CityNews 210902

CITYNEWS.COM.AU / A NEW WORLD OF BREAKING NEWS SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

High hopes for the drones seeking clues of past crimes NICHOLE OVERALL Public art struggles to find it heart in Canberra

PAUL COSTIGAN

Wattles bring a splash of gold to herald spring

BEN HICKEY

Bless you!

THE QUILLS ARE OUT!

Welcome to the hayfever season from hell LET BASC INSULATE YOUR HOME WITH HONEYCOMB BLINDS

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2 pages of letters

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

COVER STORY / hay fever

Extreme misery in the wind, says That Pollen Guy

By Nick

OVERALL THE onset of an “extreme” hay fever and asthma season will be adding to the covid woes of many locals.

Prof Simon Haberle, director of ANU School of Culture, History and Language, is the expert leading a team of researchers who track daily pollen and spore counts on the Canberra Pollen website.

Known on social media as “That Pollen Guy”, he says allergy sufferers can expect a congested season ahead, and it’s the extreme levels of pollen from Cypress Pine trees in the Canberra region that are to blame.

“On August 12 we saw our first extreme allergenic pollen day of cypress pine pollen, which was followed on August 16 by another extreme cypress pollen day in combination with high pine pollen as well,” he says.

“A combination of the warming weather, a wet winter with high soil moisture and windy days are all signs that are pointing to another record pollen season.

“Another factor is the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest forecast that above average winter-spring rainfall

Prof Simon Haberle… “warming weather, a wet winter and windy days are all signs that are pointing to another record pollen season.”

Respiratory educator Narelle Williamson… “One in nine Australians have asthma and one in five have hay fever, the two go very closely together.”

for southern and eastern Australia is likely to continue into spring.”

Prof Haberle says Canberra is known as the “allergy capital”, with the highest rates of hay fever of any city in Australia.

Nearly a third of Canberrans suffer some form of hay fever or as its scientifically known, allergic rhinitis, and these allergies cost the ACT economy at least $170 million a year through the impacts on people’s health, happiness and productivity.

But despite its name, hay fever is

neither caused by hay, nor results in a fever.

In fact, according to Narelle Williamson, a respiratory educator and senior clinical advisor at the National Asthma Council Australia, hay fever is an immune response triggered by an allergic reaction to pollen, which enters through the nose and is breathed into the lungs.

“It’s an inflammation in the lining of the nose where the nasal passages become red, swollen and sensitive to pollen,” she says.

According to Ms Williamson, the

More lockdown brings more pain THE announcement of another two weeks of lockdown in the ACT until September 17 has brought out the soapbox.

EDITORIAL There’s a tick for the government’s bigger business support payments and, yes, our staff is on the disaster support payment (not to work).

The issue is not entirely about now, but once the lockdown fog lifts and we return to the grind of continuing community restrictions.

We all know about the struggling tourism and hospitality businesses being smashed by interstate circumstances. But there are legions of other small businesses

All the public health issues are understood and largely inarguable (though locking up the kids’ playgrounds is lost on me). Two more weeks? Okay, let’s do it.

However, the problem is, after five weeks of lost business, many small businesses are again teetering on a survival knife edge. My local coffee shop can barely weather five weeks of lockdown, but will be broke if it runs much longer.

INDEX

Since 1993: Volume 27, Number 35

Arts & Entertainment 19-21 Canberra Matters 6 Crossword 22 Dining 21 Garden 23 Horoscopes 22 Letters 16-17 News 3-18 Politics 8 Seven Days 4 Streaming 20

Wattles bring a splash of gold. Story Page 15.

Well written, well read

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(including “CityNews”) not getting the attention, but living in a world of pain, too.

Last year we – the business sector – were cushioned with JobKeeper payments incrementally tapering away after the lockdown had ended. This time there is no reassurance, just a scary black hole of uncertainty.

As my son-in-law James Anderson, our managing director, correctly lamented in this spot last week, this lockdown is much worse than last year’s.

And this week, despite what any politician tells you, it just got a whole lot worse.

– Ian Meikle, editor

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season ahead is also bad news for asthmatics, as over 80 per cent of people with asthma suffer from hay fever as well.

“One in nine Australians have asthma and one in five have hay fever, the two go very closely together,” she says.

On top of an itchy nose and irritated eyes, she says asthmatics can also experience shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing, making day-to-day life even more difficult and dangerous.

Ms Williamson says it’s incredibly important for those who have hay fever or asthma to get advice from their GP and create a treatment plan.

“Those who don’t have hay fever or asthma plans are most at risk,” she says.

She also says there’s a series of digital resources people can keep an eye on to steer clear of pollen entirely.

“In Canberra you can download the ‘Canberra Pollen Count’ app or there’s the ‘AirRater’ app, which will tell you about what the pollen count is going to be the next day,” she says.

“Watching the weather forecast is good, too; they’ll often talk about pollen counts so people can be warned about the air quality of the next day.

“If it’s going to be a high-pollen day we advise staying inside, closing your windows, turning off your air conditioner or using recirculated air in your car or house.”

She also says days of rainfall with high pollen counts are ones to be wary of.

“Rainfall can fragment pollen into tiny fragments and make them much easier to breathe in,” she says.

“Towards the end of the season where you’ve had higher rainfall there’s more pollen due to the prolific grass growth.”

Ms Williamson says face coverings can help filter out larger pollen.

“Any type of mask will definitely reduce some amount of pollen, anything across your mouth and nose as long as it’s worn correctly,” she says.

“It’s also important to note that while good management can help asthma and hay fever it’s also critical at the moment to get tested for covid, people may think it’s just their hay fever playing up when it might be covid.”

The allergy capital we may be, but Prof Haberle’s research is hoping to “clear the air” for anyone confused about pollen allergy risks throughout the ACT. “We’re developing spatial maps of pollen allergy risk across Canberra using surveys of garden and street plants,” Prof Haberle said.

“These are being developed with my colleague Dr Simon Connor who says Canberra’s leafy inner suburbs are the worst for tree-pollen allergies, while the outer suburbs are more exposed to grass-pollen allergies.”

More at canberrapollen.com.au

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SEVEN DAYS

Kerryn’s ‘harder’ serve of lockdown porridge SPRING has sprung, but not us.

Another fortnight of lockdown porridge and no promise of getting out even then for good behaviour.

The Chief Minister Andrew Barr is no poker player. He grimly approached the covid press-conference lectern, gave us the daily blah-blah new cases, blah-blah infectious in the community, blah-blah hospitalisations, then came the news we could see on his face: we’re staying locked down until September 17.

First the congratulatory spin about bending the curve and, critically, getting the effective reproduction rate under one, then the inevitable “however”... and the rest is living history or hell, depending on how you’re coping.

There’s not much consolation in having an extra hour a day of fresh air for exercise, but presumably no sitting or standing.

Heaven help the homeschooling parents and grandparents. The shock was that there was to be no face-to-face schooling for the rest of this term and no guidance to term four until the first week of the school holidays.

ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman conceded that this stage of the lockdown was “harder than the beginning” and promised, honest injun’, the decision (hers) hadn’t been taken lightly. And what’s with her clubby, cosy references to Mr Barr as “The Chief”?

Meanwhile, next-door NSW’s lockdown

Medicare number so I was directed to call the ACT COVID-19 vaccination line,” she says.

“I was facing, wait for it, a four to five-hour wait in a telephone queue. And before you wonder about a call back, I tried that, too.”

Twenty hours later and still waiting to hear, she wrote: “I imagine this is a real problem for hundreds trying to book a COVID-19 vaccination. What a disgrace.

That’s not service, that’s mismanagement.”

But maybe it’s worth the struggle, Mareeta; according to an ABC tracker, the ACT is leading the states in the race to vaccinate with an estimated 70 per cent of eligible, over 16s in Canberra predicted to be fully vaccinated by October 2 and 80 per cent

by October 14 (Queensland won’t get there until December 16).

extension to September 10 came as no real surprise as the member for Monaro and NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro confirmed the inevitable. Though lethargy had me distractedly wondering about his buccaneer’s beard and whether fully vaccinated people in the ACT could now picnic over the border because we sure as hell can’t here unless.

This is the same state pollie who the day before suggested covid traces in Merimbula’s wastewater could be traced perhaps to naughty Canberrans fleeing to the coast.

An incredulous Chief Minister Andrew Barr scoffed, musing about what John was relying

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on that could differentiate Canberra poo from anyone else’s. Now, that would be worth seeing. On second thoughts, perhaps not.

READER Mareeta Grundy stirred me from my torpor with a grumpy missive asking if I was interested in how the ACT COVID-19 vaccination helpline was working for the consumer; s’pose so.

She is apoplectic that, after having had two babies and all her medical checkups in the ACT over the past 25 years, she went online to book for a covid vaccination.

“The system had no record of me nor my

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

SO given all that, the doleful, small-minded jump from blowflies to ants came easily as I became transfixed at the shocking A red imported news from the fire ant.

Invasive Species Council that an investigation into Australian online sale of ants (who knew?) has what the council calls a “disturbing global trade that offers up some of the world’s

most terrifying and dangerous ants as pets, including red imported fire ants, yellow crazy ants and Australia’s own bull ants and jack jumpers.”

The investigating biologist Tim Low put it this way: “Countries across the world, including Australia, are spending tens of millions of dollars every year battling red imported fire ants and yellow crazy ants, so the thought that people can buy these invasive species online is terrifying.

“Australia has made it illegal to import ants into the country and yet is happy to let traders mail potentially invasive Australian ants overseas.

“Australia is spending over $750 million just to eradicate red fire ants. It is unconscionable we permit the export of our own problem ants and burden other countries with eradication costs.”

Not exactly in the covid eradication league for costs, but we’re all paying for it... as we buzz around in circles.

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

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CANBERRA MATTERS

Public art struggles to find its heart in Canberra ONE outstanding case study in how to get it wrong with significant public art remains the 2003 National Capital Authority’s efforts to celebrate the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage.

The centenary was in 2002 – so better late than never! Most people heard about this initiative in mid-2003 when it was announced fully formed with installation to happen by the end of 2003.

Everyone directly involved was convinced that all the boxes had been ticked, consultations were done and dusted and that the work was wonderful.

There was trouble with the artwork design with more funds requested.

But it was the proposed location that caused stuff to hit the fan.

The work was a large, red, moving fan to be installed behind Old Parliament House and was to be significantly taller than the heritage building.

Many did not agree about the location being in the middle of the axis from Parliament to Mount Ainslie. As someone said – anywhere but there!

This very vocal opposition joined forces with more conservative forces from within parliament. The project was stopped in its tracks.

To get something done for the centenary, the NCA had to come up with an alternative while dealing with the reality that much of the

Serious considerations need to be given to re-establishing an ACT government-funded public art and sculpture program.

The whole city needs to benefit. funds had evaporated.

No more expert panels, instead the NCA drew on their in-house designers to come up with a water thingy now at the entrance to the eastern gardens to the side of Old Parliament House. It is a forgettable piece of public art for an anniversary of huge importance.

The lessons were that no matter how high profile the expert selection committee and how worthy the intentions, somewhere in the system has to be a failsafe person that steps forward and says: “You have got to be kidding!”

The other stand-out faults were that the project was running late, costs were about to blow out big time and the community consultations were token at best. Looking at how today’s NCA conducts its business with locals and how it treats heritage – not much has changed.

