CityNews 210805

PAUL COSTIGAN / WHAT COULD BE WORSE? WODEN COULD BE WORSE AUGUST 5, 2021

Well written, well read

HOME 9 PAGES IMPROVEMENTS

ACT government pulls the levers on widening inequity JON STANHOPE A dose of complacency slows the vaccinations

MICHAEL MOORE

Omar stops to smell the… chillies

Creative powerhouse OMAR MUSA has used the covid quiet time to build his talents in gardening and woodcuts

EX-GOVERNMENT

FURNITURE

How a moment with ‘the devil’ inspired a play

HELEN MUSA

Money talks… mostly it says goodbye

CLIVE WILLIAMS

COME IN & EXPLORE – BUY IN BULK & SAVE SEE MORE PAGE 21

COME OUT & FIND WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR!

www.exgovfurniture.com | Email sales@exgovfurniture.com | 6 Yallourn Street, Fyshwick | Phone 6280 6490 | Find us on

| OPEN 6 DAYS

ADVERTISMENT

A second opinion on hearing loss – you need professional advice, not a sales pitch An elderly woman with hearing loss came to my clinic for a second opinion, after she had recently been to a hearing aid sales person.

I found the cause of her hearing loss was simply the fact that she had build-up of wax in her ears, the salesperson had failed to inspect them. You might be surprised how often this happens!

Recently I was told by two different patients that they were quoted $16,000 for a pair of hearing aids.

This seems a ridiculous amount of money to pay and is most likely not appropriate for the majority of people (or possibly anyone).

5. If you are a pensioner or partpensioner, or a DVA gold or white card holder, you should carefully consider if you want to use the Here are some things to free-to-client government do to avoid getting hearing aids or if you’d ripped off: “In an like to top-up to a unregulated market different hearing aid.

1. A visit to the GP may save you there is a lot of opportunity The free-to-client from being ‘sold’ to take advantage of people. hearing aids are something appropriate for many when your only Yes you have read correctly, problem is wax there is no licensing of people people, however if you have great in your ears. who sell hearing aids.” difficulty hearing background noise (for 2. Look for – Dr Vass example in restaurants) someone who is then you might trial the independent and top-up hearing aids, but only can offer you unbiased if you can afford them. There are advice, not just give you a a range of top up options and prices, sales pitch. if you are disappointed after a trial, you should return them and trial the free-to3. There are a range of hearing aid client hearing aids. prices. Finding the right hearing aid might save you money and it will If you get the feeling the person also give you the best chance of you’re dealing with is just trying to success. sell you something, then take a step back and get a second opinion.

4. Hearing aids can be expensive.

Dr William Vass Suite14, John James Medical Centre, 175 Strickland Crescent, Deakin Phone: 02 6282 2717 • Email: williamvass@bigpond.com • Website: drvasshearing.com.au

NEWS / kindness

Hugh’s calling for a revolution… of kindness

By Danielle

NOHRA BEST-selling author Hugh Mackay is using his final book about social analysis to call for a revolution of kindness.

He says “The Kindness Revolution” wraps up a more than 50-year career as a social researcher and social psychologist, and while he’ll continue to write fiction, the inner-south resident believes he’s said all he can in the realm of social analysis.

The idea behind “The Kindness Revolution” came from what he witnessed in people after the bushfires and now, during the pandemic.

“I used the pandemic as the jumping-off point for the book and a reference point because it’s such a major dysfunction to our lives,” says Hugh, 83.

“The pandemic is terrible for people who have been infected by the virus and terrible for people whose livelihood has been affected, but a brilliant example of how well humans respond when there’s a catas-

INDEX

trophe to deal with.

“Our capacity for kindness, compassion, reaching out, making sacrifices for the common good, all that stuff becomes second nature to us, because it is in our nature.

“Kindness is the pathway to a fulfilling life for humans so it’s not surprising that when there is a crisis, that’s what comes to the fore.”

Hugh says the stories of people doing kind acts during the pandemic are not extraordinary and believes that people can be kind to others they don’t like and kind to people they don’t agree with.

“We can terminate a relationship kindly, you can discipline a child kindly, you can have a robust argument kindly,” he says.

“When people see an old person struggling to cross the road, they help them, they don’t qualify them.

“They don’t say: ‘How did you vote in the last election, are you my sort of person?’

“They just see someone in need and help them.”

Through “The Kindness Revolution”, Hugh is urging people to look at the lessons learned following the bushfires and during the pandemic and

Since 1993: Volume 27, Number 31

Arts & Entertainment 23-25 Canberra Matters 8 Cinema & Streaming 24 Crossword 26 Dining 25 Garden 27 Horoscopes 26 Letters 12 News 3-13 Politics 10, 11 Seven Days 4

Cover: Author and poet Omar Musa. Story Page 6.

Photo: Holly Treadaway.

Well written, well read

Ph 02 6189 0777 Fax 02 6189 0778 9b/189 Flemington Rd, Mitchell 2911

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, 9b/189 Flemington Road, Mitchell.

Author Hugh Mackay… “Kindness is the pathway to a fulfilling life for humans so it’s not surprising that when there is a crisis, that’s what comes to the fore.”

Photo: Danielle Nohra not let them go.

However, Hugh admits that people can forget these lessons when life returns to normal and he says there’s two reasons why they do.

The first, he says, is because the ego gets in the way.

“We all experience the struggle between our sense of ourselves as independent, unique, individuals,” he says.

“We are independent individ-

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 Tim Spare, 0423 381691 Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au Digital news editor: Danielle Nohra, danielle@citynews.com.au Journalists: Nick Overall, nick@citynews.com.au Belinda Strahorn, belinda@citynews.com.au; Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au Arts editor: Helen Musa, helen@citynews.com.au Production manager: Janet Ewen Graphic Designer: Douglas Lima Proof reader: Glenda Anderson Accounts: accounts@citynews.com.au

END OF LEASE CLEARANCE SALE

UP TO 50% OFF

uals, but we are also utterly interdependent, and when there’s a crisis we’re reminded of that.

“Our individual identity doesn’t matter in a crisis, we’re just all in this together. We have to co-operate, we have to help each other out, no questions asked. We don’t hesitate.

That’s our true nature.”

The second reason is that Australia, like other western societies, has been through a

period of about 30 or 40 years of social change, he says.

This change, according to Hugh, has pushed the idea of individualism and fragmentation, which has resulted in changes such as shrinking households, a high rate of relationship breakdowns and incredible busyness.

“We’re [also] moving house on average once every six years, and our embracing of information technology has connected us, but has made it easier than ever to stay apart.

“All of those changes together in society have pushed us in the direction of being more socially fragmented, less cohesive, more people experiencing social isolation, which explains the triple epidemics that we’ve been suffering from – anxiety, depression and loneliness.”

So the big question of 2021 Hugh asks is, has the pandemic been enough of a disruption to encourage people to resist the effects of all those social changes?

“The pandemic has reminded us that we need each other, that we are members of a social species, we have to look out for each other, we have to make sacrifices for the common good,” he says.

“Let’s not forget that because if we do forget it we slip back into how we were.”

To help implement the kindness revolution, Hugh has created a four-point plan to “CARE”, which urges people to: •C onnect with each other by acknowledging people, smiling at them and saying “hello”; •A ccepting people the way they are – “We don’t have to like them in order to be kind to them!”; •R espect that everyone’s human. Hugh says everyone deserves kindness because they are members of the same species, not because they share the same opinions; •E ngage with the local community and become better listeners, especially when people are feeling undervalued or isolated.

“It’s very appropriate to dream of a better world and then to acknowledge that the only way to make the world a better place is person-by-person, relationship-by-relationship, workplace-by-workplace, street-by-street,” he says.

“Kindness multiplies.”

“The Kindness Revolution” ($32.99) at all book shops and online.

Have you considered a pre-arranged funeral?

Take the burden off your loved ones and pre-arrange your funeral.

Pay today’s prices for the funeral you want, with a personalised payment plan.

With 31 years experience, William Cole Funerals provide excellence in funeral service.

SELECTED FLOOR STOCK

HURRY IN AND FIND THE PERFECT PIECE FOR YOUR HOME!

UNIT 7, 17 IRON KNOB STREET, FYSHWICK | OPEN 7 DAYS P: 6280 7411 | E: timberlandfyshwick@gmail.com | www.canberracustomfurniture.com

02 6253 3655 williamcolefunerals.com.au | 60 Nettlefold Street, Belconnen, ACT 2617 CityNews August 5-11, 2021 3

SEVEN DAYS

It was a dark and stormy night… well, in Dickson THERE’S a dark side to Dickson and it’s been that way for at least three, dark, wintery months.

Here’s the photographic, after-dark evidence that, I’m told, if you look hard, really hard, there’s an unlit light pole in there. Too dark for me, I couldn’t see it. And that’s the point.

The monolithic Access Canberra seems indifferent to the appeals (five to Fix My Street) to turn the streetlights on for the block in the middle of the Dickson streets bounded by Marsden, Davenport, Bates and Marsden (again).

Separately, columnist Paul Costigan recently described the ACT’s bureaucratic one-stop shop as a “one-stop road block” to people trying to get anyone to take notice.

My Dickson snout complains that: “All the street lights on the inner circle of that block have not been working for at least three months and it is very dark for anyone walking in the evening.” Any public liability bells ringing, Minister Chris Steel?

NEWS editor Danielle Nohra’s magnum opus on the state of public toilets in Canberra in last week’s “CityNews” attracted a chorus of “hear, hears” from readers.

Lisa Teasdale emailed saying: “Apart from in the major shopping complexes such as Westfield, I am unsure if there are any public toilets in Gungahlin, especially around the parks of the new areas. Clean,

Another dark, winter’s night in Dickson… “It is very dark for anyone walking in the evening.” open and well-lit amenities that cater for all walks of life are essential.”

So did Sue Dyer, who says the Downer shops should be added to the toilet tally.

“The empty structure/shell of the original 1960s toilet remains and the Downer Community Association is keen for it to be upgraded but has been rebuffed often,” she says.

Then V Ann Lewis wrote to say there are no WCs at the Red Hill shops, but with a lot of new development going on, couldn’t the developers be asked to fix things if the ACT government won’t?

She says there’s The Parks, “which would conceivably be expecting lots of small children given the money spent on the play

areas already built, and also the Villa Rossa retirement village, which will result in more elderly residents to the area”.

She says she foresees the need for toilet facilities close by the shops and besides “I am sure this suburb must pay suitably high enough rates to deserve money spent on this convenience.”

And up popped John Milne with this story: “Earlier this year, as I was standing outside IGA at Chapman, a young man, who was obviously unfamiliar with the area, came rushing up to me, and asked: ‘Where is the public toilet?’

“He seemed desperate.

“So I said: ‘There is no public toilet here.

Your best bet is to go into the adjacent

doctors’ surgery and use the one in there,’ which he did.

“He was so relieved – in more ways than one!”

Here’s an updated list from Danielle on other suburbs you won’t find a public toilet: •D uffy shops is in the process of being “revitalised” by the ACT government (footpath upgrades, new seating and trees), plans don’t include public toilet facilities.

• Even though Crace shops have a grocery store, medical centre, pharmacy, cafe, pub, beautician, hairdresser, physiotherapist and gym, there is no public-toilet facility. However, there are public-toilet facilities at the recreation park about a kilometre away.

• F lorey shops is another neighbourhood shopping centre without public-toilet facilities.

• Parents with young children might be forced to cut their trip short to the developerbuilt Denman Prospect Ridgeline Park playground when they discover they’re without toilets.

•H ackett shops don’t have any public toilets.

• Same with Franklin. While it has about eight stores, including a supermarket, cafe and pharmacy, there’s no toilet in sight.

AND while we plumb the S-bend, here’s some news that has Icon Water “excited”.

It’s a “fun” drain-care campaign called, sigh,

“Free the Poo”.

Apparently, Canberra is ranked as one of the worst Australian cities when it comes to total sewer main breaks and chokes and Icon Water spent north of $1.7 million clearing blockages in 2019-2020 “The message is simple: help us ‘free the poo’ so it flows to our treatment plant instead of being blocked up, or worse, flowing back to you,” says Icon Water MD Ray Hezkial.

