CityNews 211014

OCTOBER 14, 2021

Well written, well read

KEEPING UP THE ACT

AT THE CHIEF’S DAILY PRESSER

10 from 10, Barr’s decade of deficits

IAN MEIKLE

How to completely stuff up a town centre

PAUL COSTIGAN

A fond farewell to beloved Cedric Bryant

UNCHAINED Queanbeyan’s Mayor Tim Overall is calling it a day

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NEWS / after the lockdown

Canberra CityNews since 1993: Volume 27, Number 41. Phone 6189 0777

Going gets tough for guys as the lockdown ends

By Nick

OVERALL CANBERRA Menslink chief executive Martin Fisk says that while lockdown has been tough, the transition back to normal life will actually be the hardest time for many young men.

As Canberra eased its covid restrictions last year the mental-health support organisation received a record number of requests for help.

“We had a huge number of calls from young guys, their parents, their partners, everyone,” says Martin, who’s been in the position with Menslink for 10 years.

“Now just recently we had a request from a young guy who, after 2021’s roadmap was announced, said: ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do’.”

He says it’s a sign of another large influx of young men who will be needing mental-health support as the capital comes out of lockdown.

“Many young guys are expecting to get back to work, but by the time lockdown is over work might not be available,” he says.

“That’s going to be hard, particularly if you’re in hospitality or one of those trades where work is casual.

“Many young guys are on disaster payments and aren’t sure what they’re going to do when that coin stops coming in.

“Kids coming back to school after a long time away, particularly if they’ve been bullied before at school, can really send the anxiety levels sky high as well.

“We saw a lot of kids [refusing to attend] school last year and we expect the same to happen this coming term.”

Martin believes one of the biggest mental health challenges for young men is overcoming the perceived embarrassment of sharing what they’re going through with others, made even more difficult after weeks of isolation.

“The Mission Australia youth survey said that the number one barrier for getting support for mental health issues was feeling embarrassed by it,” says Martin.

“I don’t know whether we’re born or bred like this, but us guys, we all want to be the problem solver so admitting that something’s got you beat can be very hard.

“We want to share the message with young guys that there are so many blokes out there that do have problems that have had us beat, and the more they understand this happens to so many of us the less embarrassing it becomes.”

Lockdown restrictions have also meant many young men are unable to engage in psychological outlets such

Menslink’s Martin Fisk… “Sense of community is something all of us need whether you’re young, old, male, female or gender neutral.” as sport, which significantly impacts mental health.

“Outlets like sport give young guys a sense of purpose, certainly a sense of teamwork and community, and when they lose that connection it can be very hard.

“That sense of community is something all of us need whether you’re young, old, male, female or gender neutral.”

As a result, Martin says the Mens-

KEEPING PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY SAFE. Have a concern about a disability service, disability discrimination, abuse, neglect or exploitation of a family member, friend or client with a disability?

Give us a call for a confidential chat or to make a complaint.

link “silence is deadly” message has never been more important.

Partnering with the Canberra Raiders to help spread awareness, the campaign aims to break the perceived stigma around young men asking for help if they need it.

It’s Martin’s hope that by helping young men understand they aren’t alone in their struggles, it will be easier for them to share and seek support.

“I remember when I was at school

and I was really going through a tough time, I thought I was the only one struggling,” he says.

“I eventually went to the counsellor and they told me that not only was I not the only kid struggling in the school, but even in my year there were other kids that needed support, that I wasn’t alone.

“That made a big difference in my own life and inspires me today.”

Based on last year’s numbers, Martin says Menslink will be expecting particularly high demand for counselling services, as well as for their mentoring program, where an older man listens to and helps support a younger one.

“A Menslink mentor is someone who listens and shows by example how to handle daily life as a man in today’s world and especially now, we’re always looking for new mentors,” he says.

“You don’t have to be heroic, just genuine, responsible and open to sharing your time.”

Ultimately, Martin wants to spread the message that despite the difficulty of the last few years, it won’t last forever.

“Everyone who will read this article has a 100 per cent track record in getting through tough times,” he says.

“They’ve jumped hundreds of hurdles, they’ve dealt with hundreds of problems successfully, they can do it again, and it’s okay to ask for help to get there.”

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SEVEN DAYS

10 from 10, Barr’s bedazzling decade of deficits I PREDICT that in the lifetime of Andrew James Barr (born April 29, 1973) the ACT economy will never return to surplus.

And that history will record his years as Treasurer as the worst in Australia. In fact, hold the history, he quite possibly already is. Ten budgets so far, all in deficit and at least another three to come, if he goes full term. For perspective, Labor’s ridiculed federal Treasurer Wayne Swan could manage only six.

When Jon Stanhope left office as Chief Minister, his government had a surplus in 2011-12 of $736 million and an operating surplus that year of $42 million. For the record, Katy Gallagher was the Treasurer.

Now, 10 years later the cumulative ACT deficit this financial year will come in at $5.7 billion (about $2100 for every ACT resident) and the operating deficit at $951.5 million.

According to the Budget papers, the deficit will hit $9.6 billion by the time they ask us to vote for them again in 2024.

Now, we can boo-hoo about the biting costs of covid, but the ACT was already shouldering more than $4 billion in debt before a single tonsil was tickled at the EPIC covid testing hub last year.

Not to worry. Transport and City Services Minister Chris Steel has been chugging the Kool-Aid, and turned up on television, wide-eyed and telling us “debt has never been this cheap” in response to his leader’s assertion that: “Interest rates are the lowest

The dashing young Treasurer… Andrew Barr pictured in 2014. since Federation, this provides a once-in-acentury opportunity for the government”.

“No, really, all the stable hands are saying this horse can’t lose…” Someone call Gamblers Anonymous.

Too late; Andrew’s telling the Assembly about his “turbo-charged” Budget and how we’re going to use “emergency spending” to get out of this mess. To wit: “This Budget sets out our largest ever infrastructure program at $5 billion over five years – a program that will make Canberra an even better city to live in and create thousands of good, local jobs.”

Let’s get the calculator out: new works announced amount to around $750 million and there’s $2.3 billion that relates to works in progress (i.e. previously announced

projects, such as the tram to Woden, the hospital redevelopment and the CIT and education infrastructure).

Not quite five big ones. The Budget papers account for the absence of specifically identified projects as “provisions”, which seems like a giant hollow log or slush fund for future announcements.

But not so fast Mr Chief Minister, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee is on to you. She reckons it’s a “Band-Aid Budget”.

“The Chief Minister’s $5 billion infrastructure pipeline is a flashy headline, but when you start to drill down into the numbers it is only a four per cent increase on what was promised last year,” she says.

“Hyperbole and announcements do not create jobs; we know this government is great at announcements but their track record of delivering on those promises has been lacking.

“This is highlighted by a massive $250 million underspend in infrastructure projects last year which the Chief Minister attempted to blame on industry.

“There has been a chronic underfunding of skills and training in the ACT and in this Budget, there is no material commitment to improving and boosting skills and apprenticeships to deliver on these infrastructure projects.”

And it’s here she may be on to something.

Master Builders ACT CEO Michael Hopkins says the Budget set out a big building plan, but failed to give local businesses the tools needed to build it.

“The government is going full-throttle

on infrastructure spending, but has put the handbrake on apprenticeship funding,” he says.

“Spending on infrastructure is a strategic and sensible investment by the ACT government, but without the necessary skilled workers to build these projects they are destined to remain plans on a shelf.”

Likewise Adina Cirson, the Property Council’s local barker: “The pandemic is hitting hard on the community, and in particular the ACT business sector.

“We welcome the focus on job creation and infrastructure investment, but heading into 2022 we face major housing affordability and land supply issues, coupled with a tightening employment market as our population growth falls through the floor.”

Graham Catt, of the Canberra Business Chamber, was listening carefully and detected only two mentions for business in the Budget speech, but “no specific mention of the thousands of small businesses who are critical to the territory’s recovery and growth”.

Numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show how hard it’s been locally for small business: retail trade in the ACT fell 19.9 per cent from July to August; while NSW and Victoria recorded declines of 3.5 and 3 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, in the parallel universe that is

the ACT Greens, leader Shane Rattenbury (“the nation’s first and only Greens attorneygeneral”) was almost apoplectic, describing the Budget as “beyond our wildest dream” and, and, and... the greenest budget in Australian history!

“With a third of seats in the ACT’s cabinet, Greens values shine brightly in every corner of this Budget,” he purred.

As he should, he snagged $795,000 to develop, cost and consult in leading the national push to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

Only nine months until we do this all again, covid permitting. So with apologies to Tennessee Ernie Ford: You load 10 def’cits, what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt.

Page 9: Keeping up the ACT Page 11: Home ownership fades as Barr goes surfing 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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NEWS

House with a history of hundreds of crying babies

By Belinda

STRAHORN A SIMPLE weatherboard home in Queanbeyan’s Campbell Street witnessed the birth of hundreds and hundreds of babies during its 30-year life as a maternity hospital.

“Yvonne”, a five-bedroom home at 75 Campbell Street, was built for the Johnston family in 1908, but was registered two years later as a “lying-in” birthing hospital by nurse Mary Johnston.

About 1700 babies were delivered at “Yvonne” between 1910 and 1944, before the hospital’s licence was suspended.

“The first mother to give birth there was Gladys Taylor who had a baby girl on May 24, 1910,” says amateur historian and Queanbeyan resident Phill Hawke.

“The last patient at ‘Yvonne’ was Patricia Hadlow whose daughter was born on November 16, 1944.”

After the last baby was born at “Yvonne”, Mrs Johnston converted the home into a boarding house that she managed until her death in 1948.

Three generations of the Johnston family continued living there until 1980.

Mr Hawke, whose mother-in-law Pat Greenwood was born at “Yvonne”

“Yvonne”, at 75 Campbell Street… about 1700 babies were Nurse Mary Johnston… with two of delivered there between 1910 and 1944. Photo: Belinda Strahorn the 1700 babies born at “Yvonne”. in 1927, says a lot of people have a personal connection to the house.

“Many people know someone who was born there or were born there themselves,” Mr Hawke says.

“It’s a special and well-known place for many Queanbeyan residents.”

Mr Hawke says private “lying-in” hospitals were prominent in Queanbeyan during the late 1880s and the early 1900s.

“There were about half a dozen of them operating in Queanbeyan during that period and most of them were named,” Mr Hawke says.

Besides “Yvonne” there was “Kinkora”, at 25 Campbell Street; “Raymond” and “Jululah” in Morisset

Street; “Fairholme”, at 74 Lowe Street; “Auberne” in Rutledge Street and “Glenwarrie” in Macquoid Street.

Delving into the past, Mr Hawke has unearthed some interesting facts about the important role that private maternity hospitals played in delivering babies in earlier times.

