(See p. 11)
Adevelopment on government owned land in Redfern has drawn criticism from housing advocates, including Greens MP for Newtown and housing spokesperson
Joseph and his Dreamcoat are heading to the Capitol Theatre
(See p. 24)
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Jenny Leong. The rectangular block at 600 Elizabeth Street, just across from Redfern Oval, has stood empty for years since 18 public housing dwellings were demolished in 2013.
The NSW government announced tender was granted to Bridge Housing and national infrastructure group Capella Capital to develop 300 new mixed housing units at the site, one third of which will be allocated for social housing. The development is due for completion in 2028.
In a move that is becoming common across Sydney’s inner-suburbs, redevelopments of social and public housing are undercutting previous shares of 100% public housing blocks, and revamping the majority of these government owned lots for private sale. In recent cases, the government has been sticking to 30% allocated for social and affordable housing.
“Make no mistake,” Leong warned in a statement, “this is the NSW Liberal National government once again selling off public land for private profit”.
The plans for redevelopment have drawn the ire of housing groups since the announcement that the previous 100% public housing would be replaced with a much lower percentage. A rally was held in April last year protesting the privatisation of the land, attended by Leong and Shelter NSW chief executive John Engeler.
“A good government can get things wrong… but admits it, turns around and makes it right,” Engeler said to the crowd of residents and housing advocates.
The City of Sydney Council also criticised the government’s housing allocations at the time of approval, after Council’s original development proposal including 30% for social dwellings and 10% for affordable housing units was traded for the current amount of 30%.
Leong stressed that Sydney is in the midst of a rental crisis, with vacancy rates diving while cost of living and rent rises at a significant pace.
“This is public land, in the inner city, in the middle of a housing crisis. This
should remain 100 per cent public land, and 100 per cent public housing – like it was just a decade ago,” she said.
Leong also criticised the lack of housing allocated for First Nations peoples in the new development. As Redfern is a hub of important First Nations communities and activism, Leong said it is “disgraceful is that there is no dedicated Aboriginal housing planned for this site in the heart of Redfern”.
The redevelopment, which is located in prime position for public transport and social amenities, will see 300 new homes built, as well as rooftop gardens, outdoor spaces and a new head office for Bridge Housing.
running throughout 2022. Waterloo will be home to a new mixed housing development with 28% social housing, 7.5% affordable homes and 63% private homes.
In 2020, blocks of public housing in South Eveleigh were also put up by the government for redevelopment. Community members opposed the plan to transform 46 public housing units into 430 predominantly high-density housing units. Last year, the state government announced the Eveleigh site was included in a wave of 10 major state wide rezonings.
Maclaren Jones said the Elizabeth Street redevelopment will go towards “supporting greater connection to Country for Aboriginal residents and the broader community”.
Developers Bridge Housing described the Redfern location as an “iconic innercity site”.
Natasha Maclaren-Jones said that the new homes will be used as a relocation site for residents being evicted from the nearby Waterloo Estate public housing blocks which are up for demolition this year.
Leong expressed apprehension via social media about the promises for helping Waterloo residents, as the 2028 completion date leaves a significant gap that she said is “cold comfort for residents for whom relocations have already begun”.
The Waterloo Estate redevelopment has come under fire for all the same reasons as Elizabeth Street, with community campaigns protesting its demolition
CEO Rebecca Pinkstone said the development will “provide a template for how large-scale development can be undertaken to support a diverse and vibrant city”.
“The development will become a blueprint for how the community housing sector, working in partnership with government, institutional investors, commercial lenders and the private sector, can deliver social and affordable housing at scale,” Pinkstone said.
Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes Anthony Roberts said the government is “transforming Sydney’s inner city to deliver multiple benefits to the local community, including muchneeded new housing close to jobs, public transport and open space”.
This should remain 100 per cent public land Greens MP for Newtown Jenny Leong. Photo: Twitter/Mehreen Faruqi
100 years, and this is so they can build a penthouse.”
Local heritage consultant Andrew Woodhouse agrees when he said “It seeks to steal significant light, breezeways and views from Byron Hall residents to increase the profitability of the DA site.
We don’t want development unless it provides improvement.”
Metzner’s development is predicated on the demolition of the 1910 arts and crafts building at 95 Macleay that currently houses three commercial premises and an upper residential space. While the building does not have heritage protection, it it could be argued that it is an important addition to the diversity of the architectural fabric of one of the most significant heritage laden streets within the City of Sydney boundaries. Not only is the development a light thief, it also wants to take a community car space from Orwell Street to accommodate the entrance and exit for a six vehicle underground garage.
BY JOHN MOYLEJust as the demolition for the old Bourbon site gets underway, another stoush over a development and the loss of history in Potts Point is about to start.
This time it concerns a site of significant heritage value centred around the old arts and crafts style La Strada restaurant site at 95 Macleay Street, Potts Point.
On December 7, the City of Sydney received development application D/2022/1251 to demolish 95 Macleay Street, the site to be replaced by a $7.65 million six storey development consisting of 2 studios, 2 x 2 bedroom apartments, 1 x 3 bedroom apartment and a two storey 3 bedroom penthouse apartment with a rooftop pool.
Only the penthouse will have views.
The owner of the site is believed to be fashion public relations owner Peter Metzner, who purchased the property in 2021.
Metzner and his architectural firm David Mitchell Architects have failed to consult the affected local residents, and they are angry with probable cause.
Byron Hall is a heritage listed 10 storey building, built in 1928, immediately
opposite the proposed development, and its residents say they are having their light, views and breezeways stolen.
“Byron Hall has 42 apartments of which 14 will lose their light,” Brian van der Platt, Chairman of the Board at Byron Hall, said.
“There are also the loss of views from level 5, and the overlooking of the development into our apartments.”
To this end Byron Hall has engaged a planner who is preparing an objection to the City of Sydney regarding the DA.
It is understood that the heritage listed Kingsclere, on the corner of Greenknowe and Macleay, is also concerned about loss of light to their building.
“There has been no community consultation at all,” Con Anemogiannis, Byron Hall resident said.
“The height of the project, which they don’t think is a problem, is casting shadows over Byron Hall, the Wayside Chapel and Kingsclere.
“It means that we will have no winter light and we have had that for the last
“The only way that can be reached is by the very narrow Hughes Street which are gathering points for the homeless, the Wayside, as well as garbage and delivery trucks, while adding six more cars to the area,” Van der Platt said.
While downplaying the heritage and architectural value of 95 Macleay Street the developers also face robbing the area of economic diversity by removing three businesses currently operating from the site, and replacing them with a single retail outlet.
“This is not in the interest of the community and is not helping business at all,” Anemogiannis said.
On face value it could be said that this is a fight between people who are well off, except that it raises quality of living issues that affect the entire area, along with issues regarding heritage protection and the future of those protections.
If a developer comes along and says ‘trust me’ you need to look the gift horse in the mouth and count all of its teeth.
“We now only have pockets of history left in this area, and that arts and crafts building is one of those pockets,” Anemogiannis said.
“It can’t all be about floor space and ratios because history is not something that you can calculate, it is something that everyone owns.”
usage of the cycleways is due to a lack of safety on the road, turning potential commuters away.
Along the route cyclists have to take, Anstey counted “11 cross streets and 17 Private driveways or with limited visibility” in their path.
“We’ve seen near misses every single day” she said.
Another Glebe resident told City Hub that she is terrified to drive on Bridge Road out of fear for the safety of cyclists.
“I just… I panic when I drive that road.”
However, the state government decided to make the Bridge Road Cycleway permanent in March of 2022. Minister for Cities, Infrastructure and Active Transport Rob Stokes said in a letter to Balmain MP Jamie Parker that pop-up cycleways across Sydney have “high numbers of ridership”, and defended the government’s decision to make the cycleway on Bridge Road permanent.
Glebe residents are reaching the end of their patience with a dangerous cycleway running along Bridge Road. Data collected by Transport for NSW shows that usage of the Glebe cycleway has dropped significantly in the past year, with trends continuing downwards.
From January 25 2022 to January 24 2023, Transport for NSW recorded an average count of 292 cyclist trips per day on the cycleway, which they define
as a “key strategic bike riding route linking the Inner West to the City”. This marks a downturn of 35.22% in trips recorded since the cycleway was installed in July of 2020.
Local resident Di Anstey has reported safety issues on the cycleway since it was first installed as a temporary bike route during the COVID 19 lockdowns.
“For residents on Bridge Road, it has become an absolute nightmare,” Anstey said.
Anstey questioned if the diminishing
The cycleway was first flagged for safety issues in 2020. Residents reported to council and the state government that the cycleway was riddled with unsafe merges, pinch points and blind spots which made the stretch of road unsafe for cyclists and drivers alike.
That same year a safety audit carried out by road accident experts Traffic Engineering Centre found there were 26 safety concerns along the route. A public petition to remove the cycleway came soon after, which Anstey says was signed by over 600 Glebe locals.
“Based on the feedback received from the community and benefits of the Bridge Road Cycleway, including improved safety, it’s growing popularity and provision of a sustainable travel option, a decision has been made to make the cycleway permanent,” Stokes wrote.
City of Sydney councillors clashed over a motion to carry out more safety audits on the cycleway in March 2022, with Lord Mayor Clover Moore expressing continued support for the cycleway. Currently, the cycleway is still in operation along Bridge Road, with plans to upgrade certain sections and make it permanent remaining.
A spokesperson from the Department of Education said that “planning is under way to tender for an ongoing operator of the markets at Glebe Public School”.
Started by Bob and Judy McCumstie in 1992, the Glebe markets have been an institution in the Inner West for over 30 years. The markets have been a bustling destination for locals on Saturday mornings for decades.
Balmain Jamie Parker said via social media that there is “no cause for alarm”, and that the government is committed to ensuring the markets remain open.
“The contract to operate the markets is due to expire in March and the Department of Education who owns the site at Glebe Public School has said they have no plans to close the markets,” Parker said.
“I’ll be contacting the Minister tomorrow to confirm and follow up.”
BY ERIN MODAROInner West locals have been shocked by the announcement that the iconic Glebe Markets will be closing down after 30 years of operation on the grounds of Glebe Public School. However, politicians were quick to tell the public that
all hope is not lost, and the Department of Education has no intention of shutting down the markets for good.
The government is on the search for a new operator of the iconic markets, after the current operators announced that they would no longer be in charge.
Stallholders were informed via a letter from the current operators that February 25 will be the last day of operation. The letter cited “personal reasons” for the sudden closure.
Market organisers posted on social media and their website announcing to the public that the iconic markets would no longer continue under their operation.
While an interim solution could be on the way, politicians have come out with their support and dedication to keep the markets running. State member for
Inner West Councillor and state candidate for Balmain Philippa Scott joined Parker in committing to help the markets stay.
“I will do everything I can to assist to secure a new operator and work with the Department of Education to make sure our beloved Glebe Markets continue,” she said on Facebook.
City of Sydney Councillor Linda Scott commented the news that the markets would shut was “devastating”.
“We love the Glebe markets” she said. Locals and regulars will have to wait anxiously for another operator to take up the administration of the markets to ensure they can continue to run.
What an exciting time for Sydney: World Pride, Fair Day, and Mardi Gras are just around the corner. The festivities are on the horizon and the Greens can’t wait to celebrate with you!
