POLITICS
Help for anyone perplexed by voting MICHAEL MOORE
ARTS
All hell when Zeus spots a wrinkle
NICK OVERALL
Meet our Divine Seizer Barrus Pompous Maximus
How minutes and hours make for confusing times
CLIVE WILLIAMS
Actress caught between two worlds
COLIN STEELE
GARDENING
Ground cover loves the blues
JACKIE WARBURTON
Award-winning Canberra businesswoman RAFFY SGROI wins some more
Find out why on page 16
By Katarina LLOYD JONES
Leesa Mountford says three and a half years ago she was left shocked and unsure of who to turn to when her 25-year-old son, Josh Clarke, took his own life.
Knowing she wanted to do more for raising awareness about suicide, Leesa founded I Got You, a volunteer-led organisation that hosts community events to encourage conversations and share where in Canberra to seek help from.
Josh’s two sisters Mackenzie and Taylor Brown also volunteer at I Got You.
Mackenzie says: “I don’t think anyone expects a suicide to happen to them, but it does impact a whole community.
“Everybody that Josh knew, and he had a large group of friends, it impacted everybody in a different way, it’s the ripple effect.”
In the lead up to World Suicide Prevention Day, on September 10, Leesa says I Got You is organising the Trek of all Trades car convoy, which they first held last year.
The Trek of all Trades will take
Arts & Entertainment 23-26
Crossword & Sudoku 27
Dining & Wine 24
Gardening 22
Keeping Up the ACT 9
Letters 10-11
News 3-12
Politics 4
place on September 15, starting at 8am at the Kamberra Winery Function Centre car park, and finishing at Black Mountain Peninsula, where there will be a barbecue.
Leesa says the tradie aspect comes from Josh, who was working in building and construction before he died.
She says: “He’d been offered an apprenticeship in carpentry the week
Streaming 25 Former boxer Stephen Lovett. Story Page 6. Photo: Katarina Lloyd Jones.
before he [took his own life] and a lot of Josh’s mates are tradies, so it was really about how we can support the building and construction industry, and we’re honouring his legacy while we’re doing that.”
Taylor says: “Our purpose in bringing people together in situations like this is as a reminder that there are people around you.
“We’ve noticed… access to support is not there straight away, unless you know of something like Lifeline.
“So being able to bring people together, understand that there are people there, but also, that you don’t need to be a professional to assist someone, or to remind someone they’re not alone.”
Leesa says the feedback for the
event has been fantastic, with businesses providing financial and emotional support, particularly Delnas Metal Roofing and the Elvin Family.
Leesa says: “Even though Canberra is small, it’s good that the community can come together.”
“We’re not professionals, but we’re all there to support each other, [...] and it’s not clinical, a lot of people go because they know us and our family, or they had a connection to Josh, but there were a few people last year that didn’t know about Josh and they were like, ‘I was having a really rough time so I thought I’d come down’.
“You don’t have to know us, you can just come down for the day.
“You don’t have to have a trade ute, or a van, you don’t have to be in the trade [industry] to participate, it’s just raising awareness that suicide is happening, and the more we talk about it, the more that we’re going to encourage those difficult conversations.”
Leesa encourages early registration for the Trek of all Trades event, as there will only be limited registration on the morning of the car convoy.
The registration fee of $20 entitles participants to an I Got You car flag, and will be used to cover costs of the barbecue.
Register at igotyou.org.au.
Lifeline 131114
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Making good voting choices amongst a plethora of candidates is challenging, says MICHAEL MOORE . Fortunately, there is help for people to understand the best way to cast their vote.
Compulsory voting in Australia is a responsibility of all adults living in
However, it can be challenging to understand the voting system, distinguishing between candidates and understanding policies of individuals, parties and groups.
Making good choices amongst a plethora of candidates is challenging. This is particularly true in the ACT where there is no party ticket, and where preferences are determined by the voters rather than the parties. Compare our system to a new car. Other than mechanics, not too many people know the intricacies of how a new car works, but these vehicles are relatively simple to drive. The same is true of our complex electoral system in the ACT. Not many people really understand the complexities of how it operates. However, it is very easy for voters to use effectively. Fortunately, there is help for people to understand the best way to cast their vote.
Under the leadership of Dr Peter Tait, the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy (CAPaD)
is a non-aligned community based organisation that works to improve understanding of our elections, electoral systems and candidates. With the ACT election just over a month away their work can prove very useful.
CAPaD emphasises, as part of living in a representative democracy, “one power we have is choosing who we elect to represent us”. They provide the footwork of placing voter information in one place to make an informed decision possible.
CAPaD assists voters to select the candidates who they “think are best qualified for the job”. To do this, CAPaD (at canberra-alliance.org.au/ elections/#sctab2024-ACT-Election) provides the research for voters. Each candidate is asked why they are qualified to represent you, how they will strengthen democracy and how they are going to work for your electorate’s interests.
Research carried out by CAPaD recently, over three separate forums, attempted to understand the “qualities of those representatives and particularly how those representatives are going to facilitate community
engagement in policy and legislative decision making”.
The conclusions help to understand what voters should expect from an elected representative. This also provides a framework to judge sitting MLAs and to determine whether they deserve to continue in the Legislative Assembly.
CAPaD’s interviews suggested that the ideal elected MLA represents “the interests, needs and concerns of the wider community in good faith during processes of policymaking”. The person also “forms, implements, administers and advocates for government policy and considers how it tracks through time”.
Recognising that the role has multiple functions, the group determined “the representative may alternate between being a political delegate, advocate and trustee of the community, depending on which role is needed at any given time”.
However, they also discussed the characteristics that would make the best MLAs. These include someone with “a genuine interest in community and people”, a person with “courage” as well as, a “facilitator of community participation” who is “intelligent, clear-thinking” and is “a rare beast – honest, transparent, independent, available, intellectually competent”.
Experience in leadership was also
At Neilan Stramandinoli Family Law, we pride ourselves in our proven track record, our commitment to excellence, and expert knowledge of family law. We understand how difficult and emotional family law matters can be, we are compassionate and empathetic, guiding you towards the best possible solution for you.
For separating couples:
• Parenting arrangements
• Dividing property and superannuation
• Family violence matters
New or existing relationships:
• Best arrangements for your children
• Protecting assets and yourself
• Preserving entitlements
considered an important characteristic.
In summary, CAPaD considers that voters ought to assess characteristics such as “integrity, honesty, transparency and accountability”. Other important issues identified were “putting the community first, not being factionally aligned, being resistant to undue influence from vested
interests, declaring any conflicts of interest, being transparent about funding sources and spending and supporting accountability processes and public scrutiny”.
VoteEasy (voteeasy.com.au) is another group providing assistance for voters. This national group is a non-partisan platform designed for candidates to share information with voters. It is supported by the ACTbased CAPaD. VoteEasy claims to be “an independent online platform, managed without influence”. It “gives candidates a voice and an affordable way to connect with voters and makes it easier for voters to find and know their candidates”.
Vote Easy, like CAPaD, argues voters should be able to find candidate information easily, and an informed voter will make good choices.
Voting is an important responsibility. Thanks to the Hare-Clark system of voting, our citizens have more power than voters anywhere in the world to elect the most suitable candidates to represent them. Thanks to this power, the ACT election on October 19 may be a watershed moment for the citizens of Canberra.
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.
A woman came into my clinic for a consultation about her hearing aids, telling me her hearing aids were 4 years old and she had never found them to be of much help. She said the salesperson quoted her $14,000 for a pair of hearing aids, however, the monthly special of 20% discount meant they cost her $11,200. So, she ‘only’ paid $11,200 for hearing aids that did not help her. Sadly, I hear this all too often.
Here are some things to do to avoid this type of problem:
1. Visit your GP. If you or someone you know has a problem with their hearing, visiting your GP to check for wax in the ears, and to get advice is a starting point.
2. Qualifications. Always check the qualifications of the person you are dealing with. A person without professional qualifications has no business advising you about your hearing. They need to belong to a professional association with a Code of Conduct, so you know they are acting in your best interests, not their own.
years. If you are not sure about their advice, then seek a second opinion. The wrong hearing aids can be an expensive waste and could lead you to stop wearing them. You should always have a trial of hearing aids to ensure that they are right for you.
6 Pensioners and eligible DVA card holders often have entitlement to free services. If you are covered by a government concession, then let the clinician know (even though your clinician should ask). Eligible clients may obtain free hearing tests, consultations, and free hearing aids (referred to as fully subsidized hearing aids).
“A person without professional qualifications has no business advising you about your hearing. They need to belong to a professional association with a Code of Conduct, so you know they are acting in your best interests, not their own.”
– Dr Vass
These hearing aids are appropriate for many people, however if you have great difficulty hearing in background noise (for example a restaurant), then you may want to consider partially subsidized hearing aids. This is when the government pays a certain amount, and you pay for additional features and benefits. Your decision should be based on the following:
you are dealing with a qualified clinician, then they belong to a professional association. The best contact is an independent complaints body referred to as Ethics Review Committee. You can email ethics@auderc.org.au and view the website www.auderc.org.au. You can make an anonymous complaint and your complaint will be handled in a confidential and professional manner. If you are in the ACT, contact the ACT Human Rights Commission email human rights@act.gov au and the website www.hrc.act.gov.au
3. Independent advice. You should get independent, professional advice.
4. There are a wide range of hearing aids out there. Finding the right hearing aids for your communication needs can be challenging. Hearing aids vary in price and performance. Bluetooth® connectivity and rechargeable hearing aids are available on most hearing aids, along with apps that allow you to control your hearing aids from your mobile device. Be aware that just because a hearing aid is more expensive, that doesn’t mean they are the best hearing aid for you.
5. Just as hearing aids vary in performance, clinicians may also vary in performance due to training, experience, and skills. Make sure that you are comfortable and confident in their advice. You are likely to be with this clinician for the life of your new hearing aids, typically 4 to 5
(a) Can you afford the more expensive hearing aids? Don’t go into financial stress if you can’t afford them. (b) Are you clear on the free vs partially subsidized features & benefits? Never believe someone who tells you the free hearings are not good or of poor performance, this is simply not true. (c) If you try the partially subsidized hearing aids and are not happy, then return them. Do not keep hearing aids because you think the failure is yours or that you will improve over time. If the hearing aids are not working for you in the trial period, then they will not work for you in a year or two.