“Women about to give birth, who lived nearby would literally walk to the hospital, have their baby, and then walk back home again often with the baby in their arms,” Mr Hawke says.

“Other mothers-to-be would come into Queanbeyan on horse and sulky and stay with friends waiting for the right time to go to the hospital. They had to do that because there was just

“Kinkora”, at 25 Campbell Street, another private nursing hospital, run by Sister Eva Darmody.

Photo: Belinda Strahorn

nowhere else to go.”

“Lying-in” hospitals existed many years before hospitals in Canberra and Queanbeyan began operating.

Previous generations of babies were delivered by midwives within these private homes, rather than in maternity wards in public hospitals.

Further along Campbell Street was “Kinkora”, another private nursing hospital, run by Sister Eva Darmody who had operated a maternity hospital at Sutton.

Mr Hawke recounts one of nurse Darmody’s greatest moments when she delivered a baby during one of Queanbeyan’s major floods.

“Nurse Darmody was called to a

maternity case on the east side of the river but she was stuck on the other side of the river,” says Mr Hawke.

“So, she got a lift to the railway bridge and walked across it and was met by another vehicle which took her to the expectant mother.

“She then delivered the baby.”

Armed with determination and pride, nurse Darmody – like many of her time – would go on to care for generations of local families to come.

“Nurse Darmody was an incredible lady; she was one of 13 children and spent her childhood helping raise her brothers and sisters, perhaps the reason she never married.

“She died in 1963 at the age of 83.”

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CANBERRA MATTERS

How to completely stuff up Woden town centre On May 12, I finished a column on the shocking state of Woden developments with this statement: “This government’s expertise in town cramming is worthy of an award.

“It has been a remarkable achievement to jam so many towers into the Woden Town Centre and now they are setting out to push the bus interchange on to the street – replacing a very good one that stands on land now required for something else. ACT government planning strikes again at Woden. Can it get any worse? Don’t answer that!”

The government has answered. On top of everything that is wrong with what they are doing to Woden, the latest planning disaster will make life bad for residents living in the quieter apartments alongside the Easty/ Wilbow roundabout near the Woden Centre.

This residential area won’t be so quiet in the future thanks to the complete mess being made of the new Woden bus interchange by Transport and City Services Minister Chris Steel and his blinkered bureaucrats.

What has been happening to Woden must be classed as the worst example of how to completely stuff up a city town centre. To understand what is happening requires allocation of days of making your way through mountains of complicated and inaccessible documentation that pretends

8 CityNews October 14-20, 2021

Politicians of all colours are staying away from getting involved. This town cramming on steroids, along with the interchange that will destroy the residential streets, has to be stopped. to be something about planning.

Many have written about the horror that is being played out with the ad hoc developments that have landed tower apartments crammed together within the Woden town centre. This looks bad today. Yet there are many more of the same to come. This is town cramming on steroids.

When the ACT Greens go on about climate change they simply ignore what is happening in Woden with the ever-shrinking green spaces, the lack of solar and very little opportunity for residents to retro-fit when the climate gets even worse.

On top of this has come a political decision to plonk a new CIT campus where the bus interchange sits. Locals loved the idea of the new campus but had suggestions of more appropriate locations. But when is the last time locally elected politicians listened to them? This meant a new bus inter-

Woden’s relocated bus interchange and bus movements around Easty Street. change had to go somewhere and what could be cheaper than taking over some of the town centre’s main street for a linear exchange. Callum Street will be closed off to allow for the buses and later for the tram station (whenever that is).

As the Woden Valley Community Council has clearly pointed out, the new interchange is a design mess.

In April, Minister Steel and senior project staff knocked back the invite to discuss this project at a community council meeting. There are so many things wrong with this interchange including the fact that the former fairly quiet residential streets are about to become noisy bus loops and lay-overs.

Local member Chris Steel and his bureaucratic advisers have failed

to convince anyone that the large number of buses and the diverted traffic will not be a disturbance.

They have justified to themselves that losses to local amenity can be easily justified under their flexible planning regulations. The regular passing of buses is noisy on any street, but will be extra disruptive around the Easty/Wilbow roundabout given the nearby apartment blocks – let’s not pretend otherwise. Anyone for a good night’s sleep?

When the city gets electric buses things may quieten down. Great – but wait! Electric buses to Woden

would be a lot cheaper and a popular transport solution for the Woden to Civic run. With electric buses, and no tram, a better designed bus interchange would be possible. Time to plan for the future! Who needs that super expensive tram and the towers alongside the tram going south?

Chris Steel and his lot are compounding the former laissez-faire planning atrocities by applying this inappropriate solution to a stupid problem of their own making. Politicians of all colours are staying away from getting involved. This town cramming on steroids, along with the interchange that will destroy the residential streets, has to be stopped.

It is definitely time for independents with an interest in planning and urban matters to be elected for this southern electorate.

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

NEWS Moves to keep covid out of schools THE ACT government is spending almost $6 million to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission as schools and early childhood education and care services return to oncampus learning in term 4.

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• $1.5 million for additional relief teaching hours to support public schools to implement these covid-safe measures, including covering staff absences and enabling staggered breaks.

• $688,000 to buy additional masks and hand sanitiser for public schools, early childhood education and care services and for low-fee paying non-government schools.

• $500,000 for additional shade structures in ACT public schools. This will support schools to maximise use of outdoor learning spaces.

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COVER STORY / Tim Overall calls it a day

With few regrets, Mr Mayor says it’s time to go After 13 years as mayor, Queanbeyan’s Tim Overall is satisfied he’s done all he promised to do and tells reporter BELINDA STRAHORN it’s time to hang up the mayoral chains…

TIM OVERALL opens the briefcase that contains the mayoral chains, he picks them up and hangs them around his neck, like he has done many times during his 13 years as the mayor of Queanbeyan and then Queanbeyan-Palerang, after they merged four years ago.

“They have a bit of weight in them,” he says, handling the ceremonial chains that bear gold links engraved with the names of the 24 mayors before him.

The chains are heavy, today more so than most days, for Tim Overall is feeling the weight of responsibility as he reflects on his time as mayor.

Photos of former Queanbeyan mayors line the wall of the council chambers. Cr Overall’s is there; elected mayor of Queanbeyan City Council in 2008, re-elected in 2012 and elected again in 2017 as the first mayor of the amalgamated Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC).

There isn’t an end date appearing next to Cr Overall’s name on the mayoral honour board, however he has decided it will be “2021”. He will not be seeking re-election at December’s local government elections.

“In public office it’s not about longevity, it’s about achievements and laying foundations for the future,” Cr Overall says.

“Having delivered on virtually every single promise I made, it’s time to move on.”

Cr Overall didn’t need much encouragement to enter local politics, but the step was made easier when it was suggested by others.

It was 2004, and a friend approached him about running for council.

“I could see so much potential in Queanbeyan and thought there was no point in sitting

back, so I ran and was elected,” Cr Overall says.

Having grown up in a family immersed in “town-planning”, Cr Overall didn’t have to look far for inspiration in seeking to serve the community.

His father, Sir John Overall, was the perfect role model, as the commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) and instrumental in Canberra’s planning.

Perhaps sharing the same visionary characteristics that his father enjoyed, Cr Overall’s first initiative as a councillor was identifying the need for a 25-year CBD master plan.

Dismissed by some as “pie in the sky”, the master plan – a first in Queanbeyan’s history – was adopted and has become: “The blueprint for everything we have done and are about to achieve”.

With work beginning on Queanbeyan’s $74 million civic and cultural precinct and a $16 million refurbishment of Monaro Street to start thereafter, Cr Overall is putting away the mayoral chains at a time when the city is well placed to capitalise on a bright future and a greater sense of identity.

“Many people, particularly from Canberra, say to me that Queanbeyan has changed, it’s a great place and I feel very humbled to hear that. It’s all been part of the reason I stood for council in the first place,” Cr Overall says.

Perhaps because, for a long time, Queanbeyan gained an unfair reputation as a poor cousin of Canberra, often suffering under the “Struggle Town” persona.

But Cr Overall confidently asserts: “We have left that behind”.

His list of achievements dur-

Mayoral couple Tim and Nichole Overall… “Having delivered on virtually every single promise I made, it’s time to move on,” says Tim. Photo: Holly Treadaway ing his 17-year council career, including three times being elected mayor, are long and impressive.

But he identifies some of the things he’s most proud of as; the refurbishment of Crawford Street, upgrades to the river precinct, the creation of the multiaward winning QEII park and the $86 million Ellerton Drive Extension (EDE) – the largest individual infrastructure project in the region – delivered after 40 years as only a “talked about line on a map”.

Despite vocal community opposition to the EDE at the time, Cr Overall says he “hears very little criticism since it’s been built”.

His time on council also saw him take on the role as admin-

IN QUEANBEYAN, THERE’S A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF LOCAL NEWS...

citynewsqbn.com.au

10 CityNews October 14-20, 2021

istrator during the council’s forced amalgamation in 2016.

Overcoming the community’s initial resistance to the merger it’s now seen as a “success”, and the bestowing upon council of the prestigious AR Bluett Award, last year, was testament to the council’s ability to adapt to a changing environment.

“It’s rewarding to be part of a council that works closely with the executive team and with the capable council staff who work together on an agreed strategic plan to achieve,” he says.

Cr Overall has always absorbed himself in the life of Queanbeyan, but he wasn’t a native of the city; he was born in Adelaide as one of four boys in the family.

His father’s work brought the family to the region, and despite attending school and university in Canberra, he has fond memories of Queanbeyan in the 1960s.

“In those days, Queanbeyan was a retail hub for Canberra, the city had two cinemas and it was the place to be,” Cr Overall says.

“But over the next 20-30 years, Queanbeyan became diminished. There was very little vision for the place. Canberra was rapidly growing and Queanbeyan was being left behind.”

Cr Overall’s tertiary studies at the Australian National University were interrupted by his call-up for national service during the Vietnam War.

Over the subsequent years he worked in national security, managed an international shipping company, and headed the NSW Ambulance Service in Sydney.

Through those jobs he gained valuable skills that one day he could apply to a public life.

Taking up a position with the ACT Red Cross in 1996 brought Tim Overall back to the region, although he never lost his affection for Queanbeyan and its people.

“They are friendly, absolutely terrific people, who are proud of their city and passionate about it,” Cr Overall says.

Cr Overall has forged his own independent path through the politics of local government, preferring to act outside the party political system.

Although a member of the Liberal Party for a short time, he says he has “always stood on the platform that local government is about working with the community. It’s not about party politics”.

“However, the reality is that there is party politics and we are seeing more of a trend in this area of political parties being a part of recent and future elections.”

His one disappointment upon leaving office is that Queanbeyan is still without a cinema, despite his best attempts to bring one.

