MODERN LIVING
MUSIC: DOES IT MAKE YOU WORK HARDER? AI: HOW YOU’RE UNWITTINGLY TEACHING IT
EVs: THE LOVE AFFAIR IS RUNNING FLAT
READING: RATES ARE FALLING, BUT WHY?
JANUARY 16, 2025
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
ETHEL CARRICK painted Colonnades of Canberra’s Civic Centre in 1942-44. There are 140 of her paintings on show at the NGA. Ethel who?
WINNUNGA NIMMITYJAH ABORIGINAL HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Winnunga Nimmityjah AHCS is an Aboriginal community controlled primary health care service operated by the Aboriginal community of the ACT.
In Wiradjuri language, Winnunga Nimmityjah means Strong Health. The service logo is the Corroboree Frog which is significant to Aboriginal people in the ACT.
Our aim is to provide a culturally safe, holistic health care service for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the ACT and surrounding regions. The holistic health care provided by Winnunga AHCS includes not only medical care, but a range of programs to promote good health and healthy lifestyles.
Our services include:
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• Needle Syringe Program
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• Healthy Cooking Group
• Mums and Bubs Group / Child Health
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• Groups
Winnunga AHCS is a national leader in accreditation, was one of the first Aboriginal community controlled health services to achieve dual accreditation under RACGP and QIC standards. Winnunga AHCS has been at the forefront of setting a national agenda for quality improvement in Aboriginal community controlled health and continues to advocate locally and nationally for best practice standards in operational and governance areas of Aboriginal health services.
CLINIC hours | MONDAY TO FRIDAY 9am-5pm
Ph: 6284 6222 | 63 Boolimba Cres, Narrabundah www.winnunga.org.au
COVID-19 Vaccinations and Testing for Winnunga Clients
NEWS / taking care of business
Deepak’s ‘hungry’ to build connections with India
By Elizabeth KOVACS
Deepak-Raj Gupta is “hungry” to see a stronger economic and cultural connection between Australia and India.
The former ACT Australia India Business Council president and Labor MLA says the opportunity to become the national chair of the Austral ian India Business Council (AIBC) couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I’ve been involved with the Aus tralian Business Council for almost 20 years and initially started the ACT chapter of the AIBC in 2006,” he says.
“During that time, the momentum of India was picking up, especially nationwide.”
Deepak has played no small role in Canberra as the first Indian-born MLA in the ACT Legislative Assembly before losing his Yerrabi seat in 2020.
In his new role, he’s eager to encour age further trade between the two countries.
“This is a very important position and comes with a lot of responsibili ties,” he says.
“We see what is the best way to push and facilitate trade between Australia and India.”
INDEX
Arts & Entertainment 19-22
Crossword 22
Dose of Dorin 8
Gardening 23 Modern Living 10-17
3-8 Sudoku 22 Whimsy 4
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innovation, investment and tourism.
“I don’t want us to be cemented as a song-and-dance community, I think there’s more to it,” he says.
“We’ve had our ‘romance’, but it’s time to put the ring to the finger.”
Deepak says there’s a good relation from “people to people”, but he would like to see further communications between “government to government and business to business.”
Passionate about investment, he says Australia could benefit from Indian companies improving scientific innovation and technology,
“Australia has expertise and India has resources,” says Deepak.
“There’s lots that can be done in clean energy, waste management and infrastructure logistics.”
According to Deepak, these are issues that India is currently facing and he says it’s an opportunity for Australian companies to provide their expertise and get some business.
“I really want to see some success stories,” he says.
“The ACT government has been regularly visiting India and taking part in some big events and I would like to bring back some of those symposiums to Canberra, be that on tourism or big company investment.
Deepak says he is also keen to look into the healthcare and aged-care sectors.
“We’ve seen a severe shortage of
resources there and we know there’s a lot of skilled migration, especially in the field of medicine,” he says.
“India has those resources and I think [Australia] will benefit if we come to any kind of arrangement to have registered nurses come alongside qualified skilled aged-care workers.”
According to Deepak, 20 to 30 per cent of doctors and nurses within Canberra hospitals are of Indian background and qualification, something he claims has been very successful.
“I think that’s one area a city can leverage any kind of collaboration with the Indian market, especially in the health and aged-care sectors as well as pharmaceuticals,” he says.
Deepak says his previous experience in politics has been a boon to his new position.
“Having my knowledge and exposure in both India and the Australian government will benefit AIBC.”
Forming strong connections with local businesses and associations in Canberra, Deepak says he now hears of strong inquiries coming to the Canberra Business Chamber regarding doing business with India.
“Being in the capital city has given us access to the federal government and the High Commission of India,” he says.
“It’s a great place to capitalise on such an opportunity, especially as a local.”
Colonnades of Canberra’s Civic Centre (1942-44) by Ethel Carrick. Story Page
DIGITAL WHIMSY / sharing the idyllic vision
Today, survival means keeping the wi-fi stable
Whimsy columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS devotes his column to digital living – the art of being constantly connected, yet somehow never truly there.
Digital living is now the default setting of our lives. We’ve transitioned from the hum of the morning radio to the chirp of push notifications, all before we’ve even put the kettle on.
In an era where your smart fridge knows you better than your neighbour does, the line between convenience and dependency is finer than ever.
Take, for example, the peculiar ritual of “doom scrolling”. For the uninitiated (likely a rare breed), this is when one spends hours in a trance-like state, thumbing through updates that are equal parts mundane and apocalyptic.
Yet, this digital life isn’t just a new habit; it’s the latest evolution in our collective survival instinct. Gone are the days when survival meant learning to wield fire or build shelter; today, it’s about keeping your wi-fi stable and remembering at least three different passwords (two of which you’ll always forget).
For many, the idea of going back to a purely “offline” existence stirs equal parts nostalgia and terror.
Never mind that it’s 11.45 pm and tomorrow’s alarm is only a blink away – there might just be one more comment about the neighbour’s missing cat or that mildly heated thread on whether pineapple belongs on pizza. Spoiler: It doesn’t.
Of course, we’ve been sold the dream of seamless living where smart devices make life smoother, less cluttered. But let’s talk about that idyllic vision.
Imagine it’s a brisk Saturday morning and you’re prepping for a trip to the farmers’ market. You speak the now-com mon phrase: “Hey Siri, play my morning playlist,” only to have her misunderstand and launch into an audio book on Stoic philosophy. A modern dilemma – do you correct her or let Marcus Aurelius remind you that life’s inconveniences are all just “opportunities for virtue”?
charm in finding niche corners of the internet that remind us of its original intent: connection.
Whether it’s joining a thread dedicated to knitting hybrid llamaostrich sweaters (it’s out there) or sharing a laugh in a group chat, there’s still some humanity tucked between the megabytes.
And that brings me to my friend Dave, a man who was convinced he could outsmart technology, if only in this one instance. He upgraded to a smart assistant, boasting that it would make life simpler.
On the first day, I watched him try to set a timer for his casserole:
“Hey, Alexa, set a timer for 40 minutes.”
The assistant chirped back, “Starting a 40-minute playlist of relaxing jazz.”
Forty-five minutes later, Dave’s casserole was overdone, the kitchen smelt like charcoal, and “Take Five” was still playing. Dave looked at me, jazz gently crooning behind him, and said: “Well, at least she’s got taste.”
For many, the idea of going back to a purely “offline” existence stirs
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equal parts nostalgia and terror. Yes, it would mean the end of 24/7 exposure to kitten videos and TikTok dances, but it would also end the existential question of whether you really need to watch “just one more” review of air fryers.
The fear of missing out (FOMO), once reserved for not attending social events, now applies to the digital sphere: what if today’s viral moment is the moment? Yet not everything in our digital tapestry is a cause for alarm. There’s
Digital living – it keeps us on our toes, even when our toes are just tapping to jazz.
I should reveal that this Whimsy column on digital living was entirely digitally generated!
Clive Wiliams is a Canberra commentator.
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We’re in an era where the smart fridge knows you better than your neighbour does.
