AstraZeneca, is in the first rank of resistance weaponry.

When I received my first shot at our local GP’s rooms last week, I was told the vaccination would not be complete until the second was administered on June 29.

And even then, my protection

would be no more than 73 per cent effective.

“So,” I asked, “what’s my percentage protection now?”

Answer: “It’s better than nothing.”

Not at all happy with that, I persisted. The real answer was not forthcoming, but I did learn something interesting. Our regular annual flu shot offers only half the 73 per cent of the double AstraZeneca vaccination.

I think this was meant to still my

fears. It didn’t.

But what really troubles me is that even before I get that second needle AstraZeneca might well be obsolete.

There’s absolutely no guarantee that one of these new killer strains that attack younger people especially won’t have slipped through the borders and run riot in one of our big cities.

And AZ could well be worthless to combat it.

Sorry if this sounds alarmist. I’m

not suggesting that we shouldn’t all get vaccinated with AstraZeneca at the earliest possible moment. The incidence of blood clotting is better than one in 250,000 so is hardly worth considering.

And once CSL revs up its Victorian plant to produce a million shots a week and the state and territory governments take over from the feds, the rollout should become more efficient.

However, in the interim the Morrison government has taken a few hits to its approval rating.

State leaders have been seriously unimpressed with the feds, though the Queensland Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, went way over the top suggesting that the PM was using it to deflect attention from the Brittany Higgins scandal.

But neither the Nationals’ eponymous Minister Littleproud nor the gossamer Greg Hunt helped matters in their various responses.

But whatever the final wash-up, the timing of the federal election must be weighing heavily on the Morrison mind: go early and risk a women’s backlash; delay and risk a covid catastrophe.

Not a simple choice.

For the rest of us, the prospects are pretty bleak wherever we look. robert@robertmacklin.com

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE SILVER IS GOLD

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Thursday 29 April 2021, 12pm

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PRESENTED BY: ACT Chief Minister CATEGORY: Special Event

Enjoy an afternoon of music conducted and curated by Captain Shane Gillard from RMC Big Band especially for this event called Music of the Stage and Screen .

This wonderful performance will be performed by the RMC Big Band, which is made up of musicians from the Band of the Royal Military College- Duntroon.

Hear the big hits from your most loved musicals including Westside Story and All that Jazz. Come and experience an 18 piece band live as they play the Abba medley and all your favourite Beatles songs.

Entry is free with a gold coin donation.

All attendees will be required to register their details prior to the performance with the Canberra Theatre Centre. Registration is FREE and is now open!

DURATION: Approximately 60 minutes, no interval SUIT CHILDREN?: This performance is suitable for children.

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Bookings can be made online or by phoning Canberra Theatre on 6275 2700 CityNews April 15-21, 2021 9

OPINION / Canberra’s ‘third-world public health system’

Go home and wait until we call. When? No idea Reader BOB COLLINS, of Latham, shares the hospital horror show that has become reality for his ailing wife Rhonda.

IT seems that our recently re-elected Labor/Greens coalition has now decided that, in addition to pandering to ACT’s property developers and thereby trashing Canberra’s once enviable title of “Bush Capital”, it should now wrest the mantle of “the worst public health system in Australia” from Tasmania.

Anyone watching ABC24’s coverage (April 4) of the public health system in Tasmania would be appalled and saddened by the plight of so many citizens being denied the basic, timely health coverage that we have come to expect in Australia, a supposedly “first-world country”.

As a retired senior bureaucrat, now aged 73, with a middle-class upbringing, I have come to realise that people of my generation – the “ageing” population, full of baby boomers who have, apparently, collectively destroyed state and territory economies Australia wide – are now in the firing line of Chief Minister Andrew Barr’s third-world public health system.

Over some 29 years, my wife Rhonda was a fit swim teacher and aqua aerobics instructor; the last 26 years of which she organised aqua classes for people with disabilities.

Physiotherapists would send

10 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

patients to her class as part of their rehab or just to stay fit as they aged.

Such was its popularity – regularly 30+ per class – that she had to split it into two sessions.

About three years ago, at 68, age-related bulging discs and general arthritis meant that Rhonda had to retire and seek treatment for an increasingly bad back problem.

Suddenly the instructor was not even able to become a participant in her own classes!

A couple of years of nerve injections helped but, as we found out, this was just a short-term fix; we were advised that a relatively simple operation was required.

With no private health cover, we initially saw a neurosurgeon who only did private work, to see if we could go “private” and pay for the operation ourselves, as we did with a shoulder operation years ago.

The first bit of advice was: “Don’t even think of going private to pay for it yourselves.” Then he gave us some idea of the costs involved. So it was off to the public system and on to the waiting list.

After the mandatory wait, an appointment was made with the surgeon and surgery set down for about three

Bob and Rhonda Collins pictured in happier times… over 29 years, Rhonda was an aqua aerobics instructor; the last 26 years of which she organised aqua classes for people with disabilities. months later.

By this time, my wife’s back pain was so bad that she was barely able to walk and could not stand for more than a minute or two before her legs would collapse. This apparently qualified her as a Category 2 patient, or so we assumed!

An operation was scheduled for 10.40am on Monday, March 29.

However at 10.10am, while Rhonda was being briefed by the anaesthetist, the surgeon arrived and advised that her operation was cancelled.

Apparently there were no “post-op” beds, the hospital was full! This is

apparently referred to as “bed block”.

The advice was go home and wait until we call you. When? No idea.

Unable to even walk out of the hospital, my distraught wife was in terrible pain, so we detoured to the Emergency Department (ED) and presented ourselves – this is where you find out where all of the angels and saints reside!

As the ED cannot hold patients for more than 24 hours, and a physiotherapist confirmed that she could not be released, she was taken to the Emergency Medical Unit (EMU) where we were advised that my wife would be given pain medications and sent home.

I quickly disabused them of the idea of sending her home.

I don’t think they were very impressed but I offered to “have a chat” to any senior administrator if necessary. They didn’t seem to like that idea, either.

So, knowing that I would not let her come home under any circumstances, the scramble to find a bed began and one was found and that is where Rhonda languishes today, with the only advice being that the operation could now be months away.

How our dedicated doctors, nurses and mid-level administrators make such a broken system work at all, must surely be one of the modern Wonders of the World!

OPINION

Martial arts experts like to go with the energy flow

By Nathan

SCHMIDT MARTIAL arts exponent Margaret Dinan has studied aikido for more than 35 years and was recently promoted to the rank of 6th dan, one of only three in Canberra and of only a handful of women nationwide to reach that level.

Each dan refers to a rank above black belt, the widely-known symbol for martial arts proficiency, and takes five years each on average to achieve.

Joining Margaret, 63, at 5th dan is Liz van Papenrecht, 58.

The women were two of the most senior female Canberra students of Aikido Australia’s founding figure Seiichi Sugano, with whom Margaret trained for more than 25 years before the master’s death a decade ago.

Often translated as “the way of unifying (with) energy”, aikido is a relatively new addition to martial arts in Japan. It was developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of different traditions in the early 20th century.

Sugano, at 26, was chosen by Ueshiba to come to Australia to teach aikido.

Margaret says Sugano always taught his students to study the tech-

Liz van Papenrecht, 5th dan, with master Hanan Janiv Shihan and fellow student Margaret Dinan, 6th dan. Photo: Nathan Schmidt nique, not action.

“He never laid down one way of doing it, he demonstrated his ability, his understanding, but he offered you the opportunity to study it yourself.

“He allowed his students to find their way.”

Margaret is one of many older men and women who train at the Aikido Aiki Kai Canberra sessions in Curtin every week. Many of them have trained with either Sugano or his

students, notably local master Hanan Janiv Shihan who is a 7th dan.

“Because it’s not a combative martial art, it doesn’t rely on strength. It actually relies on technique, energy and flow. You can do it in your 70s and be very, very effective,” says Liz van Papenrecht.

Like Margaret, Liz has trained in aikido for decades, including 20 years with Sugano.

In 1983, Liz was doing an intensive

tai chi course when she learnt her instructor was also teaching aikido.

“It was so different, but had similarities to tai chi in terms of energy flow,” she says.

A few years later, Margaret also made her start in aikido at an ANU beginners’ course in 1986.

“I had no intention of staying,” she says.

“I thought I’d do a martial arts course as something self-defence ori-

ented. I’d never heard of aikido.”

Unlike in arts such as karate, the relationship between sparring partners in aikido is a symbiotic one, explains fellow student, Duncan Stevenson, 70, who having trained since 1991 is considered new among the group.

Participants take turns performing techniques with partners who redirect their energy and “throw” them on to the mat. Sometimes weapons, such as wooden swords, are involved, too.

“If I’m doing a technique and someone is providing an attack they’re actually giving me their body movement and their energy so I can learn,” Duncan says.

“Within our community there is a really strong element of trust. If I am providing an attack, I trust my partner to safely throw me away. I can’t attack someone like that unless I trust them.”

Unlike some other martial arts, Margaret admits aikido isn’t attracting younger members.

“It does take a bit of commitment to actually get to see the benefits, you can’t just pop in and pop out. You need to have commitment training over a couple of years,” she says.

Yet, with decades of training behind them and no sign of slowing down, for Margaret and Liz, it’s a commitment that has been well worth it.

“It’s really energising and when it’s all happening, it feels fantastic,” says Margaret.

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bit.ly/3bcXEZl CityNews April 15-21, 2021 11

POLITICS / public housing

The night government flattened housing hopes SIX years ago, Labor and the Greens resolved, for mainly ideological reasons, to reduce overnight the amount of land to be released for detached housing, from 70 per cent to 30 per cent.

In other words by more than half, with no lead time, despite the housing preference of 91 per cent of Canberrans being for a detached house.

It was obvious, particularly since the ACT government has a monopoly on the supply of land, that a cut in supply of that order would, in a city with strong and consistent growth in population, have a huge impact on the value of detached housing.

Labor and the Greens must also have known it would lead to the exclusion of thousands of families from the detached housing market.

There are two main issues, central to the role of any government, where policies recently pursued in the ACT by the ALP and the Greens cause me deep and growing disquiet.

These are, firstly, the hollowing out of the public health system by large, in real terms, funding cuts.

