CityNews 200423

NICHOLE OVERALL / THE FIRST PANDEMIC THAT SILENCED ANZAC DAY Thanks to the ‘invisible’ people keeping us safe

MICHAEL MOORE

What’s behind the minister‘s spin?

JON STANHOPE

Home becomes the new gender frontier

KATE MEIKLE

Just when it can’t get any weirder…

NICK OVERALL

APRIL 23, 2020

The amazing

Mrs Mac

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ST THOMAS AQUINAS WEST BELCONNEN

Pre School to Year 6 ‌because your child is precious...

St Thomas Aquinas West Belconnen

Celebrating over 40 years of education at St Thomas Aquinas Serving the community of West Belconnen St Thomas Aquinas provides a safe and stimulating learning environment where your child can grow in faith and compassion.

At St Thomas Aquinas we know that children of today need to be well prepared for the world of tomorrow not simply academically, but also through the development of their character. Strong and positive values are important to our school.

We aim to build a culture of respect in our community towards God, others, self and our environment by aligning our policies and practices with Catholic teaching.

Opportunities at St Thomas Aquinas include: - Learn in a faith centred community where Gospel values form the basis of all relationships and the way we work in the world.

- Develop critical and creative thinking skills through Inquiry - Enjoy a rich learning program including Dance, Drama, Music and Sport - Develop STEM skills through a robust Mathematics, Technologies and Science program - Year 6 leadership program - Lessons in Chinese language and culture Please come along and find out more at one of our Open Days or contact the school on Tel:

6258 4077

ENROLLING NOW FOR 2021 Please contact the school on 6258 4077 2020 Open Days Primary School & ELC Please visit our website at

www.staquinas.act.edu.au or click the QR code below to take a virtual tour of our school. Enrolments close 29 May 2020.

Open Days may be advertised later in the year.

POLITICS / the unsung heroes

Since 1993: Volume 26, Number 16. Phone 6189 0777

Thanks to the ‘invisible’ people keeping us safe IT is more than the nurses and doctors that need our thanks. While they are a high priority, there are many others who are working tirelessly to stem the tide of COVID-19.

In addition to healthcare workers, we need to thank the myriad of public servants and other workers who also play a key role in ensuring we get through this pandemic. Just as in the community, there is not a section of the public service that has not been touched by the pandemic.

It is a similar story for many academics, teachers, transport workers, aged carers, police, volunteers, community workers and many others. The pace of change has been extraordinary.

Rather than give up, they are wrestling with change, being innovative and finding new ways to engage.

The community appreciates these efforts. The National Incident Room in the Department of Health has been in full swing for more than a month. When the chief medical officer appears before the cameras, it is not a random appearance. A huge amount of preparation has gone into considering the ramifications of the decisions being made by the government and how those decisions need to be presented.

Throughout the Federal Department of Health there are numerous sections working hard to ensure the

In addition to healthcare workers, we need to thank the myriad of public servants and other workers who also play a key role in ensuring we get through this pandemic. best possible health outcomes. It is a similar story in the public service of the states and territories.

Consider just the issue of testing and tracing contacts. Such things do not happen in isolation. It is dedicated public servants, working long hours that provide our strongest defence against the spread of the virus.

And what about Centrelink staff?

The newly unemployed are now seeking assistance from the government. For the public servants there are changes. There are new processes to deal with around initiatives taken by the government. Everyone who fronts up is expecting that the staff will know what they are talking about

and deal with them expeditiously.

This takes organisation well beyond the front desk staff.

Think of the work that went into preparation when the Prime Minister and the Treasurer announced the stimulus package. Finance and Treasury must have been working day and night to be prepared. And then comes implementation, preparation of the evaluation and constant briefing of ministers. This is just a start. Finance and Treasury officials have been working at a challenging pace. Not for themselves. For all Australians.

Suggestions of pay

Unhappily, a sign of ‘The Times’ ALMOST a year ago, the then ebullient new owner of the former Fairfax grab-bag of 160 regional and suburban titles (including “The Canberra Times” and “The Chronicle”), Antony Catalano, was quoted thus: “I’ve got a history of hiring, not firing. I want to grow the business, not shrink it to greatness.”

This past week, for circumstances well understood, he followed News Corp’s 60 suburbantitle closure, and started firing and shrinking the business by suspending publication of pretty well anything but his 14 daily papers and agricultural publications.

So it’s goodbye to Canberra’s biggest litterer, the 100,000-copies-a-week “Chronicle”, and the historical “Queanbeyan Age” until? Probably never, though the chastened Mr C, who was party to paying $115 million for the portfolio of papers, sagely

When it matters

says: “At this stage it is not possible to say when we will be able to resume normal operations.”

And while they’re shedding local jobs, there are more. The colour presses at “The Canberra Times” have fallen silent, possibly for the first time since 1926, and printing for the daily is being jobbed out to somewhere else in the empire.

Though given the German MAN-Roland Geoman presses in Fyshwick can run at 80,000 copies an hour, they’d barely work up a sweat printing the “Times” these days. The most recent circulation figures I could find were for 2018 (July to December) when it was averaging 13,808 on weekdays (20,818 Saturdays). Doubtless it has dropped from there.

All rather a sad sign, so to speak, of “The Times”.

cuts to public servants, such as that by letter writer Ken Smith in the “CityNews” last edition, are just appalling. The appropriate response came from Prime Minister Scott Morrison: “There won’t be any pay rises right across the public service”.

He gave just one example that Australians would easily understand: “thousands of people in the public service were spending all day, every day processing applications for the JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments for people struggling in the crisis”.

Pay cuts would be churlish!

It is also important to remember the changes taking place in the workplaces of public servants – like so many others. Physical distancing, constant cleaning, working from home, keeping the workplace safe. All challenges happening while the work of looking after the country continues.

However, it is not just the public servants. An obvious example coming from academia are all of those people working in laboratories on treatment or a vaccine.

Prof Martyn Kirk from the School of Population Health at the ANU provides another example of the role

of academics. He and his colleagues nationally and internationally are constantly providing advice for the government and the community on the evidence behind infection control.

Teachers, carers of the aged, community workers, volunteers and police officers have suddenly found themselves in uncharted waters. All are working in a changing environment to deliver the best possible outcomes for the community. None of these changes are easy. However, what we have witnessed is a professional approach from so many across such a range of fields.

Many of the “CityNews” readers will have other examples of those making a contribution. There are so many.

It is appropriate that we say to all of these people a huge THANK YOU! Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.

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MUMMY / the ‘stay-at-home’ conundrum

Home becomes new gender frontier for women As we all do our bit to fight the virus crisis, our advances in gender equity will be challenged during the imposed isolation and closure of schools, says KATE MEIKLE “IT’S like we are back to the 1950s and the return of the nuclear family,” says my husband.

Many hold those “wholesome” and simple times up and romanticise them. But they come at a price for women, especially those with children.

If we aren’t dealing with the coronavirus directly (my heart goes out to those who are) and I hope many of us will not have to, family and work life of some socially isolated kind must go on.