A second opinion on hearing loss – you need professional advice, not a sales pitch
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
NEWS / winning winery NEWS
Carla’s winning ways with blended wine
By Elizabeth KOVACS
When Carla Rodeghiero, owner of Canberra Region winery Sapling Yard, entered her blended red 2023 wine, The Extrovert, into the Australian and NZ Boutique Wine Awards, she knew “it would probably get something”.
And it did, winning the show’s best red blend award.
A labour of love for 10 months, Carla says the blend of mourvèdre, shiraz and touriga created a “well-balanced wine”.
Entering six wines into the 2024 competition, Carla was rewarded after the vineyard also took home a silver for its white wine blend.
Labelled The Four Pinots, the winning white wine blend is made up of pinot gris, pinot noir, pinot meunier and pinot blanc, a combination of which creates a distinctive amber colour.
The Four Pinots took home the trophy in the 2023 awards for the best white wine blend.
“We’re now known to be good at blending,” says Carla. “There’s a creative edge to that.”
alongside business partner Malcolm , who brings with him a wealth of knowledge after being in the industry for almost 30 years.
Dreaming about owning a winery since her early 20s, Carla prides herself on being a small-business owner within a larger industry.
“It’s very hands-on, we do everything,” she says.
“We only make 250 cases and our whole premise is that we make small
yard in the Hilltops Shire in addition to sourcing fruit from Tumbarumba, Lake George and Murrumbateman, Carla says she loves working with passionate growers in the region.
“I’m hoping to expand to Braidwood,” she says.
“You can’t make great wine out of average fruit, so we are very reliant on great quality coming into the winery.”
Sapling Yard is one of many bou-
tique vineyards in the region making a name for themselves for quality wine.
Heavily reliant on shows, events and word-of-mouth, Carla says it’s important for people to support small vineyards.
“I think people aren’t aware of how many brands are actually owned by the big companies,” she says.
“The vast majority of brands are owned by a small number of large companies.
“So boutique wine shows and events are really important because they only show the smaller growers/makers and producers of wine.”
To enter into some of these shows, wine producers have to produce less than 250 tonnes of wine.
“That’s a really small amount,” says Carla. “But that’s what we pride ourselves on.”
With plans to expand in the future, Carla says their sights are now set at trying some new varieties.
“There’s a lot of interest in Italian varieties as well as Spanish varieties,” she says.
“It’s a very exciting time to be working in the wine industry.”
Grown in a cool climate, Carla says Sapling Yard produces wines that reflect the natural beauty of the land.
“Our wines are made with dedication, precision, authenticity and passion, which is clearly displayed in the quality of the wine.”
Press pause and pick up a book
Social or mentally stimulating activities such as reading, listening to music, praying, crafting, playing a musical instrument, or chatting with others are beneficial for memory and thinking abilities.
Yet watching TV or playing video games are detrimental.
That’s what researchers at the University of South Australia discovered from assessing the sedentary behaviours of 397 older adults (aged 60+). They believe that there is likely a hierarchy of how sedentary behaviours relate to cognitive function, in that some have positive effects while others have negative effects.
It’s a valuable insight that could help reduce risks of cognitive impairment, particularly when at least 45 per cent of dementia cases could be prevented through modifiable lifestyle factors.
UniSA researcher Dr Maddison Mellow says: “We already know that physical activity is a strong protector against dementia risk, and this should certainly be prioritised if you are trying to improve your brain health.
“But until now, we hadn’t directly explored whether we can benefit our brain health by swapping one sedentary behaviour for another.
Feel amazing about your oral health
Carla Rodeghiero… “We only make 250 cases and our whole premise is that we make small batches of high-quality wine.”
A LONG DOSE OF DORIN / pillows
CityNews cartoonist PAUL DORIN bursts into sentimental prose as he remembers his earliest encounters with cushions and pillows… and, of course, pillow fights.
When l was growing up almost every time l sat on our family couch l would often be nursing a cushion.
l have friends that when l go to visit them walking in, it’s funny noticing everyone sitting on the couch nursing cushions. These are homes that like decorative cushions. I grew up in a house of decorative cushions.
My mum had decorative cushions that covered our lounge and she also had a Mount Everest of pillows on her bed.
l will admit that the bedroom did look very fancy. Her bedroom had the look and feel of a five-star hotel. If her bed had just the two regular pillows it would’ve looked quite boring. Mum even had a pillow chest at the end of her bed to store extra pillows.
It was always fun during the day throwing myself on to my mum’s bed and relaxing on top of the pyramid of pillows. It was also a bed of ammunition because we had some of the greatest pillow fights.
When it was time to put all the pillows back, mum knew straight away we had been into her room because we could never arrange the pyramid of pillows anywhere as neat as she had it. We also had competitions to see who
could slide under from one side to the other without knocking over or disturbing any of the pillows. Whenever we were building a cubbyhouse it was very easy sourcing lots of pillows.
How many is too many?
I didn’t realise there was a pillow etiquette and if you’ve got a doublesized bed, the limit is five pillows and a king-sized bed, the limit is eight pillows.
These days l feel exhausted when I see a bed like this. How much time would you need to spend every day arranging the pillows in the morning and then putting them away each night? I like not having to walk over all these pillows on the ground, especially waking up during the night to empty the bladder.
There’s nothing elaborate with my pillow setup, it’s actually a very simple arrangement, just the two sleeping pillows, one slightly firm and the other is a soft cosy pillow. Not that l have actually researched this, but I’ve notice that two pillows seem to be what everyone is doing nowadays.
Aside from having my regular two sleeping pillows, if l am unwell or suffering from a cold, this plays a significant decision in determining how
many extra pillows are appropriate for my comfort and well-being, propping me up to make me feel better.
Remember the long-running motor oil campaign with the catch phrase “oils ain’t oils”? Well, l’ve come to realise “pillows ain’t pillows”! There are all types of pillows to pick from such as bamboo, latex, buckwheat, memory foam, polyester, cotton, feathers… and the list goes on.
There are also different styles of pillows such as the cuddle pillow, they offer the benefits of hugging, provid ing comfort and warmth. There’s the lumbar pillow, designed to support your lower back and help maintain better posture; the knee pillow, excellent for propping up your legs, relieving pres sure on joints; and the reading pillow, placing it behind your back to keep your head and neck well-supported while you relax.
Growing up, l had my favourite pillow that l held on to for years. I was child who brought their special pillow to every sleepover. You could say l was very attached to it. These days l seem to change at least one of my pillows once or twice a year.
If you sleep with three pillows or more, are they to protect you from the monsters under the bed or the evils in the world or do you like waking up every morning as though you have been sleeping on a fluffy cloud. How many pillows do you sleep with?
Paul Dorin’s cartoon of himself by himself.
MEET OUR PAIN MANAGEMENT EXPERTS
Emil Terbio – Exercise Physiotherapist
Physiotherapist Emil comes to us with a wealth of physiotherapy experience and knowledge from the public hospital system and also private practice. Emil works closely with our team of Exercise Physiologists on a coordinated approach to improving your pain and overall wellbeing. Emil has a special interest in neurology and improving the lives of people living with neurological conditions. He’s also mad keen on soccer and will support you with all sports related injuries and injury prevention.
Sophie Bullock – Exercise Physiologist
Sophie has post graduate qualifications in hydrotherapy, and as a non-sports centred Exercise Physiologist, helps clients who struggle with engaging in exercise due to a lack of sports participation. Sophie’s goal is to improve clients health via our hydrotherapy program, gym instruction and in-home visits. Sophie also is known for her passion for working with children.
Sarah Solano – Exercise Physiologist
Sarah believes that exercise is the best medicine. She is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist with her degree in exercise physiology and rehabilitation. Previously Sarah was a swim teacher, personal trainer and an allied health assistant in the hydrotherapy field.
Jarrod Phillips – Exercise Physiologist
Jarrod is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist who graduated from the University of Canberra in 2024.
He has a passion for wanting to help those in need and aims to provide the best possible treatment and advice to each and every one of his clients.