And, secondly, the range of parallel decisions taken by the government to: • reduce the stock of public housing;

• emasculate the community housing sector; • abandon any serious commitment to affordable housing; • and to knowingly price the working class and low and moderate-income households out of the detached housing market.

As a Labor supporter for more than 50 years, I think the policies being pursued by the ACT government in these areas are contrary to core Labor values.

All the relevant data, ie the facts, bear me out. The following is a brief summary of some current housing data.

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY The impact of recent housing and land supply policies on housing affordability can be clearly illustrated by charting, over the course of the last decade, the median and submedian multiples. These compare, respectively, a ratio of the dwelling price to the median household gross income (before tax) and the median dwelling price to the 40th percentile of gross income.

A median multiple of more than 5 is considered severely unaffordable. The median multiple is also an indication of the barriers to entry to the housing market. For example, if a market has a median multiple of 5, a household

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will require a deposit equal to one year’s gross median income.

In Canberra, the median multiple decreased from more than 5 in 2007-08 to 4.5 in 2011-12, following the introduction of supply measures under the Affordable Housing Action Plan, including a boost in land supply, supply targets for affordable housing and lower-cost housing options such as Land Rent and Own Place.

However, it has increased significantly from 2013-14 since when the supply of land has been deliberately constrained and the central features of the Affordable Housing Action Plan abandoned.

Accordingly, the median multiple had increased by 2019-20 to 6.6 while the sub-median multiple grew to almost 8. What this means, in real life, is if you are a family with gross household income of, say, $100,000, then to buy a median-priced house in Canberra requires savings of $160,000 or an amount equivalent to 1.6 times your annual gross income, as a deposit.

in understanding the impact on the community housing sector of decisions taken by the ACT government in recent years read the “Community Housing Canberra (CHC) Annual Report 2019/20”.

The report includes on Page 2 a chart that shows in the six years from 2008 to 2014 that CHC’s portfolio of tenancies grew by 420. By comparison in the six years between 2014 and 2020, CHC acquired only an additional 30 tenancies. During this latter period, the government ceased to honour an MOU guaranteeing CHC land for up to 120 units of housing a year and in 2017, rather than simply rolling over a revolving finance facility of $50 million granted in 2008, called it in and directed CHC to make an annual principal repayment to the government of $3.5 million.

The impact on CHC is best illustrated by the fact, as reported at Page 32 of its annual report, that in 2019 it increased its stock of housing by a

As a Labor supporter for more than 50 years, I think the policies being pursued by the ACT government in health and housing are contrary to core Labor values.

derisory two dwellings and in 2020 by a mere eight dwellings.

PUBLIC HOUSING There is clearly much to be alarmed about in relation to the management of public housing in the ACT. For present purposes I will do no more than refer to the fact that over the decade from 2010 to 2020 the number of units of public housing in the ACT fell by 78, even though the population grew by 63,395.

I am at a loss to understand why or how a progressive government has allowed this to happen and leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.

Jon Stanhope was chief minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998. He is the only chief minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly.

COMMUNITY HOUSING I recommend that anyone interested

BRIEFLY

Frog’s charity record sale THOUSANDS of donated vinyl records, CDs, DVDs (movies and TV series) and cassette tapes will go on sale over the weekend of April 17-18 with all money raised going to the ACT RSPCA at Weston.

Now in its 12th year, organiser “Frog” Harris will be driving the “Frog” Harris. bargains hard at Songland Records, Cooleman Court Shopping Centre, Weston.

Clothing and shoe sale WINTER’S coming and St Ninian’s in Lyneham is hosting a pre-loved clothing and footwear sale in the church hall, corner of Mouat and Brigalow streets, 9am-1pm, on Friday and Saturday (April 16-17).

Irish ways of women PROF Melanie Nolan will talk on Irish-born Australian women in the “Australian Dictionary of Biography’’ at the Canberra Irish Club, Weston, at 2pm, Saturday, April 17. The ANU professor will focus on women such as Martha Simpson, education pioneer and poet and Mary Lee, suffragist and trade unionist. RSVP to handson@ iinet.net.au

Gift and craft stall THERE’S a Mother’s Day gift and craft stall in the main foyer of Calvary Public Hospital, Bruce, 8am-4pm, on April 28 and 29. Organised by the Calvary Hospital Auxiliary, there will be a variety of jams, relishes, cakes and slices, as well as Mother’s Day gifts and craft items. All proceeds go towards the purchase of equipment for the care and comfort of patients.

Bandannas are back THE Bold Bandannas, a Relay for Life team, is back with a charity stall at the Belconnen Fruit & Veg Markets, 8am-5pm, over the weekend of April 17-18. On offer is homemade preserves, hand-sewn items, hand-knitted dolls’ clothes and plants. More information from 6231 0761.

The man from Menslink PETER Davis, from Menslink, will be speaking to the ladies of the Weston Creek VIEW Club at their next lunch meeting at the Southern Cross Club, Woden, from 11.30am on Tuesday, May 4. Interested ladies and guests welcome. The cost is $30 and RSVP to 6286 4626 by 5pm, April 29.

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citynews.com.au

THE OTHER HALF / Nichole Overall

How the mayor’s wife did something with her life

By Belinda

STRAHORN WHEN Nichole Overall, 49, was a girl, she envisioned lots of future versions of herself: microbiologist Nichole, first Australian female prime minister Nichole...

But mayor’s wife Nichole never entered her imagination. And yet here she is – a journalist, historian, author, “CityNews” columnist, truecrime podcaster, and for the last 24 years, the wife of the mayor of Queanbeyan.

“It’s just one of the many things that have evolved along the winding, interesting road of life,” Nichole said.

She stirred her cappuccino and looked out through the steamed-up windows of the Queanbeyan Golf Club.

It’s peaceful here. Along the walls are trophies and decadesold photos of club champions, the pictures getting grainier and the hair bigger the further you go back in time. Outside, a mob of kangaroos sprawl listlessly over the glistening greens.

It’s a special place for Nichole, whose links with Queanbeyan are well established.

The city will always be dear to her, it’s where she met her husband, chose to raise their two sons and where she feels every inch the local.

“This is quintessential Queanbeyan, the kangaroos, the community, the river is just down there... it’s a magical place,” she said.

While Queanbeyan has provided an ideal setting in which to raise her family, Nichole’s own childhood in Griffith was less rosy.

“Dad had issues with alcohol, the family home was violent; we had no money and mum wound up a single mum of three small children by the time she was 25,” said Nichole.

Her body stiffened; it became clearly evident she was uncomfortable discussing this period of her life.

“Things were tough,” she said.

“One strong memory that has stayed with me was my father telling me I would never amount to anything.

“And yet I remember thinking to myself, no, I will amount to something, I will do something with my life.”

That she did.

The first person in her family to attend university, Nichole left home for Canberra at 18 to study journalism.

Coming from Griffith she felt

Queanbeyan would be more like home than Canberra.

“Canberra was a big city and I was a little country girl,” she said.

“I felt more comfortable living in the environment that Queanbeyan offered; I’m still here, more than 30 years later.”

Upon graduating, she cut her journalistic teeth with the “Tumut and Adelong Times”.

Some years later – having moved back to Queanbeyan – with nothing more than $500 to her name and a burning desire to establish her own business, she started “The Entertainer”, a showbiz magazine, serving as owner-editor.

It was around this time, at a party in Queanbeyan, that she met her future husband Tim Overall. He was chief of the NSW Ambulance Service and living in Sydney at the time.

Notwithstanding the fact that Tim came from a wellknown family with strong links to Canberra’s planning, what struck her most about him was his kindness.

“He’s a lovely, warm man,” Nichole said.

“He’s attentive and he’s interested in people and I found that very attractive.”

They dated for a short time before a marriage proposal was made.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Nichole didn’t wait for Tim to ask, she got in first, floating the idea while he was driving through Sydney.

“I just blurted it out: ‘How about getting married then?’,” she said.

“He didn’t answer me at first because he thought I was joking, but he accepted. We married at the Catholic church in Tumut not long after and this year we celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary.”

Tim and Nichole’s life was no different to other young couples raising a family in Queanbeyan.

They both held down interesting jobs, Tim with the ACT Red Cross and Nichole a real estate agent for a time.

While politics was not on the horizon for them then, once Tim was elected to Queanbeyan City Council in 2004, and certainly when he became mayor in 2008, Nichole was there to support him.

As the wife of the mayor, she is given all sorts of interesting titles including “Lady Mayoress” and the “First Lady of Queanbeyan”.

Nichole takes it all in her stride, not taking herself too seriously, but the obligations of the role are not lost on her.

“It’s a great compliment to be the mayor’s wife, I am very happy to be there to be seen as supporting him in what he’s doing, it’s a huge privilege,”

Nichole Overall at the Queanbeyan Golf Club… “This is quintessential Queanbeyan, the kangaroos, the community, the river is just down there; it’s a magical place.”

Photo: Belinda Strahorn she said.

Of course, with holding public office, you must take the rough with the smooth, sometimes people are unfair with their judgements, but you learn not to personalise any criticism, she said.

“We don’t see what we do as a chore or a job or a stepping stone, our commitment has always been to Queanbeyan,” she said.

“If you do the right thing by the Queanbeyan community, they do the right thing by you.”

Putting her love for journalism on hold while she raised her children, Nichole resumed her passion for unearthing interesting stories once the kids were at school.

One of her largest conquests was writing and producing “Queanbeyan: City of Champions”, a coffee-table history book that revealed some fascinating stories about a city lost under its “struggle-town” persona.

“Not many people know Queanbeyan was one of the earliest regional townships in European Australia and at one point the wealthiest district in the colony of NSW.” Growing up in Griffith in the 1970s exposed Nichole to multicultural Australia at an early age, where the largely Italian expatriate population meant her Anglo-sounding name was the odd one out.

“I attended the Catholic high school and in our year group of 120 students there was one Jones, one Brown and one Smith...that was me, Nichole Smith,” she chuckled.

An interesting sideline to growing up in Griffith was that the family lived down the road from Donald McKay, an aspiring local politician and anti-drug campaigner, who mysteriously disappeared in 1977, an event that was later to

spark the young Nichole’s interest in media and journalism.

