New numbers reveal underfunding of ACT public hospitals during the pandemic. JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED are all over them.
Furtive planning reforms have truth as an option
PAUL COSTIGAN
Sharing the pain of fighting inflation
MICHAEL MOORE
Thinking twice about giving books to Lifeline
LETTERS
For the love of fragrant lavender
JACKIE WARBURTON
Daughter and father team ASHLINN and DAVID REID are cooking up a storm in Belconnen
Our aim is to provide a culturally safe, holistic health care service for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the ACT and surrounding regions. The holistic health care provided by Winnunga AHCS includes not only medical care, but a range of programs to promote good health and healthy lifestyles.
AFTER struggling to stay open since October, the Holy Cross Tuckerbox, at Hackett, has secured government help with crippling freight costs.
secure for the rest of the financial year, worries remain for an uncertain future.
a low-cost, charitable food outlet to support the most marginalised and vulnerable families in the ACT. and with 400 active members, there are about 300 people a week dependent on the charity.
stay open and had been chasing more financial support from the ACT government for months to cover increased freight costs.
“In June of 2022, the cost of transporting a pallet of food from Sydney to
Club of Canberra City, but these days by St Vincent de Paul.
“The 2022-23 grant was exhausted by October,” Simon says.
“The budget that was allocated was $60,000 and that was exhausted in two months. I don’t know whether they just terribly miscalculated the amount or I don’t know why it was that low, but now it would need to be four or five
Now, the ACT government has confirmed it will cover all freight costs directly with Roadmaster, a national refrigerated transport and supply
“St Vincent de Paul, in collaboration with the Community Services Directorate have secured additional funding to maintain the Food Assistance Program from March 1 until June 30, 2023,” a statement to community pantries reads.
“There is a meeting scheduled in two weeks for discussion on funding across the next financial year, too,” says Simon.
“It was hard to see any solution that didn’t involve the ACT government supporting us with freight costs at a
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level that is realistic.”
“Our united voice with other food pantries and Foodbank NSW, and the pressure we put on, made the community services directorate happy, and we finally got the funding,” says Simon.
Simon came to Tuckerbox at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when volunteers older than 70 took a break to avoid getting sick.
“Tuckerbox is run through Holy Cross Anglican Church in Hackett.
I go to St Margaret’s Uniting Church and it shares the building,” he says.
“Tuckerbox kept open during COVID-19, obviously with tight restrictions, and two years ago I was asked to take on the role of chair.
“I have this very old-fashioned be -
lief that a society has a responsibility to look after all of its people, not just those that can pay their way, so it’s a sense of being able to give back.”
He says the reality is, unless funding is consistent, the future can quickly turn bleak for the poor and marginalised people in the Canberra community.
“We’ve got reserves that we have had to dip into to pay for the freight, but those reserves had been marked for things like new freezers and extensions to the building. If a freezer dies you’re looking at $8000 to $10,000 to replace it.”
Hopeful that a meeting on March 7 to discuss future funding will go well, Simon wants to remind the government that the needs of these citizens will not just go away.
“There is an urgent need for an ongoing plan and quick action. Most of the people accessing these services have nowhere else to turn. We need action and we need it quickly.
“What is the alternative? If you force people into poverty, you’re forcing people into situations where illegal things will go on, or other equally unpalatable things go on, and how much more will that cost?”
For the whole of 2022, Simon says Tuckerbox received 11,389 kilograms of food from OzHarvest, and 55,000 kilograms from Foodbank NSW and ACT.
To donate or help, email tuckerbox@holycrosshackett.org.au
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perspective. To join, you may have had cancer, known or cared for someone with cancer, or just be interested in cancer research and in helping people. This commitment is primarily online but may involve some occasional interstate travel. Applications close on 3 March 2023.
DEALING with the complexities of Greenslabor planning reforms has been an unpleasant experience for those reading the badly written documents that were drip-fed to the public last year.
There is nothing positive about what is being proposed.
Residents have tried desperately to be civil and polite in their dealings with the planning bureaucracy and its Greenslabor ministers. Residents have an expectation that the government would do the same in their engagements with the residents. Not so.
For the Greenslabor politicians and their planning bureaucracy, truth, transparency and honesty have become options.
This was made clear by the presenters at the February meeting of the Inner South Canberra Community Council. The news was not good. The presentations were by learned volunteers who had done the deep dive into the documents dropped to the community during 2022. There are parts of this reform that are yet to be revealed.
For those who have inflicted pain on themselves by ploughing through the spin, clichés and worthy sounding phrases, they concluded that the
chief minister’s reforms for this city’s future are not about planning.
They are also not about heritage, biodiversity, protecting solar, greenery, trees, green infrastructure, neighbourhood character, architecture, landscape design, liveability and more that is to be regarded as discretionary.
Developers will be able to regard important planning basics as being optional even more than they do now.
It is clear that these “reforms” are about delivering changes that are the opposite to what residents have been led to believe were the reform’s stated aims.
Many had hoped that by responding to the various stages of these reforms that there would be a change of direction. They now realise that
the planning directorate, on behalf of the chief minister, is fully intending to go ahead with its behind-closeddoor agreed versions of development reforms no matter how many submissions are received.
It is clear that what is being proposed is utterly stupid if you wish for this city to be well planned, based on good design, to be about dealing with 21st century climate and environmental issues and about affordable homes and liveable suburbs. The changes are not about making residents’ lives better.
In 2021 the Inner South Canberra District Planning Strategy set out what the residents valued. This included streetscapes, open spaces, neighbourhood character, their suburban environment, being located
in their suburb, local shops – as well as respect for heritage, trees, domesticscale housing, and good footpaths and connections to parks and facilities.
You have to look hard to find a skerrick of evidence that these values were considered seriously by those who drafted the reform documentation.
Mid last year 329 submissions were sent in by residents trying to have the city’s planning regime address significant issues. Residents had hoped that those receiving the submissions were about implementing a new 21st century planning structure. Those submissions were largely ignored.
The faith of the residents in the bureaucracy was totally misplaced. The painful revelation was confirmed that the planning reforms are no longer about planning. Residents are purposely being misled.
The norm for this directorate is to go through the charade of calling for feedback through submissions. Subsequently, there has been a high level of submissions regularly made on planning and development issues. Annoyingly, it is rare for explanations to be provided about how or if these submissions were considered when final decisions were made. There has
been a decade or more of this lack of transparency and honesty.
There must be many who wonder how the hell did we get to this. How has it come about that the Greenslabor’s values have been corrupted to the extent that lying pathologically has been normalised as everyday behaviour?
Lying in this context includes answering questions by deliberately obfuscating responses, by gaslighting residents who ask questions, by publishing media statements and having articles placed that are based on misleading motivations and the consistent use of misinformation. These planning reforms promote truth and transparency as options. What the planning reforms reinforce is that something is dreadfully wrong within this ACT Greenslabor government.
Paul Costigan is a commentator on cultural and urban matters. There are more of his columns at citynews.com.au
How has it come about that the Greenslabor’s values have been corrupted to the extent that lying pathologically has been normalised as everyday behaviour?A presentation at the meeting of the Inner South Canberra Community Council… the news was not good.
By Lily PASS
WORKING for the RSPCA during the 2019/20 black summer bushfires and during the pandemic, Revitahl Yosef spent a significant time linking people – who had been displaced, or lost their homes and jobs – with services and charities that would help them continue to care for their pets.
Revitahl, of Gowrie, is now a trainee vet nurse and is working as a recep tionist at one of Canberra’s emergency vet clinics.
“When I finally moved into a general practice clinic, I realised there was a gap in knowledge. All the information I had wasn’t really out there, so I really wanted to create a resource that would put it all in one place,” says Revitahl.
“I was driving my partner to work and said I wished there was one place to find all of this information, and he asked ‘why don’t you do it?’ and from there it’s been a snowball.”
That was in May last year, with the result now a live website called PAWS Network ACT.
“PAWS Network ACT is about
for Canberrans, and it has grown to include details on how to become a pet owner, what the rules are around microchipping and registration and ex-
passionate about this for almost a year
“I think the main thing is I want people to know that help is available, because there wasn’t one place where people could find it all, so I’m hoping it will help people in tough situations.”
“I utilised services like VetPay that allows you to set up a payment plan for vet treatment. I lived below the poverty line for a few years and linked in with a lot of the services I have in-
“Thankfully, I got back on my feet and have started my career in the vet
“Now, I can help other people who are in my situation. It’s a very personal passion, it means a lot to me and I’m hoping it can help people.”