He also regrets that the position of mayor is no longer the choice of the citizens of Queanbeyan, but is placed in

the hands of councillors who decide amongst themselves, every two years, who wears the mayoral chains.

Unfortunately, Cr Overall says that decision is often based on jockeying with a “it’smy-turn-next” mentality.

“The negative side of councillors making such a decision is that instead of relying on a community mandate, a myturn-next mentality can take the focus off effective leadership and has the potential to generate instability,” Cr Overall says.

Despite taking the job seriously, Mayor Overall is not beyond poking fun at himself if it means protecting the city’s reputation.

In 2015, when hip-hop duo Coda Conduct released a song describing Queanbeyan as a “wannabe” Canberra and made fun of the town’s oversupply of takeaway joints, Tim Overall was quick to respond with his own rap refuting the attack.

“Quang City” poked fun at Canberra’s Skywhale, light rail plans and laughed off the “Struggle Town” label.

“I dressed up in the mayoral robes and chains and joined with a local hip-hop group Macho Duck and we recorded the song, which got a fair bit of airplay,” he says.

It is also a wish to spend more time with wife Nichole, and their family, that has prompted his retirement from politics. Tim says he’s also looking forward to maintaining an active involvement with the wider community in other capacities.

“I still want to contribute in various ways and I’ll seek to do that, but it’s an opportunity to take a break and relax,” Cr Overall says.

In pride of place on the wall of the mayoral office is a painting of a rural landscape with rolling hills.

He explains that it won a prize at an annual Queanbeyan City Council art exhibition some years ago.

Perhaps the painting is representative of his journey in public office. His learning curve over the years has been as steep as those hills, “tough” at times and sometimes with “critics”, he says, but also one of his “greatest honours”.

Cr Overall would like his time on council to be remembered by the 61,832 residents he has represented as: “Someone who has significantly achieved what was promised and someone that helped lay the foundation for a progression into the next 10 years.”

Taking off the mayoral chains and placing them back in the briefcase, he says: “It’s been a privilege”.

POLITICS / ACT Budget

Home ownership fades as Barr goes surfing THE ACT Budget provides a big hit for home owners and does little to make homes more affordable.

Instead, the government of Andrew Barr is surfing the wave of income from the increasing value of housing and the commensurate increase in revenue from rates and land tax. The Budget fails to find a serious solution to the challenge of home ownership.

A quick look at social media reflects the anger felt by “Ken Behrens” in the fading hope of home ownership with so little land being made available and prices skyrocketing.

However, the Chief Minister’s prime goals during such a period of uncertainty make sense. In Barr’s words, it is “a Budget delivered under difficult circumstances, but one which has a simple purpose: to deliver what we promised the people of Canberra and to drive Canberra’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”.

These are lofty ideals. And there are good-news stories that reflect promises made at the election. These include increases in funding for more nurses, significant investment in capital infrastructure, transport, education, training and health.

Climate action includes building on the reputation as the jurisdiction

Caricature: Paul Dorin which is “the renewable energy capital of the nation”. One example is the investment of $150 million allowing “zero interest loans for rooftop solar panels, household battery storage, zero emissions vehicles and energy efficient electric appliances”. The idea is that “more households can make the right investments in their home”.

However, these savings for individual households are countered by the constant increasing rates in the ACT. The Budget papers state: “The

increase in average general rates for residential and commercial properties during the five years of Stage 3 of tax reform (2021-22 to 2025-26) will be 3.75 per cent per year”.

This will bring about an almost doubling of rates from the time that the tax reforms were launched in 2012.

As the Budget papers explain: “Under the government’s tax-reform program, increases in general rates above the growth in Wage Price Index are used to fund reductions in ownsource revenue from the abolition of inefficient taxes such as insurance and conveyance duties”.

The Budget figures in the 2012-13 budget showed an expected income from rates at just under $300 million.

Since that time the rates have moved to a prediction for the coming year of close to $660 million and in the out years of the Budget going to nearly $800 million.

And what of the inefficient taxes?

Conveyancing was one of the taxes

cited at the time. Considering the exponential rise in the price of homes, it would be helpful to see a reduction in this form of taxation.

How has the government managed?

In 2012 the government budgeted for conveyancing revenues of $272 million. This year conveyancing will bring in $315 million. This is doubledipping.

The government tax-reform initiatives that were led by former Labor MLA Ted Quinlan looked to reduce stamp duty and other “inefficient” forms of taxation. The same approach was taken by the then Treasurer, Andrew Barr who stated in his June 2012 speech on the Budget that it “abolishes and reforms a number of inefficient taxes in favour of more efficient, simpler and more progressive taxes”.

He has repeated the same message about reduction of inefficient taxes nearly a decade later.

As the government went into an election that year after embarking on taxation reform, they were incensed at suggestions from the Liberal Opposition of the time that rates would triple.

Ted Quinlan took on the Liberals,

arguing they were painting a worstcase, in his words, “dire scenario”.

Considering the 20-year time frame and the current trajectory for rates through the transition, it is looking clearer and clearer that the Liberals were on the mark in predicting a tripling of the rates.

In 2012, the overall budgeted revenue for the ACT was $3.75 billion.

This year, the budgeted revenue is $6.6 billion. Taxation from our own sources, excluding GST and other Commonwealth input was $1.27 billion in 2012 and this year is $2.21 billion.

With revenue doubling in less than a decade, it is not hard to understand why “Ken Behrens” is feeling the weight of an increased and increasing taxation burden.

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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LETTERS

The scandal of empty buses and fare evasion THE ACT government and Transport Canberra strongly urge people to catch public transport only for essential purposes.

Still they run hundreds of buses every day, virtually empty.

It is understood that a reasonable level of bus service should be maintained, but why do they continue to run the Inter City R services at virtually the same frequency as they did formerly, largely empty? Is it to keep drivers employed?

The cost would be enormous and the losses are magnified by the fact there is widespread fare evasion on the buses through the policy of not accepting cash.

People know of this policy and pretend they only carry cash or that their MyWay cards have no remaining credit. This has been going on for more than a year.

No doubt, the losses on the buses will be easily recovered by the recent yet another hefty jump in the already disgraceful rate burden in the ACT. The argument is that rates are being increased to offset the losses in revenue from reduced stamp duty receipts. However, such receipts have increased because of rapidly escalating property prices!

In no other jurisdiction in Australia, would the government get away with their never ending increases in taxes and charges, well in excess of inflation.

Colin Lyons, Weetangera

We have to keep wearing masks CONGRATULATIONS to Anthony Stein for his refreshing analysis “Painting a different picture” (Letters, CN September 30).

Just to complete the picture we will all need to wear masks even when we have reached the highest possible levels of vaccination in our community.

If only people would understand that their immune system can only cope with a certain amount of virus even if they are fully vaccinated. Infection will take hold if there is too much virus.

A mask, worn correctly, reduces the amount of virus that enters their body.

Understanding this numerical reality might make mask wearing acceptable to all.

Hilary Warren, Waramanga

Woden still a work in progress WELL done re the expose on the plight of the Woden town centre (“Why has the valley been neglected for so long?”, CN September 30) although I’d have to agree somewhat with Minister Chris Steel that it has turned a corner.

Sadly, the new Woden masterplan, completed in 2015, promised so much but has only delivered for developers and very little for the community.

The background studies to the 2015 mas-

terplan had several recommendations for Woden, such as a new aquatic centre, indoor sports facilities, better cycling and walking connections, upgraded infrastructure and a community/arts centre.

Minister Steel had made it his priority to deliver a Woden community centre since becoming a minister, but we are yet to see any development proposals.

The delivery of the Canberra College performing arts centre was certainly welcomed, but a stand-alone performing arts and gallery space has yet to be delivered for Woden.

Also the ACT government gave away the Phillip pool to the lessee in 2008, something that the government is reluctant to speak of.

Why? We still don’t know, but there has been no improvement to the swimming facilities in that time, in fact it’s stayed the same for more than 50 years!

Now Woden residents are expected to go to the new Stromlo facility in Molonglo, which can take up to two buses and an hour trip each way!

By contrast Tuggeranong has its own arts centre, community centre and indoor aquatic centre. Belconnen has just had its performing arts centre extended and the Belconnen Community Centre also has a performing arts facility co-located within the facility along with the CISAC aquatic centre and the outdoor splash and water park at Jamison.

Minster Steel also points to the lack of nightlife and that Woden is dead after 6pm and that is the reason for there being no

residential development in the town centre core. This is incorrect as Sky Plaza was built in the early 2000s.

The Woden clubs have provided most of the nightlife and still do today. But even then, there were bars, night clubs and live music venues in the town centre and the Phillip trades services area. Something that surprises young ACT government planners today.

The new CIT is good news, but it will be built on the old Woden bus interchange, a surprise location for the facility. One would have thought the car park site behind the Hellenic Club would have been the better site rather than behind the new high-rise apartment development.

After all these years Woden is still a work in progress. An area that I still call home. I certainly wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the ACT. Martin Miller, Chifley

Then there’s Kim, a ‘real’ choice IN “Seven Days” (CN September 30) columnist Ian Meikle looks at Senator Seselja’s prospects for re-election. However, no account is taken of the emergence of a strong independent candidate, Kim Rubenstein, with a range of policies, climate change, support for the Uluru statement and support for the right of the ACT to make its own decision on voluntary assisted dying, that will appeal to many.

Voters now have a real choice. An amazing

number of voters have already joined her Kim4Canberra Party.

The rising support for independents generally together with Ms Rubenstein’s outstanding personal qualities as well as the many failures of the Morrison government, from sports rorts to the submarine debacle, must surely cast doubts on Senator Seselja’s prospects.

Ernst Willheim, Campbell

Craig Kelly would get no votes THANKS to Greg Cornwell for the “No-Vax, No-Vote” suggestion (“Here’s how COVID could change the way we vote”, CN September 30).

Craig Kelly wouldn’t get any votes at all and only sensible policies would be considered by the smarter voters.

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria

Arts centre, but where?

CHRIS Steel MLA said in the article “Why has the valley been neglected for so long?”

(CN September 30) that the government had built a performing arts centre in Woden. Does anyone know where?

Geoff Harding, via email

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MORE LETTERS Let’s not spend on white elephants Dear Minister Steel, I too grew up in Woden, starting at Curtin and ending in Kambah (“Why has the valley been neglected for so long?”, CN September 30).

Woden Plaza has always been a commercial warehouse in the image of a mall from California in the ‘60s in the age of the car.

Neither one of us are to blame for its creation, but it needs tremendous improvement along with our urban transport systems. One would not point to any town centre in Canberra as being the high point of the city’s civilisation.

From where I live in Kambah, I can ride my bike about 18 kilometres into the city, by-passing the town centre, take a shower and get dressed for work in less time than the express buses get me there (or new bus/tram combo, I would predict). In other words, public transport is slower than 18 kilometres an hour, especially in a small city with a population the size of Canberra!

