House throws a spanner into the Kurrajong works
MICHAEL MOORE
Albo lacks the courage of his own convictions
ROBERT MACKLIN
Yasmin’s yummy chocolate factory in the bush
NOEL BEDDOE
Canberra stories pepper a top shiraz
RICHARD CALVER
Disco flash mob Discobedience are dancing to beat the heat of the climate crisis, says leader GERARD DE RUYTER
By Katarina LLOYD JONES
A disco flash mob gathers on the intersection of Northbourne Avenue and Alinga Street on the first Friday of every month to draw attention to the climate crisis.
It’s called “Discobedience” and it’s performed by members of Extinction Rebellion Canberra to bring light to the often distressing topic, says dance leader Gerard de Ruyter, also known as Super Freak.
The 65-year-old climate activist and former public servant said the idea originally came from the Melbourne branch of Extinction Rebellion, which had dancers who decided to cho reograph some simple steps to Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees.
The group then re-wrote the lyrics to relate to the climate crisis, recorded it, and staged a flash mob involving about 3000 people, in the centre of Melbourne in 2019.
Gerard said: “They did a mass tutorial to teach people the steps, so they all danced en masse, and you know, it was a great visual thing, and it was on the news and everything, and then the pandemic came and shut everything down.
nice, morale-boosting thing, to have a competition in Extinction Rebellion to get people to learn the steps, video themselves while they were all locked up and at home, and post them on the internet.
“I saw that invitation to do that, I thought that’d be a nice thing to do, so I learned the steps and dressed up and got my daughter to video me in the garage and post it up, and you know, it was nice to just be a part of that and see all the people dancing those same
Treadaway.
of attracting eyeballs and, hopefully, you know, people will stop and hear the message as well.”
Gerard, who had been part of Extinction Rebellion Canberra for years before the emergence of Discobedience, put the message out to the group about continuing the dance protest offline, and soon after, rehearsals began.
“We did the first one, and it went really well, we had a lot of fun, there were a lot of cars honking, they liked the
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three years.
“We’ve got a solid core of dancers, some come and go.”
Discobedience has since choreographed steps to five more songs, including Night Fever, now Heat Fever; You Should Be Dancing is now You Should Be Marching; Disco Inferno, now Planet Inferno, and they have a dance to Hot Summer Nights.
Gerard says two of the Discobedience group members are professional
singers, and they record the new, climate-centred lyrics.
“It’s not gonna save the world, but it gets people in a really good mood, and hopefully, open to just a slight reminder that climate change is still happening,” says Gerard.
“It’s not going to fix everything, but it’s a gentle reminder, and it’s a lovely thing when the cars all get honking as well, and people [are] waving and sometimes passers-by join in dancing.”
Gerard says he sympathises with how the climate crisis has been having a particularly large impact on young Australians, and encourages them to join Discobedience as a way of engaging with activism in a way that is light, and fun.
He says: “Lots of young people have been to protests and marches and things, they have their place, but often it just gets ignored by the media, certainly by politicians, and you don’t see anything changing,” he says.
“We don’t change anything either, but if you want to participate in something that is a really good vibe thing, as well as the marching side of things, then you’ll come away feeling good about life at least.”
Discobedience, Northbourne Avenue and Alinga Street, Civic, on the first Friday of every month, 4.30pm-5.30pm. More from Discobedience Canberra on Facebook.
We are able to assist in negotiations and/or represent you in:
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includes most of the urban bushland within the city boundaries.
Mr House currently works for the Australian National University as a senior community engagement officer. He has made clear that he would seek to represent all Canberrans, although with a strong focus on indigenous issues.
He is the only candidate announced so far for the First Nation(s) Party where he is also the registered officer and secretary. He joins others such as the Belco Party, the Strong Independents, Fiona Carrick Independent
Party may have an impact on the electoral chances of such minor parties, but particularly the Peter Strong Independents and Independents for Canberra. Both have lead candidates in Peter Strong and Thomas Emerson who are running in the same electorate of Kurrajong.
The Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, and his Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith are running in the same five-member electorate. The leader of the Liberals, Elizabeth Lee is also running in Kurrajong.
The Attorney-General and Greens’
To win a seat in Kurrajong means replacing at least one of four ministers or the Liberal Party’s Leader of the Opposition.
leader, Shane Rattenbury along with Minister and Deputy Leader Rebecca Vassarotti are also standing in Kurrajong.
To win a seat in Kurrajong means replacing at least one of four ministers or the Liberal Party’s Leader of the Opposition.
Peter Strong announced his candidacy for election at the start of the year, and has been working hard to win voters. His website is thorough and provides a clear idea of where he stands across a wide range of issues. Even so, it is a tall order to win a seat in Kurrajong.
The most vulnerable of the four ministers is Stephen-Smith who is hoping to boost her electoral chances with the opening this month of the new emergency facilities at the Canberra Hospital.
However, facilities are only one part of the equation, the government has promised 800 more staff – but considering international shortages, there is no indication where they will come from or where the money is
coming from to pay for them.
Chances for grouped independents and minor parties are better under the Hare-Clark system. Voters can punish incumbents by leaving the square next to someone’s name unmarked.
And some of the Greens’ voters will be tempted to switch to the First Nation(s) Party leaving Vassarotti vulnerable. The appeal for the Greens voters to transition is policies such as “a revolutionary yet necessary step towards rectifying historical injustices and recognising the inherent sovereignty of First Nations people. We are reclaiming what was unjustly taken from us”.
Mr House wants to improve his chances by seeking preferences from the major parties. However, at most this will be a recommendation. It is not parties, but voters who individually determine where their preferences flow.
He argues that the policies he will present mark “a bold step toward dismantling colonial legacies and restoring the rightful ownership and stewardship of indigenous lands”.
These policies include, “provision for supporting economic development
through ecotourism, land-based enterprises, and employment opportunities for First Nations people. It fosters generational wealth and sustainable economic growth while respecting cultural values and environmental preservation.”
The First Nation(s) Party has only announced this single candidate in the most challenging electorate. Furthermore, only a few months out from the election the website of the party has yet to set out any of their policies or their approach.
Despite limiting his chances by running in Kurrajong, Paul Girrawah House has added to the rich tapestry of the elections that have been conducted in the ACT since self-government. It will be interesting to see how well his party performs.
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.
“One of the greatest pianistic talents of our times” Stuttgart Zeitung
, 28 September, 7pm
By Katarina LLOYD JONES
Canberra is now home to a new Afghani Language School, which already has more than 25 enrolled students after officially opening on August 11.
Teacher Jafar Ehsani emphasises the classes are open to everyone, not just the Afghani diasporic community, and in the spirit of this inclusiveness, he says the classes are free, and re freshments for students are provided.
Jafar moved to Canberra from his birthplace of Afghanistan in 2022, following relatives who encouraged him and his family to join them in the peaceful Australian capital.
After settling in, Jafar says he had two things on his mind.
He says: “The first thing [was], how can I improve my English to be a good member of my new society, to the people that open their arms and accept me as a new member here, and gave me a home here.”
“Secondly, I was thinking, how can I save my daughter’s language, because if I want to keep her relationship with my culture, with my history, even with my parents, with her uncles, aunties and all the people that
needs to keep her language.
“Multiculturalism is one of the values that we respect here in Australia, so we have a duty to nurture it, to develop it.”
Afghanistan is a linguistically diverse nation, with upwards of 40 distinct languages being spoken across the country.
The two national languages, Dari and Pashto, are both varieties of Persian, and Jafar says when he and his family first arrived in Canberra, his daughter was able to speak Persian
But, unfortunately, he says his attempts to maintain the five-year-old’s language skills in their new home were failing.
“Kids want to communicate with someone of a similar age, and also they want to watch TV, so again, it’s the English language,” he says.
“So I was thinking, if I can find some places to take my daughter, to learn with other people, with her friends, but I couldn’t find [one].
“We have an expression in Persian, if you can’t find a way, you have to
make it.”
Jafar, who has been a teacher for more than 15 years, including train ing soon-to-be teachers at the Univer sity of Kabul, says he then reached out to Dr Nadir Saikal, the state director of the Afghan Peace Institute, about the possibility of opening an Afghani language school in Canberra.
Jafar says: “I just tried to facilitate a way, not only for my daughter, for all families that have this concern, that they want to save their language, their culture.”
Dr Saikal agreed with Jafar on the benefits a language school in Canberra would bring, and acts as a co-ordinator of the school on behalf of the Afghan Peace Foundation, which itself was only established in 2019.
The Afghani Language School in Canberra offers the two nationally recognised languages of Dari and Pashto, as well as Hazaragi, spoken by the Hazara people, who are one of the larger ethnic groups in Afghanistan, but also the most persecuted.
The school is run entirely by volunteers, with some support given from the Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services, including the provision of a space for the children’s classes in its Gungahlin office.
Classes for teenagers will be held at Diversity House in Garran.
Call 0473 561672 to enrol.
Eight years after Labor’s election promise in 2016, Canberra Hospital’s Critical Services Building will open on August 17.
It will include a bigger emergency department, more operating theatres and an expanded Intensive Care Unit.
With the new main entry and reception of Canberra Hospital open to the public, and sterilising services already operating in the building, the clinical services that will be brought together include:
Emergency Department
• Intensive Care Unit
• Operating theatres and day surgery admission
• Inpatient cardiology services and cardiac catheterisation labs
• Medical and surgical inpatient units
• Medical imaging
• Helipad
Word or two from an author
Author Robyn Hipkiss, who tells stories of inspirational women who have influenced and inspired her, is the guest speaker at the next lunch meeting of the Gungahlin Day View Club at the Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club, Nicholls, from 11.30am on August 28. Visitors and interested ladies welcome. Text 0413 923933 before 9pm on August 25 to confirm.
In the latest in his occasional series celebrating our beautiful territory, Canberra author tempted across the border… by chocolate.
Let’s say you have an international visitor and she’s asked for contact with the Australian bush. Please throw in, she’s said, gourmet food and drink and a bit of glamour. Easy – this is Canberra!
You’ve driven along the Barton Highway heading southwest across the border into the region that defines itself as the Canberra District, head ing towards Murrumbateman.
You pass the sign that lets you know that Nanima Road is just ahead; carefully you’ve negotiated the turn and you’ve taken your guest out between fences and paddocks and livestock heading for Murrumbateman Road, Four Winds Winery, wood-fired pizzas and a bottle of their amazing sparkling riesling.
There’s been good rain so the landscape is verdant; not nearly such a pleasant trip in a drought. There’s expensive fencing of horse studs, herds of fat Black Angus, a laneway
feed.
Then, seven or so kilometres off the highway, you come to exactly what you would expect to find in the middle of outback Australia – a chocolate factory.