7. If you have a complaint, then seek help. Your clinician should be able to help you through most of your needs. Sometimes, a problem may be beyond the expertise of even the best clinician. However, if you have a complaint there are things you can do. If
the videotapes and then punching the
“That was my life for a long time, I wasn’t focused in school, it was boxing.”
Despite his total dedication to the sport, there was nowhere for him to actually compete in Cowra.
Eventually, Stephen says his dad found him a coach in nearby Canowindra, who was able to take him to
The long-awaited fight ended up a disaster, with Stephen falling ill with food poisoning the day before and los -
So began his complicated relation-
“It was intimidating, boxing, I was scared of getting in the ring, but I
“I was boxing in the amateurs and I won an Australian amateur title, I was a scholarship holder at the Australian Institute of Sport, and I always wanted to take it further, but I didn’t
“Then, I lost the Commonwealth Games selection fights and that’s where I said to my dad: ‘I think I want to turn professional,’ and that was 2010.
After years of cancelled or delayed fights, Stephen was finally given an opportunity to fight, and his win promised the success he had spent decades training for.
But he lost, and he says even his coach recommended he should retire.
“It was really hard. Mentally, it took a toll on me,” he says.
“I really found it hard to let it go, even though throughout the 20 plus years I did it, I dealt with a lot of depression and anxiety because of boxing.
“The pressure I put on myself because I didn’t want to disappoint other people, I didn’t want to disappoint boxing coaches or sponsorship.”
He says after this loss he felt as though he had nowhere to go, and so, he started writing, in the hopes it would give him, and others, closure.
“I had one more fight after that loss, [...] at the Hellenic Club in Woden,” he says.
“I won that fight, and that was the last fight I had.
“It wasn’t a spectacle, it was with a guy with more losses than wins, but for me to get in a boxing ring, that’s the achievement for me.
But, it also acknowledges the strength in walking away, and coming out the other side from such an intense “obsession”.
After spending decades training but never quite getting to where he
the sport.
He says he originally got into boxing when he was 13, through his grandfather, who one day showed him a series of old videotapes of heavyweight boxing games.
could start training, so she took him to the shop to buy a punching bag, which his grandfather hung on an old swing set.
“Every afternoon after school I’d be out there punching the bag, watching
“And from that day, my whole life was dedicated to boxing. That was it. That’s what I was going to do.”
He travelled to Houston, in the US, where he was based for five years under the guidance of Ronnie Shields, but still could not crack the big time.
“To overcome all those fears and all those doubts that I have, for me to step in that ring, I was over the moon when I won that fight.”
Tough Is Not Enough, available in late September at simonandschuster.com.au
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I have never met an Aboriginal of any age and either sex whom I didn’t like… immediately and thereafter.
The first bloke I met was a boundary rider on a far northwest Queensland sheep station where I was a rouseabout in the property’s shearing team.
My mate, the team’s wool presser, Alan Blunt and I were hunting plain turkeys in his VW when we crossed paths on the boundary line.
We stopped and after a while he climbed down from his old mare, and we boiled the billy. Turned out he’d had a small part in Jedda the movie and we had a good old yarn. I met his family later and his father showed me how to throw a killing boomerang, the kind that flies flat, doesn’t come back, but can break a kangaroo’s neck at 70 paces.
After that I met the poet Kath Walker who became Oodgeroo Noonuccal when she expanded her artistic and political range beyond her poetry that at the time was only fair to middling. No, I tell a lie; it was awful. But she was a lovely person, and I was a cadet journo on The Courier-Mail. I wrote a piece that helped get her started on her activist path.
Since then, as private secretary to a Minister for Aboriginal Affairs,
Anthropologist Donald Thomson… “It often felt as though we were sitting side
by side, writing together,” writes Robert Macklin.
tary video maker; then as a Canberra Times columnist initiating our own reconciliation walk across Commonwealth Bridge; and finally while researching my last two books.
I’ve never been disappointed once.
I’m not suggesting they were all paragons of virtue. When the men get a taste for the whitefella booze that offers an escape from the reality of their place at the bottom of the Australian totem pole, they can lash out at the
nearest person to them – usually a wife and mother of their children –just like the wife beaters in our own community.
No one’s perfect, but I’ve constantly felt a unique gentility and an instant generous connection that is all their own. Then four years ago, I began work on the biography of a whitefella who gave his life to the Aboriginal cause, a man of immense courage and deep sensibility, named Donald Thomson.
Our first home-grown anthropologist, Donald spent most of his adult life with them and his experience was similar to mine. The book was a joy to write because he felt exactly the same about them.
He was also a writer and newspaper columnist for much of his life. I used a lot of his work in the book and, though he died in 1970, it often felt as though we were sitting side by side, writing together. It was an absolutely joyous experience.
But here’s the thing we can’t understand – and I invite you to answer the question: Why do our white compatriots so easily forgive the British for not just stealing the Aboriginals’ homeland but then
trying to wipe them out?
And now that the land and its treasures have made us rich, why are they so reluctant to welcome them into the great councils of government? Why do they select just the “stolen generations” to offer an apology, rather than a treaty and some decent recompense to the survivors of the holocaust our kind visited upon them?
How do they suppress a bitterly ironic laughter when our prime ministers and foreign ministers, from both sides of the political aisle, berate other nations for their human rights’ shortcomings while standing up for “our Australian values”?
I can think of a few answers, but none that really makes sense.
The Aboriginal people are our own patriotic forebears in the great south land. They are good people. Why do we hate them so?
robert@robertmacklin.com
Come along and see the friendly free-flying birds that can be photographed and fed. Walk amongst over 500 birds from 50 species from Australia and around the
Peter Stevenson, pictured, who works at Southern Cross Care’s Ozanam Residential Aged Care home at Garran, has won this year’s national Excellence in Pastoral Care award from Catholic Health Australia. A leisure and lifestyle co-ordinator, he established a residents’ choir, which includes several centenar ians and individuals living with dementia.
Year 6 students entering Year 7 in 2025 are invited to apply for a $250 education grant from the Southern Tablelands Group of the Country Women’s Association of NSW. Application forms are available from school principals, local CWA branches or email direct to stgcwa. edgrants@gmail.com. Applications close on October 11. Successful applicants will be notified in early December.
Children’s book author Stephanie Reeder will speak to ladies of the Yerrabi VIEW Club at its next meeting at the Eastlake Club, Gungahlin, from 11am on September 19. New members welcome.
The Hawker Men’s Shed is hosting its quarterly Hawker Community Repair Café and “Made Local” Markets at Hawker International Softball Centre, 45 Walhallow Street, 10am-1pm, on Sunday, September 15. Entry via a gold coin donation. The club says its repair success rate is 85 per cent, that’s 780 items saved from landfill. Bring broken things for repairs and advice on fixing, such as fabric/woollen clothes, furnishings, toys, jewellery, leather goods, electrical appliances, tools, mowers, small motors, bicycles. An Apple Users Group representative for device and application advice will be there, too.
Still looking for Laura
A $500,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for the suspected murder of Queanbeyan woman
Laura Haworth, pictured, more than 16 years ago has been announced by the NSW government.
Police say the last confirmed contact with Laura, then aged 23, was on Saturday, January 5 2008, at a house in Collett Street, Queanbeyan. A week later, Laura’s red Mazda 121 was later located in the ACT at Kanangra Court, Reid. Despite extensive investigations, the mother of two has never been found and police believe she may have met with foul play.
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As a Canberra local, I am saddened to see the decay of our beautiful bush capital with the appalling level of graffiti we see all around.
Has the Labor-Greens government just given up on Canberra? Ten years or even five years ago it wasn’t like this. Aren’t the politicians, local and state, embarrassed by the sight?
It is shameful. Maybe with the coming election they might finally clean it up for a while, until it comes again or is that too cynical of me?
Also, is anyone noticing the abandoned cars on the side of the road? Are there more lately? Is that another sign of decay?
Rachael Nano, Lyons
Hitting the government where it hurts
KEEPING UP THE ACT (CN, August 29) hits the Barr government where it hurts – or should hurt – most: attending to housing needs, maintenance, planning and development of all the ACT, not just the suburbs north of Lake Burley Griffin.
Rather than naming a large suburban area in southern Canberra, Andrew Barr gave clear evidence of being unaware of its existence.
This ignorance is also reflected in the unkempt state of roads, streets and
Housing ACT tenant Maddie Lewis complained to Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry about the state of water at her Kingston home.
She sent us photographs of the water in her sink and bathtub, and a copy of Minister Berry’s letter to her.
The Housing and Suburban Development Minister wrote to say Housing ACT had been around and she was “pleased to hear a water sample has been tested and the results have confirmed the water meets the requirements of Australian
footpaths; areas of government-owned public land, paved areas in public places such as neighbourhood shops; road verges, and suburban street nature strips.
In the Deakin shops there are vertical displacements of up to three centimetres between concrete slabs near the supermarket, which is often bustling with pedestrians.
Larger areas of public land are sometimes left unmown for weeks, if not months. A large tree limb has been lying where it fell
Drinking Water Guidelines”.
Maddie is not so convinced, writing: “I’m pretty sure she sends out invisible people to do these tests… CCTV hasn’t spotted anyone from the ACT government taking a sample in the last four years.
“Assuring vulnerable ACT residents this water is ‘perfectly fine’ is an utter disgrace. I highly doubt she’d drink this.”
many years ago near the Deakin Anticline official Geological Monument.
The verges of major roads are at times festooned with tall grass, weeds and “automotive jetsam” such as bottles, cans and cardboard cups.
I have lived in Canberra for more than 70 years, and have often thought about how lucky I was. Mr Barr has ended that lucky feeling: hopefully it will return after the October 19 ACT election.
Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin
I do not believe Mr Barr, if still in power, will build on hilltops as Monica Beran (letters, CN August 22) is concerned about.
It would be the modern equivalent to the folly of building a tramline in Canberra in the 21st century. A cost/benefit study would show that even on purely financial grounds, it did not justify itself.
Early in the development of Canberra, the water treatment plant was placed on Mt Stromlo at an elevation of 2800ft with water pumped from Cotter Dam.