ACT Pet Crisis Support, Rainbow Paws and Pets in the Park are services that Revitahl has volunteered with, or found through her not-for-profit work, and has researched to include in
Revitahl says they’re all just fantastic: “Of course, everything that is medical on the website, I have passed through veterinarians I work with, and I’m looking forward to growing
all the routine things and now I can’t believe I didn’t know them.”
Revitahl says PAWS Network goes through all the basics of pet ownership, including your obligations, and explaining health and behavioural information, “everything that I wish I had known when I started out”.
Revitahl has Dingo, a roughly sixyear-old mixed-breed rescue dog, and Becky, a cat.
“I want PAWS Network to grow, especially in things people need in order to avoid situations where they might need to surrender their animals,” Revitahl says.
“I want to help people to keep their pets and to give their pets the best life possible.”
And, PAWS Network aims to be easy to understand and be available to everyone, of every walk of life.
“It has been a really core value of creating this, a bit of having been there myself and a bit of seeing people needing help and me wanting to bring something to Canberra,” says Revitahl.
Everything to do with PAWs Network is paid straight from Revitahl’s pocket.
the main goal being to connect pet owners with assistance services. It’s my passion project.
“I’m just really excited. I’ve been
“I came from a place where I didn’t have any pets when I was growing up and it was a learning curve when I got my cat and my dog. I was a first-time pet owner and I was going through
“There is no bias; I have got no sponsorship; I’ve got nothing that would urge me to push a certain narrative. It is just general information that is completely self-funded and self-driven.”
pawsnetworkact.com
Discover how CGGS is equipping boys, girls and young women with the knowledge and skills to succeed inside and outside of the classroom
To the young, ANYTHING IS
THE governor and board of the Reserve Bank of Australia have been delegated the responsibility of controlling inflation. The tool they use is modifying interest rates, which has a disproportionate impact on those who can least afford it.
Philip Lowe’s statement on February 7, when the cash interest rate went to 3.35 per cent, was that there is more pain to come. Hopefully, the interest rates will not climb to the levels of a few decades ago when mortgagees were commonly paying interest at up to 18 per cent to remain in their homes.
Interest rate increases do cause discomfort and, in some cases, anguish. Homeowners struggle to meet mortgage payments. Small landlords who have borrowed in an attempt to build their long-term wealth pass on the increases to their tenants.
However, as Lowe points out, outof-control inflation will cause serious uncertainty and even more pain. It is critical to keep inflation under control and to avoid a serious recession or even depression. Such an outcome would have an even greater impact on those who can least afford it.
The political advantage of using interest rates to control inflation
is that governments can blame the governor and board of the Reserve Bank if inflation or high interest rates become a political issue.
Consecutive treasurers have managed to keep the issue at arm’s length, by contracting the Reserve Bank to manage inflation effectively through the use of variable interest rates.
One of my colleagues has suggested an alternative, albeit one that seems politically unpalatable. Temporarily use a variable GST “to soak up the excess liquidity that is supposedly causing all the trouble, instead of
simply giving all the excess money to the banks”.
The government could expand the GST to cover all those currently exempt items that are predominantly purchased by “rich” folks… they could then “periodically adjust the rate up or down by whatever is needed to keep inflation in check”. In this way, the broader community would “contribute to the solution rather than it just being imposed on those who have to borrow money from the banks”.
The winners through the current process seem to be the banks and their shareholders. The CBA has just announced a half year profit of more than $5 billion. This must really stick in the craw of those who have been told that the bank has no choice but to raise interest rates in a manner consistent with the Reserve Bank.
The advantage of using a variable GST system is that the impact will
not be so targeted at mortgage holders and, consequently, at renters. Any adjustment must be a temporary move. Why not use the GST as a variable instrument in much the same way that the Reserve Bank uses variable interest rates?
The GST does need reform. Political compromise was necessary when introduced by John Howard. The Democrats at the time held the balance of power in the Senate. They settled on the idea of making a series of exemptions on basics such as food. This looked good from an idealistic perspective and has been made to work.
GST exemptions have added a substantial administrative burden on many small businesses and a large bureaucracy was created to deal with the red tape. A simple system with no exemptions would have been much more effective. For those on welfare, who were the aim of the exemptions, the social service payments could have been increased accordingly.
A further suggestion as an alternative to the Reserve Bank model is having “the government look at a levy on all bank transactions and make the banks responsible for
collecting it”. A quite small levy is likely to achieve a significant impact on inflation.
However, the flipside is that a variable GST or a levy on banks could also impose a significant administrative burden on small businesses. Keep in mind that the current system of fluctuating interest rates also has a significant administrative burden. Every system has administrative burdens that ought to be minimised. Although these ideas may seem politically unpalatable, one option would be to expand the role of the Reserve Bank. Instead of having just one tool to deal with inflation, they could at least have the three: variable interest rates, variable GST and a levy on banks. No doubt there are more options.
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.
Instead of having just one tool to deal with inflation, the Reserve Bank could at least have the three: variable interest rates, variable GST and a levy on banks.Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe… there is more interest-rate pain to come, he says.
THE other morning, I dropped off a number of books at Lifeline’s Mitchell Depot as I am an avid supporter of all the work it undertakes for those in need and the community generally.
Included in the books were some dating back to the ‘60s titled “ A Man’s World” (four volumes), which obviously reflected those times.
As a teenager growing up on a farm, in a small country community, I did not have access to the extensive information, communication, media, internet, Facebook, systems, etcetera that young people have access to today. One had to make do with what was available to find out what life and the real world was all about.
These books covered subjects such as economics, business, finance, personal development and life’s challenges. When I dropped off the books the attendant quickly took them inside as if they were “dangerous” and then returned to inform me that they had been binned as they were not appropriate for the development of today’s males or words to that effect. I was left speechless.
I was unaware that Lifeline has a policy of censorship of books whose titles are not “politically correct”. Are their “customers” being shielded from such horrendous titles to protect them from the emotional damage that would eventuate?
One faceless person, at Mitchell, decided,
in the best interest of humanity, to censor and bin books that I had kept for more than 50 years, without so much as a discussion, let alone return them to me.
I found this somewhat disturbing, particularly when free speech is always promulgated in our society or have I been living on another planet?
The books, conservative in content, merely reflected the era in which they were published and whereas out of date as the Bible is, to some present-day readers.
Leaving aside their curiosity value, they could have been useful in researching just how much society’s norms have changed since the ‘60s. Incidentally, I can’t recall the words, “political correctness” being used in those books.
Should I now think twice about donating books with “politically incorrect” titles to Lifeline for fear that they will be binned by a “faceless” individual in the bowels of Lifeline?
Anthony Senti, KaleenJACK Kershaw (Letters, CN February 16), in his quest for an alternative route for the light rail extension to Woden, argues the “optics” and “permanence of trams makes them appealing and reassuring” and, without evidence, suggests this “can justify the cost over time”.
Jack needs to consider the opportunity cost of the tram. In the context of unmet
needs in social housing and health, high debt, inadequate city maintenance, the need to increase the use of public transport by increasing the coverage and frequency of the bus network and to electrify the bus fleet, to proceed with the extension would be obscene, when more cost effective bus-based alternatives are available.
Jack also suggests his alternate route, including a yacht-friendly lake crossing, would be assisted by “due substantial financial assistance from the Commonwealth”.
It would be egregious if the project, not supported by the Productivity Commission or Infrastructure Australia, received Commonwealth funding when severe unmet needs exist in many areas including housing, health and in indigenous communities.
Mike Quirk, GarranI AGREE with Jack Kershaw (Letters, CN February 14) that current plans for public transport between Civic and Woden don’t service enough national attractions; and critically, are mired in major planning, heritage, cultural-landscape, aesthetic, engineering, traffic, time and cost problems, mostly unresolvable.
The current plan is to increase public transport travel time, between Civic and Woden, from less than 20 minutes to more than 27 minutes. That will probably result in
fewer people using public transport, and consequently more people driving cars.
On Canberra’s roads the average car trip causes less emissions than the average public transport trip.
The “optics” and permanence of roads make them appealing and reassuring, and can justify the cost, over time. However, road “land-value-capture” property development needs to be carried out more sensitively.
Users testify that roads are popular and operating well; and it’s now surely logical to continue with the citywide system, sensitively and expeditiously, for long-term benefit.