After all, there’s a lot to celebrate. Let’s start by acknowledging the 78ers, the first to protest police discrimination and brutality against the queer community by marching through Oxford Street back in 1978.
Let's not forget that Pride began as, and remains, a protest. We know that so many in our community are still facing ongoing, real harm and we acknowledge the activists continuing the struggle on the streets.
Sadly, it’s still a reality that people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer continue to be denied work, access to health, services, and housing and face harassment and even violence just because of their identity.
As a global greens movement, we can’t wait to show the world how proud we are of our community and each other, to meet and connect with likeminded people from across the world, and to see art, culture and community come together in joy and resistance at World Pride.
Keep a look out for our dancing in the parade! Come chat with us at our stall at Fair Day on 19 February and join us as we march down Oxford Street to take rainbow rights back to the streets.
@The.Greens.NSW
They set forward a bold legacy for us to follow. Since then, our amazing communities have won protection against discrimination and achieved marriage equality.
- From your Greens MPs @GreensNSW
But we know there’s still so much more to do to ensure full equality and rights for trans and gender diverse communities.
The Greens won’t stop working for justice for the LGBTIQ+ community until it is fully achieved.
But oh, will we be partying and dancing into the revolution. We’re so excited for Mardi Gras to be returning to its Oxford Street roots!
We love the Glebe markets Organisers of the Glebe Markets have announced they will no longer be running. Photo: Wikimedia commons
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“In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Peoples of Australia”, would be added before the official referendum questions, which are still in development by the Labor government.
Local Sydney councils have expressed their support for the Voice through launching civic training programs to inform the public about what the referendum might mean. The Inner West Council announced last year that it would be partnering with Sydney Alliance and recruiting 1000 volunteers to build awareness.
While the theme of the protest remained strong across speakers, protestors young and old gathered to remember what January 26 marks for First Nations peoples.
“Always was, always will be Aboriginal land” was chanted by the crowd, along with “What do we want? Land rights!”.
BY ERIN MODAROAs protestors gathered on Gadigal land in Belmore Park on January 26, a sign hung by protest organisers conveyed a message that is new to 2023’s rally. The sign hanging across the stage where First Nations speakers gave speeches about Invasion Day read ‘Vote No to Referendum’ and ‘We Deserve More Than a Voice’.
Protest organisers announced they were calling on the Albanese government to “abandon the proposed referendum on a Voice to Parliament”, which they are calling a “powerless advisory body”.
“Sovereignty before Voice”, the theme of the rally, brought attention to the unceded sovereignty of Aboriginal land, with land rights and the end to Indigenous deaths in custody points of focus. With a state election on the horizon, and the Albanese government launching its yes campaign, the annual Invasion day protest was accompanied by the message that not all First Nations groups are backing the Voice.
NSW upper house candidate and activist Lynda June Coe criticised the Labor government’s push for a referendum. Similar sentiment was shown by speakers at the rally in Melbourne.
“Brisbane, Melbourne, we are all mobilising against the fallacy that is constitutional recognition,” Coe said to the crowd.
The referendum will see Australians vote
on whether the Australian constitution should be amended to include a formal Indigenous Voice in Parliament. Coe, along with other speakers, expressed that a Voice was not the right direction for political and social reconciliation in Australia.
“First nations constitution is the oldest constitution on the planet,” Coe said. “That is the recognition that needs to happen.”
The rally comes at a time when data published by The Age suggests that support for the referendum is slipping. In the wake of the Nationals affirming they would be voting ‘no’, support for the Voice has dropped from 53% to 47% in recent weeks.
Coe said in a statement that First Nations people “have never protested and demanded for an advisory body that is subservient to [government]”.
Sydney protest co-organiser, activist and Dunghutti, Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung woman, Auntie Lizzie Jarrett, said that she wanted people to understand that “the referendum is not for us”.
“Every day I am on the front lines of this war, dealing with community and family members getting locked up and killed in custody, children being stolen,” Jarrett said.
“How can we have a Voice to Parliament when we are still at war with the parliament?”
Greens Senators have ‘agreed to disagree’ on the Voice after Senator Lidia Thorpe was given reign to formally vote no, after she has called the Voice a “wasted exercise”. The Greens are predicted to be divided over the topic in the coming months.
Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Linda Burney said that the Voice will “improve lives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in practical ways, like in health education and housing”. The Referendum Working Group met with senior politicians at Parliament House in early February, and discussed possible introductory language which could be added before the questions about supporting the voice on the referendum.
Paul Silva, Dunghutti man and nephew of David Dungay Junior who was killed in police custody in late 2015, spoke of his uncle’s death and called for an end to Indigenous deaths in custody.
“We will not celebrate land theft, murder and rape on the 26th of January, or any day,” Silva said. He said that even if the date of Australia Day was moved from January 26, he still would not support it.
“We demand independent investigations to indigenous deaths in custody.”
Protestors held signs calling for ‘Land Rights, Justice Now’, and ‘No Pride in Genocide’. Signs showing the faces of First Nations people who had been killed in police custody were laid out on the grass.
• Co-educational and secular
• Early Learning to Year 12
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• Celebrating diversity and personal achievement
• Join our local school with a global outlook
Find out more and book a tour: igssyd.nsw.edu.au | 9219 6700 admissions@igssyd.nsw.edu.au
We’re looking for people living in the City of Sydney Local Government Area to become members of our Local Planning Panel.
The panel aims to increase integrity and accountability in the planning system, safeguard against corruption and lead to better planning outcomes.
The panel makes decisions on sensitive, complex and contentious development applications that come before council, as well as more straight forward development applications. No planning expertise is required. Your role will be to ensure local insights and knowledge are considered as part of the panel’s decision-making.
The commitment
Attendance of panel meetings will be on a rotational basis. You are likely to be required to attend three or four panel meetings a year. Engagement as a panel member will be for a period of three years.
Payment
Payment rates are set by the Minister for Planning. Community representatives are currently paid $1,500 plus GST for each meeting.
How to apply
If you’d like to know more, please contact:
• Bill Mackay, Manager Planning Assessments on 02 9265 9494 or email bmackay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au OR
• Andrew Thomas, Executive Manager Planning & Development on 02 9265 9616 or email athomas@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
Apply by 5pm, Monday 6 March 2023.
Please note: Councillors, property developers and real estate agents are ineligible to apply.
For more information call 02 9265 9333 or email council@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au | cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
As your local representative, I can assist with enquiries or problems you have with Federal Government departments and services like Centrelink, immigration, superannuation, Child Support payments, Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS), Veterans’ Affairs, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the National Broadband Network (NBN), universities, employment, training, Commonwealth funding and grants.
To keep up to date with my activities (incuding my mobile offices), issues and events - both locally and nationally, please subscribe to my eNews at tanyaplibersek.com
My office can arrange messages of congratulations for people who live in my electorate and are celebrating their golden (50th) and diamond (60th) wedding anniversaries; and 90th and subsequent birthdays. Please allow for 6-8 weeks for congratulatory messages from dignatories.
Tenants often need to seek legal advice to ensure their needs are met in their new homes. This could include accommodations for medical needs, pets, or proximity to amenities such as doctors’ offices and support services.
Ned Cooke, a solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, explained that their services are often used by public and social housing residents for “support in communicating and negotiating with DCJ Housing to ensure that their new property is appropriate and meets all of their housing needs”.
“Many tenants in public housing are experiencing disadvantage in one form or another, and many have complex needs,” Cooke said.
Cooke also highlighted the strain that relocation has on communities established through public and social housing.
“Public housing tenants create strong, diverse and close-knit communities. Many tenants have lived in the same property for decades, forging relationships with their neighbours and with services in the community,” he said. “These are people’s homes.”
BY ERIN MODAROGlebe public housing resident
Carolyn Ienna has lived in her apartment for more than thirty years now. It’s close to the Fish Markets, around the corner from the foreshore at Blackwattle Bay, and nestled in a closeknit community of long-standing Glebeites who have watched the inner-city suburb grow and change over the past decades.
About mid-way through last year she received a letter informing her that her building was up for redevelopment by the government, and soon she would have to relocate from her home of over three decades.
Now, the time has come for Carolyn to navigate the long and complex relocation process that public housing tenants must endure when their housing is knocked down; a process that is becoming a more than common occurrence in Sydney’s inner-city suburbs.
“Most of the residents here have been here since the beginning,” Carolyn said about her neighbours in the Glebe block. She said she had known many of them for decades, some having moved in when the building was first constructed around 35 years ago.
Carolyn was “devastated” when she was delivered the news that she would have to leave. She told stories about her life in public housing, including how close she had become with some of her neighbours over the years.
“Breaking up a community,” is how she described the relocation of herself and her neighbours.
Residents at the Glebe public housing block received relocation notice letters in August of 2022. The NSW government intends to demolish the existing 17 units and rebuild to 45 new units, including upgraded amenities and landscaping on the site.
A fight to save the housing block ensued, with protests and a petition started, calling on the government to retain the public housing. However, the relocation of those living in the 17 units is now well underway, with the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) expecting all tenants to be vacated by the end of 2023.
“LAHC expects that the remaining residents will move to alternative accommodation by the end of 2023, with the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) continuing to support each resident during this relocation process,” a spokesperson said.
A date for the redevelopment of the building to begin has not yet been set.
“A development application for the project was recently lodged with City of Sydney Council, with development works not expected to begin on site until next year.”
The process of public housing relocation is bureaucratic, complex, and not always to the advantage of those being moved. The Department of Communities and
Justice (DCJ) can inform tenants that they have to move at any time.
The DCJ states that it usually gives tenants two offers for new housing, once a relocation interview is carried out to assess a resident’s needs. Sometimes, only one offer is given. If tenants reject all offers for new housing, the DCJ will move through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to terminate their tenancy.
Carolyn said that she expected she will be living in “something older” than her current apartment once she is moved.
“I do not believe in the process at all,” she explained.
This loss of community is something Carolyn is facing ahead of her own relocation. She said that she has helped her neighbours with moving in to their new homes, and recognised that they might feel isolated and lonely without the support of their previous community. Carolyn joked that one of the DCJ reps had a ‘communities plus’ badge on. “More like communities minus” she laughed.
“Beyond just companionship and connections with place, tenants will often receive informal support from their neighbours that they would struggle without,” Cooke said.
“I still see a lot of flaws in the whole thing. It’s like the way that they word the letter- it’s something like you get two choices, which is not really a choice.”
While residents are given an interview with a representative from the DCJ to assess their housing needs, Carolyn said that often people are met with offers that don’t have certain characteristics that they might need for a new home. This is where the two option choice provided by the LAHC falls short. “Was it a choice? Because they present something to me? That’s not a choice to me,” she said.
“When tenants are forcibly relocated, there is a real risk that they will lose their social supports and become lonely and isolated.” With housing redevelopments going ahead in massive numbers in Sydney’s inner city, this process is important and has impact on many Sydney families and residents. Over 2000 residents in the Waterloo Estate housing face the same journey as Carolyn and her neighbours, after the government pitted the blocks for redevelopment last year.
Redfern Legal Centre can assist public housing tenants with legal advice during the relocation process, and has a free advice and advocacy service called the ‘Inner Sydney Tenants’ Advice and Advocacy Service’. The City of Sydney Council has provided funding for RLC to support tenants.
strong, diverse and close-knit communities Protestor holding a ‘no evictions’ sign at a June 2022 protest by Hands of Glebe. Photo: Facebook/Hands off Glebe
BY JOHN MOYLE, TILEAH DOBSON AND ERIN MODARO
In less than two months residents in New South Wales will be heading to the polls to vote in the state election. And according to the latest YouPoll published in the Sunday Telegraph, the NSW Coalition are trailing behind Labor. Despite the polls being positive in Labor’s favour, Minns hasn’t ruled out the fact that many voters are still undecided.