Blake Dean – Exercise Physiologist
Blake has expertise in improving clients mobility and decreasing their pain through appropriate exercise. Blake delivers our ‘My Exercise’ program, targeting the relief of lower back and sciatic pain, shoulder and upper body concerns as well as leg, hip and ankle interventions – for those who do not qualify for physiotherapy-led GLAD programs. Blake provides individual & group exercise for younger people with a disability. Blake treats clients in-clinic or via our hydrotherapy program as well as attending your gym with you.
Jacqui Couldrick – Physiotherapist
Jacqui has a particular interest in hip and knee osteoarthritis. Jacqui delivers the GLAD program designed to reduce the need for joint replacements, or if a joint replacement is unavoidable, to prepare you thoroughly for surgery and recovery for day to day tasks. Jacqui is studying towards a PhD in the outcomes of the GLAD program.
Holly Hazlewood – Exercise Physiologist
Holly is a former sports journalist who believed so strongly in the power of exercise to heal and nurture that she undertook her 4 year degree in Exercise Physiology. Holly is be able to work with people directly to support them through their pain journey and regain independence and a joy for living again. Holly provides one on one and group exercise classes both on land and at our hydrotherapy centres to support people to gain freedom from chronic pain.
• Occupational Therapy – Assistance with the planning and modification of your home, workplace or car. Applications for NDIS, the Disability and Housing Support Pension, and also driving assessments.
• Physiotherapy – including the GLAD program for knee and hip osteoarthritis, sports injury prevention and rehabilitation, and pain condition support.
• Exercise Physiology – Individual exercise prescriptions, small group classes to increase strength and improve rehabilitation, strength and balance classes, hydrotherapy support.
MODERN LIVING / the office –
Does music make you more productive at
Can listening to music make you more productive at work? ANNA FIVEASH says there’s no one-sizefits-all answer to this question.
Listening to music can enhance our lives in all kinds of ways –many of us use it during exercise, to regulate our mood or in the workplace.
But can listening to background music while you work really make you more productive?
It’s a controversial topic. Some people swear by it, others find it painfully distracting. The research agrees there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.
The best way to use music in the workplace depends on several factors, including your personality traits, what you’re doing, and what kind of music you’re listening to.
Here’s how to find out what works best for you.
Who you are
Your personality has a key influence on whether background music can boost productivity or be distracting in the workplace, which relates to your unique optimal level of arousal.
Arousal in this context relates to mental alertness, and the readiness of the brain to process new information. Background music can increase it.
Research suggests that being at an optimal level of arousal facilitates a state of “flow”, enhancing performance and productivity.
Introverts already have a high baseline level of internal arousal.
Adding background music might push them over their optimal level, likely reducing productivity.
Extroverts, on the other hand, have lower baseline levels of internal arousal, so need more external stimulation to perform at their optimal level.
This is why introverts may perform worse than extroverts with background music, especially when the music is highly arousing.
What you’re doing
Research has shown the nature of the task you’re doing can also have an important effect.
Because of connections between music and language in the brain,
trying to read and write at the same time as listening to complex music –especially music with lyrics – can be particularly difficult.
However, if you’re doing a simple or repetitive task such as data entry or a manual task, having music on in the background can help with performance – particularly upbeat and complex music.
These findings could be related to music’s effects on motivation and maintaining attention, as well as activating reward networks in the brain.
The type of music itself
One important and often overlooked influence is what kind of music
you choose to listen to.
Research has shown that fast and loud music can be more detrimental to complex tasks, such as reading comprehension, than soft and slow music.
Other research found that listening to calming music can have benefits for memory, while aggressive and unpleasant music can have the opposite effect.
However, these effects also depend on your personality, your familiarity with the music, and your musical preferences, so the type of music that works best will be different for everyone.
Music can be very rewarding and can benefit attention, mood and motivation.
Choosing music that is meaningful, rewarding and makes you feel good will likely help boost your performance, especially when performing simple tasks.
What about complex tasks?
It largely seems that the more complex or demanding the task is, the more distracting background music can be.
One way to harness the motivational and mood-boosting effects of music to help with your workplace productivity is to play music before doing your work.
Playing music before a demanding task has been shown to boost
language abilities in particular.
Find what works for you
Music can be both helpful and detrimental for workplace productivity – the best advice is to experiment with different tasks and different types of music, to find out what works best for you.
Try to experiment with your favourite music first, while doing a simple task.
Does the music help you engage with the task? Or do you get distracted and start to become more absorbed in the music? Listening to music without lyrics and with a strong beat might help you focus on the task at hand.
If you find music is distracting to your work, try scheduling in some music breaks throughout the day. Listening to music during breaks could boost your mood and increase your motivation, thereby enhancing productivity.
Moving along with music is suggested to increase reward processing, especially in social situations.
Dancing has the added bonus of getting you out of your chair and moving along in time, so bonus points if you are able to make it a dance break!
Anna Fiveash, ARC DECRA fellow (researcher), Western Sydney University. Republished from The Conversation.
Experiment with different tasks and different types of music to find out what works best for you. Photo: Andrea Piacquadio
MODERN LIVING / electric vehicles
Australia’s love affair with electric cars runs flat
Electric car sales have slumped. Misinformation is one of the reasons, say MILAD HAGHANI & HADI GHADERI.
Battery electric vehicle sales in Australia have flattened. Electric vehicle sales had been rising steadily, supported by increased choices and government incentives.
In early 2024, year-to-date sales continued to grow compared to the same period in 2023. Then, in April, electric vehicle sales fell for the first time in more than two years.
Australia isn’t simply mirroring a broader global trend. It’s true sales have slowed in parts of Europe and the US — often due to reduced incentives. But strong sales growth continues in other regions, such as China and India.
A range of factors or combinations of them could help explain the trend in Australia. These include governments axing incentives, concerns about safety and depreciation, and misinformation.
Governments are cutting incentives
Electric vehicles typically cost more upfront. However, the flood of cheaper Chinese vehicles is lowering the cost barrier.
Federal, state and territory governments also provide financial incentives to buy electric vehicles. These have been among the main drivers of sales in Australia.
Nationally, incentives include a higher luxury car tax threshold and exemptions from fringe benefits tax and customs duty. But several states and territories have scaled back their rebate programs and tax exemptions in 2023 and 2024.
NSW and SA Australia ended their $3000 rebates on January 1 last year. At the same time, NSW ended a stamp duty refund for new and used zero-emission vehicles up to a value of $78,000. Both incentives had been offered since 2021.
Victoria ended its $3000 rebate, also launched in 2021, in mid-2023.
In the ACT, the incentive of two years’ free registration closed on June 30 2024.
Queensland’s $6000 electric vehicle
rebate ended in September.
The market clearly responded to these changes. However, reduced financial incentives alone cannot explain the full picture. Despite several rounds of price cuts, sales of popular Tesla models are falling.
Resale value worries buyers
One major issue for car buyers in Australia, and globally, is uncertainty about their resale value. Consumers are concerned electric vehicles depreciate faster than traditional cars. These concerns are particularly tied to battery degradation, which affects a car’s range and performance over time. And batteries account for
much of the vehicle’s total cost. Potential buyers worry about the long-term value of a used electric vehicle with an ageing battery.
For example, a 2021 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus with nearly 85,000km currently lists for about $34,000. It has lost roughly half its value in just three years.
While Tesla offers transferable four-year warranties and software updates, the rapid evolution of EV technology also makes older secondhand models less desirable, further reducing their value.
Fires raise fears about safety
Electric vehicle fires have made headlines globally. This has created doubts among consumers about the risks of owning them.
Incidents of electric vehicle fires have increased along with vehicle numbers. Statistically, these vehicles are not more prone to fires than conventional cars – in fact, the risk is clearly lower.
Fire risk remains lower than for traditional vehicles, although the gap is shrinking as the electric vehicle fleet ages. And the highly publicised nature of their fires is a source of growing buyer hesitancy.
Misinformation and politicisation
The full environmental benefits of electric vehicles depend on wide -
spread adoption. However, there is a wide gap between early adopters’ experiences and potential buyers’ perceptions.
Persistent misconceptions include exaggerated concerns about battery life, charging infrastructure and safety. Myths and misinformation often fuel these concerns.
