150416 citynews

ANZAC CENTENARY / CANBERRA REMEMBERS APRIL 16, 2015

Time to think again on prison

MICHAEL MOORE The rotten face of mental health care

ROBERT MACKLIN A pocketful of cash, who needs it?

JOHN GRIFFITHS An old friend slips away

MARK PARTON

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2015 LIFE’S REFLECTIONS PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

The annual Life’s Reflections Photographic Competition is all about showcasing the positive side in life’s journey as we age and each year we receive hundreds of entries from ACT residents of all ages, including primary and secondary students.

With the April school holidays now upon us, it is a great opportunity for all primary and secondary students to grab their cameras and capture some great images of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, perhaps a family friend or even a neighbour – it can be anyone who is aged 55 years or over – it’s that simple!

The aims of this amateur community photographic competition are to illustrate, through photographic images: • The benefits of positive ageing and healthy lifestyles for seniors; • The value of intergenerational relationships in families and in the wider community; • The value of seniors still working in paid employment within our community; • The value of seniors serving as volunteers in our community; • The value of seniors in the role of carers - supporting their families and others; and • Promoting the theme: ‘Canberra as an Age-friendly City’, using photographic images.

The 2015 Life’s Reflections Photographic Competition has four age categories including a Primary Students Category, Secondary Students Category, an Open Category (18 -54 years of age) and a Seniors Category (55 years and over).

All entrants can submit up to a maximum of four photographic images in the competition The competition’s Judging Panel will decide upon which photographic images, submitted in the competition, are to be considered for prizes and awards in the Age-friendly City Category.

There are attractive cash prizes and gift vouchers to be won by finalists in each category of the competition, including book vouchers courtesy of Paperchain Bookstore in Manuka.

Entrants are required to download their photographic images to either a memory stick or computer disc, complete and sign the entry form, and post to:

Life’s Reflections, ACT Office for Ageing, GPO Box 158, Canberra 2601 Entry forms can be downloaded from our website at www.ageing.act.gov.au or can be obtained by phoning the ACT Office for Ageing on 6205 3113 during normal business hours. Please read the information and entry conditions for the competition carefully and if you have any questions, please contact us by telephone. Entrants can also hand deliver their entries, enclosed in an envelope to:

Reception Desk, Reception Foyer, Community Participation Group, Level 2, North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra City, during normal business hours.

All Entries must be received by 5.00pm, Friday 8 May 2015 Proudly sponsored by HEALTH SERVICES COMMISSIONER ACT Human Rights Commission

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news

briefly

Charity planning down to a tea

Steve’s trivia night

Kate Meikle reports

THE third annual Sweet ChariTea high-tea fundraiser is back, this year in July, with organisers aspiring to reach their $20,000 target to support pediatrics at Canberra Hospital, with a little help from local business.

Sweet ChariTea is a labour of love for business women Kartika Medcraft, Belinda Garfath and Vicky Kidd-Gallichan. In the past two years they have helped raise more than $30,000 through their event, which sees 250 ladies get together in their Sunday best to enjoy a frivolous high tea with a signature fashion parade, raffle, auction, photo booth, candy bar and entertainment all for a cause close to their hearts.

“I owe the lives of both of my sons to the hospital and I see Sweet ChariTea as a small way for me to give back,” says founder Kartika, owner of Swish Vintage.

The organising committee first met through a mutual work project and have blossomed into a close friendship, with each member contributing their skills and contacts.

But the key, the committee keenly explains, is the generosity of local businesses who donate goods and services, maximising every dollar that is raised.

“Seventy local businesses donate to the event from the performers, food, raffle and auction prizes, and stylists to the couture fashion show,” says Kartika.

“It’s a case of local businesses helping the local

ALZHEIMER’S Australia ACT is this year’s nominated charity for MLA Steve Doszpot’s annual fundraiser at the Hellenic Club, Woden, from 7pm, on Friday, May 29. Greg Bayliss, of ABC Radio 666 Saturday Breakfast Program, will be the MC. Steve promises an evening of fun, delicious finger foods, prizes, auctions, raffle and trivia galore. Tickets are $60 each or $500 for a table of 10. Call 6255 0722 to book.

High tea for mum THE Zonta Club of Canberra is holding a Mother’s Day High Tea in a beautiful location and a glass of champagne on arrival, 2pm-4pm, on Sunday, May 3 at the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre, 245 Lady Denman Drive, Yarramundi Ridge.

All proceeds in support of the YWCA. Tickets at $36.85 through Eventbrite.com.au

Dancing for kids Sweet ChariTea’s organisers, from left, Vicky Kidd-Gallichan, Kartika Medcraft and Belinda Garfath… “It’s a case of local businesses helping the local community.” says Kartika.

Photo by Andrew Finch community and it wouldn’t be possible without their generosity.”

The results of the past year’s events can be seen in the shape of important medical equipment at Canberra Hospital.

In 2013, Sweet ChariTea enabled the purchase of a tympanometer – a hearing-testing machine that enables young children, who are not able to indicate directly if they can hear a sound, to be tested more accurately.

Last year, Sonicaid machines were bought, which measure a baby’s heartbeat in pregnant women.

“The generosity of Sweet ChariTea means that the most up-to-date and state-of-the-art equipment can be available to our patients, which enhances important health outcomes for children treated at Canberra Hospital,” said Alexis Mohay, manager of Canberra Hospital Foundation.

“It is an amazing event – bringing women together in a positive way and focusing on helping the community.”

Sweet ChariTea 2015 will be held at The Abbey, Gold Creek, 1pm-5pm, Sunday, July 12. Tickets available via eventbrite.com.au

FOLK dancing classes for children will start on May 1 introducing participants to dances from a variety of countries and cultures. Classes will be held at the Folk Dance Canberra Hall, 114 Maitland Street, Hackett, 4.15pm-5pm (4 to 7-year-olds) and 5.15pm-6pm (8 to 12 years) on Fridays during school terms. Call 0420 524412 or 6258 5443 or email folkdancecanberra@gmail.com.

The website is at folkdancecanberra.org.au

Pink up SPORTS clubs are invited to pink up over the Mother’s Day weekend (May 9-10) for the Breast Cancer Network Australia’s annual Pink Sports Day. BCNA hopes to raise $600,000 this year, which will help the organisation support those affected by breast cancer to receive the very best information, treatment and care. Register at 1800 500258 or bcna.org.au/pinksportsday

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CityNews April 16-22, 2015 7

Since 1993: Volume 21, Number 12

index

Arts & Entertainment 24-26 Canberra Confidential 20 Cinema 25 Dining 26 Gardening 28 Horoscopes 27 Letters 13 News 7-16 Politics 12 Puzzles 27 Socials 22-23

Rotten face of mental health care Cover: “Humble victors take a moment to say, yah!”

Story Page 15. Photo by Andrew Finch.

contacts CEO: Greg Jones, 0419 418196, greg@citynews.com.au Editor: Ian Meikle, editor@citynews.com.au Journalists: Lorna Morris, lorna@citynews.com.au; Kathryn Vukovljak, kathryn@citynews.com.au Arts editor: Helen Musa, 0400 043764, helen@citynews.com.au Advertising manager: Greg Jones, 0419 418196 Senior advertising account executives: David Cusack, 0435 380656; Ernie Nichols, 0421 077999 Advertising account executives: Lucie Dann, 6262 9100; Utpal Kelovkar 0426 560200 Sydney advertising sales: Ad Sales Connect, 02 9420 1777 Production manager / graphic design: Janet Ewen Graphic designer: Paulette Leo Photographer: Andrew Finch Proof reader: Glenda Anderson Accounts manager: Bethany Freeman-Chandler accounts@citynews.com.au Distribution: Richard Watson, circulation@citynews.com.au

Well written, well read

seven days

Phone 6262 9100 Fax 6262 9111 GPO Box 2448, Canberra 2601

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Ian Meikle, Level 1, 143 London Circuit, Canberra.

THERE is clearly something rotten in the state of Canberra’s mental health regime. This week’s reported death of a female patient at Canberra Hospital’s assessment unit last month is a tragic indicator of a much bigger problem.

The scandal of the autistic student confined in a “cage” might well have been a media exaggeration. Canberra’s teaching fraternity believe it would not have occurred without parental agreement; and the word “cage” might well be a journalistic beat-up. But all agree that more resources are desperately needed to deal with special needs children.

However, no one doubts the outrageous use of the Alexander Maconochie correction centre as a dumping ground for the mentally ill.

While estimates vary, more than a third of Canberra’s prison inmates have a diagnosable mental illness. This is no different from NSW where up to 7500 inmates are mentally ill with treatment facilities for only 300.

In 2008 Canberra was able to manage without any jail at all. Yet only seven years later it is overflowing and a second is mooted. But the need for separate mental illness facilities

No one doubts the outrageous use of the Alexander Maconochie correction centre as a dumping ground for the mentally ill. barely rates a mention.

PM Tony Abbott’s call this week for a “task force” to tackle the spread of crystal meth or “ice” was another aspect of the same problem. While it was derided (with some justice) as part of his campaign for political survival, many Canberra families – including your columnist’s – have had first-hand experience of its shocking effects.

The task force under former Victorian Police Commissioner Ken Lay has the best of intentions, but it will do nothing to solve Canberra’s problem.

ACT police have only two options in dealing with addicts – a night in the Watch House or referral to Canberra Hospital – both equally ineffective.

NOW for the good news: great reports this week of “one of the best seasons in living memory” for Canberra’s vineyards. According to local vigneron

Frank van de Loo the combination of a relatively cool summer and local grape varieties was “just fantastic”.

Local wine association president John Leyshon was even more enthusiastic: “Most wineries produced more fruit than expected and it’s the best season I can remember”.

REGULAR readers will recall that three weeks ago a delegation of Canberra’s nascent film industry attended the Hong Kong Filmart to show their wares and make contact with the biggest and fastest-growing movie market in the world.

I’m thrilled to report that every one of the nine-member delegation secured contracts or memorandums of understanding that will eventually transform Canberra into a national hub for Australia’s film production within the region.

One big-budget, feature film

– inspired by our only Chinese bushranger, Sam Pu – secured its Chinese financing and is slated for production next year; a local children’s TV producer secured major distribution links and another proposal, soon to be announced by the government, will provide the foundation for a series of low-budget genre productions.