Perhaps her greatest passion of late has been covering the unsolved murders of Canberra’s Keren Rowland, Elizabeth Herfort and Mary Bertram, with her Capital Crime Files podcast gaining a growing audience.

Having immersed herself in

crime makes her more aware of the fragility of the human condition, she said.

“No one expected Keren Rowland to run out of fuel, get picked up and then be found dead in suburban Canberra with a population of 150,000 in 1971,” Nichole said.

“Whilst we would like the real

world to be perfect, it’s not, and we need to be mindful of that.”

As if her plate isn’t full enough, Nichole throws her weight behind a number of worthy causes including chair of Headspace Queanbeyan, patron of Molonglo Support Services and the first female chair (in its 65-year history) of St Edmund’s College.

Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, she is also leaving open the possibility of pursuing public office down the track.

“But if I wanted to take a step like that it wouldn’t be at the local government level and I’d like to be an independent candidate because I’m rather inclined to speak my mind,” she said.

For someone who clearly thrives on a challenge, at 40, Nichole took up soccer, proving it’s never too late to try new things.

Of course on the sporting field, no quarter is given, everyone is equal.

Nichole’s teammates and opponents cut her no slack, and that’s just the way she likes it.

“The only time I don’t like being referred to as mayoress is on the football field,” she said.

“Out there, I’m just Nichole.”

CityNews April 15-21, 2021 13

LETTERS

Stop the flats, stop West Basin development SOME believe that residential development (albeit southfacing) at West Basin (Acton foreshore) can be installed sensitively, reflecting Walter Burley Griffin’s plans.

To achieve that, Parkes Way has to be extensively modified (at great expense, on top of the cost of current reclamation of the lake).

However, WBG couldn’t have conceived of the modern-day function of Parkes Way (an exemplary “parkway”), in moving masses of east-west traffic with the added advantage of enabling motorists and passengers to enjoy the lake and city environments; and so, the parkway and similar roadworks to the south of City Hill, have their own heritage values, definitely worthy of preservation.

All that, and the fact that the best laid government plans for flats at Acton Foreshore are extremely likely to be ripped up by developers and the voracious ACT Land Development Agency (as happened with architect, the late Colin Stewart’s well considered plans for Kingston Foreshore), combined with the fact that occupiers of the flats will take “ownership” of the foreshore public domain, reinforces the case for there being no such development at West Basin, including on the slopes of City Hill, and along Commonwealth Avenue.

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Open the process JACK Kershaw (Letters, CN March 25) refers to “the admirable reinstatement or installation of some of Walter Burley Griffin’s missing elements, such as his shoreline geometry...”.

The foreshore reclamation work at West Basin is a good example of this, as was the Kingston Foreshore previously.

Mr Kershaw clearly has reservations about the heritage listing of Lake Burley Griffin.

I understand it is also the position of the National Trust (ACT) that listing the lake should proceed as part of a more broadly based nomination for the national capital.

Unfortunately, columnist Paul Costigan has charged in (CN April 1), accusing the new Minister of Environment and Heritage, Rebecca Vassarotti, of failing to support heritage listing of the lake and to oppose West Basin. Perhaps the Minister is listening to wiser, more nuanced counsel.

I do support recent calls by the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians for early public

dose of dorin

the increase in presentations continue to decline. Let’s show those other jurisdictions how it’s done.

Stanhope marks down as “poor performance”, the decline in ACT government funding for the ED. On the contrary, it could be that our emergency department is more efficient than other EDs. Hospital staff, keep up the good work, and Jon, when the percentage of the ACT Budget allocated to health and hospitals drops from 31 per cent to 25 per cent you’ll know more people are keeping themselves fitter and healthier.

Propelling the fitness industry into the frontline of primary healthcare stands to be the most encouraging way for the government to achieve this target.

John Miller, via email

consultation on the future building proposals for West Basin, given the likelihood of the government being tempted to allow over-development of this important site.

Let’s have an open, highly consultative process on West Basin and avoid the pitfalls of other major projects such as the Kingston Foreshore and, within that, the Kingston Arts Precinct.

Richard Johnston, Kingston

Men ‘unjustly tarred’ TO all intents and purposes, all males have now been pre-emptively labelled as misogynists, rapists and bullies. Not all men are nasty, just as not all females are nasty, so it’s time to put things into perspective.

I for one, amongst many other males, feel we have been unilaterally unjustly tarred with the same brush, and it’s time for that misrepresentation to be seen for what it is, media hype together with misandrist females.

Mario Stivala, Belconnen

It’s a men’s problem No, in a nutshell to “Will Morrison’s new cabinet solve his ‘women’s problems’?” (citynews.com.au, March 30).

For example, the PM waxed lyrical about the new employment minister focusing on matters such as defence, scientific and infrastructure workforce needs, but failed to acknowledge the need to tackle endemic structural labour force and upskilling issues facing women across the country.

The Minister for Women’s announcement of a broad taskforce on women’s “equality, safety, economic security, health and wellbeing” sounds far too passive and superficial compared to what is needed. Moreover, our only federal Liberal representative still seems to show no interest in speaking out for a better deal and choices for women, or helping men, including male parliamentary staffers, address systemic and destructive gender-targeted behavioural issues.

Too many male Coalition members seem to be taking the easy way out by hiding under the doona, despite the PM’s pronouncements. Perhaps they, too, think that a quick dose of empathy training is all that’s needed.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Good news into bad HERE we go again, Jon Stanhope turning good news into bad news (“Targets missed: ACT Health gets it so wrong”, CN April 1).

I’d say it was good news, not bad news that the “percentage of emergency department presentations whose length of stay is four hours or less was 58 per cent against a target of 90 per cent”.

It shows that our ED staff take good care of the people who present; they don’t just shove them out the door to meet some arbitrary time statistic. When it comes to good hospital care, time is not of the essence.

According to Stanhope, the Productivity Commission “reports that the increase in presentations in the ACT... is below the national average”. More good news. Let’s see

An ‘obvious’ location WEST Belconnen residents certainly want a walk-in health centre, including much-needed mental health services, and a gracious government-owned building right alongside Kippax Fair is the obvious location.

It was built and used for this very purpose from 1975-1995! Since then, it has been mainly used by the Belconnen Community Council who have now moved out.

Tragically, the Kippax health centre is now under threat of demolition, as well as the takeover of the adjacent playing fields.

A heritage application is forthcoming to register the Kippax health centre as a heritage building.

Over, now, to our Assembly representatives.

Judy and Chris Watson, Latham

Single lane problems WHO was the bright spark who decided to change Kingsford Smith Drive to a single lane from Kuringa Drive, Spence, to Spalding Street, Flynn? Obviously it wasn’t someone who lives in the area.

The change is somewhat illogical in view of the extensive road works in Kuringa Drive to improve traffic flow and improve the turns into and out of Owen Dixon Drive, when at the same time Kingsford Smith Drive is changed to have the effect of slowing traffic and making turns from Kingsford Smith Drive into side streets more precarious.

Lorraine Lenthall, Fraser

A ‘devastated’ landscape TREE removal is one of the early works included in the War Memorial’s current application to the National Capital Authority (public comment closes April 30).

The application shows that around 100 trees are in danger of the chop to clear the way for the $498 million building program at the memorial.

It is not clear why the tree massacre is designated as an early work. More importantly, 14 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

it is not clear that the project justifies this wanton slaughter. The trees in the grounds of the memorial have been part of its unique ambience for decades.

Beneath all the emotive propaganda about the memorial needing to tell the stories of recent service, there remains the vision of a future memorial of massive new spaces, architectural grandiosity, boastful construction and reinforcement of an Anzac legend,

larger and purer than life and than the men and women who wore the nation’s uniform.

And a vision lacking trees. The memorial for decades will be set in a devastated landscape.

The fanciful architectural illustrations of the new facade of the memorial will not be realised till mid-century at the earliest.

David Stephens, convener, Heritage Guardians

Above: Going... all the trees in front of the southern entrance and flanking the War Memorial parade ground, as well as many to the east of the main building and adjacent to the Bean Building, says the Heritage Guardians group.

Another prison issue RE “Cries from the voiceless to prevent further suicide” (“Letters”, CN March 18): yet another problem with Alexander Maconochie Centre, why am I not surprised?

The people put there are obviously people who have broken the law, but if they have mental-health issues or severe drug addiction, they should be in a hospital wing where they can be taken care of properly, not in the normal prison system.

Those with drug addiction can be weaned off them instead of providing a needle-exchange program.

I can understand the government may not have the funds to build a mentalhealth facility, but can they not have a wing in the AMC dedicated to people with mental-health issues where they are not in view of the other prisoners, male or female?

Vi Evans via email

How sweet it was...

MICHAEL Atwell’s letter (CN April 1) and photograph of the dragless former dragway was a sad sight. It hummed in the 1970s.

The by-passed strip of Fairbairn Avenue was perfect for driver training of ACT police. The long tarmac was made for speed braking.

How sweet it was to master the required level of emergency stop. The strip was then surrounded by trees, so the hapless students were not subject to public scrutiny as we bungled our first attempts.

Christopher Ryan, Watson

Dawn of ‘New Normal’ COLUMNIST Paul Costigan and correspondents (CN April 1) bemoan the loss of Canberra’s green infrastructure and landscapes to development, and to inaction upon it from the Green Wing of the ACT government.

No doubt this is the “New Normal” they promised us at the last election.

Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla

Justice betrayed RECENTLY, the NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman and Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor announced a change in law relating to mental illness as a defence.

The new verdict recorded as “act proven but not criminally responsible” – came into force several days ago.

If an offender is guilty of breaking the law by illegally using drugs and then breaks the law criminally again while under the influence of the drugs, how can the law remove all criminal responsibility for either act, or even worse, both acts?

In other words, does the commission of one criminal offence (eg where drug criminality applies) remove all responsibility for the commission of a second criminal offence? I believe the absence of satisfying answers to these questions betrays justice.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

Write to us

Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au

ACT SKIP HIRE

advertising feature

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Skip hire services with a focus on waste reduction PASSIONATE about recycling, ACT Skip Hire, the longestrunning skip bin hire business in Canberra, has a strong focus on waste reduction, say coowners Tony Barron and Robyn Bombell-Barron.