Later, water from Bendora could be obtained by gravity feed as Bendora is over 4000ft. Most are familiar with the pipelines along the Cotter Road. It was stipulated in the urban plans that no housing could be above 2500ft so reservoirs for each suburb (at about 2600ft) could also be gravity fed from Stromlo and thus also gravity feed the dwellings and group centres.
The hills of Canberra would be retained as reserves enhancing the landscape. There would be significant engineering costs to supply water to residences on hilltops, above the current reservoirs, quite apart from the scenic vandalism that such a move would entail! Surely someone can find a Golden Sun Moth. Or what about the NCA doing its job for a change and rule it out at the start?
Peter Haddon, chartered professional engineer, Jerrabomberra
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Bus investment twice as effective
Mike Quirk incorrectly claims (Letters, August 20) that the ACT government has failed to evaluate bus rapid transport.
The ACT government’s evaluations show that investing in bus rapid transit is twice as effective as investing in light rail.
Using standard economic scenarios, the government concluded that each dollar invested in bus rapid transit stage 1 would generate $1.98 worth of benefits, compared with only $1.02 for light rail stage 1; 38 cents for light rail stage 2a and 72 cents for light rail stage 2b.
Using more optimistic, but more questionable scenarios, the government concluded that each dollar invested in bus rapid transit stage 1 would generate $4.78 worth of benefits, compared with only $2.34 for light rail stage 1, 56 cents for light rail stage 2a and $1.18 for light rail stage 2b. If the government had invested in bus rapid transit, then for the cost of light rail stage 1 buses would now be travelling from Gungahlin to Woden (via Civic) in 40 minutes. Light rail won’t be ready to travel from Gungahlin to Woden until 2033, would cost billions more and would take 10 minutes longer.
Leon Arundell,
Downer
ABC’s Australian Story “Flash Point” (August 14) on WA independent (the former Labor) Senator Fatima Payman revealed how the useful idiots (in the political media) are self-appointed interpreters for the politically deaf (the voting public).
The narrative was introduced as “she saw it as an act of conscience... her colleagues considered it treachery”.
Probably explains the inclusion of David Crowe, chief political correspondent Nine, instead of independent Senator Lidia Thorpe. Crowe had to remind us about the disloyalty/treachery of Payman. Sadly, being so out of place, he came across like someone auditioning for a Labor media adviser role.
The useful idiots were clearly angry at the young senator for not playing the game – as they script it. Politics is a mutual respect thing – you let your caucus colleagues know and the media magically appears to keep you on message. Unfortunately, Payman had already been advised “if you don’t want anything to be leaked, don’t bring it up in caucus”. Instead, she visited a uni student encampment for Gaza, with some breakfast and hot Afghan tea. “I hadn’t told anyone because I didn’t want this to be a photo op,” she said, thereby gaining the trust and respect of the students.
Not only did she lack “clearance”, she didn’t even get lines on what to say, what not to say – as every token representative of diversity must. Scripted by former news hacks, these make the media’s job so much easier.
The real narrative that emerged is Payman’s damning indictment of Labor: “I don’t think they’re ready to have diversity with a voice”.
Michael A Crowe, Hawker
Like deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley, Liberal senator Jane Hume recently rushed to cocoon Peter Dutton from criticism of his unacceptable behaviour on the floor of his workplace.
While Ley railed against her leader being “vilified” for making racially charged remarks, Hume branded the teal MPs’ frustrations and well-justified concerns about unprofessional behaviour and language as a mere “political stunt”.
In the commercial media she also claimed, strangely and dismissively, that the independents misunderstand their parliamentary role.
These senior Liberal women are hardly likely to attract female voters back to their party when they can’t be bothered showing some leadership and collegiality about improving politicians’ communications
inside and outside both chambers (“Why the watchdog won’t stop bad behaviour”, citynews.com.au August 22).
Soon after, when Dutton approached another favoured news outlet to attack the teals and most other parliamentarians as “Hamas’ useful idiots”, he again displayed the Liberals’ lazy inability to cast off their traditional crutches of base politicking and dog-whistling.
Having purse-lipped senior females reinforcing these traits, with their protective “yes, sir” condemnations and put downs of others, undermines any federal opposition efforts to offer itself up as an even half decent alternative government.
Sue Dyer, Downer
I hate to say it, but ANU academic Ian Wallis’ subjective view of who should be allowed to comment on issues of interest and importance to us sounds a little pretentious (letters, CN August 22).
Not all of us gain our “expertise” through scholarship, ie, formal higher level education (if that’s what Ian’s implying). For many, our lived experience and our personal desire to improve our understanding through personal study, provides us with at least a good working knowledge of particular subjects and issues.
Of course there are many who base their
opinions on misinformation, or around a narrow ideology or a particular theology. These too, however, are allowed to be aired, as in any reasonable democracy they should be.
The answer, rather than “ban” those whom you believe don’t meet your exacting intellectual standards (however noble they may be) is to provide a more evidenced and, hopefully more persuasive, response.
No one can claim this part of the democratic process always works, but history is fairly unequivocal about the outcomes when only one side of an argument is allowed to be heard.
Eric Hunter, Cook
Ian Wallis (letters, CN August 22) from ANU is direct in his response to Vi Evans’ August 8 letter when he says that no-one has the right to express an opinion unless they have expertise in a subject, a right earned through considerable scholarship.
Freedom of speech and the ability to express one’s view is the essence of a vibrant, well-functioning democracy.
Oher CityNews letter writers offered Vi suggestions on how to increase her history knowledge. Providing new information, not censoring other people’s views, is the surest path to a more learned society.
Peter Horton, McKellar
While your columnist Michael Moore (“Many Jews oppose Israeli war on Palestinians”, CN August 29) may find supporters for his statement: “There is a reluctance amongst journalists and columnists to call out Israel on its disproportionate war on the Palestinian people”, I am glad to say I am not one of them.
Opposingly, there is also a disturbing tendency amongst journalists and columnists, who portray Hamas as the victims, conveniently ignoring last year’s brutal attack on Israel and the murder, rape and mutilation of more than 1200 innocent Israeli citizens.
Mr Moore might also want to consider that the current war is not against the Palestinian people but against their elected government, Hamas, an internationally recognised terrorist organisation.
Yes, many do see the Israeli response as disproportionate, but what did Mr Moore expect the Israeli government to do?
No one wants to see the bloodied bodies of innocent children paraded on our screens, victims of a war they did not choose to be part of, but you cannot fight a conventional war, against ruthless terrorists who are difficult to identify, embed themselves in the local population, hide under civilian buildings, hospitals and schools and use their own citizens as shields.
Declan Mcgrath, via email
“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all its pupils.”
–Hector Berlioz
Somebody should start a movement to do away with am and pm. Have you wondered at the apparent illogicality of 11am being followed by 12pm and 11pm being followed by 12am?
By the way, “am” stands for “ante meridiem”, a Latin phrase meaning “before midday”, while “pm” stands for “post meridiem”, meaning “after midday”.
On the 12-hour clock, 12pm is considered to come after the meridiem so the next minute is 12.01pm with the next hour being 1pm. This confusion is avoided with the 24-hour clock where it would be expressed as 1201 with the next hour being 1300.
In the case of the end of the day, 11pm is followed by 12am or midnight where the clock goes from 12am to 12.01am. With the 24-hour clock 12.01am is 0001.
Military forces all use the 24-hour time system to avoid confusion. The current 12-hour system is idiotic. Fortunately, it would not often be the case that 12 midday would be confused with 12 midnight. However, I was at a conference
Clocks… In the case of the end of the day, 11pm is followed by 12am or midnight where the clock goes from 12am to 12.01am. With the 24-hour clock 12.01am is 0001.
in the US and one of the other delegates suggested we play tennis at 5.30. I agreed, thinking that he meant 5.30pm. Many Americans get up at incredibly uncivilised times. Fortunately, he went on to say that we should have breakfast afterwards, so it clicked that he meant post-dawn. That was the last time I played early morning tennis.
Another complaint I have is about how the date is written. American
civilians put the date in the order of Month/Day/Year (MM/DD/YYYY) which can cause confusion as most of the rest of the world uses the Day/ Month/Year format (DD/MM/YYYY). The use of the MM/DD/YYYY format in the US has historical and cultural roots\ having been used since colonial days. This format likely evolved from the way dates were spoken in English. For instance, people would say “July 4th,
1776,” which naturally leads to the month-day-year order when written in numbers.
Early American printed materials, including newspapers and official documents also used the monthday-year format. Once this practice was established in printed media, it became standard practice and has persisted. In American English, dates are still spoken in the month-day-year order (eg, “December 25, 2024”).
There is occasional US use of the international ISO 8601 date format (YYYY-MM-DD) in contexts requiring clarity and standardisation, such as in computing and international communications. (ISO 8601 is an international standard covering the worldwide exchange and communication of date and time-related data.) Ironically, (YYYY-MM-DD) is the way the logical Chinese have always spoken and written the date.
Americans in the US tend to presume the result of the world does as it does, which can sometimes prove beneficial. A few years ago, a friend of mine had an Australian Greyhound coach “ride anywhere” ticket with expiry of 12 June 2010 written as 12/06/2010. When he got to America,
he got a further six months’ use out of it because American Greyhound staff read it as expiry December 6, 2010.
On a lighter note, a time-related anecdote:
A worried Alfonse arrives at the doctor’s office and says: “Doc, you’ve got to help me! I’m shrinking! Two weeks ago, I was six foot four; then last week I was five foot ten, and today I’m only five foot two!”
The doctor flips through his appointment book, and says, “Well, things are pretty busy around here, but I can fit you in a week from Tuesday.”
“A week from – oh no, that’s too late! I’ll be shorter than my poodle by then! You have to help me now!”
The doctor replies: “I appreciate your concern, but I’m afraid you’re just going to have to be a little patient.”
Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.
threats.
At BluePackets, we understand the importance of proactive security measures. We’ve observed a phenomenon we call the “Security Dividend,” where clients who invest in security experience fewer issues and require less reactive support. By prioritising security, our clients not only save money in
mind.
To Canberra’s west lies Weston Creek, a district with a strong sense of community and a variety of friendly businesses.
Weston Creek was named after Capt George Edward Weston, a former officer of the East India company, who came to Australia in 1829 and was granted land in the Weston Creek area in 1841.
Today, the area is made up of eight suburbs: Waramanga, Fisher, Weston, Rivett, Duffy, Holder, Chapman and Stirling.