Ostensibly, it’s a war on wet wipes flushed down Canberra’s toilets. Unlike toilet paper, they don’t break down causing blockages at every stage of the treatment process.

And how do the Iconeers clear a blockage?

(Spoiler alert) Manually, says Ray: his “Blockage Busters” team gets down in the sewer and tears apart what he politely describes as “huge clumps of rubbish”, mostly made up of wet wipes. Now there’s a nomination for worst job in Canberra.

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

The MonaLisa Touch is a comfortable, nonhormonal, minimally invasive and painless 5-minute treatment with zero downtime Creating longer-lasting relief, the MonaLisa Touch is for women experiencing vaginal itching/burning, vaginal dryness, loss of lubrication, vaginal laxity, incontinence symptoms, or painful sexual intercourse.

Key benefits of The MonaLisa Touch:

Dr Omar Gailani offers treatment for Gynecological conditions including Fibroids

Prolapse

Low risk – suitable for most women Pelvic Floor

Menopause

Abdominal pain

Incontinence

including Botox for overactive bladder

A referral is necessary for an appointment with Dr Gailani Canberra Urology and Gynaecology Centre | P 6285 1813 E reception@omargailani.com.au | W omargailani.com.au Suite 2, Level 2, Equinox 1, 70 Kent Street, Deakin ACT 4 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

Achieves long lasting improvements Immediate return to normal daily activities Suitable for women who are not able to undergo hormone replacement therapy eg. Breast Cancer Patients High success rates after treatment Minimal maintenance after initial procedure

Dr Omar Gailani MBCHB, DIP O&G, FRANZCOG

GYNAECOLOGICAL SURGEON & PELVIC FLOOR MEDICINE

COVER STORY / Omar Musa

Omar takes time to stop and smell... the chillies

By Kathryn

VUKOVLJAK OMAR Musa has taken to growing plants throughout the pandemic.

The Queanbeyan-based author, poet and rapper developed an interest in horticulture in 2020 and found a new appreciation for the natural world locally.

“Because we can’t travel far afield, suddenly our little half-hour walk down to the river or the lake becomes full of the most beautiful, luminous things we haven’t seen before,” he says.

“Even if we want to contain it to our own apartments or houses, through the popularity of gardening and indoor plants. I’ve got a print that says ‘I miss the jungle so I propagated a memory and made one on my windowsill’.

“We can feel echoes of these huge forests and jungles, and recreate them on a small scale. I’m growing rare chillies from around the world.

I’ve been making my own little garden… I’ve found great solace in that.

“We can take cues from nature about resilience, recovery and regrowth.”

Omar, 37, has always been drawn to the natural world, he says, and his latest exhibition of woodcuts and poetry, “Beautiful Thing, Vanishing Thing”

Author and poet Omar Musa...“I’ve been making my own little garden… I’ve found great solace in that.” Photo: Holly Treadaway at Humble House Gallery, celebrates the beauty of the “precious vanishing world”.

“We need to hold on to and cherish nature, but often we lose touch with it,” he says.

“I’m looking at these landscapes of Borneo and Australia, which couldn’t be more different but they’re affected by the same issues, the loss of endemic species through climate change and habitat destruction.

“I’m also bringing in other elements that are more personal, to do with my family history and Bornean culture.

It’s playful, too.

“These woodcuts have a lot of humour and silliness in them.”

The medium of woodcutting connects Omar to his Bornean heritage,

and he learned the traditional techniques, including printing with his feet, at a workshop at the Tamparuli Living Arts Centre in Sabah while on “a life-changing trip into the heart of the jungle”.

“At that point I was really burnt out. I’d sort of come to hate the things which were supposed to be my life’s passions,” he says.

“I’d been working so hard and for so long that I knew I needed a new way of expressing myself. And I didn’t know what that was going to be.”

Having been a fan of the highly political poster style of the woodcut collective Pangrok Sulap, Omar went to a woodcutting workshop run by artist and woodcutter Aerick LostControl to “have a go”.

“Pangrok Sulap were taught by a famous Indonesian woodcut collective called Taring Padi, who are in some ways the godfathers of the modern woodcut scene in South-East Asia.

They taught Aerick, who taught me, so there’s an interesting lineage,” he says.

“I sat down on the ground, I was told: ‘This is the V-shaped tool, this is the U-shaped tool. They have different effects. All you need to remember is don’t carve towards your fingers, that’s it. Draw whatever you want.”

Omar says he knew he wanted to carve something beautiful, and chose “the most beautiful thing I knew, a Bornean clouded leopard”.

“The image of the leopard has come up again and again for me. There’s a

tragic element to them because their habitats are being destroyed,” he says.

“But, of course, because you can’t help who you are, I carved words alongside the picture ‘when the loggers are away the leopards will play’.”

Omar says he started in woodcutting by combining words and images because at that time, making something purely visual “felt like too much of a leap for me”.

“I had to link it to what I was already doing,” he says.

Reflecting on how the covid era has affected both people and the natural world, Omar says the exhibition comes from “my heart and spirit”, with a love of the beauty of Australia and Malaysia.

“Although I only went to Borneo maybe once or twice as a child, my parents encouraged me to know the language and I grew up rich with stories of the homeland,” he says.

“Before covid, I would visit once or maybe twice a year. I’ve got a lot of family there, including my dad, a practising poet, and a really close-knit community of artists that I’m friends with and like to work with.

“I had planned to maybe move back last year, but that’s off the cards.

“For now I just have to dream about it through my art.”

“Precious Thing, Vanishing Thing”, Humble House Gallery, 93 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick, until August 22.

Find a job that's right for you!

EMPLOYMENT OPTIONS Give our employment team a call today and start your journey to finding a job that suits your individual skills and interests. Our experienced staff will work with you, your family and support network to identify job options that will work for you. We also provide ongoing direct support for as long as you need it.

6 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

P: 02 6280 6143 W: koomarri.com.au

THE GADFLY

Boys’ club is finally coming unstuck

By Robert

MACKLIN IT’S rare in these days of multifarious media outlets to find a single program that becomes a communal talking point around the coffee pot.

But one such was certainly that recent episode of Annabel Crabb’s “Ms Represented” on the ABC. It set Australia’s tongues wagging from coast to coast.

The ending blew my socks off. In a magnificently edited peroration, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard tore strips off their male tormentors that not only sent the pulses racing but drew real tears.

It came in the wake of behind-the-scenes revelations of male ugliness and repression in the parliamentary milieu.

For those of us who have done time there, the fact of such behaviour came as no surprise.

I worked as a reporter in “The Age” bureau for two years and as press secretary to John “Black Jack” McEwen for four – but was unprepared for the extent and depth of the recent problem.

Parliament, like the Church and most of the professions, has always been a boys’ club. They based the system on competition rather than compromise; then they picked teams to battle for the power of the purse and the perks that went with it because that’s what men do.

They resisted the “intrusion” of women for as long as possible and when they finally began to arrive they made it plain that they were surplus to requirements. So the newcomers either played the power game according to unwritten rules of the club – which made them mere decorations in the party shop window – or they either got bullied out or lost preselection.

That was then.

Today it’s different.

In between, the parties of the left began to attract a new cohort of university educated women with the self-confidence to not only recognise the barriers to change but the determination to overcome them. And it must be said, that more recently they have

Annabel Crabb… The timing was immaculate. been partnered with equally preceptive and supportive husbands who today are often found pushing prams along pathways in our cities and tourist towns. Australia was slowly growing to appreciate the diverse talents of its population.

Then came covid and our gaze turned inward. Survival supplanted party politics.

Women led advisory bodies and state governments.

And suddenly in Parliament House, a brave young Brittany Higgins called out the treatment she’d received in the wake of an horrific event in a minister’s office. A cabinet minister was accused of the rape of a debating team colleague in his youth (which he vigorously denied). And coincidentally, a young victim of disgraceful male abuse, Grace Tame, was chosen as Australian of the Year.

An awful stench of workplace impropriety came pouring out of Parliament House together with the most loathsome ducking and weaving from the Prime Minister.

And just when the botched vaccine rollout blew away the sexist headlines, up came Ms Crabb with her mighty right pincer poised. The timing was immaculate. When she sank it into the government’s ample bum and squeezed tight you could hear the squeals from Albany to Ayr and from Bathurst to Broome.

It was a sharp reminder that even while contending with covid, we must never allow the big issues of Australia’s coming-of-age to slip from the national agenda.

To stay on track we might ask what has become of the Phil Gaetjens’ report into who in the PM’s office knew what and when of the Brittany Higgins rape allegations? And when, if ever, will the AFP lay a criminal charge? robert@robertmacklin.com

CityNews August 5-11, 2021 7

CANBERRA MATTERS

What could be worse? Woden could be worse IN the late 1980s, if you happened to be in the office of the National Capital Development Commission, at 220 Northbourne Avenue, it was hard to concentrate on the discussions because of the view looking south along Northbourne to the far mountains.

You knew you were looking at Canberra, a beautiful city in the landscape.

Thanks to the recent lack of planning and the laissez-faire, developerdriven approach to development, this corridor to the city, its most public gateway, has changed dramatically – and not for the better. Now it has become so bad that at a recent Inner South Canberra Community Council meeting people spoke of the fear that Adelaide Avenue, going south, might be the subject of similar developerdriven “renewal” to become “as bad as Northbourne Avenue”.

In Chicago there are daily tours to view and talk about architecture.

These tours are fantastic. I cannot imagine that the present architecture of Northbourne Avenue will become a hot tourist attraction. Interesting architectural features along Northbourne are rare. Boring and bland stuff is common.

Could things get any worse than what is happening along Northbourne? Yes, it’s already happening to the Woden Town Centre, which is being overrun by development with

Could things get any worse than what’s happened along Northbourne Avenue? Yes, it’s already happening to the Woden Town Centre, which is overrun by development with towers jammed against each other. towers jammed against each other.

There is little good design and minimal (almost no) landscape remaining in and around this crush of towers.

But wait! The city has the City Renewal Authority with a remit for good design and a government architect running an advisory panel titled the National Capital Design Review Panel. Surely, this combination of talent should be delivering something wonderful. Haven’t seen it yet!

With this in mind it was of interest to watch the government architect Catherine Townsend present at the July 7 meeting of the Woden Valley Community Council.

Her main presentation was about the wonders of her design review panel. This was of interest, but it went on for about an hour. No harm done here – given I was watching from home

The former office of the National Capital Development Commission, at 220 Northbourne Avenue… from the views, you knew you were looking at Canberra, a beautiful city in the landscape.

Photo: Paul Costigan and, with headphones on, I scrubbed out the bathroom. But then came the interesting bit – so back to the screen.

The Woden council chair, Fiona Carrick, asked the government architect for her views on what is happening to the Woden Centre – towers, towers and more towers!

She also asked whether the government architect could help as so many agencies duck for cover or point the finger at someone else when the mess that is Woden is queried.

It would seem logical that the government architect, having spoken about the bureaucratic wonder that is the design review panel, would now be offering something relevant to the

Woden citizens. Nope! Did not happen.

Somehow the architectural monstrosities of Woden are not on the government architect’s remit. And that design review panel must be too busy with other stuff – somewhere else!

In fact, she made things worse by indicating that planning reform takes time in the ACT and with this one having been based on changes 10 years ago, it will probably be a while till anything changes that may assist with Woden.

Her responses could be taken to

mean that if nothing changes much this time around (which is most likely) that it could be another 10 years before there is another opportunity. I could not see the faces on the audience – but suspect that those comments were not helpful. So why was she there? I cannot answer that politely.

For Canberra to continue to be a city in the landscape and a city that has an aesthetic architectural difference to other over-developed cities, something needs to urgently change.

It is not just about planning, although the present Planning Directorate needs to be shown the door. It is more about having a creative leadership running the joint. That should be resident-friendly landscape architects, architects, urban planners, environmental and heritage professionals with real power to change the course of the urban renewal as is being delivered by Andrew “Land-Swap” Barr and his barbarians.