Caring about the three “Rs” – reduce, reuse and recycle – is par for the course for Tony and Robyn.

“We’re different from other skip bin companies because our focus is on recycling and doing it properly,” Tony says.

“We’re a professional, friendly and experienced family business, and want to provide the best possible service to our customers, with trained staff that can advise the best type of skip for the job.”

ACT Skip Hire offers open-top skips in sizes from 2-10 cubic metres, making life ACT Skip Hire co-owners Robyn Bombell-Barron and Tony Barron. “We found it ridiculous what was being wasted and by how much stuff was ending up in landfill, so we easy for anyone who’s spring cleaning, wanted to do something about it,” Robyn says. sorting out the garden, moving, clearing a The purpose-built facility, established in donates a large amount of clothes and tre’s roof to improve our water efficiency.” house or renovating. They are also a reliable handle the waste from the skips.

“Using a skip is not the end of the 2017, deals with commercial and domestic books to various charities.

Robyn says that ACT Skip Hire is company for tradespeople to deal with. dry waste, such as all metals, masonry, Some items are offered for free committed to waste education, and has “With a skip there’s no need to organise line for rubbish – we really care what happens to it, and we take the time to green waste, paper, cardboard, tyres, collection, from rescued timber to plastic worked with ACT NoWaste to host visits multiple tip runs, just load it up, we’ll plant pots, which Robyn says people are for university and school students, private collect it and everything will be tipped out sort it and recycle as much as we possibly mattresses, timber pallets, dirt, drink containers, soils, batteries, cartridges, welcome to help themselves to. sector groups and government departand hand-sorted into bays at the depot for can,” she says.

Australia generates about 70 million laminated glass and e-waste, which goes “We ask for a gold-coin donation, which ments to demonstrate the company’s resource recovery, recycling and reuse,” tonnes of waste per year and Robyn and directly to recyclers. goes to Camp Quality, and people can take innovative approach.

Robyn says.

Tony found it ridiculous what was being And anything that’s reusable and in as much as they want,” she says.

They also share waste-reduction tips “It is intensive, hard and dirty work but good condition will be sold in their op“We’ve also started to accept waste and information on social media. we are having a direct, tangible impact on wasted and how much stuff was ending up in landfill. shop, Let’s Recycle Canberra, which sells from a couple of other skip hire compaAnd, through Actsmart’s Business Energy the level of waste going to landfill in our “We wanted to do something about it,” toys, tools, furniture, clothes, jewellery, nies, which reduces their level of waste and Water Program, ACT Skip Hire has community.”

Robyn says. books, kitchenware, ornaments and going to landfill. switched to solar, covering more than 50 Award-winning recycler and service “You cannot work in the waste industry garden supplies.

“We do more than rubbish removal, we per cent of its energy needs, and all lighting provider ACT Skip Hire recovers more than and remain ignorant of the problems we “We also have loads of upcycling are committed to landfill reduction and is done with energy-efficient globes.

60 per cent of all the waste that comes its are facing locally and globally regarding furniture projects for anyone interested,” protecting the environment.”

“We still have a long way to go and way and makes use of ACT Recycling and says Robyn.

Robyn and Tony have taken every there are many material streams that we the nearby Materials Recovery Facility (MRF waste.

“We changed our operation model from “We see so much stuff come through opportunity to “walk their talk”. haven’t yet found viable ways to deal with, or recycling sorting facility), Robyn says. waste transport to waste reduction and the depot in really great condition, which “Our offices and amenities contain but we’re working on it,” Robyn says.

“Reusable metals go to SIMS Metal, education, through establishing our own could be reused. second-hand furnishings, and we’ve “We’re passionate about our environglass goes to Sydney, tyres to Cootamunresource recovery facility.

“We don’t have the space to store changed our operations to reduce or ment and would love to see other waste dra,” she says.

“We’ve been working on the business everything, though, so we encourage eliminate paper usage, and ensure that businesses go those extra miles.”

“Some ceramics go to places locally on and off for almost 20 years, while wait- people to come down and have a look at what we do use is recycled,” she says. that do therapeutic smashing or go in ing for the land to be ready [at the Hume what’s here.”

“We use environmentally-safe or ACT Skip Hire and Let’s Recycle Canberra, a masonry mix that’s passed on to ACT Resource Recovery Estate], but the office Any reusable building materials are recycled products wherever we can.

11 John Cory Road, Hume. Call 6292 8187 Recycling.” was based from home. When we started, it sent on to second-hand builders’ co-ops, “We also installed 22,000-litre water or visit skipbins.com.au or facebook.com/ Robyn says they have customers who was one truck, 40 bins, and Tony!” or sold in the shop, and ACT Skip Hire also tanks, which collect water from the cenACTSkipHire use their business precisely for how they

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11 JOHN CORY ROAD, HUME CityNews April 15-21, 2021 15

WAR ON WASTE

advertising feature

Experts have their minds on a sustainable future BASED on current trends, it’s estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic than there are fish in the ocean, according to statistics from the World Economic Forum.

But there’s still time to turn that around, and with news just gone of the ACT government banning single use plastics by July, Canberra continues to be a national leader in protecting the environment.

It’s an effort the community continues to rapidly get behind, with a range of businesses doing what they can to reduce waste and be more environmentally-conscious.

This week, “CityNews” speaks to experts who are leading the way to a more sustainable future.

James gives quality furniture a second life

Store has a focus on reducing waste THE owner of Mawson’s eco-friendly store, Let’s Be Natural, Ben Pfitzner, says he’s passionate about making eco-friendly goods and waste-free shopping more available to the community.

“Our aim is to support the community to find a better balance with the natural world and help find a sustainable and waste-free future,” says Ben. Let’s Be Natural has a wide range of healthy, organic and eco-friendly products such as bulk/packagingfree/waste-free food, cleaning products, natural skincare and natural cosmetics.

“Plastic, particularly single-use, is a menace to the natural world but society continues to use it with virtually no control or consideration,” says Ben.

“Plastic needs to be reduced, it needs to be controlled, and although Australia is small by population and global impact, everyone should be trying to lead by example, otherwise we have no ability to help and no right to influence other countries to do the same.”

Ben says he’s proud that Let’s Be Natural offers products that bring people a step closer to that goal. “[And] we have a spacious layout, chilled music and friendly staff,” he says.

“It’s a relaxed shopping experience. We also listen to our customers, we are here to serve the local community so we listen to their needs.”

Let’s Be Natural, shop 2, 73-77 Mawson Place, Mawson. Call 6286 3775 or visit letsbenatural.com.au

WHETHER it’s for the home office or garage, buying furniture doesn’t need to come at the detriment of the environment, says Ex-Government Furniture owner James Fullerton.

Each day, new furniture arrives in Canberra stores after being shipped halfway around the world, racking up a big carbon footprint, says James.

But, Ex-Government Furniture’s cost-friendly range of surplus office furniture saves on waste, he says.

For more than 20 years, James says they’ve offered an alternative, giving buyers access to a wide range of quality and designer second-hand products from top Australian and global brands, all without breaking the bank.

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Ex-Government Furniture owners James Fullerton, left, and Taylor Radnell.

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James says there’s always something interesting coming through the door.

At the moment, James says it’s his selection of recently-arrived bookshelves and metal cabinets that are making a splash.

“It’s commercial grade stuff,” he says.

“It’s all going to last for a long time. Some of the old swing-door cabinets we just picked up are actually older than I am.

“Forty years old [and] they’re still going.”

It’s testament to product quality that people just can’t get from many retailers, he says.

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WESTON CREEK

District lives up to its ‘picturesque’ description Cafe has a focus on good-tasting coffee

THE National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) once described Weston Creek as “one of the most picturesque parts of the national capital”.

It was one of the original 18 districts of the ACT, named in honour of Captain George Edward Weston, a former officer of the East India Company, who arrived in Australia in 1829 and was granted land where Weston Creek now sits in 1841.

Nigh on two centuries later, more than 20,000 people throughout eight suburbs call the area home, and with the 4km long creek running through the lush valley, it’s more than lived up to the NCDC’s fitting description.

Retirement village offers convenience ADRIA Village combines access to important facilities with a feel of privacy, making it the perfect place for retirement, says CEO Stephanie Tyrrell.

“There’s close access to Cooleman Court and Woden Westfield but we are surrounded by reserves and parklands making it a very peaceful atmosphere for residents,” she says.

Located in the heart of Weston Creek, Adria Village, which has two dedicated respite rooms and a special care unit, offers residential care for 42 residents. The village also contains 36 independent living units.

Stephanie says the village offers residents a wide range of things to do, and that they can get involved as little or as much as they’d like.

“We have an active residents’ commit-

tee who organise lots of get-togethers.

Residents can play cards, go to morning teas and happy hours, enjoy exercise, and much more,” she says.

Established in 1994 by volunteers of the Croatian community of Canberra and Queanbeyan, Stephanie also says the village is home to a greatly multicultural group of people.

“We have residents [from] Australia, Croatia, China, France, Macedonia, Hungary and more,” she says.

“There are great residents and great staff committed to the best outcomes for the community.”

FOR the past decade, local coffee roasters Niugini Arabica has been bringing single origin coffee beans from the Papua New Guinea highlands (pictured) to the Duffy community, says owner Theo Levantis.

Located at the Duffy shops, Theo describes the local cafe-come-wholesaler as “a little cafe that focuses on coffee”.

“The only thing that’s important [is] how good the coffee tastes,” he says.

“And, we’ve got verification that ours is good stuff.”

The best coffee, Theo explains, comes from highland areas along the equator, meaning their Papua New Guinea beans are part of a small and elite list of speciality roasts.

The beans have seen them pick up two gongs for best “milk-based latte” and

“single-origin espresso” at the “Golden Bean Awards”, the world’s largest coffee roasters’ competition, he says.

And the beans are responsibly sourced, too, says Theo.

“They’re grown by micro businesses and smallholder farmers [who] work for themselves,” he says.

So unlike free-trade farm operations, their sources take pride in their beans, he says.

“They’ve got the motivation to make a better quality product, and being certified organic, they receive a much higher price,” he says.