“I don’t want anyone in NSW to think we’re taking anything for granted,” Minns told reporters in January.
“We’ve got a huge task ahead of us. We’re hungry but we’re humble as well about our prospects.”
One of Labor’s tasks is grabbing one of the coveted seats in Sydney’s Inner West- Balmain.
The seat of Balmain is up for grabs after its current MP, Jamie Parker, announced he would not be running in 2023. For the first time since Labor lost the seat in 2011, it is within Labor’s reach. Current Inner West Councillor Philippa Scott is Labor’s pick of the crop for Balmain. Scott says she’s committed to social justice, and has used her background in law to help the non-for-profit and public sector by providing legal and management advice.
Scott’s campaign so far focuses on returning manufacturing of ferries back to Australia and having Balmain put “back in government”.
“The people of Balmain deserve to be represented by somebody who shares their values but can actually do something about them,” Scott said to reporters back in October 2022.
The candidate going up against Scott is Greens Candidate Kobi Shetty, who the outgoing Parker has assured is the perfect replacement for him.
“A lot of people across the electorate have asked me how I feel about handing the reins over to someone else – well knowing what an outstanding candidate we have in Kobi – I am confident that the seat of Balmain, with Kobi as its new local Greens MP, is in really safe hands,” Parker said.
Shetty currently serves on the Balmain ward of the Inner West Council.
“Speaking to the people that live in this electorate, it’s clear that people want urgent climate action, they want to see an end to corrupting influences in NSW politics, and that something needs to be done to ease cost of living pressures,” Shetty told City Hub
Shetty’s stand-out and what she believes make her different from other candidates is that “the Greens don’t take corporate donations”.
“It means I can always put the needs of the community and the environment first. I’m different because I can stand up and hold the government to account,” she said.
University of Sydney law student
Freya Leach has been announced as the Liberal candidate running for Balmain. Leach is a well-known young conservative on the Sydney University campus; last year she alleged that a university exam question included defamatory material against her.
Leach alleged that the exam question, which used her first name, targeted her personally because of her political beliefs, and wrote to the head of the USyd law school about her concerns.
The University of Sydney apologised for any distress the question had caused, and assured that it was not meant to reference any real-life student or situation.
Leach’s nomination for Balmain was officially announced in late January, after rumours of her candidacy
appeared in The Daily Telegraph and USyd student paper Honi Soit Leach said that she has “always been a strong advocate for our community”, and that the upcoming election is about “having a plan for NSW”.
“There are cost of living pressures hitting families, both in the Balmain peninsula and the Inner West as whole,” Leach said. She said her areas of focus for her campaign would be to “ease the pressure on family budgets” as the costof-living crisis impacts residents in the Inner West.
Even though the state seat of Sydney has been held by a popular independent for the past 11 years, The Greens have preselected political newcomer Nick Ward to contest the seat.
The last time that NSW went to the polls was in 2019 and the then Greens candidate, Jonathan Harmer, polled 9.5 per cent against Alex Greenwich’s 47.3 per cent of the primary vote. Ward came to politics in the early nineties around gay law reform and discrimination legislation in Queensland before moving into the travel business for STA and later technology.
Before joining The Greens Ward looked at running as an independent, or for Labor. Reform and action around climate change has long been The Green’s
central policy and they align with Ward’s political beliefs.
“We are strongly against any new coal, oil or gas-based projects, and while everyone is saying that we need to do more, the difficulty is that we have gone so slowly when it comes to a net zero environment and we don’t have the transmission storage infrastructure,” Ward said.
Relating that to the seat of Sydney, Ward added “Our seat needs some active work where we can turn around some of the active emissions and poor environmental fingerprints.
“We have buildings that are not green and there are no real plans for requirements to start transitioning to things such as double glazing, instead we rely on air conditioning to cool buildings.”
The Liberals have announced businesswoman Phyllisse Stanton will run for Sydney.
Stanton is focused on delivering a “strong economy”, as well as “easing family budgets with cost of living measures, supporting small business, toll relief and investing in health and education”.
Stanton has previously worked for the UKTV/BBC, Optus Vision, Nine Network, Network Ten, Prime Television and SBS, and is interested in law, photography and sailing.
LGBTQ+ protesters took over College and Oxford Street protesting the late Cardinal George Pell while his funeral service ran.
Prior to the rally, NSW Police sought a court injunction to attempt to prevent protesters from holding a protest outside Pell’s funeral at St Mary’s Cathedral on the basis of “safety” concerns. However, police backflipped on their initial decision after negotiations between them and Community Action For Rainbow Rights (CARR) organisers found an alternative route for the rally.
While Cardinal Pell was farewelled with a Requiem Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, protesters gathered at Hyde Park yelling chants including, “George Pell, go to Hell. Take Dutton there as well!”
CARR activist Eddie Stephenson began the protest by telling the crowd that they had gathered here to “give him the sendoff that we know what he deserves”, for Pell to “rot in hell”.
“Take your vile politics, your homophobia, your sexism and your complicity in systematic abuse within the Catholic Church there as well”, she said.
Stephenson gave a eulogy condemning Cardinal Pell for spending his “entire life, his considerable wealth, his connections, and his power in the Catholic Church to defend the powerful, the strong and the unjust, against the oppressed, against the vulnerable and against the defenceless”.
She noted several instances of Pell’s conservative politics including times where he compared homosexuality to be worse than smoking and said women “having abortions is a worse moral scandal than priests committing abuse”.
Co-Chair of First Mardi Gras Inc Ken Davis criticised Pell as “not only outrageous in terms of what he did as an abuser” but also what he did by “enabling exploitation and sexual abuse in structures of church nationally and internationally”.
Davis is one of the 78ers, a group of LGBT activists who marched in the original Sydney Mardi Gras and fought against police violence and arrests on 24 June 1978. He asserted an importance in removing government funding from religious institutions, referencing the problem of Pell’s “relationship to real structures of power”.
“The solution is not simply to oppose legislation against Religious Discrimination. It’s not simply to say people in religious schools or religious health services or youth services should not be discriminated against.
The point is to remove government funding from these services totally. These services should be in control of the community or the government and should be held accountable as public services,” Davis said.
Sexual assault survivor Vivienne Moore called it an “important day”, describing
the “incredibly difficult journey” of remembering her friends who had not survived their experiences of sexual assault.
“My queer friends who’ve killed themselves, this is murder”, Moore said. She thanked her queer family for supporting her and asked everyone to look after each other, yourselves, stating “love is what saved me, love will always win”.
UNSW Education Officer Cherish
Kuehlmann denounced Pell for defending the “crimes of the Catholic Church”. Kuehlmann spoke of the “unjust” nature of the justice system, stating that it was the “justice system that lets powerful people like Pell walk free”, the “same system responsible for killing Indigenous people in custody”.
Kuehlmann spoke about the Albanese government review into the Religious Discrimination Bill where federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus is leading, stating “powerful religious institutions want to define the right to sack LGBTA+ staff in NSW which is currently legal”.
USyd student Simone Maddison called the service a “a funeral for the living”.
Maddison refused to say the Cardinal’s name, instead speaking on the 1800 suspected abusers recorded from 19802015 in Australia who will “continue the Church’s legacy of neglect and violence in innocent victims.”
“This man is not a saint or a martyr. Call him what he is, a criminal”, Maddison stated.
Protesters marched down College Street and onto Oxford Street, calling out attendees of Pell’s funeral and chanting for the continued safeguard of LGBT+ rights.
Stephenson mentioned the action taken by sexual assault survivors and supporters yesterday where they tied ribbons to St Mary’s Cathedral’s fences as a form of silent protest, noting that every ribbon had been cut down overnight.
“They [Catholic Church] couldn’t stand one peaceful, simple expression of protest of what’s been going on within the church hierarchy”, she said. Stephenson called this a “sobering reminder” for the many victims who were abused and “denied their innocence in childhood”.
“We’re out here standing out here in solidarity with survivors saying their voices are heard, and we’re going to fight against Pell, against the bigotry that says the strong should rule, and the vulnerable should be crushed down. We’ll never get away uncontested and will be there every step of the way fighting against them,” Stephenson said.
Start of school is usually a time of celebration, but for parents using the Campbell Street crossing at St Peters Public School, it’s also the beginning of another year of daily nervewracking dashes across four lanes of traffic to access the school.
Parents and children recently attended a rally to draw attention to an issue that the community has been campaigning to be fixed for years. St Peters Public School sits just one street back from a crossing close to the intersection of Princes Highway and Campbell Road.
“It’s busy and cars often dangerously speed through the intersection” says local Elliott Agnew, who worries about drivers hitting his children or other kids. “I use a guide dog and I’m often stuck because cars try to run the red light and then queue up blocking the pedestrian crossing,” Agnew, who regularly takes his three young children across the intersection, said.
Dr Sarina Kilham, an independent running for Heffron in the upcoming
state election, said that this was not the first time the community has spoken up on road safety at the Campbell Street crossing.
“Enough is enough,” Kilham said. “We need to provide a safe way for students to access their school. This is a local mess that’s been leftover by WestConnex and we need it fixed.”
While parents have known about the dangers of the intersection for years, issues with safety were exacerbated in 2021 when a car running a red light almost hit two school children. Two consecutive protests were held in 2021 and 2022 calling for safety measures to be installed.
More than 25 separate Crime Stopper reports with video evidence of trucks and vehicles driving through the red light at the crossing have been reported. The school’s P&C and local residents have submitted multiple requests to Transport for NSW, the WestConnex Authority and government ministers since 2016 requesting a school zone.
Transport for NSW has rejected this request as Campbell Street does not have direct access to St Peters School.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said that NSW Speed Zoning Guidelines outline that only roads with “active direct access” to schools require school zones. The spokesperson confirmed that all roads with direct access to St Peters Public School already have 40km/h zones enforced.
However, Dr Kilham says that Campbell
Street is an essential route for families travelling to and from the school.
“Kids can’t avoid this crossing- it’s the only route to the primary school and our kids should be able to walk, cycle or ride their scooter without fearing the worst,” said Dr Kilham.
The Transport for NSW spokesperson said the government will “continue to monitor the area as part of a commitment to the safety of all children using our roads”.
1. Optus and Vodafone plan to upgrade the existing telecommunications facility below through the addition of new equipment: S0346 – Coogee-O: On the existing rooftop at the above address. The proposal involves:
• The installation of six (6) new Optus 5G antennas and three (3) new Vodafone 5G antennas (nine in total) on the new mount;
• The removal of three (3) existing Optus 5G antennas;
• The replacement of three (3) existing panel antennas with three (3) new panel antennas for Optus and Vodafone (six in total) on the new mount; All new antennas will measure no more than 2.8m in length;
• The installation and reconfiguration of ancillary equipment including remote radio units (RRUs), GPS antennas, antenna mounts, cabling and other associated equipment necessary for the proper function of the proposed facility.
2. Optus and Vodafone regard the proposed installation as a Low-impact Facilities under the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 (“The Determination”) based on the description above. The proposed infrastructures will be in compliance with the ACMA EME regulatory arrangements.