FINALLY, a bitter-sweet farewell this week to actor-manager John Bell who made his swansong as Jacques in Bell Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. The production itself had mixed reviews.

But Bell’s performances will echo down the years “to the last syllable of recorded time”. robert@robertmacklin.com

ROBERT MACKLIN

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8 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

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lowbrow The cash economy steals huge amounts of tax revenue from the rest of us that has to be made up in the taxes and charges on honest folk.

Pockets full of cash, who needs them?

AS a habit from childhood I’ve always carried a bit of cash. My parents were always pretty clear on the value of having enough money in the pocket to at least cover a bus fare.

But having manhandled some shopping to the top of the Canberra Centre this week, the parking machine didn’t want to take my money.

So I stuck a credit card in the machine and I was sorted.

Then I walked past a Coke vending machine and was lured in by the promise of carbonated sugar and caffeine.

The machine took payWave so I tapped my card and took my Coke.

This felt like a strange transaction, so it got me thinking: Why in 2015 are we still bothering with cash?

Make no mistake, cash is enormously expensive.

The cash economy steals huge amounts of tax revenue from the rest of us that has to be made up in the taxes and charges on honest folk.

While it’s true I love a restaurant that offers a 20 per cent discount on cash payments, but I know we’re all being done down in the process.

Lugging all those paper notes from the bank (often at a steep fee if we can’t find the right branch) and back to the bank securely eats away further at our wealth.

Just counting the stuff is painful, time consuming and expensive.

Last year the Reserve Bank looked into the cost of payments and found that for sub-$20 transactions “contactless payment” (payWave etcetera) were now the same cost as cash and, for everything higher, it was cheaper to use cards.

We can transfer money from our bank accounts on our phones and the whole thing isn’t just cheaper, it’s massively more secure, and the security risks that are there we’re mostly incurring anyway.

Beyond convenience, not getting beaten up for money and tax dodgers, cash is

10 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

beloved of terrorists, drug dealers and welfare cheats.

Here’s a statistic to curl your hair.

Of the $60.8 billion of cash on issue in Australia as at June 2014, 45 per cent or $27 billion of it was in $100 notes.

When was the last time you saw one of those?

One suspects a lot of them are buried under patios in jam jars belonging to people who are not behaving entirely legally.

Yes, we’d need to come up with solutions to problems if we did away with cash.

Kids will lose cards (but they already lose money and at least a card can be replaced without the loss of the money) and parents will need special access to children’s accounts.

But none of the problems would be insurmountable.

There are security issues with point-of-sale terminals and cards, but we have cards and terminals already anyway.

A government that was serious about addressing revenue holes would be talking about this.

Bringing the cash economy, particularly the drug economy, in from the cold would force the payments of huge rivers of GST money.

There’s a pretty easy way to get users to stop using the existing cash, too.

For the first year let it be redeemed at banks at 100 per cent of face value, then just lop 5 per cent off its value every year thereafter.

It won’t take very long to get it all turned in after that.

John Griffiths is the online editor of citynews.com.au

JOHN GRIFFITHS

Sage Dining Rooms

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‘The chefs will review the results and put together a list of favourites that will make their way on to the new season’s menu.’

Diners put surprise dishes to the taste test SAGE Dining Rooms is about to present its popular “Taste and Test” dinner series, this year under the tutelage of new head chef Damian Brabender.

stamps the tablecloth with a score chart that allows diners to progressively score and rate each course.

At the end of the evening the chefs will review the results and put together a list of crowd favourites that, at the end of the five weeks, will make their way on to the new season’s menu.

Brabender says Sage’s highly skilled sous chefs, Steve Hartert and Adam Wilson, are excited to engage with guests and create menus based on their feedback, keeping things – as always – bold, innovative and playful.

As such, the Braddon restaurant says this year’s series is set to be an exciting new step ahead for “Taste and Test” and directly assist Sage in its mission to constantly evolve its menu and dining experience in maintaining an exciting edge.

Chef Brabender comes to Sage from London where he worked at the Royal Sage Dining Rooms, Gorman House Arts Opera House in Convent Garden. He has Centre, Batman Street, Braddon, call also been executive chef at Australia’s 6249 6050. only six-star hotel and resort, Emirates Wolgan Valley, and worked under the three-Michelin-Star chef Pierre Kauffman.

This year’s “Taste and Test”, the fourth in the annual series that sells out quickly, intimately involves diners in the menudesign process.

Over the five-week season, the Sage team will present diners with five surprise courses each week that showcase its culinary talent and allow diners to experience what Brabender describes as Snacks at Sage “relaxed, relatable fine dining”.

Dining Rooms.

After guests are seated, the waiter

Wagu beef, bone marrow, apple and celery from Sage’s autumn menu.

New head chef Damian Brabender… comes to Sage from London where he worked at the Royal Opera House in Convent Garden.

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CityNews April 16-22, 2015 11

politics

nostalgia

Time to think again on prison dose of dorin

The ACT has the highest proportion of prisoners with prior imprisonment of all Australian jurisdictions.

WHAT’S going on? A jail built just six years ago is full. No! It is overflowing.

The design process started a decade before it was built. Is it just poor planning? Are too many people being incarcerated? Are longer sentences the problem?

Should the magistrates and judges wear the opprobrium or should the legislature shoulder the blame? The overflowing Alexander Maconochie Centre is a prison that manages minimum to maximum security prisoners as well as detainees who are awaiting trial (and are innocent until proven guilty). It is a much more complex organisation than those in multiple prison jurisdictions.

“In many cases, imprisonment is just the wanton infliction of gratuitous punishment by an unthinking legislature and a reflexive judiciary,” according to Prof Mirko Bagaric, dean and head of the School of Law at Deakin University.

It is time to look at ourselves, our expectations and our attitudes, the misdirection of expenditure and the continuation of medieval practices that make matters worse rather than better.

There is no doubt that some people do need to be incarcerated to protect the rest of the community. People who are violent and those we have a good reason to fear are appropriate examples.

People who have committed sexual assaults are another. However, more than a third of prisoners are incarcerated for non-violent offences.

Iceland, Japan and Finland incarcerate at a rate about a third of that in Australia and do not have increasing rates of imprisonment. These are not countries that anyone would consider inherently dangerous.

If anything, the opposite is true. They employ a range of alternative and innovative techniques to punish offenders. The International Centre for Prison Studies

An old friend slips away...

CALL me a dreamer, but I sorta figured that Tosolini’s would always be making coffee and serving meals on London Circuit. It’s one of the things that I thought would never change in this old town of ours.

keeps careful statistics on 224 countries and shows that Australia is the 44th highest incarcerating country.

The ABS report, “Prisoners in Australia”, shows that our country had around 34,000 people in prisons in December, an increase of 10 per cent over the previous 12 months. The incarceration rate is now 186 people for every 100,000 of our population. In the ACT in 2002, when our offenders were held in NSW jails, the rate of incarceration was 96.3 per 100,000. By December, the rate had reached 130.4 per 100,000 and still climbing. This is higher than Tasmania and on a par with Victoria.

What these figures do not illustrate is the length of time of incarceration. In the last few decades governments of both political persuasions have responded to community concerns about law and order by increasing penalties.

Some in Australia have also introduced abhorrent policies such as “three strikes and you’re in” that lead to compulsory incarceration removing the power of magistrates to explore alternatives to imprisonment. No wonder our

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jails are overcrowding.

Are there alternatives to imprisonment? Prof Bagaric’s main research priority is to encourage governments “to implement an evidence-based and normatively sound sentencing system, which secures four objectives: to reduce crime; to punish criminals appropriately; to minimise the cost of the system and to ensure the system does not violate important moral standards”.

Some suggestions made for punishment of non-violent prisoners include much greater use of home detention using ankle bracelets, for example, and modern satellite-location techniques.

For people who commit fraud and other white-collar crime, introduction of bans from owning or controlling any significant property for a period of time – or even a lifetime for the most serious offenders. After all, greed is the motivation for this sort of crime.

Perhaps a different approach might also help address recidivism. The ACT has the highest proportion of prisoners with prior imprisonment of all Australian jurisdictions.

Whatever the case, the law-and-order approach of constantly increasing penalties is a failed policy. The ACT has been at the forefront of law reform in many areas. With appropriate attention to evidence, an examination of the policies of low-incarcerating countries to assess where ideas can be extrapolated to Australia, a more humanitarian approach might just be possible. It could go hand in hand with making savings. The savings could be used for treatment, education and training and creating jobs.

Surely some leadership in this area combined with some political courage – and perhaps even some bipartisanship – is not beyond the wit of our leaders.

Like a lot of people, I was taken aback by its closure last week.

I arrived in Canberra for the first time in late 1998 for a job interview and when it was finished I came into the city centre to check it out. I can distinctly remember parking in the Canberra Theatre precinct and strolling around London Circuit.

I grabbed a coffee from the first café I could find, which happened to be Tosolini’s, and sat there under the trees watching the world go by.

The coffee was “on the money” and I made a note that Tosolini’s would be a place I would return to if I happened to score the job. And I did… many times.

The place was usually full. There were “suits” discussing business, work colleagues letting their hair down and couples sharing time together. In the winter the fire would burn, the kitchen always smelt divine and Carlo Tosolini would always be bouncing cheekily from table to table.

I did my first media interview as a political candidate at Tosolini’s. I pitched to potential clients at Tosolini’s. I’ve hosted lunches for two different radio stations at Tosolini’s. I’ve watched young staff grow up in there and I’ve spent many an hour drinking coffee or eating pasta at this iconic location.

I’m very much in love with Luisa and we had our second date at Tosolini’s on a Sunday night in November, 2010. I can remember where we sat and what she was wearing.

My fave pasta was the Arrabiata. It had some serious kick and those delightful black olives. I could eat it every day.

Things tend not to stay the same. We are blessed to have some exquisite eating houses in Canberra and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon, but this is like losing an old friend.

I’m not entirely sure why it all finished up for Tosolini’s and I’m certain that someone will take over where Carlo left off, but I’m still saddened by the death of this place as we knew it.

Michael Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly (1989 to 2001) and was minister for health.

Nishi Building, 2 Phillip Law Street, Canberra

Diana Farah Partner

Call us for a no obligation case evaluation www.codea.com.au 12 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

The coffee was ‘on the money’ and I made a note that Tosolini’s would be a place I would return.