“It’s the most ethical way to buy coffee.”

Niugini Arabica, 5 Duffy Place. Call 0431 816090 or visit niuginiarabica.com

Adria Village, 89 Fremantle Drive, Stirling.

Call 6288 0198, email admin@adria.org.au or visit adria.org.au

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Adria Care fosters individuality and independence, providing support and assistance to enable residents to live in a comfortable and secure environment. Adria Care in Stirling offers residential care for 42 residents, incorporating 2 respite rooms, and Special Care. The village also contains 36 independent living villas. All villas have 2 bedrooms, a courtyard and a garden, and residents enjoy a peaceful and welcoming community lifestyle.

Our aim is to provide a caring, safe, home-like atmosphere, reflecting your rights to dignity, respect, privacy, safety and the best quality of life.

Contact our friendly staff today to arrange a personal tour.

• Phone: 6288 0198 • Fax: (02) 6288 7635 • Email: admin@adria.org.au • Website: www.adria.org.au • Address: 89 Fremantle Drive, Stirling, ACT 2611 18 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

advertising feature

Dr Linda Tarran, Dr Sam Teoh and Dr Michael Badham of Weston Creek Chiropractic Centre.

Chiropractors get to pain before it’s chronic CONVENIENTLY located in the Weston Creek town centre, Weston Creek Chiropractic Centre is a patientfocused practice dedicated to getting patients to their optimal health, says Dr Sam Teoh.

Its three friendly chiropractors, Sam, Dr Michael Badham and Dr Linda Tarran, are dedicated in providing their patients with the best possible chiropractic care, according to Sam. Between the three, the centre provides a variety of chiropractic services and often sees patients with issues such as neck pain, back pain, headaches and sports injuries, and also provides services for pregnant women as well as children and babies.

Sam personally sees a lot of patients who are either too sedentary or on the other end, have pushed their

body beyond its limits.

“We do use our bodies a lot and some people tend to overuse it and push themselves while injured,” she says.

“The other extreme is people who are too sedentary.

“Bodies are like cars. You can replace the parts but not the body. If you leave pain for too long it can turn into chronic injury and it takes longer to heal, so it’s important to see a chiropractor before it gets to that point.”

The chiropractors at Weston Creek Chiropractic treat all their patients as individuals, says Sam. “We do a thorough examination and look at their full history for new patients,” she says.

Weston Creek Chiropractic Centre, level 1, 43 Brierly Street, Weston. Call 6288 6711 or visit wcccentre.com.au

Weston Creek Chiropractic Centre

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If you’re looking for deep tissue therapy, remedial massages, sports injury care or pure relaxation in Weston, then you should get in contact with us.

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CityNews April 15-21, 2021 19

We are here to help • Assistance & support • Support groups and community activities • Awareness & medication training • Workplace inclusion & engagement

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Breaking the stigma around epilepsy “EPILEPSY ACT aims to make the lives of those with epilepsy and their loved ones more safe and secure,” says CEO Fiona Allardyce.

“We offer training at schools and workplaces, online resources, referrals, and support groups to help those who need it.”

Fiona says epilepsy, which causes disruptions in the brain and seizures, affects between two and four per cent of the population.

“It’s a life changing event. Some will be diagnosed as adults, some will be as children, it can happen at any time,” she says.

“Seizures are thought of as the most common symptom, but they’re the tip of the iceberg. About 50 per cent of those diagnosed with epilepsy will develop depression or anxiety.”

Through their numerous support services, programs and resources, Fiona says even a small amount of education can go a long way.

“We’ve found a lot of people with epilepsy still hide it,” she says.

“With a bit of education and a bit of compassion we can break the stigma and help people with epilepsy feel more safe and comfortable, and help them find the resources that they often don’t know are there.

“We want people to know we are here and that we are here to help.”

Epilepsy ACT. Call 6287 4555 or visit epilepsyact.org.au

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Perfectly situated between north and south Canberra, Peter says the area has become highly sought-after, especially because of its alternative schools, local churches and shopping centres.

“It’s a very hot area [to buy] and there is very little stock on the market,” he says.

There’s a lot of new, energyefficient homes in the area because many were burnt down in the 2003 bushfires and rebuilt into something more modern, says Peter.

“And I think a lot of other people have followed that trend,” he says, referring to the knock-down/rebuild of homes that haven’t been affected by the fires but have followed that Principal and founder Peter Tolhurst. modern trend.

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Real Estate Australia .com.au | W: realestateAustralia.com.au | E: info@realestateAustralia.com.au | P: (02) 6287 4577 | A: 39 Brierly Street, Weston, ACT 2611 20 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

INSIDE

Helen holds court at his cellar door

RICHARD CALVER

Peelman’s idea of Vienna goes all over the place COVER STORY

By Helen MUSA THE Canberra International Music Festival motif might be “The Idea of Vienna”, but artistic director Roland Peelman will balance it with a formidable program of indigenous Australian music performed on each day of the event. “‘The Idea of Vienna’ is about whatever you want,” the disarmingly unconventional Peelman tells me.

“Music is whatever you want it to be; whatever you want to hear in it”.

So much so that in a Jesuitical twist, he writes, “If taking you to Vienna may appear strange in current circumstances, remember, in a roundabout kind of way, the journey magically crosses the very heart of Australia.

“The beauty of music is that it is abstract, which is why we can all share it.”

Neither Mozart nor Beethoven were born in Vienna, but they both moved there and are both handsomely represented in the 2021 festival.

Bearing in mind that Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday party last year was

Roland Peelman.

Photo: Peter Hislop

a bit of a fizzer, Peelman has programmed a special breakfast series, “A Bit of Beethoven”, that is almost booked out.

Over five mornings during the festival, 25 “bits” by Australia’s favourite composer will be performed over a bite of breakfast, and Canberra-raised musicians, violinist Kristian Winther and flautist Sally Walker, will be on the menu.

While Vienna was always a city of innovation, Peelman says that it’s a city at

Flautist Sally Walker.

Rapper Dobby.

the crossroads between the north and south, east and west.

“The Ottoman Empire was within earshot”, he says, and to that end, Peelman has programmed a program of traditional Sufi music as well, of course, as Mozart’s famous Sonata “Alla Turca” K 331, to be played by Canberra pianist Edward Neeman.

Peelman is pulling the rug from under the feet of conservative music goers in this festival, which he describes as “a proud

showcase of Australian music – we are not short of great artists”.

At its heart is what he calls “a big focus on indigenous music – putting First Nations artists first”.

Yuwaalaraay woman Nardi Simpson will perform on a possum-skin instrument in “Possum Song” in “Hand to Earth” at the National Gallery on May 2.

Then on May 8, didgeridoo, voice and guitar artist William Barton and his partner,

the virtuosic violinist Veronique Serret, will perform “Heartland”, one of the hits of the Sydney festival but originally commissioned

by CIMF in 2019.

“What started as a small duet for the 2019 festival has since become a fully-fledged major work, an invitation into landscape, culture, language and country,” Peelman says.

At the back of his mind is the fact that the 2020 event was cancelled. Well, not quite – he did curate a mini digital festival.

Nonetheless, Peelman has taken advantage of the restrictions on international travel to focus on Australian artists.

And it gets “a little offbeat, but so damn good”, as he says. In the “Sessions@Verity”, Canberra’s downtown Verity Lane Market will host artists as varied as Filipino and Aboriginal rapper Dobby, Josh Cohen and his Radiohead songbook and saxophonist/ composer Sandy Evans.

“You can’t take the ‘I’ out of CIMF, but I thought we could put together an international festival using Australian artists,” he says.

“In any case, the whole idea of Vienna means turning the tables, looking at the west, at Vienna, from this side of the world.”

Canberra International Music Festival, April 30-May 9. Book at cimf.org.au.

Digital access to 10 concerts in the festival via melbournedigitalconcerthall.com

CityNews April 15-21, 2021 21

ARTS IN THE CITY

DANCE

Bows and strings for Bowie’s hits

By Helen Musa STEVE Kilbey, iOTA, Jeff Duff and Chris Cooke will perform David Bowie’s biggest hits with a 24-piece orchestra conducted

by George Ellis. Expect to hear “Starman”, “Rebel Rebel”, “Life On Mars” and more in “We Can Be Heroes – The Music of Bowie Orchestrated”. At Canberra Theatre, Saturday, April 24. Book at iOTA in “We Can Be Heroes canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Nicholas Jachno in “The Point”… “In the end I thought, if we dive into technique, we will find the ‘Bindu’, the Hindu point of creation,” says Liz Lea.

– The Music of Bowie

7 years on, Liz makes a ‘Point’

By Helen Musa

WHEN it comes to bringing contrasting cultures into close proximity, no one does it better than Canberra dance artist and 2017 “CityNews” Artist of the Year, Liz Lea. On April 29, International Dance Day, Lea will premiere “The Point”, a new one-hour dance work with a Canberra connection, which has been in the pipeline for seven years.

With an unusual training in classical Indian dance and contemporary western dance, she sought out local experts in the classical dance forms Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathak – Nandana Chellappah, Vanaja Dasika and Ira Patkar – and assembled a crack team of contemporary dancers to create a perfect cultural interface.

Lea is no stranger to innovation, having founded the DANscienCE Festival at CSIRO Discovery, directed Canberra Dance Theatre, set up the GOLD (Growing Old Disgracefully) over-55s dance company, devised kids’ dance/science shows such as “Flying Facts” and “Star Struck” and confounded sceptics by establishing a national dance summit, “Bold”, which has seen two iterations so far.

Now, armed with her own cross-artform training, her love of Canberra and her relatively recent

discovery that Marion and Walter Burley Griffin spent his last year in India – indeed, Walter was buried in Lucknow – she has turned her attention to the intersection of light and architecture with the human body in a work that seems consistent with her commitment to developing their expectations about what dance is.

Not just that. It occurred to her that the Australian architect Louise Lightfoot, who had trained with the Griffins, turned to dance after seeing Anna Pavlova perform in 1926, then went on to found the First Australian Ballet with Russian Mischa Burlakov in the 1930s – she also went to India to train in classical dance.

“So many layers,” Lea tells me when we meet at Gorman Arts Centre.