The delightful structure beside a lake is The Murrumbateman Chocolate Company, home of the boutique Sweet Pea and Poppy confectionary lines.
You can get morning or afternoon tea, possibly the best hot chocolate in the world, and in a chocolate-tasting experience (book ahead) little discs of
explain their qualities and uses.
To quote American journalist Ambrose Bierce: “A Scotsman is a man who, before sending his pyjamas to the laundry, stuffs a sock in each pocket.” Whimsy columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS wonders why Scottish people are renowned for their frugalness. And you can have any or all of these at tables outdoors and enjoy the waterfowl on the property’s lake, the countryside vista, the beautiful country air. Then, your guest wanted glamour?
You take her into the establish-
ment’s delightful display room and introduce her to Mrs Yasmin Coe.
Yasmin is the proprietor and driving force behind The Murrumbateman Chocolate Company; she engages with her visitors; she is articulate, charming and remarkably charismatic; her aura is a mixture of vulnerability and determined
She is passionate about the future of the Murrumbateman area, and about the creation of outstanding artisan chocolates. Yasmin is a native daughter of Canberra, a graduate of Canberra University with a degree in the area of finance; she spent some years as a management consultant for business giant KPMG. How does she, after such a background, find herself the owner/manager of a rural chocolate factory?
Yasmin: “I always had a fascination with cooking and making chocolates; as a child I preferred cooking books to story books. I would experiment and make chocolates for the family. When I was a teenager I would create chocolates and box them; my dad had his own business and he would use my chocolates as gifts to clients.
“My mum and dad both encouraged my love of chocolate making. Initially, I was self-taught and then I took the opportunity to study through short courses at various institutions.
“I started my original chocolate
business, Sweet Pea and Poppy, while on maternity leave with my youngest child. I had great support from my family – my mum Karen came up with the name Sweet Pea and Poppy.
“The business grew from my homebased commercial kitchen. It reached capacity producing chocolates for our customer base across Australia. The opportunity came to move our family and business to Murrumbateman, which gave us a rural lifestyle for our children and provided space for the business to grow.”
What’s the scope of the business?
“We sell directly from the shop here. We wholesale into gourmet grocers and flower shops around Australia. We do an online chocolate and gift hamper trade.
“And in the Murrumbateman area the producers support the endeavours of each other. Four Winds, as an example, have a shiraz dinner soon and we’re providing a shiraz-themed dessert; it’s a good time to visit.”
The business has completed a major extension to provide warehousing and an improved office capability.
A visit to The Murrumbateman Chocolate Company is a delightful break in a trip through some glorious countryside. If you take your overseas visitors, though, you’d best be prepared that they’re going to leave carrying a selection of beautifullyboxed confectionery.
Our services include:
• General dentistry
• Single day crowns
• Philips Zoom Whitening
• Braces
• Invisalign
• Implants
In the political game, as in most others, timing is everything. Sadly, Anthony Albanese is out of tune with the times.
He is a nice guy when nice guys come last, and though it pains me to say it, he also appears to lack the courage of his own convictions. I would be very surprised if he survived as prime minister long enough to lead Labor to the 2025 election.
He reminds me of Harold Holt, with whom I was on brief chatting terms as a journo in The Age bureau and then as press secretary to John “Black Jack” McEwen.
Holt was also a good bloke and a kindly prime minister but by the time he took that fateful swim, Gough Whitlam had his measure in the House and Billy McMahon was undermining his leadership with a rapscallion bunch including his successor, John Gorton.
Holt had postponed his own leadership ambitions allowing Menzies to rule the roost for far too long, both for the country and the great man himself.
Harold copped it sweet, just as Albanese tamely accepted the Caucus factional vote for Bill Shorten that overruled the 60/40 vote in Albo’s favour by the party membership. Holt was bluffed by Liberal tradition;
I would be very surprised if Albanese survived as prime minister long enough to lead Labor to the 2025 election… the Labor factions, I’m told, are already abuzz with leadership chatter.
Albanese, as a leftie bowed to the hammering he’d copped throughout his political life from the NSW right led by Paul Keating and Graham Richardson.
His tendency to duck, weave and wait rather than to counterattack the opposition extends to the man Malcolm Turnbull labelled a “thug”. Amazingly, against all the odds, this has allowed Peter Dutton to raise his public profile to the point where the electorate sees him as a viable candidate for The Lodge.
The recent reshuffle of the ministry only highlighted the “good guy” weakness of the current occupant.
The pattern began with his instant acceptance of Scott Morrison’s lunatic AUKUS idea with the British half-wit Boris Johnson and doddering Joe Biden, who couldn’t remember Morrison’s name at its inauguration.
beyond 2040 somehow makes Australia safe from those fearsome “Yellow Hordes” of yesteryear is simply laughable. And they come at a price that could have provided universal free health care – and early education – for all Australians It not only robs the taxpayer, it undermines Albanese’s own China policy to engage and co-operate, “agreeing where we can, disagreeing where we must and managing our differences wisely”.
Instead, he is promoting the bel licose Defence Minister Richard Marles, who demands to be addressed as “Deputy Prime Minister” and would quite like to drop the “Deputy” bit. The reshuffle further underlined his weakness by sacrificing the vigorous and effective Clare O’Neill and leaving the hapless Andrew Giles to cop the slings and arrows
that should have been redirected at Dutton himself.
Moreover, by dumping the Republic Ministry and then abandoning his commitment to a major Aboriginal advancement, he abandoned the precious field of Labor reforms and double-crossed his most energetic supporters.
As we approach the final sittings of Parliament – the notorious “killing season” of political leaders – the Labor factions, I’m told, are already abuzz with leadership chatter.
The saddest aspect of the imbroglio is that Albanese brought it upon himself. He is a good man, but they are self-inflicted political wounds. He cannot change the past; and it’s probably too risky for him to call an early election. Timing in politics is remorseless; and it’s a mighty tough game.
robert@robertmacklin.com
Forty-five people were arrested, with a further 59 issued cautions or move-on notices during July’s City Safe Campaign. The campaign aimed to address and deter criminal and anti-social activity with a high-visibility police presence. It focused on policing licensed premises, local businesses, and high foot traffic areas in Civic and immediate surrounds.
Among the 45 people arrested and 59 people issued with cautions or move-on notices, offences included assault, theft, fighting in a public place, possessing a knife in a public place, possessing stolen property, defacing public property, drinking in a public place and breaching good behaviour orders.
Anna Neelagama, pictured, is the new CEO of Master Builders ACT. She succeeds Michael Hopkins, who has moved to Master Builders Queensland. Ms Neelagama is the outgoing CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Australia and spent her formative career in state and federal agribusiness advocacy roles. She holds a bachelor of international relations from Griffith University and a graduate certificate in property development from the University of Technology Sydney. She starts her new role in September.
”Housing ministers Yvette Berry and Rebecca Vassarotti have engineered a housing policy that any dedicated right-wing neoliberal would be proud to claim.”
JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED unbutton the government’s housing shame.
On Page 21 of the 2024-25 Budget Paper 3, Treasurer Andrew Barr advises Canberrans that:
“Housing and rental affordability in the ACT remains relatively better than other jurisdictions predominantly as a result of higher household incomes.”
In a statistical flourish, or simply out of ignorance of the drivers of demand, a preceding chart seeks to demonstrate that the ACT government has maintained supply in check with population growth.
A further chart that compares mortgage and rental costs as a proportion of median incomes across Australia is included, it appears, to legitimise the following assertion:
“Maintaining housing supply growth at a higher rate than population growth as shown above and supporting conveyance duty relief for owner
occupiers (particularly first home buyers) will continue to improve rental and housing affordability”.
In other words, if you are one of the tens of thousands of Canberrans living on a median income, then stop whingeing because you are better off than people on median incomes in other states.
This brazen assertion is cold comfort to those families struggling to survive on belowmedian incomes with crippling mortgage costs resulting, in the main, from the exorbitant price demanded by the ACT government for land or those who have been priced out of home ownership and are paying half their weekly earnings on rent. One can only wonder what people who are sleeping rough or who cannot find a place to rent or have been waiting years for public housing think about this advice?
The “conveyance duty relief”
boasted about in the second quoted paragraph, and in which the Labor/Green government declares victory over the affordability “problem”, relates to offthe-plan units and RZ1 unit duty exemptions for properties up to $1 million, and the extension of the Disability Duty Concession Scheme and the Pensioner Duty Concession Scheme to provide a concession on duty on purchases up to a $1 million.
The obvious and immediate questions this raises are how many pensioners and disabled people the government expects to benefit from the stamp duty concession on million-dollar homes and, in general, how commonplace is the purchase of million-dollar, off-the-plan apartments. The fact that the government has felt compelled to provide stamp duty concessions for million-dollar apartments is a clear admission that its taxation reform (that was meant to eliminate stamp duty) and its affordability policy, have failed.
The ACT has two ministers – one Labor, the other Green –overseeing the housing portfolio: Labor’s Yvette Berry is Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, and Rebecca Vassarotti, Minister for Homeless-
ness and Housing Services.
The repeated denial by both ministers of a housing affordability problem suggests they are either residing in a bubble, or blind to the plight of Canberrans under mortgage and rental stress, or simply in denial about their failure to meet the basic housing needs of working-class families.
Whatever the explanation they have engineered a housing policy that any dedicated right-wing neoliberal would be proud to claim.
Obviously, the housing needs of a majority of Canberrans can be met by the housing market. However, because of its nature, the market nevertheless fails to meet the needs of many others.
The outcomes range from financial stress to homelessness that, in turn, lead to poor physical and mental health, and ultimately withdrawal from social relationships and economic participation. The number of people whose needs are not met by the market is not insignificant, and invariably increases in periods when the market is delivering large gains for those with the means to participate in it.
Therefore, when investors, homeowners and the real estate industry rejoice at an increase in the “strength of the housing market” and the value of their portfolios, equity and homes, one would expect that a “progressive” government would respond immediately to the adequacy of its stock of public and community housing.
The other key plank of housing policy is to ensure that the market, as far as possible, operates efficiently; that constraints and bottlenecks on supply are removed and that there is effective regulation. Notably, the ACT government is the only one in Australia that has complete control over the supply of the most important ingredient of a successful housing policy – land.
So, how has the ACT government performed when it comes to maintaining a consistent supply of public housing?
Chart 1 provides the proportion of public housing relative to the population from 2011 to 2023.
It is remarkable that in every year of the three terms of the current Greens-Labor coalition government, the stock of public housing in Canberra, relative to the population, has dropped.
If the housing stock provision had simply been maintained at the 2011 level, there would today be an additional 3200 public housing dwellings in Canberra.