In a previous piece on public art (CN August 12), I mentioned the im-

One work that people love to dislike... the large, metal piece at the Barton Highway/ Gungahlin Drive overpass designed to resemble Australia’s indigenous grasses.

Photo: Paul Costigan portance of placement and landscape design.

One work that people in Canberra love to dislike is the large, metal piece at the Barton Highway/Gungahlin Drive overpass. For those who did not know, this metal, 17-metre-high structure was designed to resemble Australia’s indigenous grasses.

Unfortunately, most regard the work as something that must have fallen off a truck. No surprises there given the inappropriate placement.

I sort of get this work, but it suffers because of its placement perched on a small concrete slab on the side of the ramp. This location is seriously

so wrong. People passing by should be able to see it from afar and have it become clearer as they get closer – not come upon it as a surprise. This work should be relocated.

Talking of things left behind, there is the large package sculptural piece left on the corner of West Row and Alinga Street in Civic. It remains a favourite. Others are the four creatures (“Icarus”) in Petrie Plaza just off City Walk, Civic, the “Bogong Moths” near

the Museum of Australia, Belconnen’s “Powerful Owl” on the corner of Belconnen and Benjamin Way, “On The Road Again” at Lyons shops and “Toku” in Canberra’s Nara Peace Park by the lake. There are heaps more I could list and will do so in a future piece.

Serious considerations need to be given to re-establishing an ACT government-funded public art and public sculpture program. The whole city needs to benefit – not just the central locations.

I must draw attention to the very overlooked ANU Sculpture Walk for which you wander the campus to spot the artwork as well as the occasional significant architecture.

I urge people to rediscover the artworks scattered around Canberra and those within the ANU. Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

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YESTERDAYS

High hopes for drones seeking clues of past crimes A CANBERRA-based, hi-tech drone company has volunteered cutting-edge assistance to search for potential evidence in some of the ACT’s long-standing unsolved murders and disappearances.

Like something out of a sci-fi film, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology of Department 13 has the capability to assist in new ways in old investigations. This could include that of 20-year-old Keren Rowland, whose body was found in the Fairbairn Pine Forest in 1971.

According to CEO Lee Croft, these technologies can provide access and coverage in ways often not otherwise possible.

“More and more, drones are used in everything from intelligence gathering, physical security to surveillance, disasters to crime scenes,” he says.

“A system being developed in the US can even analyse drone footage to determine whether people are alive or not”.

The tech

company was established in the US in 2010 and Canberra in 2020. The sophisticated equipment in its stable is well beyond anything available to the average recreational user.

“Some of the work we undertake includes surveillance, reconnaissance and security monitoring” explains Lee. “This is for purposes of public, personal and asset protection and monitoring.”

In relation to local cold cases, there’s the potential for a modern, aerial perspective of the likes of the Fairbairn Forest.

More traditional searches of the site, next door to the Canberra Airport, have been conducted over 50 years in the attempt to solve the baffling mystery of Keren’s fate.

At the end of 2020, the AFP made use of metal detectors to determine if a missing bracelet Keren apparently had with her on the night of February 26, 1971, when she disappeared, might be unearthed.

Although nothing was discovered, the process went some way in confirming the jewellery remains a critical and unaccounted for piece of evidence.

Department 13’s high-end capabilities can also extend to Light Detection

A Department 13 drone… “There’s the potential for a modern, aerial perspective of the likes of the Fairbairn Forest,” says Lee Croft. and Ranging (LIDAR) and experts trained in the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).

“LIDAR is essentially a distance technology, using light in the form of a pulsed radar to generate three-dimensional information about surfaces like landscapes,” says Lee. “In fact, its depth-sensing is even being built into the latest iPhones.

“It’s a significant tool because any identified, unusual changes in ground elevation may provide authorities with more focused points of interest for further investigation”.

GPR uses radar pulses to detect objects and irregularities – but deep

underground.

It’s been used in high-profile international cold cases, one of the most recent, that of Kristin Smart.

The 19-year-old disappeared from a Californian university campus in 1996. At this stage, her body remains unfound.

With much interest generated through an in-depth 2019 podcast, “Your Own Backyard” – and subsequently, two arrests – GPR continues to be used in the ongoing search for Kristin’s body and any evidence.

When it comes to unsolved Canberra-region crimes, there could also be the chance for further

explorations of other locations. This includes the 30-year-old case of Dianne Pennacchio, found murdered in the Tallaganda State Forest (on the NSW side of the border) in 1991.

Then there’s the locals who’ve vanished without trace.

The end of July marked 37 years since 17-year-old Megan Mulquiney was last seen at the Woden Plaza. In 1980, 18-year-old Elizabeth Herfort disappeared from along Commonwealth Avenue – September 3, 2021, marks what would have been her 60th birthday. And there are others.

While even the most up-to-theminute technologies aren’t guaranteed to reveal anything new or even potentially connected, it offers the possibility for a re-examination of old scenes to the fullest extent currently available.

“If we can provide some resources that may help in any of these local cases, even in a small way, we’re very happy to do that,” says Lee. “We might not be able to find answers for families, but at the least, it has the potential to eliminate continuing to go over ‘old ground’ as such, meaning police can focus on other leads and information moving forward”.

For more on these local unsolved cases, see capitalcrimefiles.com.au. If you have any information relating to any of them contact Crime Stoppers.

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CityNews September 2-8, 2021 7

POLITICS / economic growth

Pandemic reveals the price of packing people in Cramped living conditions were a key element in the spread of tuberculosis in Adelaide in the 1880s.

The solution was creating outdoor recreation areas and better designed houses with yards. The covid pandemic should have us thinking the same way, says MICHAEL MOORE HOW many problems are driven by economic growth? Who are the winners and who are the losers?

As the divide between the wealthy and the poor grows year after year, it’s appropriate to peel back the layers to look at “the cause of the cause”.

Economic growth is a catchword of conservatives as the solution to a wealthy and more prosperous country.

One key element driving economic growth in Australia has been population growth that, in turn, creates more and more jobs and pumps the need for more and more workers.

As more people arrive in Australia more work is created, and with it more and more wealth for individuals and companies along with increased revenue for governments.

The community is largely caught in an exponential drive for more jobs, more housing, more wealth – a drive for economic growth.

A paradigm shift is needed to frame our future in terms of economic sustainability.

Population predictions by the ANU School of Demography recently pre-

dicted a 40 per cent rise in Canberra from the current 432,000 people to 700,000 people within four decades.

This is built “largely on the back of immigration”. Apartment builder Geocon managing director, Nick Georgalis, considers this a serious underestimate.

Advertising of high-rise apartments

by Geocon and other developers in Canberra indicates apartment sales are slow. The flipside is that the prices of free-standing houses have increased remarkably over the last year.

There is a binary debate between those who are concerned about the impact of “urban sprawl” on the environment and those who are concerned about the impact on health of the population from the ever increasing number of apartment towers.

Concern about intensive living is not new. Such concerns have been exacerbated by the advent of COVID-19 and the challenges of apartment living. The Condamine Court quarantine provides one recent example of serious inconvenience to those living in the apartments

With one death from tuberculosis for every 1000 people between 1885 and 1889, Adelaide slums were bulldozed to make way for new buildings. Photo: History Trust of SA compared to the broader lockdown of the rest of the community.

Sarah Scopelianos, on ABC Radio National, explored the impact of the spread of tuberculosis in the early stages of town planning in Adelaide.

South Australians are very proud, as are Canberrans, that from the initial conception their cities have been carefully planned. With around one death from tuberculosis for every thousand people between 1885 and 1889, town planners looked for the cause and the solution.

Cramped living conditions were identified as a key element in the spread of the disease. A change in

medical thinking sought to move people from cramped, dark and dusty rooms to open, airy spaces. Effectively, the medical advice was to stop sharing and inhaling foul air and find open air, good hygiene and appropriate exercise.

According to Dr Julie Collins, an architectural historian from the University of SA, the planners of the time became “crusaders” for flattening slums, for creating community inspired suburbs with outdoor recreation areas and for better designed houses with yards for some outdoor living. The current pandemic ought to have us thinking in the same way.

More green space, homes with

some yard space, better suburbs with managed or less urban sprawl appear impossible in Canberra if even the minimum predictions on population growth become a reality. This is why it is time to rethink some fundamentals. Population growth is being driven by the desire for economic growth and is undermining the drive for healthier living spaces.

According to the Productivity Commission in May 2013, “economic sustainability can be interpreted as the allocation of resources over time (savings and investment) in a way that provides the highest level of wellbeing for current and future generations”.

Debates around sustainable populations, sustainable environment and sustainable development have been on the table for years. However, it is rare to hear of major political parties setting out to achieve these goals through economic sustainability.

The political and policy challenge is to prioritise health and well-being over consumption. Perhaps one positive impact of this awful pandemic is to rethink what is really important for us, for our children and their children’s children.

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.

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Inner South Canberra Community Council Welcome to our Inner South Canberra Community Council column.

Due to the unpredictable Covid 19 situation, our next public meeting will be held via Zoom at 7pm, Tuesday 14 September. Details here: https://www. isccc.org.au/events/category/meetings The main topic will be discussion of a draft Inner South Canberra District Strategy prepared by the ISCCC Committee for input into the ACT Government’s current planning review.

You can find the draft strategy on our website: www.isccc.org.au We will also discuss Light Rail Stage 2B and hear from our local members of parliament and residents’ groups.

One of the issues we are watching closely is the impact on traffic when major work begins on light rail Stage 2A. According to the ACT Government this ‘will be very disruptive for our road network, with lane closures and diversions in place for several years on major approach routes into the city from the south and west. This is expected to lead to longer commutes on key routes like Commonwealth Avenue, Kings Avenue and Parkes Way.’ We urge you to participate in consultations on these works. Further information here: https://www.act.gov. au/lightrailtowoden/traffic-disruptions/ traffic-impacts Best wishes,

Gary Kent Chair

Kingston & Barton Residents Group The tireless Robby McGarvey has secured an ACT Government grant and organised a Kingston Shops Floriade Community Celebration on Kennedy Street and Green Square for Floriade’s opening weekend of 11/12 September (COVID willing) - welcome to country, music, treasure hunt, book readings.

Geocon is now proposing a 4-storey commercial building for 22 Giles Street, Kingston, compared to the 8-storey mainly residential proposal last year. We have objected on the grounds of lack of compliance with the Territory Plan and unacceptable impacts on neighbours.

We are pleased that the proponents and senior ACTPLA officers have met with residents of the adjacent ‘Holford’ apartments.

Forrest Residents Group The FRG continues to work towards maintaining the character and amenity of our suburb. The face of Forrest continues to change, with more apartment and unit dwellings occurring at the expense of houses. A recent example is the sale of 2 house blocks together on State Circuit, at the corner of Hobert Avenue, where planning approval has been given to replace them with 42 units.

Residents remain concerned about the continued uncertainty of the future of the old Italo-Australian Club site.

Griffith Narrabundah Community Association

monitoring stations from 3 to 6 and that they all count pollen. There is now only 1 permanent pollen monitoring station in the ACT.

Old Narrabundah Community Council Many residents of old Narrabundah are out and about – wearing masks – getting their hour of exercise. One of the popular walks is down at the Narrabundah wetlands, particularly now that spring is in the air.

Are you reading more in lockdown? Take advantage of one of Narrabundah’s little libraries. Two of these are located outside the Marlee Early Education and Care Centre (in Nimbin St) and the Community Services Building (opposite Narrabundah shops).