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letters

‘Helpless’ to save the trees JON Stanhope’s opinion (“Why the Northbourne flats have to stay”, CN, April 2) was greatly appreciated!

As a pensioner and ACTION user, who has lived in this area for over 25 years and has read much of both sides of the light rail/Northbourne Avenue flats issue, I feel quite helpless watching the “wheel turn” that will radically destroy

this area. Gone will be the gracious avenue of eucalypts – the lungs of the inner north – that I love, and the ambience of the open spaces around the now-neglected flats.

I do hope that your voice is heard urgently again on this matter!

Suzanne Mitchell, via email

Armistice Day procession along Cork Street, Gundaroo, November, 1918.

The tax on the tax...

THE Australian government’s “Tax Discussion Paper” fails to address a very critical issue: that is, the double taxation that all Australians have been paying ever since the introduction of the GST. On inception, all states and territories were given carte blanche regarding the application of the GST to their own taxes, including land taxes, council rates, stamp duty etcetera.

Mostly, they chose to add their own taxes on top of transaction prices that already included the GST charge; effectively, a tax on a tax.

Apart from probably being unconstitutional, the double-taxation has been applied consistently over a wide range of transactions including real estate, motor vehicle sales as well as all forms of insurance, with the overall cost to average Australians probably running into hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Australian government has ignored this unfair situation for far too long. Abolition of this underhanded double taxation is long overdue.

M McGregor, Curtin

Tyranny of the minority MICHAEL Moore makes some reasonable points in his column “Plain Ricky puts up a good argument” (CN, March 12). However, this pragmatic old goat objects to the tyranny of the minority, when people like Muir are elected on a vanishingly small number of votes and appear to have no understanding of the issues that confront them in the Senate. Despite his

ignorance, this man and others like him, for example Jacqui Lambie, have an enormous influence on the fate of important legislation that affects all Australians. The failure of the much-needed higher education reforms is a case in point. Our system needs to filter out rather than encourage these yokels.

Photo provided by Matt Crowe

When Gundaroo answered the call GUNDAROO will be commemorating the centenary of Anzac with a two-day exhibition of memorabilia, photos, artefacts and stories in the Gundaroo Soldiers’ Memorial Hall.

The weekend starts with the annual Anzac Day dawn service and breakfast at 5am on Saturday, April 25.

The exhibition is linked with the 100th anniversary of Anzac and is being organised by the Gundaroo & District Historical Society and the Gundaroo Community Association Memorial Sub-Committee.

The exhibition is part of the Canberra and Region Heritage Festival and will focus on individuals from the Gundaroo

district who served in wartime. Many still have descendants living in the district.

Local MP for Hume, Angus Taylor, will open the exhibition at a special event on Friday night. It will be open to the public on Saturday between 7am-4pm and on Sunday from 10am-4pm.

Gundaroo Historical Society president, Peter Firth, says people will be surprised at some of the stories that will be unveiled for the exhibition.

“These include the extraordinary story of Gundaroo veteran Ted Watt who returned from war to build a unique underground hut on a local creek in his search of gold and to grow vegetables to sell in the

village,” he says.

“Another is the story of Gundaroo-bred Fred March who was awarded many war decorations and later found himself driving for Lawrence of Arabia.”

Other special features at the Gundaroo War Exhibition include the Australian War Memorial’s “Camera on Gallipoli” film presentation; a locally-made poppy display and an exhibit on the military aircraft accident that occurred in the Gundaroo district.

“Come out to Gundaroo and make a day of it and enjoy a walk around our historic village,” says Peter.

Anzac centenary / Canberra remembers, P18-19

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A gift for living

H Ronald, Jerrabomberra

TRAFFIC IN CRACE ‘Unbearable’ I AM an elderly resident who moved to the Goodwin Aged Care centre at Crace last month. I need to travel to the city regularly to visit my doctor for treatment.

I want to bring to your attention the traffic issues at Barton Highway as it is unbearable traffic and I get stuck for more than 45 mins driving at less than 5 km/h.

I raised the issue with the Crace community who informed me the issue was due to the fact there was no direct roads to divert Crace and Palmerston drivers to the city, which meant that there was a bottleneck at Barton Highway as all city drivers had to come to the roundabout.

Could the government please relieve me and many others from the Barton Highway traffic?

as it is ridiculous that there is no direct bus to the city.

All other suburbs like Palmerston and Bonner have direct city buses, so there is clear discrimination against Crace residents going on.

On behalf of all Crace, I request ACTION, please fix this ASAP. Jenny Turner, via email

‘Nightmare’

GETTING out of Crace is an absolute nightmare for residents as no proper roads have been built in inner Crace connecting to the Barton Highway.

From Maranunga Avenue there is a cycle track but no road, which is pathetic planning. Residents going to the city have to go all the way to Abena Avenue instead of directly accessing the Barton Highway, Judy Smith, via email causing nightmares for residents.

This is a waste of time and money due to ACT’s poor planning; No bus please fix this issue as a priority.

DISASTROUS planning by ACTION Peter White, Crace has inconvenienced Crace residents

If you’re aged 50-74 you’ll be sent a free bowel cancer screening kit. The kit is simple to use and can detect bowel cancer before any symptoms appear. Around 80 Australians die of bowel cancer every week, but if detected early, up to 90% of cases can be successfully treated. So be sure to complete and return your kit. It’s a gift that could save your life. If you’re over 74 talk to your GP. By 2020 people aged 50-74 will receive a kit every two years.

CityNews April 16-22, 2015 13

planning / brickworks

briefly

Ugly money grab trumps heritage

Mum of the year

THE Land Development Agency’s revised plan for Yarralumla is a monstrous development that harks back to crude land-development approaches from early last century.

Canberra citizens must stand up and demand the high-quality and sustainable precincts we should expect in the 21st century.

The development has been called the Canberra Brickworks and Environs Planning and Development Strategy, but that is a misnomer. The main game is a massive residential development on an area more than 30 per cent larger than Kingston Foreshore!

If such an appalling plan can be foisted on an area with high heritage and landscape values, then we must ask where they will strike next with this type of poorly planned development.

If we do not stand up, we have no one but ourselves to blame if the amenity we bequeath to the next generation is only a shadow of what we enjoy today.

The LDA continues to show contempt for the intelligence of Canberrans in trying to sell the idea that locals support the latest plan to develop the Yarralumla Brickworks and environs, while reluctantly revealing that just 139 Yarralumla residents were interviewed out of a total 1400 Canberrans in a recent phone poll.

The Canberra community provided very clear feedback to the ACT government in response to the previous plan for the area

The scale of this destruction and deforestation is likely unprecedented in the historic heart of the national capital. stretching from Dunrossil Drive down to Cotter Road and Adelaide Avenue, and across to the Canberra Brickworks.

While the LDA has modified some aspects of the earlier proposal, it has failed to respond to the bulk of concerns raised by residents. For example: It deals inadequately with traffic impacts: There are major concerns about the impact of the town-centre scale development on traffic, existing street networks and parking in Yarralumla and surrounding suburbs. The proposed main access roads between the development and existing Yarralumla would not meet relevant standards in terms of width, configuration and traffic volume.

It provides no rationale for the proposed scale and density: There is scope for medium-density residential development that could provide additional options for housing.

However, the LDA provides no justification for the figure of 1800 new dwellings. The proposed density, doubling Yarralumla’s population, bears no relationship to the existing character of Yarralumla.

It doesn’t comply with the

Territory Plan, the Spatial Plan 2004, the ACT Planning Strategy (2012) and the National Capital Plan precepts, amongst others.

It destroys valued open spaces, ridge buffer, walking trails and biodiversity: Yarralumla and many other Canberra residents highly value connectivity between the open green spaces/natural parklands, mature trees (including the oak plantation) and walking trails in the development site.

The latest plan respects none of these values, nor the ridge buffer between South Canberra and Woden Valley referred to in the National Capital Plan, nor the endangered golden sun moth and natural temperate grasslands habitat.

We are appalled that the strategy will involve massive earthworks to flatten the 49-hectare site, and destroy some 2000 trees, imposing an urban design incompatible with the site topography.

The scale of this destruction and deforestation is likely unprecedented in the historic heart of the national capital.

It contravenes the National Capital Plan: Implementation of the latest plan will

impact adversely on the main avenue and approach route to the Governor General’s residence by replacing the direct entrance to Dunrossil Drive with a main access road to the new housing estate. Dunrossil Drive may be shortened by over 20 per cent, around 30 of the avenue’s heritage-listed elms are likely to be removed and ridges on either side will be flattened.

It conflates Brickworks conservation and adaptation with residential development: The latest plan continues to conflate Brickworks conservation and adaptation with a massive residential development.

The Brickworks are the responsibility of the ACT Government, administered with reference to the Heritage Act 2004 on behalf of all ACT residents.

Only a very modest $5 million is being allocated to conservation and adaptation of the Brickworks buildings, so clearly the main objective of the development is to raise revenue from land sales.

Marea Fatseas is the president of the Yarralumla Residents Association

MAREA FATSEAS

CHAUNTELL McNamara, pictured, is the ACT Barnardos Mother of the Year. ACT Minister for Women, Yvette Berry, praised her commitment to children, particularly children at risk and children of asylum seekers. Ms McNamara will represent the ACT at the national awards in Sydney on May 7.

The word on opals LLOYD Hall will be speaking about mining and polishing opals from Lightning Ridge at the Weston Creek View Club’s next lunch meeting at the Southern Cross Club, Woden, 11am-2.30pm, on Tuesday, May 5. Interested ladies are welcome and enquiries or RSVP to 6281 3110 by Friday, May 1.

Big Apple for Dr Matt CANBERRA Hospital doctor Matt Bray, 24, has been awarded a research fellowship to attend the UN Economic and Social Council’s high-level political forum on sustainable development in New York in July. Dr Bray is currently studying for a masters in public health and tropical medicine through James Cook University.

Fashion’s big hunt THE second annual Fashion Treasure Hunt, an afternoon of team problem solving, winning prizes and raising funds for Cerebral Palsy Alliance ACT will be held in Belconnen and Woden on May 2 and 3 respectively. Last year’s event raised $5500 and this year the plan is to have 350 competitors across both shopping-centre venues. Teams of up to four compete to solve, find and collect fashionrelated clues. More information or register a team, visit trybooking.com

The Asthma Foundation ACT would like to thank our generous sponsors and supporters of Canberra’s Longest Lunch, which was held at Kingston Foreshore on 24 March 2015 The event raised more than $15,000 to help the 35,000 Canberrans living with asthma in the ACT to breathe better.