What is even more remark-
Source: Report on Government Services and Australian Bureau of Statistics.
able is that the decrease in public housing is, in the main, a consequence of active and deliberate decisions by the ACT government.
The most notable of those is the sale of 1288 public housing dwellings with the proceeds directed to the Light Rail project, formalised under an agreement signed by Treasurer Andrew Barr and the then Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.
This program was euphemistically titled the Public Housing Renewal Program. It included a much-touted commitment to invest $700 million in public housing which, surprise-surprise, never eventuated. In fact there was a net loss of 194 public housing dwellings during a period when dwelling prices were increasing at a rate of $1000 a day, putting the housing market out of reach of a major cohort of Canberra households.
The second renewal program, titled Growing and Renewing Public Housing, also announced with great fanfare, promised the delivery of 400 dwellings. It, too, needed to be abandoned as it sought to involuntarily evict more than 300 tenants, mainly elderly widowed women, the disabled and people with mental health conditions – people who should, one would have thought, been protected by a “progressive” government through such programs.
The Statement of Risks in the 2024-25 Budget Paper 3 (Appendix I, Page 347) refers to the following fiscal risk in relation to this program:
“The fiscal risk arises from the class action launched in December 2023 against the Australian Capital Territory and Housing ACT in implementing the Growing and Renewing Public Housing Program. Fiscal implications will arise should the outcome of the class action be favourable to applicants who are seeking financial compensation.”
It is extraordinary that
some of the most vulnerable people in our community were forced to resort to legal action to protect themselves against, what they consider, a breach of their human rights.
We have previously drawn parallels between this program and the Robodebt scheme as examples of executive overreach without regard to ethics or the community’s sense of common decency.
While this poorly designed and poorly executed program remains, thankfully, on hold, the government appears to have given up on the idea of any significant increase in public housing. The 2024-25 Budget includes $50 million in capital, of which $5 million comes from the Commonwealth – that is, a paltry 50 dwellings by the government’s own measure.
We have previously written about the appalling deterioration in stock condition with one in 12 housing tenants seeing their homes becoming unacceptable since 2016. Aboriginal tenants and those with a disability fared much worse with about one in five and one in six households, respectively, seeing their dwelling deteriorate below an acceptable level.
The Budget provides a paltry and clearly inadequate $51.2 million over four years for repairs and maintenance.
A “progressive government”? Two “progressive ministers”? You decide. We will address the other major housing policy plank – land supply – in a subsequent article. We do note, however, that the Indicative Land Release Program sets a target of 5107 dwelling sites to be released in 2024-25. Notably this government has never achieved anywhere near such a target, averaging just 3568 dwelling sites a year since 2011-12.
Jon Stanhope is a former chief minister of the ACT and Dr Khalid Ahmed a former senior ACT Treasury official.
The ACT government’s housing policies are failing.
Between 2012 and 2023, despite an increase in population of more than 90,000, it did not increase the number of public housing dwellings.
Its infill policy has contributed to higher house prices, while too many redevelopment dwellings are examples of “dumb density”, hindering community acceptability and characterised by poor privacy and solar access, inadequate parking, congestion, vegetation loss and failing to meet the needs of occupants.
The recently released Indicative Land Release Program 2024-25 to 2028-29 identified 89 per cent of the intended supply of 21,422 dwellings would be multi-unit dwellings.
The program is based on the shaky foundations of the 2018 ACT Planning, which adopted a target of at least 70 per cent of new housing will be in the existing urban footprint in the belief it would deliver a more efficient and sustainable city.
The target was not based on assessments of housing affordability, housing preferences, environmental, travel and the infrastructure costs of alternative distributions of population and activity.
Similarly, the government hopes its 2024-2025 Statement of Planning Priorities will improve housing access,
choice and affordability and assist in the building of thousands of new homes including the development of missing middle housing (townhouses, duplexes, terraces).
But, how for example, would the provision of missing-middle housing improve housing affordability? Without soundly based strategies, what makes Canberra a great place to live – access to services, transport, employment, health, education and nature – will continue to diminish.
The ACT’s response is similar to other governments. Rather than developing a policy framework that would significantly improve affordability, statements are made suggesting effective action is being undertaken.
As Alan Kohler argued in his Quarterly Essay, nothing will change until politicians take the necessary, but unpopular, actions that reduce the benefits enjoyed by the house-owning majority, a major cause of the escalating inequality between property and non-property owning households.
The Albanese government’s plan is to build 1.2 million houses over five years with the states agreeing to expedite zoning, planning and land release to deliver more social and affordable housing in well-located areas. The hope is the new dwellings will bring down prices and improve affordability.
Steven Rowley, from Curtin University, observed the Albanese target
Without soundly based strategies, what makes Canberra a great place to live – access to services, transport, employment, health, education and nature – will continue to diminish.
is unlikely to be met as it requires building 60,000 new dwellings every quarter for five years. The industry is currently delivering around 40,000 new homes a quarter. Even if the increase in housing supply was achieved, it is far lower than the level needed.
Planning and zoning restrictions and delays in approving development applications are often argued to have hindered the development of sufficient housing.
Nicole Gurran, from Sydney University, demonstrates the planning system is not as great a problem as some argue. Between June 2020 and 2021, 221,000 dwellings were approved, but only 136,000 commenced. A year later, only 133,000 had been completed.
The fundamental issue is developers will only build if they can make a profit. Labour shortages, increasing prices of building materials and more expensive finance militate against higher levels of construction, as reflected in the inability of the
ACT government to reach its landrelease targets.
The supply problem, she argues, also stems from Australia being too dependent on the private market to deliver new homes with the proportion of homes built by the public sector having fallen from more than 10 per cent in the mid-1980s to about 2 per cent.
The winding back of capital gains tax and negative-gearing concessions would assist in funding the large increase in social housing required.
Such incentives encourage investors to bid against intending homebuyers and consequently push up house prices.
Recent data indicates only 12 per cent of property investment loans were to build new homes. The suggestion by Senators Pocock and Lambie, to limit negative gearing to one investment property to increase its political acceptability, was met by a cold response from the major parties.
Both Labor and the Coalition propose to reduce housing demand and infrastructure shortfalls by cutting immigration. Determining an appropriate level of net overseas migration, somewhere south of 200,000 a year, requires consideration of how
to overcome skill shortages in areas including construction, health, aged care, hospitality and education; skills training and reducing the dependence of universities on foreign students.
Lower interest rates would stimulate both the construction and the demand for housing. Given the lagged supply response careful management (eg, lending restrictions) will be needed to avoid price increases.
The acceptance of major reform will be challenging as it requires many in the community being persuaded to act against their self-interest.
Governments need to demonstrate the reforms are necessary and soundly based. This is made even more difficult when questionable projects such the Canberra light rail, Melbourne’s suburban rail link, Snowy 2.0 and inland rail freight receive greater funding priority than housing. Governments lack credibility given the chasm between their actions and their rhetoric.
Mike Quirk is a former NCDC and ACT govern ment planner.
It’s good to see letter writers beginning to understand that intermittent solar and wind are not reliable sources of electricity that the developed world has grown used to over the last 140 years or so.
But please call these forms of generation “intermittent”, for that is what they are.
Despite some conceited politicians pretending they can change the world’s climate by tinkering with intermittent meteorological and astronomical electricity generators and giant chemical batteries, there is only one established, effective, emission-free, 24/7 generating system – nuclear energy steam-raising for turbine generators.
Australia has the natural advantage of a third of the world’s nuclear resources. And it needs no more fungible water than any other turbo-generating system!
I understand the fairy dust researchers have reached the same conclusions as Twiggy Forest’s hydrogen researchers and the many billion-dollar-spending fusion researchers.
Anthony Horden, Macquarie Evaporation affects water cooling systems
John L Smith argues for nuclear power (Letters, CN August 1) but in doing so perhaps misleads readers.
Even nuclear reactors with recirculating water-cooling systems need replenishment due to evaporation. This typically amounts to 75 million litres a day, the equivalent of 25 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to the World Nuclear Association. Not an insignificant amount for the world’s driest inhabited continent.
While a key to the renewable energy transition is indeed storage, Mr Smith quotes the capacity of Snowy 2.0 to generate electricity (2.2 GW) rather than its storage potential.
According to Snowy Hydro, the scheme will provide “approximately 350,000 megawatt hours [350 GWh] of large-scale storage to the National Electricity Market.”
Enough energy to “power three million
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homes over the course of a week.”
Finally, while it is true that large-scale renewable energy systems will take up land, agriculture can continue around and under them. And it already is.
Mr Smith should read up on agrivoltaics. Yes, land will be needed but it is often overstated. Andrew Blakers, Professor of Engineering at ANU’s Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions has calculated that about 1200 square kilometres will be required. At 4.2 million square kilometres, the area devoted to agriculture is 3500 times larger. The area covered by coal and gas licences and applications is 2.85 million square kilometres – a far greater problem.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Victoria
Following Albanese’s fulsome and embarrassing welcome to Indian Prime Minister Modi, amply covered in a recent ABC Four Corners program, it is time for someone more suitable to take his place as the prime minister of Australia.
A tougher line needs to be taken with both India and China, both of which support to some extent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and obviously see a need to set up spy agencies in a so-called friendly country.
Australian migrant and refugee policy also needs a complete overhaul as it is allowing overseas disputes to become violent demonstrations back in Australia, thus fracturing an increasingly fragile democracy.
The rise of the far right in Europe and elsewhere should serve as a warning as to where Australia might head if something is not done to improve our version of multiculturalism.
This includes re-examining the provision of citizenship to migrants who have no intention of living in Australia and contributing to our development and growth. The fact that some 15,000 Lebanese with Australian citizenship are currently in Lebanon is just such an example.
Ric Hingee, Duffy
this
Is this what Mr Barr has in mind for redeveloping Canberra’s shopping centres? Examples from Strasbourg (northern France) of “shop-top” housing.
Richard Johnston, Kingston
When four Greens became one
The ACT Greens have never forgotten that four Greens MLAs went to the 2012 election supporting light rail, and three of the four lost their seats.
Leon Arundell, Downer
Can’t believe I am agreeing with Eric Hunter after reading his column in CityNews (“Macklin is right about the ABC, but there’s more”, August 8). Even their diehard supporters are telling us that the ABC is politically biassed now.
Ian Pilsner, Weston
In response to Michael Delaney’s letter (CN August 1) regarding a 34 per cent rate increase: yes, Michael, my rates have been increasing every year to $5907.56 even though my UCV has gone down slightly for the last three years.
I am also questioning what the $50 Safer Family Levy is for.
Since you are also paying Land Tax, I assume you are renting your place out so I suggest you add every increase to your rental.