Keep your eyes peeled for other little libraries in the front yards of some of our civic-minded Narrabundah residents.

Yarralumla Residents Association A developer is proposing to construct 276 apartments on the heritage-listed CSIRO site on Banks St, also a 130 bed aged care facility and conversion of Forestry House into a hotel. Sixty-two per cent of respondents to a survey of all Yarralumla residents opposed any redevelopment.

Major concerns are loss of heritage, impact on traffic and parking and scale and density of the proposal.

DOMA has lodged a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with the ACT planning authorities for the new

Brickworks development. A copy can be found on the YRA website plus a copy of our comments: Brickworks Environmental Impact Statement - Read YRA Submission - Yarralumla Residents Association.

Given the success of last year’s Floriade: Reimagined, the ACT Government has again provided 1,600 tulip bulbs and 1,600 seedlings to YRA for the Yarralumla shops and the pocket park on the corner of Novar and Hooker streets. Planted in June, these are now beginning to pop up.

Red Hill Residents Group The Red Hill community anxiously awaits the Government’s response to a proposal to utilise a large green space area (a park) between Roebuck and Beagle Streets to accommodate tradies vehicles for an expanding workforce of around 200 in 2022. Sadly, there has been no consultation or discussion with the community about this matter, and parking alternatives, remediation, traffic flow, and safety all need to be addressed.

Heritage Heritage Minister Rebecca Vassarotti recently took a brief, focused walk with Eric Martin, representing the National Trust (ACT), and three long term members of the local community, around some of our key heritage precincts.

Discussions with the Minister focussed on progress towards the Heritage Listing of Canberra and associated protection of local heritage precincts.

Clean unpolluted air is critical for a healthy living environment. Canberrans have been and are being affected by a range of adverse factors affecting air quality, including the 2019-20 bushfires, smoke from wood heaters, and in spring high pollen counts will likely cause an increase of asthma attacks.

If air quality becomes unsafe, those affected should be advised. Accordingly, the GNCA has sought an increase in the number of permanent air quality

The Inner South Canberra Community Council receives support and funding from the ACT Government Inner South Canberra Community Council (ABN 49 382 179 224) Authorised by Gary Kent, Public Officer, PO Box 3310, Manuka ACT 2603

www.isccc.org.au

OPINION / Royal Commission

Homelessness has to be part of Aboriginal probe I HAVE provided the ACT government with draft terms of reference for a Royal Commission into the disproportionate levels of contact which Aboriginal peoples in the ACT have with the justice system and are incarcerated.

They include, among a wide range of issues to be considered by the proposed Royal Commission, a specific reference to the standard and appropriateness of housing occupied by Aboriginal peoples living in Canberra.

The terms of reference were drafted

by Ken Cush and Associates, who are generously supporting the Aboriginal community with advice and services, based on advice provided by a group of senior Aboriginal leaders.

As with so many measures of disadvantage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the ACT fare poorly in any comparison of any aspect of housing whether it be in relation to home ownership, homelessness or the adequacy, standard or suitability of the housing they occupy.

It is axiomatic that any inquiry into the reasons for the over-representation of Aboriginal peoples in contact with the justice system must include a detailed audit and investigation of the range of social factors, including housing and homelessness, which may lead to such contact and

The current wait time in the ACT for allocation of priority (ie urgent) public housing, is 12 months and for people not eligible for priority housing the average wait for public housing is four years. ultimately imprisonment.

It was, therefore, coincidental but nevertheless deeply concerning to learn of the range of issues which the Official Visitor for Homelessness, Mr Simon Rosenberg included in his first formal report as Official Visitor to the Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services, Ms Rebecca Vassarotti.

Mr Rosenberg advised community representatives at a meeting he recently addressed that the range of serious concerns which he reported to the Minister included: 1. The long wait for public housing.

2. The need for increased cross-sector work is for example disability, mental health and AOD. 3. Multiple complaints that service users are frustrated because of the number of women who cannot get custody of their children because of the length of the public housing waiting list.

4. C oncerns that people with alcohol and other drug dependencies who are evicted from rehabilitation services because, for example, of a relapse, are often in effect evicted into homelessness.

I understand that the current wait time in the ACT for allocation of priority (ie urgent) public housing, is 12 months and for people not eligible for priority housing the average wait for public housing is four years.

I was particularly distressed to learn from Mr Rosenberg’s report that there are women in Canberra, many of whom I have no doubt are Aboriginal, who have been separated from their children and while eligible to be reunited with them are prevented from resuming custody because there is simply no available public housing for them to access. In my opinion this is not only shameful, it is cruel.

An issue which I am not aware that the Official Visitor for Homelessness included in his report to the minister, but which is of utmost concern to me, is the absence of a clear and reliable pathway for detainees at the AMC into secure housing upon release from prison.

I am aware of inmates who have, for example, been unable to take advantage of a grant of parole and are forced to remain in detention because

they do not have a secure place, outside prison, in which to live.

I have been calling on the ACT government repeatedly over the last five to six years to facilitate the establishment of an Aboriginal housing corporation and an indigenousspecific housing policy in order that some of the most pressing housingrelated issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people might be addressed, but to no avail.

The government has not developed a genuine Aboriginal housing policy or empowered the Aboriginal community to work in partnership with it to meet the needs of all Canberrans, Aboriginal or otherwise, dependent on public housing support.

It has instead, in the decade 2010 to

2020 (during which period Canberra’s population grew by 63,395 people), actually reduced the number of units of public housing in Canberra by a total of 78.

It is notable that the social-housing sector had fared little better than public housing with the ACT government imposing savage cuts on CHC Community Housing, the major social housing provider in the ACT, to the point it is barely able to function.

I have not been successful in locating a copy of Mr Rosenberg’s report and would be grateful if Minister Vassarotti would make it available. I also urge her to take control of Housing ACT and put an end to the unceasing difficulty which poorer Canberrans experience in seeking to access, let alone enjoy, one of the most basic and fundamental human rights – the right to housing.

Julie Tongs is the CEO of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services.

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THE GADFLY

SPORTS

Losing control of our teetering planet?

Heyman kicks a re-signing goal

THE first “grown-up” book I read has stayed with me ever since. It was “The Cruel Sea”,

by Nicholas Monsarrat.

STAR striker Michelle Heyman has re-signed with Canberra United for the 2021/22 W-League season.

I also loved the film, and oftentimes when I’m walking along Coila Beach at Tuross in the late afternoon, the sea has that slate grey of the cover illustration. And the waves have the same threatening rise and fall with the white foam curling down their face as in the black-and-white movie.

In the story, they surround the good ship “Compass Rose”, whipped by the cold and fierce winds of the North Atlantic; and when the Nazi torpedoes strike the convoy she’s protecting, they freeze the survivors to death.

While at Tuross, in only the last month the waves have torn away hundreds – perhaps thousands – of cubic metres of sand, so at high tide the ocean now reaches across the beach to Lake Coila as part of the

The sea isn’t ‘cruel’. It merely responds – as science says it must – to the idiocy (and cruelty) of the men who invent the wars and who refuse to slow or prevent further heating of the planet. inexorable sea rise of climate change.

But of course, in neither case is the sea “cruel”. It merely responds – as science says it must – to the idiocy (and cruelty) of the men who invent the wars and who refuse to slow or prevent further heating of the planet. These are the same fanatics who claim they are going to war in the cause of “peace” and who refuse action on climate change in the name of “prosperity”. They are the living proof – if any further were needed – that the human mind is a precision instrument of self-delusion, particularly when given over to the wacky extremes of religion or nationalism.

Add to that the iron law chanced upon by Lord Acton in a moment of rare clarity that “all power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” and you have a world – a

planet – teetering on the edge of catastrophe.

But all is not lost, at least for the planet itself. The solution resides in the concept of Gaia, wherein ancient Greeks and Romans held that the Earth itself functions as a single system so that, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “the living component regulates and maintains conditions so as to be suitable for life”.

It should be no surprise then that just as the world plunges into an existential crisis of climate heating from the mad exploitation of its resources, a wild bat exploited in a so-called “wet market”, should deliver a tiny virus to enter the fray. And when, through multiple mutations, it spreads death and disaster to the great economies the rate of expansion of the devilish gases – CO2, methane

and the rest – will fall to a level that returns the atmosphere to healthy levels.

The only question facing us now is whether we’ve already lost control of Gaia’s response and the mutations will outpace our capacity to kill them before our species vanishes from the blue planet and returns it to the cockroaches.

So it was pleasing to see that the EU was taking a quantum leap by putting a carbon levy on goods from recalcitrant governments – such as Australia’s – that refuse to throw their full weight into the battle against climate change.

Pleasing but by no means decisive.

Australia’s leader is both a religious extremist and an absolute-power merchant. So, as the world teeters on the edge, he’s throwing his weight behind the fall. What’s more, he looks to be growing new hair, strand by strand, on the top of his head; and in another little book I read, it only needed one to break the camel’s back. robert@robertmacklin.com

Heyman, a two-time Julie Dolan Medal winner, says she’s excited to start her tenth season with the club, due to kick off on November 13.

“I absolutely loved everything about last season and can’t wait to be back training and playing with the girls,” Heyman says.

The 61-cap Matilda unexpectedly hung up her boots in May 2019, but returned to United last season, playing 100 games with the club and helping them Michelle Heyman. make the finals.

Heyman, 33, has 73 goals to her name in the W-League, including 61 for Canberra United.

Canberra United coach Vicki Linton said she’s happy to have the W-League veteran back in the squad.

“I really enjoyed seeing her come back to the game last year and do so well and I hope she enjoys another great season this year,” she said.

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NEWS / History Week

It’s history for History Week crimped by covid

By Nichole

OVERALL IT’S another sad sign of the times when history repeats to see the annual History Week curtailed in the region for the second year running.

While Queanbeyan was to host two events and an online exhibition for 2021, due to the impact of covid none will run between the scheduled festival dates of September 4-12.

The local highlight was set to be what’s believed to be the earliest known surviving panorama of Queanbeyan. The impressive item was the work of Charles Pickering, a roaming photographer at the tail end of the 19th century whose pastime was snapping tombstones in rural NSW towns.

Queanbeyan’s Local History librarian Brigid Whitbread is naturally disappointed but points out that rather

than cancelled, for the moment the planned events are postponed.

“We were going to do a talk on Pickering’s panorama at the newly restored Rusten House and featuring a number of great panoramas of Queanbeyan from those early days,” she says.

“Members of the Queanbeyan Museum were also going to be hosting a history walk ending up there to focus on its collection, so that’s on hold as well.”

The extensive photographic memorabilia of a former local, Theo Cooper, was also to be made available online.

“That was the plan, but ultimately they will happen just not in September as we’d hoped,” maintains a positive Brigid.

Last year, only a single item featured on the local program, a “hybrid” Q&A-style panel with a limited number of in-person guests and others participating by Zoom.

Exploring the theme “History – what is it good for?”, Brigid says while a success, the current stay-at-home orders mean organising anything similar for

this year is virtually impossible.

“While there’s an idea that everything’s online, that’s certainly not true,” the librarian points out.

“We were working on a couple of alternatives but because of the situation, they’ve had to be shelved.”

“The difficulty of course, is even putting an exhibition together. With lockdown and working from home, our team just doesn’t have access to all the resources to be able to do it, so that makes putting anything together tricky.”