Leon Arundell, DownerIN his column “When leaders veer off into a strange universe” (CN, February 16) Paul Costigan expressed puzzlement as to how former prime minister Scott Morrison could have been allowed to take a Coalition government down the road to ruin.
Members of that government cannot credibly claim that they were not told, nor warned, about Morrison’s record in working with government.
In 1998, Morrison was appointed director of the NZ Office of Tourism and Sport. Within weeks, he had quietly arranged the removal of the chairman, deputy chair and chief executive of the NZ Tourism Board, who received almost $NZ1 million in secret payouts.
An auditor-general’s report subsequently found that Morrison had exceeded his remit: the minister for tourism was forced to resign, and prime minister Jenny Shipley’s conservative government was defeated by Labour in 1999. Morrison left abruptly in 2000 with a year left on his contract.
In 2004, Morrison was appointed managing director of Tourism Australia, and spent $180 million on the now infamous “So, where the bloody hell are ya” campaign. This expenditure was allegedly never authorised by the minister, Fran Bailey. Morrison was promptly sacked.
How much of this sorry saga now seems hauntingly familiar?
Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
A MORE equal method of managing inflation may be to curb consumption by giving the Reserve Bank a discretion to increase and decrease (as required) the GST above the current 10 per cent. Government would then have the funds to compensate those on lower incomes. It may also be prudent to exempt food and medicine.
Peter Norton-Baker, via email
I WONDER if the women of Canberra have noticed a marked rise in the amount of street abuse they receive from other women, typically middle aged?
In the past week, I have been twice verbally abused in public, both times when I was acting in complete privacy. The first, on public transport, when a bus route went down the wrong road; I alerted the driver (I was right), but a toothless female passenger yelled out that I was a “stupid [name-of-afemale-dog]”.
And then in the car park of an animal hospital, collecting the ashes of my recentlydeceased pet, another middle-aged woman who had just blocked my and another vehicle’s access with her own car (I said nothing, but patiently waited for her to unblock access), screamed (yes!) at me over the car park because I did not speak with her, yelling: “I am apologising, you [name-of-afemale-dog]!”
In both cases, I had zero interactions with either of these females, but they hurled disgusting abuse in public, to someone they do not know (me).
I hold a doctoral degree and my career is dedicated to advocating for women in professional fields. It seems that many women in the ACT community are appallingly misogynistic, themselves.
How sad that some in Canberra’s middle-aged female population should
behave in this way. Even more regrettable that Canberra’s hard-working women such as myself, should be subjected to this gutterlevel abuse, in the streets, by other women.
Is it too much, to walk out one’s own door, mind one’s own business, and be treated with respect on the street? In Canberra, of all places?
Natasha Bourne, via email
JOEL Pearce and Patricia Watson (Letters, CN February 9) bring up the same tired, old ideas about changing the date of Australia Day. Don’t they realise that the change of date would do nothing to dispel the anti-Australia Day, anti-colonial, anti-white, race-baiting, self-hating activists that would never be happy having Australia Day regardless of the date?
Our parliament is a product of the British Westminster system that obviously we would not have if it was not for the arrival of the First Fleet. It is the fairest, democratic, respected, safest type of government in the world. I am surprised they did not mention Federation Day nor the ridiculous suggestion of May 8 (mate).
Invasion Day? Fifteen hundred people, half of them in chains and irons sailing into Sydney Harbour on 11 rickety old ships no bigger than a Sydney ferry, who had spent the last eight months battling the ocean including the roaring forties, responsible
for many shipwrecks along the south-west coast of Australia and Tasmania. Half a million natives apt at spear throwing and a familiarisation of the country.
Compare that to February 19, 1942 when 242 Japanese aircraft attacked Darwin dropping more bombs than on Pearl Harbour, killing at least 235 people and continuously bombing northern Australia until November 1943.
Japan bombed Australia on 97 occasions between 1942 and 1943. In May/June 1942 Sydney Harbour came under attack from Japanese midget submarines. HMAS Kuttabul was hit and sank resulting in 21 sailors dying and the Australian hospital ship AHS Centaur was torpedoed and sank off Point Lookout, Queensland, resulting in the loss of 268 innocent lives.
Do we still hold the Japanese to account for events that happened only 70 years ago? What about the Germans, too?
As for the term First Nations, why use a word without legal definition that Canadians invented and considering Australia was not a nation until 1901 how are they the first?
Whether you like colonialism or not it is a huge part of our history and is the main reason why we live in the Australia we have today. January 26, 1788, no Aboriginals were harmed and there are plenty of stories of a shared history between the original European settlers/ convicts and Aboriginals that many of the activists don’t want to know about.
January 26, 1824, was also the date of the first union/marriage between an Aboriginal
Australian and a European Australian. How many people know that?
Ian Pilsner, WestonFEBRUARY 7 has been suggested by Patricia Watson (Letters, CN February 9) as an appropriate alternate date for Australia Day. Good idea, but I prefer the day before; February 6, the day the female convicts in the ships of the First Fleet were brought ashore.
Arthur Bowes-Smyth (surgeon on the Lady Penrhyn) reported that when the women reached the shore: “The Men Convicts got to them very soon after they landed, and it is beyond my abilities to give a just description of the Scene of Debauchery & Riot that ensued during the night”.
Given our national predilection for re-enactments, the opportunities for celebration seem endless.
Malcolm Murray, Garran
ON February 9, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee gave the ACT government a nudge to better address the shameful situation she described of “one in 10 of Canberrans living in poverty including 9000 children”.
She was right to then observe that,
“whatever the ACT Labor/Greens government is doing is not working”.
You could help, Ms Lee, if you got your party behind decriminalisation. Doing so eliminates a potent driver of disadvantage that the criminalisation of drug use and possession represents. The prospect of arrest and prosecution compounds the common co-occurring mental health and complex psychosocial problems like poverty, homelessness and unemployment that people with a substance dependency often experience.
Bill Bush, TurnerI WISH to acknowledge a beautiful random act of kindness shown to me on February 2 at the 7/11 petrol station in Holt.
After filling up my car with petrol, $72.12, I proceeded to the checkout to pay. Unfortunately, unbeknown to me my credit card had been blocked, and after several attempts to pay, I became very upset.
I approached the service station attendant, who told me a young tradesman had paid the account for me.
I pleaded with him to give me his personal details, however he refused, saying to accept it as a random act of kindness.
I feel very privileged to have met this young man, who was so generous.
ColleenThornton, via email
2CC’s breakfast personality Stephen Cenatiempo will host the Dementia Demolition Squad’s trivia night at the Canberra Deakin Football Club on March 4 to raise funds for dementia research. Tickets are $35 and include finger food and a lucky door prize ticket. Organisers promise a raffle, auctions, surprises and, of course, the quiz itself. The Dementia Demolition Squad is a fundraiser for Neuroscience Research Australia and annually sponsors a PhD student specifically researching Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Book via trybooking.com by February 27.
WOMEN of all ages are invited to attend a free pelvic workshop focused on education and self-help strategies for continence problems. Presented by a physiotherapist from Canberra Health Services, it will be held at the Tuggeranong Community Health Centre, 5pm-7.30pm, March 7. Book at 5124 9977.
THE Dante Alighieri Society of Canberra is running new Saturday morning Italian courses for primary school children at Yarralumla Primary School beginning on March 4. Two classes of up to 15 children each will be offered, initially catering respectively for students aged 6-10 years and 11-14. The two initial classes will be free until the second school term. More at danteact.org.au or email danteschool@danteact.org.au
Stella’s
The Lake cafe is perfectly situated with Lake Ginninderra on its doorstep.
Owned and run by father and daughter David and Ashlinn Reid, each of them bring their years of experience in hospitality. With David as chef and Ashlinn as manager, they provide a friendly and warm cafe experience where everyone is welcome – especially four-legged friends!
For David, whose career as a chef spans more than 30 years, opening Stella’s By The Lake with Ashlinn was a proud moment for him as both a father and a business owner.
He says that having weathered the covid lockdown storms, Stella’s is now making a great name for itself with locals, shoppers, families, office workers and, of course, lake walkers who enjoy the all-day breakfast and lunch menu options, coffee and drinks that also includes alcoholic beverages and sweet treats.
“We focus on simple but good food and creating a relaxed and happy atmosphere,” says David.