In this feature CityNews speaks with people and businesses who have established themselves in Weston Creek.
Manoosh Pizzeria’s rebrand to Ooshman marks a fresh start while retaining the essence of its beloved offerings and the same good food, says founder Charlie Hoyek.
Starting as a single pizzeria in Enmore, Manoosh is now a thriving business with 18 locations across NSW and the ACT, and Samir Patel, owner of the Weston store, invites Canberra to find out why it is so popular.
Charlie says the name change comes from the word Manoosh becoming increasingly common among independent bakeries, prompting him to seek a distinctive identity for the future.
“This rebrand is more than just a change of name; it represents a revitalisation that brings fresh ideas and innovation,” he says.
Sanctuary Aus is a notfor-profit family support service based in Holder that is purpose-built for Canberra, says Kim HefrenWebb, executive director.
“Our major focus is in providing behaviour support services to children and young people up to the age of 25 years,” says Kim.
“We provide holistic services, focusing on the child and including the family in our work.
city, says Kim, which is why Sanctuary Aus aims to help build connected communities.
“We provide Circle of Security training, which is an attachment-based training program for families,” she says.
“The rebranding effort was guided by customers’ involvement, with Ooshman emerging as the top choice from a poll,” he says.
“This not only reflects a clever twist on the original name but also resonates deeply with the brand’s history and community engagement.”
Charlie says Ooshman’s new logo and look introduces a vibrant colour scheme, focusing on green, symbolising the cedar tree, which is a nod to Lebanon’s heritage.
Charlie says his vision for Ooshman is not only to honour the past, but to embrace the future with enthusiasm and a commitment to providing the same great food that defines the brand.
“Join us on this exciting journey as we continue to serve the delicious dishes you love. Ooshman, here we are,” says Charlie.
Ooshman, Shop 1/19-27 Trenerry Street, Weston. Call 6189 8979, or visit ooshman.au
“We have been providing behaviour support to Canberra’s children and young people for over five years and are proud of the individualised and personal service we provide, rather than producing high turnovers of onesize-fits-all services and assessments.
“At Sanctuary Aus, we have two goals, the first is to provide professional child and family services for vulnerable families. The second is to build community.”
A lot of families parent in isolation in Canberra and have difficulty building community because it is such a mobile
Kim says Sanctuary Aus tries to help the families who can’t access the current Circle of Security programs in Canberra, as many of them take place during business hours.
Kim says they also run two children’s support groups: one is Cool Kids with ASD, which supports children with autism to manage their anxiety and learn coping skills.
They also have Club Mojo, which teaches children between seven and 11 how to understand their emotions or others’ emotions.
Sanctuary Aus. Call 0431 449 822, visit sanctuaryaus.org.au or email info@sanctuaryaus.org.au
“As a charity we work with families on how we can create long-term positive change”
Local charity ‘Sanctuary Aus’ is a child and family service, custom-built for the Canberra community by professionals with decades of therapeutic and management experience.
OUR PROGRAMS INCLUDE:
• Positive Behaviour Support Services: Holistic and attachment focused services for young people with disabilities, who are displaying challenging behaviours.
• Cool Kids with Autism: Specialist anxiety management program for children 7 - 12 yr/o. Accredited by Macquarie Uni.
• Club Mojo: For 7 - 12 yr/o kids who are struggling to manage their emotions and social skills.
• Circle of Security: Internationally recognised attachment focused program for parents/carers: flexible home or web based delivery.
• Counselling: Attachment based counselling for young people and parents.
• Women's Carer Support Group: Come along and meet some new people, do an activity and share lunch with us! Free to attend.
I have witnessed the positive growth that my son has been displaying since working with Sanctuary Aus -Canberra mum
Car Mechanical Services is the champion in the automotive services category at the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.
The judging criteria includes entrant’s strategies, growth plans, financial performance, eco-friendliness, innovation, customer service quality and community support, so it’s no surprise that co-owner of Car Mechanical Services, Raffy Sgroi, received the prestigious award.
Raffy also received a bronze Stevie award for the Sustainability Leadership Award in Asia, Australia and NZ at the 21st International Business Awards.
Raffy says sustainability is incredibly important to her, and while she embraces the shift to electric vehicles, she also acknowledges the mechanical industry needs to do their best to “clean up.”
“When we’re talking about sustainability, we think it’s all EV vehicles,” Raffy says.
“Obviously we’re supportive of that but there are about 286 motor vehicle repairers in the ACT.
“So for us, the main focus now is, we’re transitioning to e-vehicles, but the reality is we’re going to have another 20 years of combustion cars on the roads, so how can we actually make our industry greener, and cut off some emissions and pollution out of that?”
Raffy’s commitment to cleaning up the industry is not just empty words, with Car Mechanical Services being one of the first automobile companies in Canberra to win a
sustainable small business of the year award, in 2023.
She says they focus on proper recycling, using less chemicals and encouraging more regular maintenance of vehicles, as that way there is less associated waste.
Car Mechanical Services is also focused on providing training programs, as there is always a training shortage in the automobile industry, Raffy says.
This includes the My Career Portfolio, which has been an ongoing program that blends mentorship, practical experience and hands-on learning.
Raffy’s dedication to changing the industry also extends to encouraging more female participation.
“I always want to include more females in the industry,” she says.
“We achieved a 40 per cent rate of trainees being female in the last 18 years, which is a positive result, but it’s still not enough because we’ve still only got one per cent of females in the [overall] industry.
“We’re leading by example, and when you’ve got an inclusive workplace, there is harmony.”
Raffy’s commitment to inclusion in the industry was recently recognised at the 2024 Beam Awards, where she was awarded Silver in the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion category.
Car Mechanical Services, 82 Kalgoorlie Crescent, Fisher. Call 6162 4111 or visit carmechanicalservices.com.au
This year marks 45 years since Car Mechanical Services co-owner Charlie Sgroi has had “spanners in his hands” and started his apprenticeship, says co-owner Raffy Sgroi.
She says he has stuck with it continuously, never changing jobs and having stayed servicing the Weston Creek community for much of that time, too.
“Everybody knows him, and his integrity speaks volumes,” says Raffy.
“And he’s really good with the new generation, he really wants to pass on that legacy to any young people that are wanting to get into the industry.”
Raffy says it is easy for “old school” people to become frustrated with newer generations and industry changes, but that she is constantly amazed by Charlie’s embrace of it all.
“Usually you lose passion as you’re getting older in your job, but he’s still got that spark,” she says.
“He wants to see kids getting passionate about motors and how mechanical engineering works.
“He’s also really pleased, and I can see the twinkle in his eye, that young girls are coming around and having a go. Giving that possibility to everyone, it was a high priority.
“He had always decided to focus
on the purpose of his business more than the profit.”
Raffy says Charlie’s enthusiasm for the job also extends to the rapidly changing world of electric vehicles.
“Even if you don’t want to go and modify your shop completely for e-vehicles yet, you still need to be getting into training and upskilling yourself, so he’s been embracing that marvellously,” she says.
“For someone that could say, ‘oh, I’ve only got a few years left in the industry,’ it always strikes me how he is still embracing that.”
Raffy says this willingness to upskill and seek knowledge about innovation in the industry by Charlie is what has allowed them to keep running for such a long time, and it is his commitment to inclusion that has allowed them to focus so much on the community.
It’s not just Raffy who sees his dedication either, with the two of them, through Car Mechanical Services, being named the winner of a gold Stevie award in the Best Entrepreneur - Automotive & Transport Equipment category at the 21st International Business Awards.
Car Mechanical Services, 82 Kalgoorlie Crescent, Fisher. Call 6162 4111 or visit carmechanicalservices.com.au
Children can have treatments bulk-billed to Medicare, but some conditions apply.
Dr Nathan says they have a new patient offer that includes a comprehensive examination, professional scale, clean and polish, fluoride treatment if clinically indicated and routine X-rays (not including OPGs and CBT scans) for $239.
Other services available at Weston Creek Dental Care include cosmetic dentistry, teeth whitening, veneers, crowns and bridges, fillings, dental implants and emergency dentistry and general dentistry. They have recently relocated to a new space at Cooleman Court Family Dental Services, she says. Weston Creek Dental Care, 8/14 Brierly St, Weston Creek. Call 6288 3734 or visit westoncreekdentalcare.com.au
• A comprehensive examination
• Professional scale, clean & polish
• Fluoride treatment if clinically indicated
• Routine x-rays (Does not include OPGs & CBCT scans)
*See website for full terms & conditions or enquire at reception
We aim to help our patients achieve optimal oral health. From routine 6 monthly cleans, to more complex procedures like root canals, our experienced dental professionals are dedicated to providing top-of-the-line care with a gentle touch.
• General dentistry
• Specialist Orthodontist available for braces
• Children’s Dentistry including Mouth Guards
• Children “bulk-billed” to Medicare (conditions apply)
• Cosmetic Dentistry – Teeth Whitening – Veneers – Crowns & Bridges – Fillings – Dental Implants
• Emergency dentistry
WESTON
Shop 1/19-27 Trenerry St, Weston (02) 6189 8979
GREENWAY 15 Limburg Way, Greenway (02) 6109 8247 GUNGAHLIN Shop 3/46 Hibberson Street, Gungahlin (02) 6112 8024
Car Mechanical Services, a leading automotive service provider based at 82 Kalgoorlie Crescent, Fisher ACT, has achieved remarkable success by winning two prestigious Stevie ® Awards. Owned by Raffy and Charlie Sgroi, the business has earned widespread acclaim for its excellence in the automotive industry, securing both a Gold and a Bronze Stevie ® Award.
The company was awarded the Gold Stevie ® Award in the categories of Best Entrepreneur for the Automotive Industry and the Sustainability Leadership Award. These honours celebrate the company’s outstanding entrepreneurial achievements and its commitment to integrating sustainable practices into its operations. The Gold Award is a testament to the dynamic leadership and innovative strategies that have driven Car Mechanical Services to the forefront of the industry.
In addition to the company’s triumph, Raffy Sgroi was personally recognized with a Bronze Stevie ® Award in the Sustainability Leadership Award – Asia, Australia, and New Zealand category at the 21st Annual International Business Awards ®. This
purpose ethos that prioritizes social impact, community engagement, and sustainability.