3. In accordance with Section 7 of C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Code, we invite you to provide feedback about the proposal. Further information requests and/or comments should be directed to Ventia:
M. Community.Consultation@ventia.com
N. Ventia, 80 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
Ph. (02) 9834 7229
W. www.rfnsa.com.au/2034007
We will accept comments on the proposed upgrade until 5pm Monday, 27th February 2023.
Telstra plans to upgrade an existing telecommunications facility located at 624-634 New South Head Road, Rose Bay, NSW 2029 (A/-/DP441483) www.rfnsa.com.au/2029002
1. Telstra Limited (A.C.N 051 775 556) are currently upgrading existing mobile network facilities to allow for the introduction of 5G to Telstra’s network. As part of this network upgrade, Telstra proposes the installation of LTE700 (4G), NR850 (5G), LTE1800 (4G), LTE2100 (4G), LTE2600 (4G) and NR850 (5G) technologies at the Rose Bay locality and surrounds.
2. The proposed works at the above site include the removal of four (4) panel antennas and the installation of four (4) panel antennas (each no more than 2.8m long). Works will also include the removal of twelve (12) remote radio units (RRUs) with the installation of six (6) RRUs and the installation of associated ancillary equipment. All internal equipment will be housed within the existing equipment shelter located at the base of the facility.
3. Telstra regards the proposed installation as a Low-Impact Facility under the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 based on the above description.
4. In accordance with Section 7 of C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment Code, we invite you to provide feedback about the proposal. Further information and/or written submissions should be directed to Teah Hammet, Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd (A.B.N 54 005 139 873) via email to: Teah.Hammet@aurecongroup.com or via post to:Teah Hammet, Aurecon Australasia Locked Bag 331, Brisbane, QLD 4001 by 5pm on 23/02/2023.
Community members are fighting to protect Parsley Bay in Vaucluse as the construction of a sewage pumping station poses environmental risks. Bushcare regeneration volunteer and a frequent visitor at Parsley Bay, Nicole McMahon, described the reserve as a “wildlife sanctuary in the middle of Sydney”.
that a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) was already conducted, which addressed “the sensitivities of the area and the control measures put in place to protect flora and fauna”.
“A Construction Environmental Management Plan will be prepared before building commences to ensure the ongoing compliance with the REF,” the spokesperson added.
BY ERIN MODARONSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced a “majorshakeup” strategy to address the state wide teaching shortage in NSW schools. The coalition plans to allow teaching students to be able to teach face to face in classrooms after having completed only one year of postgraduate study.
Currently, education students wanting to become teachers are required to obtain a postgraduate degree as a pathway to entering the classroom as a teacher, which usually takes 2 years to acquire.
Perrottet announced that the new “streamlined approach” would fast track those wanting to enter the teaching profession, and take away a roadblock of one extra year of tertiary education.
“Teaching is a profession to aspire to and I don’t want a single person who is considering starting this fantastic career to be deterred by an unnecessary additional year in their training,” Perrottet said.
Sarah Mitchell said the extra year of study can be a “major barrier” for aspiring teachers, and shaving off a year will allow more flexibility for those who have existing qualifications to enter the profession.
Head of the School of Education at UNSW Sydney, Professor Kim Beswick, agrees that the extra year can act as a deterrent for future teachers.
“Shortening the length of time it takes to qualify would relieve a barrier for some people,” Beswick said.
She noted that it’s important not to “undermine the quality and rigour” of education that university students are receiving. Beswick said that students at The University of New South Wales already have the opportunity to complete their postgraduate requirements in one year of study.
“So, provided that the programmes are high quality teaching after one year is not a problem.”
A review of the National School Reform Agreement recently released by the NSW government revealed that teachers are currently overwhelmed by staffing shortages and an overload of administrative work on top of face-toface teaching hours.
“Teachers’ workload is high and increasing” the report said.
“Surveys suggest that full time teachers work between 44 to 57 hours a week during term time.”
Beswick says that teaching students understand the workload in their final year of study is quite intense.
“It does create stress for students, but they sign up to it with their eyes open,” she said.
However, Beswick says that the streamlined education approach is only a small part of addressing teaching shortages across NSW.
“Ultimately, we’ve got to do more to make teaching a more attractive profession compared to other things.”
McMahon says that an impact report on the sewage station did not adequately capture the reserve’s unique wildlife as the environmental survey happened over just two sittings. The terrestrial survey took place during the peak of the bushfire season, while the marine survey occurred over two days at the end of 2019.
“Rare seagrasses at the reserve also need to be kept healthy, as they are a habitat for the seahorses,” McMahon told City Hub McMahon recognises that the inclusion of White’s Seahorses and Posidonia seagrass meadows in a $9.1 million NSW Government restoration project – aimed at improving water quality and biodiversity – attests to their importance for Sydney Harbour.
Currently, NSW Government legislation allows contractors to engage in public infrastructure projects without conducting comprehensive environmental assessments. These are projects deemed of “low impact”.
The community’s concerns go beyond environmental impacts, with McMahon citing the poor site choice on a flood-prone area and the lack of disaster recovery plans. “What happens if there is a power failure, and what happens if something goes wrong? Where is their backup plan?”
A sewage incident in December last year occurred at Parsley Bay under the waterfall, leading to its closure on December 20th. Signs remain in the rainforest area warning the public of the event.
The pumping station will be built at the car
According to the 2020 Sydney Water final report, “a low diversity of fauna was recorded during the field survey”. The reasons provided were the “short duration” and “high temperatures and smoke haze present on the day”.
McMahon says the works, expected to span over two years, may be “unsettling for fauna sensitive to industrial noise”.
“We have exhaustingly asked [Sydney Water] over and over, can you please redo this environmental statement?”
A spokesperson for Sydney Water clarified
park, with the existing toilet block needing to be demolished and four car spots removed. The decisions report says the car park will be re-configured to resolve the loss of parking.
The station will redirect untreated sewage from the three outfalls at Diamond Bay, Vaucluse and Dover Heights to the Bondi treatment plant.
The Sydney Water spokesperson explained that the outfall at Vaucluse “will remain an emergency relief structure to accommodate wet weather overflows”.
wildlife sanctuary in the middle of Sydney
Teaching is a profession to aspire toNSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Photo: Facebook/Dom Perrottet Brown sea kelp growing in a popular marine reserve in Parsley Bay. Photo: Supplied/Nuturenature
Woollahra Sailing Club has expressed concern that a proposed $1 million extension to a harbour-side playground at Rose Bay will reduce boat rigging space. The sailing club says they risk losing fifty per cent of their current rigging area if the final concept plan for Lyne Park playground goes ahead.
Woollahra Council has developed plans to extend the playground and upgrade the existing play site, with construction expected to begin in April this year.
“[The sailing club] asks the council to seriously consider our thoughts and seek a modified design that could be more inclusive of the wider community and unlock the park’s real potential,” he told the committee members in the meeting.
The club representative stated they would “be prepared to contribute $50,000 from our own pockets towards the design changes”.
Councillor Sarah Swan maintained that amendments to the concept plan followed community consultation.
In an address to the Finance, Community & Services Committee Meeting, a board member and representative for the Woollahra Sailing Club, Martin Bland, said the “club was only made aware of the plans by luck”.
Bland added that while the council had raised the park upgrades with the club before developing the design, they did not show the sailing board the finalised concept plan before opening public consultation in October.
Swan said these changes were not “minor”, after having visited a site meeting at Lyne Park that demonstrated “in real terms the implications of the proposed changes, including the amended plans”.
Swan stated that the commodore of the sailing club “did not think it was a perfect solution but certainly welcomed the continual discussion and consultation with [the] council”.
As part of the final stages of the playground’s development and
construction, Woollahra Council added a recommendation that ensures they continue working with the club to find alternative sites for boat rigging and storage.
Swan says the purpose of this recommendation is “to make sure the club knows that the door is open”.
Rooftop Facility, 209-211 Harris Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009
Optus Vodafone Ref: S0969, www.rfnsa.com.au/2009003
1. The proposed facility consists of the addition of new 5G equipment and associated works as follows:
Existing Facility (Level 10), 1-19 Oxford Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Optus Ref: S0209, www.rfnsa.com.au/2010024
1. The proposed facility consists of the addition of new 5G equipment and associated works as follows:
Under the new concept plan, Lyne Park playground will gain a double flying fox, an increase in swing sets and a water play area.
PROPOSAL TO UPGRADE OPTUS MOBILE PHONE BASE STATION WITH 5G AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
Rooftop Facility, Lakes Business Park, Building 2, 2-26 Lord Street, Botany NSW 2019 Optus Ref: S0490, www.rfnsa.com.au/2019001
3. The proposed facility consists of the addition of new 5G equipment and associated works as follows:
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (0.81m long)
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (0.75m long)
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.68m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (2.1m long)
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.68m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (1.83m long)
• New ancillary equipment including remote radio units, cabling and antenna mounts
• Reconfiguration of existing equipment on the facility and within the equipment shelter
• The antennas are at rooftop level and there is a slight increase in the overall scale of the facility
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (0.81m in length)
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.68m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (1.5m long)
• New ancillary equipment including remote radio units, cabling and antenna mounts
• Reconfiguration of existing equipment on the facility and within the equipment shelter; the antennas are at level 10 plant room
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (0.59m long)
• New ancillary equipment including remote radio units, cabling and antenna mounts
• Reconfiguration of existing equipment on the facility and within the equipment shelter
• The antennas are at rooftop level and there is a slight increase in the overall scale of the facility
Rooftop Facility, 48 Chippen Street, Chippendale NSW 2008
Optus Vodafone Ref: S2145, www.rfnsa.com.au/2008003
2. The proposed facility consists of the addition of new 5G equipment and associated works as follows:
Temporary full closure of Burwood Road underpass to motorists will occur from 10pm on Friday 10 February to 4am on Monday 13 February 2023.
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (0.75m long)
• Optus regards the proposed installation as a low-impact facility in accordance with the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 based on the description above
Special event clearway at Railway Parade, Burwood
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (1.35m long)
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.69m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (2.1m long)
Existing Monopole, 19 Harris Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009 Optus Ref: S5576, www.rfnsa.com.au/2009001
• Optus regards the proposed installation as Exempt Development in accordance with State Environmental Planning Policy (Infrastructure) 2007 based on the description above Rooftop Facility, 65-71 Belmore Road,
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.68m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (1.5m long)
• New ancillary equipment including remote radio units, cabling and antenna mounts
• Reconfiguration of existing equipment on the facility and within the equipment shelter
Special event clearways will be in effect from Saturday 11 February to 6am Monday 13 February 2023 on the southern side of Railway Parade, Burwood between Burwood Rd and Shaftesbury Rd.
• The antennas are at rooftop level and there is a slight increase in the overall scale of the facility
Rooftop Facility, 134-138 William Street, Wooloomooloo NSW 2011
Optus Vodafone Ref: S8901, www.rfnsa.com.au/2011002
3. The proposed facility consists of the addition of new 5G equipment and associated works as follows:
Special event clearways are strict no-parking zones and apply to local residents and Mobility Scheme Parking Permit holders. Vehicles left in clearways will be towed and a fee applies.
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (0.75m long)
• Installation of three (3) new 5G panel antennas (1.35m long)
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.53m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (1.83m long)
• Replacement of three (3) existing 4G panel antennas (2.53m long) with three new 4G panel antennas (2.78m long)
• New ancillary equipment including remote radio units, cabling and antenna mounts
Note: this information is correct at time of publication but may change at late notice; always check signage for the most up-to-date information.