“Our popular dishes include our salmon bagel, potato stack and Tank’s
apprentice chef at the Hermitage Restaurant in Woden in the late ‘80s, and worked at other restaurants such as the Hyatt’s Promenade Cafe, Maddison’s at the Vikings Club and the Queanbeyan Leagues Club. He also owned and ran the Metro Espresso Bar at Woden.
David says he had an urge to own a cafe again and the opportunity presented
didn’t know what the trade would be like, but we knew it was a great spot with the lake right in front of us and residents living in the apartment buildings behind,” says David.
“We are thrilled to see our cafe grow in popularity.”
They say that they named the cafe in memory of another family pet – Stella
the staffy – and they warmly welcome all dogs with outdoor seating, grass mats,
“We love dogs and it’s special for us to remember Stella and Tank in what we are doing at the cafe,” says Ashlinn.
Finalists in both the 2021 and 2022 ACT Restaurant and Catering Awards in the categories for best breakfast restaurant and cafe dining, Ashlinn says that she loves working with her dad.
“We are both similar personalities and
help to me – I wouldn’t be able to do it without him,” she says.
Stella’s By The Lake has a team of 15 staff and Ashlinn says it’s very rewarding to see the cafe go from strength to strength.
Stella’s By The Lake, 63/1 Beissel Street, Belconnen. Open 7am-3pm, Mondays to Fridays and 8am-3pm on weekends. Call 6253 0370.
‘We focus on simple but good food and creating a relaxed
happy atmosphere’Dog friendly… Ashlinn Reid shares a little hospitality with some four-legged friends.
IT was reported recently that it took ACT Health three months to respond to a question on notice from the Opposition health spokesperson, Leanne Castley.
The question, while on its face very simple (namely: “How many beds are there in the maternity ward at Calvary Hospital, in the years from 2016 onwards?”) it clearly caused much consternation and confusion within the Health Directorate. The issue in contention was whether to report the number of “physical beds” or “funded beds” at the hospital.
The position taken initially, and quite reasonably, was that the question should be interpreted as applying to beds that were being utilised, ie the funded beds.
A draft response was accordingly prepared advising that there were 19 beds in the ward from 2016-17 to 2018-19 and 18 beds between 2019-20 to 2021-22.
However, that answer was amended, following internal discussions, to 27 beds and 30 beds respectively, ie the physical beds, including those not being utilised or otherwise in storage.
That such prolonged internal debate was necessary is surprising since national bodies such as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Productivity Commission have well established definitions and standards for data collection and reporting.
It is also concerning that it was decided to provide figures, reportedly agreed to by the minister, that are essentially meaningless.
Surely, what matters is not the physical beds, but beds that are funded, ie, beds that have the necessary staffing allocations – beds that can actually be used by patients. One wonders what possible reason officials or the minister might have for deciding to report on the number of beds lying idle or in storage.
The significant difference between the number of “physical” and “funded” beds raises a serious question, namely why all of the available beds are not in use. The answer is obvious, namely because the hospital has not been allocated sufficient operating funding to staff the beds ie, health services have been defunded or underfunded.
The 2023 Productivity Commission Report on Government Services (RoGS) confirms not only that that is the case but that the ACT government is the only Australian jurisdiction to have done so in recent years.
The ACT also continues as the worst performing jurisdiction in treating patients on time, in the various categories in the emergency department. In 2021-22 only 48 per cent of patients in the ACT were treated on time compared to the national average of 67 per cent.
While treatment within four hours is the nationally agreed benchmark for emergency
departments, the ACT only met the target for 52.4 per cent of patients, the lowest in Australia, for which the average was 60.9 per cent. Interestingly, the RoGS report shows that in 2016-17, 73 per cent of patients were treated within four hours, the third highest rate across jurisdictions and above the national average of 72.3 per cent.
The expenditure and activity data published by the Productivity Commission clearly identifies the reason behind the deterioration in performance from 2016-17 onwards.
The chart provides the average annual change over the period 2016-17 to 2018-19 (with 2015-16 as the base year) in both public hospital separations (completed treatment) and recurrent expenditure on public-hospital services in 2020-21 dollars, as adjusted for inflation.
Over this period, hospital separations in the ACT increased at the rate of 3.1 per cent annually, close to the national average of 3 per cent. Real recurrent funding on the other hand decreased by 1.1 per cent on average.
Apart from the ACT, WA is the only other jurisdiction where recurrent expenditure decreased over this period. However, in WA, hospital separations also decreased at the rate of 0.8 per cent.
These cuts possibly explain why of the 27 beds in the Calvary maternity ward that the health bureaucrats reported, only 19 beds (70 per cent) had the funding available for patient care during 2016-17 to 2018-19. Notably from 2018-19, only 18 beds were available, a further decrease, reflective of further funding cuts in real terms.
The RoGS report also reveals that the underfunding continued after 2018-19 and
during the pandemic. In 2020-21, the last financial year covered by the report, recurrent expenditure in ACT public hospitals increased by 2 per cent, the lowest across all jurisdictions, while separations increased by 9.1 per cent, the highest across all jurisdictions. By comparison, nationally, expenditure increased by 4.7 per cent while separations increased by 3.6 per cent.
Coincidentally, the ACT Budget was also required to accommodate about $50 million in recurrent funding of the Light Rail – Stage 1 during this period.
The RoGS report details that within the public health system those most disadvantaged, as measured by the ABS Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage, waited much longer than those least disadvantaged.
Likewise, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people waited longer compared to other Australians in the ACT.
The chief minister is reported to have expressed his desire for the ACT to have the highest vote in support of the upcoming referendum on the Aboriginal Voice to parliament.
That is commendable, however, it is perhaps fair to suggest that if Canberra hospitals and health systems received the funding they clearly require in order to meet the needs of the Canberra community including pertinently those of Aboriginal peoples, the need for the Voice may not be so pressing.
Jon Stanhope is a former chief minister of the ACT and Dr Khalid Ahmed a former senior ACT Treasury official. There is a longer version of this article at citynews.com.au
HUGH Selby’s column (“No referendum: actions speak louder than words”, CN February 9) is spot on – there is no need for a referendum.
As for me, I have many serious concerns about the Voice.
On the face of it, the “Uluru Statement from the Heart” seems benign enough but, in fact, is far from an innocuous document, with First Nations saying:
• We seek constitutional reform to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country.
• We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.
• We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.
• We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
Readers should think very hard about the ramifications of these statements being enshrined in the Constitution. What are the First Nations really after?
One can easily think of the Voice as a Trojan horse that would indirectly activate the “Uluru Statement” in the Constitution.
Of most concern is that an enshrined Voice would inevitably demand answers and action on absolutely any aspect of living in Australia, as would permit the PM’s
proposed, loosely worded (second statement) for the Constitution, not just what affects indigenous citizens only.
An essential change to the third statement should be that “the Voice be empowered to make representations to the parliament and the executive government about matters… that have a connection only to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in need”, which would restrict representations by the Voice and legislation to indigenous communities where the “gap” is evident and not to any issue affecting the wider population, including urbanised dwellers claiming Aboriginal heritage.
Given the best interests of the nation, there is actually no logical, rational case for enshrining the Voice in the Constitution. Unfortunately, the subject has been completely politicised by the PM, Minister Burney, elites and do-gooders – 100 per cent emotion, 0 per cent logic – which is meaningless to the indigenous peoples who are suffering, literally on the ground.
Max Flint, via email
COLUMNIST Hugh Selby (“No referendum: actions speak louder than words”, CN
February 9), despite his legal background, seems to be confused over constitutional processes.
Amendment proposals are voted on by all eligible Australians, then acted on by the parliament under constitutionally imposed obligations. The majority of indigenous Australians are clear; in the past they have not been listened to and constitutional recognition at least provides the certainty of their fair and basic request.
The structure and processes of the practical stage, the Voice advisory body, have yet to be finalised (the task force’s reports are simply discussion starters). Everyone will have the opportunity to offer up ideas, maybe even some better ones when the draft legislation is released. That’s why the call for “detail” is premature and obviously politically motivated. What’s been tried before hasn’t worked very well. A Coalition government asked indigenous Australians in 2015 to tell it what they wanted. After two years of Australia-wide consultation with indigenous groups, 230 representatives came up with the “Uluru Statement from the Heart” only to have it peremptorily dismissed by PM Malcolm Turnbull. If nothing else, disputatious Australians should show now some generosity of spirit and stop cavilling over misinformed trivialities.