Are there politicians or potential politicians out there that could make this happen?

DOWNSIZING

AND DECLUTTERING

Whether you are preparing for sale, renovations, or making your home safe our expert packing specialists can pack and clear rooms or whole houses quickly and efficiently.

We can organise and provide all packing materials to complete these clearing tasks for those who are busy and unable to complete these tasks in a short time frame.

house-to-home.com.au

8 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

info@house-to-home.com.au

0457 456 767

NEWS / birds

How the kindness of birds entranced Merlinda

By Kathryn

VUKOVLJAK WHEN Merlinda Bobis’ father was dying in the Philippines, he was comforted by two birds who would visit and sing outside his window.

Months later, the same orioles came to sing at his grave to comfort her mother, she says.

From then on, birds seemed to offer solace to Merlinda through an intense period of grief, global upheaval and health challenges.

“I felt them showing up for me,” says the award-winning Filipina-Australian author, who received an ArtsACT grant in 2018, plus support from De La Salle University in Manila, to research and develop her latest book of short stories, “The Kindness of Birds”.

“I had two rosellas fly up to my balcony. A white dove visited me while I was healing from breast cancer. It was as if the birds were telling me, you have your sorrows but we are here, we are giving you comfort. It’s alright.”

The book, which Merlinda describes as fiction informed by her experiences, is a collection of 14 stories that reflect how kindness can inspire resilience during loss and grief.

While writing the stories, Merlinda lost both her parents, her aunt and brother-in-law, and she says that her deep grief couldn’t help but permeate what she wrote.

As well, the book was written through bushfires, hail and covid, and Merlinda’s own cancer diagnosis.

“In this book, the wrench is from somewhere very deep. I feel privileged and humbled to be sharing these stories. I’m just a conduit. I believe this is the universe working with me,” she says.

“For me it started with the gift of the orioles. I began looking at birds and researching, and found so many stories. If you keep yourself open, the thoughts and stories fly in.”

She says writing “The Kindness of Birds” became a lifeline throughout her treatment.

“This book was my reason to get up and keep going,” she says.

“If I was writing, I was fine – the book kept me alive because

Author Dr Merlinda Bobis… “It was as if the birds were telling me, you have your sorrows but we are here, we are giving you comfort.”

Photo: Kathryn Vukovljak my headspace was in the stories of others and in my own as the protagonist.

“I felt the stories were being gifted and I had a job to do.”

A connection to birds and the

natural world features in all the linked stories, as does the Filipino concept of kapwa, “a shared identity with another, a kinship, that psychic and physical “space” we share with

others”, Merlinda says.

“And it should be extended to nature, too.

“It’s not just a hand we offer another person but also to the birds, the land, the water. We

have to think of them as cosurvivors and co-spirits,” she says.

“Even one small species has an impact on everything. And so, one of the messages in the book is, if we don’t take care of others it will impact us.”

Merlinda says “The Kindness of Birds”, her 12th book, is her way of giving back – in part for the kindness she experienced being looked after in hospital, which she writes about in the story “Angels”, and the gift of being able to take care of her parents in their last moments.

“With covid, so many people now cannot even say goodbye, and there is so much grief. We are all kindred in mortality,” she says.

“I really hope it will be a kinder world after this.

“There are a lot of calamities in this book but through writing it, I found the resilience of people and nature.

“We grow resilient if there is a kind hand that holds our own amid the devastation.”

“The Kindness of Birds”, available at Dymocks Civic and can be ordered from any bookstores, online and directly from Spinifex Press.

Our PROPERTY MANAGEMENT service is client focused, backed by experience, and qualifications SECOND TO NONE • • • •

No hidden charges No lock-in contracts World class technology Higher returns and better care for your property

Call or email today for more information

FIRST TWO MONTHS FEE-FREE New clients only

E: info@realestateAustralia.com.au | P: (02) 6287 4577 CityNews August 5-11, 2021 9

POLITICS / house prices

Government pulls levers on widening inequality THE median price of a detached house in Canberra has hit the million-dollar mark.

The great Australian dream, a comfortable house on a quarter-acre block, is for many Australians, including in rapidly increasing numbers here in Canberra, a long abandoned and painful pipedream.

There are almost daily reports of new million-dollar-plus record house prices in, it seems, nearly every suburb across Canberra.

These reports invariably convey a sense of joy and excitement, almost orgasmic in nature, at the apparently endless rise in Canberra house prices.

The Canberra median house price has, I understand, overtaken or at least is about to overtake that in Melbourne, which will make it the second highest in Australia and we are in hot pursuit of Sydney for the overall title.

Keeping in step with the increase in the value of houses in Canberra is the cost of rent where we have, remarkably, already left Sydney floundering in our wake and have the highest rents in Australia.

I acknowledge, in the interests of transparency, that along with the rest of home-owning, middle-class Canberra, that my house has also almost certainly increased in value

The brutal truth is that, as a result of the increases in Canberra house prices over the last five or six years, any family whose gross household income is below $120,000 will never ever be able to afford a detached house. by a cool couple of hundred thousand dollars in the blink of an eye and without me having to do a thing.

I understand, of course, how satisfying the accretion of wealth can be and how gratifying it must be to be able to leave an extra fistful of dollars to the kids when one drops off the perch and the house is sold.

Any possible pleasure that I might have at the runaway increase in the value of my house and indeed all detached housing in Canberra is severely tempered by the deep concern I have at the consequences of this out-of-control explosion in house prices for young families, lowerincome households and people for whom life is already a struggle.

I find it genuinely distressing, as do many of the people who regularly approach me in the street to lament the implications of the massive increase in prices we are witnessing, for their children and grandchildren.

The brutal truth is that as a result of the increases in Canberra house prices over the last five or six years it is almost certain that any Canberra family whose gross household

income is below the median of around $120,000, in other words as many as 40 per cent of residents will never, unless they are already in the housing market or have family support, ever be able to afford a detached house in Canberra.

While a diverse range of factors, including most particularly low interest rates and bizarrely the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to the increase in house prices, it is the fact that the ACT government, which has a monopoly on the supply of land in the territory, took the decision five years ago to reduce the amount of land available for the construction of detached housing from 70 per cent of all land released to a mere 30 per cent, which created the conditions for the perfect storm in house-price increases that we are experiencing.

When the government took the decision to dramatically reduce the supply of land for houses in favour of apartments I was perplexed by how little attention it paid to the obvious impact the decision would have on housing affordability and hence

lower-income households and, by extension, in widening inequality in the Canberra community.

I remain concerned at not only the apparent complacency and lack of interest of the ACT government about the role which current land supply policies have in widening inequality in Canberra but also that many of us on the up-side of the increase in inequality are regrettably and perhaps selfishly far too sanguine about the negative impacts of current land supply and housing policies which, admittedly, we endorsed at the recent election.

An interesting sign of the impact that ACT land-supply and housing policies are having was a recent report noting that on average 47,000 people cross the ACT border from NSW on each working day of the week.

The Canberra diaspora is increasing at a remarkable and arguably

alarming rate. Accepting that many of these people will have chosen to live in NSW for lifestyle reasons, many more have certainly chosen to leave Canberra and live across the border because of unaffordable land and house prices.

While the warm inner glow we all experience at our local leadership in addressing climate change – including through a commitment to the densification of our city – it is somewhat hypocritical and perhaps pyrrhic if in the process we have encouraged or even forced tens of thousands of residents to commute, in some instances up to 200 kilometres a day, from their new affordable homes, to work and back every day.

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.

sundayROAST

IAN

MEIKLE 10 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

Talking to the names making news.

Join the ‘CityNews’ editor and 2CC personalities Sundays, 9am-noon.

POLITICS / vaccination

How a dose of complacency slows vaccinations GETTING vaccinated against coronavirus disease has never been more urgent. The first wave was pretty scary. There was no vaccine.

Countries and companies pulled out all stops to find a vaccine.

In that first round, countries were doing everything they could to protect hospitals and particularly the intensive care units in the fear that they would be overwhelmed. In many places they were. The Australian government provided financial support for individuals, workers and business.

Then, in Australia in particular, we became complacent.

With the virus spreading so widely internationally, it was only a matter of time before mutations would lead to a deadlier scenario. This outcome was widely predicted by virologists even before the advent of the highly infectious Delta and other strains.

Half the country was in lockdown in the past little while and Sydney has a long way to go before it is out of lockdown.

Unlike NSW and Queensland, Canberrans are not even

So far, Canberra has been very fortunate. However, the risks to people here and the surrounding areas remain. I am proud to have been doubly vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine and encourage others to do the same. required to wear masks. A series of outbreaks in places such as Goulburn, Orange, Blayney and coastal venues have highlighted how dangerously contagious COVID-19 has become and should serve as a warning.

The ACT has been taking a wait-and-watch approach. Numbers of vaccinated people remain stubbornly low. The government tells us: “The ACT will not implement a hard border with NSW. Within our region there are thousands of essential workers who travel to the ACT each day, and thousands of people who rely on the ACT for essential goods and services”.

In contrast, the NSW Premier has been prepared to lockdown areas mapped out by local government boundaries.

Vaccination rates in Australia have been appalling when compared to other similar countries. Part of the reason is access to appropriate vaccines. But we can be fussy. Apart from

in Sydney, the impression created by the government is that the risks from the AstraZeneca vaccine are greater than the risk of the disease.

The Delta variant has changed the risk profile. However, the rumour persists and people are reluctant to use the most widely available vaccine.

Complacency means that young people are able to wait for the Pfizer vaccine while supplies of AstraZeneca quietly slip into oblivion. Changes to recommendations from the peak vaccination advisory body, ATAGI, underline the NSW government position that recognised the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for all adults – no matter what the brand.

The story is different in other countries. At the time of writing there were huge inequities in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

In low-income countries just 0.2 per cent of the population was fully vaccinated. In lower-middle-income countries the percentage increases to around 5.4 per cent. Compare this to 14.9 per cent in upper-middle-income countries and 40.6 per cent in highincome countries.

UN/WHO/World Bank economic group

% of populations % of populations partially immunised fully immunised

Low-income countries

1.10

0.20

Lower-middle-income countries

15.70

5.40

Upper-middle income countries

36.50

14.90

High income

52.40

40.60

WORLD

27.30

13.81

The reason for supporting COVAX in its work to distribute vaccines more equitably is shown in this chart.

The reality is that the risk of the disease is greater than risks associated with the vaccines. As epidemiologist Dr Priscilla Robinson, of La Trobe University, has pointed out: “The disease is spreading with about two million more cases last week. In fact, the big increases in cases have been in Vietnam (again) and Fiji (again) and Cuba that have increased by around 50 per cent”.

She pointed out in her “weekly report” that “a few countries have had surges of about 10-20 per cent, in such diverse places as Indonesia, Botswana, Malaysia, and perhaps I could add NSW for non-Australians”.

Dr Robinson also commented on world vaccination rates: “Sadly, and probably predictably, the people needing it most are getting it least”.

And she identified the importance of supporting the World Health Organization’s COVAX program “because we can’t remind everybody enough that we are not safe until we are all safe”.

So far, Canberra has been very fortunate. It is probably as much about good fortune as effective management.

However, the risks to people in Canberra and the surrounding local government areas remain in place.

I am proud to have been doubly vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine and encourage others to do the same.

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.

Open every day during school holidays from 10am to 4pm – Cafe open from 10am to 3pm

257 Bannaby Road Taralga NSW 90 minutes from the heart of Canberra

Trip Advisor rating Facebook rating

0419 014 540 CityNews August 5-11, 2021 11

LETTERS

Write to us: editor@citynews.com.au

More concern for the criminals than the victims COLUMNIST Jon Stanhope has again raised concerns about women being strip searched in our prison and also the high incarceration rate of Aboriginal individuals (“Shane pips Mick when comparing strip searches”, CN July 22).

I wonder if he has considered that a thorough searching regime might well produce the low rate of contraband being detected by discouraging many inmates (but not all) from attempting to smuggle banned items into the jail.

Has he questioned why the people he is so concerned about are in jail? Could it be they have been committing serious crimes?