NSW History Week, which celebrates and explores the past in order to “shape the present and the future”, was first launched by the History Council of NSW in 1997.

With its 2021 theme “From the Ground Up”, while some activities are looking to be rescheduled, the History Council’s website is promoting online and social media events it appears will proceed.

This includes an exhibition on the anti-Vietnam War protest marches of 50 years ago and a webinar featuring University of Sydney urban history

students sharing stories of the city.

Another virtual event to stream live focuses on the re-interment records of the old Sydney Cemetery which had to be dug up in 1901 to make way for the Central Railway Station.

Brigid is also keeping an eye on a Port Macquarie history conference intending to be run entirely online during September.

“They’re a small, local, family history group, so it will be interesting to see how that goes from a grassroots sort of level,” she says.

In other Queanbeyan commitments to History Week, a small group of teachers at Queanbeyan West Public School is seeking interesting historic photos to share with their charges.

“It may be affected by school lockdowns but the plan is to gather significant photos to share with students to show Queanbeyan in the past and changes that have been made over time,” one tells me.

When it comes to the future of endeavours such as History Week, there’s inevitably going to be an ever-increasing focus on technology-

centric activities – which also allow for greater participation and easier access.

“Our first hybrid event last year, we thought it went really well,” says Brigid.

“That’s probably the way we will try and go to have that online option and hopefully that will help reach a wider audience.

“If you live in Araluen or Captains Flat are you really going to come in on a winter’s Wednesday evening to talk about local history? Or, people with kids aren’t going to pay for a babysitter to attend a history event, but if they can take the kids off to bed and then watch it online, then that’s a much more viable option.”

In giving consideration to such possibilities, Brigid believes it will never fully take the place of face-to-face experiences.

“I don’t think you can beat the inperson, the actual live, interactive engagements,” she says.

The annual ACT Heritage Festival runs between April and May.

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ABOVE: A panorama of Queanbeyan circa 1920s/30s by local Theo Cooper. Image: Queanbeyan Museum LEFT: Pickering’s panorama… Charles Pickering was a roaming photographer at the tail end of the 19th century.

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MUMMY / baking birthday cakes

Cake win, I only had one kid ask me what it was!

“NEVER let me make another one of these f**king cakes,” began my text-message conversation to my friend, Erin, as I sent her a photo of the work-in-progress birthday cake I was desperately trying to complete for my daughter’s recent party.

OMG… is that a crab claw?’ she asks. “ Insert three emoji faces of gritted teeth Insert three emoji faces of crying and laughing emoji “I am so defeated… it’s meant to be a butterfly!” I say.

Insert emoji of concerned face with open eyes “Ha, it’s my fave time of year… when you pull out the ‘Women’s Weekly’ cake book,” says Erin.

“Yes, in my quest to be a ‘good mother’.

Honestly, that book was written when women had nothing better to do… I should have been at work!”

Erin and I met at “mothers’ group” for our first babies and have been best of friends ever since. Over the past seven years, she’s witnessed and tasted many of my cake creations and, yes, she’s laughed at every one of them.

I like to think that us modern mothers are redefining motherhood, doing things our way and supporting each other’s different choices as to how to raise our families.

The butterfly cake inspiration as it appears in “The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cakes” recipe book.

The author’s interpretation of the butterfly birthday cake… the cake started to crumble and was saved with forgiving freckles.

All of this is true, up until your child gets to be a year older and somehow we (I really mean, I) get obsessed with recreating the iconic cakes of our childhood, in some quest to show off to the world what a good mother I am (and to please my kids, but let’s face it with cakes, they are easily pleased).

The good old recipe book gets dusted off and pawed through. I have now come to realise that “The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cakes” recipe book, first published in 1980, has a lot to answer for.

Full of memories, I can flip through and tell you I had Humpty Dumpty when I turned one, Little Miss Muffet when I was two, ballerinas when I was

three. My brother had Mickey Mouse at some point. I always wanted the dolly with the cake skirt and pretty pink and white marshmallow decorations. And who didn’t want the train filled with all the lollies and coloured popcorn in the carriages?

It’s so much fun going through the book with my own excited children.

Up until I realise that I have to create the damn thing!

I also realise that, deep down, I don’t really like baking and I actually don’t bake any other time of the year; therefore my skills have not improved since last time I attempted the birthday cake.

There’s a lot of pressure that comes

with producing a homemade cake.

It seems you can outsource most things, but nothing beats the smug: “Yes, I baked it myself” reply you can honestly give to your guests.

And so for every cake, I rope in a friend or my mother to assist. I’ve done the teddy, clock, rabbit, tug boat, ladybird, number 6 and now most recently, the dreaded butterfly.

My favourite story is from our family friend, Tricia, who created the candy castle in 1985 for her son’s third birthday. She said she has fond memories of producing many of the cakes over the years out of what she terms the “family bible” but even she was tested when it came to making the candy castle cake due to the ice cream cone “turrets” that had to be covered in icing.

She told me that the cones got all soggy with the icing dipped on them so at the last minute, she improvised with cardboard cones that she iced for effect!

Talking about tears, my mum and I were laughing and crying as we tried to cut my cake into some shape that resembled butterfly wings. As we iced, the cake started crumbling.

Oh the crumbs! Nothing worse than

trying to neatly ice crumbly chocolate cake with pale-pink icing! I was racing to finish before school pick-up time, leaving mum to battle with the icing pen that conveniently stopped working and putting the finishing touches with lots of forgiving freckles.

My husband laughed at me, when I sheepishly admitted my defeat to the butterfly cake. I felt bad I had taken time off work and only had a mess in the kitchen to show for it.

I would have been less stressed at work, and as a small-business owner, that’s saying something! He kindly said: “Well, Kate, you did something nice for our daughter, but I don’t understand why you put yourself through this every year.”

Seeing my daughter’s happy face when she saw the butterfly was gratifying. And I only had one kid ask me what it was!

Everyone said how delicious the cake was. I told them to enjoy it as it was my last... It’s time to realise the extent of my skills and stick to standard shapes next time, or better still, buy it.

DOWN MY WAY 50 years in Fisher, Gary’s seen it all

By John Rogers

“PHEW, these hills get steeper every day,” Gary Meades, of Fisher, says with a smile when our paths cross early one morning recently on the outskirts of the Weston Creek suburb.

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I walk early every morning in my suburb of Fisher and neighbouring Waramanga, venturing some days into the Fisher Nature Reserve.

As a former journalist with the “Canberra Chronicle”, the ABC and some years in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, I like to take photographs of things that catch my interest – quirky, unusual things that tell a story – as well as say “good morning” to people I see walking.

And that’s how I got talking to Gary, who has a long history of living in Fisher. He came here more than 50 years ago from Melbourne.

Most days he walks his eight-year-old rottweiler Herbie over the hills and along the byway paths.

He’s seen many changes in the suburb, homes of different styles appearing and disappearing with building fashions.

The current wave of demolition and construction is part of the ebb and flow of life here.

“I’m a butcher by trade, but I came to Canberra in the 1970s to work for the CSIRO and I’ve seen no reason to leave,” he said.

When Fisher Square had more shops, he also worked at weekends chopping meat at the local butcher’s shop, long gone now and recently followed by the convenience store, which hosted a bottle shop and a post office.

Retired for some years now, Gary’s walks around Fisher and the nearby bushland in

Gary Meades, of Fisher, with Herbie, his rottweiler.

Photo: John Rogers the nature reserve, watching the wildlife have given him particular pleasure.

“The other day it was a black cockatoo and a family of six magpies on a footpath, which I fed with a piece of meat,” he says.

“The people I pass with Herbie give me a nod and a smile, it’s friendly round here”.

Gary keeps active and has made a point over the years of visiting local, small shopping centres in the area as well as Woden. It’s something he urges others to do, to make contact.

“I’ve found if you say ‘good morning’, people will converse, even if they don’t know you, and it can make a big difference to them as well as yourself. It costs nothing,” he says.

NEWS FEATURE / wattles

Wattles bring a splash of gold to herald spring Journalist (and gardener) BEN HICKEY says there’s a lot to love about wattles IT seems to be raining gold. First came the Olympic medals, which seemed to be a showcase for green and gold Australian uniforms, the colours of which are derived from our national flower, the Golden Wattle or Acacia pycnantha.

And now, as we celebrate this week’s National Wattle Day (September 1), spring beckons and we have the amazing spectacle of wattle plants bursting into full colour with yellow/ gold blooms and green leaves.

This botanical extravaganza is occurring around the country, in deserts, woodlands, coastal areas and backyards over the next month.

Such a co-ordinated burst of vibrant colour has few matches, although the annual festival of pink, red and cherry blossoms from our ornamental trees is another spectacular side of spring.

The wattle is part of the large Acacia plant family that worldwide has more than 1200 species of trees and shrubs, usually from warm climates. Mostly evergreen, there are 700 species that are native to Australia and these range from ground covers to trees, and from soft and cuddly to prickly.

Not just beautiful, their flowers are a magnet for insects and bees.

Despite the historical ties Australia

has with the wattle, it is not a regular sight in most gardens. Compared with the blossoming ornamentals, the wattle is a bit unwieldy and has the decided disadvantage of being short-lived. Fast to grow, fast to die, it is sometimes said of the wattle. And not many are really suited to backyard pots.

But this is changing as plant breeders develop cultivars that maintain the wattle’s attractive features but add longevity where possible.

Unfortunately, the substantial height of some wattles, including the Golden Wattle which can grow to 10 metres in the NSW tablelands and ACT, makes them not highly suited to the compact gardens of the modern urban areas.

However smaller, manageable acacias are available. The ACT government’s “Plant Selector” website suggests a number of acacia shrubs or ground covers that are droughttolerant and frost-tolerant and suited to Canberra.

For medium shrubs with the fullyellow flower look, there is the Snowy River Wattle or Acacia boormanii, which has silvery foliage and a round shape that can be used as a screen.

Another is the Knife-Leaf Wattle, or Acacia cultriformis, which has silvergrey leaves and grows to 2.5 metres.

Just the thing for a honey bee … bursting wattle in flower in a north Canberra backyard.

For small shrubs, there is the Honey Bun Wattle, or Acacia howittii dwarf, which is a compact, dense wattle growing one metre high and wide. Its flowers are pale-lemon ball shapes, and it is useful for hedging and containers.

There is also the Bower Limelight Wattle, or Acacia cognata “Limelight”,

There’s prominent green and gold on this wattle... it’s not a regular sight in most gardens.

which is a compact weeping dwarf form of a larger shrub.

Finally, the Prostrate Sticky Wattle, or Acacia howittii prostrate, is a graceful groundcover, or cascading plant, with green sticky pendulous foliage and great golden flowers.

Acacias usually need well-drained

soil, and are subject to some pests but once established are quite hardy. Your local nursery will be able to provide advice on any alternatives, such as new cultivars, that have just reached the market.

So now let’s enjoy more gold in the Tokyo Paralympics.

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LETTERS

Fairness really means ‘free’ in public housing WHY do I have to pay rates when people in public housing properties pay nothing? I have wondered about this for years.

I became more curious about this question in the last two weeks when two new, beautiful houses in my street were given to public housing tenants.

These tenants enjoy life tenancy, pay a pittance in rent and run a very low risk of eviction. They have the best real estate deal in Canberra, as do other public housing tenants – all 11,000 of them.