The Bronze Stevie ® Award underscores the importance of Raffy’s role in championing environmentally-
the industry, making their business a standout performer in the region.
The Sustainability Leadership Award further reflects the company’s proactive stance on environmental responsibility. By implementing
Mechanical Services is not only a local success story but also an international example of how innovation and sustainability can drive industry excellence.
lence, sustainability, and innovation. Located at 82 Kalgoorlie Crescent, Fisher, CMS has been a pillar of the automotive industry, dedicated to providing top-notch repair and maintenance services for both conventional and electric vehicles. Our state-ofthe-art facility, led by directors Charlie Sgroi and Raffy Sgroi, combines decades of experience with a strong focus on environmental stewardship, diversity, and inclusion.
We pride ourselves on our rigorous approach to customer satisfaction, employing advanced diagnostic tools and sustainable practices to ensure every vehicle receives the highest standard of care.
CMS is also recognised for its extensive community engagement and educational initiatives, reflecting our ongoing commitment to advancing the automotive profession and supporting the next generation of technicians.
About the Stevie Awards
The International Business Stevie Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organisations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small – are eligible to submit nominations. The 2024 IBAs received entries from organisations in 62 nations, with more than 3,600 nominations, the Stevie Awards recognise outstanding performances
Announced winner of the prestigious accolade at the awards’ glittering Na tional Presentation Evening Gala held at Sydney’s The Star during August, Car Mechanical Services, represented by Raffy Sgroi, who is no stranger to accolades, received the invaluable kudos as a nation ally recognised industry leader.
This year marks the third consecutive year of the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards, created specifically to shine a spotlight on the rising economic, cultural and social contributions of female-led small businesses spanning all capital cities as well as rural, regional and suburban towns.
This year’s Awards attracted thousands of entrants across more than 65 categories in retail, services and manufacturing industries.
Car Mechanical Services scored the highest result in the Automotive Services category, comprehensively judged by an independent expert panel that considered various aspects of small business operations, including each entrant’s strategies, growth plans, financial perfor mance, eco-friendliness, innovation, customer service quality and community support, to name but some of the
“Being selected as a Champion of this major event from a national entrant pool of thousands speaks volumes of the tenacity and leadership at Car Mechanical Services,” said Steve Loe, Awards Founder and Manag ing Director of Precedent Productions, which coordinates the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion
“The Awards honour the nation’s most exceptional female leaders today who are making an indelible mark on the small business sector. Raffy Sgroi is among a highly esteemed group of recognised Champions and as such, she and husband and business partner Charlie ought to feel immensely proud of her achievements and of the Car Mechanical Services team.” said Mr Loe.
Gold Stevie® – Best Entrepreneur for the Automotive Industry and the Sustainability Leadership Award 2024
Raffy Sgroi – Bronze Stevie® Award in the Sustainability Leadership Award – Asia, Australia and New Zealand 2024
Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Award 2024 –Car Mechanical Services
Raffy Sgroi, CEO – Australian Women’s Business Champion Awards 2023
Australian Small Business Champion Award Automotive Champion 2023
Most Outstanding Canberra Automotive Services 2021-2022-2023
ACT Business of the Year 2023
ACT Sustainable Small Business of the Year 2023
Global Recognition Award Diverse and inclusive workplace 2023
Friendly staff, excellent workmanship and reasonable prices.
Barry M
Excellent mechanics with great customer service.
Stephanie T
Always friendly and helpful. Experienced and professional staff with the work completed on time. I would highly recommend this business.
Jenny C
Beauty isn’t only about looking good, it’s also about feeling good, and there’s nothing quite like some self-care to get you feeling beautiful, inside and out. Whether it’s a pamper session at the spa, or investing in proper footwear, Canberra has something for everyone. In this feature CityNews speaks with some of the Canberra specialists who help to make clients look and feel amazing.
“As the weather warms up, it’s time to swap out the winter wardrobe and bring on summer,” says Happy Fit Footwear founder Jane Earl.
“Before you pull out your thongs, remember, your feet are your foundation.” Jane is a podiatrist at ACT Podiatry and says they see so many prob lems that can be helped with proper footwear.
During covid lockdowns, Jane says they saw a spike in foot problems associated with a decreased dependence on enclosed (ie more supportive) footwear.
“People were opting to potter around in thongs or go barefooted, and their feet didn’t like it,” she says.
“If your feet aren’t properly supported, they may start to tire and ache. This can lead to a number of common foot problems including plantar fasciitis and arch strain.
“And it’s not only the feet that suffer. If your feet are poorly aligned or are rolling-in excessively, this can cause pain in the legs, knees, hips and lower back.”
Jane says Happy Fit Footwear specialise in good-quality, stylish and supportive footwear.
“We want people to feel good about their feet, and the way they look,” she says.
“We also cater to people who wear orthotics and those with tricky-to-find sizes.
“Shoes make people happy, and it’s a shame that people with difficult feet aren’t always able to enjoy them.”
Happy Fit Footwear has just received a huge
well as new seasons Ziera and Naot styles and, with more on its way, Jane says it’s a great time to visit.
Happy Fit Footwear, Shop 11, 11 Bougainville Street, Griffith and 10/146 Scollay Street, Greenway. Call 6176 3422 or visit happyfitfootwear.com.au
Marina Belibassakis opened her hair salon, Artistry M Hair, two years ago.
“I’ve been hairdressing for 20 years, freelancing for the past three years and it was just time to open up my own salon and do my own thing,” she says.
“This is my journey, this is a step into doing my own thing, control my own decisions and have more freedom and flexibility, which is the dream.
“It’s nice seeing your work walking around on people, and just making people feel and look good. I like meeting people from all walks of life and making and keeping those relationships.
“We do cuts and colours, and we’re good at it,” she says.
Marina has a freelancer work ing with her at Artistry M Hair.
“We’ve been working together for a while, Hair by Genevieve is her business name,” says Marina.
“We provide a safe environment, we’re professional, we do the best that we can and we love what we do, and we make it fun.
Quintessence Nail and Beauty in Belconnen has everything needed to feel pampered with gift vouchers, skin care kits, gift sets, make-up sets, handmade earrings, candles, diffusers and more, says owner Alicia Fragopoulos.
“We are a one-stop beauty shop for all beauty needs,” she says.
“We provide waxing and tinting services, manicures and pedicures, massages, facials, tanning, laser hair removal, lash extensions, lash lifts, henna brows, brow lamination, teeth whitening and spa packages.”
Alicia says she loves the feeling of being pampered and relaxed, and purchased the business in 2016 to provide the same kind of escape for others.
“Every day brings different treatments, clients and conversations. It’s very rewarding to see clients leaving happy, fresh and relaxed,” she says.
“We are professional, caring and kind and enjoy making people look and feel good,” she says.
This spring, Alicia says they are offering rejuvenating spring facial experiences that reflect a holistic and naturopathic approach to skincare.
They also have a 10 per cent discount for seniors’ card holders on Tuesdays, she says.
Quintessence nail and beauty, 2/9 Page Place, Page. Call 6278 5334, or visit beautysalonbelconnen.com.au
is in the Hair!
Artistry M Hair has creative spaces available for hire in our modern salon
Phone: 5105 7304
Mobile: 0422 348 694 Shop 70, 27 Wiseman St, Macquarie
Online bookings available artistrymhair.com.au
Explore ancient healing wisdom and time honoured water therapies to support rejuvenation, regeneration and vitality through artisan inspired rituals combining the healing and relaxation of holistic principles.
• Intense Exfoliation Rituals
• Decadent Facials tailored to your concerns
• Body Wrap Rituals
• Hand, Feet & Hair Treatments
IN the heart of Manuka, ACT, there exists a hidden gem that has been transforming the lives of locals one undergarment at a time. Stephanie’s Underwear Boutique stands as a beacon of comfort, quality, and confidence in the realm of intimate apparel.
With a keen focus on perfect fitting underwear and personalised bra fitting services, Stephanie’s store has earned its reputation as a haven for those seeking comfort without compromising style.
Stephanie’s Boutique Lingerie opened in 1992 and is renowned as a specialist and leader in bra fittings. “Stephanie’s has one simple philosophy that underpins every aspect of the boutique – beauty and comfort,” says Owner, Fil Barilaro. “Beautiful, well-fitted undergarments should provide skin-soft comfort that lets you be yourself. “We invite you to experience the personal satisfaction that comes from confidently wearing some of the world’s most elegant and best quality lingerie. “Tell us your mood and our expert team of fitters will help choose a style and brand of lingerie perfect for your body. Tell us your irritations with your current underwear and we will have them vanish forever.”
Fil says her team are widely respected as the best fitting service in Canberra and hand-select a range of brands to suit all body shapes and sizes. “Once we complete your first fitting, we securely store the details of what suited you. This makes your next visit one where we show you new styles, perfect for you or someone buying you a gift,” she says.
The personalised fitting services ensure that every woman leaves with a bra that provides the perfect blend of support, comfort, and style. This attention to detail sets Stephanie’s Boutique apart, as it caters to the individual needs of each customer,
promoting not only physical comfort but also a boost in self-assurance. Beyond the physical benefits, Stephanie’s Boutique also offers an extensive range of high-quality, carefully curated brands. From luxurious lace to everyday essentials, the store boasts an array of options that cater to various tastes and lifestyles.
Stephanie’s Boutique is more than just a store; it’s a testament to the power of personalised care in the realm of intimate apparel. In a world where comfort and confidence go hand in hand, Stephanie’s expertly curated selection and fitting services have become a cornerstone destination for beautiful women across ACT.
Stephanie’s Boutique Lingerie is located in Manuka Arcade, Manuka. Call 6295 0469 or visit stephaniesboutiquelingerie.com.au
Stephanie’s Boutique Lingerie is located in Manuka Arcade and welcomes you to call in and browse the wide range of new season stock, make an appointment for a personalised fitting
Manuka Arcade, Manuka www.stephaniesboutiquelingerie.com.au 6295 0469
stephanies@vergola.com.au
Total Body Contouring in Franklin Street, Griffith, has expanded to the building next door, says owner Christy Christensen. Through this expansion, Christy says Total Body Contouring has now welcomed a quali fied and experienced doctor, who is available for botox and other injectable treatments.