Just once I would like to see Jon Stanhope consider the impacts that offenders’ crimes have on good, decent members of the community; people who have lost someone to a murder, or who have suffered physical and emotional injury due to assaults, and people who have been subjected to sexual violence or who have been held up by armed offenders.

Also those of us who have had their homes and businesses burgled or who have had their motor vehicles and other property stolen or trashed.

I am but just one victim of crime in this town. Jon Stanhope appears to display more concern for the criminals than he does for those of us who suffer the consequences of their behaviour.

He really needs to re-calibrate his moral compass.

Stephen James, Chisholm

It’s really not rocket science VISIBILITY deteriorates more than 50 per cent at night when travelling east in the mornings or west in the early evenings. So why don’t our speed limits reflect this very obvious fact?

Planting grasses or native food plants along median strips and road shoulders has got to be the most incompetent idea of most planning and road designers. They should be fired!

We are intelligent enough to design roads and suburbs that will encourage wildlife to harmoniously live together.

Change speed limits to reflect the changing risks of safety, enforced through

tion, more parking losses, traffic chaos and bottlenecks, and unreliable and stressful travel times for commuters in buses and cars coming to the inner city from all directions.

Unfortunately the government’s new “multi-agency” Disruption Taskforce will only be addressing problems linked to the city centre. With severe impacts still likely in both Dickson and Civic on people movement, public transport scheduling and social and business connectivity in general, it sounds like the Canberra Liberals may have already won the 2024 election.

In the meantime, can special attention be given to at least helping ambulances, fire trucks and buses get to their destinations promptly?

Sue Dyer, Downer

dose of dorin

Ideological tram to Woden average speed cameras, stop planting vegetation on roadsides and median strips, create overpasses for humans and animals to join up parks and reserves to avoid road ways. Gosh, we don’t even design bike paths adequately.

When are we going to get smart about urban planning and road design? Seriously, it’s not rocket science.

Yana Delvalle, via email

Best thing about Canberra COLUMNIST Paul Costigan wants to stop the trams and spend the money on hospitals (“U-turn the tram, spend on health and housing”, CN July 22). How nice of him.

What about those who don’t have a car and love the trams because they are smooth, frequent and fast? Why not spend the next 10 years worth of road and road maintenance money on hospitals? That would be real money. And continue to extend the trams as they are the best thing about Canberra!

John O Ward, O’Connor

Years of inner-city chaos loom WHEN the ACT Planning Minister rushed to use his call-in powers in July last year to approve another set of plans for a massive supermarket/residential complex in the mid-

dle of the Dickson Group Centre, he chose to dismiss major concerns expressed at that time by the City Renewal Authority about the seven-storey building’s design, aesthetics, creation of long-term traffic problems on completion and tree-cover issues.

“CityNews” responded in despair (“Dickson’s supermarket chaos ends and starts again”, CN July 13, 2020) over the “planning ad-hocery”.

“This planning chaos started years ago under the watchful eye of the then-Planning Minister [now Chief Minister],” the article says.

“This car parking site was sold with no thinking about the consequences.”

And, rightly, concluded that, for three years, “the stream of shoppers who are used to parking in the Woolies car park will be wandering around trying to find a park”.

One year later, and one week into the loss of more than 240 car parks on this nowbuilding site, it is clear that ACT government authorities, local MLAs and the owner/ developer have failed to provide adequate practical assistance to those facing years of stress as they seek to use and support the centre and nearby facilities or just move efficiently around its perimeter. Many will simply go elsewhere if they can.

July also saw this sorry state of affairs starting to be replicated only a few kilometres away in the city’s centre. The ACT government’s warning about the start of construction of 1.7 kilometres of Stage 2a light rail to Commonwealth Park and the early loss of parking areas also conjured up years of increased visual and noise degrada-

NOW that the government has advised that there will be some five years of intense disruption to traffic and the lives of taxpayers and voters, let alone a conservative $3.5 billion, over the five years, to get to Woden, I trust that Canberrans will now realise the ideological idiocy of light rail.

Do not forget that the tram to Woden was but an eleventh-hour brain burst and 2016 election promise by the Chief Minister, with absolutely zero thought of the consequences or to the tremendous cost of an outdated technology.

Already the propaganda has started with the article “Olympic moment could transform commute”’ (Canberra Times, July 22).

Max Flint, Coordinator, Smart Canberra Transport

No mention of subject matter JOHN “ad hominem” Noble (“Letters”, July 21), doesn’t mention the subject matter of my back-to-back-with-progressivelymore-information letters (presumably the ones on an alternative route for the Civic to Capital Hill section of light rail stage 2) that the editor saw fit to publish. The message is clearly worth repeating, especially after the ACT Transport Minister’s recent blatant spin on the comprehensive disaster that will be the current Commonwealth Avenue route (“Light rail works will cause years of road delays”, citynews.com.au, July 21).

Jack Kershaw, Kambah

Buy us smartphones ALTHOUGH I have a mobile phone, that’s all it is; no camera and no “smarts”. If we all have to have a smartphone to use Check In CBR and compulsory masks the government needs to freely supply them.

Lesley Malcolm, via email

Where was the news?

HAVING been a reader of “The Canberra Times” for more than 30 years, I lost touch for a while until I was given a subscription for my recent birthday.

Receiving my first copy, I wondered: “Surely there was a mistake?” when it landed on the front lawn.

Finally getting rid of all the plastic it was wrapped in and going through my copy I was sure there was some mistake. Where was the news?

Full page after full page after full page of advertisements, this was surely “The Canberra Advertiser”?

Where was “The Canberra Times” I was given as a gift subscription?

Cedric Bryant, Watson

Third world toilet issue?

I LOVED Danielle Nohra’s piece on public toilets (“Mystery of the disappearing public toilets”, CN July 29) and, yes, they are fast disappearing in ACT. Chapman shops no longer have any along with many other spaces used by the public.

I also note that the Arboretum only has one, outside the visitors’ centre, for its 250 hectares. If down at the southern end or on the west side, you are a long way from a loo.

Okay for the boys, they can use a tree even though many [trees] are still not all that large.

Lack of toilets is considered a third world problem, when did ACT become a third world?

Margaret Hawes, via email

Explain ‘healthy exercise’ I AGREE with the general thrust of Leon Arundell’s letter (“Make the Move… in anything but your own car”, CN July 29).

However, I fail to see how using a vehicle powered, ideally by renewable energy, could be considered to be “healthy exercise”. As Pauline Hanson would have said: “please explain”.

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

SUFFERING FROM DIGESTION PROBLEMS? OVER 35 YEARS OF HELPING CANBERRA FEEL BETTER

WE DO TELEPHONE, SKYPE AND VIDEO CONSULTATIONS Eliminate illness: address the underlying cause of your poor health, not just the symptoms We can provide a safe and effective treatment for: • Bloating • Constipation • Diarrhea • Flatulance • Irritable Bowel Syndrome Luke Clews

SAFE • NON-INVASIVE • EFFECTIVE • CHRONIC CONDITIONS ARE OUR SPECIALITY

Kingston Natural Therapies

49 Jardine Street, Kingston | kingstonnaturaltherapies.com.au | Phone 6295 6660 12 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

WHIMSY / on aphorisms and proverbs

Money talks... mostly it says goodbye AN aphorism is a brief saying or phrase that expresses an opinion or makes a statement of wisdom without the flowery language of a proverb.

The term was first coined by Greek physician Hippocrates in a work he insightfully titled “Aphorisms”.

The term is often applied to philosophical, moral and literary thoughts. Here are some anonymous examples.

• “I read that 4,153,237 people got married last year. Not wanting to be controversial, but shouldn’t that be an even number?”

• “It’s ironic that the colours red, white, and blue stand for freedom until they’re flashing behind you” • “ When wearing a bikini, women reveal 90 per cent of their bodies.

Men are so polite they only look at the covered parts” • “America produces citizens who’ll cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won’t cross the street to vote” • “You know that tingly little feeling you get when you love someone?

That’s your common sense leaving your body” • “My therapist says I’ve a preoccupation with vengeance. We’ll see about that!”

• “Money talks... mostly it says goodbye” • “You’re not fat, you’re just more

visible” • “If you think nobody cares whether you’re alive, try missing a couple of payments” • “The mailbox is as far as you can go in a dressing gown before you look like a mental patient” • “It’s pretty cool how Chinese people made a language entirely out of tattoos” • “Money can’t buy happiness, but it keeps the kids in touch” • “Being a couch potato is not the same as being a failure. Being a failure implies you were actually trying to achieve something” • “Remember: If you don’t sin, Jesus died for nothing” • “ War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography” • “The first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone” Sometimes they are attributed: • “Men are like linoleum floors; lay ‘em right and you can walk all over them for 30 years” (Betsy Salkind) • “Home cooking. Where many a man thinks his wife is” (Jimmy Durante) • “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience” (Mark Twain) • “Compliments are often insincere, but fault-finding is always genuine” (Edgar Watson Howe) • “I believe in luck: how else can you

explain the success of those you dislike?” Jean Cocteau • “It doesn’t matter what temperature the room is, it’s always room temperature” (Steven Wright) • “If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three” (Laurence Johnston Peter) • “Woman`s first duty in life is to her dressmaker. What the second duty is no one has yet discovered” (Oscar Wilde) • “If life were fair, Elvis would still be alive today and all the impersonators would be dead” (Jimmy Durante) • “America is the only country in the world where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real, but the moon landing was faked” (David Letterman)

yearns to run.” Asian – meaning: Even the elderly have things they still want to accomplish.

• “No one is a prophet in their own land.” Latin American – meaning: People tend to value exotic and unfamiliar experiences to what they have in their own lives.

• “An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.” Arabic – meaning: Leadership is the most important factor in success.

• “Ask about your neighbours before buying the house.” Jewish – meaning: Don’t surround yourself with neighbours you won’t like.

• “After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.” Italian – meaning: In death we’re all equal.

Proverbs provide worldly advice, but in an indirect metaphorical way.

Here are some international ones.

• “Only a fool tests the depth of a river with both feet.” African – meaning: Consider the consequences before making a decision.

• “If your enemy wrongs you. Buy each of his children a drum” African – meaning: Self-evident!

• “The old horse in the stable still

Having a mathematical bent, my favourite aphorism is: • “Relationships are a lot like algebra.

Have you ever looked at your X and wondered Y?” Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.

BRIEFLY Predicting Alzheimer’s years before it starts AUSTRALIANS living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) could know five years in advance whether they are at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s Prof Nicolas disease, according to new research from ANU. Cherbuin.

Until now, experts did not have a practical way of linking a patient’s deteriorating brain health and the likelihood of them getting Alzheimer’s – the most common form of dementia.

The ANU team’s research is the first to examine data of patients with MCI and accurately predict whether they are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s up to five years before a potential diagnosis.

“Knowing whether someone is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s five years in the future is really positive in terms of being able to improve health outcomes for patients by giving them the best advice as early as possible,” said Prof Nicolas Cherbuin, the head of the ANU Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing.

Invitation from the Cats THE local Geelong Cats supporter group, the Canberra Cats, who watch all the AFL teams’ games at the Canberra Southern Cross Club, Woden, are inviting all fans to come and share the Cats’ finals series at the downstairs Community Room. For more information and to organise a copy of the club’s newsletter email canberracats@gmail.com

IF things look a little different at citynews.com.au, they are.

In fact, everything’s different. We have rebuilt the popular website from the ground up to give us a (very) modern digital hub designed to meet the fast-news needs of readers in Canberra and Queanbeyan.

And, in all modesty, it’s getting rave reviews from our thousands of readers who are driving record daily audience numbers, which is pretty cool.

Advertisers are responding positively to the flexibility and cost-efficiency of being seen by so many people digitally every single day. And that’s pretty cool, too.

There remains no paywall to readers and it features all the regular news, views and arts stories that matter.

I can also confirm that the free crossword and sudoku puzzles are working perfectly!

Have a peep (citynews.com.au), we think you’ll love our new world of local news.

Sincerely, Ian Meikle, editor

A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF LOCAL NEWS...