Rates in Campbell are very high and I wonder why these people don’t contribute to the running of the city or the suburb.

Even to the extent that they pay for garbage collection and all the levies added to rates bills. The vast majority of public housing tenants are on Commonwealth benefits, which means the rent they pay comes directly from the taxpayer. The formula to assess rent is no more than 25 per cent of their “income”. In addition they get a further subsidy from Canberra ratepayers. Nothing is free and what they get for nothing is paid for by others.

Not only do they get what amounts to a free house, it is of a higher standard than most of the neighbouring houses who pay high rates and have done so for years.

This real estate deal is magnificent when compared to private-sector rents. No one in the private sector gets away with not paying rates, it’s either the owner or the landlord.

Public housing tenants are getting a free ride on the back of taxpayers and the system is seriously unfair.

I don’t begrudge needy people getting public housing, but the concept of fairness has gone too far, when the so-called needy end up better off than those who pay for that housing.

It has also become clear that those who represent the needy – ie, ACTCOSS – have been bleating about fairness, which really means free. How do they reconcile the needy living in a new house when the neighbours, who fund the new houses, live in old houses?

Once a person gets public housing they cease to be needy and should make a contribution to Canberra. Surely that’s fair?

If they paid rates, this money would go into government coffers and reduce government debt and contribute to more people getting public housing.

Lucinda Spier, Campbell

Leave the age of criminal intent I SEE one of the young thugs who invaded Wallaby great Toutai Kefu’s Brisbane home was aged 13. His three accomplices were aged 15. All have been charged with attempted murder and other serious offences.

Surely this just reinforces the blindingly obvious fact that the age of criminal intent should be left as it is and any question of whether a young person under 14 knew what

he/she did was wrong be left to the court.

If this crime was to have been committed in the ACT after Shane Rattenbury’s law came into effect, this alleged young thug could not have been charged and brought to justice.

Bill Stefaniak, Narrabundah

‘Sound footing’ for development JON Stanhope (“The border may have to burst to get everybody in”, CN August 19) posed the question “where will all these extra people that the government said will actually reside?”

The government’s 2019 Planning Strategy should have provided guidance, but failed to assess the merits of alternative distributions of population and employment.

The strategy substituted platitudes for assessment and without evidence determined the level of housing demand to be accommodated in established areas should increase from 30 per cent to 70 per cent.

No analysis was undertaken of (a) the optimal level of intensification, (b) where it should be prioritised, (c) the cost of augmenting existing infrastructure, (d) the implications of restricting detached housing supply in the territory, (e) the merits of alternative greenfield areas including Kowen, (f) the effectiveness of policies to reduce travel including directing employment to locations well served by public transport, (g) housing preferences and (h) to demonstrate light rail

Mike Quirk, Garran

Greg’s change of heart on illicit drugs I WAS interested to read the letter from Greg Cornwell (CN August 19) on legalising illicit drugs and inconsistencies.

I am pleased to see Greg’s change of heart from the mid-’80s (pre-self-government days) when along with the other Liberals in the Assembly, which was only an advisory body to the Federal government, Greg walked out when the vote was about to be taken on recommending banning tobacco advertising.

I understand that Greg was a nicotine addict at that time and his firm had an account with the tobacco industry.

“How can you justify limited sentences for those who profit from death?” In the mid-’80s, an Australian died every 45 minutes from the effects of tobacco-related diseases. That’s the reason Canberra Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) was formed.

Does Greg suggest those who marketed

tobacco, knowing how dangerous the product is, should be sentenced to death?

Logically from what he writes “yes”.

Greg, I do agree with you on this issue.

Legalising small quantities of illicit drugs is a message to the drug pushers that the ACT will be a good market for them.

Dr Alan Shroot, ASH

Thanks to the folks at Fisher MY wife and I were booked in to have our second virus “jab” at our doctor’s surgery.

The whole operation was carried out with maximum efficiency and, being someone who has been associated with production lines for most of my working life, I feel that they at Fisher Family Practice should be given a big pat on the back for the way they handled the operation.

No doubt there are other practices that the above comments could be applied to, however when you see something that you are very familiar with, a little bit of praise is justifiable.

Jim Crane, Monash

Stay away from me!

TO all those still not fully vaccinated, for whatever reasons, keep away from me, please do, otherwise we may both end up in hospital, me in isolation and you in the ICU! Mario Stivala, Belconnen

Jon, our border is here to stay

usic, M e r o M un...

More F

JON Stanhope’s column about the pressure of growth on the ACT’s existing border concluded that the ACT/NSW border “is surely going to have to change”.

THE CLASSIC BREAKFAST with Holmsey & Jen

16 CityNews September 2-8, 2021

was more cost effective than alternatives such as bus rapid transport or that light rail is a better use of funds than spending on health and social housing.

To address these deficiencies a comprehensive review of the strategy is required.

The light rail extension and proposals to increase density in Yarralumla and Deakin should be deferred until the review is completed and Canberra’s development is placed on a sound foundation.

However, he didn’t discuss the process required for changing the border, which will be a fraught process at best.

The ACT government must first convince the NSW government to agree to “border reform”. If the NSW government remains true to the form it displayed when the Commonwealth explored returning the Jervis Bay Territory to NSW, then the ACT will find that NSW has little interest in change (ie a net benefit to NSW, which would translate as a net loss to the ACT).

The NSW government would then need to convince the people of NSW that it is a good idea, as any proposal to change the NSW border must be approved by referendum. I feel sure the NSW people would also want to know what’s in it for them before ever agreeing to border reform.

I doubt that the NSW government, as they have consistently shown in matters related to the Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island, would ever seriously contemplate border reform without a lot of carrots and political manipulation.

Unfortunately, I believe our future planning will have to occur within the constraints of our current borders unless other means can be found, as it was with Ginninderry.

Trevor Melksham, via email

5.30AM TO 9AM WEEKDAYS

Large Canberra ‘undesirable’

How to listen: 1053 AM DAB Radio • www.2ca.com.au Smart speakers (just say “Play 2CA”)

I ASSUME Jon Stanhope’s column (CN August 19) on a future Canberra of up to 1.5 million people was intended as a tongue-in-cheek glimpse of a dystopian future, rather than an endorsement of the ACT government’s long-range planning abilities.

A very large Canberra is neither inevitable nor desirable. Most Australians do not want a continua-

tion of the rapid population growth that is fueling urban growth.

The problem lies with a pro-growth coalition of developers, politicians and some academics that obscures the costs of endless development while seeking to marginalise those who try to rein it in.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that community matters more than numbers. Population growth is an outworn mindset and should be treated as such.

Dr Jenny Stewart, Torrens

Palmer’s wasteful case CITIZEN Palmer portends to take a case against WA to the High Court. He asserts that WA’s border closure violates Section 117 of the Australian Constitution: “A subject of the Queen, resident in any State, shall not be subject in any other State to any disability or discrimination which would not be equally applicable to him if he were a subject of the Queen resident in such other State.” Ie, a citizen living in one state (eg, Palmer, resident of Queensland) should not be disabled from travelling to another (eg, if he lived in WA, Palmer would be allowed to be in WA).

Fine, and the very next section of the same chapter of the same constitution notes: “Full faith and credit shall be given, throughout the Commonwealth to the laws, the public Acts and records, and the judicial proceedings of every State.”

In other words, the Commonwealth and other States must honour the laws passed by one State.

WA declared a State of Emergency (SoE) related to COVID-19, according to its legal processes. Under that SoE, WA restricted entry to and exit from WA, as it legally may do.

Once again, Clive Palmer wastes taxpayer funds and consumes judicial resources for his own pleasure. The borders would be opened much faster if that money were spent to provide medical equipment and deliver coronavirus vaccines!

Judy Bamberger, O’Connor

MORE LETTERS Public toilets please, pronto!

I JOIN with the many readers of “CityNews” who have recently expressed their anger about the lack of amenities, ie toilets, around Canberra.

I think it is irresponsible, careless, stupid and very annoying that the ACT government thinks that it is not their business to provide such facilities. One can’t rely on businesses to provide any. It would cut into their profits.

When I shop in Mawson, I have to use the female toilets there and they are usually very unpleasant. An attempt to provide handwash and a hand dryer is just that. The dryer does not work. I use my own hand towel. I have complained to City Services Minister Chris Steel about this some time ago. I believe that nothing has been done to improve them.

I have been to Downer, too, to socialise (pre-lockdown), and fortunately I have purchased a coffee so that I may use the toilets in the café. There should be public toilets everywhere and well-maintained toilets at that!

As one reader said, it is a human right to have access to toilets and clean running water, especially with the pandemic.

The handwashing facilities in the toilets in Canberra Centre are a disgrace, too. The taps are supposed to be automatic, but they don’t work!

This Labor/Greens government thinks it can do anything (or nothing) with impunity.

It takes for granted the probability of reelection because most Canberrans don’t want a Liberal government.

This government has grown complacent.

Who do we vote for next time? The Greens have coalesced and lost their own brand of politics, losing their power.

The construction of public toilets in the ACT IS the responsibility of the government and, as such, should be budgeted for, and work should commence pronto! And get them right!

Jenny Holmes, Weston

buildings extending along both sides of Commonwealth Avenue.

Perhaps Jack was upset by the big, black monstrosity immediately south of the Legislative Assembly building (incidentally, this map shows Jack’s favoured route for Light Rail Stage 2, south of Acton Peninsula – so he doesn’t mind invoking Griffin when it suits him).

Richard Johnston, Kingston

Thank you very much, Cedric RETIRING gardening columnist Cedric Bryant has been one of the main reasons that my partner and I look forward to each edition of “CityNews”. His articles have always been informative, interesting and well-illustrated.

I wrote an article about Cedric’s contribution to the Horticultural Society of Canberra last year for its quarterly bulletin. Cedric was then in his 81st year and he told me that he’d been writing weekly articles for “The Canberra Times” for 23 years before moving to “CityNews” in 2011. Cedric was awarded life membership in the society some years ago. Thank you so much, Cedric, for your many articles and other contributions to gardening life in Canberra.

Building on both sides of the avenue JACK Kershaw has a shot (Letters, CN August 19) at “those who, in support of development there [south of Civic], invoke Griffin’s depictions”.

For the record, I enclose an extract from Griffin’s last (1918) plan clearly showing

Wendy Whitham, via email

Local dismay at meeting’s report MINISTERS should be careful to query what their directorates and consultancy firms brief them on and tell them to say publicly, regardless of how positive and “consultative”

Help with a noisy neighbour IN a recent “Letters” page, correspondent M McGregor, of Curtin, wrote bemoaning the noise a young neighbour makes when leaving the house for work early each morning.

“I have spoken with his father and complained to him in writing for months, all in vain,” writes the octogenarian.

“What are my options? Has anyone else had a similar problem and how did they manage to solve it? Legally? Peacefully?”

Karen Johnstone wrote sympathising with Mr McGregor’s predicament. Sort of.

“I am a light sleeper and have suffered broken sleep through various circumstances throughout my life. I currently live in a small cul de sac, where a neighbour drives his wife to work at various hours of the night and the newsagent delivers a newspaper with a radio blaring at 4am,” she says.

“That said, living in the middle of suburbia requires an element of tolerance, compromise, understanding and acceptance. Everyone has the right to work and if that work requires someone to leave home at 6.40am, then that is their right.

“Perhaps the perspective of accepting that this young man has the right to be doing what he is doing and, potentially, be commended for making his way in life by solid employment.