Traditional vehicle and oil companies actively spread misinformation in campaigns much like those used against other green energy initiatives.
The politicisation of green initiatives adds to the challenge. When electric vehicles become associated with a specific political ideology, it can alienate large parts of the population. Adoption then becomes slower and more divisive.
The electric vehicle market in Australia is facing challenges, despite the growing variety of models and price cuts.
The EV sales trend signals deeper issues in the market. Broader trends, such as the dominance of SUVs and utes, underscore the fact that while the transition to greener vehicles is progressing, it remains uneven.
Milad Haghani, senior lecturer of Urban Analytics & Resilience, UNSW Sydney and Hadi Ghaderi, professor in supply chain and freight innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Republished from The Conversation.
Electric vehicles typically cost more upfront. However, the flood of cheaper Chinese vehicles is lowering the cost barrier. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
MODERN LIVING / artificial intelligence
Your words and photos are already training AI
More tech companies are introducing AI features to their services, and authors and experts warn it can be hard – if not impossible –to opt out, reports JENNIFER DUDLEY-NICHOLSON.
Author Michelle Prak is known for her tense outback thriller but software delivered the ultimate plot twist when AI showed up in her latest manuscript and refused to go away.
The SA writer says Microsoft’s artificially intelligent assistant Copilot swept into her workspace uninvited after a software update and, despite her best efforts, she cannot evict it.
“It’s a bit of an insult and really maddening that they want to offer their help every time I press enter,” she said.
“The sanctity of the blank page is gone.”
But Microsoft is not the only tech firm adding AI to its platform.
Social network X recently changed its terms of service to allow tweets, photos and videos to train its AI model Grok, and Meta confirmed it is scraping data from its Australian Facebook and Instagram users.
Artificial intelligence experts say these firms owe it to users to provide more clarity about their AI features and should make them optional.
If companies fail to do so, they warn, laws and lawsuits will likely have the final say.
Ms Prak, whose novel The Rush was published early last year, says seeing an AI assistant appear in her Microsoft word-processing software was a “really nasty, rude surprise”.
Avoiding the use of AI tools is important for authors, she says, to avoid questions about copyright, creativity and authenticity.
Authors
and experts are concerned Microsoft’s AI tool cannot be removed from some apps.
“I really want all my work to be pure – I don’t want anything to do with AI,” she said.
“If I submit my work to a publisher or a literary magazine, will it trip up their AI detectors? I do not like it there.”
But completely removing the AI feature has proven impossible, Ms Prak says.
Users can opt out of allowing Microsoft Word to use their data for AI training in its privacy menu but cannot completely remove Copilot from Microsoft Word software.
A spokeswoman for Microsoft Australia says existing subscribers may be able to disable the AI tool by removing updates but new subscrib -
ers will not be given that choice.
The dogmatic approach to AI is concerning, RMIT information sciences professor Lisa Given says, as many people will not research new software features or read terms and conditions to find out how their data is being used.
Tech firms offering AI and using customers’ information need to be transparent about their intentions, she says, and give users the opportunity to activate services rather than switching them on by default.
“I have concerns about people having to opt out because that requires time, knowledge and education,” she says.
“When you have something that’s opt-in, it’s a much more deliberate choice.”
Introducing and activating AI features without consultation can also lead to dangerous outcomes for organisations, she says, which could find their sensitive data is being shared incorrectly.
Mandatory AI guardrails currently being drafted in Australia should consider opt-in provisions, she says, as data-hungry companies were unlikely to offer them.
“AI is not only ahead of regulation and the lawmakers but it’s also ahead of everyday workers trying to make choices,” she said.
“The onus is often left on us but it’s a constantly moving landscape.”
Rules around high-risk AI use cases are currently being considered by the federal government after a public consultation wrapped in October.
But protecting Australians from unintended AI consequences could also involve reforming privacy laws, UNSW AI Institute chief scientist Toby Walsh says.
Meta is harvesting data from Facebook and Instagram users to train its AI model Llama, for example, but will not let Australians opt out of the act like it does for users in the European Union.
“There are various privacies
that we don’t have that they have in Europe because they have better data protection,” Prof Walsh says.
“Sadly, we haven’t updated our privacy laws as quickly as they have in Europe and elsewhere.”
AI companies have been keen to push copyright boundaries, he says, as they need huge amounts of information to train their large-language models.
While more are signing licensing agreements with publishers for access to work, such as a three-year deal struck with HarperCollins over nonfiction books last week, Prof Walsh says it may ultimately take lawsuits to change the industry’s approach to copyright material.
A contentious court battle between the New York Times and OpenAI, for example, is being fought over whether the firm scraped stories from behind its paywall to train AI without its permission.
“There’s a number of lawsuits in place and class action suits that will decide what’s to happen but it’s critical that we work out where our values are and that we appreciate the contributions of authors, musicians, painters and all the other people that add to our society,” Prof Walsh said.
“We have to push back against the premise that just because things are available, companies have consent to use them.” –AAP
Photo: Lukas Coch/AAP
MODERN LIVING / flying reptiles
Flying reptile fossil find fills major evolution gap
A newly identified fossil species – named Skiphosoura bavarica –from Germany has unlocked some of the history of ancient flying reptiles, reports WILL DUNHAM in Washington.
Aloft over the landscape of Bavaria some 147 million years ago was a pterosaur – an ancient flying reptile – with a wing span of about two metres (seven feet), a bony crest on front of its snout and a mouthful of sharp teeth, searching for a lizard or another nice morsel to eat.
Scientists have unearthed a wellpreserved fossil skeleton of this newly identified species, named Skiphosoura bavarica, in a discovery that fills a major gap in the understanding of the evolution of pterosaurs – creatures that were important components of ecosystems during the age of dinosaurs.
Skiphosoura lived toward the end of the Jurassic Period. It is anatomically transitional between the long-tailed and relatively small pterosaurs that originated roughly 80 million years earlier during the Triassic and the short-tailed ones that later would become the giants of the Cretaceous such as Quetzalcoatlus, whose wingspan rivaled an F-16 fighter.
“It’s of huge importance,” paleontologist David Hone. of Queen Mary University of London, lead author of the
study published in the journal Current Biology, said of how Skiphosoura provides insight into pterosaur evolution.
“It also brings other pterosaur finds we had already made into focus, better explaining where they go in the family tree of pterosaurs and allowing us to show this transition from the early to late forms – and see what features were changing in what order,” Hone said.
The creature, whose scientific name means “sword tail from Bavaria”, had a short and stiff pointed tail. The specimen has almost every bone in the skeleton preserved in three dimensions, rather than crushed flat like many fossils. It was unearthed in 2015 in the southeastern German state of Bavaria.
“Pterosaur skeletons are really fragile as their bones are so thin, so they often fall apart or are crushed when they are preserved,” Hone said.
Skiphosoura would have been one of the largest fliers in its ecosystem. Its skull was about 25 centimetres (10 inches) long.
“The bony crest is limited to the front of the snout, but it would have had a soft tissue extension on top of
this that would have made it quite a bit bigger. It was likely brightly colored or patterned, but we don’t know for sure,” Hone said.
“The teeth are quite long and sharp. They are for puncturing and holding.
“It would have been a generalised predator of small prey, taking things like lizards, small mammals, big insects and maybe fish. It was probably living inland, perhaps in forests.”
Pterosaurs, cousins of the
dinosaurs, were the first of three vertebrate groups to achieve powered flight, followed by birds about 150 million years ago and bats around 50 million years ago. Pterosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago in the mass extinction event that also doomed the dinosaurs after an asteroid struck Earth.
Paleontologists divide pterosaurs into two major groups – the early non-pterodactyloids and the later pterodactyloids.
The early group’s members possessed a short head, short neck, long tail, short bone in the wrist of the wing and long fifth toe on the foot. The later ones had a large head, long neck, short tail, long wrist and short fifth toe. The later huge pterosaurs also had no teeth.
The discovery of Skiphosoura and another species called Dearc sgiathanach, which lived roughly 170 million years ago in Scotland, have helped clarify key events in pterosaur evolution.
They are part of a transitional group called darwinopterans bridging the early and later pterosaurs.