• Reconfiguration of existing equipment on the facility and within the equipment shelter
CONTACT US
4. Optus and Vodafone regard the proposed installations as Exempt Development in accordance with State Environmental Planning Policy (Infrastructure) 2007 based on the description above
accordance with the Telecommunications (Low-impact Facilities) Determination 2018 based on the description above
in accordance with State Environmental Planning Policy (Infrastructure) 2007 based on the description above
Project information line: 1800 684 490 or Email: projects@transport.nsw.gov.au
5. Notification is being undertaken in accordance with Section 7 of Industry Code C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment
5. Notification is being undertaken in accordance with Section 7 of Industry Code C564:2020 Mobile Phone Base Station Deployment.
Visit transportnsw.info
6. Members of the public may obtain further information on the proposed work, and we invite you to provide written comments about the proposal. Further information and/or comments should be directed to Optus’ representative c/- James McIver, Catalyst ONE Pty Ltd; phone: 02 4022 9533; email: consultation@catalystone.com.au and post: PO Box 1119, Crows Nest NSW 1585 by 26 February 2021.
6. Members of the public may obtain further information on the proposed work, and we invite you to provide written comments about the proposal. Further information and/or comments should be directed to Optus’ representative c/- James McIver, Catalyst ONE Pty Ltd; phone: 02 4022 9533; email: consultation@catalystone.com.au and post: PO Box 1119, Crows Nest NSW 1585
The NSW government aims to tackle graffiti in Sydney’s suburbs by offering funding for street art to local councils. NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman announced that $1.9 million in grants will be given to 23 councils across NSW for public landscape revitalisation in an effort to curb graffiti.
“We know street art in particular is an effective method of revitalising streetscapes, dramatically boosting community pride and deterring would-be offenders,” Speakman said.
Public projects such as the Bondi Beach Graffiti Wall have attracted street artists
Perth, including multiple sites across Newtown.
“I really believe that art is meant to be enjoyed by everyone and anyone. I’m very passionate about Street Art and educating and informing people about this art form – what it means to the people who create it and how it can add value to local communities,” he said.
creating unique, vibrant communities
Successful projects funded under the current round of graffiti management grants include the creation of large-scale
BY ERIN MODAROThe potential for an urban wildlife refuge located in Glebe is being explored, as The Glebe Society has received an Innovation and Ideas grant from the City of Sydney to investigate the plan. Spearheaded by University of Sydney Professor Dieter Hochuli, the project would see a currently unused section of Crown land around the corner from the Tramsheds, commonly called ‘Glebe’s Hill’, be set aside for local flora and fauna.
“The Hill represents a rare opportunity to create an undisturbed wildlife area in the Johnston’s Creek corridor,” Convener of the Society’s Blue Wren sub-committee, Andrew Wood, told City Hub.
The Glebe Society received just over $40,000 of funding from the City of Sydney to determine if the site is suitable for the wildlife refuge to be established as well as study the existing flora and fauna.
“If the site were to be fully remediated all the contaminated soil would need to be removed and replaced – a very expensive procedure,” he explained.
“If the site is to become a wildlife refuge, however, there could be a staged removal of non-native trees and vegetation… the costly removal of the underlying contaminated material could be avoided.”
Sydney is home to a vast ecosystem of native and introduced species that intermingle with urban landscapes and infrastructure. Professor Hochuli, the expert ecologist working on The Hill’s wildlife refuge, leads the Integrative Ecology Group at the University of Sydney, and studies Urban ecology and habitat restoration.
an undisturbed wildlife area
An urban wildlife refuge allows native fauna a safe habitat protected from predators, which Wood says comprises largely of foxes and domesticated cats.
The plot of land in question is roughly 0.6 hectares in size, and was historically used as a place to dump rubbish in the early 20th century. Later, Glebe’s Hill became a carpark for patrons of Harold Park’s horse and dog racing events.
In more recent years, community initiatives have seen native plants grown in the area. However, as of 2019, Glebe’s Hill and surrounding areas are still registered to the NSW Environmental Protection Agency as contaminated.
Wood explained that perhaps the Hill’s classification as contaminated can provide a unique opportunity for the refuge to be established.
Wood says the Glebe site has the potential to house animals such as micro-bats, reptiles, small native birds and a plethora of native insects. Researchers can now monitor the area to find out exactly which animal populations are present.
The Glebe Society says their proposal, and award of grant money, marks the first steps towards establishing a “point of unique connection with other urban bushland corridors and sites in the City of Sydney”.
The
to turn spaces that might be vulnerable to vandalism into murals and artworks. The ‘I Have a Dream’ mural in King Street in Newtown was given heritage status by council in 2014, as it has been an art staple of Sydney since it was painted in the 1990s.
Street art has gained significance in councils in recent years through grants and public initiatives. Waverley Council has recruited talented artists to work on the Bondi Beach Wall for years.
Tim Phibs, one of Australia’s most celebrated and renowned street and graffiti artists, said that public artworks go towards “creating unique, vibrant communities”, and that artworks have a multitude of public benefits.
Phibs has worked on countless street artworks across Sydney, Melbourne and
murals and street art including digital art, artwork painted on more than 60 traffic signal boxes, solar-powered lighting and weatherproof speaker systems, the planting of “green screens” with trees and shrubs and anti-graffiti coating to graffiti prone walls and street furniture.
“I am looking forward to seeing the life and colour that these new projects will inject into streetscapes around our state,” Speakman said.
It’s 2025, artificial intelligence has spread like wildfire and even this column could be written by ChatGPT. The NSW Government has issued a cash card for pokies but they have transmitted a virus throughout the State’s thousands of money hungry machines. In the factories that churn them out they have morphed into raging robot like killers, multiplying at a rate that not even a futurologist could predict. Is it a reality or just another crummy imported Hollywood movie being shot in Sydney?
When pokies were first introduced into Australia during the 1950s, the machines themselves were pretty basic, all mechanical with virtually no lighting or seductive sound effects to attract their prey. When you connected a row of pineapples or playing card symbols they spewed out a lapful of jangling coins. Such was the early technology that with an appropriate piece of wire you could actually manipulate the bastards, although cheaters were often apprehended.
Fast forward to the 1980s and the digital revolution had arrived. The side lever, synonymous with the term ‘one armed
bandit’ quickly disappeared, replaced by a selection of magic glowing buttons, reinforced with a dazzling video display and a symphony of ‘come and play me’ noises.
Long gone was the coin in the slot machine as the stakes were raised to accommodate all denominations of paper money. Today the pokie manufacturers dig deep into the psychology of their potential players, employing all manner of playing options and flashing lights to lure the suckers in.
With artificial intelligence ready to sweep the technological world, who knows what the poker machine of the future will entail? There is every chance they will develop personalities of their own. Which leads us back to the scenario of the machines, supercharged with the most advanced AI, transforming into marauding, homicidal robots. As they rampage through the licensed clubs and pubs of Sydney, unsuspecting pokie addicts are drawn to their electronic bells and whistles.
As they attempt in vain to insert their cash cards the robots reap their revenge for those years of abuse when punters lost their miserable money and blamed the machines for a run of hideous luck. Whether it’s a massive charge of electricity or a sudden decapitation, death is instant as they tear the city and suburbs apart in a tornado of relentless techno-fury.
The State Government is powerless to contain the onslaught and not even the intervention of the Feds can stop the pokie-bots spreading like cane toads across the entire country.
Movie or real life, in the final apocalyptic scene the pokie-bots gather outside the iconic East Sydney Hotel in Woolloomooloo, one of the few hotels in Sydney that has been pokie free for decades. Shamed by the sight of drinkers enjoying the live music and social interaction in a pokie free atmosphere, the robots collapse in an enormous heap of burnt out semiconductors and smoking LEDs. The bartender pours a beer, the band breaks into The Whitlams’ “Blow Up The Pokies” and the credits roll.
BY RITA BRATOVICH
Richard O’Brien’s perennial gem, Rocky Horror Show, has indeed travelled through a space-time tunnel, stopping at regular intervals to refresh, and arriving, 50 years later, preserved in its original form yet not feeling dated.
Rocky Horror Show debuted in London in 1973, in a tiny upstairs theatre. The show was an unexpected success; it extended its season and moved to progressively larger theatres. From then on, Rocky Horror Show has been performed on a stage somewhere in the world continuously.
What makes this even more remarkable is the subversive, provocative nature of the material. It deals with themes including gender-fluidity, promiscuity, homosexuality, eroticism, and much more if you pick up a magnifying glass. There are overt depictions of sexual acts, a leaning towards hedonism, supernatural overtones, and even murder.
Writer, O’Brien, a British-New Zealander, was a bit-part actor when he wrote the musical. It is imbued with the iconography of everything he loves: sci-fi, B-grade horror films, camp, goth, glam rock, rock’n’roll, comic-book drama, and golden era Hollywood.
When a film adaptation, Rocky Horror Picture Show, came out in 1975 it quickly became a cult classic, bringing the story and music to an even wider audience and establishing the interactive protocols that are now part and parcel of any screening or show.
The Australian 50th Anniversary production of Rocky Horror Show will honour O’Brien’s original vision while giving it a fresh take.
“Rocky is truly based on the talent that comes in the room and I think that’s what makes Rocky so poignant, even for the 50th anniversary,” explains the show’s choreographer, Nathan M. Wright. “It’s still so relevant now, and I think it brings a new generation of talent every time we do it.”
Wright is one of Australia’s most esteemed and awarded creatives with a resume that’s too ridiculous to go into. He has worked on several productions of Rocky Horror Show in the UK, South Africa and Australia, including the 40th
Anniversary UK production in 2013. Despite this, Wright feels inspired and excited about choreographing another new production, not least because of the outstanding abilities he sees in the cast.
“I think they’re going to see a new energy that I don’t think we’ve seen before. The rehearsal room at the moment is electric, the talent is extraordinary. We have a beautiful collection of people who might not have had the opportunity to showcase their skills before. We’re obviously being led by the one and only Jason Donovan, so we have this incredible balance. I think it’s going to be electrifying!”
“When we did the auditions, the talent that came in blew my mind,” says Wright. He went back and reworked every routine, structuring them around the potential he saw.
It’s not just the principle cast that impresses Wright; the ensemble is also incredible. It gives him a lot of creative latitude. Couple that with O’Brien’s eclectic mix of musical genres - cabaret, rock, big musical, ballads - and there is a very rich colour palette for Wright to work with.
Everything about Rocky Horror Show is bold and ostentatious - the songs, the
dialogue, the costumes, the characters. The stage can sometimes feel cluttered, overwhelming.
“What’s great about our set is it’s beautiful and it’s simple,” assures Wright. “And what’s great about that is what you’re focused on is the talent and the material on the stage. When all
The outrageous musical that became an unlikely world-wide phenomena celebrates its golden anniversary this year and Sydney is coming to the party with a magnificent production.
I think it’s going to be electrifying!Myf Warhurst, Jason Donovan, Stellar Perry. Photo: Pierre Toussaint Choreographer, Nathan M. Wright. Photo: ‘Suzanne was here’ Rocky Horror Show UK Tour. Photo: Supplied
the elements come together, it’s quite spectacular.”