“You might like to consider silicone earplugs to block out external noise.”

Richard Strong weighed in with “a couple of thoughts both legal and illegal”.

“Continue to complain and try to ignore the noise and hopefully with the warm weather approaching there will be less start up and warming noise until next winter.

“An eccentric aged Bega resident had a problem

with noise from his neighbours many years ago.

He believed that they played rooster tapes every morning to upset his peace. In response, he placed speakers on his house front and played loud Classic FM when the roosters started.

Steal the SUV at your age and take the risk.”

Meanwhile Kanchana also suggested Mr McGregor buy noise-cancelling earphones or cheaper earplugs.

Amy also plumped for earplugs. “Your neighbour’s son is merely earning a living in an honest manner. As a recent transplant from Sydney, I will add that 6.40am is by no means early to leave for work,” she says.

Anne and Owen Reid weighed in with: “Perhaps instead of complaining about a young man starting his vehicle of a morning to go to work, he should be congratulated for his work ethic. What is he supposed to do, walk to work in slippers so he doesn’t make a noise?”

Mario Stivala was a little more sympathetic to Mr McGregor offering up the earplugs suggestion, but not long term.

Then things got expensive: “Soundproofing the bedroom by double glazing any windows, installing soundproofing to the bedroom external walls and roof space above, also installing an efficient door seal to the bedroom door.”

Then some common sense: “Additionally, I would suggest a visit to any Access Canberra Shopfront for their comments, as this is a very common problem, which they would have undoubtedly dealt with on numerous earlier occasions.”

Write to us Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au

the messaging might appear (“Canberra’s planning function ‘not fit for purpose’”, CN August 18).

The public record of the statement made by the Planning Minister at the end of June to a major forum about ACT Planning Review processes and progress, shows that he claimed that “Listening Reports” had been emailed to all participants who registered to attend the recent suite of district planning workshops.

At least some community volunteers who worked hard to contribute input on five themes in one of the three-hour workshops never received such communication.

And, yes, once their workshop’s report was “discovered” and made its way along the informal community grapevine, these participants also viewed it with utter dismay.

Sue Dyer, Downer

Commonwealth must intervene I HAVE before me a letter from the Prime Minister that settles the legal prosecutory Commonwealth/ACT positions on illicit drug offences that some have seen as an opportunity to muddy the waters.

It says in part: “ The Commonwealth’s position is that the ACT legislation has no legal effect, and that offences in the Commonwealth Criminal Code will continue to operate, including in the ACT, as the ACT legislation does not prevail over, or negate, the operation of the Criminal Code.”

It goes on to say that this advice has been passed on to the ACT government.

This, of course, must mean that if the ACT government decriminalises/legalises illicit drug use and has offences treated under

local ACT “laws”, which have no legal effect, the Commonwealth must intervene.

Such intervention would have to appropriately advise the ACT government that ACT Policing, as part of the AFP, is responsible to the Federal Minister for Home Affairs – not the ACT Minister for Police.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

Two steps too far, Robert I CONGRATULATE columnist Robert Macklin for his perceptive and prescient article “So, we may think things are bad now” (CN August 19) warning about the danger of thinking “we’ve got this thing [the virus] beaten” and drifting into complacency.

We can’t afford to be off guard for a minute when fighting the extraordinarily contagious Delta variant.

So far so good. However, to claim that the “COVID-19 pandemic” is “one of the most virulent manifestations” of climate change, and may be “only the beginning of a much more serious sequence of pandemics” is two steps too far.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have concluded that the reproduction rate of the covid virus is not noticeably affected

by Earth’s air temperature. If anything, its reproduction is stimulated by lower temperatures – not the increasing temperatures of climate change (global heating).

Our best defence against the virus remains vaccination for all, avoiding as far as possible crowds, maintaining appropriate hygiene and remembering “we’re all in this together”.

Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

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WHIMSY

The rhyme time has to be poetry with meaning “A poet can survive everything but a misprint” (Oscar Wilde).

SOME might think me conservative when it comes to poetry appreciation – I like a poem to be stirring, rhyme, and have meaning.

I was therefore encouraged when Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize for literature in 2016 for his poetry.

Many of his song lyrics are poetic and powerful and have driven positive social change since the 1960s, beginning with his hugely influential third album “The Times They Are a-Changin”.

Dylan received the Nobel Prize “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”. Not everyone applauded the choice of Dylan. Novelists were said to have swallowed their own tongues in collective fury!

Turning to the local scene, two poems in the “Underworld: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties” exhibition at the National Archives in Canberra were particularly moving. The first was by Edna St Vincent Millay: My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes and oh, my friends – It gives a lovely light!”

It was published in 1920. Edna was

bisexual (homosexuality was illegal back then) and “burned the candle at both ends”. She died aged 50.

Another moving poem extract at the same exhibition was: rom the smoke and the fume of the F backyard room, Where poverty sits and gloats, On runaway feet from a dirty street To a field of snow she floats; And tickets to Hell have a curious smell And a dangerous crystal whiff, W here men hawk Death in a snowdrop’s breath At a couple of shillings a sniff.

It was penned by Kenneth Slessor in 1915 and was about drug abuse in Sydney.

Provisional IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands died in Maze Prison in 1981. He refined his poems by reciting them to fellow prisoners after lockdown.

His poem “Rhythm of Time” still resonates powerfully. These are just the first and last two verses of a much

longer poem: There’s an inner thing in every man, Do you know this thing my friend?

It has withstood the blows of a million years, And will do so to the end.

It was born when time did not exist, And it grew up out of life, It cut down evil’s strangling vines, Like a slashing searing knife.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead, It screams in tyrants’ eyes, It has reached the peak of mountains high, It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell, It thunders forth its might, It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend, That thought that says, ‘I’m right!’

Even people who have done terrible things sometimes appreciate poetry.

Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma bombing that killed 168 people, including children, had a favourite poem Invictus penned

by William Ernest Henley in 1875.

The last two lines tell us why he refused to appeal against his death sentence: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance, My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade.

And yet the menace of the years.

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

He was executed for the Oklahoma bombing on June 11, 2001.

This week I’m going to end on a sentimental note, rather than a humorous one.

During World War II, cryptologist Leo Marks prepared poems at Bletchley Park to be used as codes

by SOE agents being dropped into Europe. He prepared one particularly moving one after the death of his fiancée Ruth in an air crash: The life that I have Is all that I have And the life that I have Is yours.

The love that I have Of the life that I have Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have A rest I shall have Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years In the long green grass Will be yours and yours and yours.

Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.

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...

18 CityNews September 2-8, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

INSIDE

Getting back to a taste of takeaway

WENDY JOHNSON

Big hART turns education pyramid upside down

By Helen Musa

A revolutionary new program for Australian children has just been launched online by arts and social justice company Big hART, and it’s turning the old education pyramid upside down.

One of Australia’s best known theatre companies, famous for productions such as “Ngapartji Ngapartji”, “Namatjira”, “Hipbone Sticking Out” and “Ghosts in the Scheme”, the company was founded by Scott Rankin and John Bakes in Burnie during the ‘90s and enjoyed a long association with the Canberra Theatre, where some of its work was developed.

But these days, Big hART’s attention is focused on delivering art, education and equity to young people throughout the country through its online program, “NEO Learning”.

Indigenous communities like that of Ieramagadu (Roebourne) in the Pilbara, WA, have long been accustomed to paternalistic models of education but “NEO Learning” changes all that.

In a captivating video of cheeky Roebourne kids explaining the process to the uninitiated, one kid says: “We the teachers and they the students”.

Not only are children teaching adults new ways of understanding, but indigenous

Jakeile works on beatmaking through Big hART’s online program, “NEO Learning”. children are sharing with children of all communities some of their deep knowledge.

NEO-Learning, which turns country into a living science, music, art or geography lab, was initially inspired by Big hART’s sci-fi comic “NEOMAD”, created by more than 40 kids in Roebourne and which has been showcased as far afield as Los Angeles and Korea.

Accessible from any home, classroom or school across the country, the new digital platform is for all Australian primary schools, providing teachers with smartboard-ready resources, virtual experiences, on-demand

lessons and original films and podcasts that have already been tested by more than 1000 children in a pilot program that involved Canberra Hospital School.

The National Curriculum Authority requires all teachers in Australia to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history, but only one per cent of Australian teachers come from First Nations backgrounds, Big hART noted.

So, after being invited into the community by senior women elders in 2010, they embarked on trying ways of introducing

young people to digital skills, new vocational pathways and leadership opportunities, supported by the Telstra Foundation.

I caught up with Big hART’s resident producer in Roebourne, Aimee Kepa, to talk about the new way of learning.

Kepa has been living in Roebourne with her musician-photographer partner and colleague, Patrick, for the past two and a half years after returning from Beirut, where she worked with “Maqamat”, a dance company established by choreographer Omar Rajeh.

It’s her first time there, although she had worked in native title for about six years before moving to Lebanon.

Kepa describes Big hART as “super lucky to have had 10 years plus in Roebourne working alongside these young people” as the skills these kids have, their strong connection to culture and family have come to bear.

The program, she says, has the dual purpose of highlighting to young people what they can learn together and also covering the required educational content in history, culture, art, geography, science, music, numeracy and proficiency in the local Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi languages as well as the English medium necessary to make “NEO Learning” accessible to non-indigenous people and indigenous kids across Australia.

The platform provides opportunities to make them “digitally savvy” through its initial emphasis on storytelling through film,

animation, digital drawing and musicmaking.

According to Kepa, the kids have proved extraordinarily adaptable as they familiarised themselves with their tablets to explore ideas – “such a flexible medium,” she says.

But lest it be thought that the confident young kids seen on the video have lost their respect for elders, nothing could be further from the truth.

“We have elders overseeing the work, but now the living culture and future focused knowledge is being passed down through digital skills so that it’s become a point of pride.”

“It’s changed the narrative around how culture can be articulated through the perceptions of young people,” Kepa says.

But change doesn’t happen overnight.

Some of the kids who started out with “NEOMAD” are now 18, 19 and 20 and work on the delivery to younger people.

Education can often be a turn-off for very young children, but the work in Roebourne and its focus on digital art provides a way around that and with parents and grandparents involved, there is little cultural “shame” in participating.

“Big hART is in Roebourne for the long haul, after 10 years of hard work, it is paying off,” Kepa says.

More information on “NEO Learning” at bighart.org

CityNews September 2-8, 2021 19

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

Shocks keep horror alive and screaming IT’S impressive for any television show to air for more than a decade and remain in fans’ favour, but streaming hit “American Horror Story”, now in its tenth season, continues to stay alive and kicking.

Ghosts, crazy clowns, psycho killers, if it bumps in the night, “American Horror Story” has covered it. And with its latest season streaming on Binge, the freak show is diving even more into its macabre ideas.

For those who don’t know, each season of the show centres around a different, selfcontained plot with changing characters and a different central theme.

The first season locked viewers inside a classic haunted house, but later instalments have explored creepy cults, witches, true crime and even an ‘80s slasher parody.

This constantly shifting format is undoubtedly what’s kept the show so fresh, but with season 10 things have become even more inventive.

The season is split into two parts under the sly title of “Double Feature”, with part one cryptically taking place “by the sea” and the other “by the sand”.

It would certainly seem the writers aren’t running out of ideas anytime soon.