“I’ve been dreaming of it for seven years; I was inspired by dancers from the Maya Dance Theatre in Singapore during a dance visit.”

“Here in Australia, there are not many dancers who are cross-trained.”

Her original plan had been to involve some of the young Singaporean artists but then the international borders were closed.

But since she had already secured artsACT funding for the project, she decided, “let’s do it”.

Reaching out to new dancers, she found Billy Keohavong, Eliza Sanders, Jareen Wee, Nicholas Jachno and David Huggins, four of whom had trained in NZ, while Huggins is a Maori man, so

there’s another cultural layer.

She formulated the production in her brain while communicating online with the artistic team.

Her five contemporary dancers were not trained in Indian dance so, after breaking down prerecorded Indian-style music into beats, Lea had to give them the core training.

They will be joined by Indian dance experts Ira Patkar, Reshika Sivakumaran, Soumya Sudarshan, Divya Vignesa, Shweta Venkataraman, Vanaja Dasika and Suhasini Sumithra.

“In the end I thought, if we dive into technique, we will find the ‘Bindu’, the Hindu point of creation – the story of my career is finding the connection,” she says.

Lea is adamant that she’s not trying to blend dance forms but rather to respect traditions and to move between the different styles. The structure, she says, is overlapping, but will be pulled together by the powerful work of lighting designer Karen Norris, who in turn will bear in mind the designs of the Griffins and the notion of “Bindu”.

Lea describes the production as “very abstract”, much like the costumes, which will retain some of the brilliance of Indian traditional style, but be abstracted from them.

“The Point”, Belconnen Arts Centre Theatre, 7.30pm, April 29-30 and 2pm and 7.30pm, May 1. Book at belcoarts.com.au/point

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THE Moro Spanish Film Orchestrated”, Canberra Festival will be back in Canberra Theatre, April 24. offering 20 feature films from Spain and nine from across Latin America, starting with romantic comedy “Rosa’s Wedding”, starring Candela Peña. A highlight will be Australian comic and filmmaker Simon Palomares’ documentary “Latigo”, in which he uncovers Cuba’s comedy scene. At Palace Electric, April 20-May 16. Book at spanishfilmfestival.com CANBERRA Strings, directed by Barbara Jane Gilby, will perform Schubert’s String Quartet no 14, “Death and the Maiden”. Written in 1824 after a period of serious illness, it’s seen as a depiction of Schubert’s struggle with his own mortality. At Wesley Church, National Circuit, Forrest, 3pm, April 18. Book at trybooking.com/ BPDDB CANBERRA photographer Geoff Comfort has been named Photographer of the Year in the professional section of the 14th Annual International Color Awards. He wins $1500, a medal and wide international exposure.

SINGER-songwriter, Melinda Schneider’s “A Farewell to Doris” will feature hits such as “Que Sera, Sera”, “Everybody Loves a Lover” and “Secret Love”, along with songs from Doris Day’s movies. At The Playhouse, Friday, April 23. Book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au DIRECTOR Dianna Nixon joins Chris Carroll, Heather Keens and Holly Ross to perform rehearsed readings of four of local playwright and farmer Millicent Armstrong’s one-act plays: “At Dusk”, “Thomas”, “Penny Dreadful” and “Drought”. It’s part of the year-long celebration of Gunning’s Bicentenary. At Dalton Hall, Dalton, 2pm, Saturday, April 24 and live via Zoom; The Picture House Gallery, Gunning, 6pm, Saturday, April 24. Book for both at eventbrite.com.au CANBERRA’S Grevillea Quartet will return for its autumn concert, playing the String Quartet in B minor, Op.11 by Barber, and the String Quartet in F major, Op.96 by Dvorak. At the Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU School of Music, 7pm, April 22.

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Cooleman Crt, Weston Creek | 6293 4677 | songland.com.au 22 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

WINE / riesling

Loquacious Ken holds court at his cellar door

By Richard

CALVER KEN Helm is a charming and knowledgeable raconteur. He barely drew breath as he poured samples of his aged rieslings and the latest-release cabernet sauvignon.

They were on taste at the Helm cellar door, the quaint school house built in 1888, in a one-off demonstration of how riesling can sing if it is left in the bottle to grow in complexity, with one of Ken’s more hyperbolic pronouncements of the afternoon: “You could drink a good riesling after 100 years.”

Four of us had ventured to Butts Road, Murrumbateman to sample Ken Helm’s latest vintage and then compare the current offering with riesling from as far back as 2005.

Our designated driver sat under a shady tree and contemplated the picturesque landscape while we lined up in the school house, tasting glasses at the ready, waiting

Winemaker Ken Helm… “You could drink a good riesling after 100 years.” to say: “Please sir, can we have some more” but that request was otiose as the pace of pouring was almost matched to the stream of the narrative.

Ken Helm is no Mr Bumble; his pronouncements are more Joycean stream-of-consciousness than 19th century social commentary.

But he is a heck of a talented winemaker.

The range of aged wines were a 2013 Premium and Tumbarumba, a 2005 and 2012 Classic Dry and a 2007 half-dry riesling. We also tasted the current 2019 release of these wines.

The intensity and fresh lime zest of the current Premium Riesling, which is only released in good vintage years, was

remarkable. Strangely, I preferred the current release to the 2013 which was still vibrant but has a different, hard-to-pinpoint minerality that I find less appealing than the zinging of the 2019.

I am also a fan of the half-dry because it is such a food-friendly wine, especially with spicy foods (with Ken rattle-fire listing a number of Asian fine-dining establishments around Australia that stock this wine) as he poured us a generous glug of the 2007. It was remarkably different from the current release, with a toasty edge that framed a level of complexity that made me scratch my head, with a nuttiness and a hint of marmlade left in the mouth from this small sample that made me long for more so that I could quietly and reflectively savour the differences.

Generally, the aged rieslings were drier, fuller and more complex than the current release wines. There was none of the paraffin smell or taste that I’ve previously experienced with older rieslings, apparently attributable to the breakdown over time of rieslings’ main aroma compounds called terpenes, something also found in marijuana plants (book learning only being displayed, officer).

The finale to the tasting was as unexpect-

ed as it was gratifying. Helm is also known for producing quality cabernet sauvignons.

We had the pleasure of tasting the Helm 2018 Premium. It was outstanding.

As Ken was talking, he lost track of where we were up to and we got a second taste of this marvellous wine. Its colour is red/ purple and the nose full of fruit with a hint of oak. It has just enough tannin to provide a full-bodied hit in the mouth and a pleasing, clean black fruit finish.

Wow, we all looked at each other to see if anyone was prepared to stump up the $90 for a bottle of this fine achievement of wine making. Nope, we were happy with the extra taste of this beauty and each bought the current release of the half-dry riesling at $30 a bottle instead. We bowed to Ken Helm’s knowledge and skill, knowing that despite the parsimony, we were buying a quality drop.

“Through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life…

By wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

– King Solomon

“WORKING FINANCE FOR WORKING EQUIPMENT” Nepalese-style dumplings… house-made tomato chutney with depth of flavours. Photo: Wendy Johnson

DINING / Lakeside Restro

All very ‘global’ and darn good

By Wendy

JOHNSON A DRAWING of a little man with a big moustache and white chef’s hat is front and centre of Lakeside Restro’s branding.

We weren’t sure what to expect from this cartoon character but were curious by the promise that Lakeside Restro, at the Kingston Foreshore on the water, is a “global restaurant”.

The venue meets that promise with food from several parts of the world, including Australia, Nepal, Italy, Malaysia, China and Russia.

Lakeside Restro is a small, family-owned business that dishes up breakfast, lunches and dinners seven days a week.

Family members head to the markets for fresh produce and have struck up relationships with quality, local suppliers and vendors. Meat is all halal certified.

The outdoor dining area is super large with plenty of shade and sun. It was lunch and we settled around a big, circular table, taking in the fresh air.

To start, two of us shared the Nepalese-style dumplings ($15) that were sensational.

Lakeside Restro should bottle (and sell to customers) the house-made tomato chutney it serves as part of the dish. We loved dunking the plump dumplings into the sauce, relishing in its incredible depth of flavours, and

complex and intriguing flavour profile.

One of our party selected the fettuccine stroganoff, a huge serve ($23). It’s an earthy, morish dish featuring perfectly cooked pasta and loads of sautéed beef and mushrooms in a smooth, silky sour-cream sauce.

A delightful meal is the fish and chips ($24). The dish is a perfect portion and the beer batter on the fish is light and crunchy. The chips were crispy and the small side salad bright and tasty.

The seafood trio ($24) got a big thumbs up and, again, the batter on the prawns, squid and fish was light and crispy. The accompanying sauce was spicy and the “hint of salad” on the side super fresh.

Heartier mains on the menu include steaks and a decent line-up of chef’s specials.

The “dishes from around the globe” section of the menu includes a chilly chicken ($23), chilly garlic pork ($23), sweet and sour pork with pineapple ($24), sizzling garlic king prawns ($27), stir-fried chow mein ($17-$22) and fried rice ($17-$20).

Lakeside Restro takes care of kids, with smaller meals served all day.

Wines and beers are reasonably priced. The line-up of vino includes local, national and international labels.

Beers are $6 all day.

Lakeside Resto buzzes when busy but doesn’t appear to have a lot of atmosphere during quieter times. Service can be hit and miss but staff are friendly and earnest.

And don’t let that little cartoon character fool you.

His food is pretty darn good.

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CityNews April 15-21, 2021 23

CINEMA / reviews

Tedium stars in futuristic, sci-fi, Aussie thriller “Ascendant” (MA) THERE’S not a lot of background information available to support this futuristic sci-fi thriller.

Held hostage in a high-speed elevator in a 120-floor Shanghai building, Aria (Charlotte Best) has no memory of her past, who her captors are, or what they want from her.

That’s the genesis of the thriller bit.

Pushed to her physical and psychological limits, her journey, her loss of memory, whether you can change the future, is her pursuit to save her father. Her only chance to change it, to survive and become who she was born to be is to unlock incredible powers within. That’s the sci-fi bit.

The most unexpected piece of information about “Ascendant” is that it’s made in Australia! And not a gum leaf or a kangaroo to be seen.