“Skiphosoura lies within the family tree between darwinopteran pterosaurs and their pterodactyloid descendants,” said paleontologist and study co-author Adam Fitch, of the Field Museum in Chicago.
“For over 150 million years, pterosaurs created, opened and maintained countless ecological roles later filled by living birds and their closest relatives – from hunting oceanic prey on the wing to chasing terrestrial prey on foot.
“Through the happenstance of an asteroid hitting Earth 66 million years ago, pterosaurs were removed from these roles forever.”
–Reuters
Skiphosoura bavarica… whose discovery fills a major gap in the understanding of the evolution of pterosaurs. Image: Gabriel Ugueto
MODERN LIVING / dogs
Here’s the science to making your dog happy
The science of happier dogs: MIA COBB has five tips to help your canine friends live their best life.
When you hear about “science focused on how dogs can live their best lives with us” it sounds like an imaginary job made up by a child.
However, the field of animal welfare science is real and influential.
As our most popular animal companion and co-worker, dogs are very deserving of scientific attention.
In recent years we’ve learned more about how dogs are similar to people, but also how they are distinctly themselves.
We often think about how dogs help us – as companions, working as detectors, and keeping us safe and healthy. Dog-centric science helps us think about the world from a four-paw perspective and apply this new knowledge so dogs can enjoy a good life.
Here are five tips to keep the tails in your life wagging happily.
1. Let dogs sniff
Sniffing makes dogs happier. We tend to forget they live in a smellbased world because we’re so visual.
Often taking the dog for a walk is our daily physical activity but we should remember it could be our dogs’ only time out of the home environment.
Letting them have a really good
sniff of that tree or post is full of satisfying information for them. It’s their nose’s equivalent of us standing at the top of a mountain and enjoying a rich, colour-soaked, sunset view.
2. Give dogs agency
Agency is a hot topic in animal welfare science right now. For people who lived through the frustration of strict lockdowns in the early years of covid, it’s easy to remember how not being able to go where we wanted, or see who we wanted, when we wanted, impacted our mental health.
We’ve now learned that giving animals choice and control in their lives is important for their mental wellbeing, too.
This might be installing a doggy door so they can go outside or inside when they like. It could be letting them decide which sniffy path to take through your local park. Perhaps it’s choosing which three toys to play with that day from a larger collection that gets rotated around.
Providing choices doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
3. Recognise all dogs are individuals
Just like us, dogs have their own personalities and preferences. Not all
One dog might like to go to the dog park and run around with other dogs at high speed for an hour, while another dog would much rather hang out with you chewing on something in the garden.
Being prepared to meet dogs where they are, as individuals, is important to their welfare.
As well as noticing what dogs like to do as individuals, it’s important not to force dogs into situations they don’t enjoy. Pay attention to behaviour that indicates dogs aren’t comfortable, such as looking away, licking their lips or yawning.
options if our dogs don’t want to share in every activity with us. Having a quiet place that dogs can retreat to is really important in enabling them to opt out if they want to.
If you’re watching television loudly, it may be too much for their sensitive ears. Ensure a door is open to another room so they can retreat. Some dogs might feel overwhelmed when visitors come over; giving them somewhere safe and quiet to go rather than forcing an interaction will help them cope.
5. Opportunities for off-lead activity – safely
When dogs are allowed to run
with us on-lead. This offers them important and fun physical activity to keep them fit and healthy.
For dog-loving nations, such as Australia, helping our canine friends live their best life feels good. Science that comes from a four-paw perspective can help us reconsider our everyday interactions with dogs and influence positive changes so we can live well, together.
Mia Cobb, Research Fellow, Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne. Republished from The Conversation.
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MODERN LIVING / reading books
Reading rates in Australia are falling, but why?
Australians are reading less than other countries, a new report shows. But why? KATYA JOHANSON has some answers.
Recent international research shows Australians are buying and reading fewer books than people in many other countries. But why?
A report by the European and International Book Federation found that only 64 per cent of Australians bought a book in the past year, compared to an average 72 per cent of people across 19 countries.
Similarly, 80 per cent of Australians read a book in the past year, slightly below the international average of 85 per cent. These differences are slim, but as book buyers and readers, we are among the lowest in the sample, alongside Aotearoa NZ, Finland, Latvia and the US.
The number of people who had read a book in the past year in Italy, Spain, the UK and Ireland all came in at over 90 per cent.
Local research also suggests reading rates in Australia are falling. Back in 2017, a Macquarie University study found 92 per cent of us read books at least once in the previous year. By 2021, in the Australia Reads national survey that figure had dropped to 75 per cent.
What’s behind these numbers?
Price might be less of a factor than
we often assume – and surprisingly, Australia’s dependence on cars could play a role. International examples showing how other countries protect and value their book cultures – from government policies to counter the strength of Amazon to public holidays for poets – suggest measures to actively boost our own could help.
There’s a general perception that books cost too much in Australia. But they’re not necessarily more expensive here than elsewhere. Competition from online retailers such as Amazon and increases in production costs globally have levelled prices internationally.
In fact, Australians often pay similar or less for books than readers in Canada, NZ and the US.
Tim Winton’s new novel, Juice, for example, has an Australian recommended retail price of $A49.99. It’s almost exactly the same price in Aotearoa NZ ($A49.81) and costs more in Canada ($A54.59). In the US, Juice is $A44.02, and in the UK, it’s $A43.07.
Horizontal EGN - 145mm H x 260mm W.pdf 1 10/12/2024 8:49:47 am
While UK book prices are lower, this is mainly because books there don’t attract sales tax. The UK made books exempt from its value-added tax (VAT) applied to most goods and services – a deliberate decision to
make reading more affordable.
Interestingly, countries where more people use public transport – like the UK, France, Germany and Spain –tend to have higher reading rates. It’s easier to read a book on a train than in a car, and these countries often have bookshops in train stations, creating a culture of reading while commuting.
In contrast, car-dependent countries such as Australia, the US and NZ show lower reading rates. Our reliance on cars might explain why audiobooks are more popular in Australia than in many other countries.
In Ireland, where 91 per cent of people have read a book in the past 12 months, there is a strong cultural history of storytelling. Reading is supported by an arts council providing grants and bursaries, and a healthy ecosystem of literary festivals and magazines, public libraries and bookshops.
Australia has many of these things, but Ireland also significantly supports writers, with a tax exemption on artists’ income up to €50,000 (about $A81,500) and a basic-income pilot scheme granting 2000 artists €325
(about $A530) a week.
In France, where the government actively protects its reading culture, 88 per cent of people have read a book in the past 12 months. In 2022, France introduced a law to make French bookshops more competitive with online retailers such as Amazon, which often offer free delivery of books. By setting a minimum delivery fee for all online book orders of less than €35 (around $A57), the government aims to level the playing field for local booksellers.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 5 per cent of French people buy all their books online (as opposed to 12 per cent in Australia).
Interestingly, just 32 per cent of Australians said they consider reading a hobby, compared to 44 per cent in Spain and 42 per cent in the UK.
Local booksellers report declining reading rates in Australia, too. Robbie Egan, CEO of Australia’s peak bookselling industry body, BookPeople, told me: “The competition for eyeballs is real and it is fierce, and consumer discretionary dollars are scarce”. Industry leaders like Egan suggest we need a national campaign to promote the benefit of reading.
Katya Johanson, professor of publishing and audience studies, Edith Cowan University. Republished from The Conversation.
average 72 per cent of people across 19 countries.
Human cell atlas engages a world of scientists
With more than 3600 scientists across 100 countries collaborating, there is progress toward an ambitious atlas of human cells, reports WILL DUNHAM in Washington.
Scientists have unveiled the first blueprint of human skeletal development as they make progress toward the goal of completing a biological atlas of every cell type in the body to better understand human health and diagnose and treat disease.
The work is part of the ongoing Human Cell Atlas project that was begun in 2016 and involves researchers around the world. The human body comprises roughly 37 trillion cells, with each cell type having a unique function.
The researchers aim to have a first draft of the atlas done in the next year or two.