The release of “Double Feature” comes only weeks after Netflix’s horror-movie experiment “The Fear Street Trilogy’’, an adaptation of the RL Stine books that were one step up in scares from his far more

“American Horror Story”... in its tenth season. recognised “Goosebumps” series.

I have vivid memories of the colourful, creepy collection of “Goosebumps” books lining the shelves of my primary school library that were quickly nabbed up by eager students in silent-reading time.

When old enough, they’d graduate from “Goosebumps” to “Fear Street”, with scares more suitable for young adults than kids.

Netflix knows its demographic and has firmly targeted it with “The Fear Street Trilogy”, with three movies based on three different Stine books.

All three films take place in the creepy town of Shadyside, one set in 1999, one in 1978 and one in 1666 that, together, form one cohesive story.

The mix up of time periods allows the show to play with an eclectic dose of homage and influence from classics such as “Scream” and

“Friday the 13th” (both on Stan).

Interestingly, all three of the “Fear Street” films were released only one week apart from one another, something not seen before.

These days we’ve got television that makes all episodes available for watching right away, but entire film trilogies watchable pretty much from the get-go? Perhaps it’s a sign that long waits for sequels could one day be a thing of the past.

For those who want even more scares in their streaming, the platform Shudder might take their fancy. For $7 a month viewers will have access to a movie and television library

dedicated entirely to the horror genre.

One of the centrepieces is a recently released flick called “The Boy Behind The Door”, a tense cat-and-mouse thriller about two boys and their attempts to escape a hair-raising house and its frightening owner.

I was also very impressed by “It Follows”, an original, contemporary horror movie where the film’s terrorised teenagers are perpetually followed by a stranger until they pass the curse on to someone else.

How they pass the curse on is the twist.

For those looking for a thrill elsewhere, though there are heaps of horror flicks stalking the streaming grounds.

Binge has “Get Out”, an Oscar-winning horror-comedy hybrid about a worst-case scenario for a young man meeting his girlfriend’s parents.

I’d also point out Danny Boyle’s 2002 trip-out “28 Days Later” that, almost two decades after its first release, still holds on to a uniquely stylised bite that makes it a stand-out.

Where to stream the bloodthirsty creepfest? Disney Plus, funnily enough.

Certainly highlights the need for parental controls so that junior isn’t jumping from “Toy Story” over to “28 Days Later”.

Might give him a little more than goosebumps.

ART

sundayROAST Local wins Muslim art prize

By Helen Musa

MEIKLE Talking to the names making news.

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

20 CityNews September 2-8, 2021

Rob thrills to ‘surreal’ Spielberg ARTS IN THE CITY

By Helen Musa “I MET Spielberg and he spoke to me. It was so surreal that Steven Spielberg knew my name,” reports Canberra actor Rob Shiells, who made a dashing Mr Bingley in Kirsty Budding’s 2019 production of “Pride and Prejudice”.

Shiells moved to Los Angeles last year on a scholarship to the LA branch of the New York Film Academy, where, despite covid, he has continued to find work in short films and TV, including a featured role in Steven Spielberg’s current film “The Fabelmans”, loosely based on the famous director’s childhood.

FOR the first time, M16 Artspace is offering a drawing prize for younger artists. With the help of Capital Chemist there’ll be junior (years K-6) and senior (years 7-12) prizes. The M16 Young Drawers’ Prize is for drawings made in the past year in traditional drawing media and techniques. It is open to entrants from the ACT and surrounds. Entries to m16artspace. wufoo.com/forms/kasyyk80wfv9ws/ close on October 24.

Winning artist Fatima Killeen, left, and her winning work, “The Crooked Narrative”, 2021.

IAN

Actor Rob Shiells in Los Angeles… It was so surreal that Steven Spielberg knew my name.”

CANBERRA artist Fatima Killeen has won the $10,000 Australian Muslim Artists Art Prize, the first woman to do so.

Killeen, a first-class honours painting graduate of the ANU’s School of Art and Design, won the prize for her collagraph print on paper, “The Crooked Narrative”.

A well-respected member of the ACT arts community, she was born in Morocco, but has lived here with her husband and family for many years.

Her work has been exhibited in more than 60 solo and group exhibitions with residencies in Australia, Jordan and Morocco and her work is held in the Australian War Memorial, the ANU, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the National Museum of Australia and the Islamic Museum of Australia, which hosts the prize she has just won.

Her winning image of a man-made grenade was designed with the pomegranate in mind and is in

part a pun on the French word for “hand grenade”.

The surface of this explosive armament, Killeen says: “Resembles the outer skin of the pomegranate when it dries. Yet, the pomegranate is also a symbol of life and fertility, and is stated as sacred in both the Bible and the Koran.

“The juxtaposition of the destructive weapon and the fruit is a reminder of our connection to nature in search of peace and love.”

The scarlet heart shape in the image, she hopes, symbolises the tension between the memory of old blood and old feuds with the desire to establish a common ground of co-existence in our conflicted societies, while shades of blue in the background represent collective memory and non-aggression.

The Australian Muslim Artists Art Prize is an annual shortlisted exhibition that provides a platform for upcoming and established artists to share their work. This year, 17 artworks by contemporary artists from across the country are presented in an online gallery (islamicmuseum. org.au) until November 19, where visitors may vote in the People’s Choice.

NOW launched on the documentary platform “iwonder” is the timely but disturbing film “Motley’s Law”, about Kimberley Motley, an audacious former beauty queen who became the first and only Western lawyer – and the only woman – licensed to practice law in the courts of Afghanistan. Now living in North Carolina, it presents a portrait of one woman’s desire to deliver justice in a place where the most dangerous thing for many people could soon be the law itself. Accessible at iwonder. com, with Telstra TV, Apple TV, Android TV or through Google Chromecast or Apple’s Airplay.

CANBERRA Contemporary Art Space on the lake and CCAS Manuka are closed until further notice, but have suggested art lovers take a look through their exhibition catalogues and “past shenanigans” on a new and improved CCAS website at ccas.com.au IN a similar inspiration, dance artist Liz Lea, while announcing the postponement of “Stars in 3D”, has posted a video impression of the show’s highlights at vimeo.com/589705815 LOOKING ahead, there is still optimism that the 22nd Italian Film Festival will screen at Palace Electric from September 21 and the Japanese Film Festival at Palace and the National Film and Sound Archive from October 28.

RETIREMENT / Kevin Bradley

From words to music, retiring Kevin has plans

By Helen

MUSA WHEN Kevin Bradley retired as an assistant director-general from the National Library of Australia on August 20, he could look back on a staggering career of nearly 39 years at the same place.

Bradley, also a very well-known member of the Canberra arts community, is husband to Julie Bradley, the 2020 “CityNews” Artist of the Year and father to Jacqueline (Jac) Bradley, sculptor, fiddler and art lecturer.

Kevin himself is no slouch in the music area and plays a mean fiddle, slide guitar and mandolin. On weekends he’s been teaching Jac how to make mandolins from spruce, myrtle and maple and wants to make more guitars as well as pursue his research into the cultures that have long obsessed him.

Originally a technical trainee with Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) he followed Julie, his high-school girlfriend (and later wife), to Canberra when she got a job lecturing in art.

He got a job at the National Library, where they needed technical expertise in the sound division, well before the formation of the National Film and Sound Archive.

“The library always gave me a new challenge,” he tells me.

“I changed jobs many times without

Retiring... Kevin Bradley in front of an artwork by his wife, Julie. changing the organisation.”

Once in Canberra, the National Library job attracted him because he thought he might be able to research the collection of John Meredith and the music of legendary Aboriginal musician Dougie Young, from Wilcannia. But they weren’t part of the sound-recording collection or his job as

sound archivist.

When the opportunity came to transfer to the NFSA he decided to stay on – a good decision, he says – and work on his interests in Young and Meredith.

It took him a good 10 years to track down the recordings of Young, but in the meantime, he’s met Grace Koch and

Jeremy Beckett at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the three of them, under the aegis of AIATSIS and the NLA, put out “The Songs of Dougie Young” on CD and cassette, with good sales in western NSW. Over the early years, perhaps the biggest influence on him, Kevin says, was folklorist Edgar Waters, a consultant to the NLA. “We became great friends and I realised that to be a student of anthropology would be the best way to study as he got me thinking about society and its relationship to vernacular music.”

He enrolled at the ANU part-time and fitted in units in ethnomusicology at the School of Music and a course in museum studies and curatorship.

He even published an academic paper on Aboriginal gumleaf music while still an undergraduate and his honours thesis, “The Weight of Sound”, about a genre of Maltese folk music, won him a First and two ANU prizes.

Sounds obscure? Not really, for as Kevin had found, it was Maltese music in Australia that kept Maltese music in Malta going, and that fitted his notion that “all music in society undergoes change”, further confirmed when he got interested in popular Rajasthan desert music.

By now managing the National Library of Australia’s sound and audio-preservation initiative and overseeing its 15-year, sound-preservation plan, the big issue was how to deal with degraded tapes and other recording devices, a subject on which he

TAKEAWAY / Saffron Restaurant, Kingston

With takeaway, stay close (to home) HERE I am again. Reviewing take away. I so admire the hospitality business during these crazy covid times. It’s tough, tough, tough.

And, don’t get me wrong, I am not moaning about takeaway. I sincerely applaud those in the industry who put in that mega effort to stay open, even if it’s with reduced hours and menus.

With current lockdown restrictions, I am supporting restaurants and cafes closer to home, partly so the food arrives semi-hot and in decent shape.

Saffron has been busy with lunch and dinner takeaway since Canberra bunkered down and the dishes travelled quite well and were delish.

One of our all-time favourites at Saffron, to kick start a meal, is the cigar-shaped Bourak ($16 for six pieces). The Greek feta mixed with herbs is stuffed into filo pastry and is tangy and salty and fun.

Another wonderful Saffron starter is the Mantar ($17), big mushrooms crumbed and chargrilled. Such an earthy taste.

Sharing the Sambusek was also satisfying in so many ways ($18). Who can go past quality minced lamb with caramelised onion stuffed in delicate puff pastry?

Conscious of food travelling, we opted for the hearty and full-flavoured chicken tagine ($30) as a main. The chicken fillets absorbed the heavenly Moroccan spices exceptionally well and we adored the honey chilli sauce with root veggies.

The couscous remained lovely and fluffy.

Another dish that travels well is the Kafta ($32) – tender minced beef and lamb carefully shaped and carefully skewered. It’s such a feel-good dish and the grilling boosts the flavour. And

became an international expert. He travelled extensively locally and globally, then worked as sustainability adviser on the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories at ANU while still employed by the library.

In 2006, when Mark Cranfield retired as head of oral history at the NLA, he took over as curator, Oral History and Folklore, and director, Sound and Audiovisual Preservation, for which he was awarded a Public Service Medal.

On the urging of then director-general Jan Fullerton, in 2013 he reluctantly agreed to become senior curator of Pictures, Manuscripts and Digital Archives, but ended up enjoying the job, which he says allowed him to look broadly across other collections.

As Kevin climbed up the pole, he became assistant director-general, National Collections Access, with oversight of Trove; assistant director-general Australian Collections and Reader Services, and, finally, assistant director-general, Collection.

In his increasingly scarce spare time he was playing music, researching, building ovens and travelling, sometimes for the library, when he couldn’t take the family, sometimes with Julie and Jac when he was attending UNESCO committees and sometimes, as in 2019 when Julie got a residency in Ireland, as a handbag.