Finally, in suggesting that “actions speak louder than words”, Mr Selby seems to be condemning the main characteristic of his own profession. He might also note the
Voice’s ringing endorsement, legal and moral, offered by former High Court Chief Justice, Robert French.
Eric Hunter, CookTHERE have been four Aboriginal “Voices” since 1973. All four, including ATSIC, were abolished through bi-partisan resolution of parliament for incompetence, nepotism, fraud and embezzlement.
The Closing the Gap Commission and the Council of Peaks of Aboriginal peak councils, among dozens of others, already exist. What are they doing?
It is the height of foolishness to repeat the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result.
Warren Mundine, a former Labor Party chairman, correctly assesses indigenous disadvantage: “The world over, social breakdown, family violence and abuse, drug and alcohol abuse go hand in hand with kids not going to school, adults not in work and chronic intergenerational welfare dependency.”
I have Aboriginal social friends in the NT. It is appalling that welfare keeps them fed, housed and medicated with no incentive to use their undoubted abilities for self-support.
I must vote NO. Mr Albanese should heed Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price, setting the money from a referendum towards schooling and on-the-job training for Aboriginal people.
Anthony Hordern, Jamison CentreI AGREE with Patricia Parker (Letters, CN February 9), we are taking a terrible risk in extending the Voice referendum beyond indigenous Australians.
The concept creates two classes of voters, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. Good results? Aboriginal Australians want the Voice and the rest of us agree; Aboriginal voters reject the Voice and so do the rest of us.
We also have one extremely difficult possible outcome – Aboriginal Australians reject the Voice but the rest of us impose it on them.
As things currently are structured, there is also possibly one absolutely catastrophic outcome where Aboriginal Australians want the Voice and the rest of us won’t let them have it. I simply can’t understand why we are taking the risk of the last two possibilities.
Noel Beddoe, Belconnen
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opinions welcome “CityNews” welcomes all opinions on the Voice. Respectful submissions of up to 750 words to editor@citynews.com.au, please.
AUSTRALIANS have more than $3.5 trillion invested as superannuation assets, making it the fourth largest holder of pension-fund assets in the world.
There are about 500 superannuation funds operating in Australia. Of those, 362 have assets totalling more than $50 million.
This week “CityNews” speaks with the professionals ready to explain and help with any finance or superannuation needs.
DON’T put your superannuation off, it’s not that far into the future, says director of Vincents Accountants Mailene Wheeler.
“I specialise in all aspects of self-managed superannuation funds,” she says.
Mailene says her favourite aspect of working at Vincents has been the friendships and connections.
“We are very collaborative and that brings a lot of exposure to different areas of the business for me,” she says.
“I got started working in superannuation because I feel it is quite structured.
“I don’t only work for my clients, but with them on educating them to be more involved in their own superannuation story.
“I like having control and power over the future and retirement, and I like empowering others to have that control.”
Her key advice for everyone is the future is not that far away.
“Every dollar makes a difference, so do what you can,” she says.
Mailene joined Vincents in 2017, and before that was working in the business advisory space.
“There were some changes to superan nuation in July 2017 and so I figured that was a good time to specialise.”
Vincents Accountants, Level 2, 14 Moore Street, Canberra. Call 1300 766563, or visit vincents.com.au
TRIBE Group has been operating for more than 50 years in Canberra, helping businesses with tax, accounting and self-managed super funds, says director Suzanne McIntosh, a qualified financial planner and chartered accountant.
“I have been providing accounting and taxation advice since 1992, and financial services advice to clients since 2003,” she
Tribe Group is an “umbrella” that also covers Stellar Super and Shield Wealth.
“Stellar Super is a specialised practice that provides specialist advice around the setting up and management of selfmanaged super funds,” says Suzanne.
“The integration of this specialty within the Tribe Group means that our clients receive more holistic advice across all areas of business accounting, individual taxation, financial planning, investments and self-managed super.”
Suzanne says she is passionate about assisting clients in achieving their financial
“I love to educate and look after people by helping them get their finances in order,” she says.
And, she says, she is a qualified financial
planner who gives specialist advice in aged-care planning.
“We know from experience the best result is achieved through a high level, high touch experience, involving close collaboration with the client and delivering on the promise. Achieving quality outcomes for our clients that result in building trust and enhance our reputation is ultimately what drives us and what we do better than anyone else.
Tribe Group, 25/105-119 Newcastle Street, Fyshwick. Call 6274 0400 or visit tribegroup.com.au
With 20+ years’ experience, Vincents Superannuation Advisory experts, Brett Griffiths and Mailene Wheeler, understand the value of objective and appropriate advice to help you achieve your financial retirement dreams.
Their expertise and independent advice means they will not only work for you, but with you, educating you to be more involved in your superannuation story.
Working with Brett and Mailene means:
• Access to dedicated Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) Specialist AdvisersTM
• Taking the stress out of understanding superannuation - they explain all of your superannuation needs without the complicated jargon
• Working with your tax and financial advisor to get the best outcome for you
• Keeping you up to date on the latest superannuation rules and regulations
Our Superannuation Advisory services include:
• Retirement & Estate Planning
• SMSF Structuring
• SMSF Annual Tax & Accounting Administration
Contact our experts
Brett Griffiths
bgriffiths@vincents.com.au
Mailene Wheeler
mwheeler@vincents.com.au
NAMED after Sir Philip Fysh, a Tasmanian politician who helped bring about Australia’s Federation, Fyshwick has been a suburb in Canberra since the 1920s.
Almost a century later, the suburb is still known for being one of the ACT’s most diverse business hubs, offering everything from home and car items to creative services.
This week “CityNews” speaks to some of Fyshwick’s proud business owners who love sharing their skills and services with the region.
executive chairs money can buy,” he says.
“We’ve also got some single-seater lounge chairs with a chrome aluminium base and some new couches.”
With a quality range spanning a wide variety of time periods and styles, James says people can find items suited to any home or office.
“We’re picking up some stuff from the ‘50s, right through to the contemporary, latest model of chairs on the market today,” he says.
ESTABLISHED in 2017, Big River Distilling Co creates artisan spirits of uncompromising quality, says chief beverage engineer, Clyde Morton.
“Last year Big River was approached by the Lotus Dining Group in Sydney with an idea to create a novel gin that would amplify the flavours of Chinese cuisine,” he says.
“Identifying a shared passion, both teams trialled what would eventually become the finished product – Big River’s x Lotus’s Mandarin Gin.
“Mandarin Gin’s dominant flavour is fresh Australian mandarin peel, which marries perfectly to the five spices of Chinese cuisine: szechuan pepper, star anise, fennel, cinnamon and clove, which overlay the juniper and coriander base gin.”
nised part of Fyshwick and James says the suburb is more and more becoming “the place to be”.
“There’s heaps of great bakeries and cafes out here,” he says.
“We see heaps of people making a day out of their visit to Fyshwick, as there’s always something to eat, to drink and to see.”
Ex-Government Furniture, 6 Yallourn Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 6490 or visit exgovfurniture.com
Clyde says the process was deeply collaborative: “Lotus Dining Group came to us to create a unique Chinese-inspired gin to serve at their seven Sydney venues. We were all very happy with the result. Aromas can be quite evocative – when I tasted the first batch, I pictured myself standing in a Chinese kitchen.
“We have a particular favourite serving at present – our Mandarin Sonic,
which features the Mandarin Gin plus a 50:50 serve of blood-orange soda water and a salt-infused tonic water.
“Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, it is the perfect place to try a range of spirits, go on a tour and catch up with friends over a G&T in our beautiful bar.”
Big River Distilling Co, Tenancy 3, Building 3, 1 Dairy Road, Fyshwick. Call 0490 038457 or visit bigriverdistilling.com.au
says owner Pat Seears.
Stocking work apparel such as high-vis workwear, jackets, jeans, shoes and hats, Pat says: “Everything is the best quality from the best manufacturers”. Located on Barrier Street, he says their stock includes safety work boots, leather shoes and steeltoed canvas shoes, from brands including Puma, Rockport and Dunlop.
It also has workwear for chefs, paramedics and firefighters, says Pat, who runs the business with his
ENDEAVOUR Carpets offers the largest range of top-quality floor coverings in Canberra and Queanbeyan, with options that help keep the home warm in the winter and cool in the summer, says co-owner Taylor O’Brien.
Established in 1970, and still a family run business, Taylor says the business has maintained its original objective of displaying exceptional choices of carpet, timber, laminate and hybrid flooring, vinyl, vinyl planks and rugs.