What is this going to look like for women?

Many mothers are now thrown into a “stay-at-home” scenario whether they wanted to or not. Family violence is a chief concern as our networks and safety nets are not physically available to us as before.

The division of labour between male and female partners and the tensión between work inside and outside of the house is highly politicised.

Now we are experiencing a merging of both as some parents attempt to work from home and home school their children or in many cases a decrease or complete stop of paid work outside the home.

Like many, I’ve been shocked, angry, frightened and stressed over the past three weeks like no other time in my career, all the while trying hard to be a “good” mum to our kids.

We are all playing our parts, trying our best and I know that my children need me more than ever, but I mourn my lack of freedom, my decreased ability to work and a change in my identity after long days at home with the children, with the added cleaning that comes with having everyone home all the time.

Families are now negotiating, doing the maths and working out how this new normal is going to be, especially in light of the public schools going online for term two.

Who will stay at home? Who will “work”? Who still has a paid job and how will we divide the increased home duties and parenting?

Home schooling will test us all, but the ability to set young learners up with their tasks and support them when they cannot read very well, at the same time managing younger children or babies will be very hard.

It’s a full-time job and parenting was never meant to be done in isolation. Good luck to those attempting to

“work” their jobs at the same time.

It’s encouraging that within my friendship group we are seeing many versions of sharing the load including dads at home full time when they never have been before, a 50/50 split between who is able to be on their laptop and who is in charge of the toddler and taking turns to work at night.

“No one will ever ask what a stayat-home mum did all day from now on,” says a meme that has been doing the rounds. I hope that as a society we shift our understanding and respect for those who care for and educate children, including stay-at-home parents.

My three-year-old daughter decided to give herself a new fringe (think mohawk) with a pair of safety scissors as I was folding laundry in another room last week.

It was a funny story to relay to friends and family, but I felt a pressure to quickly emphasise that I wasn’t doing something indulgent such as talking on the phone or checking my emails while she was doing it, that I hadn’t dropped the ball in my supervision of her, that I wasn’t a “bad” mum. More parenting “fails” will come out of this unusual scenario as we muddle on, isolated but united, I hope.

I truly hope the 1950s aren’t here to stay.

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CANBERRA MATTERS

‘Disgrace’ of Berry’s development application AS the COVID-19 crisis took hold and people bunkered down, residents hoped for less stupid things by the ACT Planning Directorate.

Unfortunately, the infamous planning juggernaut, under the leadership of Ben Ponton and several ministers, has continued to mess with people’s lives. It has taken the opportunity to up the pressure.

Not long after I took the picture published here, I realised how malicious the government had been in hanging the banners for this social-housing complex.

The banners were designed to send the clear message that Housing Minister Yvette Berry is going to build her apartment complex on this site no matter what anyone with any intelligence thinks!

She and her political colleagues have little interest in addressing the local community’s aspirations and they intend to ignore the logical evidence why this housing complex should not be on this site.

Everyone knows that she needs to do this to satisfy

When it comes to planning and development, this government’s continual assault on the lives of the inner-north residents and those across Canberra must be as bad as it gets. her own perceived political imperatives.

Stupidity rules again!

On March 20 the Planning Directorate released the development application (DA) for Common Ground Dickson. This set of documents illustrate the serious flaws with the ACT government’s planning processes.

The DA demonstrates contempt for residents and that the planning processes are corrupted beyond belief.

This DA is a shameful example of incompetence and not something that any planning professional would be proud of.

It must be emphasised that it has not been submitted by a fly-by-night developer. It has the authority of Minister Berry and those within her directorate who signed off on it. This flawed DA has been assessed by the chief planner’s staff as being ready for serious consideration and possible approval.

For those in the community who

have read the 68 documents, it has become obvious that this DA should have been rejected the minute it arrived.

In an earlier pre-consultation draft there was a road to the south of the site. The community could see that this meant many mature trees were to go and the road served no purpose.

Local members and ministers Rachel Stephen-Smith (Labor) and Shane Rattenbury (Greens) issued statements to say that the community had it wrong and that such a road was not to happen, and those dozens of mature trees would not go.

Yet within these latest documents, it is mentioned at least six times. Yep, it’s back! If this DA goes ahead, down come those trees. Did the ministers lie? Or are they being played for fools by their own bureaucrats?

Within the ACT Legislative Assembly’s committee reports, there is a record of Stephen-Smith saying that anything on this site will be about three or four storeys. The DA as submitted is for at least six storeys.

Have residents misunderstood? The use of alternative facts has been common through this whole sad saga.

Zed SESELJA SENATOR FOR THE ACT

Government banners… “Designed to send the clear message that there will be an apartment complex on this site no matter what anyone with any intelligence thinks!”

Photo: Paul Costigan Thanks to Dickson Residents’ leader Jane Goffman, mistakes are being identified and information disseminated among residents for feedback.

Measurements are incorrect, plans and reports are missing, details that should be in a DA have been omitted and the block size is mysteriously way off the mark.

One resident bravely took up the offer from the directorate to read the documents at the planning HQ. She was expecting a hard-copy version.

Instead a screen was turned in her direction for her to stand at the counter and read through the 68 documents. Someone is working hard to make this whole process as difficult and as misleading as possible.

When it comes to planning and development, this government’s

continual assault on the lives of the inner-north residents and those across Canberra must be as bad as it gets. The ACT Labor/Greens politicians and their planning bureaucrats now share the category of infamy with other developers such as those that were opposed by New York’s Jane Jacobs (Google her).

Common Ground Dickson may sound like a worthy project, but the processes being used to force it on to the local community are an utter disgrace with this current DA being Yvette Berry’s latest Boris Johnson moment.

Paul Costigan is an independent commentator and consultant on the visual arts, photography, urban design, environmental issues and everyday matters.

COVID-19 INFORMATION

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OPINION / self-isolation

Don’t fight it, head to the sunny side of the street CLIVE WILLIAMS sees a lot of upside in the downside of selfisolation. He says it’s rather like being retired without feeling obliged to have your time taken up volunteering for good causes.

RATHER than complaining about the restrictions of COVID-19 and counting the number of times politicians say “unprecedented”, we should be embracing some of the more positive aspects.

The main one is having more time to do things at home. In fact, selfisolation is rather like being retired without feeling obliged to have your time taken up volunteering for good causes.

Most of us have home projects we have been putting off for years.

Judging by the number of vehicles in Bunnings’ Fyshwick car park that seems to be most of us. Now’s the time to oil the deck, paint things that aren’t moving, repair items that are broken, and generally do what the army used to call “make and mend”.

Toilet roll and sanitiser skirmishes excepted, we do generally seem to be more considerate of others. This is also true of our banks’ and supermarkets’ benign attitude to their staff and customers – or in American marketing terminology their “team members” and “guests”.

Surprisingly, even our politicians have become more collegial in their approach to problem-solving. Instead

of the petty point-scoring they normally engage in, they’re listening to expert advice and planning ahead. Whether this will hold true for climate change policy remains to be seen.