Injectable treatments include BioRegenerator (Rejuran) for face and neck, scar treatment, and periorbital rejuvenation, masseter reduction and facial slimming injections, and thread lift, a non-surgical procedure that uses threads under the skin to create a smoother appearance, says Christy.
She says dermal filler injections, antiwrinkle injections and collagen stimulators are also on offer, done by the in-house doctor.
Alongside these new services, they have the Venus Viva, a non-surgical, skin resurfacing device that utilises NanoFrac tional radio frequency technology, facial lymphatic drainage massages, and Lumixa Skin Therapy, including skin normaliser, collagen booster and age control treatments.
“We have so much to offer for the next phase of growth and service offerings,” she says.
But, regular services are still available, says Christy, “and fat freezing is still only $320.”
Christy says Total Body Contouring is about building body confidence.
“We give a personalised experience and journey, everyone is different,” she says.
“First, we set up a consultation to make sure you get the right specialisation for your needs and wants.
“With industry certification for all our services, your safety comes first.”
Total Body Contouring, Shop 2 and 3/22 Franklin Street, Griffith. Call 6239 7347, or visit totalbodycontouring.com.au
Owner of Deziner Beauty Louise McMahon says she’s felt right at home in the Queanbeyan community since first moving from Batemans Bay more than a decade ago.
“Everyone here is so bubbly and down to earth and really welcoming and really helped my business grow,” says Louise.
“With a passion for beauty, we team up to give the best beauty experience possible. We want to give the best we can back to the community.”
Louise, who has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, says she’s currently got a series of special
“Our facials are our signature treatment and we love transforming people’s faces, through facelifts and body contouring, make-up or waxing.
“We can take 10 years off your skin with all the amazing treatments and products we have, including a non-surgical facelift.”
Deziner Beauty, Shop 16/18 Cassidy’s Arcade, 72 Monaro Street, Queanbeyan. Call 6299 5792 or visit dezinerbeauty.com.au
Cooltech, also known as fat freezing, is a popular, non-surgical treatment that makes it possible to reduce fat deposits by up to 25%. The applicator design gives you more than DOUBLE the treatment time and far exceeds the results of any of its competitors. The advantages of Cooltech are, among other things, that the treatment is very effective, almost painless and far more gentle on the body than, for example, surgery.
Venus viva offers effective treatments to target skin damage and reduce wrinkles. Using NanoFractional technology combined with Radio frequency to the skin, this process stimulates fibroblasts, activating to production of new collagen, resulting in diminished skin damage and a visibly firmer, more even complexion. You will notice a naturally smoother, more radiant looking complexion. With minimal down time, the unique pin pattern delivers targeted energy to deeper skin layers allowing the surrounding healthy tissue to heal with improved skin texture.
Lymphatic massage is a specialized massage technique designed to stimulate the flow of lymph, the clear fluid that circulates through the lymphatic system.
Benefits include:
• Detoxification: Helps remove toxins and waste products from the body.
• Reduced Swelling: Beneficial for conditions like lymphedema, where there is localized swelling due to fluid retention.
• Improved Immune Function: Enhances the body’s ability to fight off infections by improving lymph flow.
• Relaxation and Pain Relief: Can provide relaxation and alleviate pain from conditions like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.
OPENING HOURS: Tue – Fri 9:30am – 6:00pm Sat 10:00am – 4:00pm
New injectable services administered by our qualified and experienced doctor including:
• Dermal Filling Injections
• Anti - Wrinkle Injections
• Collagen Stimulators
• Bio - Regenerator
• Masseter Reduction + Facial Slimming Injections
• Thread Lift
• Package offers on most services available
By Jackie WARBURTON
Veronica Oxford Blue is a terrific little ground cover and its electric-blue flowers cover the ground at this time of the year.
It grows well in the shade or full sun where very little else will grow. It needs winter sunlight to get it to bloom and autumn leaves need to be removed to prevent it being smothered.
It’s a great choice as a border plant or around stepping stones and also terrific for hanging baskets, rockeries or under the roses to keep the weeds down and create winter/spring colour.
Whether it is Veronica peduncu -
laris, Big Blue or Georgia Blue, they are all blue, but in different shades. Needing little care, they grow alongside other trusted Canberra plants such as Loropetalum.
LOROPETALUM shrubs have become popular over the last few years – and rightly so. They are tough, big or small and their lovely deep purple foliage is a strong contrast when planted in a garden with lots of evergreens.
The Loropetalum is from the Asian woodlands and can be placed well in a themed oriental garden or even a cottage garden. Its common name is Chinese fringe flower, and is a cousin of witch hazel.
It’s a versatile plant for hedging, clipping and shaping. If grown into a large shrub, it can get up to two metres tall with the bonus of being an evergreen that provides
structure in a winter garden.
Loropetalum were only originally available in the white flowering and green foliage form. Along came Loropetalum Plum Gorgeous and its popularity exploded. Not only does it attract bees and butterflies, but it needs minimal care when established.
SPRING’S always a busy time in the garden when the vegetable patch can begin to be planted.
All vegetable beds have to be weed free to prevent them competing with the growth of vegetables around them.
The soil isn’t warm until October, so now’s a good time to plant seedlings to get all the greens going – such as beans, peas, leeks and lettuces.
Plant them where there was a green manure crop or where the vegetable plants from the solanaceae family (tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums) grew last season.
Sowing seeds of solanaceae plants can be done now and ready for planting out in about six weeks. Sowing seed into small punnets or shallow trays with drainage, with some sandy compost or worm castings is all you need.
Water lightly and keep on a window sill until there is growth. Then introduce more and more sun until they have at least six sets of leaves and look to have a good root system. They will be ready for planting in mid-October.
Sowing another batch of seed and planting in succession, will ensure that there is a steady supply of produce right through the season.
Spring is also a busy time with blooms from wattles, plums and pear trees. There will be lots of birds and bees around, too. Water anything flowering in the garden.
jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au
• Water any trees or shrubs that are showing signs of growth.
• Trim small-leaved hedges more often for shaping.
• Spray citrus trees with white oil and neem to counter summer stink bugs.
• Feed bulbs as they are growing.
By Helen MUSA
One man in his time plays many parts, The Bard once said, but one role Bell Shakespeare director Peter Evans won’t play is that of an actor.
“God no, you really don’t want to see me act,” Evans says, when asked if he was about to perform on stage in the coming produc tion, In a Nutshell: The Poetry of Violence.
“I wouldn’t inflict that on anyone, I’ll be more in the role of lecturer, setting the scene,” he tells me by phone from the rehearsal room at Sydney’s Pier.
That’s because the whole concept is Evans’ own, his way of telling us about some ideas he’s had about Shakespeare in the years since he took over the company from founder John Bell in 2016.
It’s not the first time he’s done a show called In a Nutshell, but we didn’t see the earlier one in Canberra. The first iteration in 2022, he says, was “a whole bunch of differ ent things presented in Shakespeare, mostly my favourites… The Poetry of Violence is similar but more focused.”
Now he’s turning specifically to the language of violence in Shakespeare’s plays.
violence.
It’ll be done in “a very simple and elegant way as with everything we do,” he says, “a series of little wooden stages as a backdrop
Shakespeare explores and defines violence. In that way it differs from the popular production Shakespeare’s Villains, the oneman play created and performed by Steven
Berkoff from 1998 on, including in Canberra, which explored and analysed Shakespeare’s
Evans says there’s a similarity with the concept of that show, which saw Berkoff talking and giving examples from plays, but that was more about the way he acted the parts and his insights into the characters, whereas this show is more giving insights
“We’re trying to get through as many plays as we can,” he says.
Actors helping him do that will be Jessica Tovey, Lucy Bell (daughter of the company’s founder), Bell associate director James Evans, NIDA graduate Madeline Li and Sydney actor
Evans has no shortage of material to choose from, so has jumped around, picking the best bits from plays such as Macbeth, Henry VI, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Much Ado About Nothing.
Much Ado About Nothing? I ask, does that really touch on violence?
“Well, we do that a bit tongue in cheek,”
“The other plays deal with conflicts like The Wars of the Roses, but this is more a ‘merry war’ fought between the main characters, Beatrice and Benedick.”
Mind you, he explains, the language used by Beatrice, played by Tovey, a former Bell Lady Macbeth, is drawn from exactly the same
sources as a lot of the other violent language.
That includes the very famous opening banter, where Beatrice calls Benedick a “stuff’d man”, he calls her “a parrot-teacher” and she hits back with: “A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.”
Given the chosen theme, an interesting part of The Poetry of Violence will be the presence of Nigel Poulton, normally known for his work behind the scenes as a movement and fight director, who’ll be using his expert knowledge of staging Shakespearean violence in a very practical way.
“We’ve written some lines for Nigel and he’s there to talk about how to stage fight scenes and to reveal what Shakespeare’s plays tell us about the different fighting styles. It’s another way to get into the text,” Evans says, adding that Poulton will be taking clues from the texts that audiences might not be aware of.
Early in Romeo and Juliet, for instance, Mercutio mocks Tybalt as “rat-catcher” and “King of Cats”, but when he snorts: “Ah, the immortal passado! The punto reverso!” he derides Tybalt’s Italian-style fencing manoeuvres too, a bit odd since the play is set in Verona, but as Evans notes, Verona is also really contemporary London. And that kind of theatrical sophistication is part of the enduring fun of Shakespeare.
In a Nutshell: The Poetry of Violence, The Playhouse, September 13-14.
13–14 SEPTEMBER
Azima, a new Middle Eastern restaurant, has creative brains behind it.
Long-time and passionate hospitality entrepreneur Adam Elchakak (Inka and Koto) has joined culinary forces with hospitality consultant George Khoury to shine the spotlight on authentic, vibrant Lebanese food.
Azima has a prime position on City Walk (where Brunello was located) and refinements to the interior include a wonderful display of pottery along one wall and soft elements such as comfy cushions.
The food is the true star at Azima, backed by knowledgeable and efficient service. We popped by for lunch and left excited, having worshipped every dish. Our choice was to share hot and cold mezze so we could take a Lebanese journey, and it was a rewarding path.
The lamb fillet tartare ($26) was excep -
tional. We took the advice of our server and stuffed tartare into pieces of soft Lebanese bread, next adding thin slices of crimson red onion, green chilli and fresh mint. We rolled everything together and loved how every bite was a mega burst of flavour.