Taylor describes their Fyshwick-based showroom as Canberra’s “greatest floor show” with thousands of samples on display, and an experienced team of flooring specialists to make the customer’s experience as easy as possible.
“Our showroom is so great that other retailers send their customers to view our huge range of top-quality floor coverings,” she says.
“As a family business, Endeavour Carpets appreciates that customers are spoilt for choice in a competitive marketplace, and so maintain an objective to offer the best service and products available and for the best possible price,” she says.
When customers visit Endeavour Carpets, Taylor says they experience a good, old-fashioned service from a long-standing,
maintenance services, no one does it better than Latin Motors,” says owner Damian Jones.
“We’re a European car service and repair centre. We specialise in Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda and Saab but do service all other European makes and models.”
Having moved from Townsville Street to a repair centre in Gladstone Street last year, Damian says no matter how minor or major car repair needs are, he has it covered.
Being both factory-trained in Audi and SAAB and having 18 years of experience in all European vehicles, he says he prides himself on providing reliable, honest and efficient customer service and information.
They can also assist companies through their corporate uniform services, which provide customised embroidery services for promotional clothing and business uniforms.
Seears Workwear also has stores in NSW and Queensland, and Pat says they deliver all over the country.
Seears Workwear, 60 Barrier Street. Call 6280 4111 or visit seearsworkwear.com.au
“I notify of any additional work required prior to it being carried out. You will be liaising directly with the mechanic who is working on your vehicle,” he says.
“I use premium German made and manufacturer approved Ravenol lubricants. When you come to me, you can rest assured that I can provide auto services in accordance with your car’s manufacturer requirements that do not affect new car warranties.”
Latin Motors, Unit 6, 106 Gladstone Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 5586 or visit latinmotors.com.au
YOU’D have to be a killjoy not to appreciate what Queanbeyan Players are up to with their production of “Downtown: The Mod Musical”, coming to Belconnen Community Theatre.
As with “Keating the Musical” last year, it’s one of the Players’ ventures into smaller-scaled venues and is, director Anita Davenport tells me, more a “revuesical” than a musical.
It’s an all-girl show, I find when I turn up for rehearsal and it does actually have a plot.
On stage are five girls only known by colours – the yellow girl, green girl, red girl, blue and orange, variously representing five individual experiences.
The show follows the perspectives of the five girls – the one who married young, a good time girl, a naive girl who’s growing up fast, a dolly girl, and an American who’s come over to England because she’s obsessed with the Beatles.
They all pour their hearts out in their letters to the teen magazine, “Shout”, but it soon becomes obvious that the magazine’s gossip columnist Gwendoline is increasingly out of touch with the contemporary issues of the time – divorce, the advent of the Pill and the revolutionary strides made by women in
the swinging ‘60s.
The focus is on the famous UK singers of the era and the singalong numbers will include Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger”, Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” and “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”, Lulu’s “To Sir With Love” and the title song, Petula Clark’s “Downtown”, which conjures up not so much New York’s downtown as Britain’s Carnaby Street. But the “revuesical” is called “Shout”
overseas, where people are ignorant that such is the name of a much-loved, bio-musical about Johnny O’Keefe. In the UK and US, it was Lulu who covered that song.
Davenport is a seasoned director best known for having directed “Barnum” for Canberra Philharmonic, but here has the advantage of having listened to her father Ian Davenport’s ‘60s favourites in the family car while growing up.
“I heard that music in dad’s car during the ‘90s, and if you think about it, the ‘60s were only 30 years before that,” she says, explaining why she thinks the songs will resonate across the age groups. Her favourite is Cilla Black’s “You’re My World”.
“In the ‘60s, you had to buy vinyl and the songs had to hook you in and have good stories,” she says.
“It was so common for people to associate a song with their first love or driving for the first time.”
The show won’t be an historical reconstruction, and although designer Helen McIntyre has been working with vintage patterns, her costumes will be “a wonderful bit of whimsy, bright, short and lots of fun”.
It will be much the same with choreography by Laurenzy Chapman who, Davenport says, “has given a nod to the ‘60s without being a slave to historical accuracy in the dance moves”. There’ll be a band on stage, directed by Tara Davidson, who like Davenport, believes the songs need to be sung with a band just as they were written, not with an orchestra.
“Music transports us through space and time,” Davenport says. “I don’t feel you have to have grown up in the ‘60s to feel that connection.”
“Downtown: The Mod Musical”, Queanbeyan Players, Belconnen Community Theatre until March 4.
LOCAL comedy duo Sparrow Folk – Catherine Crowley and Juliet Moody – are hatching a batch of “deliciously naughty” tunes for their new show, “Nice Pair” at the Courtyard Studio, March 2-3. The pair will then appear in “Sparrow-Folk SuBIRDia” at the Novotel Hotel, 7pm, March 20-21, as part of Canberra Comedy Festival.
“THE Threshold” is a script by Canberra music legend Judith Clingan based on her interviews with Canberra women on ageing and the end of life. The performance will be rounded out with 14 short pieces of music for choir, strings, wind, piano, bells and singing bowls, all backed with visual images. At the Australian Centre for Christianity & Culture, Barton, 4pm and 8pm, March 4 and 11am, March 5.
THINGS are going musically wild in the first week of March in Queanbeyan, with Creedence Clearwater Collective on March 2 at The B, “Get Rhythm – The Johnny Cash and June Carter Show” at The Q on March 3, Arj Barker Power Hour at The B on March 3, Mark Vincent performs songs from The Three Tenors at The B on March 4 and “Good Morning Vietnam: Volume 2” at The B on March 4.
A NEW work from composer and former Musica Viva Australia artistic director Carl Vine will be performed by classical guitarist Karin Schaupp and the Flinders Quartet, at Llewellyn Hall, 7pm, March 9.
ART Song Canberra’s first concert for 2023, “Love and War”, will be given by the Tasman Soloists – tenor Kent McIntosh, Robert Johnson on horn, Sharolyn Kimmorley on piano, with Rob Wilton as speaker. Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, 3pm, February 26.
MEMBERS of Canberra’s International Mother Language Movement will make the 10th annual walk around Lake Burley Griffin on February 26.
Although for convenience, this year’s walk will take place on the Sunday, it is February 21 that was proclaimed as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO in recognition of the date when Bengali-speaking students, demonstrating for their language, were gunned down in Dhaka. From such tragic beginnings, the day has grown to become a worldwide movement supporting mother languages and cultural understanding.
In New York recently the UN launched the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
Starting at the international flags’ display near Questacon, language lovers bearing banners and dressed in traditional costumes will cross Kings Bridge and end at the police memorial near the carillon, where there will be performances and a picnic.
Worldwide estimates are that between 95 per cent of today’s spoken languages may be extinct or seriously endangered by 2100 and nowhere is this question so acute as in Australia.
A long-time friend of the walks is Ngunnawal elder Caroline Hughes, who has over the years provided the event’s Welcome to Country. Now she has a more personal tale to tell, for she is learning her mother language and brought the house down at the National Museum in December when she told those at the 2023 Australian of the Year exhibition launch how she had started dreaming in Ngunnawal.
I caught up with Hughes to find out how she was fitting it all in with a busy career. Now working at AIATSIS, she was formerly director of CIT’s Yurauna Centre and is now in demand as a speaker and Ngunnawal celebrant around Canberra.
“I grew up with a kind of creole language, but with English as the dominant language in society,” she says. “But it’s not just about communicating meaning, it’s also about experience and knowledge, about geography, family, philosophy, cultural spirit, even anatomy and health care.”
For instance, unlike English, where there is simply a common word for snow, in her language there are many words – “hard snow”, “cool snow”, “and snow at the end of winter”. It’s the same with trees.
Several years ago she attended the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education and heard about revitalising mother tongues even in cultures where there was little to hang on to.
“If they can do this, why can’t we?” she thought. Hughes contacted traditional custodians to ask for support from elders, also finding sympathetic ears in linguists Doug Marmion and Louise Baird.
Noting that unlike English, Ngunnawal doesn’t have “s” “k” or “c”, they set about creating a basic grammar and vocabulary.
One big advantage is that the languages of nearby Yuin, Ngarigo, Gundungurra and Dharawal people are interconnected linguistically.
She’s happy with her progress but says “realistically, it’s going to take at least 50 years for fluency… but as you start learning it’s a good sign if you start dreaming it and hearing it… children pick it up quickly”.