Here’s how writer/director/producer Antaine Furlong answered an interviewer who asked him what he hoped audiences would take away from it: “I hope they come out of this feeling they’ve watched something original. That they enjoyed the ride, they felt the emotion, the journey and their ears are buzzing from the amazing sound and stunning musical score… it’s slightly cryptic. I just hope they want to see the next chapter, which is insane.”

That says two things. First, that Furlong has a sequel buzzing around in his head (actually, two sequels). A major US movie company has already picked it up for international release. Second, that he believes

we are. Then she turns up the narrative.

Antoinette is not a woman to be in charge of an animal, especially one as cunning as Patrick.

It’s a warmly charming film, an agreeable escape occasionally testing our credulity without abusing it and ending on an optimistic note suggesting that, whether or not she deserves it, Antoinette may find what she’s seeking.

At Palace Electric

“Collective” (MA) “Ascendant”... “I hope [people] come out of this feeling they’ve watched something original. That they enjoyed the ride,” says director Antaine Furlong. audiences will love it enough to watch those sequels. Best of luck with that, Antaine.

Despite Best’s adequate portrayal of Aria, I found “Ascendant” overall tedious and lacking a sense of conviction.

At all cinemas

“Antoinette in the Cévennes” (M) THE inspiration for this French comedy is “Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes” that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in 1878 describing his long walk leading a donkey (its name was Modestine) through the rugged Cévennes region of southern France.

In her second feature (after a career in TV drama) writer/director Caroline Vignal

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introduces teacher Antoinette (Laure Calamy) eagerly anticipating spending part of her summer vacation enjoying sensual hi-jinks with Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe).

The film finds its dramatic energy from two conflicts. Number one. Vladimir: “Sorry, Antoinette, my wife Eleonore [Olivia Côte] and our daughter want me to replicate Stevenson’s walk.”

In a homage to Stevenson and Modestine, Antoinette hires a donkey. Conflict number two. Its name is Patrick. And it’s quite an actor, stealing the film whenever it’s in shot.

The film looks beautiful. Vignal gives a short lesson in the history and geography of the Cévennes to tell us where

A SIGNIFICANT sector of its potential Canberra audience may find familiar ground in this documentary by Bucharest-born writer (in co-operation with Antoaneta Opris) and producer/director Alexander Nanau.

In 2015, a fire at Bucharest’s Colectiv Club left 27 dead and 180 injured. Soon, more burn victims begin dying in hospitals from not life-threatening wounds.

A doctor blew the whistle to journalists at “Gazeta Sporturilor”, a newspaper covering sport rather than general news.

One revelation led to another as journalist Catalin Tolontan began uncovering vast health-care fraud. A newly-appointed health minister offered unprecedented access to efforts to reform the corrupt system and

also to the obstacles he was facing.

How might a documentary made in 2019 about large-scale fraud and corruption in a relatively small nation (12th largest European country in size, 6th most populous state in the European Union) resonate in an Australian audience? Without doubt, Nanau’s film canvasses the issues in detail.

It’s a compelling yarn.

And how have matters in Romania progressed since its release?

And why would many Canberra filmgoers find it familiar territory? Fortunately, the issue driving “Collective” is not endemic in Australia. But it illuminates a government presence that functions in a manner very similar to Canberra’s main industry. And finds it wanting.

Nanau’s anger about the subject matter of “Collective” is palpable. It’s apparent that he never intended it to provide entertainment. But it illuminates behaviour by men in places of power against which every country on the planet must guard and have no compunction about extirpating if it does arise. In my view, that’s an essential purpose.

At Dendy

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

What if the Russians took the moon?

By Nick

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24 CityNews April 15-21, 2021

For the right price the Sydney Observatory is just one of many companies around the world offering people the opportunity to sight and name a star in the sky.

Of course, NASA won’t acknowledge it as belonging to the person who threw down the money, but the buyer is welcome to believe it’s their star in their own mind.

In fact, lots of institutions around the world do this, and seemingly a very profitable business idea it is, too.

Quite the food for thought about people: a piece of plastic from a wallet can be tapped on a screen and it can make them feel some kind of ownership of a cosmic entity that’s located billions of kilometres away.

It’s something I was thinking about while watching “For All Mankind” on Apple TV+ this week.

Currently streaming new episodes of its second season, “For All Mankind” is about the historic race that saw the two most powerful countries on earth duke it out to claim some ownership of our closest celestial neighbour.

The twist: what would happen if Russia stuck the flag in the moon first, and not the US? The show has the “Home of the Brave” riled up in the aftermath of their hypothetical loss, and asks what might have happened if the country put its foot further down on the pedal in the space race following.

It’s one of the big productions being thrown around by Apple TV+, a platform that’s presented

“For All Mankind”... as gobsmackingly cinematic as TV gets. as slick and tidy as one of the boxes an iPhone comes packaged in.

The platform itself is yet to see as much success as other big streaming networks, however Apple is Apple, and so has the funds to assemble some of the highest TV production value around.

That production value will continue to draw in subscribers as their catalogue of original shows grows, and it’s certainly on display in “For All Mankind”, which is as gobsmackingly cinematic as TV gets.

The scenes in space are among the best that modern special and visual effects have to offer, and prove that television is far and away from being “the small screen” that it was once so titled.

Watching “For All Mankind” spurred me to jump over to YouTube to look at the original, real footage of the moon landing.

Viewing those iconic first steps is a profound experience, a fact I’m sure those who saw it happen live in 1969 doubly know to be the case.

It’s made even more mind boggling when thinking about how far technology, and the

relationship we have with our screens, has evolved.

I wonder what live viewers of the moon landing would think if you told them that in 50 years they would be able to watch a dramatically staged alternate reality of the event on a “television” that was around the size of their hand.

The show is quite good at provoking such thoughts but, unfortunately, yes Houston, there is a problem here.

When back on earth, an over reliance on soapy operatics can seem profoundly trivial in comparison to the cosmic line of questioning the scenes minutes earlier are able to generate.

Some may love the way drama and modern politics is weaved into the premise here; others, like me, may find it more jarring. Either way, the show serves as quite the thought provoking, cultural stop off.

Or, hear me out, on Stan there’s always “Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out”, which authoritatively puts the whole debate on whether the moon is made of cheese or not to bed.

PUZZLES PAGE

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Your week in the stars

General knowledge crossword No. 777

By Joanne Madeline Moore

April 19-25, 2021

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT

As the resident Warrior Man/Woman of the zodiac, your modus operandi is one where you charge into situations quickly with guns blazing. (The long list of Aries hotheads includes Butch Cassidy, Bette Davis, Alec Baldwin and Russell Crowe.)

Rambunctious Rams are also notorious for lacking follow-through. But this week the Sun shifts into Taurus and Mars moves into Cancer. So make sure your fiery enthusiasm is tempered with some caution and a practical long-term plan.

Lewis' bright ideas don't get off the ground

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

With Mercury and the Sun joining Venus and Uranus in your sign, it’s time for steady Bulls to step up and be the calm voice of reason, as you find creative ways to work with others. If you collaborate and are prepared to pivot, then it will help steer you onto more solid ground in these uncertain times. Be inspired by Queen Elizabeth (who turns 95 on April 21): “Whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load.”

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Versatile Geminis are gregarious gadflies, clever communicators and masters at multi-tasking. But things could still go haywire this week, as the planets disrupt your preconceived plans. Don’t let it deter you though! With Mars moving through your sign (until Friday) strive to be more adventurous, as you grab opportunities with both hands. Be inspired by birthday great, actress and author Shirley MacLaine: “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. It’s where all the fruit is.”

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

With the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus all moving through your networking zone, the more you mix and mingle and the more connections you make (in person and online) the better the week will be. Looking for employment? It’s time to capitalise on all the contacts you have – from family members, close friends and former colleagues to acquaintances in your local community. Don’t wait for opportunities to magically appear… be proactive about following your dreams.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

The Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus bring the opportunity for recognition and advancement at school, university or work. Through your daily words and actions, you have the power to influence other people in positive and productive ways. So don’t miss the chance to make a real difference. Watch out for dramas on the weekend when Saturn shines an unforgiving spotlight on shortcomings in a relationship. The more you communicate and cooperate, the better the outcome will be.

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

Mighty Mars is moving through your reputation zone (until Friday) so it’s time to tap into the Virgo courage and resilience within. Other people are looking to you for strong leadership, sensible ideas and pragmatic solutions. So roll up your sleeves and get to work! Your motto is from Queen Elizabeth (who turns 95 on Wednesday): “When life is hard the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat.

Instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.”

Down

1 What is the ground under the ocean? (6) 8 Name a NSW town between Moree and Glen Innes. (8) 9 To be rectangular, is to be what? (6) 10 What is a colloquial term for a police officer? (8) 11 What is the coat of wool that covers a sheep? (6) 12 In which Italian city is Palatine Hill? (4) 13 For which place does one receive a gold medal? (5) 16 That which relates to sovereignty is called what? (5) 19 Name an Australian heavy-metal rock group formed in 1974. (4) 21 Name an ancient province in Ireland – and a long, loose, heavy overcoat. (6) 22 The coolibah is a species of which tree? (8) 23 Which term describes extra space, time, money, etc?

(6) 24 What is a deficiency in quantity? (8) 25 What is a list of persons, with their periods of duty? (6)

2 Name what is said to be the world’s best restaurant? (2,5) 3 What are agents or middle-men known as? (7) 4 Name a renowned term for an Australian returned soldier. (6) 5 Which term describes one who trades in drugs, etc? (7) 6 What is gossip or rumour? (7) 7 That which is unauthorised is said to be what?

(7) 13 What is subtlety of discrimination called? (7) 14 Which nuclear device produces radioactive isotopes, etc? (7) 15 What are pills also known as? (7) 17 Name some edible marine bivalve molluscs. (7) 18 Name a salt of vinegar-like acid. (7) 20 Who was a VC recipient in WWII, and a Governor of NSW, Sir Roden ...? (6)

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LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

Your ruling planet Venus is vamping through Taurus, which lights up your luxuryloving side and wakes up the hedonist within! Romance and passion are also highlighted as the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus all stimulate your sensuality zone. Thursday and Friday look unpredictable (especially involving finances) while the weekend throws a relationship challenge in your direction. Single Librans… look for a lover who is also a friend (someone who you can really talk to).