Now in the early weeks of his retirement he says he’d like to travel more, play everything from electric guitar to acoustic strings, but also to research Australian folklore collections and think about what they mean.

C O N V E R S I O N S E RV I C E IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SONGLAND

While we’re all experiencing these unique times, why not use this opportunity to get together your old videos, slides, records and cassette tapes so Songland can transfer them onto a digital format for you, your family and friends. Then you can relive the memories when you’re all next together!

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OPEN 7 DAYS Cooleman Court, Weston Creek | 6293 4677 | songland.com.au Sambusek… minced lamb with caramelised onion stuffed in delicate puff pastry.

Photo: Wendy Johnson then there’s that creamy and dreamy yoghurt dressing…

Our salad hits include Tabouli ($15) and Fattouch ($15), both bursting with flavour. The toasted bread on the Fattouch was a bit soggy but that’s life in the covid fast lane.

Saffron asks that you provide 30 minutes for takeaway so the order is ready and piping hot when you pick it up.

While fully respecting covid lockdown rules, I’m making every effort to support the hospitality venues that have taken the decision to keep us fed during these trying times.

I’ve grabbed a takeaway coffee from Thirty8

Espresso and enjoyed it on my allowable onehour walk. I’ve bought a bottle of wine from Caribou (instead of the bottle shop) to take home and may return for a bottle of their house-created maple whiskey. I’ve bought takeaway pizza and wine from Molto, takeaway fish and chips from Bitter Sweet and fun “Walking Cocktails” from Maggo’s. Our bubble has enjoyed a whiskey sour, mojito and spicy Caesar. It’s the least we can do while respecting the rules.

How are you folks doing with takeaway?

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CityNews September 2-8, 2021 21

PUZZLES PAGE

FREE PUZZLES EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

Your week in the stars

By Joanne Madeline Moore

September 6-12, 2021

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ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

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Monday night’s New Moon is the best time of the year to set intentions and make wishes involving work, habits, health, diet, exercise and your daily routine. Creative Rams can have short attention spans. But this week, Mars and Pluto give you the energy and motivation to follow your plans through to a successful conclusion.

So make the most of it and get moving! Be inspired by fellow Aries, actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin: “Imagination means nothing without doing.”

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

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The Sun and Uranus boost your Bullish restlessness, plus Pluto and Mars activate your knowledge and adventure zone. So start thinking about where you’d like to go travelling next year – physically and/or mentally. Despite pandemic problems and travel restrictions, don’t let anyone dim your curiosity or diminish your dreams. So your motto for the moment is from birthday great, writer and poet D. H. Lawrence: “Life is travelling to the edge of knowledge, and then going beyond.”

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GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

The New Moon promises a fresh start on the home front. Plus Venus and Mercury activate your entertainment zone, which puts you in the mood for creative communication. Sharing a sport or hobby with a relative or close friend brings mutual benefits (but don’t promise more time and effort than you can actually deliver).

Attached Twins – plan a special romantic rendezvous with your sweetheart. For some singles, an established platonic relationship could lead to long-term love.

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Mighty Mars gives you the confidence to approach challenges with a positive and proactive plan and the New Moon encourages you to talk through issues with the people around you. With Mercury and Venus both visiting your domestic zone, it’s time to enjoy home sweet home, as you cocoon in cosy comfort or entertain in low-key style. So your quote for the coming week is from Virgo philosopher Goethe: “He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.”

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

The New Moon and Mars shift the focus to financial matters. Lions are drawn to luxury-living and you’re inclined to buy expensive things that you really don’t need. This week, do your best to avoid being an impatient, impulsive bingeshopper. The more creatively and proactively you nurture your nest egg, the more it will gradually grow. The Sun/Uranus trine encourages you to sparkle and shine in your own unique way. Open the doors of perception and let the sunshine in!

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

On Monday night the silvery New Moon lights up your sign. So it’s the best week of the year to update your wardrobe; change your appearance; launch a project; apply for a job or start a new phase of your life. Not sure where to begin? Frustrated by ongoing pandemic problems? Mighty Mars is also moving through Virgo (until September 14). So it’s time to take on challenges with a proactive approach and a courageous attitude. This week, fortune definitely favours the bold and the brave.

Down

1 What is a cup-shaped depression marking the orifice of a volcano? (6) 8 Name another term for a way in. (8) 9 Name a particular type of a poll. (6) 10 Which animal eats all kinds of foods indiscriminately? (8) 11 What is a mild beverage taken after a drink of spirits? (6) 13 Name another term for wolfram. (8) 16 Where is the original Eureka flag kept? (8) 19 Who was the colleague of Sherlock Holmes, Doctor ...? (6) 22 To be in the open air, is to be what? (8) 24 What is an alternative term for a meal? (6) 25 Which star-like figure is used as a reference mark? (8) 26 To emphasise something, is to do what? (6)

2 Name a renowned Australian Aboriginal rock singer, Archie ... (5) 3 What are stories called? (5) 4 What is another name for a journalist? (8) 5 To knock someone out, is to do what? (4) 6 On which piece of material might an oil painting be made? (6) 7 To accumulate in the course of time, is to do what? (6) 12 Name the first victim of fratricide. (4) 14 What are groups of affiliated radio or TV stations? (8) 15 Which term describes facial twitches? (4) 17 What do we call a person who is the most qualified?

(6) 18 Name another term for a pantry. (6) 20 Which stout-bodied animal resembles a swine? (5) 21 What is a fertile place in a desert? (5) 23 What might we call political rhetoric? (4)

FREE SUDOKU EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

This week Mercury and Venus are visiting your sign. So you’ll be able to put a positive spin on a perceived failure, as you metaphorically transform an ugly pig’s ear into a beautiful silk purse. But do you feel stuck in the middle of a complicated family drama? If you want to get a recalcitrant relative onside, then tap into your natural negotiation talents as you get creative, answer queries, clarify concerns and smooth furrowed brows. Peace-loving, diplomatic Librans to the rescue!

Solution next edition

Across

Sudoku medium No. 299

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

Education, joint ventures and group projects are favoured this week, as you display your leadership skills for all to see. There are opportunities for advancement via connections within your local community, but it will take creative teamwork and sustained effort to turn a lucky break into a long-term success. It’s also time to get some firm direction, as you formulate and articulate your personal goals and dreams for the future. Remember – you can’t hit a target if you haven’t got one.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Revisit your current goals and take steps to make them a reality. But, when it comes to controversial conversations, keep your cool and avoid the temptation to over-talk and over-react. You can’t control what others say but you can control your response.

There could also be some tension between shining brightly at work and fulfilling your personal responsibilities to family and friends. Remember – if anyone can juggle, multi-task and have fun – it’s a versatile and hilarious Sagittarius.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Pluto is still transiting slowly through your sign, which boosts your drive and amplifies your ambition. But this powerful planet also cranks up your controlling side, which can alienate you from others. This week Mars and Venus help you balance steely determination with a deft diplomatic touch. Monday’s lucky Venus/ Jupiter connection certainly boosts your Capricorn charisma as you charm friends, impress professional colleagues and influence important people. Go Goats!

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

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22 CityNews September 2-8, 2021

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

Solutions – August 26 edition Sudoku hard No. 298

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Avoid being a passive Piscean. Being proactive about solving problems is the key to positive partnerships at the moment. So stop procrastinating and instead, start communicating about what you really require in relationships. Don’t expect others to be able to magically read your mind. Be articulate and ask plenty of questions.

This week the best way to utilise your over-active imagination is through creative pursuits like photography, art, drama, dance, singing, writing and music.

Solution next edition

Crossword No. 796

Each New Moon indicates a shift of gear in a particular area of life and, this week, the heavens highlight a fresh start involving money matters, an intimate relationship or trust issues. The fabulous Sun/Uranus trine also revs up your quirky Aquarian nature and your bohemian spirit. So be inventive and do something different that makes your hippie heart sing! Be inspired by birthday great, writer D. H. Lawrence: “I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”

GARDENING

2014: Shrubs laid out in the Melba garden ready for planting.

2015: Plants growing well, 12 months after planting.

2016: Another year later, the wellestablished garden.

WHEN establishing a new garden, the “grow” of plants is often underestimated and, like trees, shrubs and perennials need plenty of space.

Twelve months later, the plants were leaping out of the ground, being fed regularly with Neutrog Seamungus, a certified organic combination of seaweed and chook poo.

• Tidy the strawberry bed, removing competing weeds and old leaves, which are a haven for snails.

• Move soil and mulch off the top of iris rhizomes.

To flower well, these must be baked by the sun.

• Get on with mulching, making sure the ground is wet before applying.

• Prune frost-damaged plants to encourage new growth.

• Cut back agapanthus leaves to encourage sun to promote flowers.

• Daffodil leaves can be cut back to ground level six weeks after flowering.

• Keep whipper snippers well away from the stems and trunks of all shrubs and trees. They are real killers for ring-barking plants.

• Prune wisteria back to three nods (leaf joints) on all long shoots.

• A last reminder to check dripper systems. I suggest raising the lines above the ground to inspect, but still under mulch. Most probably, mulch will need to be renewed before the heat arrives.

• It is time to remove primulas, violas and pansies, and replace them with petunias.

How to plan out a new garden Ground preparation is vital, but soil can be improved quite easily and every bit of extra effort will pay dividends.

If soil is heavily compacted, usually on new home sites with builders’ trucks, it may pay to get a landscaper with a Bobcat to break up the surface.

If there’s no access for a Bobcat, a mini version is a Dingo, which is just over a metre wide and the operator stands on the rear of the machine.

Rotary hoes are an alternative, although I’m not a fan because the flat tines dig only about 100mm deep and, below that, tend to pack the soil, especially if it’s clay. This can actually slow root growth.

Apply Multicrop liquid “Ground Breaker”, which penetrates deep into the soil breaking up any clay. Gypsum is an alternative but, unlike the liquid ground breaker, it doesn’t penetrate deeper nor spread out sideways. The addition of any organic material, manure or leaves will help.

Next, draw a simple plan divided into one-metre squares. Then do the research on the spread of the plants. Before planting, it’s a good idea to place the plants on the ground and get an idea of how they will look.

Illustrated here is a garden I prepared for a client in Melba. All plants were watered in with Maxicrop Seaweed Plant Nutrient, to specifically promote root growth. Drip irrigation was installed at planting time.

WITH the ever decreasing size of suburban gardens, there is a constant demand for lowgrowing, evergreen, flowering shrubs.

As an example, Escallonias, originally from the Andean region of South America, have to be tough to survive there! “Red Knight” is a dwarf variety with glossy evergreen leaves and rich, cerise flowers.

It grows to 1.5 metres tall, although can be clipped after flowering to keep it to one metre as a low hedge. Similarly, “Pink Pixie’’ (also sold under the label of “Hedge with an Edge”), which grows naturally to only 80 centimetres.

Then there’s the large Osmanthus family, which grows to more than three metres. For smaller gardens, “Heaven Sent’s” tubular white fragrant flowers are set off against its dark green leaves. While this can grow up to 1.5 metres tall, I have kept ours as a dwarf hedge to just one metre tall and half a metre wide. Osmanthus originates mainly in China, where the climate can range from drought to heat, but certainly has no problem with our climate here.

NO excuses, get gardening! Here are some suggestions that will keep you fit and well: • I t is not too late to “hard” prune Buddleia, reducing the height to one metre from the ground.

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