She looks back on an era of destruction of language, but praises the work of linguists, interested farmers and even missionaries who wrote things down.
“We’ve got from about 200 Ngunnawal words to 2500 and now some people are going off to train in linguistics to extend their language knowledge,” she says.
In the meantime, there’s the Winanggaay (“look listen learn”) Ngunnawal Language Aboriginal Corporation, where though the focus is on Ngunnawal people, all are welcome to have a go.
Mother Language Walk, at the international flag display, 10.30am, February 26. Free event, all languages welcome.
By Wendy Johnson
QUEEN Chow, one of Justin Hemmes’ points of pride (now topping more than 80 pubs, restaurants and venues), is amazing. If you’re anywhere near Narooma, be sure to book. The view is as spectacular as the food, and we worshipped every dish.
Six of us headed to Queen Chow, at The Whale Inn, on a sunny, hot evening. We explored too many Cantonese Chinese dishes to include in one review, so shall share our top faves.
Oysters. What is it about Wagonga Inlet oysters that we love so much? The inlet, part of Batemans Bay Marine Park, is pristine and home to an extensive network of oyster leases. These are some of the best oysters in Australia and
Queen Chow ramps matters up with a stunning rice wine mignonette ($4.50 each). The oysters were a perfect temperature and a fabulous start to our Queen Chow experience.
Sashimi lovers won’t go wrong with this appetizer at Queen Chow ($25), created with orange ponzu, chilli and a lovely drizzle of green shallot oil. The grilled scallops were sublime ($8 each). Served in shell, they married well with kombu butter and garlic chives. As with all dishes at Queen Chow careful consideration goes into balancing all ingredients, to ensure perfection.
The Chinese smashed cucumber salad was a winning dish. Versions of this salad vary all over China and it’s so cooling in warmer weather.
Queen Chow’s take includes garlic sesame dressing, pickled black fungi, crunchy, crispy shallots, and big chunks of cucumber ($18). I promised to replicate it one day (wish me luck).
One of our party of six is a massive – and I mean massive – okra fan and she adored the dish (we all did) featuring this veggie. It also featured black
fungi as well as stir-fried green beans, garlic and just the right amount of salted chilli ($18). Staying with the vegetable theme we also selected the salt ‘n’ pepper mushroom and tofu dish ($25) with slices of bright red chilli sprinkled on top.
Queen Chow’s wine list is impressive and our Château la Tour de l’Evêque rosé, described by the winery as charming and youthful, was crisp and delightful ($85 bottle, a mid-price point for the list).
Our highly knowledgeable and charismatic waitress convinced us to share the three desserts Queen Chow has on offer (all a reasonable $16, considering the quality and creativity). The salted caramel tart was silky and not overly sweet. The “Queen of puddings” is a decadent combination of flavours and textures – mango, passionfruit, coconut, and black sesame meringue. Colourful and intriguing was the bright green pandan sponge cake with chocolate wafer and a creamy coconut sorbet.
Queen Chow: We love you.
IT’S fascinating to see how previous generations pondered the future.
In the ‘50s and ‘60s, imaginations ran wild of a 21st century techno-utopia, one inhabited by flying cars, house-cleaning robots and entire meals condensed into a single pill.
Little would people have known they’d instead be streaming television through something called the internet.
It’s what makes Apple TV Plus’ newest show “Hello Tomorrow!” such an intriguing watch.
This retro-futuristic, 10-episode series is set in a future that looks how ‘50s America imagined it.
Robots work as bartenders, the family car seamlessly hovers through the air and the mailman gets around with a jetpack. It’s like something taken straight from the cover of an “Amazing Stories” magazine.
Award-winner Billy Crudup plays Jack Billings, a salesman who flogs real estate on the moon.
For the right price, the residents of sunny Vistaville have the opportunity to build a home in “Brightside” – an exciting new lunar development.
Is this slick, futuristic salesman slinging dreams or lies? His true motivations are revealed as this absorbing comedy-drama unfolds.
There is something oddly disquieting about these idealistic and flashy predictions of the future.
In looking at how previous generations envisaged the world of tomorrow, so too can the anxieties and fears of the time be gleaned.
There were obsessions with cars that would run on anything but fuel, automatons that would alleviate the crushing monotony of domestic
life and, like the houses on the moon in “Hello Tomorrow!”, dreams of a new life far, far away indeed.
The show’s collision of past and future aesthetics melds into an entertaining and pertinent social commentary for today. Let’s just say it’s a tad more bleak than “The Jetsons”.
IT’D be audacious of me to call Joe Goldberg TV’s favourite psychopath (God knows, there’s no shortage of them) but with “You” now back for a fourth season he might very well be on his way to becoming just that.
For latecomers, Goldberg is the maniacal main attraction of this psychological thriller on Netflix, which places the audience inside his mind.
Charismatically and creepily played by Penn Badgley, viewers get to listen in on the inner monologue of Joe as he becomes obsessed with
a new target each season.
He lures his victims in with the appearance of a charming bookshop manager. While on the surface he seems like your ordinary, well, Joe, behind the scenes he watches his “true love’s” every move and pulls the strings of their relationship much more than he lets on.
His obsessions become so intense he will do anything to both protect and possess his victims. That “anything” forms the crux of the show and continues to get more deranged with every season.
The wildly popular series is based on the books of Caroline Kepnes, who this year is also releasing her fourth entry in the series.
Four novels and 40 episodes deep into the franchise and audiences still can’t get enough of Joe Goldberg’s creepy and nail-biting escapades. What Kepnes and the show have cleverly managed to do is up the ante with each new instalment.
While season three saw Goldberg living in suburbia as a household husband, in season four he’s trotting the globe to pursue his latest desire.
It is a testament to “You” that it’s been able to successfully build on its premise yet again and draw viewers back into its macabre atmosphere for a fourth time.
While season four is another winner, one does have to wonder how much further it can possibly be pushed at this point – especially with talks of a fifth season already in the air. It’d be a shame to see this excellent series milked into irrelevance.
How do you up the ante yet again? Who knows. Maybe next time the show’s creepy antihero will be boarding a rocket to chase his next obsession through space or something. I actually wouldn’t put that past Joe Goldberg.
FRENCH lavender flowers in early spring and English lavender summer. With the right garden plan for each variety, the same colour can be seen right through the season.
“Hidcote” (Lavandula augustifolia) would have to be my favourite to grow because it’s long lasting and the plumes of flowers are delightful in the garden.
Formally known as L. officinalis, it is a member of the mint family and is derived from hot, dry, Mediterranean climates, which means it grows well with our hot summers.
The fragrant, deep-purple flowers sit above the grey foliage and a general clip after flowering once a year should keep them in shape.
This particular variety is prized for its aromatic flowers and one of the best varieties for oil production. “Hidcote” grows to 40 centimetres by 50 centimetres and makes a great small hedge, which attracts bees, too. The foliage is fragrant, so place it where it can be brushed past to release the aroma.
It needs some care in its first year. Plant in soil that’s not too rich and doesn’t hold too much moisture. The soil pH needs to be around 6.5-7.5 and plant it where there’s space to grow. It’s generally long lived for a small plant and can last for at least 15 years.
Lavenders don’t like being moved, but the
best time to transplant them is in spring or early summer and ensure as much of the root ball is intact.
For a lavender with different foliage or differ ent coloured flower range, look for Portuguese, French or Spanish lavenders. The latter have grown in popularity over the last few years with a “Bee Happy” series that are pretty and highly fragrant miniature varieties with lovely upright petals at the top of each flower head.
Cut back lavender in the warmer months and, after flowering, give them a feed of a generalpurpose slow-release fertiliser. Lavender cutting can be taken in the summer, and they will root easily and provide lots of new plants for free.
POMEGRANATES (Punica granatum) is an old-fashioned plant that can have many uses in the garden.
It can be a bush or small tree and the autumnal foliage is also a terrific background plant. With the messy growth of this plant, it is also a perfect habitat for small birds all year round.
Pomegranates are a tough plant for our climate and cope with the sunniest, hottest spot in the garden. Trees won’t bear a decent yield until they reach maturity at around five to six years, but a tried and tested variety to try for our climate is “Ben Hur”. It’s an Australian-developed pomegranate and bred especially for the home gardener, producing large fruit up to 1.5 kilograms. While it can be expensive to buy (due to being under plant breeders’ rights and royalties), pomegranate seeds have tremendous health benefits.
little tricky, but there are a few clever techniques online explaining how to extract the seeds from the hard shell without a hammer.
