I
LETTERS
R E P OR T
EY ARTHUR HACKER
THE 7OO
RUSSELL SPURR
Pretty girls, ugly names
for other
AR-ToP
o
VÞLI9HING
Canberra, a
o
o
to give all Thai girls nicknames at birth to ward off evil sPirits. The more beautiful the girl, the uglier or more meaningless the name so that no devil is interested in her. Hence the examples quoted Da:doll, On:soft,
o
Where evasion is an art, traffic lights form Saturday night's major attraction, and a corespondent fights for life in the federal capital of Australia.
Nok:bird, Pom:round, Deng:red, Ut:meaningless. The most gorgeousThai girl I know is named Moo:pig! The true first names are polysyllabic and
often given upto ayearafter birth by which time the nickname has become too well established to be replaced. Pom ("blessed") is shortform part of a polysyllabic true name
(e.g. Somporn), so she obviously didn't think Khun Mike was foreign devil! Malcolm Stone
Position clarified CONGRATULATIONS on Your detailed and comprehensive re-
port on the region's travel industry and travel publications (C May'88). Although coverage ofthe activities of Trav el Business Ana/ysl was correct (and aPPreciated), there was a slight misreadI ing of my personal situation
well understand the reasons. l'..t Y
*---W¿.
q t¡¡
\ \{ u
I ceased to be editor-inchief of Business Traveller in October 1987. Travel Busines.s Analyst has a contractual arrangement with Interasia Publications (publishers of Asla Travel Trade and Business Traveller) to provide a monthly column for the two magazines. But, despite the fact that my name and title have not been removed -from the Basi¿ess Traveller masrhead, I have no other role or responsibility with either of the Interasia publications. Hope this clears up any confusion.
Also, although I don't wish
The style debate
to sound pedantic, my comment suggesting airlines should reduce advertising was intended only to illustfate culrent market
BRIAN Neil is a proofreader and freelance PR consultant and may be allowed a certain lack of stylistic incisiveness where his own pen is concemed. (Why Hong Kong lacks style; C,
reality.
For instance,
number of airlines in the region are growing this year at rates of around l5 per cent. Yet they cannot add that number of a
May'88). What galls is to have his unctuous explanation of the perfectly sÍaightforward "petard" image in Hamlet and then find that the man is barely acquainted with the passage himself.
so there must be a continued squeeze. seats
crashing bore
quøø,5i¡1y"v)ev
dç
o
-
Presumably, advertising will increase the numbers
travelling.
Murray Bailey
Jane
Morrell
CL-WinfullLaing & Cruicl<shqnk Searities Ltd
oU MIGHTTHINK it's dead easy covering Canberra. The Australian federal capital represents, in microcosm. a marvellously open society. Instant media access seems guaranteed. Press leaks are a way of life. Joumalists bask in a measure of public esteem. Covering a story of any shape o¡ size in such propitious circumstances should be a piece of cake. But cake it is not for peculiarly domestic reasons. The main problem is that few foreign correspondents actually live in Canberra. The
Private client and Institutional stockbroking rgol-1902, NEW WORLD TOWER' 16-18
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minute flight. The arrangement works particularly well for bureau chiefs of the big wire services. They have sub-offices of their own in Canberra and most of them are Australian anyway.
Being Australian undoubtedly helps. It may be a mighty big continent but its popula-
tion (around l6 million) would fit, uncomfortably, into Greater Shanghai. Professional circles tend to be small and incestuous. Members of the media belong to an elite club where everybody knows everybody else. That opens lots of doors.
town is far too isolated; an over-expanded bamyard. Canberra appears, at first glance, the answer to a town planner's prayer a tasteful
amalgam of manicured lawns,- under-employed boulevards and artfully located constructions centred on an artificial lake. B ut it's heavily seeded with listless bureaucrats and an equally enervating diplomatic corps.
THE SLOW LANE: Foreigners who arrive without much organisational back-up find it takes years to build the necessary network of contacts. But that means living in Canberra in isolation from the real Australia the great urban centres of finance, industry-and culture which generate most of the news despatched abroad.