Those who are lucky enough to have gardens now have the opportunity to nurture them, encourage bees, birds and insects and – if COVID-19 restrictions last long enough – even to grow their own veggies.

As Dorothy Frances Gurney wrote in 1913: The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God’s heart in a garden, Than anywhere else on earth.”

The occasional egg shortages could result in more backyard chickens, with the jarring construction noise of Canberra suburban infill replaced by the gentle clucking of hens.

Then there is the money saved on travel. I was due to go to Perth to represent a friend at a State Administrative Tribunal hearing, but hearings are now being conducted by phone-link – so I have saved return air fares, two days’ car hire, and two nights’ accommodation – effectively $1500 saved by not going anywhere.

It’s the view of American religious leaders that self-isolation provides more time for prayer at home. I’m not sure if that aspect of American culture transfers well to modern Australia, but clearly those who are spiritually minded can now benefit from engaging in yoga, navel contemplation and like pursuits.

Self-improvement online is another benefit. Those who have a high need for achievement can use this opportunity to make themselves more employable with enhanced qualifications. There may even be enough time to knock over a PhD before normal life resumes.

We also have time to learn a musical instrument and Mandarin Chinese before it’s compulsory.

Spending more time with one’s better half could be satisfying or challenging – but at least you get to know where you stand when the time comes for real retirement (I understand the divorce rate is quite high among retirees).

Another benefit of COVID-19 is that you don’t have to accept unwelcome hugs and kisses from tactile acquaintances; just a vaguely simulated elbow-wave suffices.

The environment will prosper from much reduced overseas and domestic air travel. There will be less demand for public transport which is good for the environment too. Stage 2 of the

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tram looks increasingly unviable.

The world has way too many humans at around eight billion, but the pandemic is unlikely to make much of a dent in global population growth; for each person that dies from COVID-19 there are 400 replacements.

Time to pull out the leisure books and hammock and get down to some seriously relaxing reading – or you can download electronic books if that’s your preference.

If we are lucky, the pandemic may even put the skids under rampant capitalism, unnecessary development, and unsustainable economic growth.

Outdoor exercise is still permissible – unless you want to swim or go to the beach, but you can still enjoy the latest TV series of “Bondi Rescue”. For some it’s an opportunity for walking, biking and just generally enjoying nature and our Canberra bush surroundings (the former Brits among us can enjoy it from the comfort of their cars with sandwiches and Thermos).

All in all, it’s a time to be positive and enjoy the new normal. You may regret not taking advantage of it

before we get to the other side of the pandemic.

As the poet Robert Herrick noted in 1648: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying, And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying.”

He wasn’t referring to death by pandemic, but about the need to enjoy oneself before the opportunity was lost.

I know there are lots of downsides to the present situation, but since we can’t do much about them – better to try to walk on the sunny side of the street.

Clive Williams is a visiting professor at the ANU’s Centre for Military and Security Law.

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NEWS / cover story

Violet McKenzie… founder of the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps.

Morse practice at the Women’s Flying Corps in 1938.

Photo: “Argus” Collection, State Library of Victoria

Codes to cookery books, the amazing Mrs Mac

By Danielle

NOHRA WHEN Canberra biographer David Dufty was told he should write a book about Violet McKenzie, he replied: “Who?” And then he found out that Violet, known to “her girls” as Mrs Mac, was Australia’s first female engineer and was also the reason the Navy started enrolling women.

Becoming increasingly intrigued by this extraordinary woman and the part she played in the nation’s history, David decided he couldn’t resist writing “Radio Girl”, which is published on April 28.

“She was such a remarkable woman and had such an extraordinary life and I felt it would make a great story that people would enjoy and be fascinated by,” David says.

“It’s also an important Australian story, a story about an important but overlooked Australian woman.”

The inspiration first came to light when David was writing his awardwinning biography, “The Secret C ode -Bre a kers of Central Bureau”.

“In 2014 a retired spy suggested the idea to me as we had a cup of tea in her living room,” David says.

“I was there Author David Dufty… “It’s an important Australian story, a to interview her story about an important but overlooked Australian woman.” about Australia’s a lot of female codebreakers during the code-breaking war in signals and Morse code. activities during World War II. He says she was responsible for a lot “I found [Mrs Mac] tangentially throughout that story and the more I of women becoming involved in codelooked into her the more interesting breaking intelligence in Australia.

“She knew that Australia would she became.”

David even had a chapter on Mrs run out of certain skills that she was Mac in that book, not because she was an expert in. She didn’t get any funda codebreaker, but because she trained ing and [spent all her fortune to] set up

A crowd outside McKenzie’s wireless shop… the first electrical shop in Australia.

10 CityNews April 23-29, 2020

Mrs McKenzie’s best-selling “All Electrical Cookery Book”.

a Morse code and signalling school for women and teenage girls,” David says.

Called the “Woolshed”, and based in Sydney, David says she trained more than 150 women in signalling when World War II had started, and had several hundred in training.

At the time, the government was desperate for people who knew Morse code, but the air force wouldn’t take women, David says. So, she went to the navy.

“Someone came out to check out her Morse-code school and was blown away,” he says.

“That’s how women joined the navy in Australia. She changed Australia’s participation in the war.

“She was too old to enlist but she was the person that persuaded the Australian Navy to allow women to join.”

When some of Mrs Mac’s “girls” were able to join the navy, David says she escorted them to Harman, a Navy signals base between Canberra and Queanbeyan, where she stayed with them for a few days until they got settled.

“That’s where the first women in the Australian Navy were stationed,” he says.

He says she also went a step further by paying for, and delivering, a piano to their living quarters.

“She trained more than 2000 women by the end of the war but even that wasn’t enough,” David says.

“The Woolshed became the main signals training centre during World War ll and it trained more than 10,000 men.

It was an incredible achievement.”

After the war David says she switched her focus on rehabilitating veterans, and she also trained almost all Qantas pilots in signals after the war.

“She just had this amazing reputation in all sorts of parts in Australian lives,” he says.

“Her biggest achievement was her signalling school in the Woolshed in Sydney and getting women into the navy.

“But they weren’t her only achievements. She did so much and I just kept discovering new stuff.”

She founded the first electric store in Australia, before Dick Smith, and she also founded a successful publishing enterprise and wrote a best-selling cookbook. She set up an organisation called the Electrical Association for Women and she wanted to educate and empower women through electrical appliances.

At the time, David says electrical appliances were a new thing and her goal was to liberate women by teaching them how to use these appliances.

“She was keen to educate women in all the new ways to make their lives easier,” he says.

And, when she realised there were no cookbooks geared up for electricity, she wrote the “All Electrical Cookery Book”.

“It was the first of its kind,” David says.

“Radio Girl” will be David’s third book, and he says it was a lot easier to write than his last one on codebreakers, which was a topic where people had gone to a great deal of trouble to obscure and erase records.