Building a new tram to take me from Woden town centre into the city won’t improve my ride as I would have to get off the express bus, wait, and then stand, crushed in on the way to work and on the way home – so that’s a fail because it doesn’t improve the travel time and nor does it improve the comfort!

And aside from being married, I wouldn’t take a hot date to Woden if I wanted to impress someone, as I’m over the Marvel movies and there aren’t any cultural spaces or restaurants of significance to go to at the Plaza – so that’s a fail, too!

It takes me 25 minutes in my car to get into Civic on a Friday or Saturday night, seated, with the air-con on and playing music; so how will the new bus/tram combo encourage me out of my car for any cultural events, culinary outings or celebrations in the city centre?

I think [planner] Tony Adams’ assessment of the “town centre” is correct. Given there are no green spaces inside the bitumen noose of arterial roads and wall-to-wall concrete surrounding the Woden town centre, building the “Melrose” on the last available patch of open ground also represents a huge fail, unlike say the Brindabella office park playing field and the green spaces at Canberra airport.

I, too, want to reduce greenhouse emissions, embrace new technology and limit urban sprawl, so how can we do that in a smarter and more agile way that really works for us over the long term rather than spending on huge fixed assets or white elephants that we find we will be stuck with later on, like the Woden Plaza?

Ron Kelly, Kambah

Government is responsible COLUMNIST Jon Stanhope’s demand (CN September 30) that the ACT government acknowledges responsibility for the illegal and degrading strip search of a woman at Canberra prison must be met.

Corrections Minister Mick Gentleman, according to Jon, has chosen not to comment on the incident, regardless of the findings by the ACT inspector of correctional services.

The ACT Opposition shouldn’t have to pressure the

THE GADFLY / Holocaust Museum responsible minister.

The Labor/Greens government has long been emphatic about its stance on human rights, with a particular emphasis on indigenous rights. They should have jumped out of the gates about this already and reported to ACT taxpayers about who was responsible, why the responsible minister allowed it to happen and what they are doing to prevent it from recurring.

I appreciate that the ACT government is working very hard on covid measures, but it also needs to work hard to preserve the decency that women, including incarcerated women, deserve. That includes total accountability.

David Pye, Fraser

It’s Chris who’s wrong UNFORTUNATELY, Chris Doyle in his letter (“Stefaniak’s comment was ‘completely wrong’”, CN September 30) has been selective in his comments about the winding up of ACTSPORT, the industry representative group for sport and recreation over a 20-year period to 2015.

Bill Stefaniak is not “completely wrong” in his comments in relation to ACTSPORT. As I stated in a “CityNews” report in 2015, ACTSPORT did a self-examination of its sustainability and the future needs of Canberra sporting organisations and decided to wind up. It is not as simple as Chris Doyle wishes to portray and he should have done his homework before making a statement like he did.

ACTSPORT’s sustainability was severely affected when its funding was cut by the ACT Office of Sport and Recreation, without consultation, as a result of a very poorly designed, biased survey commissioned by Sport and Recreation.

That, combined with the reneging of a financial support package to facilitate the move of ACTSPORT to the sports hub with the Brumbies, at Canberra University, put enormous strain on the organisation’s ability to continue to operate and hence the decision was made to wind up.

That’s politics, sad but true. Shane Rattenbury was the minister at the time, but there is serious conjecture that he was fed a great deal of misinformation by the office of Sport and Recreation.

There is now a need to bring back ACTSPORT. The sector is suffering and desperately needs a collective voice to work with governments of the day to ensure sport is vibrant and effective in its contribution to the positive health and wellbeing of the overall ACT community.

Jim Roberts, ACTSPORT founding and long-term president

A word for the Being upstairs I’D like to act pro bono for the Being upstairs who seems to cop the blame for everything adverse that happens on this planet from the common cold to COVID-19.

One quote from G. K. Chesterton shows how we get things upside down – “God is not a symbol of goodness.

Goodness is a symbol of God”. And who could not learn from Oscar Wilde: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Move raises questions of Aboriginal history THE announcement that Canberra is to have its own Holocaust Museum raises some fundamental questions about Australia’s own Aboriginal history.

“Holocaust” is now a label reserved for the barbarity that Adolf Hitler and his accomplices visited upon Europe’s Jewish people in World War II. It was made the more shocking by its concentration over half a decade in the obscenity of Auschwitz and the other death factories.

Yet the fate of Australia’s Aboriginal people differs only in the period and the location of its execution. It took much longer, and its settings were scattered over a continent bigger than Europe. Its instruments were diverse – guns, poison, dispossession, degradation and disease.

The result was the same.

There is a singular connection: when the Nazis in November 1938 attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues on “Kristallnacht”, the night of broken glass that signalled the start of the horror, Australian officialdom was silent. But William Cooper, a Yorta Yorta man from the Murray Valley, leader of the Australian Aborigines League, took a letter of protest and condemnation to the German Consulate in Melbourne.

They refused to receive it.

There is also a disconnect: in the wake of the Nazi atrocity, the Germans of a new generation had the courage to own the actions of their forebears, to confess and crave forgiveness, to pay reparations of the exchequer and the spirit. Not so the Australian colonisers.

However, behind the scenes a Jewish Rabbi, Avraham Schwarz has made it his life’s work to educate Australia’s Jewish community about William Cooper and indigenous issues since the 1990s.

He established the William Cooper Legacy Project with Cooper’s oldest surviving grandchild, “Uncle”

When the Nazis in November 1938 attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues on ‘Kristallnacht’, the night of broken glass that signalled the start of the horror, Australian officialdom was silent.

Boydie Turner. He persuaded Angela Merkel to accept William’s 1938 protest in 1983. And the new Holocaust Museum in Perth will feature a huge image of William Cooper on its façade.

Yet as the centuries pass, the Aboriginal people are still waiting for Australian governments to emulate the German response.

Along the way, a cohort of Australians, black and white, have raised their hands and their voices to officialdom, arguing, pleading and demanding the natural justice that we codify in our unofficial national canon as the “fair go”.

The latest cry for justice, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, is the most powerful yet articulated. It resounds from an Aboriginal gathering – the aroused and re-energised survivors of their holocaust – demanding a voice in policies affecting the land their ancestors tended for 60,000 years; a truth-telling of the realities of the occupiers’ attempted ethnocide; and a treaty that lays down the conditions for a future that will finally “close the gap” in status, wealth and power between themselves and the colonisers of 1788.

The response of successive Australian governments has been either symbolic – Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech and Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generations – or niggardly. “Closing the gap” between the original Australians and the health and wealth of their white compatriots began as an aspiration; it remains as a plaintive echo of systemic failure.

Perhaps Canberra’s Holocaust Museum will play a part in turning the national tide.

William Cooper’s long journey to the German Consulate would not have been in vain.

Colliss Parrett, Barton

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POLITICS / mental health

Mental health funding short changed by $106m COMMUNITY mental health services in Canberra have been starved of funding to appropriately meet the needs of the ACT. In a recent column, I wrote that while I didn’t have a deep understanding of the reasons why the ACT had, based on available data, the worst performing mental health system in Australia in terms of timeliness and access to appropriate services, I said I was nevertheless confident that it was because of Budget cuts and a lack of money.

I also thought that the pressures and the poor performance in the ACT’s acute emergency departments could be reflective of inadequate community mental health services.

My attention has since then been drawn to data published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) which confirms that assumption. Community mental health services in Canberra have, in the last six to seven years, clearly been starved, in real terms, of the funding necessary to appropriately meet the city’s mental health needs.

It is instructive to look at ACT government funding for mental health in two tranches.

Firstly from 2005-06 to 2011-12 and secondly from 2012-13 to 2018-19 (the last year for which data is available). In the first of those periods, expenditure on community mental health services increased at an average of 6.5 per cent a year, in real terms. However, in the second time frame, the growth in funding was reduced, on average by almost half, to 3.9 per cent.

What that means in real money, is if the funding formula that produced the growth in expenditure in the six years to 2011-12 had been maintained for the next six years, then the budget for community mental health services in 2018-19 would have been $23.4 million higher than it in fact was, i.e. $144.9 million instead of $121.5 million. The cumulative impact on funding of mental health across the six years, because of the change, has been a reduction in funding, in real terms, of $106.2 million.

You may be aware that in the 2021-22 Budget, delivered just last week, the ACT government increased funding for mental health by $13.9 million. Without

questioning the desperate need for the increase in funding, it is moot to note that it is quite likely not even half of the amount that the sector would have received this year had the government not relegated mental health, and public health generally, to a lower position in its order of priorities and abandoned the earlier funding formula.

While some might argue that annual growth, in recent years,

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of 3.9 per cent in aggregate expenditure in real terms is nothing to scoff at, there are two factors that undermine that conclusion.

The first is that included in the funding envelope since 2015-16 are the recurrent costs of operating Dhulwa, the forensic mental health facility at Symonston. If one excludes that funding then the expenditure on community health services for the three usually identified mental health target groups of child and adolescent, older persons and the general community increased by only 2.1 per cent between 2012-13 and 2018-19 after having increased by 5.3 per cent or more than twice that amount in the previous six years. It is clear, from this data, that the government has funded the operating expenses of Dhulwa from within the existing mental-health allocation.

The other major factor that needs to be considered is, of course, population growth.

It is helpful to separately consider expenditure on a per capita basis in real terms

for each of the three mental health target groups, if seeking to understand movements in expenditure over time.

Unsurprisingly, the findings are not pretty.

Expenditure, in Canberra, on child and adolescent mental health services grew by 8.2 per cent a year between 2005-06 and 2011-12 but by only 1.2 per cent a year between 2012-13 and 2018-19.

Stunningly, expenditure on older persons’ mental health services actually decreased at an average of 1.6 per cent a year between 2012-13 and 2018-19 having increased by an average of 12.8 per cent a year between 2005-06 and 2011-12.

And, as revealed in the chart, the per capita increase in funding for mental health services for the general community was, in the years 2012-13 to 2018-19 a mere 0.6 per cent a year.

A further AIHW data set, which compares each Australian jurisdiction’s expenditure per capita on mental health services for the general population for the period from 2014-15 to 2018-19

reveals that while per-capita expenditure increased across the nation at a rate of 1.3 per cent a year, the ACT was the only jurisdiction in Australia, across those five years, to cut mental health expenditure in real terms.

It is no surprise then that the ACT has the highest pressure and the worst performance in acute presentations and emergency department wait times.

It has been observed that COVID-19 has exposed and exploited weaknesses in societal structures and socioeconomic systems. While the pandemic has undoubtedly increased pressure on government budgets, hospitals and social services, it is drawing a long bow, albeit politically convenient, to attribute to the virus sole responsibility for the consequences flowing from those structural and system defects.