• The people’s choice winner of Dish of the Day 2015 was CocoNine’s Chicken Laksa •

Melbourne Building, left, and the Sydney Building in the 1920s. Photo Mildenhall Collection, National Archives

Our dilapidated heart

By Catherine Carter

CIVIC’S Sydney and Melbourne Buildings were once the commercial heart of Canberra, the gateway to our CBD. Today, much of the area around these historic buildings is in a depressingly dilapidated state. Urgent, targeted investment is required to restore and reactivate this part of the city.

While action to address the Sydney and Melbourne Buildings must be a priority, we’ve had a long, ongoing discussion about what to do. In 2007 the Property Council convened a public forum, with a report submitted to government recommending the development of a strategic design framework and sensitive redevelopment of the area. Nearly a decade on, there is yet to be any meaningful action taken to 14 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

restore these landmarks.

So, what can we do? We need a passionate champion for our city’s potential and we need a new partnership between the ACT government, business and the community to drive the transformation and renewal of these and other important buildings around the CBD. And let’s look seriously at better using the internal courtyard areas behind the buildings – they must be the most picturesque rubbish dumps in Canberra!

Such redevelopment would support new cafes, restaurants and spaces for art exhibitions and other cultural activities.

Inspired by the best architecture of the Italian Renaissance, the Sydney and Melbourne Buildings enjoyed an auspicious start to life and they need the support of all Canberrans to avoid a shameful end.

Catherine Carter is ACT executive director of the Property Council of Australia

KPMG Canberra / Best ACT Firm Award winner

advertising feature

‘Everybody likes to be quietly recognised, so for us to be recognised by our clients… we are extremely grateful and humble and really proud’

Humble victors take a moment to say, yah!

GLOBAL audit, tax and advisory firm, KPMG, doesn’t usually invite media attention.

“We consider ourselves humble, understated and we prefer to let our work do the talking,” says Cath Ingram, who is the chair of the firm’s 12-partner Canberra office and leader of the firm’s Australian Government practice nationally.

“This is probably the first time in 25 years we’ve publicly spoken about what we do.”

There’s a very good reason for this stand-alone exception. KPMG’s Canberra office has just received the highly prized Best ACT Firm in the “Financial Review” Client Choice Award for 2015. And, as the name suggests, they didn’t even apply for it.

The Client Choice Awards are independently researched by consulting firm Beaton to rate the actual perceptions of professional services’ firm’s current clients. The rules are very strict; the winner of the award isn’t even made aware of the client or clients who nominated it and during the judging, the potential winner must not discuss the awards with any of its clients.

In Canberra, KPMG’s offices are comfortably nestled in the Brindabella Business Park adjoining Canberra airport, a complex widely regarded as being in “the smart end of town” and enjoyed by many high-profile businesses and organisations, which includes some executive offices of the Australian Defence Force.

While the office is strategically located for its close proximity to KPMG’s federal and territory government clients, its extremely diverse client base extends well beyond the territory’s borders to project assistance to indigenous communities in the outback.

Cath is one of three senior executives of KPMG we spoke to for this feature who were either born and bred in Canberra, or who came here as kids and continued to call Canberra home throughout their education and professional lives.

She came here from England in 1970 with her parents, attending Latham Primary, Ginninderra High and Copland College before gaining her accounting degree at University of Canberra.

“ANU didn’t offer accounting degrees, they only offered economics,” Cath says.

Attending UC was serendipitous.

“Even back in the ‘80s it [UC] put a large emphasis on technology as part of your accounting degree,” she says.

“And when you look at this town of Canberra, there is more IT infrastructure per head of population than

Christa Gordon, left, Craig Sloan and Cath Ingram… “This is probably the first time in 25 years we’ve publicly spoken about what we do,” says Cath. anywhere else in Australia.”

Since a significant portion of her overriding position as chair of the Canberra office involves providing advice on projects characterised by complex, multiple-shareholder management requirements, there is a huge ICT component critical to a project’s success or otherwise.

So why does Cath still call Canberra home when countless opportunities away from here must have presented themselves over the years?

“As a working mum, one of the things Canberra enables me to do is to have a profession, have a career and still be able to drop the kids off at school, go and see them in their concerts and get back to work within 20 minutes.”

ANOTHER senior executive, Christa Gordon also calls herself a Canberra girl having arrived here with her family as a six-year-old from Germany. She attended Woden Valley High before moving to Canberra College – or Phillip College as it was known then – and on to ANU where she studied commerce.

Christa joined KPMG as an accountant 26 years ago and when the firm established an internal audit practice in the early ‘90s she moved into that area quickly, which

involved working with government clients across a whole range of sectors from regulators to policy making with departments involved in property and international trade portfolios.

Today, Christa is KPMG’s partner in charge of Policy, Programs and Evaluation, heading up a national team comprising professionals who have extremely strong skills in policy making, economics and government relations.

“Our services are all focused on supporting the government to develop better policies and to design and implement better government programs,” she says “We also evaluate government programs to assess whether or not the programs are achieving the outcomes they are designed to achieve.

“Sure, it can be challenging. But when a government client comes to a firm like KPMG to evaluate one of their programs, they generally know they’re coming to us because they want an independent evaluation.”

Christa’s workload, like all successful executives, is demanding and wide ranging. When asked to nominate the more enjoyable projects, Christa doesn’t hesitate.

“We do a huge amount of work around indigenous

policy programs and we do that very quietly,” she says.

About 40 KPMG staff are variously involved in indigenous programs, much of the work pro bono or not billed. And it seems like there’s no shortage of volunteers within the firm to head out to the bush to work in indigenous communities for anywhere between six weeks to three months.

“Each year we have a raft of people putting up their hands to spend time in communities around Queensland, the NT and WA and also in the metropolitan areas like Redfern in Sydney,” she says.

“It’s a challenge, yet our staff love it. Our commitment to Closing the Gap is enormous.”

It’s a view shared by Cath and her colleague Craig Sloan, whose title is lead partner involved in ACT Government/Management Consulting Canberra.

Craig is the only one of the three executives we spoke to who was born and educated in Canberra, like his father. His grandfather was the 49th policeman assigned to Canberra.

In other words, his Canberra roots are firmly established.

He began his schooling at Rosary Primary school in Watson and later at St Edmund’s College and University of Canberra.

“It’s one of the greatest cities in the world. It’s a place where you can work and have a real good balance with family life,” he says.

He brings to KPMG a vast business background having served on the Canberra Business Council (now Chamber) board for 19 years, and chairman for seven.

“I took on that role to develop my network and improve my understanding of the ACT business economy and the ACT government and how it operates,” he says.

Apart from advising the ACT government and working with it to develop its various policies, Craig’s portfolio includes input as a team member in some of the firm’s big picture projects, such as for the Department of Defence.

There is a palpable pride evident in each and every member of the Canberra KPMG staff – all 280 of them.

This pride is undoubtedly enhanced with the recent, prestigious Best ACT Firm Award.

Cath Ingram, Christa Gordon and Craig Sloan each have the same response to the question of what it means to them. Obviously personal pride is a major factor, but the team approach is the paramount consideration.

Cath sums it up for all three: “It’s been wonderful for our people who genuinely take pride in it. And they can see that they’re adding value to Australian society.

“Everybody likes to be quietly recognised, so for us to be recognised by our clients in government we are extremely grateful and humble and really proud.”

kpmg.com.au

Best ACT firm for 2015 CityNews April 16-22, 2015 15

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Winemaker and developer Graeme Shaw… developing a sort of rural version of a sea change.

Photo by Rod Henshaw

Graeme stirs the sleepy village

By Rod Henshaw

TO winemaker and developer Graeme Shaw, Murrumbateman is not quite the centre of the universe. But it could well be by the time he’s finished.

The once sleepy hamlet of Murrumbateman, notable only as a fuel stop and a convenience store hub for local sheep farmers, has morphed into what tourist authorities and promoters now refer to as a “destination”.

The gradual transformation is thanks largely to those brave folk who pioneered coolclimate wine production a couple of decades ago and backed themselves in to become the respected regional wine entity Murrumbateman is today. Its success can be best measured by the fact that it’s been adopted by the national capital (in name anyway) and included in the Canberra Cool Climate Wine region.

Graeme Shaw saw the potential about 30 years ago and bought up 700 acres (238 hectares) of historical sheep property known as Ollyville, which had been producing sheep and wool since the mid-1800s. Graeme continues to run about 2000 merinos for lambs and wool.

But it was never going to languish as a mere sheep farm once Graeme acquired it.

Today, his focus is very much concentrated on hands-on production of award-winning wines – much of it for export. His other passion is pulling out all stops to promote Murrumbateman in a bid to attract like-minded entrepreneurs and investors.

His latest project is the development of quarter-acre residential blocks of land for those seeking a change of pace. A sort of rural version of a sea change!

“The estate is called Fairley, named after William Fairley, a school teacher in the early 1900s,” he says.

“We have 108 blocks in total, all around a quarter of an acre.”

According to Graeme, the quarter-acre (.101 hectare) blocks represent the first residential development of its type since the 1800s, with modern-day amenities and utilities.

“The council is currently building a new

16 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

sewerage system for the village. At the moment we’re on septic but in conjunction with our development, the village will be sewered for the first time.”

Graeme is quite specific in how he sees the future development of Murrumbateman unfolding.

“I think it still must have its rural character and charm,” he says. “The way it’s been master planned by the council, I can’t see it being anything but that.”

He’s passionate about the promotion of the village and its surrounding attractions and he never misses the opportunity to extol its virtues – especially to anyone who shows an interest in contributing to its growth.

The Shaw Vineyard Estate sets an example by including an Italian ceramic products outlet within its cellar door facility alongside the impressive and functional Flint restaurant, with both areas leased to separate businesses, all with a common interest in providing services to the ever growing number of tourists.

It’s very much a family affair comprising Graeme and wife Ann, daughter Tanya, son Michael and Tanya’s husband, also a Michael, all working full time in the business.

Graeme is extremely anxious to see a resortstyle hotel established at Murrumbateman.

It nearly happened last year but for whatever reason, the project “didn’t come to fruition”.