Canberra greets visiting correspondents PARISH-PUMP POLITICS: Nothing suggests a throbbing fulcrum of world power. The political scene is Lilliputian. Rent-a-mob puts in ritual appearances, dumping cow dung over the Parliament steps or smashing windows in the South African embassy. Otherwise Canberra is one crashing bore.
A magnificent National Press Club stands empty most of the year, the bar inhabited by habitues of the half-dozen poker machines. Anyone looking for kicks on a Saturday night,
according to the aficionados, should loiter
CREDTT LYONNAIS GROUP
world. The same cannot be said in Canberra. The most common headache for correspondents is ger ting anyone to speak to at all. Dropping in the Western
SO MUCH FOR
MIKE Smith in Pat Pong Pom(C, May '88) is, perhaPs, unfamiliar with the Thai custom
can
ING AUSTRALIA
beside Commonwealth Avenue watching the traffic lights change. Correspondents aren't the only ones to prefer the bright lights of the coastal cities. The
staff of the Australian intelligence service, ASIO, has been drastically reduced by a recent govemment decision to move its operational headciu arters from Melboume. So appalling was the prospect of living in Canberra thatASIO's trusted agents, sworn to defend the Australian way of life, resigned from theirjobs in droves. Foreign correspondents mostly opt for Sydney. They commute to the capital whenever a story merits the 35-
with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. Officials who might welcome a spread in the Melbourne Ag¿ are not necessarily convinced that overseas media coverage has much intrinsic value. The greatAustralian isolation (and the "what's in it for me?" approach) tends to
foster parochialism. For example: I had no problem getting an
interview with Bob Hawke last year for American Broadcasting (ABC). The prime minister was about to visit Washington. But when some vene¡able journalist came swanning in from London a few months later requesting an audience, he got short shrift. TOUGH TALK: Hawkie can be a trifle testy these days some say it's his booze-free diet - been known, on occasion, to slap and he has -down the most prestigious Australian inter-
viewers. But the unfortunate visitor from London was practically blown out of his chair. He had better bugger off and do his bloody homework, the prime minister told him, before asking any more damn-fool questions. The prime minister is more readily available, for what it's worth, than many leaders in
notables
from out oftown withoutbureau or an old-boy network, hoping to find a friendly spokesperson, is vastly frustrating.
MALINGERING: Blame is usually laid on a brainchild of the formerWhitlam regime. It is known as "flexi-time". Civil servants are permitted to arrange the working day to suit their own convenience, coming in earlier or later and taking time off as the system permits. Add to this an entitlement of at least four weeks paid leave a year, plus anything from 10
to
21 days
sick leave, taken religiously at
onset of the slightest headache, and it's not really surprising that the people you expect to contact never seem to be at their desks. Not too long ago in Canberra, I tried to check something out with one particular ministry. I had not taken the standard precaution of checking two weeks in advance to make sure someone would be there. But this was a simple query requiring a simple an-
:i:11-a
The press department, some 20 strong, was
staffed only by typists. The chief of public relations was away on tour. Predictable enough, anyone who is anyone in Canberra tries to get out of the place at least once a month. His deputy was absent on sick leave. The two sub-deputies were simply "unavailable". Asecretary offered to call me back. The rest was silence.
EVASION: An answer is not always forthcoming even when a spokesperson is pinned down. Evasion is the highest art in Canberra. A typical example was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald of November 20, last year. A Herald reporter was fascinated to learn that some of the Royal Australian Air Force's planes were to be serviced, as an economy
Air New Zealand. Why? The Department o[ Defence was regrettably unable to comment "on a political matter". The minister for defence, science and personnel, Ros Kelly, told the reporter such things were outside her jurisdiction. She referred the inquiry to the higher aurhority, Defence Minister Kim Beazley. But the minister's office felt something of this nature was not really political. The reporter was directed back to the Department of Defence, by which time it was past 5 p.m. and nobody was answering the phone. Enemies of Aust¡alia may count on complete surprise, the paper concluded, provided they attack late in the aftemoon on Friday. measure, by
-
j ournalis
e I I Spu rr, t, t e lev i sion i n te r viewe r a nd aut hor, was a Hong Kong residentfor many yeqrs. He now lives in
R u ss
Sydney
JUNE 1988 THE CORRESPONDENT 7