As the AIHW data referenced above reveals, and as claimed by the chair of the ACT Branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Dr Fatma Lowden, in an interview with “CityNews” (“Mental health services in crisis as cases soar”, October 7), the major causal factor of an ACT health system in crisis is the ACT government’s budget priorities and funding decisions.

Jon Stanhope was chief minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998.

He is the only chief minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly.

IN MEMORY / Cedric Bryant (July 10, 1939 – October 4, 2021)

A fond farewell to our beloved Cedric Bryant

A green legacy that lives on

Fellow “CityNews” columnist PAUL COSTIGAN offers some personal memories on the passing of our long-time gardening writer Cedric Bryant…

“CityNews” editor IAN MEIKLE reminisces about the generous character of his gardening writer.

TO the readers of Cedric Bryant’s garden writings for the last 30 years, the sad news is that we have lost one of Canberra’s horticultural and garden icons.

Cedric William George Bryant passed away on Monday, October 4. Recently, “CityNews” had announced his retirement from the role of garden writer.

Following his death and because of covid, his family restricted gatherings and public announcements to those close to family – until now.

I will miss Cedric as we had formed an irregular coffee club of two to discuss the obvious problems with horticulture, greenery, gardens and biodiversity under the present ACT governments, as well as many related and unrelated matters. He was a gem – a very lovable, knowledgeable and caring character.

Having been a garden writer for 30 years, with the last decade with “CityNews”, Cedric possessed an amazing trove of information that I could access whenever I was writing outside my comfort zones on topics that were his everyday life.

There were many times after we had met that something from his vast archive would appear in my letterbox.

My last time with Cedric was when I sat with him in his garden. It was a beautiful day

I’D never give him my address. He asked, but I wouldn’t tell. Like he wouldn’t tell me his middle names (it took Paul Costigan’s piece to discover they are William George).

He often offered to come around and give me some gardening advice (“for free, Ian”), but – not that the garden’s a mess – I was in awe of his horticultural knowledge and fearful my little patch of dirt wasn’t up to scratch. I’d never hear the end of it!

He filed his tireless gardening column and two photos conscientiously on time, usually weeks in advance, which always makes the editor happy.

I’ve mostly edited his copy for the past 10 years and, like osmosis, I have absorbed gardening tips and techniques.

His voice rings in my head when I tell people not to plant tomato plants before Melbourne Cup day for fear of late frosts in Canberra. I would always preface it with, “Cedric says…”

You never needed to say his surname, everyone knows Cedric, because he’s probably the only Cedric they’ve ever known.

History isn’t littered with Cedrics (which is of Celtic origin meaning “bounty”). And apart from the Japanese Nissan sedan curiously named “Cedric”,

Cedric Bryant sitting in his garden… “It was a beautiful day and he was buoyant even though the news for him was that there was not much time left,” writes Paul Costigan. and he was buoyant even though the news for him was that there was not much time left.

Two days later the city went into lockdown, so more visits were not on.

With champions such as Cedric there is often a partner who has shared the journey.

That would be his wife Gerdina, who was there working hard with Cedric when they established their Yass nursery and started the business in Canberra.

Among her many achievements within horticulture and her own profession, Gerdina was the herb specialist at their Yass nursery. I would like to acknowledge her enormous loss and recognise her part in Cedric’s life.

I have not listed Cedric’s biography as it is covered in an interview recorded by the Garden History Society (google: Australian Garden History Society Cedric Bryant).

It was a couple of days after his death that while working on something in my garden, that the thought crossed my mind, what would Cedric say about this over-engineered structure in front of me.

That question remains unanswered although I can imagine what it would be. On behalf of many in Canberra, thank you Cedric for the time together as well as the generous assistance with so many questions. Cedric Bryant, we are already missing you.

Mr Bryant was my only one.

He would often breeze chattily through the office to pick up copies of “CityNews” to take to whatever gardening club or service club talk he was giving.

He was generous with his time and his knowledge, and the community was all the richer for it.

He was also a regular letter writer to the editor. The choice of trees on Northbourne Avenue worried him greatly as did speeding cars through school limits. He hated the small blocks in new developments, decrying the lack of space to grow a tree or for kids to kick a ball.

So our paper and our community is the poorer for his sudden passing (from a cruel, though short battle with a brain tumour), but Canberra is so much richer for his being here.

Apart from the many gardens he professionally designed and planted, there are thousands and thousands of front and back yards around the city that will continue to bear witness and echo his good advice and practical tips for many decades to come. A wonderful green legacy that will live on.

And don’t plant those tomatoes just yet. Cedric told me.

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Over 30 years serving Canberra CityNews October 14-20, 2021 15

WHIMSY

About earlobes, are you attached or unattached? “ I’ve not come across anybody with one unattached lobe and one attached lobe, but of course it’s hard to check without attracting attention and seeming a bit weird.

I WAS going to write about ears and hearing but found it too large a topic to encompass in one short article, so thought I’d just focus on earlobes instead.

The human earlobe (lobulus auriculae) is composed of soft tissue, unlike the rest of the ear which is made up of cartilage. Earlobes average about two centimetres long and tend to elongate with age. Some people have unattached hanging lobes while others have them attached to the sides of their face.

I’ve not come across anybody with one unattached lobe and one attached lobe, but of course it’s hard to check without attracting attention and seeming a bit weird.

Does the earlobe have a function?

Earlobes are not considered to have any significant biological function, but since the earlobe has a large blood supply and no cartilage, it may help warm the ears and maintain balance.

Further, the earlobe does contain many nerve endings and so for some people it’s an erogenous zone.

Daniel Craig... has a fine pair of unattached lobes.

Clint Eastwood... has a fine pair of attached ones.

In early studies, earlobe creases were thought to be associated with increased risk of heart attack and coronary heart disease. The diagonal earlobe crease is called “Frank’s Sign”. Not for Frank Sinatra but for Dr Sanders T Frank who noted that 20 patients with angina (chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart) had creases. More recent studies have concluded that ageing is more likely to account for the positive correlation between Frank’s Sign and heart attacks.

Piercing the earlobes is com-

monplace in many cultures. No other location on the body is as commonly pierced. Injury to the earlobe due to the weight of heavy earrings is common. Some cultures practise earlobe stretching for a decorative effect.

Wearing earrings (and piercings) permanently can be bad for one’s health. Some research has found that the most frequent complications associated with wearing earrings are inflammation, keloids (itchy scars), and loss of tissue by tearing.

Polish researchers have also found a relationship between ear jewellery

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and allergies. The reason seems to be the nickel commonly used in jewellery production. Nickel leaches from the earrings into the human body and can cause eczema and other health issues. The specific reason is the contact of nickel ions with the earring wearer’s lymphatic system.

An affected person may then react allergically to dental braces, meals cooked in nickel pots, margarine (nickel is a catalyst in hydrogenation of unsaturated fats), coins, chocolate, nuts, leguminous vegetables, wine, and beer. The study noted that allergic symptoms do not stop if the infected person stops wearing earrings.

Jewellery allergy does not occur with pure gold earrings, but it can occur with gold-plated earrings because they’re likely to contain nickel.

There’s a common belief that a single gene controls the trait of unattached versus attached earlobes, with unattached earlobes being dominant – meaning that a parent with unattached earlobes could not have a child with attached earlobes.

However, it would be unwise to base divorce proceedings on that ground because there are many other factors

that can influence lobe types.

To conclude with a couple of earlobe anecdotes: A man goes to a doctor and says his earlobes are affecting his hearing.

The doctor says: “That’s odd – can you describe the symptoms?”

The man says: “Of course. Marge has blue hair and Homer’s fat and bald”.

The Pope is performing miracles on children in a lawless part of Liverpool during a pastoral visit.

Billy approaches the Pope and says: “Father, could you help me with my hearing?”

The Pope says: “Of course, my son”.

He cups his hands over Billy’s ears (and lobes) and prays quietly, and then asks: “How is your hearing now, my son?”

“I don’t know,” says Billy “it’s not until next Wednesday.”

Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.

YESTERDAYS

Naked pagans with spears, those were the days!

THE sensational results of the Commonwealth Census made front-page news under the headline: “154 people are pagan”.

Identifying 22 of those with beliefs outside the mainstream to be women, so was it reported the ACT was “the only part of Australia free of them”.

No, it’s nothing to do with the 2021 Census and the exhortations from certain quarters for citizens to mark “no religion”.

It was 70 years ago when, on September 18, 1951, the Melbourne daily “The Argus” published the results of the 1947 census.

At the time, the notion the nation was to take the title of R.E.M’s 1991 hit “Losing My Religion”, had begun to gain voice.

While the national capital was generally orderly and still quaintly suburban, it wasn’t immune from the borderline hysteria of “Satanic Panic”.

A 1964 letter to the editor in “The Canberra Times” seemingly satirised the building zeitgeist. Entitled “New Madness?”, “P.G.E.” from Watson wrote: “Sir, Twentieth century? Why, with Beatlemania and fluoridation, witchcraft is flourishing again!”

Rock-’n-roll and its “bastard son” heavy metal were deemed by various moral influencers as integral to the

Fairbairn Forest at night… “Lots of the local groups did ceremonies in the local forests around Canberra and Queanbeyan,” says Anthorr Thomas. degeneration of the generation called “Boomers” (essentially those rockinground-the-clock from circa 1960).

Elvis and his gyrating hips were bad enough for some, but come February in 1970 – and, of course, it was Friday the 13th – Black Sabbath made its death-hooded appearance.

The descent thereafter was decried by the gatekeepers as a “Highway to Hell” – even Australia’s AC/DC was accused of making “devil music”.

Gen-Xers are perhaps the most familiar with the ‘80s frenzy that swept “modern society”.

On that bandwagon, in the capital, long-running whispers of suggested associated untoward activities inside

local nature reserves were amping up.

Following a press expose on the existence and growth of regional “witches covens”, it hit peak-hype in the early ‘90s.

Published in the city’s primary masthead in October, 1994, was the claim “neo-pagan cults had developed a strong following in seemingly sedate Canberra”.

Expanding on that pre-noughties equivalent of clickbait, it stated this “included a group of men who meet naked in a forest on the edges of suburbia at night and carry spears”.

How this rather startling knowledge was attained wasn’t specified, nor which forest at what edge.

Next came an almost full page in “Sunday Features” – on the eve of Halloween no less. Titled “The Pagans of Canberra” and penned by five-year “Times” journo Chris Uhlmann, it was devoted to the “many different groups… practising [alternative religions] around Canberra”, touching on those focused on nature-based ideologies, “spiritual energies” and “pre-Christian” beliefs.

The article made a point that Canberra police did not believe any of the groups “were involved in any kind of illegal activity” nor was there anything “to suggest that individual aberrant criminal activity was linked to an organised group”.