Aviv Regev, founding co-chair of the project and currently executive vice president and head of research and early development at US biotech company Genentech, said the work is important on two levels.
“First of all, it’s our basic human curiosity. We want to know what we’re made of. I think humans have always wanted to know what they’re made of. And, in fact, biologists have been mapping cells since the 1600s for
that reason,” Regev said.
“The second and very pragmatic reason is that this is essential for us in order to understand and treat disease. Cells are the basic unit of life, and when things go wrong, they go wrong with our cells, first and foremost.”
The researchers mapped skeletal development in the first trimester of pregnancy, allowing them to describe all the cells, gene networks and interactions involved with bone growth during the early stages of human development.
They showed how cartilage acts as a scaffold for bone development across the skeleton, apart from the top of the skull. They mapped all the cells critical for skull formation and examined how genetic mutations may cause soft spots in a newborn baby’s skull to fuse too early, constraining the developing brain’s growth.
Knowledge of these cells, the researchers said, potentially could be used as diagnostic and therapeutic targets for identifying and treating congenital conditions. They also found that certain genes activated in early bone cells might be associated with an increased risk of developing
hip arthritis in adulthood.
The researchers presented the gastrointestinal tract atlas, spanning from the tissues of the mouth down to the esophagus, stomach, intestines and colon.
They identified a gut cell type that may be involved in inflammation, potentially insightful for conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
And they offered an atlas of the developing human thymus, an organ that trains immune cells to protect against infections and cancer.
The findings were published in
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“While the primary focus has been on mapping the cells of the healthy human body, the project has already contributed valuable insights into diseases such as cancer, COVID-19, cystic fibrosis and diseases affecting the heart, lung and gut, among others,” said Alexandra-Chloe Villani, of Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a member of the project’s organising committee.
The research employs new data and analytical tools, some based on
artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The Human Cell Atlas data allows researchers “to train foundation models, like a ‘ChatGPT for cells,’ which help us annotate new cells or search for a new cell within the tens of millions of profiles,” said Sarah Teichmann, of the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, the project’s founding co-chair.
“These help us make unexpected connections, for example between cells seen in fibrotic lung diseases and in tumors in the pancreas,” Teichmann said.
Understanding human anatomical complexity at the cellular level has been a challenge.
“Fundamentally, these studies tell us how tissues, organs and humans are built,” said Muzlifah Haniffa, of Wellcome Sanger Institute and Newcastle University, a member of the project’s organising committee.
“Understanding human development is critical to understand developmental disorders, childhood disorders that have a prenatal onset, as well as diseases that also affect adults, as developmental pathways can re-emerge in later life disease,” said Haniffa.
“Practical applications include new diagnostic, clinical management and therapeutic strategies for the clinic.” – Reuters
Human lung tissue.
Image: Nathan Richoz/University of Cambridge
MODERN LIVING / measuring blood pressure
How to measure your blood pressure properly
Many people don’t measure their blood pressure properly at home – here’s how three experts say to get accurate readings.
Measuring your blood pressure at home means you can take readings over several days to get a better picture of your health, instead of one-off measurements at the doctor’s clinic.
It’s important you follow specific steps to get an accurate reading.
But our study found most Australians do not measure their blood pressure correctly at home and very few were told the steps to follow.
High blood pressure is a major health problem in Australia and globally.
One in three Australian adults have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. This is when your blood pressure is at or above 140/90mmHg (mmHg refers to millimetres of mercury, a standard measurement of blood pressure).
High blood pressure is the leading contributor to preventable health issues and early death among Australians because it is the main risk factor for heart disease, stroke, dementia and kidney disease.
High blood pressure often has no symptoms. So the only way to know if you have it is to measure it.
Blood pressure changes based on how we are feeling, what we’ve eaten or the activities we have just been doing.
These normal responses mean our blood pressure can change from minute to minute and hour to hour.
This is why there are specific, recommended steps to follow to reliably measure your blood pressure and to be able to compare readings taken days, months and years apart.
We surveyed and interviewed 350 people (who were all measuring their blood pressure at home) from around Australia to find out how Australians measure blood pressure at home and if they receive any education to help them know what to do.
Our study found no one followed all of the specific, recommended steps to measure their blood pressure. Instead they said they measured their blood pressure at different times of the day after doing different things.
We found most people measured their blood pressure while sitting down (90 per cent) and with the cuff on their bare arm (77 per cent), which is the right thing to do.
While 58 per cent of people took two blood pressure measures each time, which is correct, only 40 per
Most Australians do not measure their blood pressure correctly at home and very few were told the steps to follow.
cent used the average of the two blood pressure readings. Very few (15 per cent) measured their blood pressure over several days in both the morning and evening.
Only half of the people in our study used a blood pressure device that had been clinically validated.
Regardless of whether or not a doctor had recommended they measure their blood pressure at home, most people (78 per cent) reported their blood pressure readings to their doctor.
These findings tell us doctors often use home blood pressure readings to help diagnose and manage high blood pressure. This emphasises
how important it is to ensure people measure blood pressure correctly.
Many people were measuring their blood pressure a few times a week or month. But most guidelines recommend blood pressure only needs to be measured at home: every day over a week, every six months; and ideally before you see your doctor and after you start or change blood-pressure medication.
Measuring blood pressure at home can bring peace of mind, which many study participants described. But measuring your blood pressure too often may create unnecessary stress, potentially leading to higher blood
pressure readings.
Instead, it’s better to agree with your doctor how often you should measure your blood pressure and to follow the recommended steps each time to make sure your readings are as accurate and useful as possible.
We found few people had received any education or guidance from health-care professionals about how to measure their blood pressure at home.
Instead, many study participants looked for information online to help them know what their blood pressure numbers meant and changes they could make to lower their blood pressure.
So we have worked with people who measure and manage their blood pressure at home to create a simple guide to help you choose a blood pressure device, measure your blood pressure accurately, understand your blood pressure readings and take action to control your blood pressure. It’s at bloodpressuretoolkit.com
The authors are Niamh Chapman, senior research fellow, hypertension and patient engagement, University of Sydney; Dean Picone, senior research fellow, Sydney School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, and Eleanor Clapham, PhD candidate, School of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania. Republished from The Conversation.
JUMBO CROSSWORD
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Space exhibition reaches for the stars and beyond
By Helen MUSA
Canberra Museum and Gallery has taken the universallypopular practice of stargazing to another level with its latest exhibition, Outer Space: Stromlo to the Stars.
It’s a big show, set in the corner galleries carved out from the former Hermitage res taurant area and it centres on an immersive installation best summed up by new ACT arts minister Michael Pettersson as, “a pretty darn cool interactive Supernova exhibit”.
Outer Space is an example of the CMAG’s aim to connect with the wider Canberra public by taking a closer look at key ACT establishments, seen earlier this year in the display of historic objects from the old Royal Canberra Hospital.
observatories round the earth”.
Jointly curated by ANU astronomer Brad Tucker and Hannah Paddon from CMAG, the exhibition is partly chronological, tracing the origins of the observatory back to the early 1900s when it was merely a twinkle in the eye of founding director Walter Geoffrey Duffield, who persuaded the government that we needed a new Australian observatory to “fill a gap in the chain of astrophysical
There are thematic motifs in the show as well, such as women in space, and a section on the community of astrophysicists and their families who lived on the mountain, including a window on Australian sculptor and assemblage artist Rosalie Gascoigne, the first female artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale, married to astronomer Ben Gascoigne.
The show celebrates the 100th anniversary of Mount Stromlo Observatory and Tucker says it “captures not just the groundbreaking science but also the spirit of
Prize-winning scientists, not least Canberra’s Prof Brian Schmidt, who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Schmidt was quick to head for the exhibition when it opened recently and was on hand for the launch of Djara, a new project exploring First Nations peoples’ millennialong connection with the stars.
century, including the period during World War II when its workshops contributed to the war effort by producing gun sights and other optical equipment.
The show features interactive digital experiences, objects, historical photographs and an arcade-style game called Guide Star based on real lasers that destroy space debris.