Undeterred, Graeme says another operator has stepped up and negotiations are well advanced to build a 60 to 80-room hotel.

As far as Graeme Shaw is concerned, Murrumbateman’s future is incredibly positive and he has no hesitation in putting his money where his mouth is.

When he moved with his family there were only about 650 people in the district. Today, Murrumbateman is home to around 4000 – and counting.

And with around 50 wineries producing award-winning products, quarter-acre blocks being snapped up and growing interest from a diverse range of business enterprises, they must be doing something right.

Graeme probably sums it up for what it is: “city benefits, rural lifestyle”.

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Anzac Day / Canberra remembers

War Memorial to be the focus of the nation KATE MEIKLE compiles this guide to the activities around Canberra for the centenary Anzac Day on Saturday, April 25 ON the morning of April 25, 1915, the Anzacs – which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps – set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies during World War I. The objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and an ally of Germany.

The Anzacs landed on Gallipoli and met fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders.

Their plan to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months.

At the end of 1915, the allied forces were evacuated. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. More than 8000 Australian soldiers were killed.

Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the Australian and NZ actions during the campaign left a powerful legacy for Australians and April 25 became the day that commemorates the spirit and sacrifice of the Anzacs and all Australians who served and were killed in military operations.

This year marks the centenary of that fateful landing on Gallipoli and will see record numbers of people participating in

and showing their respects at dawn services, marches and ceremonies across Australia.

The Australian War Memorial’s events are expected to be the largest held at the memorial and a focal point for the nation’s Anzac Day commemorations.

On Anzac Day, the War Memorial, in close co-operation with the Returned and Services League of Australia ACT, will host the Dawn Service – the time of the original landing in Gallipoli – at 5.30am, the National Ceremony featuring a march of past veterans at 10.15am and the Last Post Ceremony at 4.30pm.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commemorative Ceremony will be held after the Dawn Service at 6.30am at the Aboriginal Memorial plaque on the side of Mount Ainslie.

Owing to the increased demand, all reserved seats for the National Ceremony have been allocated, but the War Memorial encourages people to arrive early and attend the ceremony by watching from outside the reserved seating or on one of the six large screens that will be located in the memorial grounds.

Roll of Honour name projections will be on display all morning and readings drawn

The Anzacs land at Gallipoli. from the letters and diaries of Australian servicemen and servicewomen will start at 4.25am.

Road closures will be in place from 3.30am until 1pm on Saturday, April 25. This will affect traffic flow around Treloar Crescent, Limestone Avenue, and Anzac Parade.

The public is encouraged to use available shuttle services and public transport. There will be parking on-site for mobilityimpaired visitors with vehicles displaying a

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Photos: Australian War Memorial An ambulance station at Anzac Cove. government-issued parking pass.

Shuttle services will be available for the Dawn Service and the National Ceremony, leaving from Majura Park Shopping Centre (free), Russell Offices (free), and Canberra Centre ($2).

The Dawn Service from Anzac Cove in Gallipoli will be broadcast live on the large screens located in the Sculpture Garden and the Western Lawn at 12.30pm. The broadcast will cross at 1.30pm to the commemorations

at the memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, France.

Limited seating is available, and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. There is plenty of space and members of the public are welcome to bring their own chairs to view the service.

Rosemary is traditionally worn on Anzac Day, and has particular significance for Australians as it is found growing wild on the Gallipoli peninsula.

special feature

The national institutions go to war

Anzac Day events across Canberra

Canberra’s cultural icons have contributed the following exhibitions in recognition of the Centenary: Australian Portrait Gallery Exhibition – “All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War” Focusing on the wide-ranging theme of loss and absence, “All that fall: Sacrifice, life and loss in the First World War” provides a moving portrait of loss on the Australian home front. Powerful symbolic images, including contemporary works, evoke the emotional intensity of loss.

Museum of Australian Democracy, Old Parliament House Exhibition – “Crisis 1914! The call to arms” “Crisis 1914! The call to arms” explores the political events that led to Australia’s involvement in World War I, from outbreak of war in the August to the first convoy’s departure in November, 1914. See the original Cabinet table used in 1914, along with other memorabilia from the era that helps to tell the story of Australia’s political journey.

National Library of Australia Exhibition – “Keepsakes: Australians and the Great War” “Keepsakes” explores the diaries, photographs, letters and mementos kept and treasured as reminders of the Great War. Sourced entirely from the National Library of Australia’s collections, this exhibition highlights the private experience of war and the objects that evoke our memories.

National Museum of Australia Exhibition – “The Home Front: Australia during

5.30am

Dawn Service Parade Ground, Australian War Memorial

6.30am

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commemorative Service Aboriginal Memorial plaque on the side of Mount Ainslie, Australian War Memorial

6.45am

Morning Service, Presbyterian Church of St Andrew, Forrest

7.45am

Morning Mass, St Christopher’s Cathedral, Manuka

8am Morning Service, Woden RSL sub-branch, Yamba Sports Club, Phillip 10.15am National Ceremony, Parade Ground, Australian War Memorial

Armistice Day celebrations, 1918… from “The Home Front: Australia during the First World War” exhibition at the National Museum. the First World War” Through the themes of pride, sorrow, joy, passion and wonder, this newly opened exhibition shares the diverse experiences of 23 Australians and explores the effect of the war on them, their families and their communities. From Prime Minister Billy Hughes’ determination to impose conscription on a divided nation, to Basil Watson’s thrilling but ultimately tragic aerobatic displays in his homemade biplane, the exhibition highlights

12pm 2-Up games begin at Canberra Labor Club with donations collected for Legacy

painful and inspiring stories.

National War Memorial Exhibition – “Australia in the Great War” “Australia in the Great War” is the Australian War Memorial’s new exhibition in the World War I galleries. The galleries integrate a wide variety of items from this collection, including dioramas, artworks, uniforms, medals, technology such as artillery and firearms, photographs, film, letters and diaries.

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Last Post Ceremony, Australian War Memorial

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1915

2015

ANZAC Commemorating 100 years From the shores of Gallipoli to the valleys of Afghanistan – in theatres of war and peace – this Anzac Day, we commemorate 100 years of service and sacrifice by the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.

ZED SESELJA Senator for the ACT

Phone 02 6247 6444 Email senator.seselja@aph.gov.au AUSTRALIANS AT WAR 1915 – 2015 Peacekeeping 1947-present AWM CAMUN/93/111/14

Iraq 2003-09; 2014-present

ADF S20150033

2001-present AWM P09971.063

Afghanistan

1990-91

ADF 11123270

Gulf War

1963-66 AWM P01706.003

Indonesian Confrontation

1962-75 AWM EKN/67/0130/VN

Vietnam War

1950-60 AWM HOB/56/0782/MC

Malayan Emergency

1950-53

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Korean War

1939-45

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Second World War

1914-18

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First World War

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CityNews April 16-22, 2015 19

Canberra Confidential Fashion with an uppercut IN possibly a world first, boxing gloves will make their debut on a catwalk when local designer Red Corner launches its new range of boxing accoutrements at Canberra’s awfully fashionable Fashfest on May 15.

“It’s not such a stretch when you realise how fashion-forward this Canberra company is with its new selection of anything-but-boring boxing gear,” says Fashfestian Clint Hutchison.

Red Corner is launching its new line of boxing gloves and focus pads for women and men worn by models apparently “just as hot as the gear itself”.

“This is serious gear that fits like a glove, designed for those who want to get fit, look great and feel empowered while training,” says Red Corner director Michelle Walton. And it’s not just black and red. It’s combining graphic designs and digital prints with bold, bright colours that truly “pop”.

“Most importantly, we’ve designed products to be ‘gender-fit’ recognising that women want quality, functional boxing gear customised to their needs.

They’re tired of wearing men’s gloves that don’t fit as well as they should.”

Fashfest, National Convention Centre, May 13-16.

Know something? / confidential@citynews.com.au

Loyal and lumbered

Cuddly, caring Frog

THEY say loyalty has its own reward, but not if you’re holding a Tosolini’s frequent-coffee card.

With the iconic cafe going down the drain after 29 years on Bailey’s Corner, the landlord is left $90k+ short on rent and its legions of customers lumbered with worthless loyalty cards. CC is one of them, holding nine complete ones and another almost complete card, with a value teetering at almost $35. We shall be chasing liquidator Kazar Slaven to join the list of creditors.

Gold, silver and bronze CANBERRA Airport has been awarded gold in the category of Specialised Tourism Services at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards 2014 ahead of Launceston Airport and Victoria’s Leisure Options.

CIT took home silver as runner-up in the Tourism and Education Services category and the National Folk Festival won third place (bronze) in the Festivals and Events category.

Barbecues made simple Red Corner’s ambassador, 22-year-old Canberra amateur boxer with a national ranking, Adriana Smith, models the new ladies’ look in boxing gloves.

IN a welcome address at the Royal Thai embassy’s barbecue for incoming ANU and UC Thai students, former president of the local branch of the Australia-Thailand Association John Milne congratulated the students for choosing to attend one of Canberra’s universities and helpfully explained that a barbecue “is a popular form of outdoors food preparation in Australia, perhaps ranking as the local equivalent of Thai street food”.

CANBERRA’S biggest platter puss “Frog” Harris, pictured, continues his crusade for all creatures large and small by again staging his charity monster World Record Day sale in front of his Cooleman Court music shop on Saturday.

Songland Records is accepting any and all music donations from the public in the form of vinyl, CDs and DVDs right up until Friday night.

Then on World Record Day, April 18, he’ll try and flog the lot with all proceeds going to Frog’s pet love, animal welfare (via Weston RSPCA).

Questions, questions...

SEEN recently filling the window of the Bupa branch in Civic. Though why there’d be a Canberran remotely interested in knowing why more families in NSW are choosing Bupa is the question the folks behind the counter clearly hadn’t asked themselves.

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Belconnen Community Service

special feature

A drawing class… affordable classes with a focus on social engagement.

Silver threads and golden opportunities for inquisitive seniors BELCONNEN Community Service has launched a Silver Threads and Golden Needles program that invites people over 65 to get involved in creative arts.

Funded by Commonwealth Home and Community Care (HACC), the program, which will run until October, offers a mix of skills development workshops, social groups, overnight retreats, cultural activities and trips at an affordable price.

Community development co-ordinator Katie Anderson-Kelly, says: “Over 65s are at an age where many are retired or are working less and, through the transition from the workforce, can lose that support network of their social group.