“Violet McKenzie, herself, didn’t leave a memoir but luckily she was the subject of a lot of feature articles in the news because she featured so prominently in getting people trained, and was a key person, so she appeared in a lot of interviews,” he says.

David even put a note in the “Sydney Morning Herald” calling for people to ring him if they had known her and got a lot of responses.

“I had calls from retired pilots or women who had been in the RAMS,” he says.

“Everyone that rang loved her and were excited about me writing her story.

“She never had any children, except for one daughter who died at birth, and even though she didn’t have any children of her own, all of the women she trained she continued to mentor them after the war.

“In a way, she sort of had many children.”

“Radio Girl” (Allen & Unwin, $29.99).

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YESTERDAYS / Anzac Day, 1919 ‘When days drag, when funds run low – think of the sacrifice your sons made on Anzac’s awful shore’

Memories of first pandemic to silence Anzac Day IT was 1916, a year after a “baptism of fire” endured on a distant beach, that April 25 was embraced as Anzac Day. Only twice over more than a century since has the anniversary and its various traditions that have weaved their way into Australian hearts and culture, been seriously interrupted.

In the wake of the bombing of Darwin on February 19, 1942, killing almost 250, there arose fears of crowds becoming targets for strafing enemy aircraft as part of the World War II “Battle for Australia”.

Accordingly, large-scale marches were banned – including the planned inaugural event for the new War Memorial in Canberra. Official ceremonies extended to simple dawn services, the laying of wreaths, and church memorials.

Although a national public holiday from 1927, the Curtin government “considered it imperative that work in industries essential to the war effort should be continued on that day”.

The other major disruption

to Anzac commemorations occurred in 1919 – when the world was in the grip of something similar to what we’re experiencing 101 years later.

The guns had ceased firing just five months before.

Survivors of the more than 416,000 Aussies who signed up were returning to home towns buckling under the weight of the consequences of war; further burdened by an influenza pandemic killing millions more globally, at least 15,000 of whom would be their own compatriots.

The disease officially breached Australian precautions in late January (it was more likely the end of 1918). With large gatherings prohibited, Sydney “postponed” its usually well attended Anzac Parade (restaged May 28). Instead, a modest, though still sizeable service was held in the open, central space of the Domain.

While masks and standing three feet apart (about a metre) were stipulated, images show few seemed to abide by the rules.

Giving an idea of the undertow of uncertainty during this period, measures were not universally administered.

“The Australasian” newspaper’s street scenes from Melbourne’s postponed Anzac Day on May 3, 1919, where a “military review” replaced what was previously “one of the most spectacular processions ever witnessed” in the city.

Melbourne replaced what was previously “one of the most

www.orthoACT.com.au

spectacular processions ever witnessed” in the city, with a “military review”, moved to May 3 and the MCG. Although as many as 2,000 were in the emergency flu hospital set up in the Royal Exhibition Building and “public meetings of 20 or more people” were supposedly not permitted, attendees were plentiful, with nary a face-covering to be seen.

In the other capitals, curtailed street processions, town hall meetings and dinners proceeded, although note was made “they were celebrating under very different conditions”, in light of both the Armistice signalling peace and the impositions of “pneumonienza”.

Throughout particularly afflicted NSW, “fitting celebrations” were delayed or, “of a

subdued order on account of the influenza restrictions”.

This included the region surrounding the barely established national capital.

Three years earlier, “in common with every part of the vast British Dominions, Queanbeyan fittingly commemorated the first anniversary of the landing of the Australian troops at Gallipoli”.

At a multi-denominational assembly at the Anglican Christ Church (1858) on the river, special prayers were read, the town band played Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional” (“Lest we forget – lest we forget!”) and the national anthem (yes, it was “God Save the King”) and the “Last Post” were sounded.

On “Gallipoli Day”, 1919, the town’s “memorial service” earned only a single paragraph in the local press.

And so, on April 25, 2020, we also won’t commemorate in our usual manner those who served, who died, and who continue to serve and protect.

There’ll be no public assembling to watch dawn break as it did when thousands of the 1st Australian Imperial Force, New Zealanders by their side, charged the sandhills of an ancient foreign nation.

Equally, no marches down main streets of country towns and cities alike; veterans and defence force personnel won’t “fall in” to the fanfare of bands and cheering crowds.

Communal thanksgiving won’t occur at local places of worship. Nor the converging on pubs to throw a couple of old coins in the air to raucous calls of “come in spinner”, fists full of dollars vying for the attention of the “ring keeper”, or the “boxer” managing unruly “schools”.

And eternal flames will continue to flicker as unheralded as they are on most other days.

However, this doesn’t mean we won’t and can’t remember and honour those who are rightly deserving: it will just be a quieter affair, perhaps even offering the chance for more contemplative, personal reflection on what we refer to as “the Anzac spirit”.

In 1928, the year before the world would be plunged headlong into yet more catastrophe with the onset of the Great Depression, reverend Charles Wearne, a stretcher bearer between 1915 and 1918 and Queanbeyan RSL sub-branch president, gave an address, pointing out that “it is difficult to interpret that spirit rightly”.

“To those of us who were there; to those of us who had some friend smashed to pieces by our side; to those of us who saw those fields of little white crosses and tried to count them and grew weary in the task; to fond mothers sitting lonesome, wrapped in the veil of memory; to silent fathers whose grief will not bear discussion – to all such, I say, Anzac Day is more than an anniversary, a holiday, a day for parades and sermons and lectures… it is the day that Australians by their daring have made immortal.”

For Wearne, the “spirit of Anzac” was “a fellowship of service”.

“Think of it… think when the sheer loneliness of life grips you, when days drag, when funds run low – think of the sacrifice your sons made on Anzac’s awful shore, and learn to say: ‘It was for me’.”

As they did then, so now in 2020, can we.

The newly built Australian War Memorial… completed and opened in 1941.

12 CityNews April 23-29, 2020

LETTERS

Remembering the lost canals of leafy Gungahlin PERHAPS the Gungahlin Community Council could start a heritage library of crucial “missing sentences” and their contexts, given the recent disappearance from “refreshed” planning statements for central Gungahlin of a sentence about the centre’s role in providing services and facilities for residents in surrounding suburbs (“Government still messing with Gungahlin centre”, Paul Costigan, CN April 15).

In tackling how planning and development blurbs have changed over time, the council could do worse than start with scene-setting documents from the late 20th century for central Gungahlin.

A COVID-19 era-induced clean out of a back shed this month revealed a six-page pamphlet: “A New Vision – Gungahlin Urban Village and Light Rail” (circa 1990).

In summary, this central urban village proposal contained “houses, shops and offices”, all “intermixed”, with the buildings generally being “two and three storeys; human-scale housing”.

Groups of buildings were to have a “distinct architectural character” and be “energy efficient”.

“Generous landscaping, parks” and inclusions like “fountains and sculptures” were considered “an integral part” of the design of the village and its receipt of light rail.

As was a range of community, sporting and recreational use “facilities”, together with “a gallery”, “a theatre”, “a community hall”, “canals”, “a leafy plaza” and the creation of a “relaxed pedestrian orientation”.