Stellar Perry has been writing songs since she was 8 years old and toured Europe with her high school choir at age 14. She has been a noteworthy contestant on Star Struck, Australian Idol, X-Factor, and The Voice, and recently received rave reviews for her first venture into musical theatre, the role of Oberon in The Lovers
For her second ever musical theatre gig, Perry will play the coveted and not shabby at all role of Magenta in Rocky Horror Show
“For me this is easily the most exciting, biggest deal ever. This is what I feel like my life has been leading up to for twenty plus years as a performer,” says Perry. “You know, when you’re in the entertainment industry, you’re constantly sacrificing things on a personal level… and I’ve always wanted to do something that made all of those sacrifices feel like it was worth it, and for me Rocky Horror is very much that.”
Perry has a confident presence on stage and a kind sassy, punk rebelliousness in her aesthetic - not to mention a voice with the slick power and agility of a fighter jet. Magenta is right in her wheelhouse. “I actually didn’t think that I’d find a role ever more suited to me than Oberon, but I would have to say Magenta takes the cake. I feel like I’m peaking now.”
Perry is mostly familiar with the film version of Rocky Horror, but for her audition she also studied some Broadway performances. As with any iconic role, it’s
a challenge to find a balance between remaining faithful to a much-loved original while infusing it with your own style. Perry likens it to covering a well-known song.
“You don’t want to mess with anything too much but also I think everyone really appreciates a fresh take and a breath of fresh air,” she says. “The beauty of Rocky Horror is it allows and definitely encourages an element of individuality. It’s not meant to be perfect - which is perfect for people like me.”
so young and vibrant, and that excitement is actually kind of palpable. It’s been a really gorgeous experience, I’m so impressed.”
In one of the most conspicuous innovations in this production, Warhurst has been cast as The Narrator, traditionally a role given to an older, white, pompous gentleman. She was approached to do the role and she had to give it some consideration before saying yes.
“I don’t have much musical theatre experience,” she explains, “but I’ve got a book - The Narrator has a book - so I can’t muck it up.”
There will still be a velour suite and an air of snobbery, but Warhurst’s Narrator will be a little bit cheeky, a bit naughty.
Perry shares Wright’s sentiments about the electric energy in the rehearsal room. As someone still learning her way around a musical theatre production, Perry also feels welcome, encouraged, comfortable, even around the celebrities.
“[Jason Donovan] really is what you see is what you get…he’s down-to-earth, he’s funny, he’s old school. Myf is so, you know, very Australian. Our Australian celebrities are just so ‘of the people’ and normal.”
Myf Warhurst might be a celebrity but she, like Perry, is new to musical theatre. Also like Perry, she has felt very welcome on set.
“The crew is just so amazing. They’re all
“Because that’s me…I’ll definitely bring a lot of myself to it. There will definitely be my very broad Australian accent - probably my broad Australian accent on its best behaviour - but I’ll definitely bring an element of that to it.”
With a background in radio, TV, and print journalism reporting on music and arts, Warhurst is well-versed with popculture. She became a household face on the ABC’s Spicks & Specks quiz show and gained even more kitsch kudos as co-presenter (with Joel Creasey) of the SBS Eurovision Song Contest broadcast. Rocky Horror Show takes it up another level.
“It’s just such an honour to be asked. For me, Rocky Horror played such a pivotal role in my life as a kid growing up in a small country town. For me as
a contemporary music lover, I was up with all the songs. Rocky Horror was like a bridge for me to musicals,” she gushes. “It’s so exciting to be able to do something completely different at this stage in my life. That’s just amazing for me and I’m really, really grateful.”
And therein is the overarching message of Rocky Horror Show- Don’t dream it, be it.
It’s been a really gorgeous experience, I’m so impressedStellar Perry, Henry Rollo. Photo: Pierre Toussaint Rocky Horror Show UK Tour. Photo: Supplied
Kip Chapman’s interactive style of theatre has returned with his new show The Resistance, thanks to the collaboration with Auckland Theatre Company and Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). This new interactive theatre piece will be showing at The Rebel Theatre from Thursday 16th February until Saturday 11th March 2023. The show features an amazing and diverse cast of young talents sharing the stage with industry veterans. The cast includes Genevieve
“The Resistance is a party - and as much as there is the fun element it’s also got a serious message behind it,” Goswami said.
City Hub spoke with writer and director of The Resistance, Kip Chapman who is eager for the audience to either watch the show or jump right into the thick of it.
“Interactive theatre and immersive theatre is the most live that theatre ever gets. Interactive and immersive theatre is an invitation to the audience
“I started to see what was happening with the School Strike 4 Climate movement and I was just so unbelievably impressed by the youth movement, what they were trying to achieve, their moral clarity, their messaging and just the way they were going about it and just the sheer theatricality of their political statement.”
“And I was thinking maybe I could use my interactive techniques and together we can make that an experience on
“We’ve had the School Strike for Climate movement really take off a couple of years ago, heaps of my friends and I went to that. It’s really inspiring to see young people take the future into our own hands,” Goswami said. When asked if any characters that the cast play were inspired by anyone, Chapman said only one was inspired by a famous environmentalist activist.
“There is a character called Eva Lawson in the show who’s coming to the march, and she is definitely inspired by Greta Thunberg,” Chapman said.
“We’ve tried to embrace the diversity that is part of the School Strike 4 Climate movement.”
With no set age limit on audience participation, Chapman eagerly invites people from all ages and walks of life to join in, with plenty of tasks available for them to take part in.
“We’ve probably done thousands of these types of shows over the years and the shows work best when there’s a massive demographic,” Chapman told City Hub.
“We’ve got some older audience members and then we’ve got some young audience members. This style of theatre is really good for teenagers. At these shows, I’m seeing someone over 50 and I’m seeing a 13-year-old.”
“Everything is designed so that everyone has to work together, and everyone has different skill sets. Like a 13-year-old is going to be way better at one thing whereas an adult is going to be better at something else.”
“I purposely design it so that I require different skills to make the show.”
It has not been all smooth sailing for the The Resistance as production was paused for a few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With restrictions to crowds for indoor areas, Chapman’s interactive theatre style took a hit.
“The major challenge was covid. I make interactive work and I’m trying to bring everyone into a large space to work together. So of course, Covid-19 was a bit of a challenge when we were initially going to be doing it,” he said.
“But I think we’re now at a safe enough time with Covid-19 that this type of work can come back come on stage.”
(See p.26)
Melanie Tait’s new play, A Broadcast Coup pokes fun at the Australian media scene with wry humour and punny one liners. Tait, who brought audiences
The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race, teamed up with director of Ensemble Theatre productions Nearer the Gods and Still Unqualified, Janine Watson to deliver A Broadcast Coup
We enter the world of Aussie media on the hit radio show of Mike King (Tony Cogin) with plucky new producer Noa (Alex King) who is breaking into the workplace with excitement and ambition. Executive producer Louise (Sharon Millership) - one of the most complex
and well-written characters in the play - runs the show with expertise, grace, and the weary exhaustion of someone who has put so much on the line for so little recognition. Amber McMahon gives a more than convincing performance as Jez Connell, cutthroat podcaster on a mission to uncover all the dirty secrets of the media industry. Encapsulating the essence of both good and bad journalism, the play manages to transport the audience into a bustling radio newsroom with a cast of just five. As microphones drop from the roof, lights fade and sound design mimics the vibe of a hit radio show, it’s hard not to feel as though you
are peering behind the scenes of a hit Aussie radio show. A standout would have to be the uptight HR guy, a character that every corporate worker has had at least one run in with over the course of their career. Ben Gerrard puts just the right amount of social unawareness into his performance; every time he appears with an over-thetop “good morning” it had the audience
simultaneously laughing and cringing. With lovely, economic stage design, and a brilliant incorporation of sound effects, A Broadcast Coup is a tight performance that pulls on heartstrings and makes some noteworthy jabs at an Australian industry that desperately needs it. Until Mar 4, Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall St, Kirribilli, ensemble.com.au
Epic opera,
Adriana Lecouvreurby Francesco Cilea will make its Australian premiere this February at the Sydney Opera House, and it will feature a gold-star cast. Opera Australia has managed to attain four acclaimed international singers for the principle roles in this much lauded production by Italian director, Rosetta Cucchi.
Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho will play the title role which is loosely based on the real life French actress, Adrienne Lecouvreur (1692 – 1730). It is a demanding role that requires excellence in both vocal delivery and acting.
Romanian mezzo-soprano, Carmen Topciu will play Adriana’s arch nemesis, the Principessa, sparring with Jaho in a rematch after their respective characters, Anna and Jane, clashed in OA’s 2019 production of Anna Bolena Making his role debut as Maurizio,
the romantic lead, is award-winning American tenor, Michael Fabiano. Fabiano will come via Melbourne where he will perform his first solo recital on February 12 at Melbourne City Recital Hall.
Giorgio Caoduro has visited Australia to sing with OA many times and returns for this production to play Michonnet. The Italian baritone returns in March for Roberto Devereux in Concert.
Stellar Opera Australia talent, Jane Ede, Angela Hogan, Virgilio Marino, Richard Anderson, Adam Player and Anthony Mackey round out the cast, each making role debuts in this exciting production.
The sets for this opera are lush and ornate, as is Cilèa’s music. A lengthy romantic-drama, Adriana Lecouvreur is one to tick off the list for opera-lovers. Feb 20 – Mar 7, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, opera.org.au
Abrand new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat opens at the Capitol Theatre this February with a fantastic cast and innovative design.
Featuring the stunning Paulini as The Narrator, the multi-talented Euan Fistrovic Doidge as Joseph, and the irrepressible Trevor Ashley in the role of Pharaoh.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was the first musical written by powerhouse collaborators, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to be put on stage. That was more than 50 years ago, and it has continued to be performed somewhere in the world ever since. It has always been a favourite with Australian audiences, with its simple narrative and singable tunes including
including “Close Every Door To Me”, “Any Dream Will Do”, and “Go Go Go Joseph”. The book is based on a story from the Old Testament. Joseph is the favoured son of Jacob, much to the chagrin of his eleven brothers whose jealousy leads them to sell Joseph as a slave. After spurning the advances of his master’s wife, Joseph gets tossed into jail where he suddenly discovers he has an uncanny ability to interpret dreams. This brings him to the attention of the dreamplagued Pharoah and Joseph’s fortunes take a positive turn.
With an exciting cast and inventive creative team, this production of Joseph is going to be special.
Feb 11 – Mar 5, Capitol Theatre, 13 Campbell St, Haymarket josephthemusical.com.au
The Coming Back Out Salon is a lively social gathering for older LGBTQI+ people being held as one of the opening events of Sydney WorldPride. It’s the first time the event will be held in NSW and it comes on the tail of the Coming Back Out Salon feature documentary on Netflix, and a successful presentation of the event overseas.
Independent queer arts organisation, All The Queens Men, helped create both the documentary and other Coming Back Out Salons and they’re thrilled about presenting this inaugural
one in Sydney, especially as part of WorldPride.
For many people in the LGBTQI+ community, getting older means becoming isolated or missing out on social activities. A lot are forced back into the closet because their queer circle of friends has diminished and they are dealing more with potentially homophobic family, services, and community groups.
It’s all the more unjust as this group of elders experience their youth at a time when laws and public opinion were less tolerant; these elders were often at the
Craig Seligman’s book, Who Does
That Bitch Think She Is? Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag, on the life of uber drag queen Doris Fish, comes close to answering that question, but still leaves room for questions.