“These programs are affordable with a focus on social engagement. One of the big things is that art keeps people’s brains active and engaged in the community in a safe way while learning something new. For us, it was about providing that.”

The Silver Threads and Golden Needles program activities will be held at the Belconnen Community Centre for people of all skill levels and abilities in the ACT. Participants can choose programs ranging from $5 a week to $60 a term and lasting up to six or eight weeks, such as printmaking, where people can experiment

Learning how to use a tablet is part of the digital photo books class.

with block printing and fabric printing; making digital photo books, where participants can also learn how to use a tablet; and toymaking, where the traditional soft and wooden toys made during the sessions will be donated to the BCS Christmas Giving Tree.

Other interactive programs include Spoken Stories, where like-minded people explore literature and poetry through reading aloud in a relaxed atmosphere, and the Knit, Nibbles and Natter program, which is an ongoing weekly social group where people can chat with others while doing crafts.

Katie says: “Most of the programs are long term so people can make connections in a comforting social group with people they know will be there every week.

“We hold the programs during the week because many people over 65 feel isolated when their families go to work.”

The Belconnen Community Service also provides transport assistance to anyone who wants to take part in the programs.

As part of the Silver Threads and Golden Needles program, people have the opportunity to go on drawing and painting excursions, where they can visit scenic spots of Canberra and paint with the guidance of an experienced tutor.

The program offers an overnight art and mindfulness retreat to Murrumbateman in late April to relax in the comfort of lakeside accommodation, explore the tranquil gardens and enjoy a series of activities.

As well as this, in June, a three-day retreat to Sydney will give people the opportunity to visit art galleries, museums and a bus tour of the Vivid lights and art festival, amongst other activities.

During the retreats, transport and accommodation are all included as well as most activities and meals.

“We have had a very positive response from the community and the program has been really successful,” says Katie.

“It is the affordability that makes it so popular, we want to get the information out there to people who might not know that these options are affordable and available.

“We were really excited to receive funding and we are hoping to use it as a seed to establish the program and to purchase equipment in order to continue after October”.

Silver Threads and Golden Needles program, Belconnen Community Service, more information at 6264 0200 or bcsact.com.au CityNews April 16-22, 2015 21

scene / around canberra

invite us / scene@citynews.com.au

Social event of the week / Afternoon tea for L’Arche Genesaret, Government House AFTERNOON tea at Government House with their patron Lady Cosgrove was a special treat for a group of people who make the concept of L’Arche Genesaret work so well.

Founded by Swiss-born Canadian Jean Vanier, philosopher, theologian, humanist and man of great compassion, the Canberra community of L’Arche residents are a happy and fulfilled group with varying degrees of intellectual abilities and overflowing with a love of life and for those who care for them in this worldwide network of communities.

It is a special tradition, established in 1987, for the Governor General’s spouse to be the patron of the organisation and Lady Cosgrove embraced it in her inimitable way, opening our favourite vice-regal residence for this annual afternoon tea and meet and greet. To the delight of all the invited, the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, popped along for the occasion.

Meeting the residents over the years, I have slowly learnt about them as individuals and was charmed by Catharine Keir’s tale of her excursion to Parliament House to meet with Mal Brough and Jenny Macklin to thank them and discuss the NDIS. How proud she was, how humbling her excitement for this scheme. We must ensure it is comprehensively implemented.

Tarlie Alcock, Lady Cosgrove and Margaret Benson

Francis Sullivan and James Sullivan

Matt Prendergast, Leila Jorda, Tresha Shakya, Katelyn Bakelaar and, in front, Elizabeth Archer

Paul Trezise and Loretta Wholley

John Alcock, Diana and David Archer with Sue Neimanis

Catharine Keir and Maggie White

Anne and Keith Cantlie with Viola Kalokerinos

Wayne Harriden and John Minns

Barry Sandison and Annie Duke

Gillian Drew and Susan Sullivan

Gill McFeat, Eileen Glass and Teena Parkinson

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22 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

In partnership with

Photos by ANDREW FINCH

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Karin Kemp, Justin Kalinowski and Natalie Coyles

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CityNews April 16-22, 2015 23

arts & entertainment

In search of tasty Thai

Wendy Johnson

Michael thrills to a little ‘Flak’

By Helen Musa

like to fly.”

He discovered that many had never spoken about their war COMEDIAN Michael Veitch has written “Flak”, a play on experiences before.

Once, he says, while interviewing his favourite subject, World a former pilot who’d been taken prisoner in the Mediterranean, he War II pilots. noticed the wife looking hard at her It’s coming this month to The Q, husband and saying: “You never told with Veitch on stage. I catch up with me that before”. him by phone while he’s enjoying a Quick as a flash came the cuppa in Cairns at the beginning of husband’s reply: “You’ve never the “Flak” tour through Queensland asked me”. and NSW. The men, he says, were “so Veitch is the last person TV fans would expect to be doing a one man modest, so polite and so self-effacing – it’s a way of keeping them alive.” show about World War II fighter In fact, since he wrote the play, pilots. Or is he? half of them have died.

Super-famous on the comedy “Flak” goes for just an hour scene in Australia, he was one of the without an interval so he talks to Melbourne Uni revue crowd who entertained us in the ‘80s appearing people after the show.

“Many tell me that they never in TV comedies such as “The DGeneration”, “Fast Forward” and “Full asked their parents about the war and that now they regret it,” he says.

Frontal”. He used to host “Sunday As for comedy, there’s a bit of Arts’” on the ABC, too, and once humour and he does give a satirical played Molly Meldrum in a musical.

But more observant fans will know PowerPoint presentation on the atrocious planes we flew in World that he’s an author who has written War II, but it’s in context. three volumes about the stories of And does Veitch fly himself? A servicemen, “Flak”, “Fly” and a third definite no to that, admitting: “I’m book of World Warr II airman stories a hopeless flyer, I get sick at the due out this year.

“It’s all real-life,” Veitch tells me of drop of a hat…I’m a completely lily-livered wimp.” the five characters in his stage version of the book, directed by Helen “Flak – True stories from the men Ellis, “I interviewed all of them… I who flew in World War II”, at The Q, couldn’t have done it without them.” Queanbeyan, April 28-May 2, bookings Veitch chose the stories of two to theq.net.au or 6285 6290.

Australian pilots, a Battle of Britain pilot, a Welsh pilot and a Luftwaffe pilot, using his theatre skills to bring them to life.

“Flying has been my passion since I was young and was into making model aeroplanes,” he says.

“I didn’t read ‘Biggles’, I just didn’t like it… it was badly written and it was stupid – not real. I much preferred real accounts of people who did it and that’s what I’ve used.

“I used to love talking to the old Michael Veitch in “Flak”. fellows and asking them what it was Photo by Justin Stephens

Jesse Scales dances in “Quintett”.

In the right ‘Frame of Mind’

By Helen Musa

SYDNEY Dance Company member Jesse Scales is not one of those shrinking-violet dancers and has plenty to say about what we’ll see.

Scales, born in Hobart but a graduate in classical ballet from the NZ School of Dance, is performing in the company’s coming production “Frame of Mind”, a new work by director Rafael Bonachela.

In part of the program “Quintett”, performed to English composer Gavin Bryars’ 1971 composition, “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”, Scales says: “I don’t think any of us were familiar with the music.

“Gavin Bryars was walking through the streets of Paris and saw a homeless man singing an old hymn… he was drunk and out of it, but Bryars realised he had great pitch and recorded him on a little cassette.”

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Years later he transposed this music to disc and put it on to a loop with about 60 to 70 repeats that formed the basis of the now-famous composition, adding string music building and fading in different parts.

“It’s quite repetitious to dance to,” Scales admits, but says she responded immediately to the religious sense of the lyrics and the irony around whether Jesus’ love has failed the tramp – “it’s quite touching to hear it”.

It was a challenge to a classically-trained dancer.

“There is no real count to the music, but once we just jumped on to the music, it totally made sense… and it made me smile the first time I heard it,” she says. “‘Quintett’ is very conversational in a way, five people dancing and saying to each other, ‘I’m going to dance now’ or ‘how about you guys dance together?’”

“We were laughing, playing games, tricking each other and saying things like, “now I’m going to throw myself – catch me”.

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Bonachela’s part in the program is something very personal this time round, Scales reports.

“In this case it is a personal story reflecting on a time in Rafael’s life, how circumstances were creating different feelings in him… Rafael is quite a sociable person, but at this time he wanted not to socialise, it’s basically different scenarios about different states of mind or frames of mind.”

Happily, Bonachela doesn’t normally tell his dancers what to do, rather he invites them.

“Instead of him creating in getting us to copy, we’re producing ideas and putting them into movement, so what we are doing makes complete sense to us,” she says.

“He got us to reflect on our own different emotions in the past year and to make a ‘mind map’.”

As for Ralph Myers’ striking set, it matches the theme.

“The look of it is that it’s framed within a wire picture frame, something like scaffolding, that quite literally frames the space – that is why I love this set,” she says.

And how come Scales is such an articulate dancer? That proves to be no accident. “We have done some media training in the company because Raf wants to enable us to explain the ideas.”

As she says, “amazing”.

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“Frame of Mind” at Canberra Theatre Centre, April 30-May 1, bookings to canberratheatrecentre. com.au or 6275 2700.

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FAST NEWS FIRST

arts & entertainment / cinema

Steve’s jealous love for mommy dearest “Mommy” (MA) THE core of Francophone Canadian writer/director Xavier Dolan’s film is a trio of characters each labouring under a burden influencing their daily lives.

Around them, Dolan has built a story that presses many buttons and crosses many i’s and dots many t’s en route to a resolution that we have long expected but feared that narrative convention might fail to deliver.

Many would regard Diane aka Die (Anne Dorval), three years a widow, as white trash, controlling a powerful carnality as she tries to make an honest living in menial jobs. Her beautiful 15-year-old son Steve (AntoineOlivier Pilon) who suffers from ADHD has been in juvenile detention because of violent outbursts. She has decided to home teach him until he’s 16 when a different law will incarcerate him under a stronger regime.

In the house across the street, high-school teacher Kyla (Suzanne Clément), attractive in a down-played way, on sabbatical to deal with a stutter resulting from pressures that she’s having difficulty managing, welcomes Die’s invitation to mind Steve while Die’s at work.