The whole village would be “relatively car free”, with “everything... within walking or cycling distance”.

The light rail, after reaching the village, would travel, eventually, in a “loop within the village”.

“Diversity”, “vitality” and “sustainable development” would underpin the promised “cosmopolitan” lifestyle. All in all, “what could be better than a softly landscaped environment, complemented by sensitively developed housing”.

Unfortunately, the recording of sentences that have gone missing for Gungahlin or anywhere else could become quite a timeconsuming, if not a heart-breaking, exercise.

Sue Dyer, Downer

We have become a ‘police state’ WHEN did parliament enact (without a referendum) a change to our constitution (in

relation to blocked borders)?

Now we are forbidden to go interstate contrary to the constitution, which allows for free interstate trade and movement.

We have also become a police state, “laws passed” without public consultation to become another money grabbing measure likened to draconian measures bordering on Gestapo methods.

Alas no media rant such as was portrayed when Wuhan took extreme measures to “lockdown” that city, but here not a protesting word.

In 2003 when the SARS virus struck, Australia took virtually no health steps yet there were worldwide deaths, one wonders why such a panic in this instance when millions of people die of Malaria each year as well as similar numbers dying worldwide of the common flu virus.

One should check the internet to see just how many deaths worldwide occur through diseases and the common flu virus without the panic this epidemic wrought.

Talk about media frenzy gone wrong when there are many major problems we face that are just as important such as ridding us of this local, out-of-hand ACT government that has bankrupted its citizens to the tune of $3 billion and is exacerbating the situation by wanting to go further into debt with a useless light rail going south of Civic.

It’s about time our elected members in opposition and the community lodge a “no confidence” vote to get rid of these inept arrogant fools.

R Leister, Amaroo

I was always going, Michael

Fake letter slips through

I ENJOYED reading my old colleague Michael Moore’s column last week (“Belco Bill in with a big chance”, CN, April 16), but allow me to correct one small factual error.

I did not “resign from the Assembly” to accept the ACAT post of appeal president, as Michael said. I indicated I would not be contesting the next election and served out my term finishing up on October 17 (election day was October 18, 2008) and then taking up my new role in November 2008.

I think Michael has confused me with our former mutual colleague Brendan Smyth who did resign from the Assembly in 2016 to take up a senior government job thereby facilitating the entry into the Assembly for several months of the man who saved Tharwa during the 2003 bushfires, the legendary Val Jeffery.

IF something seems too good to be true it probably is, and so it was with last week’s letter purportedly written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the Spanish Influenza quarantine in 1920.

The letter, which mentions other famous figures such as Ernest Hemingway and Zelda Fitzgerald, allegedly describes the quarantine and how “at this time, it seems very poignant to avoid all public spaces”.

Its journey to me was via two peerless sources, one an academic, the other a solicitor and I made the rookie mistake of not checking it one more time.

I am now informed it was a social media sensation written as a parody

by American author Nick Farriella for the humour site McSweeney’s. A joy to read, but nevertheless a fake, for which I apologise.

Bill Stefaniak, Belco Party candidate for Ginninderra

Tragedy in age of the virus

Ian Meikle, editor

Write to us

BUSY mother hauls her overflowing shopping trolley to the car at Jamison shops on Tuesday and loads up. Drives off leaving a 24-roll pack of toilet paper behind!

Mick Wales, via email

Let loose to: editor@citynews.com.au or write to the editor at: 9b / 189 Flemington Road, Mitchell 2911

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CityNews April 23-29, 2020 13

OPINION / minister dodges answers

GOING TO THE SHOPS

What’s the minister trying so hard to hide behind the spin?

Can businesses still advertise for customers?

MY last “CityNews” column was about the staggering 252 per cent increase in the last decade of the number of Aboriginal people imprisoned in the ACT. In it I noted that indigenous leader Julie Tongs believed that one of the factors that may have contributed to the ACT having by far the highest increase in Australia in the imprisonment of Aboriginal people was the decision by the ACT government to abandon plans announced and funded in 2007 for an Aboriginal-specific drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation facility.

The link that Ms Tongs, CEO of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service, was making was, of course, between the very high level of substance use and addiction in the Aboriginal community and the consequentially high levels of offending behaviour.

Coincidentally, at roughly the same time that Ms Tongs raised concerns about the impact of the decision of the government to abandon the planned Aboriginal drug and alcohol facility, the Liberal’s spokesperson for Health, Vicki Dunne, received responses from ACT Minister for Health Rachel StephenSmith to a series of questions on notice.

One of the questions, asked on November 29, 2019 was: “Why is it that the ACT does not have a residential rehabilitation facility more than a decade after the Assembly appropriated money for such a facility.”

Ms Stephen-Smith answered that question on January 17 by simply referencing a statement made by the Planning Minister Mick Gentleman, in 2014 which Mrs Dunne clearly, and I agree, justifiably felt was completely irrelevant, and so asked a follow up question on February 14 in the following terms: “Did the Minister fail to answer the specific question given: (a) T he appropriation of money in the 2007-2008 Second Appropriation Act for “a culturally appropriate residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in the ACT, servicing the adult indigenous population…” (b) T he statement made by former Chief Minister and Treasurer, Mr Jon Stanhope, in his speech for the Appropriation Bill 2008-2009 that “we have committed resources to initiatives such as an indigenous drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation facility”.

Ms Stephen-Smith answered that question on April 6, in part, by claiming: “No, the question was answered.”

The ACT government seems to be hoping to avoid the perception, as the self-declared most progressive government in Australia, that it appears not to give a hoot about the needs of Aboriginal people.

While Ms Stephen-Smith after all public monies and may very well claim that governments are accountable an answer was provided to for every cent. A change in the questions asked by Mrs the purpose of appropriated Dunne it cannot in all honfunds typically requires the esty be said that the question tabling of an instrument asked was answered. It quite prescribed by the Financial clearly and undeniably was Management Act. If that has not. The minister is, if one is been done in this case then to be polite, “spinning”. perhaps the minister could The decision to establish an make a copy of the instruindigenous-specific, therapeument available. If it has not tic drug and alcohol residential been done then at a minimum Health Minister Rachel Stephen- the auditor-general and rehabilitation facility in the Smith…

The minister is, if one is ACT was made by me at a time perhaps even the Integto be polite, “spinning”. when I was Chief Minister, rity Commission, should get Treasurer and Minister for Indigenous involved. If the auditor is inclined to cast Affairs. an eye over this shambles some of us would The record, including the Budget papers, be intrigued to know how the eight fully is clear and unambiguous about the governcontained bedrooms included within the ment’s intentions. facility to accommodate Aboriginal clients The words used in the relevant Budget undergoing drug or alcohol rehabilitation papers have the meaning commonly, and are being utilised, for instance have any of indeed universally, ascribed to them and no them ever been slept in, by clients, that is. amount of obfuscation, dissembling, spin or The question that most mystifies me wishing it otherwise for whatever obscure about the ACT government’s tortuous reason will change that fact. dissembling and spin on this project is I personally oversaw the consultation on why, after having spent $12 million on its the proposal, was briefed by officials on the construction, it refuses to simply admit detail, agreed the plans for its implementathat it changed its mind. What is it trying tion and the development of a model of care to hide? and operational protocols and I settled the The best guess that any of us can make is level of funding to be included in the Budget. that it is hoping to avoid the perception, as In other words, I know precisely what the self-declared most progressive governwas intended. I also know that the monies ment in Australia, that it appears not to give expended on this project are not being a hoot about the needs of Aboriginal people. applied to the purpose for which they were appropriated.