Seligman applies his considerable talents as a biographer to the journey of Philip Mills from the Manly Vale to becoming Doris Fish in emerging gay Sydney and ending with the declaration of Doris Fish Day by the mayor of San Francisco.
From the moment that Doris roller skated into Sydney’s eastern suburbs with a bag of drag to join the revolutionary act Sylvia and the Synthetics, Sydney’s inner city gay, drag and straight cultures would be turned on its head.
One tangible legacy Doris left is
the feature length movie Vegas in Space. Directed by Phillip R Ford and funded largely by Doris’s income from prostitution, the film is now considered to be a ground breaking venture onto camp, drag and gender identity.
Seligman’s well written and meticulously researched book is a highly entertaining read that confronts head on the many issues faced by drag as a culture, with the fabulous Doris Fish at the centre of its beating heart.
Who Does That Bitch Think She Is?
Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag,
Publisher: Hachette Australia, Available from March 1, 2023
Book Launch: The State Library of NSW, 1 Shakespeare Place, Sydney, sydneyworldpride.com
Vegas in Space screening: Feb 28, Ritz Cinemas, Randwick, queerscreen.org.au
vanguard of the fight for LGBTQI+ rights and visibility.
The Coming Back Out Salon is a great opportunity for elders to come out and dance, mingle, drink, eat, possibly hookup, but definitely feel gay and alive again. Featuring an incredible line-up including The Sydney Youth Orchestra, Robyn
Archer, Deborah Cheetham, Paul Capsis, Nana Miss Koori, June Jones, Tina Del Twist, Nefertiti LaNegra, The Huxleys and Tristan Meecham with more to be announced. .
Feb 18, 2pm – 6pm, Sydney Town Hall, 483 George Street, Sydney, sydneyworldpride.com
“Before a fall” is the second part of a common axiom warning of the dangers of too much pride; it is also the title of the eighth solo art exhibition by Guy James Whitworth. Highly regarded as an artist and writer in LGBTQI+ community and broader arts community, Whitworth often imbues his work with messages and queries, invitations to let his artworks be the start of a conversation.
In Before A Fall, Whitworth both celebrates and interrogates the politics and environmental considerations of queerness and the modern world.
“I love that we have Mardi Gras and World Pride but I’d love it even more if we also had World Compassion and World Kindness festivals,” says Whitworth. “We need to end discrimination in all its forms and
if that’s made possible by bringing everyone together on a dance floor for a giant group hug, count me in!
“There are certainly so many positives to having a World Pride, but as the title of this exhibition suggests the show is about reminding us all not to lose track of what else is currently happening in the world. Along with banishing homophobia lets also compassionately embrace environmental awareness and activism!”
Whitworth’s artistic style is bold and engaging. With pastel landscape backgrounds and central, emphatic subject, it is reminiscent of Japanese woodblock. His more recent work ventures into neo-classical, abstract landscapes.
Feb 15 - 28, M2 Gallery, 4/450 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills m2gallery.com.au
Opera Australia has produced some of the most renowned singers in the genre globally, including the permanent members of the highly acclaimed Opera Australia Chorus. To showcase the talents of these singers, individually and as a group, OA is presents Chorus!, a night of opera’s most spectacular choral melodies.
During a typical season, the OA Chorus will sing in every opera in the program, performing alternating ones each night, sometimes singing in two the same day. They can perform up to eleven different operas in a year. The 48 full-time members of the Chorus perform all over Australia in five different languages and across a three-century range of musical styles.
Chorus! is a distillation of choral highlights from some of the best loved
operas as well as from obscure operas and contemporary works.With minimal set and costumes and two pianists providing the music, the focus will be entirely on the voices.
“This program was very thoughtfully chosen by our chorus master, Paul [Fitzsimon],” says chorister, Sandy Leung. “Paul really knows how to bring the best quality of our voice as one - and it’s electrifying. Every time I listen in rehearsal, I get goosebumps.”
Chorus! will allow the OA Chorus to shine as a team and also allow individuals to show their chops as soloists.
“To me, we’re not just a chorus, we’re all soloists, we’ve all got a beautiful voice and I can’t wait to let the audience hear our voice individually,” says Leung. Feb 4 - Mar 10, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, opera.org.au
BY ERIN MODARO
This year’s triple j Hottest 100 saw iconic Australian DJ Flume top the competition for a second time, only the second artist to ever have done so. Techno pop hit, “Say Nothing” featuring MAYA played at around 8pm on January 28, as listeners across Australia shared their opinions on the quality, indie-ness and general vibes of the hottest 100 songs of 2022. This year’s countdown faced criticism from listeners about a ‘loss of soul’, or too much obscurity in majority of the songs featured, as triple j faces issues connecting with its Gen Z audience. In 2022, triple j recorded average listener drops of 2.5% across the board between late April and late June. The demographic of triple j listeners also seems to be ageing, with the radio station retaining much of its
The much lauded Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir (SGLC) will amass a 500 strong choir for the grand finale of a five day choral festival, Out & Loud & Proud, being held as part of Sydney WorldPride. The Gala Concert will take place in the historic and regal Sydney Town Hall, and feature special guest, Tim Draxl as MC and soloist.
Tim Draxl is a singer, actor, dancer who has achieved recognition for his appearances on popular TV shows and won accolades for his incredible performances in stage musicals, cabaret, and live concerts.
“This is my second time performing with the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir and I’m thrilled to be performing with them and the rest of the singers as part of the Sydney WorldPride celebrations,” says Draxl. This special augmented choir will include singers
loyal Millennial and Gen X audience, but losing a portion of their target demographic of 18-24 year olds. Last year, the ABC noted that triple j reached more regional audiences than ever in 2022, and remains the number one radio station on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube, while building a large following on TikTok.
The Hottest 100 countdown is also engaging more people across Australia. In January 2022, an estimated 9.5 million people tuned in, breaking the previous record. While the numbers aren’t out yet for 2023, its popularity across news stations, social media and chat on the street shows that the annual countdown is certainly still culturally relevant, and enjoyed by many Aussies every 4th weekend of January.
from around the world who are coming to Sydney to be part of WorldPride and the Out & Loud & Proud festival.
SGLC music director, Adam Majsay is Festival Creative Director for Out & Loud & Proud and will conduct the super choir who will perform a selection of favourites, surprises and two specially commissioned works.
SGLC concerts are known for their superb musical standard as well as being very accessible, sometimes comical, often uplifting, always loads of fun. The Out & Loud & Proud festival will include workshops, a harbour cruise, and pop-up performances.
Out & Loud & Proud festival, Feb19 - 23; Gala Concert, Feb 23, 7pm, Sydney Town Hall, 483 George St, Sydney, outloudproud.org
Addi Road is all abuzz, as David Rovics prepares to fly down under for an east coast tour, stopping to play what is sure to be a deeply memorable gig in our Gumbramorra Hall. Portland based US singer-songwriter David Rovics is one of the heroes of political music today, and has shared the stage with the likes of Billy Bragg, Chumbawamba, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger. An activist who commands a wide audience, Rovics carries on the Woody Guthrie tradition of singing for peace and justice, his songs being contemporary callouts for justice, as well as slotting in the occasional tongue-in-cheek sideswipe, just for good measure.
Sporting a borrowed guitar, made by master instrument maker, Scott Wise, Rovics will be singing his “songs of social significance” once again through NSW and Queensland during March and April after having his last tour cut short due to the pandemic.
David Rovics is no stranger to life on the road, his relationship with Australia going back a long way. Over the years, he’s written many songs that tell our own stories, from the Eureka Stockade to tales of refugees and resistance.
Rovics has spent much of his time touring the world since the mid-1990’s, playing everywhere from universities to union halls and protest rallies, sending out messages of social activism, protest and specific causes such as opposing sanctions on Iraq, and encouraging the ending of international banking systems.
This man is passionate, driven and not to be missed. As well as playing Addison Road Community Organisation on the 26th March, Rovics will also be playing The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville.
Zimbabwean Australian, Ruva Ngwenya is no newcomer to the entertainment world, but now she has to learn how to be a legend. She’s playing the enviable and challenging lead role in the upcoming production of Tina - The Tina Turner Musical .
Ngwenya was told months ago that she had got the part, but the official announcement was only made this week. “It feels more like a celebration that includes everybody and now I can kind of talk freely about my life and what I’m up to and how excited I am,” says Ngwenya about having finally having the secrecy lifted.
It took twelve rounds of auditions over a period of 3 to 4 months before the hopeful contenders were shortlisted. The ten days between the last audition and Ngwenya being told she was going to be Tina were tense, but at least she had her gig with Moulin Rouge as a distraction.
Ngwenya’s impressive resume includes parts in We Will Rock You, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Ragtime, The Lion King, as well as an acting role in Neighbours, live music performances, and writing and recording her own music. Her career kicked off, somewhat auspiciously, in high school when she sang “River Deep, Mountain High” as Tina Turner.
“To be here now at 30, 15 years later playing Tina, it feels really special and full circle, because that was my start,” says Ngwenya.
“Growing up I was singing her music without really knowing. I was dancing the “Nutbush” with all the kids - I don’t think I ever really
knew that it was Tina Turner - so it’s interesting to note that she has had an influence over my life without me even realising.”
For the last few months Ngwenya has been in “Tina boot camp”. She went to London to see the show there and rehearse with the team, and now she’s spending six days a week learning her lines, working out at the gym, getting to know Tina. while at the same time retaining her individuality.
“The idea of the show is not to imitate or become like a karaoke version of Tina, it’s to tell Tina’s story and to have her essence and star power, but to be real and honest,” Ngwenya explains. “It’s really about bringing my honest truth and my sass and my soul to the role and breathing new life into it.”
While Tina: The Tina Turner Musical features all of Turner’s greatest hits, Ngwenya says it isn’t a juke box musical. The songs are seamlessly integrated into the story, the life story of Tina Turner.
Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, Tennessee, Turner’s musical career began when she teamed up with the formidable Ike Turner while she was still in her teens. The powerhouse duo rocked the charts during the 1960s and ’70s until Ike’s violence ended their marriage and partnership. Turner’s career paused for several years until she made one of the greatest comebacks of all time in 1984 with her Private Dancer album.
From poverty and hardship, Turner rose to glorious heights, becoming an inspiration to women and to the Black community.
Ngwenya describes it as humbling and an honour to play the role of someone as iconic as Tina Turner.
“As a Black woman myself who was born and bred proudly in Australia, I have my own experience with race and being a minority, and so I can use that to draw upon to honestly tell the story.”
So, what can audiences expect?
“Get ready for a drama that is very inspiring and is very moving… but then it’s also a rock’n’roll concert so get ready to dance!”
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is coming to the Theatre Royal in May, 2023.
Tickets are on sale now. tinathemusical.com.au
GENDER EUPHORIA: MIGHTY REAL
1 - 5 March
RAINBOW HISTORY
CLASS: LIVE SHOW
2 - 4 March
Darlinghurst Theatre Company (DTC) is rolling out the rainbow carpet for Sydney WorldPride with an eclectic yet highly targeted Pride program. Four shows have been specially curated to represent and appeal to distinct and diverse segments of the LGBTQI+ community across a spectrum of age, identity, and taste.