Another analysis was the “Church of All Worlds” (CAW). Describing itself as “a modern, non-traditional belief fraternity devoted to Gaia – or Mother Earth”, its Australian headquarters was set up in Canberra in 1992.

Along with there currently being a “Canberra Pagan Gathering” Facebook page, I’ve had the chance to ask questions directly of one regional resident long-associated with such outlier organisations.

Anthorr Thomas openly confirms he is “a retired High Priest of CAW

and head of the church during its Australian establishment”.

According to Anthorr, gatherings were harmless celebrations involving practices that largely revolved around the natural world. This would include “flowers and fruit offerings to the forest and Gaia”.

“There were a few groups from around the ‘70s but not as many as in the late ‘80s and ‘90s,” he says.

“Lots of the local groups did ceremonies in the local forests around Canberra and Queanbeyan during that period”.

Outside the square perhaps (or maybe the pentagram), but despite all the conjecture, it doesn’t appear to be something straight out of “The Exorcist” – its 1973 release engendering considerable consternation.

Still, as another local, self-declared believer and otherwise ordinary public servant noted in 1995: “Pagans have been getting bad press for 2000 years”.

More at capitalcrimefiles.com.au

CityNews October 14-20, 2021 17

GARDENING

Rats, there go my lovely lemons

By Jackie

good garden starter with children.

Carrots need full sun, well dug and stone free soil, and plant them where winter brassicas were, such as cabbages, bok choy and kale.

WARBURTON I SUSPECTED possums had peeled lemons hanging on the tree, there was possum poop around and I blamed them, but two very good friends in horticulture told me it was rats doing this damage.

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I have rats in my garden, too, and I see them when the grapes are ready.

Just about everyone else has rats around as well, but they just don’t see them.

The most common pest rat in Canberra would be the brown rat or black rat. To deter rats from finding a home in your garden, clear clutter and give them nowhere to hide and breed. They are destructive when they settle in and hard to get rid of.

Knowing what species of rats that they are in the garden will help with an eradication method. There are native rats such as Rakali or water rats around Canberra. They are non-invasive, endemic rats and are an attractive mammal. So, identification of what you are going to get rid of will ensure we can still have native mammals around and get rid of pest rats.

Even the magpies think it’s real…

Lemon damage by rats… to deter rats clear clutter and give them nowhere to hide and breed.

MULCHING garden beds after good rain will be beneficial for keeping the moisture in the ground for the warmer months ahead.

I use different mulches for different garden beds because of its uses.

In my main cottage gardens, I like to use coarse forest litter as it allows the water and air to help break it down slowly.

There are finer forest litter products that can be used for pots and smaller courtyard gardens, but it will break down quicker. Once it has broken down it turns into humus, which is a dark organic material that forms in soil as plants and animal matter decay and is the very beginning of good soil structure for plant growth.

AS the soil temperature warms it is a terrific time to get some early seeds in the ground to get going, then repeat the same seeds in a few weeks’ time to extend your yield and try to prevent a glut of the same produce at one time.

Seeds that can be sown now directly into the soil are root vegetables and big seeds such as zucchini, silver beet and beans.

Sowing carrots can be a little tricky because they are so little.

When sowing, mix some coarse sand with the seed, and this will help with even distribution of the seeds and can be thinned out in a few weeks’ time. Cover lightly with soil and water in.

Keep carrots weed free and in their own space. When they get bigger mulch around them with a light mulch. Carrots are relatively quick growing and are ready in around 12-16 weeks after sowing and are a

MOST native shrubs flower over winter and into spring. Now’s the time to be tip pruning natives that have finished flowering to promote a bushier growth habit and become dense before the summer heat hits.

Spring is also a good time to prune native grasses to stop them from becoming congested in the centre and give them a good clean out and cut back quite hard.

Fertilise with native fertilisers and water well.

MOST of the perennial shrubs and trees will be flowering and putting on a show. Azaleas and rhododendrons are looking spectacular.

Most cottage plants will need pruning after flowering and as a general rule only prune a third at the most to keep their shape.

Hedging will start now as well, and I prefer pruning a little but often to get a good quality hedge.

There are many different hedge choices for Canberra and with the good rain we’ve had, it would be a good time to put hedges in before mid-November. If planting in summer, they will need a lot more care and have a higher risk of going into stress. The optimum time for planting evergreen hedges is in autumn. jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

INSIDE

Lose this ‘Game’, the penalty is death

NICK OVERALL

Dark book starts with stoning of school teacher

By Helen

MUSA CANBERRA author Peter Papathanasiou has made a foray into “ethnic noir” with the invention of a Greek-Australian detective, Sgt George Manolis, despatched from police headquarters to look into a crime committed in his home town, Cobb.

Author Peter Papathanasiou… “This book is designed to disturb the image of Australia as a positive society, but remember, it’s also a whodunnit.”

And what a crime!

For when the local primary school teacher is found apparently stoned to death in the sports ground, suspicion falls on inmates of the nearby low-security detention centre, full of people very familiar with the practice of stoning women for adultery.

It’s a dark premise for a dark book and is a far cry from Papathanasiou’s more optimistic autobiographical work “Little One”, which chronicles his family background and his unusual adoption within a Greek family.

When I catch up with him by phone to his home in Hackett, where he lives with his “understanding” wife and three boys under the age of six, he is deep in a new novel while planning the screen adaptation of “Little

One”, helped by seed-funding from Screen Canberra and with noted Greek-Australian film director Peter Andrikidis on board.

Meantime, he’s basking in the publication of his new book, “The Stoning”, commended

by Canberra crime writer Chris Hammer as “outback noir with the noir dialled right up”.

You can say that again. It would be hard to find a more scarifying look at small-town Australia and, although Papathanasiou reminds me that crime writers are always looking for new ways to kill people, his violent prologue is hard to forget.

“Maybe I was taking a risk, as this book is designed to disturb the image of Australia as a positive society, but remember, it’s also a whodunnit,” he says.

Among his qualifications, which include a PhD in biological sciences from the ANU and an MA from City University London, is an LLB in criminal law, which he says gave him useful insights while he planned a complex story that reaches into the nastier parts of Australia and into our murky history of racism.

The opening death scene was there in his very first draft, although he didn’t know the outcome at that stage.

In the London writing course, which was specific to the popular crime genre, he was taught that crime writers are normally either “plotters” or “pantsers” (as in “by the seat of your pants”).

“I was a ‘pantser’ in this book, which I started as part of my masters,” he says, but

the lecturer cautioned students that if you got two thirds though your crime novel without knowing whodunnit, you’d be in trouble.

Even so, Papathanasiou says: “It’s easy to be led down a certain path of a certain suspect without seeing an ending in sight… the complexity and plot comes with drafting and adding layer upon layer.”

Every crime novel, he believes, needs both noble and villainous characters, so heroes such as Manolis have their own problems, but he’d rather not go down the well-trodden path (think Wallander) of the scruffy cop suffering from PTSD – Manolis is a snappy dresser.

Papathanasiou has long wanted to write a book with a Greek-Australian hero and had another book under his belt that was set in the outback, so it was a comfortable place to set his novel.

With an immigration camp thrown in, lashings of Greek in the text as Manolis reflects on his own background as (like the author) the grandson of Smyrna refugees, and a laconic Aboriginal cop in the local police station, he had no shortage of excuses to debate the big issues, inevitably depicting a toxic culture.

“I needed a First Australian voice, since I was talking about immigration and race and culture and to ‘Sparrow’ the Aboriginal cop, just about everybody around him is a newcomer,” says Papathanasiou.

When he started writing the book in 2014,

Tony Abbott was prime minister, so he named his victim Molly Abbott then, back in Australia, he did more research about immigration detention centres and their towns.

“I infuse these aspects into Manolis as a character,” he says. “He has refugee blood in his veins, so he can see, through the eyes of the refugee Ahmed, what the refugees are going through.”

Mind you, Papathanasiou is pretty sure that the most interesting character in his book – and the most film worthy – is the cop “Sparrow”, whose laconic views colour the novel, making Manolis more of the straight man.

The other colourful characters, including the racist Vera, who demonstrates that toxicity is not limited to males, are also likely to be film worthy, a thought that has crossed his mind.

There are a lot of question marks at the end of “The Stoning”, and as Papathanasiou says, that’s no accident, “because crime books are particularly amenable to becoming part of a series”.

There’s the question of Manolis’ estranged wife, unresolved sexual tension with the female cop Kate and a mysterious issue to do with his father that gives a twist to the end.

Of course, now he’s writing the follow-up.

“The Stoning,” by Peter Papathanasiou, Transit Lounge Press, available at book shops and online retailers.

CityNews October 14-20, 2021 19

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

Lose this, the penalty is death SO popular has the disturbing, South Korean curio “Squid Game” become that an internet service provider is suing Netflix for maintenance costs caused by too many people trying to watch it.

The fictional drama series asks the extreme, yet morbidly fascinating question: how far would people drowning in debt go to earn a fortune?

And millions of viewers have wanted an answer.

For those who don’t know, in “Squid Game”, characters are plucked off the streets by mysterious figures and pitted against each other in increasingly macabre children’s games.

Win, and the cash-strapped contestants keep their chance alive at taking home millions of dollars; lose, however, and the penalty is death.

It’s become the most watched program in 90 countries, sent Netflix’s stock price through the stratosphere and, according to the streaming giant’s CEO, has a very good chance of becoming its most watched series of all time.

So what has made “Squid Game” such a success?

There’s something about taking a group of people and throwing them into a game of life or death that seems to capture modern audiences.

Take for example last decade’s phenomenon of “The Hunger Games” (Netflix), the story of a 16-year-old girl tossed into a dangerous, televised tournament where 24 teenage competitors must fight to the death until only one remains.

Those who got a thrill out of “Squid Game” may also take interest in “Circle” (Netflix) a gimmicky film where 50 strangers are put into a room and who have to vote on only one person to survive.

This concept is so popular in its more extreme forms such as the “Saw” franchise, which this year had its ninth film release, and also in its milder forms such as the reality television phenomenon “Survivor” (on Paramount Plus, Ten Play), still successful after two decades and more than 40 seasons.

There’s a question that lies at the heart of why the idea of a “deadly” game is so appealing to so many: “What would I do?”

Audiences love pondering how they would compete and how well others they know would compete.

“Would I be the winner?”

“Squid Game” is the ultimate iteration of the question.

In the show, simple games such as tug-o-war are used to extreme, suspenseful effect and that being a game that most audience members will have played at least once in their life, inserting oneself into the drama becomes all the easier.

Factions of society split off into different

Josh Wiseman, left, and Arran McKenna as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern… back next year.

ARTS IN THE CITY

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern back from the dead

By Helen Musa “Squid Game”... the most watched program in 90 countries. “teams” that any viewer will be familiar with.