Jon Stanhope was chief minister from 2001 The nonsense spouted by the minister and to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the her predecessor on this subject really has Labor Party from gone on for far too long.

1998. He is the only It is clearly open, of course, to any govern- chief minister to ment to change the purpose for which funds have governed with have been appropriated to another purpose. a majority in the It happens all the time. The change does Assembly. obviously need to be formalised. These are

‘Prickly?’… ‘Affable?’… ‘Urbane?’

LEON DELANEY CANBERRA LIVE Weekdays 3pm-6pm @CanberraLive2CC 2cc.net.au

14 CityNews April 23-29, 2020

THERE’S a lot of conflicting coronavirus physicaldistancing information that’s confusing businesses around the ACT and their customers, too.

Canberrans are being told not to go out unless it’s for “essential reasons” such as getting groceries, exercising or going to work if they’re not able to from home.

So why are other businesses still open? And can residents go to their shopfronts?

“CityNews” asks the ACT government some questions to help clear up some of the confusion…

Q: People are being told to only go to the store for essential items, but many retail and trade businesses are still open, can Canberrans still go to these stores to buy items that aren’t groceries?

A: People are still able to buy items they require which are not groceries. People should reconsider leaving the house for non-essential reasons.

Q: If a business requires face-to-face consults with a customer, such as businesses with showrooms, are customers allowed to go into the store to look at, say, designs?

A: Yes, so long as social distancing and the one person per four square metre rule is met.

Q: How many people are allowed in a shop at any one time and what are the requirements?

A: The number of people in the shop should align with the one person per four square metre rule.

Q: What methods do businesses have to put in place?

A: There are recommendations for businesses to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 such as only accepting “tap” credit-card payments, using tape to mark 1.5-metre distances on the floor and limiting the number of people allowed within a small space.

More tips for businesses can be found at covid19.act.gov.au/ economic-support/information-for-business Q: Can businesses advertise for people to come to their shop front?

A: There are no rules against people advertising their business.

Q: When should a staff member be working from home?

A: Businesses still trading must follow advice to protect employees and customers and reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. This may include enabling staff members to work from home if they’re able to. Other advice for businesses can be found at: covid19.act.gov.au/economic-support/information-forbusiness#More-information-for-businesses5 Q: How will these measures be enforced?

A: Limiting the spread of the virus is the best way to flatten the curve. There is an expectation for all Canberrans to make an effort to stay at home and abide by social distancing rules. Access Canberra is also continuing to support local businesses to inform them of their responsibilities and offer assistance where they can.

Longer licence for learner drivers EXPIRATION dates for learner driving licences will be extended under temporary changes to the ACT’s driver licensing scheme.

The automatic extensions introduced by the “Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Amendment Regulation 2020” provide relief for licence holders during the current health emergency.

The expiration date for all ACT learner licences (car and motorcycle) will be automatically extended by 12 months if they were due to expire between March 23 and January 1, 2021.

Learner drivers in the ACT are still permitted to go out for driving lessons and access the

services of ACT accredited driving instructors who are operating, as learning to drive is classed as an education activity and cannot be done from home, says Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury.

“However, any unnecessary travel is strongly discouraged, so learner drivers and their supervising licensed drivers should consider current health advice and social distancing measures while in the car,” he says.

Consistent with NSW, overseas licence holders who are permanent residents will now have six months to transfer their licence to an ACT driver licence. This extension also applies to holders of interstate licences, external territory licences and NZ licences.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tutor Pat Uren teaching via the Zoom platform.

INSIDE

Just when you’re sure it can’t get any weirder...

NICK OVERALL

Screen Class at Perform Australia prior to restrictions.

Not perfect, but online you can teach anywhere AS theatres around the country languish, emptied of patrons, some arts businesses are getting up to speed very quickly.

One such is Perform Australia, formerly the Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art, whose name was changed not long ago to acknowledge its merger with Queensland’s Australian School of Performing Arts, Film and Television, Drama Works Academy of Performing Arts in Brisbane and Palm Tree Studios on the Central Coast of NSW. CEO and principal Elizabeth Avery Scott contacted “CityNews” last week to tell us of a new project called ”ActLive TV”, a suite of online drama classes for children aged four to 17.

It’s been a sharp learning curve. Over the few weeks, she and husband James, who heads the acting courses, acquainted themselves with the necessary technology then hastily developed new programs to suit the new learning environment, quickly setting up holiday programs for Easter and Term 2 programs.

It helps that Elizabeth is a seasoned playwright, so writing fun courses was second nature to her.

“When the crisis first hit, we realised we had to move very quickly,” she tells us.

“The pandemic had led to the closing of borders and we knew that would affect school. We have activities in Brisbane and also in regional NSW, but we decided to face it.”

Teaching in isolation posed a challenge but the good thing, she quickly noticed, was that in doing it, she

CEO and principal of Perform Australia, Elizabeth Avery Scott.

By Helen

MUSA realised borders were not so important for teachers – “online, you can teach anywhere”.

“In a virtual class you can do many things that you can do in a face-to-face class,” she explains.

“Drama games, for instance, are a basic part of all acting classes and you can also read and rehearse scenes… and the technology allows you to record what you’ve done on a screen.”

Headquartered in Kembla Street, Fyshwick, the drama school has a strong focus on teaching young people learning skills to enter the theatrical professions, whether on stage or screen, serving more than 700 pupils under the go-ahead slogan, “Launching passion-driven actors”.

One exciting discovery was the potential to work up a course in radio plays for Term 2, where kids confined at home will be asked to source found objects to create the sound effects and then work from a script to create characters, develop vocal skills and use voice to create characters in a radio play.

Elizabeth describes a typical class: “We start with an acting warmup and a voice warmup, then move into games and acting exercises, then some directing will begin and we’ll get feedback.”

Perform Australia is using the Zoom platform, but they’re still investigating live-streaming for the time when they want to perform. The quality of the sound is not perfect and pupils can’t sing in time together, so the popular musical theatre programs will have to be delayed.

“One challenge being posed is that some students have issues with internet connections,” Elizabeth says.

“It’s not perfect, but we believe this technology is going to evolve quickly.”

She and James have lost some tutors because of the pressure the course puts on teachers’ private lives, but they plan to have about six tutors working continually.