CityNews August 5-11, 2021 13

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

advertising feature

Transforming the home into a space to love WITH many people cosying up inside to stay out of Canberra’s frosty winter, now’s a perfect time to think about how to make the home an even more comfortable space.

Whether it’s getting a new carpet, adding some designer furniture, or renovating the bathroom, kitchen or bedroom, “CityNews” has the insights from Canberra’s passionate home improvement experts.

Recycling wood into something beautiful

Window furnishing store opens northside DOLLAR Curtains and Blinds is excited to announce the opening of its newest flagship store in Belconnen, says marketing manager Danielle Crosby.

One of more than 30 stores operating nationally, Danielle says they have the country’s largest range of curtains, blinds, shutters and awnings that are all Australian-made.

“Our large range can be viewed at our Belconnen or Fyshwick stores,” she says.

“You can go in and feel the fabric samples, see all colourways and experience the large-scale size of what the products will look like.

“We are unique in that we offer full length curtain samples that you can borrow and try at home and we also offer a free design, measure and quote service.”

Danielle says their window coverings can

100% Recycled Australian timber Flooring, cladding, decking, posts, beams & furniture Made in Canberra 10 Mildura Street Griffith ACT thors.com.au

14 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

THE passionate team at Thor’s Hammer design and make a wide range of architectural products, joinery and furniture pieces from recycled Australian hardwoods in their local Canberra workshop, says owner Thor Diesendorf.

“We reclaim our timbers from historic buildings, wharves, and factory demolition sites around Australia,” he says.

“For example, when making posts and beams we use timber from old bridges and telegraph poles.”

provide privacy, light and climate control, security, and increase the aesthetic of the home.

“Our cellular blinds save up to 32 per cent more on heating and cooling costs compared to a standard roller blind,” she says.

“The unique cell construction makes it difficult for heat energy to transfer in and out of the window, providing superior insulation properties.”

Suitable for unique window sizes and shapes such as skylights, Danielle says the cellular blinds fabrics are available in blockout, translucent or both and provide a child safe solution.

Dollar Curtains and Blinds, 1 Luxton Street, Belconnen (call 6255 5291) and 135 Newcastle Street, Fyshwick (call 6280 9272). Visit dollarcurtainsandblinds.com.au

Owner Thor Diesendorf.

Thor says it was from a very young age that he was inspired to work with timber.

“My grandad was an engineer and his hobby was making furniture for the house and he had this amazing workshop,” says Thor.

“I think that’s a big part of where my passion came from, a passion that would eventually become Thor’s Hammer, which has been operating for over 25 years.”

Offering products such as bench tops, cladding, decking, doors, tables, and furniture, Thor says sustainability and handson making is at the core of what they do.

“Recycled Australian hardwoods are an amazing resource,” he says.

“We aim to show our respect for these timbers by designing products and pieces that are both practical and beautiful.”

Thor’s Hammer, 10 Mildura Street, Griffith. Call 6282 9900, email hammer@thors.com.au or visit thors.com.au

The largest range of custom made curtains+blinds+shutters+outdoor. dc+b Belconnen Ph. 6255 5291 1 Luxton St, Belconnen dc+b Fyshwick Ph. 6280 9272 135 Newcastle St, Fyshwick www.dollarcurtainsandblinds.com.au

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

advertising feature Carpets to keep the home warm

Professionals in building dream homes WHETHER someone’s looking to extend a home, renovate an existing property or build a new home, Sentra Constructions Canberra will work with them to achieve the home they’ve been looking for, says director Rodney Thornton.

“We don’t just give you a quote, we can assist with [the] custom designing of homes; from first home buyers and investors through to families building their ideal home,” says Rodney.

“If you already have your plans we can provide accurate, honest and detailed prices for your build.”

Rodney, who personally manages each project, says Sentra pride themselves on their customer service.

“You will always be dealing directly with the builder,” he says.

“We offer expert advice on design, form and function, to achieve the right solution for you in a cost effective manner.”

He says they also have professional, experienced, and reliable tradespeople who provide high standards of quality workmanship.

“You can expect professional and courteous service from initial stages to completion,” he says.

“With 20 years’ experience we only work with the best architects and project managers to ensure a hassle-free building service for your dream home in the Canberra region.”

Sentra Constructions, call 0413 650833 or visit sentra.com.au

HOODS Carpet Court has an extensive range of wool carpets that are great for warmth underfoot and extra comfort during the colder months, says sales manager Alison Bray.

“Wool carpets are a great humidity regulator and are naturally good for the indoor environment,” she says.

“Wool fibre can absorb up to 30 per cent of its weight in moisture without feeling damp. It then releases the moisture back into the air.”

Having been a family-owned and operated business for more than four decades, Alison says they offer a wide range of carpets (not only wool carpets) and resilient flooring from Australia’s leading manufacturers and suppliers.

With stores in Fyshwick and Phillip, she says that Hoods Carpet Court is the perfect destination for updating or replacing carpet.

“Carpet layers believe carpet should be replaced about every 10 years,” she says.

“It’s a great idea to replace or update carpets to reduce the amount of dust and dirt not always visible.”

Hoods Carpet Court, 76 Barrier Street, Fyshwick (call 6280 5703) and Hindmarsh Drive, Phillip (call 6285 1888). Visit carpetcourt.com.au

HOODS CARPET COURT (FYSHWICK) 76 Barrier St, Fyshwick ACT 2609 P 6280 5703 HOODS CARPET COURT (PHILLIP) Hindmarsh Dr, Phillip ACT 2606 P 6285 1888

*You must be a Qantas Frequent Flyer member to earn Qantas Points. Members will earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent on retail flooring products (excluding tiles and window furnishings) purchased from Hoods Carpet Court or online. Full terms and conditions available at www.carpetcourt.com.au/qantas-frequent-flyer

16 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS THE NORM, NOT THE EXCEPTION

HOUSE & LAND PACKAGES

RENOVATIONS & EXTENSIONS

With 20 years’ experience Sentra Constructions specialises in a large range of projects from contract homes, extensions and renovations, house & land packages, to shop and office fit-outs.

Sentra Constructions uses professional, experienced, and reliable tradespeople who provide high standards of quality workmanship.

You will always be dealing directly with the builder, and each project is managed by Rod Thornton – the owner of the business.

You can expect professional and courteous service from initial stages to completion.

We offer expert advice on design, form and function, to achieve the right solution for you in a costeffective manner.

Call Rodney TODAY on 0413 650 833 rodney@sentra.com.au View our extensive portfolio at sentra.com.au

COMMERCIAL FITOUTS

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

advertising feature Renovate for top sale results FOR people thinking about selling their home, co-founding director of Your Property Profits Kim Persson says their stress-free home renovations get people the best sale results.

“We can help with all aspects of a renovation with our strategic team of tradespeople, stylists, real estate experts, photographers and more,” she says.

“We know the market and we know what sells.

Clients can sit back while we focus on maximising the results for their property.”

Kim says the Canberra market is “crazy” at the moment, and they’ve seen some “incredible” sales results following their renovations.

“A recent property we did in Downer got a $240,000 uplift with an $86,000 spend,” she says.

“We’ve also been thrilled that we’ve managed to

break the sales records for Fadden and Hall village.”

Kim also says that clients don’t need to worry about any up-front cost, as the renovating team front the cost of clients who then pay after the property has sold.

“We work to budget and timeframe, whether it’s minor repairs or major renovations, all costs are pushed back to settlement,” says Kim. “We can take the keys, organise the cleaning, styling and get it ready for the market.

“It’s so rewarding to help people get the best possible sale.”

Your Property Profits, call 1800 225597, visit yourpropertyprofits.com.au or email hello@yourpropertyprofits.com.au

Owner Pat Seears, right, runs the business with his son Shane.

Gear that keeps people safe on the job WHEN working on the home, Seears Workwear has the equipment to help get the job done safely, says owner Pat Seears.

“We have a large range of harnesses, respirators and we have tonnes of eye safety equipment,” he says.

“On top of that there’s also a large range of work boots, high-visibility clothing and outdoor equipment.”

Pat, who runs the business with his son, Shane, says the Seears Workwear team is backed with more than 90 years’ combined industry experience and has been providing quality work clothes to the region for more than three decades.

“Everything is the best quality from the best manufacturers,” he says.

“Our team is always 100 per cent keen to give people a hand with what they’re looking for, whether that’s for a home project or for work.”

Pat also says they’ve recently extended the store’s floor space to cater for its largest range of winter workwear stock ever – the biggest in the region.

Located on Barrier Street, he says their stock includes safety work boots, leather shoes and steel-toed canvas shoes, from brands such as Puma, Rockport and Dunlop.

Seears Workwear also has stores in NSW and Queensland, and Pat says they deliver all over the country.

Seears Workwear, 60 Barrier Street, Fyshwick.

Call 6280 4111 or visit seearsworkwear.com.au

>> BEFORE We sell your home at the HIGHEST PRICE, in the SHORTEST TIME and with the LEAST INCONVENIENCE with our proven self-funding system.

18 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

Before and after a renovation.

ASSISTING S CUSTOMER E V IE H C TO A D R O C E R BREAKING SALES

AFTER >> BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION TODAY!

1800 CALLYPP (1800 225597) www.yourpropertyprofits.com.au

st

lia

id

e

tr

u

ion

Au

ra

W

s Di

t bu

MSA AUTHORISED DEALER

Master Builders 2010 Supplier of the Year Winner Canberra’s largest workwear outlet.

Your one stop workwear and safety shop.

Full range of; > Harnesses > First aid kits > Safety equipment > Protective clothing

> Corporate and trade uniforms > Wide range of protective gear > Workwear for all trades

Order now 10% Master Builders Association member discounts apply

02 6280 4111 www.seearsworkwear.com.au

60 Barrier Street Fyshwick ACT Tel: 02 6280 4111 Fax: 02 6280 9111

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

advertising feature Three ‘must-haves’ for home renovation THERE are three “must-haves” when it comes to a great home renovation, says the principal designer and director of MMM Interiors, Mimmi Freebody.

“These [include] great spatial design, extensive product knowledge to suit the project and an experienced renovation building team to implement the design,” she says.

With three decades of experience in the industry, Mimmi says the team at MMM Interiors offer each of these.

“Our exceptional, award-winning spatial design [work] focuses on renovation [and] working with existing spaces,” she says.

“We have in-depth product and mar-

Quality office chairs that sell fast IN these times of working from home, Ex-Government Furniture co-owner James Fullerton says they have a range of quality and affordable home office furniture to help people get organised.

“Office chairs are certainly the number one thing at the moment and we’re expecting a lot of new ones coming through this week that will sell fast,” says James.

“Whether it’s working from home part time or full time, what we’ve seen is people are pretty over sitting at the dining table for work and a good office chair makes a huge difference.”

James says they also have a range of desks, sitting and standing, to help people with their home office setups.

But it’s only the start of Ex-Government Furniture’s range of items that can improve the home, with James saying the business, a leading dealer

in surplus office furniture, always has something interesting coming through the door.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of comfy couches and lounges at the moment,” he says.

“Now’s also the time to get in quick for outdoor furniture as we move towards the warmer months with lots of pieces that are perfect for entertaining.”

And if people have something specific in mind that’s not available in store, James says the team can help track it down.

“Send us an email with what you’re looking for and if something comes up we’ll give you a call,” he says.

Ex-Government Furniture, 6 Yallourn Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 6490, visit exgovfurniture.com or email sales@exgovfurniture.com

Director Mimmi Freebody and senior designer Nelly Kneeling. ket knowledge. [We work] with major suppliers, importers and manufacturers

in Australia as well as top local bespoke fabricators.

“Our project management, together with our specialist building teams that all work in the renovation field only, can ensure a top quality finish.”

Mimmi says they offer a free initial consultation by appointment in their showroom, which has an extensive display of products to choose from.

“We’ll discuss your project and go through the three ‘must-haves’,” she says.

MMM Interiors, 61 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 9980 or visit mmminteriors.com.au

Building bathrooms with confidence BEING one of the oldest bathroom companies in the region, the community can be confident that The Bathroom Company knows how to do renovations well, says owner Andrew Finn.