There’s the group of bullies who value strength over all.

There’s the cunning outsiders who think success lies in trusting themselves and nobody else.

There’s those who cling on to their morals, and others who abandon them entirely for a shot at the grand prize.

Things such as old age are seen by many competitors as weakness, but without going into spoiler territory, “Squid Game” cleverly puts forward the idea that wisdom may be just as powerful as muscle.

Much of its success is also owed to its uncanny aesthetics, well serving its bizarre concept.

The mysterious guards who one might call the “deadly referees” of the games wear bright pink, one-piece outfits and ominous shapes mark their covered faces and denote their ranks.

In contrast, contestants wear gloomy green tracksuits, and are marched through environments that look like a painting by optical-illusion artist MC Escher.

That’s just the start of the weirdness here.

The childhood games use creepy dolls and place contestants in surreal locales while strange echoey music hums in the background.

Every moving part of “Squid Game” serves to

grab attention and when scrolling through the endless feed of Netflix content, stuff like this makes it easy for the show to catch eyes and ears.

There’s also the fact that once watching, one can read into “Squid Game” as little or as much as one likes and it still makes for punchy entertainment.

Want a violent, extreme commentary on the modern economic climate holding up the weight of capitalism? Sure.

Want to see a few hundred people risk their lives for money in a series of creepy games? Go for it.

Want both? Works all the same.

Interestingly, the show’s creator Hwang Dong-hyuk originally penned the script in 2008, but believed it too “grotesque” and “extreme” to be a success back then.

One can only speculate on what a release in 2008 would be like compared to now, but it’s fair to say that the drop of a show such as “Squid Game” in a political and economic climate that’s divided as it is right now?

That’s certainly no fluke.

IN a sure sign of emergence from the pandemic, Opera Australia will present two outdoor spectaculars, the 35-year-old Lloyd Webber’s musical “The Phantom of the Opera” as next year’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour in March and a new production of Bizet’s “Carmen” on Cockatoo Island, where private boats can book a mooring to watch the production. Patrons can join the waitlist at opera.org.au until tickets go on sale in November.

ALSO in Sydney over the warmer months, the Art Gallery of NSW is bringing in a destination exhibition of Matisse works. “Matisse: Life & Spirit Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Paris” will run from November 20 to March 13 with more than 100 paintings, drawings, sculptures and the artist’s late “cut-outs”. Tickets won’t go on sale until November 1 (artpass.com.au) by which time the gallery should be open.

NEWS from Canberra Philharmonic that its postponed production of “Grease” has moved to March.

KIRSTY Zane, of Budding Entertainment, has acquired the rights to MTI’s new musical revue, “All Together Now!” for Canberra. It features musical songs licensed royalty-free to theatre companies all over the world to perform and livestream in a one-off weekend event, November 12-15. Zane says the show includes numbers from shows as disparate as “Frozen” and “My Fair Lady”. Would-be performers are invited to complete an expression of interest form at buddingentertainment.com.

MICHAEL Sollis and the Griffyn Ensemble want to work with artists to create video works that respond to the astronomical work “Southern Sky” by Estonian composer Urmas Sisask and have artist fees of up to $2000 for each artist selected to create one-to-five-minute digital work that interprets or is inspired by the music. Expressions of interest and queries to projects@michaelsollis.com by October 31 and should include a CV, a brief outline of the vision and a basic budget.

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

CANBERRA Rep, which had to postpone “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” on the cusp of opening and was in full rehearsal for “Hotel Sorrento”, has decided to stage the shows in the first and second performance spaces next year, with “Sense and Sensibility” to be performed later in 2022.

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FESTIVAL

Gunning festival on line again

By Helen Musa

FARMLAND AROUND CANBERRA/QUEANBEYAN AREA.

“THE show will go on,” the organisers of the Gunning Arts Festival are saying as they prepare for their second virtual festival in a row.

The event will take place over the weekend of October 30-31 as a celebration of arts in the region.

One of the more striking events on offer involves former “CityNews” Artist of the Year, Elizabeth Dalman, holding a “virtual lunch” on October 30, noon-1pm, for which patrons are invited to “pour yourself a glass of prosecco, prepare a cheese board”.

Dalman, apart from being one of Australia’s most significant dancers, is a leading light in regional arts, having founded Mirramu Arts Centre and the Weereewa Arts Festival on the shores of Lake George area, where she lives.

The conversation with arts writer and broadcaster Barbie Robinson will cover her dance work in nature and, happily to her, it will be pre-recorded.

“I want to talk about how I’ve always been inspired by nature since coming to Mirramu…

The reason I wanted to live on a property was that I needed to be close to nature just as much as I needed my dance and living here has taught me so much, not only about theatre work but also about site-specific work, which I began in 1992.”

Gunning has been forging ahead as more than a dot on the highway since artist-actor Max Cullen and his partner, the painter Margarita Georgiadis, bought the old Picture House and turned it into a gallery and performance space.

Cullen, now the festival patron, says the committee is building on the experience gained last year.

No building permit required.

Please call John on 0499 174 781.

Dancing legend Elizabeth Dalman.

Musician Gyan will perform virtually.

Three events are already open for booking at gunningartsfestival.com with all other events scheduled to launch on October 30.

Those now open are the Dalman lunch, the Picture House Art Prize and People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Derivan and run by Cullen and Georgiadis, to which entries close on October 27, and an interactive live embroidery and weaving workshop at Hold Cottage on October 31. Participants will be sent everything needed beforehand by mail, then can create a work of art in a Zoom group with live feedback from tutors led by artist Clare Mazitelli.

Musician Gyan, joined by her multi-instrumentalist partner Si Greaves, friend guitarist Tim Gaze, Tara-Lee Byrne on cello, Lloyd Swanton on double bass and violinist Veronique Serret will perform virtually.

In a follow-up to last year’s festival, rehearsed

readings of “At Dusk”, “Thomas”, “Penny Dreadful” and “Drought,” written by Gunning region playwriting pioneer Millicent Armstrong, produced by Music Theatre Projects and recorded at the Picture House Gallery, will be performed by actors Chris Carroll, Heather Keens, Holly Ross and Dianna Nixon.

“STA kids,” hosted by Southern Tablelands Arts will reveal self-led activities, art classes, holiday activities and things to explore around the region.

There will also be the “Whimsical Wares” workshops and an exhibition of the best trail camera photographs from Gunning District Landcare’s Trail Camera Competition.

Not all, but most of it will be free, Georgiadis says.

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TAKEAWAY / East Pizza and Agostinis

ROOF MAINTENANCE

There’s pizzas and, well there’s pizzas IT’S anyone’s guess just how many takeaway pizzas have been ordered during lockdown. It’s also anyone’s guess just how many places in Canberra are dishing up takeaway pizzas.

Everyone has their fave style. Skill at making the perfect dough, combined with a quality base and toppings are essential. During lockdown we road tested East Pizza for the first time and Agostinis a second time. Both produce winning pizzas.

East Pizza, Kingston Foreshore, has 20 delish pizzas on its menu. Pizzas are “their thing”. It’s what they do, and they do it exceptionally well.

The Rucola ($22) was a top choice. The tomato had presence, the bocconcini melted beautifully and the pizza was topped with thin shavings of salty prosciutto and perked up with peppery rocket. It was colourful and super tasty.

An all-time, top pick for many is a Capricciosa ($21) and again East Pizza hit the mark. The winning combo of ingredients this time included mozzarella, shaved leg ham, mushrooms and artichokes.

Last, but not least, we dug into the Arrabiata ($22) with a great hit of chilli. It’s a punchy pizza featuring quality calabrese salami for more

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Agostinis’ Napoletana.

Photo: Wendy Johnson

East Pizza’s Capricciosa.

Photo: Wendy Johnson

added spice.

Pizzas are great any time – covid or no covid – but they travel well making them even more attractive during times when we can’t get to restaurants and cafes. There’s something so satisfying and comforting about a great pizza.

Agostinis, in East Hotel, makes its pizzas in a state-of-the-art Marana Forni pizza oven, which doubles as a major interior design feature in the restaurant. Marana Forni has been making pizza ovens since 1992 and it must be doing something right because its ovens are installed in 85 countries around the world.

Four bianca pizzas and 12 rossa pizzas are on Agostinis’ menu.

Once again, we ordered a Rucola, for fun and to compare the pair (with East Pizza that is). We couldn’t choose one over the other. Agostinis’ is created with fabulous Fior di Latte mozzarella, fresh prosciutto and loads of vibrant rocket ($25).

We fell in love with the Boscaiola (a pizza bianca), with scrumptious and slightly spicy Italian pork and fennel sausage, loads of mushrooms and Scamorza, a South Italian cow’s milk cheese ($24). It’s not the last time we will indulge…

An all-time favourite for many pizza lovers is the Napoletana ($23), an anchovy lover’s delight.

Other salty ingredients include capers and olives.

The fresh basil and Fior di Latte mozzarella rounded matters out to precision.

Both East Pizza and Agostinis create wonderful pizza dough. The crusts are lovely and thin, easy to digest, and slightly crunchy around the edges.

After both takeaway adventures, we fell asleep with pizzas dancing in our heads. Zzzzz…

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JUMBO CROSSWORD

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ACROSS 1 Of very early times 14 Witty poem 19 Praise highly 20 Mischievous lad 22 One held for payment 24 Had quick look 25 Greasy dirt 26 Adore 27 Waterways 28 Help 30 Surrender 31 Insanity 33 Largest 36 Speaks with impediment 38 Shift 40 Gives more proof 41 Bird house 43 Root vegetable 46 Horrid 47 Most severe 48 Walk like baby 50 Astringent resin 52 Learned 57 Cut off 60 Angered 61 Type of bowler 63 Singing accompaniment 64 More than enough 66 Prepare garden 67 A lettuce 68 A light 70 Obvious 71 Wavered 73 A crime 74 Selected 78 Drawing stick 79 Good-humoured talk 80 Minor trouble 83 Party noisily 86 Pig fat 88 Small cave 89 Sorts 92 Easy to see 94 Of a globe 96 Waste away 98 Wash out 99 Plod along 100 Female horse 101 Aged 103 Picture show 104 A maxim 105 Odd 106 Outer covering 109 Declare correct 112 A sugary sweet 113 Piece of mending 114 Explained clearly 116 Sort of container 118 Clothing 120 Victims 122 Snakes 123 Artful move (coll) 125 A club 126 A tax

128 A manoeuvre 130 Come forth 135 Beef animals 138 Funny entertainer 139 Endanger 141 A jug 143 Kitchen vessel 144 Piece of felled tree 146 Church tower 147 In that place 149 Allowed to leave 150 Possessor 152 Pleas for blessings 156 Underpaid workers 157 Extreme dislike 159 One of us 161 Dreamlike