If people complain about high rentals in Canberra send them to talk to Mr Barr. Land Tax is usually more than Land Rates, so it isn’t worth it renting out property. I have complained a couple times in the last few years, but it was on deaf ears.
I am an 88-year-old retiree, and have lived in my home for 54 years trying not to go into a nursing home, so what does one do? Eat less, heat less and maintain the house less.
All I can say is don’t vote Labor: you’re asking for increased cost of living in this territory. Give the Liberals a go. Maybe they’ll cancel this useless extension of the rail to Woden, which we obviously all have to pay for with our ever increasing rates and taxes.
Monica Beran, Farrer
Michael Delaney’s letter (CN August 1) asked for an explanation of his 34 per cent land tax increase. May I offer a possible explanation without knowing his specific circumstances.
In my previous letter, I pointed out the double impact that homeowners were suffering from the ACT government annual rates program (comprising the universal annual increase from the government’s 2012 tax-reform policy, in addition to further increases if the land value was revalued upwards, as regularly occurs every two to three years).
In addition, as a result of the government’s 2024 announcement on the reconfiguration of huge areas of suburban residential land areas previously zoned
as RZ1 to permit multiple developments, this new policy (whether deliberate or coincidental) has the undesirable effect of revaluing such redesignated land zoning to the value of its highest and best use. Unfortunately for landowners, this will mean further significant upward valuation of their parcels of land. Whilst Treasury appears to claim that landowners will only receive these increases if they redevelop, common valuation principles would more likely apply, which would mean all landowners in redesignated RZ1 areas would be susceptible to these additional land valuation increases, irrespective of whether they redeveloped or not.
Khalid Ahmed and Jon Stanhope observed that this was also the likely potential impact in their recent CityNews article on rezoning and residential rates.
Ron Edgecombe, Evatt
In response to Michael Delaney’s letter (CN August 1) regarding a 34 per cent rate increase; we have suffered the same increase in rates without explanation. Yet the ACT government claims are 3.75 per cent average. This is revenue raising by stealth.
Christopher Wordsworth, via email
While agreeing with Herman van de Brug that there is a God (Letters, CN August 5) I would not argue on the tenuous evidence of statistics but on basic science, especially as governments of today are elected on their commitment to science (eg,. the cause of global warming). There is now collective scientific evidence of a beginning of our universe (physical reality from nothing) and a transphysical intelligence that fine-tuned the initial conditions of the big-bang for life, begging acknowledgement that to be human has been determined by a Creator.
John L Smith, Farrer
The quality of mercy is divine. Beautiful, perfect words, right?
Did Shakespeare write that phrase as an agent of a higher power, infused by the ineffable, while sitting on the loo in Stratford scribbling poetry and iambic pentameter that delivered, in an unusual way perhaps, a message from the Universe to the rest of us?
Or was he just a really gifted wordsmith who turned a nice phrase, so that pretentious prats like me, centuries later, would over analyse his words to death?
We all do it, you know. Sporting legend has it that just before the last ball before stumps one night (I was watching it on TV), Warnie marched down to the keeper and they became animated about some deep tactical manoeuvre.
The batsmen, hitherto playing well, got flummoxed and got himself out on that very finale. Warnie gleefully told the press that he had slowly and deliberately walked down to his mate and spent minutes talking about nothing more useful than what they were going to have for dinner. The mystery, genius and strategy was, of course, all in the poor batter’s head.
Sometimes a banana is just a banana (or it isn’t, like when Big Al Hitchcock thanked his Freudian therapist in the final scene of the 1948 classic, North by Northwest – trust
me – go watch the ously obvious that I had to cross my legs and say a Hail Mary when Cary Grant and his companion entered the train tunnel).
Kindness, we know, is rescuing people from others. If you see your sister getting bored pantsless at a party by me describing how Mozart is better than Beethoven but neither will ever beat Adam Gilchrist on the tonk in his prime, you will have saved the world and her sanity – a little white lie harming no one. But if your same sister is paralysed with angst about some throwaway comment her work supervisor said on Thursday week ago, crushed by lost
that exact same rescue – from herself. Her negative self-talk, snowballing fear and the baseless, pointless self-criticism it leads to is far more dangerous than me boring her about how Warnie was better than Murali (he was, you know. Mr Editor, do you need 10,000 words on your desk about it by Monday? I’m on the job) and neither of them are cooler than the Hulk.
So how do you help her? Talking helps. My Sicilian family used to talk constantly (61 per cent unemployment will do that to you). The Aussie style of inherited stiff upper lip I used to love till I saw how much that was
I saw old men die at 90 without telling their brother they loved them because of some forgotten insult from 40 years before. Talk. Listen. Listen more than you talk.
politely unspoken was so unhelpful.
I saw old men die at 90 without telling their brother they loved them because of some forgotten insult from 40 years before. Talk. Listen. Listen more than you talk. Give your perspective and experience without judgement or patronising.
Also without that other useless bug, certainty. You’re not certain about it at all. The next person who tells me they “know exactly how I feel” about anything I’ve shared will get a powerfully raised eyebrow straight between the eyes (vicious, I know). Certainty isn’t what she needs anyway. It matters not if you’re right or wrong, only that you care. Only that you want to protect them from the most vicious, horrible critic she or anyone else has ever had – herself.
If you improve her perspective, or
even just show you care enough to awkwardly start a conversation about how much you care – her burden may be relieved to a point where it drops below critical.
You never know. One day your sister might be batting in a Test against two jokers messing with her head. And she’ll know to stick to her guns and keep doing what got her successful enough to be there today. Because of the talk you had with her, she’ll know the quality of mercy, and it, like Warne’s flippers and wrong ‘uns, is truly divine.
I’ll tell you a secret: I never met Shakespeare or Warnie, Mozart or Madonna, Madame Curie or Margaret Atwood or a thousand geniuses, but I know every one of them could have had improvements in their lives – just like we all do – when somebody is kind enough, brave enough, to ask us how we are, and listen, and rescue us from ourselves.
Antonio Di Dio is a local GP, medical leader and nerd. There is more of his Kindness on citynews.com.au
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By
MAYBE you have hay fever, covid, a cold or the flu, and are reaching for a tissue or handkerchief.
But which one’s better at stopping infections spreading? Which has a smaller environmental impact? Is it the hanky, which has been with us since at least Roman times? Or the more recent and widely-used paper tissue?
You might be surprised at the results.
Short history of the hanky and tissue
Today, we think of hankies as something to wipe noses, and catch coughs and sneezes. But such a simple square of cloth has a complex history.
In the first century, the Romans used a sudarium (Latin for sweat cloth) to wipe off sweat, or to mask the mouth and face.
Over time, people have used what we now call a handkerchief or hanky, as a head covering, as a veil and for disguise, to clean hands, for wounds and to staunch blood.
Wealthy people have used them to signify class and manners, and for discretely wiping away phlegm rather than smearing snot on sleeves or down skirts. Royalty have used them to indicate wealth and power through
their gifts of fine linen and silk hand kerchiefs to favoured subjects. Henry VIII owned an extensive collection, some embossed with gold and silver.
Handkerchiefs have also been markers of love, fidelity and sexual preferences. In the late 19th century the “handkerchief code” was a system of colour coding and handkerchief placement used to indicate sexual preferences, which is still active in LGBTQ+ communities today.
We can trace the origins of paper tissue to China in the 2nd century BC. But it wasn’t until the 1920s that tis sue as we know it today was developed to remove make-up and wipe runny noses from hay fever.
So, which one is better for our health?
More than 100 years ago, a cloth hanky was considered a “little flag of Death” because of the germs it carried and how it contaminated pockets it was left in. Later, we were urged to use a hanky as “coughs and sneezes spread diseases”.
Today, we know nasal secretions harbour cold-type viruses that can be transferred to a range of surfaces – hands, handkerchiefs, tissues, door knobs, keyboards – sometimes surviving long after the initial exposure. So blowing your nose into a reusable cotton hanky, then touching another object, means these viruses
Viruses don’t tend to survive so long on tissues. As long as you throw tissues away after using them, and don’t leave them lying around for others to pick up, the chance of passing germs to others from a used tissue is far lower. Then there’s the question of whether
hankies or tissues are effective barriers to coughing and respiratory spray. Basic cloth coverings, such as handkerchiefs or bandannas, can catch sputum, as can tissues. But several studies have shown they do not effectively filter respiratory aerosols, or stop you inhaling pollutants, pathogens or small airborne particles.
If you want to look at environmental considerations, US company Ecosystem Analytics compared reusable cotton hankies to disposable paper tissues using a lifecycle analysis. It considered four measures of environmental impacts associated with production, transport, use and disposal:
climate change (sum of greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, nitrous oxide and CFCs)
ecosystem quality (chemical pollution of land and water) human health (carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic toxicity to humans) resources (total energy requirements of non-renewable energy and mineral extraction).
The verdict? Across the four measures, a cotton hanky had five to seven times greater impact than an equivalent tissue.
And, by far, the greatest impacts were related to the production of each of these products, rather than using or disposing of them.
If you’re still keen to use a cotton hanky, you could opt for organic cotton, which has a lower ecological footprint compared to standard cotton produced in the same location. But organic cotton production has lower yields than its conventional equivalent, meaning more land is needed to produce an equivalent amount, compounding the total environmental impact.
If you want to feel better about using tissues, ones made from recycled material may be a better option. Their manufacture leads to fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared with making regular tissues.
Wiping our noses with paper tissues we dispose of properly after use (and don’t store in our pocket), made from recycled material, is preferable from both a health and environmental perspective.
But tissues don’t quite have the same panache as the historic and versatile cloth hanky.
Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; and Hester Joyce, Adjunct Associate Professor, Creative Arts, La Trobe University. Republished from The Conversation.
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India’s Independence Day, observed annually on August 15, commemorates the nation’s independence from the UK.
On August 15, 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi.
On each subsequent Independence Day, the prime minister of the day has raised the flag and given a speech.
The Indian independence movement is well known for its largely non-violent resistance and civil disobedience approach, led by the Indian National Congress, the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.
From 1920 until the declaration of India’s independence in 1930, the Indian National Congress was led by celebrated Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist, Mahatma Gandhi.
Facts about India’s Independence Day
• India shares their Independence Day date with the Republic of Congo, South Korea, North Korea, Lichtenstein and Bahrain.
• The date originally proposed for
Journey through the heart of India without stepping foot outside Canberra. We’re excited to introduce our newest Chatkazz location, now open in The Marketplace Gungahlin Shopping Centre!
With over 200 dishes on our menu taking inspiration from the North and South of India, expect fragrant dishes packed with flavour, many of which can rarely be found outside of India.