The love between Die and Steve is real.

As the corny Jewish mother joke puts it: “Oedipus schmedipus, who cares so long as he loves his mother?” That’s the problem.

Whenever a possible suitor looms on Die’s horizon, Steve’s jealousy goes ballistic.

“Mommy” is handsome, unabashed in its vocabulary, projected at 4:3 for much of its 139 minutes, expanded to widescreen

soulful boy with low testosterone.

Campus queen Madison (Bella Thorne) personifies the adage about not judging a book by its cover. Bitchy Madison’s relationship with Wesley (Robbie Amell) is on the rocks. Wesley and Bianca become platonic chums.

If from this much information you can’t work out where this is going, “The Duff” may offer a little tension. But not much.

At Hoyts and Limelight

“The Longest Ride” (M)

Anne Dorval and Antoine-Olivier Pilon in Xavier Dolan’s drama “Mommy”. for passages that get inside characters’ heads rather than observe the reality of the moment. Not a chick flick, the conflicts in its powerful, challenging, dramatically innovative plot may be relatively low-grade but its tensions are compelling.

At Palace Electric

“The Duff” (M) JOSH Cagan’s adaptation of Kody Keplinger’s novel into a screenplay for Ari Sandel’s debut feature (he has an Oscar for a 22-minute short film) goes to a high-school campus to examine the adolescent practice of the Duff.

No, the film has no pregnant teenagers such as an Australian film with that title might have proposed. A Duff is a Designated Ugly Fat Friend that a group of less-ugly chicks might pal up with so as to appear prettier than she.

In this case, she is Bianca (Mae Whitman), a committed student made up and dressed to look dowdier than she is. Bianca has two chums to whom, for reasons less than convincing, she gives the flick. Bianca likes a

Ted Richards’ “A Waltz in the Mall”, circa 1964-68.

In praise of familiar sights “URBAN Suburban” is an expansive exhibition comprising 104 works – including photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics and jewellery.

It celebrates life in Canberra and the city’s familiar sites and locations, such as Commonwealth Bridge, Manuka Pool, the poplars on Kingston foreshore, Black Mountain Tower and Mount Ainslie.

Ted Richards’ large black and white photos function as “time capsules”, detailing the fashions, architecture, cars and people, but also serving as wistful and timeless affections of days long gone.

Other pieces draw from significant events that have helped shape Canberra’s sense of identity and self-understanding in the new millennia.

For instance, G.W. Bot’s bronze sculptural pieces comment on the notorious 2003 bushfires and their suburban destruction.

Perhaps the most ambitious piece on display is Kaoru Alfonso’s large-scale installation “212”. The work features 212 photographs of individual apartments that comprise the famous Currong apartment block. As

visual arts

“Urban Suburban” At The Canberra Museum and Gallery until June 21.

Reviewed by Johnny Milner stated in its accompanying text panel, the experience is both distant and intimate.

At a glimpse, the units appear the same, but on closer examination, each reveals information about the people who live there. The apartment windows also reflect the trees opposite – a comment on the intersecting of the urban and the garden city.

Unlike most cities, where public buildings are integrated into a living community, Canberra arranges its structures in austere isolation. The sense of overplanning and the overly-geometrical contributes to the city’s reputation for being bland and sterile. Art has a role in combatting this accusation, and in highlighting Canberra’s cultural depth as one of the world’s only purpose-built capital cities.

GEORGE Tillman Jr’s film, from a novel by Nicholas Sparks, delivers more than merely the chronicle of a young man riding bucking bulls to offset the cost of running the family farm.

It tells two intertwined love stories beginning half a century apart.

The later story in time, first in the film, involves bull-riding rancher Luke (Scott Eastwood, son of Clint) and Sophia (Britt Robertson) finishing a fine-arts degree in expectation of an internship in a prestigious New York gallery.

The roots from which this relationship may burgeon (and they’re such a clean-cut couple that we hope it will) are moderately well established by the rainy night when they rescue an elderly man from a burning

car. As a young man, storekeeper Ira (Jack Huston) and refugee from the Nazis in 1940 Ruth (Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Oona and Charlie) were about to begin raising a family when a battlefield event mangled Ira’s clonkers.

So, no kids for Ira and Ruth. Instead, they buy modern impressionist paintings. Their (authentic) collection will loom large in the story after Ira (by this stage, Alan Alda) dies.

The film’s components make for good cinema, from the bull-riding arena – the bareback rider must remain on the wildly bucking, gyrating, animal for eight seconds – to Luke and Sophia’s friendship with Ira. Its emotional levels rise and fall often and far enough to energise our interest. Its dramatic structure verities are solid (although auto fanciers may quibble about some of the cars in the pre-war sequences). The paintings are splendid. I liked the film well.

At Hoyts, Palace Electric and Limelight

9

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CityNews April 16-22, 2015 25

arts & entertainment / dining

review

As you like it, until the second half theatre

“As You Like It”

By William Shakespeare, directed by Peter Evans, Bell Shakespeare At Canberra Theatre Centre until April 18.

Reviewed by Joe Woodward

The Boo Jaa entre of steamed chicken mince, crab and water chestnuts coated with egg yolks, lightly fried and the Panang duck main course. Photos by Andrew Finch

In search of honest, tasty Thai THAI food is sensual food in many ways – it’s colourful; it’s a wonderful balance of spicy and sweet and salty and sour; it can be smooth and it can have texture.

Once in a while, I crave honest, tasty Thai food and that took me recently to Soi VIII (Soy 8), Griffith shops. I first dined there in 2009 when the restaurant had just opened and was still finding its feet. It truly has found its feet.

Lasting this long in a volatile industry says a lot about Soi

The wok-tossed, stir-fried dishes are plentiful and you choose your meat or seafood ($17.90 to $20.90). Our squid with garlic and herbs was nicely balanced, but it couldn’t compete against the masterful special and Soi VIII offers several. We got prawn dish. stuck into flamed angel prawns in mild I mentioned consistency earlier. It’s a red curry with wild ginger ($22.90). The big problem with some eateries. You go prawns were plump and the curry didn’t one day and love a dish and on your next overwhelm them. Nor did the ginger. visit can’t recognise the way it looks on I could have ordered another lot and the plate or tastes. Truly. It’s an increasing abandoned all other dishes. problem in Canberra, and a frustrating one Chef’s picks also included honey chicken for diners. Soi VIII needn’t worry in this ($16.90), which sounded a bit boring to department. me, but the Panang duck sounded super Soi VIII’s décor is warm and simple. ($28.90) and I bet the whole snapper, deep It describes itself as “casual/elegant”, fried and topped with chilli, tamarind although I think it’s more on the casual sauce and lime leaves for a bit of “cut side. One thing’s for sure. It’s a truly good through” is a winner ($32.90). local.

Lasting this long in a volatile industry says a lot about Soi VIII’s consistent quality of food and service.

VIII’s consistent quality of food and service.

Our eyes wandered through the extensive menu. I was with friends who visit more regularly than me. They knew the menu well, so I relaxed and let them order.

I was glad when they picked the Boo Jaa, which I enjoyed immensely on my last visit. This is a great entrée ($7.80 for four pieces). Soi VIII creates it with steamed chicken mince, crab and water chestnuts coated with egg yolks, lightly fried. It’s served with a tangy, sweet chilli sauce and a refreshing cucumber relish.

It’s always adventurous to try a chef’s

Soi VIII, Griffith shops, call 6239 7999.

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26 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

SEEING “As You Like It” again confirms so many of the similarities in Shakespeare’s works.

As in “King Lear”, there are two brothers in dispute over inheritance.

There is another example of disguised identity where a woman is disguised as a man. There are fools and ambiguous figures who philosophise and comment on the meaning of life.

Peter Evans’ production seems to demand that the audience be aware of this and cuts the staging and settings to a core performance with little concern for establishing reasons for character appearances or backgrounds.

This is achieved with a set that, at first, appears like an old tent where a performance is to take place. Perhaps this was in deference to the original touring tents where Bell Shakespeare performed at the beginning of its existence.

The forest, where most of the action takes place, is achieved with brightly coloured hangings that represent a kind of confusion of the mind as much as any geographic location.

It provided for an aesthetically charged location for John Bell, as Jacques, to deliver a beautiful rendition of the “All the world’s a stage” speech. With its themes of life’s entrances and exits, it was very fitting for Bell in his last production with the company.

However, the setting became cloying and trapped the production into a second half that was static and becoming a tedious word-fest.

While the actors worked hard, the production lost much of its tension with jokes laboured and the themes dissipated. The music was a redeeming feature and the very ending brought the play back to its foundation with the audience seeming to have enjoyed the evening.

arts in the city

A load of old rope wanted urgently

By Helen Musa

called Honest Puck. At the Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art Theatre, 1/9 Lithgow Street, Fyshwick, April 16-26.

Booking to honestpuck.com.au or 6253 1454.

CANBERRA Rep designer Michael Sparks needs old rope for the set of “The Crucible”, May 1-16. He needs natural fibres in thicknesses above 22mm, in massive quantities (500 metres). It’s urgent, so if you know of harbour masters, defence force people, scoutmasters, schools, gyms, theatres and so on, email him at msparks@homemail.com.au “DON’T Mention The War” is the timely theme of a coming talk by the Portrait Gallery’s Dr Sarah Engledow for Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society Molonglo Plains chapter.

“In all the sombre excitement of the ANZAC centenary,” she says, “Australians might well wonder: what else was happening in the country around 1915.” The lecture will feature more than 50 portraits – but none of soldiers. At the Comfort Inn Airport International, 57 Yass Road, Queanbeyan, Thursday, April 23 at 2pm, membership inquiries

Mathew Chardon O’Dea, left, Josie Dunham, Vanessa De Jager and Fraser Findlay in “The Last Five Years”. and visitor bookings to lucyjvc@ gmail.com or 6299 1105.

“THE Last Five Years” is a minimusical with catchy songs. A new production with a band is coming to Vivaldi’s with two separate casts of local luminaries – Mathew Chardon O’Dea and Josie Dunham, Vanessa De Jager and Fraser Findlay. It’s about the five-year relationship

between Cathy and Jamie from when they meet, get married, then separate. At Teatro Vivaldi, ANU Arts Centre, April 24-May 2, bookings to stagecenta.com or 6257 2718.