22 CityNews October 14-20, 2021

164 Holy headband 167 With ability 168 Start again 169 Small axes 170 Got away from 171 Ran naked 175 Little scamp 179 In the open air 182 Worried about 184 Severe 188 Fighter 189 A tide 190 Not any 191 Reached destination 192 A massacre 193 End of hostilities 194 Stinging bushes

195 Pacifies 196 Summarise in learned way

DOWN 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Criminal type Intended Bad habits Boys Solid piece Pedestal base part Put back again Make happy Bad person Medicine dispensers Second-hand

13 Remove skin 14 Not so much 15 Worth 16 Kingdom 17 Social standing 18 Fails to recall 20 A hoisting rope 21 Head movement 23 Do well 29 Of turning point 32 Beginners 34 Extremely surprised 35 Attempted 36 Sugary spread 37 Shift 39 Dress fabric 42 Business branches

44 Penned up 45 Without 49 Shaky 51 A salad fruit 53 A barrier 54 Discharge a gun 55 Case of anything 56 Heartbeat 58 A continent 59 Plunge 61 Very thin 62 Raised piece 64 Male offspring 65 A monastery 69 Seep through 72 Last 73 Make illegally

75 Cuddle in 76 Visible vapour 77 A vision 79 Distilled drink 81 Stolid 82 Post away 84 Live without change 85 Watchmen 87 Musical work 89 Shivered 90 Catered for 91 Bad public action 93 Top card 95 Foray 97 Harnessed together 99 Type of amphibian 102 Take into custody 104 Mix-up 106 Sacred cup 107 Highly-strung 108 Be responsible for 110 Some excitement 111 A rude look 112 Last act 115 A fine material 117 Part of a country 119 Scratch 121 Gazed fixedly 124 Spend 127 Minister’s residence 129 Harsh 131 Facial orifice 132 Fights against 133 Turn aside 134 Explained again 136 Come to know 137 Enemy 140 Nuisance 142 Dandy 143 Set down 145 Cooked cereal 148 Dug out 151 Mystify 153 Long facial hair 154 Metal gratings 155 Berate 156 Body of knowledge 158 Came back 160 Insider 162 Volcano effluent 163 Long 165 Toasted delicacies 166 Rhythmic flow 172 Act against 173 Top room 174 Brilliance 176 Etch 177 Internal organ 178 Walks in water 179 Killer whales 180 Mountain lake 181 Egg-shaped 182 Do better than 183 Female animal 185 A singer 186 Sound of bell 187 Acting group

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Your week in the stars

By Joanne Madeline Moore

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Making a negligence claim when labour doesn’t go to plan

General knowledge crossword No. 803

October 18-24, 2021 ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

A romantic or platonic relationship could be strained as the Full Moon, Mars, Pluto and the tail end of retrograde Mercury regurgitate a problem or an unresolved issue returns. The worst way to deal with it? With an arrogant attitude and an unforgiving heart. The best way to handle it? With patience and diplomacy! Heed the wise words of birthday great, writer and actress Carrie Fisher: “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”

Alison McNamara | Director | Chamberlains Law Firm

The arrival of a new baby should be one of the most exciting and special times of our lives. But things don’t always go to plan and, unfortunately, pregnancy and childbirth complications do happen and can have devastating emotional and financial effects on you and your family.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

Expect a topsy-turvy kind of week Taurus. With Mercury moving forwards, strive to manage misunderstandings and patch up problems in a patient and cooperative fashion. You’re very focused on work projects but don’t put all your eggs in the one basket. Make sure you diversify your interests, experiment with creative ideas and keep your options open. Your motto is from birthday great, actress and writer Carrie Fisher: “Sometimes the tide’s in, and sometimes it’s out.”

We put trust in the medical professionals to look after us during pregnancy and birth, however, where you or your child have suffered injuries, which could have been avoided, you should consider seeking legal advice about making a medical negligence claim.

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Prepare for some Full Moon turmoil and last-minute Mercury Retrograde mayhem, especially involving your peer group. Do your best to display a flexible approach and a diplomatic demeanour. You’re in a hurry to get things done but be especially cautious when it comes to your social circle. Be wary of fake friends and workmates who are undermining your dreams. Spend quality time with companions who are genuine and colleagues who are supportive.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

Resist the temptation to butt heads with a frustrated colleague, authority figure or loved one. Do your best to calm troubled waters and de-fuse fiery Full Moon situations. But you could feel lonely, as people are preoccupied with their own problems and communication is blocked in some way. So avoid being overprotective, as it won’t be appreciated by others. Relationships need room to breathe and there’s a big difference between loving and smothering.

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

Retrograde Mercury, impulsive Mars and the fiery Full Moon are stirring things up, so expect some frustrating disruptions involving communication, education, computers, cars, travel and/or phones. And make sure you are especially careful with what you put on social media, as it will be very easy for other people to completely misinterpret your true meaning. If you are a smart Lion, then you’ll check and re-check everything before you post (especially on Monday).

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

Virgos are usually awesome organisers. But with Mercury still retrograde on Monday, your managerial mojo may temporarily desert you. It’s time to recharge your rundown batteries and reboot your self-belief, as Mercury slowly moves forwards.

You also need to tap into your inner beauty and zest for life. So your mantra is from birthday great, legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt, “Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.”

Across

Down

1 Who, with artificial wings waxed to him, flew too close to the sun, and the wax melted and he fell into the sea and drowned? (6) 8 What is a personification of the US Government? (5,3) 9 Name another term for a medical centre. (6) 10 Which marsupial is displayed on the Australian coat of arms? (8) 11 What do we call the remains of an animal or plant of a former geological age? (6) 13 What do coroners conduct? (8) 16 What is a three-sided figure? (8) 19 Which medal is awarded for second place? (6) 22 What is a sudden and violent expression of emotion? (8) 24 What describes utterly senseless persons? (6) 25 Which term means “in the open air”? (8) 26 What is a small rounded mass, or lump? (6)

2 Name a four-stringed instrument of the violin family.

(5) 3 What are sheets of ice for skating? (5) 4 Which term describes a young animal that is not yet weaned? (8) 5 What is a picture on a VDU screen representing a menu option? (4) 6 What is a period of 10 years? (6) 7 Name the keeper and driver of an elephant. (6) 12 Which prefix means “half”? (4) 14 What is a sentence in an interrogative form? (8) 15 What, colloquially, is one who lives by one’s wits? (4) 17 Name a monetary unit of Russia. (6) 18 Who was known as the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria? (6) 20 What, in Scotland, is a landed proprietor? (5) 21 To praise highly, is to do what? (5) 23 Which biscuit is given to babies when teething? (4)

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LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

This week there are three planets in your sign… Mercury moves forwards, Mars trines Jupiter, and the Sun’s there until Saturday. So you’ll be at your accommodating Libran best – and your ambivalent worst. Do you have to make an important decision? If you spend too long sitting on the fence, then other people will step in and make decisions for you. Birthday great Tom Petty had a very Libran take on life: “I like to be an optimist, but I like to be a realist too.”

Solution next edition

Sudoku medium No. 302

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Contact us for a free first consultation with one of our personal injury experts to discuss your claim and your legal rights.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Solution next edition

alimac_lawyer

Sudoku hard No. 301

Solutions – October 7 edition Crossword No. 802

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2021

What happens in cases where you may seek sterilisation surgery to prevent conceiving another child but negligent performance of that procedure means that you conceive a child despite your decision?

If your pregnancy, birth or sterilisation experience has left you feeling distressed – you are not alone.

These matters can be complex and sensitive and it is important to ensure that you seek advice from an experienced medical negligence lawyer.

The more intently you try to micro-manage relationships this week, the more loved ones or work colleagues will distance themselves from you. And if you are too critical or demanding, then a frustrating power struggle is likely. You’re brimming over with plenty of ideas and are keen to teach or instruct others but don’t assume you have all the answers. Smart alec behaviour will just put others off, so strive to be a more consultative and inclusive Capricorn.

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Not only do we see medical negligence claims about the birth of a child, but we also see many claims when you have decided not to have any further children.

The court found that the doctor had performed the procedure incorrectly and awarded damages in the amount of $408,700, noting that while there was no doubt the child was “loved and cherished”, the pregnancy and birth had significant adverse effects on Ms Lee’s life, her emotional wellbeing and her capacity to work.

You’re full of fabulous ideas and you’re keen to proceed with lightning speed.

But Monday will be slow, as Mercury prepares to move forwards. You’ll be at your buoyant best on Tuesday and Wednesday when Jupiter and the Full Moon boost fiery enthusiasm and put some extra wind in your Sagittarian sails. But Mars, Pluto and stop/start Mercury will throw some challenges into the mix and frustrate your overall momentum. So the buzz word is patience.

You’ll be walking on a financial and communication tightrope this week, Pisces!

With retrograde Mercury, the fiery Full Moon and powerful Pluto stirring up your money and intimacy zones, you’re primed for a spontaneous spending spree or a relationship glitch. In order to avoid messy (and unnecessary) problems, pause before you spend… and think before you speak. The Mars/Jupiter trine encourages you to be proactive about following your dreams.

Medical negligence claims in this area are varied and can include failure to properly manage the pregnancy, failure to delivery the baby in a timely fashion, failure to recognise signs of distress during labour, misuse of birthing tools, failure to properly deliver the complete placenta, failure to control blood loss, and failure to monitor the health of the baby following delivery.

In a recent NSW claim, a 39-year-old mother, referred to by the pseudonym, Jodie Lee, commenced proceedings against her obstetrician and gynaecologist claiming damages for negligence in the performance of a tubal ligation, where its failure led to an unexpected pregnancy.

Scorpios have strong likes and dislikes, and you don’t do things by halves… especially when there’s a fiery Full Moon and the Sun moves into your sign! And you could find it difficult to let go of a grudge or a grievance. If you stew over a perceived slight and sweat the small stuff, then you’ll just end up feeling stressed and exhausted. So avoid getting drawn into complicated discussions. Do your best to relax and bring more balance into your busy life.

The fiery Full Moon ignites your spontaneous and adventurous Aquarius daredevil side. But slow down (and calm down) otherwise you’ll put your foot in your mouth and come a cropper! Try to find more balance in your relationships and more equilibrium within yourself. So your mantra for the coming week is from Libran actress Naomi Watts (who turned 53 on September 28): “You have to make peace with yourself. The key is to find the harmony in what you have.”

Childbirth complications can have serious consequences, including a physical and psychological impact, or a combination of both. While a successful claim cannot take away your loss, it can compensate you for your pain and suffering and help assist with the cost of treatment and any time off work.

02 6188 3600 hello@chamberlains.com.au

Chamberlains.

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CityNews October 14-20, 2021 23

24 CityNews October 14-20, 2021