Level 1, Shop H70-71 (above Kmart)
The Market Place
Hibberson St, Gungahlin P 6231 0421 E canberra@chatkazz.com.au www.chatkazz.com.au
Chatkazz is a vegetarian’s dream come true, with more than 250 vegetarian dishes on offer, says owner Ravi Bakrania.
“The three founders of Chatkazz wanted to cater to the vegetarian audience because, as vegetarians themselves, they were struggling to find vegetarian food in Australia,” he says.
“Chatkazz is 100 per cent vegetarian, and we are beginning to expand our vegan options as well.
“We already have 30 to 50 vegan dishes, but there are more to come.”
Chatkazz offers dishes from all across India, including Mumbai street food, the much loved dosa from southern India, and the popular fusion Bombay Chinese style, such as vegetable
India’s Independence Day was June 3, 1948, but at the behest of Lord Mountbatten, was moved to August 15, 1947 to align with the end of World War II, symbolising a new beginning for India and a smooth transition of power from the British Empire.
• The first variant of the Indian flag was
chutneys, to the popular northern style paneer tikka, and paneer masala curries.
“We also have a paan shop next door, which offers mouth refreshments and betel leaf,” he says.
hoisted on August 7, 1906, in Parsee Bagan Square, Kolkata. The flag was then changed in 1931 to the current flag of India which features an Ashoka Chakra, 24-spoke wheel, symbol in the centre.
• There is only one place that can manufacture and supply the Indian flag, the Karnataka Khadi Gramodaya
or visit chatkazz.com.au
Samyukta Sangha in Dharwad, Karnataka.
• Each year, independence day celebrations have a theme that aligns with the government’s aim of transforming India into a developed nation by 2047, which would mark 100 years of independence.
Father’s Day on Sunday, September 1, is a celebration that honours fathers and celebrates fatherhood, paternal bonds and the influence of fathers in society.
Father’s Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May.
But, in Australia, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September.
September also marks the beginning of spring, the season of rebirth and renewal, making it the perfect time to celebrate fatherhood.
This week in “CityNews” we feature an inspiring range of experiences and gift ideas for Father’s Day.
To make sure Father’s Day is something special, Chara says they are collaborating with Bentspoke Brewing Co. for an exciting Brew at the Zoo offer.
The Brew at the Zoo deal will entitle ticket holders to a burger and beer with the admission ticket, and kids a burger and soft drink.
Extra tickets can be purchased, with all proceeds going back into the park, Chara says.
“We’ll have burgers ready, cooked by our kitchen, out in the beautiful viewing park, surrounded by the rhinos and the cheetahs and
portunities, a park, kids’ trails, zoo art and stays at Jamala Lodge.
“We’ve got history, adventure, lots of things to do and, of course, it just gets you out and about,” she says.
“You’re out in the beautiful landscape gardens with the most amazing view that changes every five minutes.”
National Zoo and Aquarium, Lady Denman Drive, Yarralumla. Call 6287 8400 or visit nationalzoo.com.au
Indian cuisine with a ‘modern twist’
This Father’s Day, Blu Ginger Indian Restaurant is serving up the best in traditional Indian cuisines, with all the love and care of a home-cooked meal, says owner Reddy Manne.
“Blu Ginger consistently uses the ageold recipes with a modern twist,” he says.
“The restaurant covers all regions of ethnic India, all meals are cooked fresh with local and imported ingredients and all spices are ground in store.”
First established in 2000, Reddy says the restaurant has become renowned in Canberra for its butter chicken, jhangiri
and shahi ghost, among other choices.
“We serve gluten-free meals and accommodate any dietary requirements,” he says.
“Blu Ginger caters fresh made-toorder with affordable prices.”
Reddy says they are open for lunch and dinner, and are looking forward to welcoming the fathers of Canberra for a special day, or evening, out.
Blu Ginger Indian Restaurant, 2/5-21 Genge Street, Civic. Call 6247 2228 or visit bluginger.com.au
Sunday 1st September
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1 | 1:30PM
Spoil Dad this Father’s Day with a WILD day out at the National Zoo and Aquarium!
acting manager Erin Weather stone.
With a special Father’s Day menu and a free schooner of beer for all the dads, Erin says it is sure to be a meal to remember.
“It’s a really friendly atmosphere,” Erin says.
“Everyone gets along really well, all the bar staff are friends with the patrons, it’s a really nice family atmosphere.”
Erin says there will also be raffles on the day.
If it isn’t possible to visit on
including live music, karaoke, social events and pool tables, and their regular menu, which includes their famous schnitzel.
“It’s a mix of Austrian and Australian food, the veal schnitzels are very popular, and so is the Trio of Schnitzels, which is chicken, pork and veal” she says.
“We’re open seven days a week, from 11.30am to late.”
The Austrian-Australian Club, Heard Street, Mawson. Call 6286 5793 or visit austrianaustralianclub.com
Being a dad is a hard job, but it’s also one of the most rewarding, says South Pacific Hemp manager Sue Booth.
Opened in March 2021, Sue says the store is Canberra’s first allhemp shop and includes a range of specially designed clothing that dad will love.
“Our clothing is designed for wearability and versatility, is breathable, natural and easy to care for,” she says.
“It also adapts to your body temperature, and lasts for years longer than other clothing materials.
“Hemp protects your skin by
naturally filtering UV light. It also resists bacterial growth and breathes excellently, preventing odours, has four times the strength of cotton and it won’t weaken when washed.”
Sue says the dedicated team welcomes anyone to come and ask about the range of products.
“There’s tea towels, totes, sponges and cookie cutters and for the body, there’s shampoos, oils, bath salts and divine creams and much more,” she says.
South Pacific Hemp, 84 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick. Call 0431 318898, or visit southpacifichemp.com.au
Lolly Swagman has been excitedly exploring new tastes for nearly three decades, says owner Ian Richardson.
Located in the heart of the Southern Highlands, the lolly shop stocks all-time favourite treats and the latest trending tastes from around the world, and offers the perfect excuse to go on a roadtrip with dad.
“We’ve got American Reese’s, Hershey’s and candy corn, English bon bons and chocolates, sours and super sours, Dutch liquorice, Scottish tablet and our own Mrs Swag’s Fudge,” says Ian.
“We lost count at 1300 different treats and we know it’s more than that.”
Ian says the store has something for everyone, and is a great place to bring dad to get completely spoiled on Father’s Day.
At the moment, Ian says they have been particularly enjoying the new Peaches and Cream and Chocolate Ginger hard lollies from Blackebys Sweets, in SA.
Ian says Blackebys still use the copper pans from the 1880s to make lollies in the traditional way, and Lolly Swagman has a sizable
“It’s a happy place with kids excitedly exploring for new tastes, older people reminiscing and sharing in the thrill of finding a favourite and the great stories that go with them,” he says.
“We often see people who’d come as children now bringing in their own children and sharing their experiences, which is lovely to be allowed to join in on. It’s nice to have that history.”
Lolly Swagman, 11 Old Hume Highway, Berrima. Call 4877 1137, or visit lollyswagman.com.au
“Come have fun with us at the National Dinosaur Museum at 11am or 2pm from August 10 to August 18 during National Science Week to witness the unleashing of rare fossils that have been under lock and key,” says National Dinosaur Museum general manager Carole Arulantu.
Visitors will enjoy a special fossil talk, and Carole says a selected few will have the opportunity to touch nine rare fossils over the course of the week, which includes a massive 20 kilo T-Rex vertebrae.
Each day will feature a different fossil that has never been accessible to be touched by visitors to the museum in the past.
The event is free with general admission, and tickets can be purchased either online or at the door.
The fun for National Science Week will also extend to Belconnen, with the National Dinosaur Museum offering a free exhibition and information session at Westfield Belconnen on August 17 from 10am to 4pm.
“We all have burning questions about dinosaurs and pre-history. This is your chance to have your questions answered by our passionate team members, at either location! Don’t miss this rare opportunity,” says Carole.
The National Dinosaur Museum, 6 Gold Creek Road, Nicholls. Call 6109 8160 or visit nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au
There’s a lot of dads who enjoy a beer from time to time, says BentSpoke Brewing Co. founder Richard Watkins, but most of them haven’t had the chance to learn how a beer is actually made.
brewery tour of the Mitchell facility, and a lunch and tasting session at their brew pub in Braddon.
“People can come and see the process, how it’s manufactured, right from the grains that are used to make the beer, through to getting the beer into a can or into a keg,” he says.
“And talk about the flavours in the beer and dissect the beer into its components, and hopefully the dads will learn a little bit more about beer.”
Richard says he has been brewing beer for 27 years
tion, and so many good conversations, and meaningful conversations happen over a beer.
“And we’re a local company, [an] independent company, we create jobs in Canberra, we support the Canberra community.”
BentSpoke Brewing Co., 38 Mort Street, Braddon. Call 6257 5220 or visit bentspokebrewing.com.au
Everyone needs storage, whether it’s drawers for homeoffice supplies or raised shelving for a commercial warehouse, or even as a temporary solution while decluttering or downsizing.
Whatever it is, Canberra is home to many services that can help with a big move, or with storage options for onsite, offsite, in-the-home or backyard.
“CityNews” sources some of the stars of Canberra’s best storage solutions and moving services.
Leading second-hand furniture store, Ex-Government Furniture, has plenty of storage options to suit any space, says co-owner James Fullerton, with high quality items that ensure good value for money.
“When you buy second-hand storage from us, you are buying commercial-grade storage items, so the quality is much higher.
“So, not only are you saving sometimes hundreds of dollars, you are also purchasing something that will last and you won’t have to throw it out in six months’ time.
“Second-hand storage from us also means you don’t have to assemble it yourself, and you’re helping the environ ment.”
At the moment, James says they have a lot of Tambor doors, or sliding doors, storage cabinets as well as safes, including fire-proof safes.
But demand is high, he says, and encour ages everyone to come and visit them in person.
“There’s a huge range and we can work with customers to their budget,” he says.
Ex-Government Furniture also offers a removalist service for offices and com mercial spaces, says James.
Ex-Government Furniture, 6 Yallourn Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 6490 or visit exgovfurniture.com
With more than 70 per cent of the population living in major cities, a spokesperson for Ontime Movers and Storage says it is no surprise that people are moving homes
“If you’re considering a move across town or the country, trust Australia’s best interstate removalists to help you, and make your transition as smooth as possible,” they say.
“Ontime Movers is a full service licensed and insured moving company offering top-notch removalist services and handles your belongings with the utmost care.
“Our years of experience navigating these diverse landscapes give us unparalleled expertise that ensures your belongings are transported safely and
They say Ontime Movers can safely move all types of belongings, including pianos, art and antiques, as well as offering a TV and audio installation service.