I am now looking forward to my pomegranate flowering and, hopefully, fruiting more. Mine’s an unnamed variety from a sucker that I vividly remember cutting from an old shrub in a garden in Deakin many years ago.
jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au
• Deadhead chrysanthemums and dahlias to increase flower production.
• Trim spent seed head of agapanthus.
• Look for ants farming insects on citrus and other fruit trees.
• Plant brassicas, lettuce and English spinach.
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Love, luck, generosity and opportunity are linked, as Venus and Jupiter hook up in your sign. So it’s a wonderful week to join an online dating site, go on a first date, propose, get married, renew your wedding vows, launch a passion project or buy a lottery ticket. Good fortune could also knock on your door via a local friend, a business partner or an international contact. But you must have the inner confidence to truly believe that you deserve happiness and success.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)
Are you tired of being a paddock-bound Bull? This week Jupiter revs up your usually tentative Taurean nature, and you will feel more restless and curious than usual. So it’s time to break free from boring boundaries, escape from your pedestrian paddock, go free-range and start exploring the world around you. Your motto is from birthday great Elizabeth Taylor: “I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I’m not afraid to look behind them.”
GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)
You’re keen to connect with others as six planets activate your professional and aspirations zones. It’s a terrific time to converse and communicate, text and tweet. People are waiting to hear what you’ve got to say as you brainstorm your creative ideas, and proactive Mars is charging through your sign. So stop procrastinating, walk your talk and start delivering! Be inspired by birthday great, writer and illustrator Dr Seuss: “Only you can control your future.”
CANCER (June 22 – July 23)
Venus and Jupiter join forces in your career zone, so a professional opportunity could come your way this week. But you must keep your eyes and ears open, and nurture potential influential connections along the way. Mercury also links up with Saturn, so you need to take a disciplined look at money and tax matters, especially if you’re part of a financial partnership. Friday, Saturday and Sunday favour travel, tourism, education and communication.
LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)
This week’s spontaneous stars increase your restless side and your independent streak. Travel and communication are particularly favoured, as you connect with creative friends from close to home and far away. Clever Cats will resist the urge to be bossy and self-indulgent. You’re in the mood to take a professional risk or go on a grand adventure but avoid saying the first thing that pops into your head. Sometimes silence is golden, and some things are best left unsaid.
VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
With no less than five planets in your relationship and intimacy zones, it’s a suitable time to sit down with a loved one and talk through a sensitive issue that’s been bothering you. Clear communication and deft diplomacy are the keys to peaceful partnerships at the moment. Attached Virgo – it’s a wonderful week to take your sweetheart on a spontaneous adventure. If you’re single, a seemingly ordinary date could head off in an unexpected direction!
LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
Thursday is the luckiest day of the year for love, when Venus (your patron planet) hooks up with Jupiter (planet of good fortune) in your relationship zone. So make the most of it! Coupled Librans – plan something romantic with your partner, like a candle-lit dinner or a well-chosen present. Singles – look out for a sexy, amorous Aries or a sassy, hilarious Sagittarius. And you could meet them while you are travelling or via an introduction from a close friend.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
A relationship (at home or work) looks unsettled this week, as Uranus continues to upset the apple cart and throw some surprises into the mix. Someone could say or do something that rattles your sense of security. Or a colleague, client or customer could throw you a curved ball. Whatever happens, avoid the temptation to brood and fall into a slump. As birthday great Elizabeth Taylor declared: “Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick and pull yourself together!”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
This week Venus links up with your power planet Jupiter, so it’s time to accentuate the positive and count your lucky stars. Quit blaming life, fate, karma or other people for the messes you’ve created and the mistakes you’ve made. Adopt the motto of birthday great, actress and adventurer Joanna Lumley: “Only you can make yourself into who you want to be. Don’t blame anybody else. You are entitled to free fresh air, and that’s it. Do the rest yourself.”
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
Venus and Jupiter encourage you to listen to loved ones closely and keep the channels of communication open. Is a family member going through a rough patch? Don’t lecture them! Strive to help them in a compassionate and generous way. But expect a stressful week financially, as Saturn shakes up your previous expectations. Time to reformulate your fiscal plans. When it comes to work and business, it’s much better to under-promise and then over-deliver.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
This week Mercury and Saturn hook up in your sign, so your progressive ideas and unpredictable antics could upset some people. But that’s life when you’re a free-wheeling Aquarius! So your motto is from this week’s birthday great, ‘Cat in the Hat’ writer Dr Seuss: “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” For extra creative inspiration, look to avant-garde Aquarian role-models like Mozart, Bob Marley, Yoko Ono, Oprah Winfrey and Harry Styles.
PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
The Sun, Neptune and Mercury are transiting through your sign, so you’re emanating some serious charisma! Make sure you appreciate and celebrate the creative and compassionate Piscean within via writing, singing dancing, drawing, painting, playing music or helping others. And with Mars visiting your home zone (until March 25) it’s also time to tackle a domestic problem or a DIY project that’s been dumped on the backburner for a while.
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2023
Solution next edition
Across
1 What is the chest also called? (6)
8 Which republic was formerly known as Abyssinia? (8)
9 To abut, is to do what? (6)
10 The Eastern Hemisphere is known as the what? (3,5)
11 Name an annual plant that has flattened biconvex seeds. (6)
13 What is an indirect intimation about a person? (8)
16 Which term describes the leading element in an enterprise? (8)
19 What are proprietors known as? (6)
22 Which photograph is taken quickly? (8)
24 Who composed “White Christmas” and countless other songs, ... Berlin? (6)
25 What are halos also known as? (8)
26 Name the birthplace of poet Henry Kendall. (6)
Sudoku
Down
2 Which row of bushes planted close together forms a fence or boundary? (5)
3 Upon which perch do fowls rest at night? (5)
4 What is a rock fragment, foreign to the igneous rock in which it is embedded? (8)
5 Name a republic in northern central Africa. (4)
6 What is the prairie wolf known as? (6)
7 To be designated by an appellation is to be what? (6)
12 What is the US National Aeronautic and Space Administration commonly called? (4)
14 Which term describes patronage bestowed in consideration of family relationship? (8)
15 Who coordinated the Festival of Light, Fred ...? (4)
17 What is a large, slender, long-limbed, long-tailed Asiatic monkey? (6)
18 Name a ground squirrel of western North America. (6)
20 What is a fictitious narrative of considerable length? (5)
21 Who was the drummer for The Beatles, ... Starr? (5)
23 Name the Australian Prime Minister 1966-67, Harold ... (4)
Welcome to the first edition of what will be a monthly column on how to increase the energy efficiency when you design and build a new home, renovate, extend or just to update your current home. With the move to higher energy ratings for new homes (finally!), rising energy costs, and, well, that thing called climate change, every little thing we can do to make our homes more energy efficient helps. But, perhaps the most overlooked part – unless you have lived in one of the under insulated cold/hot boxes Canberra is known for – is the comfort levels and health benefits (both physical and mental) of living in an efficient home. (More of that in next month’s column.)
MICHAEL DRAGE Founder of Reimagined HabitatWe will tackle our topics backed with a combination of research and practicality. I have found that if we can help you understand why things work, then it makes it easier for you to work through the how and what to do.
Get rid of the draughts. You can have the best insulation, the best windows and the best design, but if the cold or hot air is pouring in or out, then the house just doesn’t work.
Air tightness is usually the key driver when we analyse the efficiency of a home. The building code says the air in the house should only change 10 times per hour (older homes in Canberra can be many multiples of this). This means you have to heat or cool 10 times the volume of your home each hour to maintain comfort. Imagine if you could make it three? Straight away your heating and cooling bills go down 70 per cent.
TIPS:
• Install seals around leaky windows, doors, skylights and roof access points. Bunnings has a range of options.
• Make sure exhaust fans have baffles in them to stop air leakage when they are not on.
• Check gaps through floorboards and skirtings. One option is blow or spray in insulation which can not only help with this but also keep your feet warm at night. A side benefit is it usually gets rid of any creaky floorboards!
• If you get too tight you need to think about mechanical ventilation systems. (Another topic for the future).
More detailed information on this can be found on the Blog page of our website.
For any questions, comments or queries, please email us at info@reimaginedhabitat.com.au or just give me a call.