Perform Australia’s accredited courses, diplomas and certificates are also moving online. Doing a stage show is normally a big part of their assessment, so for the next term they’ll rearrange the courses so students can choose other units and delay those performances until later in the four-term year.

But Elizabeth has discovered that courses in foundational skills for stage or screen and the individual monologues previously showcased in live nights of monologues can still run virtually – “it’s a matter of adaptation”.

“One thing pupils can do online is to look at former productions and theatre history courses that will adapt well to online discussion, also script analysis and playwriting which involve discussion.”

Perform Australia has set up a separate website at

actlive.tv to keep the new classes separate from faceto-face classes and steer young people to the children’s programs.

“CityNews” took a quick look at some of the April 2020 online classes.

In “Animal Adventures – Drama In The Jungle”, a 45-minute drama class with a jungle theme for ages four to five, the idea is to explore the animal world to find out who’s in charge, who’s sneaky and who’s able to escape, in effect teaching foundational acting skills like how to

create characters and how to apply physical character traits to communicate the characters’ personalities.

For kids aged 13 to 17, there’s one themed “The End of the World As We Know It”, another one on Shakespearean acting and another one on movie monologues.

Right now it seems to be emerging, just as Elizabeth says, that “online, you can teach anywhere.”

Perform Australia’s online classes can be accessed at actlive.tv All other inquiries to 1300 908905.

Duratone Hi-Fi PTY LTD

Music for winter evenings Trade-in or repair your old hi-fi Thousands of LP records to choose from Phone 6282 1333 www.duratone.com.au Cnr of Botany Street & Altree Court, Phillip CityNews April 23-29, 2020 15

TAKEAWAY

Sensational flavours, even to the door All up, the food was bold but considered, and it delivered well, so if you’re in the delivery radius give Wild Duck a go.

AS I write this, the ACT government has announced that non-essential services, including dining in cafés and restaurants, has been extended until July. So it’s more important than ever to support the hospitality industry so it doesn’t go totally kaput during “virus time”.

We selected Wild Duck for a food-delivery adventure. Wild Duck prides itself on fine, upscale Asian cuisine served in an elegant dining room with booth seating, each dish meticulously prepared and arriving at the table looking like a piece of fine art.

COVID-style dining is different. The food arrives in plastic containers and it’s up to you to plate pretty (which you can have fun doing).

The good news with Wild Duck, the oldest (or one of the oldest) restaurants on the Kingston Foreshore, is that the flavours are sensational, delivered or not.

Gold Cat 2019... Michelle Heine.

Take the salmon tataki, a stunning dish ($17.90). The salmon was lemongrass cured, the ginger glaze delicate, and the nashi pear a beautiful accompaniment.

Equally stunning was the basil chilli squid ($17.90), lightly dusted in cornflour and fried. It’s tossed with basil, long chilli and five-spiced salt. The squid is super tender and the spiced salt is not at all overpowering.

We always go wild for duck at Wild Duck – it’s never failed us and this time was no exception. The double-broiled free-range duck breast was amazingly tender and full of flavour ($34.90) and the mix of wild Asian mushrooms earthy and exotic. The duck was accompanied by steamed baby spinach, adding a critical colour component.

The peppercorn Angus cubes was another beautiful dish ($34.90). Who can go wrong with Black Angus tenderloin? The carefully cut cubes were wok-tossed with king oyster mushrooms and snow peas in a peppercorn reduction. The dish was served with cured cherry radish for colour and crunch.

Equally sensational was the Massaman beef

sundayROAST Stay in touch with the names making news on Sundays from 10am as 2CC and “CityNews” present Canberra’s only local weekend news and current affairs program.

It’s a revolving panel show that brings to the microphone great “CityNews” commentators and 2CC personalities.

Be part of the conversation call 6255 1206 between 10am and noon

CATS galore minus glitz and feathers

By Helen Musa

Salmon tataki… lemongrass-cured fish with a delicate ginger glaze, and the nashi pear a beautiful accompaniment.

Photo: Wendy Johnson cheek ($32.90), slowly braised in special spices and coconut cream.

To top up on the veggies we ordered the Szechuan green beans and were thrilled we did ($24.90). They’re twice-cooked with puffed soy bean curd and topped with shredded wonton – an amazing combo of ingredients, and such a simple, yet well thought-through dish.

Other mains on the Wild Duck menu include Singapore chilli prawns ($36.90), dragon-cut baby eggplant ($26.90), typhoon-shelter ocean trout ($34.90) and pork belly in

Wild Duck, 77-78/71 Giles Street, Kingston Foreshore. We ordered direct on 6232 7997 but you can also use nowbookit.com

CSO musicians, directed by Pip Thomson, left… they have released a video performance of “Dancing on Tiptoes” by Rachel Bruerville.

ARTS IN THE CITY Banjo Vann gets into Pink Floyd

By Helen Musa ISOLATION has brought out talents in unexpected places.

Charles Sturt University’s vicechancellor Andrew Vann, turns out to be a mean banjo player, seen in his online rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, recently circulated to cheer up the CSU network from Wagga, Canberra and Bathurst. Viewable at facebook. com/charlessturtuni/videos EMERGING online, the new director of the Canberra Theatre, Alex Budd and his team have assembled a list of streaming options from arts companies in Australia and across the world. It’s an extraordinary list, ranging from home-grown products such as The Wharf Revue to Shakespeare’s Globe and Joe’s Pub in New York

16 CityNews April 23-29, 2020

lotus leaf ($32.90).

All up, the food was bold but considered, and it delivered well, so if you’re in the delivery radius give Wild Duck a go. Sure, you won’t be able to enjoy the ambience of the restaurant’s gorgeous interior, with its rich warm colours, soft lighting and teak furniture, but there’s nothing stopping you from setting the table with a bit of flair, lighting some candles and creating your own ambience.

City. Visit canberratheatrecentre. com.au/show/streaming-optionsfor-theatre-lovers GREENS spokesperson for the arts Senator Sarah Hanson-Young believes the half a billion dollars for the Captain Cook celebrations and expansion of the Australian War Memorial should be redirected to arts and culture projects that will benefit Australians now out of work because of COVID-19. You can bet it won’t happen, but any move to employ artists and save endangered arts organisations would be welcome.

CANBERRA Symphony Orchestra has released a video performance of “Dancing on Tiptoes” by Rachel Bruerville, first seen in the CSO’s “Australian Series: Love, Kindness, Decency”, at the National Portrait

Gallery on March 12, then recorded on March 16 in the Larry Sitsky Recital Room at the ANU School of Music. Notes for the work are available at cso.org.au and the performance can be viewed at youtube.com by entering “Dancing on Tiptoes”.

IN a similar initiative, “Tiny Movements” by Gordon Hamilton, with lyrics by Canberra poet Anita Patel, has been performed by The Australian Voices and James Crabb, the accordionist director of the postponed Four Winds Easter Festival. The song’s text was inspired by poems from a book called “Heart Stitched”, a collaboration between Patel and visual artist Annie Franklin. Crabb is planning the first live performance of the song for Saturday, November 14, on the Dickinson Oval in Bermagui.