Equally delicious were the handmade spring rolls with cheese and basterma ($21). The salty cheese was gloriously chewy, and the cured meat added wonderful spice and interest.
Loaded with goodness was the Foul Mudammas ($15), a healthy mixture of chickpea, fava bean, garlic, lemon and olive oil. The dish is a testament to how vegan dishes can be innovative and how simple, quality ingredients can be so rewarding
Also from the hot mezze section of the menu, we ordered Lebanese sausages. These dark-coloured, thin beauties were perfectly moist and made with lip-smackingly good pomegranate molasses ($24). The concen trated pomegranate juice, common in many Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North
loads of zesty lemon juice, another vegetarian celebration.
Azima’s mains start at $32 and a grill platter with six pieces is available for $68.
sun-dried yogurt and nuts is $80. Salads include tabouli ($18), Fattoush ($20) and an intriguing-sounding beetroot watercress with tahini and yogurt ($18). Azima offers several banquet options, ranging from $70 to $140 a person. Group bookings of eight or more must select one of these set menus.
I get a few suggestions, most of them helpful rather than the ones involving, uh in polite terms, sex and travel.
A good mate wanted to attend an event in Quean beyan hosted by a large liquor retailer that would feature a tasting of this year’s Penfolds collection. There was a small fee associated with the event.
We accepted, but it was postponed and I couldn’t attend the rescheduled event. Here I was, set to travel to Queanbeyan, compared with say the likes of Colin Hay, wine writer for the Drinks Business, who said in his article on the release:
“I was lucky enough to be invited to the Paris launch of the collection in a tiny restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe last month (June) and had the chance to talk through the portfolio with Peter Gago, Penfolds’ incomparable chief winemaker.”
This brought out every ounce of cupidity and avarice in my system, reinforced when I read the Weekend Australian Magazine’s new wine writer, Nick Ryan, say that he’d missed a meeting of wine writers in the Barossa so he had organised a catch-up tasting with chief winemaker Peter Gago at Penfolds’ Magill headquarters.
prepared to pay for the unique.
I felt like one of those little kids that never gets picked for the team. A team of wine writers for which Ryan suggested a choice of collective nouns: a soak, a swirl or a cirrhosis.
The intriguing thing is that I received another suggestion saying that I should write about the fact that it was fascinating how rare wines attract money and I should write that there was a limited-edition Penfolds wine released this year that sold for $18,000 a bottle.
There were apparently only eight bottles made of the three-litre commemorative jeroboams of what has been labelled the Bin 180 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz 2021.
These oversized bottles quickly sold out. This wine was released in 2024 to celebrate Penfold’s 180th anniversary. The interesting issue is that despite the fact that the standard bottle of Bin 180 sells for $1180 (such synchronicity!), the three-litre bottles were more than 15 times as expensive, with people being
I received another suggestion: surely I should feature in one of these columns the wonderful local wine maker who wows people with her excellent wineappreciation course conducted under the name Pique Nique, the talented Emma Shaw?
I followed this suggestion. I spoke with Emma and she kindly sent me a copy of her booklet that is a tasting guide to the Canberra region. It does the job well. I was especially intrigued by her “wine rules”, the first of which is “choose quality over quantity”, a message that will warm the cockles of the Penfolds’ heart.
“Consciously or unconsciously most of us adhere to what is expected of our role because we realise our social success depends on this. Some may refuse to play this game, but in the end they are marginalised and forced to play the outsider role, with limited options and decreasing freedom as they get older.”
– Robert Greene
Which modern actor springs to mind at the thought of Zeus, God of Thunder?
Aquaman star Jason Momoa? Aussie A-lister Chris Hemsworth? Morgan Freeman (he’s played gods before).
What about Jeff Goldblum?
Well, that’s just who’s been picked to play the King of the Gods in Netflix’s new drama-comedy show Kaos.
This 10-episode series is a modern reinvention of Greek mythology that pits an arrogant swath of deities against each other as they scramble for control of Mount Olympus.
It’s kind of like if the siblings in the hit series Succession were immortal.
Kaos kicks off when Zeus spots a wrinkle on his head, making him fear that somehow he might not be as immortal as he seems and that his reign might soon be a thing of the past.
It’s not long before his offspring are fighting for their chance at power. From party-boy Dionysus (the god of wine and ecstasy) to the famous Medusa. Even Oedipus makes an appearance. Just ask Sigmund Freud about what his deal is.
Amongst the chaos that ensues are also three humans who become entangled in the skirmish for power, learning that they’re part of an all-important prophecy.
In a Variety interview, the show’s creator Charlie Covell said the myths the show is based on are “timeless, the issues are eternal.” Covell also penned another of Netflix’s hit
mini-series The End of The F***ing World, meaning there’s a good chance Kaos might also prove a hit.
He’s certainly right about his source material’s timelessness.
From the 2004 blockbuster Troy to Clash of the Titans to the Percy Jackson series, there has been no lack of recent modern stories reinventing these mythical tales.
They’ve also been given new life by British actor Stephen Fry, who has written a series of books that comically retell the ancient stories. Those books feel like they almost
might have served as a springboard for the idea of Kaos.
With their competitors pumping out new seasons of some of their biggest shows this year, Netflix will no doubt be hoping Kaos will prove a hit rather than Achilles’ heel.
THIS year marks a big anniversary for a series widely considered the greatest of all time. It’s been 25 years since the Sopranos first hit screens and today all six seasons are trending on Binge.
The platform is giving the show a new
By Helen Musa
Canberra Connexion Big Band members are taking an experimental leap into the world of video gaming in their next concert.
They’re inviting audience members to dress up as their favourite computer game character and enjoy themselves.
The band will feature music from video games such as Mario Brothers, Portal, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Fallout, Cuphead and Undertale, all reimagined with a big band twist.
Traditionally, big band music has a comfortable, easy-listening feel about it, but with the universal rise in popularity of video gaming, symphony orchestras around the world have eagerly embraced the idea of large-scale concerts of the music specially composed for games.
Connexion Big Band sax-player and composer Bryan Hooley tells me the venture started over a cup of coffee when a couple of members who were “that way inclined” suggested gaming music as a way to garner new audiences.
Hooley says he wasn’t initially “that way inclined”, but that he has played a bit of Tetris in his time, so was prepared to play catchup.
Video gaming has provided a new arena for talented composers, many of them Japanese, whose resulting scores are sometimes edgy but more often lush and romantic.
Big names include Koji Kondo, who composed the music for Super Mario and Legend of Zelda and Nobuo Uematsu, composer of Final Fantasy VII, which features climactic fight music which has been favourably compared to that of film music legend John Williams. Closer to home, the ANU’s Prof Kenneth Lampl is an internationally-known gaming composer whose first feature length commissions were for the scores of Pokémon: The First Movie and Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns. As well, in 2018 at the Canberra International Music
Festival – under the baton of Leonard Weiss – the full Canberra Youth Orchestra performed video game music in Game On! The Digital Revolution, into a packed audience at Llewellyn Hall, which was full of gamers on their devices while listening to the music.
“When we started to look at the possibilities, we found there were quite a lot of arrangements of video music,” Hooley says, especially by the Grammy winning American band The 8-Bit Big Band, a 30-65-member jazz/pops orchestra of mostly New Yorkers who have made a speciality of this genre.
“They’re happy for us to use their arrangements,” he says, so in a cheeky kind of homage, Connexion have given their concert the name, “64-Bit Big Band Videogame Music Night.”
Musical director of Connexion, Justin Buckingham, developed a playlist and added some strings to give it a fuller sound and a couple of other members arranged their own bits.
“Suddenly we realised we had two sets worth,” Hooley says, adding that happily for him, they’re including a bit of the hugely popular soundtrack from Tetris. They haven’t completely worked out how personal devices will fit into the concert, but the initiative is, after all, a learning experience.
One thing is certain, however – “a lot of gamers know the music very well.”
Big Band’s
boost as part of its milestone.
For those who’ve never watched the iconic show, it centres on Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini), the head of the Italian-American Mafia in New Jersey who tries in vain to balance his family life with his murderous career.
It was the personal life of this mob boss
that made the Sopranos so captivating. Amidst all the violence, viewers are given a close look at this criminal’s psyche via his appointments with a therapist that plays out over the course of the show. It’s like a Martin Scorsese film brought to the small screen.
Any list of the best TV shows ever made is likely to put the Sopranos right up the top, rivaled only by Breaking Bad, which took heavy inspiration.
Twenty-five years on and the show is as relevant as it is watchable.
In 2021 a prequel spin-off movie called The Many Saints of Newark came to streaming. It follows the life of a young Tony Soprano on his path to becoming the infamous criminal patriarch.
And in a fantastic twist, Gandolfini’s son, Michael, actually played his father’s character.
Unfortunately, it’s only available to rent or buy through Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV Plus at the moment and while not quite up to the calibre of the show that inspired it, the film still makes for a gripping watch that’s worthy of its predecessor.
Wrapped up with the show, there’s never been a better time to dive into The Sopranos, whether it’s a first watch or a rewatch.
WHEN THEIR STORIES GO VIRAL AND THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING, WHAT WILL THESE YOUNG PEOPLE DO NEXT?
COLIN STEELE reviews a new biography of Anna May Wong… the first Chinese American actress to become a major Hollywood box-office attraction.
Anna May Wong, Dr Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were significant figures, both real and fictional, in shaping or confirming Western attitudes to Asians in general, and Chinese in particular, in the first half of the 20th century.
With China at that time inaccessible to the vast majority of the world, their images became the norm.
Christopher Frayling, in his 2014 book The Yellow Peril: Dr Fu Manchu and the Rise of Chinaphobia, has traced in detail the impact on popular culture of “the evil genius Dr Fu Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man”. Frayling notes, “in America, the literary image of the Chinese as alien ‘other’ – a sinister villain or dragon lady” largely grew out of anxieties about immigration, leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and its subsequent extensions.
Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was the first Chinese American actress to become a major Hollywood box-office attraction.
Her career stretched from silent cinema through the talkies to TV in 1951, when she became the first Asian American to be the lead in an US television show.
In 1960, Wong was the first Asian Ameri -
can woman to be awarded a star on the Hollywood walk of fame and remained alone until Lucy Liu joined her in 2019.