Established in 1993, Andrew says they’ve become quite “embedded in Canberra”.

“We’re bricks and mortar and that gives people confidence,” he says.

“Our team are specialists in bathrooms, and sit down with clients to listen to what they want in order to design the bathroom they want.”

Offering a smart, stylish and stressfree experience, Andrew says they can help with all decisions, from colour to

tiles and baths.

He also says clients will only have to deal with one staff member who will help them through the whole project.

“We offer a complementary shopping service with our designer to assist in selecting the client’s tiles and bathroom fixtures,” he says.

“We also provide a complementary clean by a professional cleaner as a standard inclusion for every bathroom.”

The Bathroom Company can also custom-make vanities, is available to do stone work, and can incorporate modern modicums like LED shower lighting or full-body showers, says Andrew.

Their designs complement the home, he says, including designs such as art deco.

The Bathroom Company, 7 Murray Crescent, Manuka. Call 0418 628693, email quotes@bathroomcompany.com. au or visit bathroomcompany.com.au

Smart, Stylish and Stress Free “Claire and the team at the Bathroom Company did an incredible job completely renovating myb athroom including moving thes hower, drains, vanity and some other changes to my house in one project.”

Duncan Gordon

WINNER OF BOTH HIA RENOVATIONS OF THE YEAR $250-$350K AND INTERIOR DESIGN OF THE YEAR 2020 • New ranges from leading suppliers of top quality products in Australia.

• Bathware, tiles, flooring, large selection of stone slabs, lighting, mirrors etc.

• Bathroom, Kitchen, Alfresco and Full Interior Design Packages with high quality 3D imagery.

• Building Design, Project Management and Renovation specialist teams.

6280 9980 | 61 Wollongong St, Fyshwick | mmminteriors.com.au Trading Hours: 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday, Saturday by appointment

20 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

M 0418 628 693 E quotes@bathroomcompany.com.au W bathroomcompany.com.au

“Clairea nd the team at the Bathroom Companyh ave delivered a beautiful new bathroom that iseven better than we imagined it.”

Leanne Cook

L FICE L D A , OF EDS N I F ME NE HO GE R U RA YO STO &

EX-GOVERNMENT

FURNITURE

COME IN & EXPLORE OUR EXTENSIVE RANGE! BULK DISCOUNTS APPLY

6 Yallourn St, Fyshwick

• CHAIRS • WORKSTATIONS • STAND-UP DESKS • TABLES • SHELVING • FILING CABINETS • BOOKCASES • LOUNGES • MAP CABINETS

6280 6490

FIND A UNIQUE ITEM FOR YOUR HOME!

NEW STOCK ARRIVING WEEKLY

exgovfurniture.com

HOME IMPROVEMENTS Now hiring Surveyors!

Enquire today • Subdivisions • Building Setouts • Contour & Detail Surveys • Dual Occupancy

• Identification Surveys • Unit Plans • Strata Plans • Civil Setouts

All Areas of ACT & Surrounding NSW

Shaw Surveys Pty Ltd Consulting Surveyors established 1982 4/10 Kennedy Street | PO Box 4297 Kingston ACT 2604 Ph: (02) 6260 7002 survey@shawsurveys.com.au www.pjshawsurveyors.com.au

Choose from our huge selection of fabrics to customise your furnishing to your own personal style.

The Art of Frippery offers and eclectic range of soft furnishings ranging from casual in style to luxury designer brands. Many of our products are handmade in our local workshop.

LAMPSHADES - CUSHIONS - RUGS - THROW

advertising feature

Furniture restorations that focus on detail

Experts in comprehensive surveys

FROM antique heirlooms to modern club lounges and TV recliners, Ebsworth Upholstery can assist with any furniture restoration or re-upholstery project, says office manager Robyn Ebsworth.

Robyn operates the business with her husband Mark, a skilled upholsterer with more than 16 years of experience, and together she says they work with designers, timber restorers, metal fabricators and frame makers to deliver attention to detail that’s second to none.

“We often have customers with furniture that once belonged to their grandparents that’s been passed down through generations,” says Robyn.

“When it’s restored for them, there can be a real emotional response. “These heirlooms are often a way to remember loved ones.”

It’s just one of the valued services that Ebsworth Upholstery offers, says Robyn.

“We’ve got one of the biggest fabric libraries in Canberra that includes soft furnishings, fabrics, upholstery and drapery, and customers can come and purchase fabrics for their own projects through that library as well,” she says.

“We have an interior designer whose services are free that can help you select your fabrics too.”

They’re also proud to offer custom-made furniture, with the building process all done here in Australia, she says.

“With us, customers can add their own style and flair to their furniture, something you can’t get at the large furniture retailers,” she says.

SHAW Surveys is committed to providing professional survey services to not only the individual consumer, but also to government authorities, civil engineers, developers, solicitors, architects, builders and real estate agents, says director Jim Shaw.

“Part of getting approval from the government to build or extend the home requires an accurate measuring and position of things on the block and that’s where we come in,” says Jim. “We offer comprehensive surveying services and have expertise in all facets of land and property surveying to make sure you’re not building too high or big.

“There’s also certain solar envelopes that have to be measured so you don’t block the sun from the neighbours and we can assist with that too.”

It was Jim’s father that started the business in 1982 as P.J. Shaw & Associates, says Jim. More than three decades later, Jim and his sister Sarah became the directors of the business in 2019 and renamed the business to Shaw Surveys.

“We’re a very proud family business,” he says.

“We are dedicated to providing solutions for builders and property owners that will ensure minimal disruption to your operations and maximise the value of your investment.

“Our consultants are always happy to discuss your requirements with you.”

Ebsworth Upholstery, unit 4, 1 Alumina Street, Beard.

Call 0434 982708, email mark@ebsworthupholstery.com.au or visit ebsworthupholstery.com.au

Shaw Surveys, 4/10 Kennedy Street, Kingston.

Call 6260 7002 or visit pjshawsurveyors.com.au

Upholstery Specialists Servicing the Canberra and Queanbeyan region, Ebsworth Upholstery can assist you with any furniture restoration or re-upholstery project including repairs, custom made furniture and upholstery for commercial fit outs.

•

PICK UP AND DELIVERY

•

FABRIC SUPPLY AND FURNISHINGS

•

• • •

REUPHOLSTERING AND RESTORATION

MODERN AND TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES

DOMESTIC AND COMMERCIAL CUSTOM MADE

0434 982 708

ebsworthupholstery.com.au

WWW.THEARTOFFRIPPERY.COM.AU 22 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

INSIDE

Not ‘nice’, but worth watching

DOUGAL MACDONALD

Play inspired by a moment with ‘the devil’

By Helen

MUSA POOR old El Chapo (“Shorty”) – Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera.

Once the richest, most feared drug lord in Mexico, he might have expected, at worst, to live out his days in luxurious imprisonment like his Colombian counterpart Pablo Escobar.

It was not to be. For like Al Capone, he met his comeuppance in the most mundane way possible when his getaway car was pulled over by a couple of highway cops. Covered in excrement from crawling through the tunnels he used in his many escapes, he is now rotting away in a Colorado prison.

No wonder he told his terrified captors, “don’t send me to the north”.

But what did the two unsuspecting police officers have to say to him during the 20 minutes they spent with El Chapo in a seedy Mexican roadside motel waiting for backup?

That’s the question that’s been puzzling academic lawyers, ANU law professor Desmond Manderson and University of Wollongong law lecturer Luis Gómez Romero for the past five years, after they got talking about El Chapo’s capture at a conference.

In a tightly written drama, “Twenty Minutes With The Devil”, to be directed by

“Twenty Minutes With The Devil” cast members, from left, Joanna Richards, PJ Williams and Raoul Craemer.

Photo: Creswick Collective The Street Theatre’s Caroline Stacey, the two dons-turned-playwrights have taken that quintessentially theatrical situation, the closed room, as the setting for a play about issues of justice which arose from the story.

And in case you think that Manderson,

Romero or this writer nurture romantic illusions of sympathy for poor old Shorty, it should be noted that during his flourishing business-like career (think “The Godfather”) which included several escapes, mostly with police connivance, El Chapo was responsible

for countless executions and mutilations. No glamour about his life now.

But his final capture in 2016 demanded to be put on stage in a kind of “what if” scenario and they’re particularly keen to speculate on the exchanges which might have taken place between El Chapo and the police.

“It was very theatrical,” Romero says.

“Two police with ‘the devil’ waiting for two converging armies.”

The work is not intended to be historically accurate, so in their play one of the police is a woman, played by Joanna Richards, while the other is played by Raoul Craemer.

What did they talk about? Might the most wanted man in the world have said, “I can fix your life forever”? Might they have considered taking the money and heading to the hills?

To Mexican-born Romero, the story is particularly troubling because the increasing level of crime and violence in his homeland is exactly what led him to migrate to Australia some years ago.

His views are coloured by the media’s focus back in 2016-2019 when he was finally convicted, on the celebrity aspects of El Chapo’s story. Married to (among others) a beauty queen, El Chapo was publicly defended by film star Kate del Castillo. It was in fact his vanity in trying to arrange a meeting with the actress that helped lead to his capture.

“We have fictionalised the story of course, and made the character into ‘El Ticho’

[played by actor PJ Williams]… we wanted to discuss questions of justice in the 21st century and elicit a middle-class response to this,” Romero says.

Both Manderson and Romero wanted to emphasise that the play has nothing to do with US madness or Mexican madness.

“I personally found the international debate around drugs and Latin America unsettling, but real people were dying,” Romero says.

“My family and I decided to migrate because of the violence in Mexico and yet the pain in that region continues.”

Be that as it may, they have turned it into something of a “fairytale” by using fantasy to talk about justice and joy, but also about failure and sorrow.

Manderson is an international leader in interdisciplinary scholarship in law and the humanities, but he wrote his first play at age nine, was involved in theatre here until age 25, and is also a poet and pianist.

Ultimately Romero and Manderson say the play has much to do with the inequalities between the global north and the global south.

“It concerns everybody, the global drug war concerns everybody.”

“Twenty Minutes With The Devil”, The Street Theatre, August 21-29. “Legal Minds Talk Law and Justice” event with playwrights, 6.15pm, Thursday, August 26. Book at thestreet.org.au

Precious Thing, Vanishing Thing Precious Thing Vanishing Thing is an exhibition of woodcuts and poetry

by Omar Musa, focusing on the ephemeral beauty of the natural world in Australia and Malaysia. Personal, poetic and humorous, these are stories carved into wood and printed with vibrancy.

Solo exhibition of woodcut prints

by Omar Musa August 4 – 22

Join us for drinks and performance at 2pm Saturday August 7 Gallery open hours Wednesday to Sunday 10 am - 4 pm 93 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick

02 6228 1988

www.humblehouse.com.au CityNews August 5-11, 2021 23

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

All hail the anti-heroes, they’re much more fun FROM Tony Soprano to Loki, television audiences continue to find the bad guys more fun than the good guys and, with comedycrime drama “Mr Inbetween”, Australia now has its own answer for the age of anti-heroes.

Streaming on Binge, “Mr Inbetween” follows Ray Shoesmith, a bloke trying to balance his family life with a criminal-for-hire side gig.

In one scene he’s wiping Sydney’s urban sprawl clean of those his shady clients want done away with, in the next he’s taking his daughter out for ice cream.

Yet, somehow, it’s just so easy to root for him.

Much of this is owed to Aussie star Scott Ryan’s dangerous yet charming inhabitation of the character, undoubtedly helped by the fact that Shoesmith was the actor’s own invention 22 years ago for a short film.

Seeing more potential, Ryan has now fully realised the character in this series, which just wrapped up its third and final season with a gripping finish.

“Mr Inbetween” has been able to do what few Australian TV shows can and break through to wider international recognition, especially after it was picked up by a US network.

That’s helped by some great production and razor-sharp writing, but it’s the anti-hero

Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith… a bloke trying to balance his family-life with a criminal-for-hire side gig. at the centre that seals the deal.

Time and time again it’s the do-badders who win over the hearts and minds of viewers, with some of the most popular television series of all time following a villain instead of a hero.