Officially part of Pride Amplified, the DTC program reflects the company’s long history of providing arts and accessibility to the LGBTQI+ community. “Darlo [DTC] has been presenting a work for the Mardi Gras festival for at least 20 years… That’s always been part of the core values of the organisation,” says Artistic Director of DTC, Amylia Harris. “For this particular festival I thought it was really important to honour the location of our venue, The Eternity Playhouse, in what is really the ‘Queer Mecca’ of Sydney… it’s a central area for the queer community and has been for many decades.”
Eternity Playhouse, DTC’s home, is a block down from Oxford Street and a short strut from Taylor Square, so it really is in the epicentre of LGBTQI+ territory. To ensure the Pride program truly represented the needs and desires of the community, Harris spoke at length with Sydney WorldPride creative directors, Daniel Clark and Ben Graetz. Their advice and further consultation with community members helped inform the ultimate selection of works.
“The four different productions that we ended up curating have four very specific communities and audiences, and really four different age groups, which is really quite exciting,” explains Harris.
The Rainbow Tree is DTC’s first foray into family-style entertainment. It’s a mixed-bag of a show created by two self-described super queer aunties from Victoria – Sarah Ward and Bec Matthews – collectively known as Fat Fruit.
Created through collaboration with Rainbow family children, The Rainbow Tree is a delightful, crazy, inclusive exploration of identity, family and community through musical storytelling.
Harris describes The Rainbow Tree as a really beautiful, joyful show that’s just a little bit silly.
“It’s something that Rainbow families and allies can come to so their kids can be within like-minded communities and know that they are completely safe and normal,” she says. “I think that’s very important because we don’t have very many opportunities for Rainbow families to take their children and feel culturally safe.”
At the other end of the age demographic
is All The Sex I’ve Ever Had, a unique show created by Canadian group, Mammalian Diving Reflex and presented all over the world. The concept is to gather six interesting people aged 65 and over, who are willing to speak frankly about their sex lives in front of an audience.
This Sydney show will be the first version
that involves all queer participants. Among the elders they’ve gathered are four 78ers and the notorious Troughman, Barry Charles. They will share their stories in an informal panel style presentation which will include a few dance breaks. Because it’s unscripted, each show will be slightly different.
“Because they are all older queer people, almost all of them have been activists for many decades, and most still protest to this day,” says Harris. “I think it’s important for young people to remember the shoulders on which we stand, and to have gratitude for those who have participated in the activism that allows us to have the freedoms that we do.”
Gender Euphoria: Mighty Real is a cabaret/variety style show created by Mama Alto and Maude Davey from Melbourne. They have gathered a troupe of 15 trans and gender diverse artists, each with a unique talent. It is the largest ensemble of its kind to perform on an Australian main stage.
“That’s more a classic cabaret night at the theatre – a bit Spiegeltent-like in terms of the different acts that are presented. More importantly, it celebrates trans joy,” says Harris. The entire venue will be a welcoming, inclusive space for trans and genderdiverse people: the bathrooms are
gender neutral and all the staff have received training.
Finally, viral TikTok sensation, Rainbow History Class will present its first live show as part of DTC’s Pride program. Led by queer historians, Rudy Jean Rigg and Hannah McElhinney, Rainbow History Class provides fun and informative lessons about our past, deciphering language and behaviour that has formed the basis of queer culture.
“What they do on TikTok is retell important queer history, so they answer questions like ‘why do lesbians wear carabiners on their jeans?’” explains Harris.
Being a TikTok phenomenon, the show should appeal to Gen-Zedders but also anyone curious about the origins of queer culture.
For Harris, putting together this program meant sifting through countless submissions. The number of queer artists and works on offer is heartening. “What’s really exciting now is that we’ve moved beyond just sort of trauma stories and into joyful stories and that’s so exciting.”
As well as presenting the four shows, Eternity Playhouse will be an unofficial hub for Priders to chill and mingle, with DJs, drinks, and snacks available in the downstairs bar.
THE RAINBOW TREE | 18 - 19 February | Tickets from $25
ALL THE SEX I’VE EVER HAD | 21 - 26 February | Tickets from $35
GENDER EUPHORIA: MIGHTY REAL | 1 - 5 March | Tickets from $28
RAINBOW HISTORY CLASS: LIVE SHOW | 2 - 4 March | Tickets $38 www.darlinghursttheatre.com
Queer Screen marks a milestone this year when it holds its 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival. The 16-day program is one of the biggest and most varied ever, with 166 LGBTQI+ themed films being played on indoor, outdoor, and digital device screens, plus workshops, panel discussions, international guests, networking events and parties.
Queer Screen was founded by a group of LGBTQI+ film-makers and film-lovers who wanted more queer representation on and off the screen. During the last three decades, Queer Screen has helped many LGBTQI+ film-makers start or advance their careers and introduced Australian audiences to some a wide selection of international LGBTQI+ films.
The 2023 MGFF will encompass eight locations around Sydney: Event Cinemas (George Street and Hurstville), Dendy Cinema (Newtown), Hayden Orpheum (Cremorne) and Ritz Cinemas (Randwick), Casula Powerhouse, the Westpac Open Air Cinema and the Alumni Green at the University of Technology (Broadway). The festival will include six special community screenings in six different venues with tickets priced at $10. The opening and closing films are highlights of the festival, accompanied by after-parties which always have a great vibe. This year’s opening film is an Australian production, Of An Age, about an Australian-Serbian boy who becomes strongly attracted to his friend’s older brother.
Closing out the festival is The Venus Effect, a girl on girl romance from Denmark. There will be two world premiers in this year’s festival: Trans Glamore, a documentary about trans DJ, Victoria Anthony and her efforts to organise trans womens events during the pandemic; and the hilarious romp, The Winner Takes It All, starring drag queen Maxi Shield. The retrospective program features a Stephen Cummins gala, Doris Fish’s cult classic,Vegas In Space, and what promises to be a fascinating, nostalgic revisiting of ground-breaking TV soap, Number 96. The show broke boundaries that even today would cause intense pearlclutching. An episode screening will be followed by a chat between TV historian, Andrew Mercado, and actor, Joe Hasham who played the first openly gay regular character on TV.
A very special and free event (donations welcome) is Queer Screen on the Green, which is being held outdoors on the Alumni Green at the University of Technology. Catering to the whole community, and stepping backwards through time, the event features four films: a family treat,
Raya And The Last Dragon (2021); Pride (2014), about a small-town UK queer group who supported British miners during the 1984 strike; Saving Face (2004), a lesbian rom-com about two ChineseAmerican women; and the seminal teenage love story, Beautiful Thing (1996) Cate Blanchett’s phenomenal new film,
Tár, will screen at the Westpac Open Air cinema on the Harbour; a magnificent film in a magnificent setting.
Joel Creasey and Rhys Nicholson will host a free dual screening of stand-up specials: Joel Creasey: Queen Of The Outback, filmed in front of a live audience at the 2022 Broken Heel Festival, and Rhys
Nicholson’s Big Queer Comedy Concert, featuring Urzila Carlson, Geraldine Hickey, Cassie Workman and Chris Parker. There is loads more in the 2023 MGFF program and tickets are selling fast.
February 15 - March 2
Tickets and info: queerscreen.org.au.
Moviegoers be warned: after watching this horror thriller holidays in the secluded country may be something of the past.
A same sex male couple and their adopted young daughter are enjoying a holiday out in the wilderness when four intruders with evil intentions come knocking at their cabin door.
It sounds like one of several hundred run-of-the-mill horror flicks, but when the intruders announce why they are there the movie immediately stands out not only as original, but disturbing.
The couple must make a horrendous decision: one of them must be sacrificed to prevent the world from coming to an end and they themselves must decide who.
Are these four intruders psychotic and delusional? Is this a scam and is this family being targeted by homophobes because they are a same sex couple? More importantly, can the apocalypse be prevented?
The performance from the relatively unknown small cast is commendable, but Kristen Cui who plays the role of the young adopted daughter is the standout as she successfully evokes so many different emotions at such a young age throughout.
This is a genuinely horrifying movie for mature audiences but ensure that your ‘reality meters’ are switched off before entering the cinema for optimum enjoyment.
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In Cinemas Feb 2
This smart and well executed thriller/ drama from France about fractured family relations should keep audiences guessing right until the final moment. The story surrounds a lesbian who works in a jailhouse and desperately tries to reconnect with her wealthy long lost elderly father, Serge. The family are very suspicious and question her validity but Serge is adamant that she is his daughter.
Filmed in a lavish mansion, this movie which deals with deceit, jealousy, dysfunction, murder and ‘loving families’, highlights the evil that money instils in people. Audiences may be left pondering, is money the origin of evil?
Directed by Sebastien Marnier and
starring a popular French cast led by Laure Calamy and George Dumontet this is a movie which should keep audiences intrigued as the seemingly infinite twists and turns keep coming. Exhausting viewing initially as the story and characters are being introduced but momentum quickly builds once all the pieces of the puzzle start coming together. There should be gasps of shock from audiences as the unpredictable finale highlights the extremities that people may go to for that root of all evil – money.
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Screens at the Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival Feb 15 – Mar 2 queerscreen.org.au
Opens nationally in theatres in June
The Whale is a psychological drama that is dark and unpleasant to watch at times, but should inspire audiences to be better human beings and may also inadvertently have them reconsider their relationships with estranged family members.
Brendan Fraser plays the role of a reclusive and obese English teacher who delivers lessons online with his webcam switched off. Suffering from a congestive heart condition and with only has one week to live, he refuses to go to hospital. He wants to rekindle the relationship with his 17 year old daughter whom he hasn’t seen in eight years, desperately striving to make up for lost time.
Based on the highly praised play by
Samuel D. Hunter, the small ensemble cast of five actors delivers a story concerning grief, family, redemption, and reconciliation. Fraser is extraordinary as this tragic larger than life character and should deservedly be in the running for an Oscar for his portrayal.
What was the tragic event in his life which made him decide to binge eat most certainly accelerating his premature death? Can he reconnect with his daughter who regards him as a disgusting human being?
This is a small art house gem that may only appeal to a niche market but a remarkable cinematic achievement that deserves much accolade.
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In Cinemas February 2
After a successful inaugural presentation in 2022, the Europa! Europa! Film Festival returns this year with a specially curated program that incorporates 29 movies from 24 different countries including France, Italy, Romania, Spain and the Ukraine. “Europa! Europa! is a celebration of the diversity and richness of European cinema,” enthused Artistic Director Thomas Caldwell. “Whether you prefer relationship dramas, police thrillers, feel-good sports films, period biopics, disaster films, or comedies, we have a film for you. Our program offers a wide range of genres and styles, catering to a diversity of tastes.”
The opening night movie is a French ecothriller called The Blaze which follows an ageing man and his son who desperately try to evade a life-threatening bushfire
in the South of France. The closing night movie is the highly anticipated British film Allelujah, which stars an A-list cast including Judi Dench and Jennifer Saunders. The hardships of healthcare in a geriatric hospital awaiting closure are explored.
“One of the highlights of this year’s festival is the Australian premiere of the new 4K restorations of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s masterful Three Colours Trilogy,” added Caldwell. “These films perfectly embody the spirit of European cinema and exemplify our guiding programming principles: showcasing films that are multinational, arthouse alternatives to mainstream Hollywood cinema, and bold in their storytelling”. Feb 16 – Mar 7, Ritz Cinemas, 45 St Pauls St, Randwick europafilmfestival.com.au