In 2022, she became the first Asian American woman to be depicted on American currency when the US Mint released quarter coins bearing her likeness.
Wong’s legacy has been largely forgotten until recently. Yunte Huang’s 2023 publication, Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History, and now Katie Gee Salisbury’s biography Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong (Faber, $55) restore Wong’s place in cinematic and cultural history.
police detective, was played in 16 films by Swedish actor Warner Oland. Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu has apparently never been played by an actor of east Asian heritage. Christopher Lee being one of the most famous examples.
Charlie Chan was seen, in contrast as an “amiable Chinese”, a more positive role model, but recently critics have seen Chan as being portrayed in a condescending framework due to his lack of idiomatic English and polite nature.
Wong herself often found herself, “caught between two worlds – neither of them will accept her fully”. The Chinese government decried the Chinese characters she played, but Wong often had no choice in the roles she was offered. Later in life she worked diligently to reshape Asian American representation in film.
Wong became known in Hollywood as “a beauty no one was allowed to kiss” on screen but, while she never married, she had numerous affairs off screen.
Salisbury, Chinese American herself, brings an Eastern, rather than a Western perspective, to a multi-layered, well researched biography.
Salisbury writes: “As Hollywood’s first Chinese American movie star, Anna May Wong faced more challenges than most actresses of her era.
“In spite of the racism she experienced – studios baulked at casting her in leading roles and often relegated her to China doll or
dragon lady stereotypes – Wong persisted and even thrived, working in silent films, talkies, radio, theatre and television across four decades.”
Wong rose to stardom as the exotic Mongol slave girl, “very, very easy to look at”, in Douglas Fairbanks’ 1924 epic The Thief of Bagdad but, resisting stereotyping, she moved for work to Europe in 1928.
In London, Wong starred in the 1929 West End production of The Circle of Chalk, in which a young Laurence Olivier was criticised for his performance.
In Germany, she met Marlena Dietrich with whom, after returning to Hollywood, she was to star in the 1932 film Shanghai Express. In 1931, she had featured as the exotic dancer and daughter of Fu Manchu in Daughter of the Dragon, later commenting: “Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece… We’re not like that”. Sardonically, she always signed her photos, “Orientally yours” . She lamented the fact that many white actors, termed “yellow faces”, played Asian characters. Charlie Chan, the famous fictional
Salisbury outlines the darker periods of Wong’s life, including her bouts of depression and alcoholism, but hopes that her new biography will help “people see Anna May in a new light”.
“There are definitely tragic aspects to her career, but there’s so much more joy and inspiration and triumph to be found in her story,” she writes.
“I hope that people focus on the things she did and her legacy… Anna May’s final act was to hand on the torch to a new generation of Asian American hopefuls”.
The play, Slap. Bang. Kiss, shortlisted for the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, shows what happens when a video, a speech and a kiss go viral and make international news. Performed by Melbourne Theatre Company, it’s at The Q, Queanbeyan, September 11.
Hot upon that, The Listies return with Make Some Noise, a comedy concert show for “kidults” where Rich and Matt belt out a bunch of songs almost in tune. Also at The Q, September 13-14.
Canberra Men’s Choir is seeking new members and will hold a free open night as they prepare their Christmas repertoire at Harmonie German Club, Narrabundah, September 9. Inquiries to canberramenschoir@gmail.com
An exhibition featuring more than 50 artworks looking at life around Lake Burley Griffin and Lake George will be presented by artists Sylvie Carter and Claire B Cusack. Yarralumla Gallery and Oaks Brasserie, September 8-October 20.
The recent 2024 Art Music Awards in Melbourne saw only a modest achievement for Canberra music when CSO chief conductor and artistic director Jessica Cottis won a local state or territory Luminary Award. Canberra-raised Mary Finsterer won Work of the Year and Performance of the Year: Notated Composition, but she, like Cottis, doesn’t live here.
Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia presents more than 150 works of art by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. National Gallery, September 14-August 24.
at
Q,
The Gaudy Ball is an unapologetically extravagant night of drag, burlesque, cabaret, and extreme silliness celebrating the art of “Glittering Garbage”. Attendees are encouraged to dress in glittering garbage fashion. The Polo, 38 David Street, Turner, September 14.
The Cut, a play by Mark Ravenhill exploring a dystopian society, is presented with an all-female cast by The Seeing Place, a new independent theatre company set up by Canberra artists Sammy Moynihan and Marlene Radice. Mill Theatre, Fyshwick, September 12-21.
The ACT Textile Arts Association is hosting Hanging by a Thread, with textile art, embroidery, crochet, knitting, felting, mixed media, dyeing, printing, sewing and dressmaking. Queanbeyan Art Society Gallery, Trinculo Place, September 13-22.
Musica da Camera, directed by Shilong Ye, performs pieces by Australian women composers including Margaret Sutherland, Elena Kats-Chernin, Maria Grenfell, Helen Gifford and Sally Greenaway. Holy Covenant Church, Cook, September 14 and Gunning Shire Hall, September 15.
By Joanne Madeline Moore
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
Peacemaker Venus encourages you to repair a rickety relationship in a generous and philosophical way. Family celebrations and work functions are favoured, as Mars (in your domestic zone) connects with Mercury (in your job zone). So it’s a terrific time to connect with creative, proactive people and share your dreams for the future with family members and work colleagues. Others are looking for you to come up with the goods, so don’t disappoint!
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)
Diplomatic Venus (your power planet) and Jupiter increase optimism and help you reform a close relationship that’s been experiencing problems. Setting positive new patterns of behaviour sees the union move to a more enjoyable and satisfying level. This week, nurture loved ones in practical ways. Perhaps you can help with shopping, errands, cooking, housework or homework? Sunday is wonderful for financial matters and socialising with friends.
GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)
It’s one of your luckiest weeks of the year, so prepare to pounce. Jupiter (in your sign) and Venus boost confidence and self-esteem as you power through projects with renewed confidence and plenty of chutzpah. You’re also keen to make connections with others, as the planets highlight your family and friendship zones. So it’s a terrific time to initiate ideas and make waves within your circle of influence. Positive collaborations are the secret to future success.
CANCER (June 22 – July 23)
Calling all Crabs - mighty Mars is visiting your sign until November 4. So strive to be bold and brave as you initiate ideas, launch passion projects and zoom ahead in progressive directions. Prosperous Venus and Jupiter help you turn dreams into gold. If you devise a creative plan, then financial luck is waiting in the wings via a new colleague, client or customer, who may be linked to a family member. Volunteer work also looks rewarding.
LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)
This week the Sun (your ruling planet) is visiting earthy Virgo. So clear, careful, logical communication will help improve relations with other people, as you get your message out loud and clear. Venus and Jupiter also encourage you to reach out and help others, both within your immediate circle of family and friends and within your local neighbourhood. The close community connections you foster now will prove beneficial in the future.
VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
On Thursday there’s a lovely Mercury/Mars link, which boosts individuality, confidence levels and communication skills. With the Sun and Mercury (your patron planet) both moving through your sign, it’s your time to shine! Be inspired by Virgo superstar Freddie Mercury: “Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter; someone will always be younger. But they will never be you.” Lady Luck is on your side on Sunday.
LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
Venus (your ruling planet) is visiting your sign until September 23, so your charismatic and diplomatic sides will be shining brightly for all to see. There is also a terrific Venus/Jupiter trine, which blesses personal projects and encourages international travel and interstate adventures. Don’t be a Libran wallflower. Get out there and enjoy yourself to the max! Your motto is from birthday great, writer D H Lawrence: “Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.”
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
Powerful Pluto – your boss planet – has moved back into your education, communication and community zones (until November 19). So it’s a good time to revisit any unfinished business involving study, social media, siblings, neighbours and projects in your local neighbourhood. Courtesy of the terrific Venus/Jupiter trine, it’s also a suitable week to draw up exciting plans, set ambitious goals, and dream big dreams. If you can dream it, you can do it!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
Sunday’s lucky Venus-Jupiter link encourages you to broaden your horizonsphysically, mentally and spiritually. It’s time to expand your circle of influence and make positive connections within your peer group and further afield. Be more generous with loved ones, more adventurous in your choices, and more ambitious with your dreams. Draw inspiration from birthday great D H Lawrence: “I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
The Sun and Mercury are moving through fellow earth sign Virgo, so you’ll be extra bold and brainy this week as you dazzle others with your methodical mind, broad general knowledge and close attention to details. So it’s the perfect time to analyse, research and problem-solve in proactive ways. With the power of positive thinking on your side, you can climb any mountain and sail any stormy sea. But proceed cautiously with a pompous colleague or client.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
You love being independent. But this week’s stars favour nurturing partnerships, establishing joint ventures and stabilising your support network, as the planets stimulate your relationship zones. If you’re single, sparks could fly with someone from another country or culture. But avoid making an impulsive financial move that could lead to over-spending. Getting into more debt is a recipe for trouble - by all means have fun, but don’t break the bank.
PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
With the Sun and Mercury in your relationship zone, being creative about solving problems is the key to positive partnerships. Stop procrastinating and, instead, start communicating about what you really require. Don’t expect other people to magically read your mind. Be articulate and ask plenty of questions. Mars is moving through your self-expression zone. So it’s time for artistic pursuits like photography, art, dance, drama, singing, writing and music.
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2024
2 Who controls an aeroplane? (5)
3 Name an English buccaneer who circumnavigated the globe, Sir Francis ... (5)
4 Which hand-held firework burns slowly with a bright glow? (8)
5 Which unit of land is equal to a quarter of an acre? (4)
6 What is a period of ten years? (6)
7 What is a throb or pulsation of the heart? (6)
12 Which is the smallest in a litter? (4)
14 Which horses are bred and trained for harness racing? (8)
time”? (8)
19 To be gaudy, showy, and cheap, is to be what? (6)
22 Name a mountain climber. (8)
24 What are scores of two below par? (6)
25 What might we call one who predicts? (8)
26 Which poem has 14 lines? (6)
15 Name the monetary unit of the Republic of South Africa. (4)
17 What are dome-shaped Eskimo huts? (6)
18 Name a cow that has not produced a calf, and is under three years of age? (6)
20 Which four-wheeled vehicle is designed for the transport of heavy loads? (5)
21 Who is the administrative officer of a town or district? (5)
23 What do we call two people involved in a romantic relationship? (4)