“We also provide storage options, both short and long-term, and offer delivery
of boxes and other packing equipment” they say.
“There is no need to make countless trips to the store searching for bubble wrap, paper, tape, and boxes. Everything you need for your relocation will be provided by the best, and most reliable, local movers and packers.”
By enlisting the help of the Ontime Movers team, they say the stress of packing, moving and storage can be avoided, ensuring a seamless moving experience, no matter if it’s interstate or local.
Ontime Movers and Storage, 14 Faunce Street, Queanbeyan. Call 1300 466837 or visit ontimemovers.com.au
The local team at House to Home are experienced packers who have been helping Canberrans get their property ready for sales, renovations, insurance work, downsizing and relocating for more than 12 years
Co-owner Renee Le Grande said: “Our expert team will save you hours of time and stress by packing all your personal belongings, household items, right through to packing up the shed.
“Our team offers a personalised service and recognises every client is unique and has different needs and expectations.
“Some people want the kitchen, bathroom and wardrobes packed, others want absolutely everything including the garden pots at the front door.”
Renee said the team at House to Home frequently helped those looking to clear homes for major
re-decorating and renovations, and could arrange for off-site storage for household goods if necessary.
“This is really great if you’re getting new carpet laid, or floorboards put in,” she said.
“And it makes it quicker, and easier for the decorators.”
After the renovating and re-decorating was complete, Renee said they could then unpack everything.
Her business also offered a full walk-in walk-out service, where clients handed over their keys and the staff completely cleared the property, removed the furniture, took necessary items to a charity store, got the old property cleaned, and set everything up again in the new home.
House to Home. Call 0457 456767 or visit house-to-home.com.au
& Storage has been a cornerstone in Canberra’s material-handling sector for close to four decades.
With a seasoned team of professionals, Bryson says SSO stands at the forefront of providing exemplary storage solutions.
“Our deep understanding of the codes and the latest standards is crucial,” he says.
“Especially with pallet racking, where recent changes in regulations demand precision in ensuring workplace safety.”
SSO prides itself on adhering strictly to Australian standards, says Bryson, ensuring that each installation, be it pallet racking or elevated storage solutions, is executed flawlessly to maintain a safe and efficient work environment.
“Our commitment to safety and standards is unwavering,” he says.
effective but also, everyone gets to go home at the end of the day.”
Apart from standard solutions, SSO specialises in crafting bespoke trolleys, widely utilised across the Canberra region, from national galleries and ACT Health, to local removalist and courier services.
“We’ve created dozens of custom trolleys tailored to the unique needs of our clients, all fabricated right here in Queanbeyan,” Bryson says.
“Whether you’re looking to upgrade your storage systems to the latest standards or need a custom solution to enhance your operational efficiency, SSO Handling & Storage is your go-to expert.”
SSO Handling & Storage, 3/205 Gilmore Road, Queanbeyan. Call 6299 3942.
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Peperomias… need to be kept out of cold drafts and with a good amount of bright light but no sun, they’ll flower well.
I have been growing a few peperomias on a window sill that I have on the southern side of my house with very little sun but bright light.
Available in many colours, they have unusual, attractive foliage and, in some species, can have deep ridges.
They come with names such as Emerald Ripple or Speckled Ripple and are easy to grow.
Botanically, a succulent with fleshy leaves that store water, they share the same characteristics of watering and care that a succulent needs. They need to be kept out of cold drafts and with a good amount of bright light but no sun, they’ll flower well.
Their flowers are unusual cream-coloured spikes and not considered attractive because these plants are mainly grown for the beauty of their foliage.
To get a faster growing plant remove the flower spikes. Or they can be left to be enjoyed, either way the plant will be fine. If your peperomia needs a bigger pot, wait for the warmer weather. Use a potting mix that is
slightly acidic, mixed in with home compost to get them going. Water sparingly with tepid water and avoid any overhead watering. They grow alongside other indoor plants that like the same conditions such as begonias, streptocarpus and African violets.
APPLE scab was a terrible issue last summer. Now’s a good time to get on to any fungus spraying while there are no leaves on the trees. The fungicide can get into crevices and cracks of the bark and remove any overwintering spores waiting for the warmer weather.
Apple scab can be difficult to get rid of. Affected apples are inedible and need to be thrown into the green bin or taken to the green waste tip.
The fungus affects all parts of the tree, from leaves to fruit, and spreads fast given the right conditions.
On a sunny, wind free morning, apply a copper-based fungicide or wettable sulphur every few weeks up until flowering to it in check for this season.
The timing is also right to put boron and dolomite lime in the soil as the buds and leaves are forming to get apple trees off to a good start.
Apples like sweet soil, so keep the pH high to about 6-7 and add lots of compost and mulch to the base of the trees as well.
Interestingly, the apple scab does not transport to pears, but they still get a fungal
disease that masks the same conditions leaving large, brown, ugly lesions on the leaves. It can be treated the same way as apples.
There are resistant varieties of apples and pears that can be grown if looking for replacements for infected trees, as well as preventive measures that can be taken against insects such as spraying with kaolin clay.
Kaolin clay (or white clay) – a soft, fine silica natural material – forms a physical barrier that small insects cannot penetrate and can be a barrier for fungal diseases as well.
The powder can be mixed up in a spray bottle and sprayed on apples, pears, grapes and smaller vegetables in the patch. The slight coating will also help with heat stress when summer comes. Repeat applications may need to be needed every few weeks or after heavy rains.
jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au
• Prepare seedlings of tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and peas.
• Put dolomite lime on asparagus just before they begin to shoot.
• Turn compost over and keep moist, but not too wet.
• Keep weeds out of the garden, such as chickweed and flick weed.
By Helen MUSA
The Merry Widow, one of the most successful musical theatre pieces ever, has been selling out all around the world since its 1905 premiere in Vienna.
Sarah Darnley-Stuart plays the lead role of Hanna Glavari in the coming production at The Q of the famous work with music by Franz Lehár and book and lyrics by Victor Léon and Leo Stein.
Darnley-Stuart is something of a veteran in Canberra, and has been singing demand ing roles in L’Elisir D’Amore, Suor Angelica, National Opera Mother’s Day’s concert and as a soloist in Missa Solemnis.
But operetta, just as much as opera, demands high technical skills – both are challenging.
“The difference is mainly in the type of story that’s told in operetta, which is a bit lighter and a bit more comic, think Gilbert & Sullivan. It does have deeper subject matter, but portrayed in a light way,” she says.
The Merry Widow is about as accessible as any operetta could be for a newcomer, she says, with beautiful arias and magnificent orchestration.
National Opera has engaged well-known musical theatre director Ylaria Rogers, partnering with High Kix Cabaret, as well as the National Opera Chorus and Chamber Orchestra.
According to Darnley-Stuart, Rogers
Featuring MARK SHELLEY
“is open to learning about operetta, even though it’s not her background... she brings knowledge and kindness to the way she approaches her directing.”
In operetta, she says, there is much more spoken dialogue than in opera and that adds
a comic edge to The Merry Widow.
But it also poses a problem, for musicaltheatre performers are used to being mic’d up but opera singers, with their powerful voices, not so, especially in a small auditorium such as The Q.
Conductor Louis Sharpe says: “Because the work is an operetta with spoken dialogue, we have chosen to give the artists some amplification but it’s only for the spoken sections. With regard to the sung lines, they’re all sung naturally.”
This, he assures me, is in line with what most companies would do in a similar space
Now to the story.
Rich widow Hanna is being inveigled by Baron Zeta, the Pontivedrian ambassador in Paris, to save their native country from bankruptcy by marrying a fellow Pontivedrian.
His choice is Count Danilo, who turns out to be Hanna’s first love. But now Danilo swears he will never marry her now because of her fortune. The plot, along with a silly subplot, thickens.
Will Hanna and Danilo get back together?
The famous Merry Widow Waltz gives us a clue to the answer.
Darnley-Stuart, by day a speech pathologist within the ACT Education Directorate, says she’s hard put to identify her favourite parts in the show.
underscoring it and a really beautiful vocal line.”
Another favourite is when lovers Camille and Valencienne sing, With Love in my Heart, “quite beautiful.”
“Then there’s the chorus, Women! Women! Women! where the men are explaining their conundrum with women –it’s entertaining and a bit ridiculous.”
Darnley-Stewart would characterise herself as a lyric soprano and her opposite number, the Canberra trained former Opera Australia singer Sitiveni Talei as Danilo, has what she calls “a high baritone but with the ability to extend into the upper registers while keeping a rich quality”.
“It’s wonderful to be working with someone of his calibre,” she says, but equally, Joe Dinn as Baron Zeta, is a very seasoned professional performer, both help her in the role of the widow.
The script makes it quite clear that Hanna was forced into a loveless marriage, but of course it’s operetta, not a tragedy and Darnley-Stewart says: “What I like about Hanna is that she’s independent and she’s got quite a lot of gumption.
“The Merry Widow was written in a time when women were the property of fathers and husbands but the only exception was if you were a rich widow.”
”W ithout a doubt, John Robertson and Mark Shelley perform the world’s best characterisations of Willie & Roy. Their appearance, voices, manner and ‘spirit’ are uncanny!“
“It’s hard to go past the Vilja song, such a beautiful piece with the orchestra
The Merry Widow, at The Q, Queanbeyan, August 23-25.
AUGUST 24 - 7.30PM
Clinical
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Fifty years ago I took a very attractive young woman to a wine tasting run by McWilliam’s.
This was a label that could be trusted, we were told, with its Irish immigrant founder arriving in Australia in 1857 and planting his vineyard, named Sunnyside, in 1877.
Production and quality wines had been rolled out by the family ever since, including exports to NZ, and wines made in the Hawkes Bay.
The wine tasting was great with my date enthusiastically tasting and enjoying the evening. She really enjoyed the fortifieds. It’s an especially memorable event because on the bendy roads from Mission Bay to where she lived in Kohimarama, she became violently ill, throwing up inter alia (I was a law student at the time) on my lap. Her parents forbade her from seeing me again, blaming me for her “state”. Enough of my history.
McWilliam’s had its own bout of illness in 2020 when it got into financial difficulties, before the Calabria Family Wine Group bought the label in 2021.
I recently came across a wine that links the new-look McWilliams with Canberra: the McWilliam’s Single Vineyard Shiraz 2021, which is complex, well made with a good tannic backbone. It finished well with a lovely pepper undertone. It seems that the McWilliams label lives on and is still producing memorable wines.
I contacted Calabria Wines to find out more about why the Canberra District grapes had been chosen. I spoke with Elizabeth Calabria, head of marketing who handballed an explanation of the Canberra connection to Scott McWilliam, one of two family members who continue to work for the winery.