The piece de resistance is that “pretty darn cool” digital installation, Gravitational
here from Harvard in 1995 at age 27, Mount Stromlo was already a great centre, thanks to the vision of its many directors.
“It was a place of outstanding people… it was ultimately people who made Mount Stromlo what it is today”, he said.
Outer Space: Stromlo to the Stars, Canberra Museum + Gallery, Civic Square until November 16. Free.
Gravitational Weave, an interactive experience based on the discovery made by Prof Brian Schmidt.
The 19th century Farnham Telescope installed at CMAG. Photos: Dominic Northcott
/ The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
Summit showcases region’s art
By Helen Musa
Australian eyes have been turning north to Brisbane in recent weeks with the advent of The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, one of the biggest and most important cultural summits of our region.
Seventy artists, collectives and projects from more than 30 countries feature in the event held in the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art complex known as QAGOMA, and for the first time since covid, which clipped its wings.
I was there for the opening, which saw artists pour in from around the country and the Asia Pacific, but the show goes on until the end of April and with an APT kids’ section featuring lots of hands-on action designed by participating artists, it’s the obvious place to spend a day or two if you’re holidaying in Queensland.
Each time there is a broadening of the Triennial’s sweep, so that for the first time it included creators from Saudi Arabia, Timor-Leste and Uzbekistan.
With a staggering line-up of more than 500 works of art on show, deputy director of QAGOMA, former Canberran Simon Elliott, said that at least half would be permanently acquired by the Brisbane-based collecting institutions.
When the APT began in 1993, he said, standing in for indisposed director Chis Saines, it had been “a real gamble”, one they thought might last for three shows over 10 years, but now after 30 years it was still going and more than four million visitors had passed through the door.
Former director of the ANU School of Art David Williams, backed by top Canberra curators, was one of the driving forces behind the initiative, which they planned as a way to showcase our region’s artists as they responded to contemporary issues.
The official opening took place in GOMA, the stateof-the-art building that opened in 2006 primarily to house the APT, and the natural place for some of the huge installation artworks that have always been at the centre of the event.
Of these, it was Tai Moana Tai Tangata by NZ artist Brett Graham that stood out. A mall of monumental sculptures and video speaking to the historical NZ Wars, it takes up the full length of GOMA’s Long Gallery. But hundreds of works can also be seen in the
ARTS IN THE CITY Elvis in the pose of flawed, mortal man
By Helen Musa
Reclusive Fyshwick screenprint artist, Zimon has returned to his practice with a huge mixed-media artwork now on show at Capital Bazaar.
Elvis Rotting in Hell, he says, is a riff on mortality and its aesthetics.
It came about when Zimon found his old Elvis poster languishing in the back shed being eaten by insects, though the inscription at the base, “cut me and I bleed” was still readable.
Zimon set the picture against a print of Hieronymus Bosch’s sinners writhing in hell, got a local panel beater to spray paint the frame in gold, black and red – the colours of hell – and assembled it to show that while Elvis was one of the greats, he was also a flawed, mortal man.
The work can be seen at 37 Townsville Street Fyshwick until further notice.
splashy new installation in its famous Water Mall along with abundant space for installations, paintings and prints, a good thing, with more artists exhibiting than for many years..
To me the triennial looked fresh, with artists from non-mainstream social groups and ethnicities speaking to important changes in the Asia-Pacific, but it’s huge and it took me a full two days simply to walk through then pop back to take notes on favourites.
One of the exciting things about the APT is how “now” the art looks. Even more exciting is the conversational chit-chat among artists, most of them visiting Australia for the first time, who were seen rubbing shoulders in the exhibitions, at the floor talks and in the nearby coffee shop.
There, I found myself engaging in a lively conversation with a bunch of artists from Makassar in Indonesia including former director of the Makassar Biennale (most countries in Asia have such events now) Jimpe Rachman and exhibiting artist Muhlis Lugis, whose huge woodcut prints depicting the culture of the Bugis community were installed in a section of the QAG.
There were many representations of the unexpected, including an installation evoking a ferocious typhoon by Eleng Lulian, an indigenous artist from
There was a strong contingent from the Pacific this time, with traditional art from PNG, NZ artist Zach Langdon’s amazing one-to-one scale marble sculp tures and a video installation created by Dreamcast Theatre and the Kawaki women’s collective from the Solomon Islands.
A quirky take on the very idea of art is seen when Malaysian town-planner Harold Egn Eswar, from his architectural training, created large. reimagined posters of the built environment in his hometown, Kota Kinabalu, while also participating in APT Kids.
A new project, Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, sees works by indigenous and Islamic communities alongside paintings, video, sculpture and exquisite textile art, reinterpreted by Joel Geolamen in his two Habilan paintings, which show Tausug textiles forming mountainous landscapes.
And my favourite? Zhang Xu Zhan, from Taipei, has created tiny puppets in Lakeview Square – Gamelan Band 2021- 22, then filmed them to tell the pansoutheast Asian story of how the clever mousedeer defeats the stupid crocodile – delicate, scary and fun.
Canberra experimental rock group Hands Like Houses will travel to Thailand to write, record and collaborate with southeast Asian artists, supported by Music Australia’s Export Development Fund.
The Australian Ballet’s dancers bring classic stories to life for very small people in Storytime Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty. Canberra Theatre, January 16-19.
Nearby, Patch Theatre is staging an interactive installation, Sea of Light, where with a UV torch as paintbrush, young audience members can paint and stencil their own voyage, while artworks by contemporary Aboriginal visual artist Elizabeth Close are painted in light across the sea floor. Courtyard Studio, January 18-25.
Melodies from the Bridgerton series will be performed by a string ensemble in Candlelight: Best of Bridgerton on Strings, James Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery, January 18, 31 and February 15.
The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane, until April 27.
Brett Graham’s Grand Folly Egmont (2020), wood and synthetic polymer paint. Photo: Helen Musa
Eleng Luluan’s typhoon installation, Maka Irualrumalame.
Zhang Xu Zhan, from Taipei, Mousedeer puppet. Photos: Helen Musa
A section of Elvis Rotting in Hell, by reclusive Fyshwick screenprint artist Zimon.
EXHIBITION / Ethel Carrick & Anne Dangar
Female artists step out of the shadows of history
COVER STORY
By Helen Musa
For its twin summer exhibitions, the National Gallery of Australia has chosen to look at two female artists partly lost in the shadows of art history.
The two substantial exhibitions, free to the public, have involved five years of research by curators Deborah Hart and Rebecca Edwards and are simply titled, Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar, part of the Know My Name initiative which aims at recognising our women artists.
It’s an apt choice, for while these are separate exhibitions, the artists have much in common, notably that both became considerable figures in the French art scene and were considered radical in their own time. Dangar, born in Kempsey and trained at the Julian Ashton School in Sydney until she got so fed up with Australia’s arts scene and headed for France in the late 1920s, hooked into the rage for Cubism then sweeping Europe.
She went on to settle in an artistic community, MolySabata, in Sablons, southern France, where her kiln is still fully operational at the centre of an arts residency.
Best-known as a potter and one of the very few Australian artists to form part of the European avantgarde in the 20th century, Dangar was a disciple of Albert Gleizes, one of the self-proclaimed founders of Cubism. By contrast, Carrick was not born in Australia, but lived here during both World Wars and died in Melbourne in 1952.
Trained at the Slade School in London, she had married Australian Impressionist painter Emanuel Phillips Fox in 1905, soon moving with him to Montmartre, Paris, where, curator Hart says, “it was as if the windows
had been flung open”. Fox, who snorted at Carrick’s forays into Post Impressionism, reputedly saying: “God help us”, is now sometimes rated the lesser artist. Carrick is still admired for her scenes of fleeting moments showing people in outdoor settings, so much so that in recent times her paintings have achieved more than $1 million at sale.
By no means obscure, in Paris Carrick became a jury member at the Salon d’Automne and was, for a time, vice-president of the International Union of Women Artists. A Theosophist and a mighty traveller, she painted scenes in France, North Africa, Spain, India and Australia.