Solution next edition

Across

Sudoku medium No. 289

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

This week’s stars encourage you to find practical ways to help those around you.

But resist the temptation to be a stubborn, intractable and risk-adverse Scorpio.

Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures, innovative ideas and creative thinking. So keep your options wide open and your adaptability muscles wellflexed. Be inspired by birthday great, singer and actress Cher: “I’ve always taken risks, and never worried what the world might really think of me.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

This week is all about formulating smart strategies and finding practical solutions.

Focus on business and/or work, as the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus help you tap into the extra energy and creativity needed to recalibrate your finances and/ or career. Can you innovate or pivot in a new direction where there is an increasing demand? The planets also stir up your self-esteem zone, as you take a deeper look at your fundamental core values and transform an outdated belief.

If you need advice on SMSF’s, superannuation, retirement or funding property contact the friendly team at Gail Freeman & Co on 6295 2844.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Many Capricorns will feel capricious and cranky this week! Expect some uncomfortable discussions with family and friends. You’re not in the mood to be diplomatic, and others will be surprised by the intensity of your feelings (and your reluctance to compromise). But you’ll have to give a little in order to get a lot.

Avoid becoming bogged down in negatives and being a carping critic. On Friday night, do your best to kick up your Goat heels and have some serious fun.

Disclaimer This column contains general advice, please do not rely on it. If you require specific advice on this topic please contact Gail Freeman or your professional adviser.

Authorised Representative of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd AFS Lic No. 229892.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

Solutions – April 8 edition Sudoku hard No. 288

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

This week do your best to assiduously avoid Piscean passivity and procrastination!

With the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Uranus all activating your learning and local environment zone, it’s time to be confident and courageous as you proactively set ambitious goals and expand your world in exciting new directions. So your motto is from Aries actress and entrepreneur Kate Hudson (who turns 42 on Monday): “Happiness is not something that just comes to you. It’s an active process.”

Solution next edition

Crossword No. 776

There’s a planetary pile-up in your home zone so expect some family shenanigans and domestic dramas this week (especially on Thursday and Friday). You’re also likely to hear some startling news that makes your ears burn but try to be super discreet with any secrets that come your way. If you’re tempted to spread red-hot rumours and gratuitous gossip, then heed the wise words of birthday great, novelist and poet Charlotte Bronte: “Look twice before you leap.”

Lewis has been saving for a house, but with prices rising, he's finding it almost impossible to get a deposit together.

So he came to see me about an idea he'd had.

"I got my super statement and I have more than $300,000 in my fund," he told me.

"So I thought I could roll over the super fund into a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) buy a property and rent it from the SMSF, paying the mortgage repayments, which would cost me less than what I'm currently paying in rent.

"Then I could save extra money to replace the amount that I have used out of the fund to increase my retirement benefit.”

I told Lewis it was an interesting idea, but under the laws as they currently stand there were a few reasons that he couldn't do it.

"You can buy a property in your SMSF, but neither you nor any related party of yours can live in the property: neither can you nor any related party rent the property from the SMSF," I told him.

"Even if you were able to rent the property, you would have to pay the commercial rent for the property so there would be no savings in your cash flow on rent.”

Undeterred, Lewis said: “So I could still roll over my super into an SMSF and then rent the property out to a non-related party.

Thinking forward, I could then sell the property when I retire and draw out the super and buy my house then.”

I told him that in theory that was possible.

"However, borrowing in an SMSF is not as simple as it may seem," I said.

"There are also risks as the whole scheme is dependent upon you being able to sell the property at a good price at some time in the future when you retire.

"What happens if prices have gone down at that point and you can’t get the price that you are expecting? Basing today’s decision on what might happen in the future is not a good strategy.

“There are also issues when you borrow in an SMSF. It is a requirement of the ATO that you purchase a property using a limited recourse borrowing arrangement. This means that you have to set up an SMSF, a trustee company, a holding trust to hold the property and another company to act as trustee of the holding trust.

This is obviously more expensive than just purchasing a property in your own name. There are few lenders that will lend money for property with a limited recourse borrowing arrangement involved.

"If you could find one, the interest rate will probably be at least double the interest rate you'd be charged if you purchased the property yourself.

"If you were expecting to get any negative-gearing benefits in the SMSF and utilise them yourself, this is not possible either.

"The losses are locked into the superannuation fund and could reduce the value of the fund over time. So overall, it's not a good idea. I suggest we look at some other saving options for you so that you can achieve your goal.”

02 6295 2844 Unit 9, 71 Leichhardt Street, Kingston ABN 57 008 653 683

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(Chartered accountant, SMSF specialist advisor and Authorised Representative of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd AFS Lic No. 229892)

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Connect with me on Linkedin bit.ly/3bcXEZl CityNews April 15-21, 2021 25

GARDENING

Time for a change in planting THE end of daylight saving in April, along with the change to daylight saving again in October, is the ideal reminder for a change in planting.

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Winter need not be a time of dreary gardens and cloudy skies, for there is a wealth of colourful plants just waiting to be planted. Depending on the weather, it usually takes about seven to eight weeks from planting of seedlings to full flower.

Hopefully La Niña, with its excessive rain and cold days, has passed. The ground is beautifully moist, so combined with regular supplementary feeding of liquid seaweed plant nutrients, which specifically promotes strong root growth, seedlings will take off.

Get busy – pull out and compost those summer annuals, also known as bedding plants, such as petunias. Make sure the area is weed free.

With the recent prolific growth of all things in the garden, we all have plenty of these. Weeds don’t go on to the compost heap; into the green bin if you have one, or the Trash Pak. I recommend planting pansies, primulas and violas, or violets, at this time. For a stunning picture, plant in groups of the same colour. All these are annuals and will provide colour at

Pansies for winter and spring colour. least until late spring, then the timely reminder to replant for summer colour comes round again with changing the clocks in October.

One of my all-time favourites is the polyanthus/primrose family. These are often considered an annual, but are far from it. Ours have been in for several years, are already coming into flower, and will continue flowering until at least mid-spring.

It’s not too late to divide polyanthus, giving many more plants at no cost. The only attention required is a liquid feed every few weeks and regular applications of snail bait. Regular removal of spent flowers and old leaves will help.

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A VITALLY important reminder about snail bait.

With the regular rain this summer, those blighters, along with slugs, have been prolific. Two of the most popular brands contain metaldehyde – I cannot over-emphasise the danger this poses to pets, wildlife or even young children.

We lost our special golden cocker spaniel with snail bait based on this product. I put the packet down for a few minutes and Gypsy ate some. The vet explained there was nothing he could do as it was just like rat poison.

The safer alternative is Multiguard Slug and Snail Killer, in the yellow box made from natural products and specifically recommended by TV vet Dr Harry Cooper.

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OPEN GARDEN / Griffith

Low-care ‘town garden’ of year-round colour JOHN and Liz Baker are no strangers to warmly welcoming people into their gardens.

They’ve hosted numerous open-garden events over the years, but for the first time the couple will share their low-maintenance Griffith “town garden” as part of Open Gardens Canberra on the weekend of April 24-25.

Cleverly designed to provide colour and interest year-round, using a combination of flowering shrubs, perennials, bulbs and roses in shades of pink, purple, blue and white in co-ordinated colour palettes, the garden was established by John and Liz 11 years ago.

They say they learned everything from establishing three other gardens, particularly their “gorgeous old country garden”, Old Graham, near Cowra, which they created over more than 20 years and often opened to the public under the Open Garden Scheme or for local fundraisers.

“We’re in our mid-70s now, and we like to do

Words: Kathryn Vukovljak Photos: Holly Treadaway all the garden work ourselves, so we wanted to keep this garden, where we plan to stay, low maintenance, choosing mulch, drippers and no lawn,” says Liz. The couple designed and established the Griffith garden themselves, apart from building the stone walls and putting in the paths, and say they like neat lines with touches of whimsy. Several sculptural bird baths attract scrub wrens, fairy wrens and magpies.

John and Liz are art collectors, filling the space with sculptures by Sian Watson, Greg Johns, Michael Le Grand and Patricia Lawrence, as well as works by students from the ANU’s School of Art and Design – and a flock of ceramic chooks, “the perfect low-maintenance pets”!

“There are nooks and crannies, with secret paths leading around the garden and art to be uncovered,” Liz says.

“Children love the winding stepping stones in the front garden, and spotting the iron snail

sculptures there.”

Trees include magnolia, Japanese flowering crabapple, cherry and crepe myrtles. David Austin roses are much-loved, plus bearded iris, hellebores, bergenia and camellia sasanqua “Yuletide”, with its Christmassy blooms.

The block is divided at the back by a trellis that conceals the productive veggie garden, fig tree, blueberries, Seville orange, blood orange and mandarin trees, a potting area and newly established espaliered fruit trees – Josephine pear; apricot, Pink Lady/Gala, white peach/yellow plum and kiwi fruit vines.

“I love making jams and marmalade, so I wanted to replicate the fruit trees from Old Graham here,” says Liz. The Baker garden, 20 Wells Gardens, Griffith, open 10am-4pm over the weekend of April 24-25. Entry $10, children under 18 free. Book at Eventbrite. There will be no ticket sales or memberships available at the gate. Join Open Gardens Canberra for $30 and all gardens are free for a year.

Liz Baker…“We like to do all the garden work ourselves, so we wanted to keep it low maintenance.” Photo: Holly Treadaway

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corkhillbros.com.au CityNews April 15-21, 2021 27

Chilly Season plan.

30% OFF* gas usage PLUS 15% OFF* electricity usage.

Our hottest winter deal is back.

Get set to sizzle and save.

Get spicier! It’s online only at actewagl.com.au/chilly-season *Available online only for ACT residential customers. T&Cs apply – see website. ActewAGL Retail ABN 46 221 314 841, a partnership of Icon Retail Investments Limited ABN 23 074 371 207 and AGL ACT Retail Investments Pty Ltd ABN 53 093 631 586. Basic Plan Information Documents are available at actewagl.com.au/act-prices