“UNDERNEATH the Lintel”, a oneman play by Glen Berger, performed

by James Scott and directed by John Concannon, will be the debut production for a new theatre company

MUSIC by Johann Christoph Bach, Heinrich Biber, Antonio Vivaldi, Joachim Einwag and others will be performed on viola d’amore, lute, theorbo, organ, violin and voice at St Mark’s Church, corner Cork Street and Lot Street, Gundaroo, 2pm, Sunday, April 26. Tickets at the door or bookings through trybooking.

“JAY’S Jungle” is the new show featuring Jay Laga’aia, known for his part on “Playschool” and as Captain Typho in the “Star Wars” films. Laga’aia plays the lighthouse keeper joined by park rangers Bec and Kate and Funk-E D Monkey for amazing jungle adventures. At Canberra Theatre, April 24, bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.

puzzles page Joanne Madeline Moore your week in the stars – April 20-26, 2015

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

This week’s earthy energy helps you stabilise fiery emotions, as you roll up your sleeves and get things done. The Mars/Pluto trine is particularly good for sorting out finances, powering through paperwork, launching a professional project or initiating a business deal. Make sure you maintain close links with family, friends and neighbours as there is much joy, sustenance and satisfaction to be found within the parameters of your local community.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)

Confidence and good communication skills are a winning combination as the Sun, Mercury and Mars all march through your sign. But resist the temptation to be stubborn, intractable and risk-adverse. Keep your options open and your adaptability muscles well flexed. Venus and Jupiter boost your business acumen and bring a lucky financial break your way – as long as you can muster the courage to pounce when the opportunity presents.

GOOGLE US: “Family Law in Canberra”

General knowledge crossword No. 496 2

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CANCER (June 22 – July 22)

Watch out for stubbornly holding a fixed position. You’re probably not seeing the full picture. If you listen to friends and colleagues from home and away, then you’ll gain a much wider perspective. Pay special attention to a loved one who needs a shoulder to cry on. If you are attached – Pluto helps you make a deeper and more profound connection with your partner. For some Crabs – a secret relationship takes an unexpected turn!

LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)

You have two options this week. Option 1 – your Leo performance skills (via a speech, or show of leadership) result in you receiving accolades in the public sphere. Option 2 – your loud-mouth Leo tendencies land you in a heap of hot water.

So the difference between success and failure is learning to self-edit what comes out of your mouth, as you strive to be much more diplomatic.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)

Insightful speech is your friend this week. You’ll get the best results if you research something thoroughly and then tell it like it is. Others will appreciate your direct and honest approach. And are you looking for paid work or a volunteer position? Make sure you prepare well and dress to impress. Wednesday is a wonderful day to uncover a secret, solve a puzzling problem or get to the bottom of an intriguing mystery.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)

Are your aspirations for the future too safe and sound? Or maybe they are too unrealistic? It’s important that your dreams are inspiring, but they also need to be based on your natural Libran talents. Make sure you do the groundwork required and then wait for fate to step in with a surprising twist! Singles – love and foreign places are linked so book a holiday or spruce up your online dating profile ASAP.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)

Your ability to concentrate is heightened this week, as you cut through trivialities and focus on what’s really important. Motivation is also high so make the most of it. Success comes through being passionately proactive about networking, negotiating, joint ventures, public relations or social media. Avoid coming on too strong Scorpio! Charm is your greatest ally as you gently persuade others around to your point of view.

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GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)

You’re keen to power ahead at lightning speed but if you make fast moves and hasty pronouncements then you could end up with egg on your Gemini face. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that you’re not aware of, so do some detective work and check the facts thoroughly before you proceed. Heed the wise words of writer Charlotte Bronte (born on April 21, 1816): “Look twice before you leap.”

5

22

THE POWER TO

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CHANGE YOUR WORLD

24 Solution next week

Across

Down

4 What is a less familiar term for a sunshade?

8 Name a particular mathematical art that uses letters and other symbols.

9 Which US city is known as The Windy City?

10 What is a tapering, four-sided shaft of stone?

11 What is another name for banners, or flags of a nation?

12 Which title is applicable to the son of one’s sibling?

14 Name a political group whose aim is to protect the environment.

18 What was the given name by which the comedian, Mr Chaplin, was better known?

21 Which term means “not one or the other”?

22 Name the title designating heads of Muslim states.

23 Which fleecy-lined item of footwear has an untanned upper (3,4)?

24 What is an African antelope that can leap up to 9 metres?

25 That which is the most uncommon, is the what?

1 Which fatty substance, extracted from wool, is used in ointments?

2 Name a heron found worldwide.

3 To rewrite or reconstruct on a smaller scale, is to do what?

4 Name an Australian family, notable in the areas of media and publishing, etc.

5 By which straps does a rider guide a horse?

6 What is a tramp also known as?

7 Name the Australian prime minister from 1932-39, Joseph ...?

13 Name the most renowned of Australia’s racehorses (4,3).

15 What are the monetary units of Indonesia?

16 Name an alternative term for things hidden, or concealed.

17 What is an official enumeration of inhabitants, with details as to age, sex, etc?

18 Which spiny, leafless plants are found chiefly in hot, dry regions?

19 Name that part of a garment which is folded back on the breast.

20 Which term describes utter confusion or disorder?

Sudoku medium No. 148

An evening talk with internationally renowned Buddhist Monk

GEN KELSANG RABTEN at the Albert Hall, Canberra Bookings: www.meditateincanberra.org Enquiries: info@meditateincanberra.org phone 0477 044 607

P R O P E R T Y

C O U N C I L

F O R U M

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

It’s time to get practical as the Sun, Mercury and Mars move through your work zone.

You don’t want to appear to be all show and no substance, so make sure you can demonstrate to others that you are confident AND capable. The stars also encourage you to find fun ways to spend your spare time. Think outside the square. Perhaps an adventurous new hobby or an unusual creative project will satisfy your Sagittarian curiosity?

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

Take the time to really listen to what a friend or family member has to say. There are many more possibilities than you previously thought, and suddenly you will see a current situation from a fresh perspective. If you expand your mind then you will transform your thinking. So don’t be afraid of changing your opinions and venturing into a brave new world. Be inspired by birthday great Shirley MacLaine: “For me, the safest place is out on a limb.”

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Solution next week

Solutions from last edition Crossword No. 495

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

Communicating with passion and precision will take you places this week Pisces.

So, whether you teach, give a speech, write a report or get vocal on social media, it’s time to let other people know what’s on your mind. You’ll also receive plenty of messages, emails, texts and tweets and maybe even some snail mail. Avoid the tendency to get side-tracked. Maintain concentration and strive to see each task through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2015 Daily astrology updates at twitter.com/JoMadelineMoore

D R A S I N K I E G R I E L A G U N D

O V E G N D M O R O S L Y M P P I V A

E R O E D E N O S S K E I P O P E R R

E L I P A X H U L I R E T L P U R S T T I S E R A

C H A L M I B R R E E A N C T H O R E

S N T I N G M A S S A U S C E S R S T

Sudoku hard No.147

With the Sun, Mercury and Mars highlighting your home zone, it’s time to play Domestic Goddess (or God) to the hilt as you cook, clean, entertain, garden or renovate. Family issues also take centre stage, and you may have to navigate your way through a domestic minefield. Strive to handle problems in a proactive and creative way. Intuition is also heightened, as you tap into your unconscious mind and receive important guidance and inspiration.

New building forms and mixed use developments in our city are creating different lifestyle options for Canberrans.

But are the ideas behind new precincts such as NewActon, the Kingston Foreshore and Lonsdale Street in Braddon just fads, or are they the future of Canberra?

Join our experts as they examine: • Will these new neighbourhoods stand the test of time?

• How do we balance the old and the new to create places with charm and character?

• How do we embrace the philosophy of public occupation to create memorable places for people?

• What opportunities exist for other parts of Canberra?

Explore the evolution of cool Canberra

SPEAKERS DAVE CAFFERY Cultural Coordinator, Molonglo Group NATHAN JUDD Architect, Nathan Gibson Judd Architect TERRY SHAW COO SHL Development & Director, Stomping Ground BRETT SMITH ACT State Manager, Development, Hindmarsh

DATE: Thursday, 7 May 2015 TIME: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm VENUE: Level 5, 2 Constitution Ave, Canberra City MEMBER: $60 • NON MEMBER: $90 All prices include GST

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY To register call Rebecca Scott on 6248 6902 or visit www.propertyoz.com.au/act

by Friday, 1 May 2015.

MODERATOR CATHERINE CARTER Executive Director, Property Council of Australia

CityNews April 16-22, 2015 27

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A floral display at Aileen’s eight-month-old garden.

Ernie’s front garden with its enticing floral path.

Growing gardens in no time at all HERE are two Canberra gardens started from scratch and developed in a relatively short time.

Firstly, Aileen’s. She is retired and has established several gardens over the years. Aileen only moved into her latest home in June within a retirement village, having a small front and even

smaller rear garden. With a nonexistent front garden it gave her a clean canvas to start.

Aileen is a compulsive plant collector and within a few weeks was tackling the bare site. This is not just a jumble of plants. Much thought has gone into her garden with great colour combinations and plants for seasonal effect (all this in between redecorating her new home and establishing a productive, raised veggie garden).

When I saw Ernie’s front garden

for the first time it needed a bit of sorting out. But with a bit of encouragement, he has fixed it.

Ernie is an enthusiastic gardener and researches his plants by visiting garden centres and spending time on the internet.

Ernie’s garden now has groups of plants gently spilling over the edge of a gravel path with a paver edge.

The curves of the path invite the visitor to follow them, wondering what is around the corner. Once again, Ernie has groups of plants

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28 CityNews April 16-22, 2015

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of the same variety with year-round interest.

I bring these two examples to demonstrate that even with a bare block it does not necessarily take years to add value to the home.

I don’t recommend buying a whole heap of plants at the one time, unless you have adequately prepared the soil.

So often, with my consultations, I see heaps of plants in their plastic pots sometimes waiting weeks to be planted and also often with many plants dead from not having been watered.

It’s best to buy only enough plants at any one time to easily get them into the ground in a couple of hours. Buying only, say, two shrubs a week and preparing the soil properly still equates to more than 100 in a year.

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Jottings...

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• Leaves on Daphne turning yellow? This is due to magnesium deficiency. A heaped tablespoon of Epsom salts dissolved in a watering can of water will solve the problem.

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