She also travelled many times to Australia to live and exhibit, first with her husband, who died in 1915, and daringly for a woman, on many en plein air (outdoor) painting expeditions, including to Canberra, where from 1942 to 1944 she painted a colonnade in Civic, a park with Old Parliament House at the rear, St John’s Church in Reid, the Molonglo River and women canteen workers at the Canberra Services Club.
More or less grouped chronologically, the Carrick show features more than 140 of brilliantly-coloured paintings, mostly exhibiting the use of bold brushstrokes to capture life in outdoor settings, although there is a section of still-life flower paintings.
The Dangar exhibition, immediately accessible from the final Carrick room, presents mostly threedimensional ceramics works, set against elegant light green walls, with more than 180 works including art by Dangar and her contemporaries and a great deal of archival material, including notebooks and the sketches showing the schematic planning for the sophisticated designs on her ceramic objects.
In the mid-1930s Dangar had begun working in potteries in the Sablons area to make money, embracing traditional methods using glazed terracotta.
She started with utilitarian vessels but then moved
Cubist movement. She wrote in 1941: “A little honey pot with its two handles and a lid can possess all the fundamental necessities of a huge cubist composition.”
Both of these prominent women artists were making their mark on the world art scene at a time when
Celebrating Lunar New Year
Australia, mainly out of ignorance, was considered a complete cultural desert – the exhibitions put them and us on the map.
Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar, National Gallery of Australia, until April 27. Free admission.
All Visitors welcomed! Tuesday 28 Jan 2025 at 6pm – Late
Courtesy Community Feast 6.30-7.30pm sharp @Temple rear garden.
Gourmet Vegetarian food stalls
Cultural Music performance by Son Ca Band & Local Singers Prayers for everyone’s Ancestors, Parents and Family.
1000s Buddhism Books free collection
New Year Gifts to all Guests, Visitors, Participants
Lucky fruits-Money & Personalised New Year Messages. Lion Dance and Crackers performing by Prosperous Mountain Lion Dance Team
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR 2025!
Sakyamuni Buddhist Centre
32 Archibald St, Lyneham 0412 224 553
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A selection of Anne Dangar’s work at the National Gallery.
Ethel Carrick’s 1910 painting Sur la Plage (On the Beach).
Ethel Carrick’s Morning in Kairouan (c1919-20). A plate in the Canberra exhibition by Anne Dangar.
MUSIC / Canberra International Music Festival
Festival director keeps pushing at the boundaries
By Helen Musa
Since May, when Canberra International Music Festival director Roland Peelman stepped down after a whirlwind 10 years, there’s been a changing of the guard.
Incoming artistic director Eugene Ughetti is a percussionist, composer, performer and conductor with a big name in Melbourne and internationally.
But he’s not well known to Canberrans, although he’s performed here in Gandel Hall during Roland Peelman’s 2016 festival and at Llewellyn Hall, so I took the opportunity while he was in town on a working visit recently to talk to the man who will take the festival in new directions.
With a wife and family and a busy career in Melbourne, he will not relocate to the nation’s capital, but he’s been keeping a very close eye on it.
“I’m not a Canberran but I know Canberra very well and I have done my research,” he says.
He’s been busy looking at possible spaces, from national institutions to private ones and presenting to organisations such as embas sies – “all the things that make Canberra an attractive city to the people who live here”.
The founder at age 19 of Speak Percussion, Ughetti has in the past been the recipient of a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, an MCA/ Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music,
I
In November, Ughetti, half-Italian in heritage, unveiled his 2025 season, another tight festival staged over five days in venues as unalike as Lake Burley Griffin, the Finnish Embassy, Canberra Glassworks,
His radicalism is seen in a day-long minifestival that he’s cooked up with Chris Mercer from the NFSA, his decision to invite a troupe of French pipers to perform their 8 Pipers
His invention, Speak Percussion, is not an ensemble but rather a collaborative music initiative dictated by need, one which has allowed him to be a freelance musician since he was at university.
refreshments served. (5)
6 What is a sneering or cutting remark? (7)
7 Who is the daughter of one’s sister? (5) 13 To be in utter disorder, is to be what? (7) 15 Name the son of Queen Elizabeth II. (7)
In Polar Force, developed with sound artist, Philip Samartzis, Ughetti and Speak Percussion created a new performance work in 2021 with a focus on katabatic winds in Antarctica. They built a white inflatable structure – a cross between an igloo and a Nissan hut, he says – in which field recordings and sounds derived from ice and water were used to create new musical sounds.
Ughetti was always going to be a musician, saying: “I was surrounded by musical instruments from the beginning.”
His father, a drummer and his mother, a visual artist, owned a music store first in the Melbourne’s CBD, then moved it to Footscray.
And music carries into the next generation, with his son a choral singer and his daughter playing piano.
Ughetti himself went to the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School while playing bass guitar, then went on to do his degree at the grown-up VCA, majoring in percussion and composition, initially in classical music.
His Myer Foundation award was not for a project but rather encouragement for talent, giving him two years of salary, a relief, since too often musicians are hamstrung by restraints on projects.
“I’ve spent my career pushing at the boundaries, experiencing new music through collaborations, commissioning new works and composing,” he says.
Canberra International Music Festival, April 30-May 4.
Five Short Blasts by Madeleine Flynn and Tim
Canberra International Music Festival artistic director Eugene Ughetti…
“I’m not a Canberran but I know Canberra very well and
have done my research.”
Photo: Peter Hislop
(Adenanthoas sericerus).
Endemic to the sandy soils of WA, but unfortunately most deaths of these plants in our region is from wet feet in clay soils in winter.
So they need drainage and a little protection from the cold winds. Nevertheless, in the right spot, they create a good screen and are terrific for a small space.
With grey, textured leaves and small red flowers, its velvety growth is irresistible to touch.
Pruning needs to be little but often as they won’t regrow if pruned too hard. They don’t like their feet disturbed or moved, so if transplanting, don’t tease the roots, just relocate with native potting mix or native garden soil and water in. Keep them more on the dry side and they’ll grow well.
NOW’S a good time to propagate lots of shrubs, such as camellias, viburnums and grevilleas or any plants that have semi-hard wood growth. Good propagating material is twig growth that has not flowered and is brown-green in colour. Ideally, select a stem about
10 centimetres long with three or four growth points and healthy-looking leaves. These twigs can be bunched up and planted into a small pot with a propagation mix.
Another method to try is the propagation ball. This is the work-smarter-not-harder method and now I use them to propagate rare camellias and unusual shrubs that are not sold in the commercial market.
The propagation boxes are reusable and, from start to finish, take about six weeks to grow and form roots. Use is a mix of core peat and sphagnum moss wetted before placing around the stem of the plant.
When the box is full of roots, it can be snipped from the main stem of the parent plant and potted. Propagation boxes can be bought online and are a very cost-effective way to propagate favourite plants.
MORNING is the best time to catch some snails, do some light weeding and watering before the day gets too hot.
There still are a few plants for the vegetable garden that can be sown and grown now, but will take a little more TLC. Seeds to try are silverbeet, radishes, lettuce and carrots. All can be sown into punnets except carrots. They like to be directly sown on to the soil they’re going to grow in.
Carrots need good soil that has drainage. Mix
the fine carrot seed with sand for more even distribution and plant into a furrow. The seed can be covered with shadecloth to stop the soil drying out and the seeds not germinating.
Plant carrots close to tomatoes as they make a terrific companion plant.
OUR plant knowledge has expanded to the internet and to mail order plants, garden webinars and seminars, garden blogs and podcasts, too. Overall, gardens are now incorporated into our digital life and information is at our fingertips. However, let’s not forget about the hands-on knowledge that comes with gardening in our changing climate and the folklore that keeps our local traditions alive.
My January tradition is to stay indoors, reading and enjoying my gardening digital life by ordering autumn bulbs.
jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au
Jottings…
• Remove any fallen fruit to prevent fruit fly infestations.
• Deadhead and fertilise roses for autumn flush.
• Keep lawns and gardens watered.
• Keep overgrowth on kiwi fruit in check now the fruit has formed.
Woolly bush… needs drainage and protection from cold winds. Propagation boxes… about six weeks to grow and form roots.
Photos: Jackie Warburton