But what is it about the bad guys that keep viewers coming back?

Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” features two of the most famous anti-heroes of all time: a thane and his scheming lady who are willing

to murder anyone standing in their way of the throne.

Four centuries later “Macbeth” continues to be transformed, most vividly seen in “House of Cards” (Netflix) about a psychopathic US congressman and his wife who run amok in pursuit of a seat in the Oval Office.

There’s the creative, yet morally questionable, capers of advertising executive Don Draper in “Mad Men” (Stan), who throughout seven seasons made bad look good in the

glossy world of Madison Avenue.

Walter White in “Breaking Bad” (Stan) engrossed millions of viewers in his transformation from everyday man to meth kingpin over six years.

All of this isn’t even touching on “Dexter”, the serial killer who hunts the bad guys, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s cynically hilarious antics in “Fleabag” (Amazon Prime, ABC iView) or the crazy scientist doused in a god complex, Rick Sanchez in “Rick and Morty” (Netflix).

What is it about these villains that’s so intriguing?

Well, there’s certainly nothing intriguing about a morally perfect hero.

That’s because their journey is finished before one gets the chance to come along for it. There’s no room for failure for the flawless champion, there’s nothing more for them to learn and in turn nothing for the audience to learn either.

On the other hand, the anti-hero holds an extreme, yet palpable mirror up to the audience, one where our own motivations, insecurities and desires come into sharper focus.

It works because the anti-hero keeps people guessing. Will they redeem themselves? Will they descend into more selfish behaviour? Will they use their power

of influence for good or bad?

Viewers may not be crazy scientists or hitmen, or so one would hope, but that unpredictable journey of the anti-hero is much closer to real life.

Television’s extended storytelling over multiple seasons fits the bill perfectly for an exploration of these characters, offering more time to dig into the nooks and crannies of their psychology.

“The Sopranos” (on Binge) may be the most iconic example, a show where the day-to-day life of a violent crime family boss is interspersed with his visits to a therapist, bringing whole new depth to the Mafia-man stereotype.

Although the show may follow Tony Soprano, in many ways the viewer is more tethered to his therapist: the outsider who gets a peek into both the outer and interior workings of Soprano and the one who gets to pass judgement.

“I’m living in a moral never-never land with this patient,” Dr Melfi says in one episode when explaining Tony.

“Now I’ve judged, I took a position, goddamn it and I’m scared.”

CINEMA / reviews

Not ‘nice’, but worth watching “Fanny Lye Deliver’d” (M)

Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative

24 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

THERE’S more to the third feature

by British filmmaker Thomas Clay (writer, director, producer, editor, musical orchestrator) than just the coloured shadows it makes on cinema screens.

For dramatic fabric, it goes back nearly four centuries to when the English were savagely divided about the right way to worship their Christian god.

On one hand were the Puritans, whose approach for a century and more had been austere, dour and inclined to refrain from anything that smacked of any of life’s joys.

On the other, a rather libertarian approach to worship and daily life.

It’s not a “nice” movie. Set on a Shropshire farm, it tells about a handful of days in 1657, the last year in which Oliver Cromwell ruled the country as Lord Protector.

The action unfolds in an era about which filmmakers have not made any great number of movies based on the common folk. So “Fanny Lye Deliver’d” may be called something of a ground breaker, a 21st century creature that impressively honours its historical inheritance.

The story centres on the farm where Puritan John Lye (Charles

and the inevitable conflict between John and Thomas is well-established by the time three down-at-heel jacks-in-office – the High Sheriff for the Council of State (Peter McDonald), his deputy (Perry Fitzpatrick) and a constable (Kenneth Collard) arrive in pursuit of Thomas and Rebecca.

The plot’s three pivots are now in place to do Thomas Clay’s Maxine Peake as Fanny. bidding. The screenplay invites perceptive filmgoers to observe Dance) lives with his wife Fanny how their behaviours reflect those (Maxine Peake) and their pre-adof their 21st century counterparts. olescent son Arthur (Zak Adams).

By the time the end credits start There’s no question about who rules rolling, the film will have served the roost in that household. Going up a full banquet of stuff that to church, John rides the stocky little pony that also does farm tasks might well have once led to an R classification but is today merely while Fanny and Arthur trudge MA15+. A farmyard littered with along behind. bodies covered in blood and mud is On the day the story begins, the least of the film’s authenticities. while the family is at church, The end credits include the Thomas (Freddie Fox) and Rebecca (Tanya Reynolds) arrive at the farm, craftspersons who have created visual authenticity and fidelity to on the run for misdemeanours time and place which, together unspecified but not difficult to with a talented cast telling a imagine. Thomas and Rebecca credible story, make “Fanny Lye need help. When first seen, they’re Deliver’d” a naked, rather implying that they movie that have been disturbed while making love. Uninvited, unseen, they move deserves to be widely into the farmhouse and make seen. themselves comfortable with food and clothing.

At Dendy The Lye family has returned

DANCE

Ade beckoned by a remote dance residency

By Helen Musa

WHEN Ausdance ACT recently announced that Canberra dancer Ade Suharto had won a coveted Pina Bausch Fellowship for Dance, I wondered how, in covid-affected times, she’d ever be able to get to Germany.

For the foundation set up by the late Bausch, mentor to Meryl Tankard, is based in Wuppertal, Germany, and these days, travel is impossible.

Not to worry, as Suharto tells me when we catch up in her Belconnen apartment, the fellowship is well-matched to these testing times and can be done remotely. It’s not a residency program aimed at productions but rather it enables the scholarship holder to learn new ways and techniques by working with a cooperation partner virtually.

As required, she’s created her own digital cooperation format jointly with veteran Chennai contemporary dancer-choreographer Padmini Chettur, who famously combines a classical training with a degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science.

Suharto, herself a contemporary dancer with a solid international practice behind her, is grappling with her lively 20-month-old toddler, Orlando, as we

speak about her aspiration to bring an awareness of the contemporary aspects of Indonesian dance to Australians, too often so besotted with the colours and sounds of traditional dance that they forget it comes from a country every bit as modern as ours.

Born in Adelaide to Indonesian parents (no relation to the former Indonesian president), Suharto trained in contemporary dance at the University of Adelaide, which paid little attention to dance traditions from our northern neighbour, although it did let her do an honours thesis on the ultra-refined courtly Javanese dance form, “Bedoyo”.

Although her parents took her to anything Indonesian when they could and got aunties to teach her some dance steps, there was little or no Indonesian dance, she believes, outside the Perth consulate or Canberra’s embassy.

After working in arts management on projects including the Australian Performing Arts Market, she moved to Melbourne with her doctor husband, then, with babe in arms, to Canberra early last year.

Here she immediately made contact with former “CityNews” Artist of the Year Liz Lea, herself a crosscultural dancer. Lea immediately signed her up to dance in the planned “BOLD” festival for early this year, but that’s been postponed because of covid.

As we talk, she comes across as very “Aussie” and says that’s largely how she sees herself.

But, as she explains, “something was beckoning me”.

Propelled by a need to engage with the dance, philosophy and traditions of Indonesia, she has, over the past decade, embarked on scholarships and placements that have seen her performing all over the world.

Now, while waiting for Lea’s “BOLD” festival to resume as it will do in December, Suharto has plenty on her plate with the Pina Bausch Fellowship, which is in full swing online.

Her chosen guru this time, Padmini, is a formidable intellectual of the dance world who assesses movement and body shape with scientific rigour.

“She danced for Chandralekha [the legendary dancer and yoga guru] for 29 years… I’ve never seen her live, only online,” Suharto says.

“It’s going to be more of a lecture series, with eight in-depth sessions. She applies hard research to look at the body.”

So far, so good. Suharto has booked weekly live sessions with another dance at QL2 studio in Gorman Arts Centre and says of Padmini, “she’s open and generous but there’s detailed rigour, layered… this is more a body thing than dancing and choreographing – she talks and we need to listen”.

Canberra dancer Ade Suharto will undertake her Pina Bausch Fellowship for dance remotely.

Photo: Alexander Waite Mitchell

ARTS IN THE CITY

Zane takes the lead in ‘Cooked’

By Helen Musa

Vegetable Marathwada… distinctive, special, hot and spicy.

Photo: Wendy Johnson

DINING / The Royal Turban, Queanbeyan

Vibrant way to warm the soul

By Wendy

JOHNSON IT was a cold, blustery winter’s day and we were looking for a lunch that would wrap around us like a warm blanket.

That was when The Royal Turban called out. Indian cuisine is so colourful and vibrant, and it heats up the soul.

Located on the main drag in Queanbeyan, The Royal Turban offers an extensive menu of authentic Indian dishes ranging from mild to hot, hot, hot. Staff are efficient and friendly. The wine list, although not extensive, is very reasonably priced.

We shared some starters including a delightful vegetable samosa ($8.90 for two pieces) which was packed with spiced potatoes and peas. The pastry was lovely and thin and cooked so the samosas were still flaky and fun. They arrived with a dish of bright mint chutney, one of the nicest we’ve had in yonks.

Another winner starter was the Nepalese-influenced dumplings ($11.90 for six pieces). The ‘Chicken Momo’ were little powerhouse parcels. The ginger added a brightness and the bamboo shoots crunch. They were perfectly steamed and paired well with the vibrant

roasted tomato chutney.

The butter chicken was exceptional and the rich creamy tomato sauce wonderfully balanced. We could certainly taste the tomato, but it wasn’t overpowering.

The chunks of chicken, cooked in a tandoor, were soft and succulent ($18.90).

We were also impressed with the sizzling goat dish ($19.90). The goat was on the bones, which always adds so much depth to the flavour, and was marinated in a secret formula of rich and exotic spices that Indian cuisine is so famous for. It was then cooked with onion and served on a Tawa sizzler, adding a bit of excitement when it was served.

For our vegetable hit we ordered the Maharastrian dish, which was quite distinctive. The special hot and spicy Marathwada masala certainly shone through ($17.90).

We mopped up all the glorious sauces with soft, fluffy plain naan baked in the tandoor ($3) and a crispy flattened roti made with wholemeal flour. We ordered several condiments (all $2.90). The lime pickle packed a punch, the cucumber yoghurt cooled the palate and the banana slices covered in coconut were a lovely creamy texture.

The Royal Turban is a relaxed venue but the team in the kitchen takes its food very seriously so it’s well worth a visit. Portions were just right and we headed back into the cold pleasantly full.

CANBERRA actor Zane Menegazzo plays the lead, Ethan, in a new comedy film “Cooked”. A coming-ofage story about a bunch of school leavers featuring stunning views of Newcastle, the film was written, directed, produced and largely funded by 22-year-old Novocastrian filmmaker Cameron Utiger, who completed the movie while studying at university. The trailer is viewable at thefilmcooked.com GRAFFITI muralist and conceptual sculptor, Dan Maginnity – ”byrd” – shows his appreciation of and anger about Australia’s creatures and natural environment in his newest exhibition, “Ire Elevant”. The Mixing Room Gallery, 10 Mildura Street, Griffith, August 17 to October 2, official opening August 20, registrations essential at eventbrite.com.au CANBERRA’S fiery Romanian band,

Super Rats, is going on tour all the way to Queanbeyan to perform songs from the Bucharest of yesteryear at The Hive, 274 Crawford St, Queanbeyan, 2pm, Sunday, August 15, book at events.humanitix.com ACTOR/musician/singer/ songwriter, Justin Stewart Cotta, is Canberra born and bred and a three-time nominee for Best Actor at the Sydney Theatre Awards, on TV in the NBC series “Young Rock” with a film, “Rising Wolf”, coming out in the US. His solo album “Melodies For Eulogies” has been released at justinstewartcotta.bandcamp. com, with 100 per cent of the first two months of sales proceeds going to Beyond Blue and White Ribbon Australia.

CORO chamber choir, directed by Peter Young, will perform English renaissance music, with the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from Byrd’s “The Great Service” as the

centrepieces. Fitters’ Workshop, Kingston, 3pm, Sunday, August 15, book at corocanberra.com GOLD (Growing Old Disgracefully), the ACT’s outrageous dancing seniors, are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year by popping up all over Canberra to challenge stereotypes of older people and proving that dance is not just for the young. You can next catch them at Belconnen Arts Centre from 2-3.30pm on Saturday, August 7, then at Tuggeranong Arts Centre from 3-3.30pm on Wednesday, August 18.