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“Few people know that my family has strong grassroots in Canberra,” he said. “And McWilliam’s Wines has recently released our flagship wine, called Eliza Jane, a Canberra District shiraz of the highest pedigree.
“When I say my family, I refer to my immediate family, going back to my great grandfather Douglas Lyle McWilliam or DL as he was referred to. DL was the second oldest of JJ McWilliam’s four sons.
Scott McWilliam… “McWilliam’s Wines has recently released our flagship wine, called Eliza Jane, a Canberra District shiraz of the highest pedigree.”
DL was responsible for building one of the McWilliam’s wineries within the Riverina, the Yenda Winery, about 10 minutes drive from Griffith. It was built in the 1920s, one of three McWilliams’ wineries in the Riverina at the time.
“DL was just as pioneering as his father and, in the late 1940s, he was able to recognise the potential of Canberra as a city, and proceeded to buy land just outside the city limits, to the east of Googong dam, Canberra’s main water supply.
“It was soon established that the land was not suitable for growing grapes however, a big frost zone, which is a no-no for fragile grapevines, plus there were concerns about water availability in dry years, so instead the property was used for sheep and cattle, as it is today.
“The next family link to Canberra is my mother, who went to boarding school at Canberra Grammar Girls School, soon after attending the Australian National University, where she subsequently met my father, who is the next family link to Canberra.
“My parents spent several years there, dad studied chemistry, a precursor to his oenology (winemaking) degree. The next link skips back a generation to my grandfather Jim McWilliam,
DL’s only child, when he and my grandmother Elva, relocated to Canberra and took up residence at the family farm.
“They lived there for many years, and that’s where I come into the equation. Around about the same time DL passed away, I was offered two boarding school options for my final years of high school, Scots College in Sydney or Canberra Grammar School, I chose the latter; I wanted to be near my grandparents. I was to become a Canberran at the age of 14. I, too, went on to ANU and studied chemistry, just like dad.
“Whilst at university I started working in high-end wine stores around Canberra, to earn some rent money – Lloyd’s Liquor in Kingston and Kippax Cellars, to name a few – but it was my time at Dickson Liquor that started my affection for the Canberra wines, since they had a very comprehensive local wine section. Names like Pankhurst Wines, Brindabella Hills, Helm Wines and Lake George wines.
“Many years later the McWilliam’s winemakers started to turn their attention to Canberra District, mostly due to its success in the neighbouring Hilltops and Tumbarumba regions.
“The winemaking team took fruit from three established Canberra District vineyards, McKellar Ridge and Four Winds in 2013, and Quarry Hill Vineyards in 2015.
“This brings me to the last link in the long McWilliam’s Canberra history, our new flagship wine called Eliza Jane. I remember in the tasting room at the Hanwood winery the winemaking team were deliberating between a few different blend options for the new super premium wine.
“In the end it was unanimously decided the 2018 Quarry Hill parcel of shiraz was going to make this wine, McWilliam’s most expensive red wine, a Canberra wine.”
New restaurants and cafes are opening at the speed of sound in Canberra. It’s a whirlwind trying to keep up.
But we must never forget the places that have been providing us with great food for decades, promising consistency over and over again. They, too, deserve our support.
Abell’s Kopi Tiam, in Furneaux Street, Manuka, is one such dining establishment, opening in 1988. Not much has changed with the décor but there’s some comfort in that (if it ain’t broke, why fix it?). Often, the wall to the right as you walk in, features wonderful works by Lorna Sim, well known in Canberra for her exceptional dance photography.
In winter, Kopi Tiam’s Malaysian and Chineseinspired dishes make it the perfect place to warm the tummy with spicy dishes, especially one of my all-time faves, the signature beef rendang ($34.90). It’s rich and inviting. The curry is complex and smooth. The slow-cooked beef has plenty of time to absorb the special blend of spices, herbs and coconut milk. We eagerly soaked up the sauce with soft, fluffy roti (puff flatbread, $8 for two pieces).
Although we didn’t indulge this time, My Mum’s Laksa is just as famous at Kopi Tiam –Nyonya laksa with bee hoon in spicy coconut curry (add chicken $26.90; add seafood $28.90
special blend of spices, herbs and coconut milk.
Photos: Wendy Johnson
and vegetarian $26.90).
On the menu, for many, many years, is the crispy Asian chicken ($28.90). It’s succulent and the salty, soy dressing and fresh, perky coriander salsa round out the flavours perfectly.
Kopi Tiam keeps tastebuds dancing with a small, but mighty specials selection. We adored the white bait ($22.90) with just the right amount of chilli and basil.
The tofu ($27.90) was pleasantly deep fried
(not greasy) and topped off with a small, vibrant salad, adding colour and freshness.
Sweet endings include Kopi Tiam’s famous Nyonya coconut and pandan pudding with ice cream ($15.90), and a warm, sticky date pudding ($15.90), also perfect for the cooler months. Puddings feature a black wild rice option and a sago (both $13.90).
The wine list at Kopi Tiam has always been well considered, with Canberra region selections and quality labels from the likes of WA, SA and Victoria on the list. Also featured are a couple of wines from further afield such as Italy and France. Many wines are available by the glass, carafe or bottle.
A perfect match for us was the Marc Brédif Vouvray Classic (2022) from Loire Valley ($80 a bottle). Corkage is $15 a bottle.
The kitchen was buzzing on our visit and the stream of take-away speaks volumes of how Kopi Tiam dishes it up time and again.
Kopi Tiam caters for any dietary requirements and plenty of options are available for those who want gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian options.
Behind all the glitz and glam of ‘90s boy bands lies a more sinister undercurrent.
So recounts Dirty Pop, the newest doco to make a splash on Netflix.
This three-part series tells the story of music mogul Lou Pearlman, the mastermind who created NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys and what’s believed to be the longestrunning ponzi scheme in US history. He died while in prison in Florida in 2016.
For more than two decades “Big Poppa”, as he was known in music circles, enticed investors and banks to inject cash into companies that only ever existed on paper. It’s believed Pearlman was able to defraud people out of around $US1 billion and it was this same money he used to grow his prolific boy band empire.
Some of the members of those boy bands speak about their relationship with the scam artist in this series. The bands would eventually go on to sue Pearlman for misrepresentation and fraud.
This is a bizarre but fascinating tale that serves simultaneously as a music and true crime doco, a wickedly entertaining combo that’s quickly pushed it to Netflix’s number 1 spot this month.
One of the most intriguing choices about the series is its use of artificial intelligence in its storytelling.
In 2002 Pearlman published an autobiography called Bands, Brands and Billions that the documentary makers have taken direct quotes from to help paint a clearer picture of
from his book.
A bold, if kind of terrifying creative choice here. The directors have expressed no ethical qualms over the decision, saying Pearlman himself faked out so many people so
whole new popular sub-genre of documentaries: lunatics obsessed with animals.
Now the show’s creators are about to drop their production on Binge.
Called Chimp Crazy, this series dives into
children. Like if you mixed Tiger King’s Carole
“I love him like a son.” I won’t spoil what bizarre events unfold, but will say this strange relationship resulted in an intricately planned hoax, a four-year battle with PETA and a heated court case. Chimp Crazy drops on August 18, and like Tiger King before it, this will be an apes*** true story indeed.
NOW streaming on SBS On Demand is 12 Angry Men, a 1957 classic that remains as relevant today as this morning’s global headlines.
It takes place almost entirely in one room, where a dozen jurors debate the trial of an 18-year-old Latino man accused of stabbing his father to death.
All 11 of the men are ready to vote guilty, except for juror 8 (Henry Fonda) who opens the door to doubt.
The following 90 minutes play out in real-time, a fierce discourse that puts the group’s prejudices on full display.
It’s a masterclass in dialogue that’s as heart-pounding as any great action scene. Its arrival on SBS On Demand marks a great, free opportunity for those who haven’t seen it to find out why this film is still talked about so widely today.
Talking to the names making news. Sundays, 9am-noon. IAN MEIKLE NICHOLE OVERALL &
Watch the Sonlife Broadcasting Network on Channel 55 or download the SBN NOW app
By Helen Musa
The music of Giovanni Gabrieli, Antonio Caldara, Domenico Scarlatti and Claudio Monteverdi will be on show at Snow Concert Hall soon in a rare visit from Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.
The choirs celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2020 in the midst of covid, by commissioning 100 Minutes of New Australian Music – featuring compositions by Elena Kats-Chernin, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon and Brett Dean.
A resident company of the Sydney Opera House, they are led by Brett Weymark, artistic and music director since 2003 and very familiar to Canberra audiences from having conducted several operas for Tobias Cole’s Handel in the Theatre company.
Now Weymark is bringing 40 singers from the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Chamber Singers and a tight ensemble of Baroque musicians to the Snow Concert Hall, to perform a program of what he calls “the greatest architectural music of all time”.
The architectural reference is to Rome’s chapels and the balconies overlooking Venice’s Piazza San Marco.
Artistic and music director Brett Weymark… presenting a concert full of “elaborate and highly detailed music, alive with drama and passion”.
The chamber singers specialise in choral repertoire from the Renaissance to the 21st century.
They regularly perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, have premiered Australian music by Canberra’s Dan Walker and in 2016 recorded and released This Secret World, the music of Dan Walker.
The singers will sometimes work in four parts and at other times in up to 16 parts and Weymark can hardly suppress the excitement as he describes a concert full of “elaborate and highly detailed music, alive with drama and passion”.
They haven’t been to Canberra
Photo: Keith Saunders
for 10 years and are collectively thrilled, he says, to explore the new concert hall, the acoustic of which they have not yet heard, but will soon test in a concert that highlights “the intricacies and flexibility of the human voice in its purest form”.
The music, Weymark tells me, is “utterly beautiful” and covers an extraordinary century of sustained musical growth from roughly 1600 to the 1750, traditionally the close of the Baroque.
This is a professional choir at the height of its powers, with the youngest chorister 21 and the oldest in his 70s. They run a wide gamut
Indigenous-intercultural dance company, Marrugeku, will have a frank conversation about the rates of indigenous Australians in custody in Jurrungu Ngan-ga (Straight Talk), inspired by perspectives on incarceration. Among the collaborators are Senator Patrick Dodson, writer Behrouz Boochani, choreographer Dalisa Pigram, visual artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and rapper Rhyan Clapham (Dobby). The Playhouse August 23-24.
Artist Wendy Sharpe will be in conversation with visual arts journalist and writer Elizabeth Fortescue for the opening of her exhibition, Games of Chance. The opening night will also include the Canberra launch of Sharpe’s new book, Many Lives. Aarwun Gallery, Federation Square, Nicholls, August 23.