DAN Russell, artistic director and violinist of the Phoenix Collective, says they will go ahead with a Canberra-only performance of works by Vivaldi, Bach, Biber and Pandolfi in “The Priest, the Intellect, the Eccentric and the Pirate”.

Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, 2pm and 3.30pm, August 14. Book via phoenixcollective.com.au

CityNews August 5-11, 2021 25

CONVERSION SERVICE Would you like to watch those old family videos once again, or listen to your favourite SLIDES TO records on CD? D NOW

PUZZLES PAGE

FREE PUZZLES EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

Your week in the stars

General knowledge crossword No. 793

By Joanne Madeline Moore

August 9-15, 2021

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

DV

We can take your AVAILABLE PRICE ON vinyl records or APPLICATION cassette tapes and put them onto CD and we transfer VHS tapes onto DVD.

Feisty Aries folk need to have an ambitious project to channel all their fiery energy into. (As original celebrity chef – and birthday great – Julia Child declared: “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”).

This week – with lucky Venus and powerful Pluto activating your work and career zones – you’ll be given the opportunity to influence or help those around you so don’t waste it. It’s time to lead with style and substance!

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

OPEN 7 DAYS Cooleman Court, Weston Creek | 6293 4677 | songland.com.au

This week’s stars highlight your occasional inclination to jealous or overbearing Bullish behaviour. It’s time to loosen your possessive grip on a loved one, otherwise you’ll just drive them away with your demanding and stubborn demeanour.

You’re also in the mood to text and tweet and communicate but are you posting confusing mixed messages? And are others happy to hear what you’ve got to say?

Strive to be more diplomatic, especially at home and work.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Internal and external painting services for residential and commercial properties.

Free quotes and seniors discount available.

Are you feeling hemmed in at home or within the confines of your local neighbourhood? This week’s stars favour cleaning, de-cluttering, renovating and/ or extending your present living space so it’s more open and spacious. Twins need room to breathe! Expect some domestic confusion and family drama, as impatience and uncertainty overtake common sense. If you try to escape from your current commitments, then loved ones won’t be impressed.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

This week a relationship with your girlfriend, boyfriend, sweetheart, spouse or business partner gets a powerful boost as Venus makes a lovely link with Pluto.

So make the most of the diplomatic vibes and improved communication. On the weekend Mercury, Venus and Mars encourage you to contribute your Crab talents to a worthy cause within your local neighbourhood. If you do, then satisfying community connections and positive friendships will follow.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Phone 0451 031 550 info@taqwapainting.com.au ABN: 39617453237

hi-micro

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

Mercury vamps into your sign on Wednesday night (London time) where it joins Venus and Mars. So you’ll be at your clever, charismatic and proactive best. But you could still experience problems with a family member, close friend or work colleague who is envious of your numerous talents and achievements. Don’t waste precious time feeling disheartened and disappointed. Just flash them a vibrant Virgo smile and encourage them to follow their dreams!

Down

1 Name the twin brother of Pollux. (6) 7 Which telegraph line connected Darwin to Adelaide in 1872? (8) 8 When one studies, one does what? (6) 9 What was the former name of the Hawaiian Islands?

(8) 10 What might we call a tyro? (6) 11 Name an ornamental shrub, native to the Mediterranean region. (8) 14 Which term describes newly enlisted members of the armed forces? (8) 18 Name an implement with a curved blade, used for cutting grass. (6) 19 Name another term for the collarbone. (8) 21 Kampala is the capital of which E African republic? (6) 22 What is a trellis on which trees, vines, or shrubs, are trained to grow? (8) 23 What are sluggish arboreal creatures? (6)

1 What is a strainer for draining off liquids, especially in cookery? (8) 2 Which zone lies between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn? (6) 3 Name a renowned British poet and painter, Dante Gabriel ... (8) 4 Name the capital of Switzerland. (4) 5 What is the blossom of a plant? (6) 6 Which term describes light meals? (6) 12 Which people practise the art of treating the body by rubbing, kneading, or the like? (8) 13 Name a more familiar term for patellas. (8) 15 To join up, is to do what? (6) 16 To lay open to view, is to do what? (6) 17 From which rotating machine is mechanical energy converted into electrical energy? (6) 20 What is a deep-fried finger of potato? (4)

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

C O M P U T E R S YS T E M S

L A P TO P / D E S K TO P C O M P U T E R S A L E S & R E PA I R S DATA R E C OV E RY UPGRADES ON ALL BRANDS TRADE-INS N E W & U S E D L A P TO P S A N D P C O N S I T E S E RV I C E

The Sun and Mercury are both moving through your sign. So it’s time to tap into the very essence of what makes you the feisty, creative, dramatic Diva that you are. Don’t let pandemic problems, relationship rumbles, work worries or financial fiascos diminish your flamboyant style. Be inspired by Leo model and actress Cara Delevingne (who was born on August 12, 1992): “Be brave. Believe in yourself.

Make yourself proud.” Spoken like a true Lion!

FREE QUOTES

M O N - F R I 8 . 3 0 A M - 5 . 3 0 P M SAT - 9 A M - 12 P M H I - M I C RO C O M P U T E R S 6 / 18 W H YA L L A S T F YS H W I C K PH 6280 7520 W W W. H I - M I C RO . C O M

With Venus, Mars and Mercury activating your karma zone, be careful how you treat other people (in person and online). Self-indulgent behaviour, unrealistic expectations and unfair criticism will just boomerang back on you! So your mantra is from birthday babe, model and actress Cara Delevingne: “The energy you give off is the energy you receive.” Some quiet meditation or soulful contemplation will help you get through the week in a more relaxed state.

Solution next edition

Across

FREE SUDOKU EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

Sudoku medium No. 297

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

The stars highlight your love life, as Venus and Pluto invite Cupid to pay you a visit.

If you’re attached, organise a romantic candle-lit rendezvous or a cosy weekend getaway. Singles… it’s the perfect time to download a new dating app, refresh your online profile or go on a first date. It’s important that you look for a lover who is also a friend. Killer curves or bulging biceps will mean nothing if you can’t connect and converse in a deep and meaningful way.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

This week be careful your spontaneous Sagittarian spirit doesn’t land you in unexpected trouble! You’re keen to communicate (in person and online) but, if you blurt out the first thing on your mind, you could find yourself regretting your haste. Many adventurous Archers are keen to head off on an overseas trip, an interstate interlude or a weekend getaway. But make sure you double-check your itinerary (and current covid restrictions) before you go.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

A Family Business: 55 years experience

Southlands Shopping Centre – Mawson (about 50 metres South of the Post Office) 0408 310 063 Your Precious ‘Old’ Jewellery - well it used to be... now maybe... It’s just old - and a bit worn out, or costs too much to fix... probably never be worn again...

You keep the memories - perhaps, we could buy the goods?

26 CityNews August 5-11, 2021

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Jupiter and Saturn are visiting your seclusion zone. So – whether or not you’re in Covid lockdown, quarantine or isolation – slow down and reflect on where you’re going, and where you’ve been. When it comes to a much-needed holiday, be patient and plan carefully. It’s also a time when unresolved relationship issues could be dredged up all over again. Venus and Mars encourage you to be proactive about healing the past and heading towards a brighter future.

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

Solution next edition

Solutions – July 29 edition Sudoku hard No. 296

Advance Jewellers

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

With Saturn still sauntering through Aquarius, it’s one step forwards and two steps back! You can also expect some communication mayhem this week, as Neptune and Jupiter increase confusion and impatience. Loved ones will certainly test your tolerance and self-restraint. If you are firm and flexible (which is a tricky balance) then you’ll be able to navigate your way through the constantly changing landscape. Patience and persistence are the keys.

Crossword No. 792

Restorations - Repairs - Remakes - Re-Setting Ring Re-sizing - 48hr Service Custom Design - for something Special Pearl and Bead Re-Threading and Knotting

Venus and Pluto boost your charisma, so make the most of it (especially on Wednesday and Thursday). Mercury also joins Venus and Mars in fellow earth sign Virgo, which activates your perfectionist side. This week, if people want to get things done promptly and professionally, they need to put a conscientious Capricorn in charge! Inspiration comes from famous Wild West sharpshooter (and birthday great) Annie Oakley: “Aim at a high mark and you will hit it.”

GARDENING

Chris’ Trees Winter flowering native Malva, or Aussie hibiscus.

Pimelea physodes, another winter flowering native plant.

A winter walk in the Gardens HAS it been some time since a visit to the Australian National Botanic Gardens?

Perhaps winter is not ideal, with the bitterly cold winds and drizzling rain we’ve had lately.

However, pick a sunny day, starting with a coffee in the Pollen café, and be surprised at the variety of plants in bloom over winter.

One of my favourites, with its big, blousy flowers, is a member of the Malva family. Malva alyogyne huegelii, often referred to as the Aussie hibiscus, has rich, purplish coloured flowers to brighten any Canberra winter garden. At the end

of each flowering season, stems should be cut to ground level.

SOME prehistoric monsters have been added to wander the gardens. Children will love them.

These fit in with all the prehistoric plants that have been growing for several thousands of years. Megalania, which roamed during the Pleistocene period, is a carnivore, eating snakes, other reptiles and birds. It lived in open forests and woodlands and was five to seven metres long, weighing 600-1000kg. This dinosaur is quite rare, with no complete skeletons having been found, although fossil deposits have been discovered in caves, streams and rivers. Offering further evidence of their existence, they have been seen in Aboriginal cave drawings. I am sure the Aboriginals on a dark night would not like to come across this monster when out looking for their supper.

KIDS will also love The Red Centre display, further demonstrating the wide range of native plants and wild animals. Growing nearby is a group of Pimelea physodes, also known as Qualup bell. These look best planted in a group, as they

are in the gardens. Growing to 80cm high with flowers as bracts of cream streaked with red or purple, these suit any garden, whether native or exotic, and work well as an understory for camellias and/or rhododendrons.

WHEN starting out on a tour of the gardens, call first at the information centre, to collect a “What’s in Flower” leaflet.

At the bookshop, I recommend “Australian Plants for Canberra Region Gardens and Other Cool Climate Areas”, published by the Australian Native Plants Society, formerly the Society for Growing Australian Plants, Canberra Region. This means you are getting the best of advice. Better yet, join the society.

However, save the bookshop for the end of your walkabout. I suggest this so you don’t have to carry your new books all around the gardens.

• Tree pruning • Tree removal • Tree maintenance • Tree lowering • Hedge lowering

Quote range $200 to $750*

“Making good decisions’’ MAXIMUM IMPACT! Insured – AAMI

Text or call 0468 695 561 Email cgsact@gmail.com Find me on gumtree.com.au * $750 day rate (Tree surgeon + one)

Aged Composted Horse Manure • Pick up by the bag $7 each • Pick up by the trailer load $40 per trailer • We deliver truck loads

7 BELTANA ROAD, PIALLIGO Any queries phone Ivan 0413 949 900

Part of our early landscape, Megalania.

ROOF MAINTENANCE • OLD TO NEW GUTTER & FASCIA REPLACEMENT • LEAK & ROOF REPAIRS • SKYLIGHTS • VERANDAS & PATIO ROOFS • GUTTER GUARD

ISL

HOME MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS PTY LTD

CALL RORY ON 0431 556 307 or email rorymartens13@gmail.com

Even the magpies think it’s real…

Synthetic grass stays green all year round Australian made for Australian climate standards Family owned business - 15 years experience Easy low maintenance & water free Up to 15 years warranty from manufacture & 8 years commercial use We do Landscaping and paving too!

For a FREE measure & quote

call David 0410 682 457 or Nancy 0410 081 771

Keeping it green.com.au The synthetic grass solution

CityNews August 5-11, 2021 27

Actually 100% local.

ActewAGL

Why go local energy? Find out at actewagl.com.au/local ActewAGL Retail ABN 46 221 314 841