American cellist and clown Karen Hall is stopping over in Canberra with her show Delusions and Grandeur, after a run at the Sydney Fringe Festival.
Featuring Suite Number One in G Major by JS
of musical styles but have, he says, been chosen for purity of voice. Sopranos are the purest, then come tenors, with the basses producing a fuller sound.
The search for purity accounts for the preference for boy sopranos and also for the fame of the castrati. The idea, he says, was to maintain that boyish purity of sound and add the lung capacity and power.
As for the idea of architectural music, it reached the time of Gabrieli, who in his many years at the Basilica of San Marco, created sculptural surround-sounds and antiphonal effects with his choristers standing in the organ loft or around balconies, with instruments added.
Monteverdi got the same job after Gabrieli and put architectural sounds to practice too, adding the element of word-painting in his exquisite music.
A highlight for Weymark will be the performance of Domenico Scarlatti’s rarely performed Stabat Mater as arranged for 10 individual voices.
It runs for 20-25 minutes and its point, he says, is to make the audience feel the suffering of Mary, while also moving the hearts of the listeners.
Indigenous-intercultural dance company,
Playhouse August 23-24.
Bach and comedic pieces crafted in “idiot classes”, Hall tackles identity, expectations and success through the eyes of a fool. The Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, August 28-30.
Apeiron Baroque is leaping back into the future as it showcases its Walter-style fortepiano. Classical bassoonist Ben Hoadley will join them to perform music by composers such as Edelmann, de Nebra, Haydn, Bengraf, Michl and Fiala. Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, August 18.
Into the Moonlit Village – The Battle of Crete is a new bilingual book of poetry and notes by Cretan-
born Australian Poli Tataraki, with 15 linocuts by local artist Michael Winters, to be launched at the Hellenic Club, Woden, on August 22.
Director, writer and former Daramalan student, Daniel Widdowson, whose documentary Trafficked to Australia we have covered, has filmed a new doco, Mental Health & the Actor’s Life. In it, he interviews CityNews theatre writer and Daramalan College director Joe Woodward as well as Daria Varlamova, Miss Universe Australia 2021, and casting director Tom McSweeney.
Mark Shelley appears as Roy Orbison in a show about the man, his music, and his life. The B, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, August 24.
By Joanne Madeline Moore
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Are you procrastinating about which project to pursue? A bored and unengaged Ram is a recipe for trouble. With the Full Moon activating your aspirations’ zone, you’re keen to act with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. However – with Saturn squaring Jupiter – too much haste could land you in trouble (especially involving family, neighbours, education and/or communication). So do your best to get the balance right between thinking things through and being proactive.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)
With Mercury reversing through your domestic zone, you’ll feel like cleaning, decluttering and rearranging your living space (or tackling a delayed DIY project). But Venus (your ruling planet) is making tricky aspects to Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, so Bulls can expect a busy and bamboozling time. Prepare for some very short timelines. You don’t work well when other people try to hurry you. Have the confidence to cruise at your own preferred pace.
GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)
Mars (the proactive planet) and Jupiter (the confidence planet) are transiting through your sign. So – even though Mercury’s retro – it’s time to be your authentic self! If you don’t accept yourself (warts and all) then why should anyone else? If you don’t develop your talents and follow your dreams, then others won’t do it for you. As birthday great and style icon Coco Chanel observed: “How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”
CANCER (June 22 – July 23)
Expect a disruptive week with a friendship surprise or a financial setback. The Full Moon focus is firmly on money matters. Crabs have a good business brain so make sure you’re using it. If you can get the balance right between being canny with cash and entrepreneurial with ideas, then you could really go places. But Mercury is reversing through your $$$ zone (until August 28-29) so make sure you double-check all financial transactions carefully.
LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)
With Mercury reversing through your sign – and Uranus squaring your ruler, the Sun – you’ll go to extremes as the planets press your ‘Let’s overdo everything’ button. So your motto for the moment is from music icon Mick Jagger (who has four planets in Leo): “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” But resist the temptation to be a right royal bossy-boots. Especially when you don’t get your way. Rather than being pushy, try being charmingly persuasive instead!
VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
Many practical, sensible Virgos are set for a chaotic and challenging week. Mercury is reversing through your solitary zone (hey – where did all my friends go?) and the Jupiter/Saturn square complicates close relationships (hey – what’s the matter with my romantic partner or work colleague?). Clever Virgos will slow down, reevaluate and reboot. Maximum tolerance will get you a lot further than constant criticising and stressed-out angst.
LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
This week, Venus (your patron planet) squares Jupiter/Mars and opposes Saturn. If you are attached, the two of you will be under increased stress due to doubt, illness, money problems or career pressures. Don’t panic! Use the time to work on the relationship in a patient and productive way. If you are single, don’t expect much from the dating scene this week. If you do connect with someone special, there’ll be plenty of roadblocks before the romance takes off.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
Expect professional problems or domestic dramas, as the Full Moon and retro Mercury stir up old grievances. Use your diplomatic talents to help find solutions. However, if you just sit back and let others make decisions, you’ll feel powerless. So strive to be more self-sufficient, especially at home and work. Getting the ratio right between your public and private lives is challenging, but if anyone can juggle conflicting commitments, it’s a strategic Scorpio!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
Many Archers are restless for adventure. You’re keen to head off on an overseas trip, an interstate holiday, or a weekend getaway. But with Mercury still reversing through your travel zone (until August 28-29), be careful your fiery, impatient nature doesn’t land you in hot water! Cautious Saturn is also squaring Jupiter (your patron planet). So smart Sagittarians will slow down and aim to get the balance right between hasty spontaneity and careful preparation.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
This week Mercury is still retrograde, the Full Moon highlights financial matters, and Saturn (your ruling planet) squares Jupiter, which could push your predilection for criticism and perfectionism to the max. Calm down, Capricorn – and don’t take everything so seriously! Jupiter encourages you to sit in the sun with a drink (or two), read a book, play beautiful music, indulge in some birdwatching… and just relax. You might learn to like it.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
This week there’s a Sun/Uranus square, a Full Moon in Aquarius, and Mercury’s reversing through your relationship zone. So you’ll be reliably unpredictable and consistently inconsistent! One half of you wants to snuggle up close with someone special – while the other half longs to be footloose and fancy-free. Try to find the sweet spot between cosy companionship and invigorating independence and resist the urge to be deliberately controversial.
PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
Mercury is reversing through your daily routine zone and the Full Moon lights up your mystery/secrets zone. So many Fish are set for a frustrating and confusing week. Some possible scenarios for frazzled Pisceans? Important phone calls may be missed, diets could be broken, and paperwork could go missing. The best way to handle the ensuing chaos? Slow down… relax… imagine… daydream… meditate… contemplate… ruminate… and escape!
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2024
3 Name one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the ... of Rhodes. (8)
7 Which composer is remembered for the Messiah, George Frederick ...? (6)
8 What is something short-lived or transitory? (8)
9 Who is a sufferer from an adverse action? (6)
10 Which English king was known as “The Unready”? (8)
11 What is a small seal, as in a finger ring? (6)
14 Name another term for stellar. (6)
17 What might we call an atheist? (8)
18 Who “asked for more”? (6)
19 To investigate carefully, is to do what? (8)
20 What are wild, drunken festivities? (6)
21 To be grossly extravagant, is to be what? (8)
1 Who painted the Last Supper, Leonardo ...? (2,5)
2 What is a printing of a newspaper? (7)
3 Which name was adopted by 14 popes? (7)
4 What are dishes of beaten eggs, fried, and served folded around other ingredients? (7)
5 Who clips sheep as a means of livelihood? (7)
6 What is malicious gossip? (7)
11 Name a small, hardy pugnacious weaverbird. (7)
12 Name the first book of the Old Testament. (7)
13 To make a vassal out of someone, is to do what? (7)
14 What is an intoxicating, colourless, inflammable liquid? (7)
15 Name another term for news. (7)
16 What are the units of electrical current? (7)
July has been a crazy month. It started on July 4 when the assistant treasurer released a determination that applies to all tax practitioners and initially was to be effective from August 1.
The thing about a determination is that it doesn't have to go through federal parliament to be approved. It is just an instrument that the assistant treasurer signs; it's tabled and if no-one objects, it automatically becomes law.
So we spent all July updating our quality-control manuals, our staff contracts and everything else to make sure they comply.
Then, on July 31, the assistant treasurer stated that, for small businesses such as mine, these new rules now don't come into play until July 1 next year!
However, tax agents are expected to start to put these plans into place as soon as possible.
In his letter, the assistant treasurer explained these changes were as a result of the controversial PwC's consulting arm's problems.
Where I have difficulty with his comment is that we do not have access to any government input and, therefore, for my small practice this is inapropriate.
Again, there seems to be a difficulty here because this guidance was issued a month after the original determination and contains such advice as "a false or misleading statement is a statement that is false or misleading".
The assistant treasurer has said he will not be changing the determination and the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) will indicate how it is to be dealt with.
The difficulty I have with this is that, as it is legislated determination, it seems to me that anyone bound by it has to rely on the words that it contains and not some interpretation as provided by the TPB.
Not only that, but we may have to report clients, other tax agents or ourselves to the TPB in a variety of undefined circumstances.
There will be a lot more to follow over the coming year. What does that mean for you? Because of the additional work accountants will have to do, it means your fees will most likely increase.
If you are used to turning up to your meeting with your tax agent and saying, I use my phone about 50 per cent of the time and you can’t prove it, you don’t have a claim and you have potentially made a false or misleading statement to your tax agent.
There are some tax agents unaware of this and there is going to be all sorts of reverse workflow coming out of this determination. So you are likely to be asked more questions by your accountant and for more evidence as to your claims.
Also in July, the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) was enacted. This resulted from the Dixon debacle and I’m sure that many of you will have lost money, as a result of having invested in Dixon’s products. If you put in a claim in time, the CSLR will compensate you. This is funded by all the advisers who didn’t do the wrong thing, so someone like me has to pay $5000 for all the problems that Dixon caused.
I find that unconscionable and unpalatable that the way the scheme has been designed means that anyone can make mistakes and their misdemeanors will be paid for by all the people who have done the right thing. Very strange.
So accountants and financial planners are all distressed. For all the people who did the right thing they are having a levy put on them for the people who didn’t. And the tax agents now have a much heavier burden when preparing tax returns.
I plan to provide more detail in a subsequent article.
If you need help with your tax return, financial planning or your super contact the expert team at Gail Freeman & Co on 02 6295 2844.
Disclaimer
This column contains general advice, please do not rely on it. If you require specific advice on this topic please contact Gail Freeman or your professional adviser.
Authorised Representative of Lifespan Financial Planning
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