THE annual CAT Awards for theatre was held virtually, minus the usual showbiz glitz, sparkle and feathers.

Initially to have been held in February, the CATs were postponed because of the bushfires raging in the regional towns that have always been the backbone of the big amateur theatre awards, but organisers had been confident they would go ahead with all the usual pizzazz in Llewellyn Hall on April 18 before COVID-19 struck.

It was not to be. The rippling effects of the virus on the CATs community, now marking its 25th year, meant the cancellation of the live event but not the awards themselves, which went ahead as CATs board chair Dennis Martin outlined in his online announcement.

CAT mother and founder of the awards, Coralie Wood, told “CityNews”: “I’m so sad that this has happened in our 25th year… all those years ago we didn’t have the internet and email, so now we can put it online and I’m very happy about that, but sad that our guests Simon Gallaher and John Wood can’t come.”

The awards of the night revealed that 2019 had been a packed year of theatre in the regions, so much so that the CAT judges couldn’t make up their minds in several categories, and had triple winners for the three top actors in “Art”, by Pinnacle Players from Orange.

The top Gold CAT award went to veteran choreographer Michelle Heine, who burst on to the local scene years ago with Colin Anderson’s production of “Les Miserables” to become the choreographer of choice for most of Canberra’s big musicals.

In recent years she has won accolades for her work on “42nd Street” and “Kinky Boots”, both shows in which dance takes centre stage. Her citation praises her for “fostering the love of dance among people of all ages, including people with special needs, particularly through LEGS Dance”.

The second big award of the evening, The Silver Cat, went to husband and wife team Russell and Jeanette Brown, “for their pivotal roles over many years in Canberra Repertory’s set and costume departments, allowing REP to continue to present six shows a year with consistently high production standards”.

And would, as some had whispered, this 25th year be the last for the CATs? “Certainly not,” Wood said. “We will continue on.”

The full list of CATS Awards is at citynews.com.au

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

Just when you’re sure it can’t get any weirder...

“I’VE never experienced anything like Joe Exotic.”

A murderous, mullet-sporting, musical magician who owns a zoo full of tigers?

Can’t say I have, either. And until now, likelihood is neither have you.

That quote is from Rick Kirkham, a former reporter turned producer of “Joe Exotic TV”, which for years documented the daily exploits of Joe and a bizarre cult of followers. At the height of their reign, they owned the largest private “big cat” enclosure in the world. In “Tiger King”, now available on Netflix, Rick is one of many unusual characters who recounts how Joseph Allen Schreibvogel-Maldonado-Passage went from zoo-keeper to felon as a business feud spiralled out of control.

To suggest Joe is larger-than-life has the same level of subtlety as displayed by he and his acolytes, with their incredible bonds with 400-pound “pet” tigers, lions, alligators and other wild animals normally to be found on an African savannah.

Before “Tiger King”, I thought I was risking a limb taking my golden retriever for a walk knowing her reaction if she spots a kangaroo in the distance. In this doco I was presented, in close-up, with a group of people with no fear of making bedmates with the most fearsome of creatures – occasionally, that’s even each other. And if you think any of that could go badly, well… yeah.

Just when you’re sure it can’t get any weirder, another “big-cat” lover enters the

SPEAKING of eccentric outcasts, over on Stan, “Better Call Saul” is finally streaming its fifth and newest season after a long wait.

It’s the prequel to the TV phenomenon, “Breaking Bad”, itself aptly described by the word it made notorious: bitchin’. It’s also available in its entirety on the same platform and trending once again thanks to the success of this latest series.

In “Better Call Saul”, you’re introduced to con artist turned lawyer – or maybe that’s the other way round – Jimmy McGill, brilliantly lived-in by leading actor Bob Odenkirk, in the years leading up to his transformation into “attorney-at-law”, Saul Goodman.

Offering a dramatically comic look at the shady side of the law and its loopholes, it compares with the sharp Australian satire, “Rake”, about a deadbeat lawyer with untapped genius played by Richard Roxburgh that ran on the ABC from 2010-2018.

Joe Exotic… from zoo-keeper to felon. story. Carole Baskin is Joe’s arch-nemesis, attempting to separate him from his beloved kingdom with claims of animal cruelty. The resulting “war” – complete with guns waved around and threats bandied about – offers up more fascinating exhibits than on offer at the zoo itself.

“Tiger King” has rapidly become a global sensation, largely due to the internet going wild for Joe’s eccentric image and character. Memes, tweets, costumes and more, in the age of streaming, this kind of attention

cements something in the annals of pop culture more than any “official” marketing campaign ever could. Due to popular demand, a follow-up episode taking place after the events of the documentary has just been released, something that rarely happens.

Not only stranger than fiction, but downright screwier, the antics on display here make for a dark mix of hilarity and drama, but it’s a train wreck you have no desire to steer clear of.

ABC’s streaming platform is also offering a variety of great stuff for viewing free of charge (at least, thanks to we, the taxpayer).

“Murder 24/7” is a unique five-part miniseries that takes you behind the scenes of three real-life murder cases to see, minute-by-minute, how the Essex Police and detectives investigate.

ALL this talk of murder, madness and

mayhem is a little morbid, no? Well, whether it’s fact or imagination, it all demonstrates that the crime genre remains the king of streaming with other successful series including the likes of “Evil Genius” and “Making a Murderer” still commonly talked about. Netflix even makes fun of its own continuous production of these endlessly popular shows with its original comedy, “American Vandal”. Juvenile, yet bitingly self-aware, it’s about two high school students influenced by the documentaries mentioned bringing the same production style to the controversies of their teenage lives.

CRIME dominates in the realm of podcast streaming, too, with a whole tab, and one of its most popular, dedicated to it on Spotify. “The Lighthouse” is a trending Australian one, detailing the disappearance of backpacker Theo Hayez in Byron Bay just last year.

Currently though, “Tiger King” rules – although less like royalty, Joe Exotic is the ringmaster and. man, it is some circus.

NICK OVERALL

OBITUARY / Ray Omodei

Theatre director dies in WA Arts editor HELEN MUSA remembers a giant of Australian theatre who has died in WA. THEATRE director Ray Omodei has died. He was 84.

One of Australian theatre’s literate and most influential directors, Omodei died at Rosewood Care in Leederville, WA, after complications from aphasic Alzheimer’s.

In his heyday he was famous in the East and the West for his striking productions of the classics, whether Sophocles, Shakespeare, Restoration high comedy, 20th century Irish drama, Patrick White and Chekhov.

But in Canberra he was best-known for his hit commercial production of “Shirley Valentine” starring Amanda Muggleton and for his work at the ACT Curriculum Research and Development Centre.

The illness which eventfully cut him short was the worst possible fate for a brilliant raconteur and wit - “it was like having Oscar Wilde in the room” - one friend said.

After colleagues started to notice a marked deterioration in his capacity to form sentences and complete his witty epigrams, it was to the verbal classics that he was to turn.

In early March, 2018, I attended his production of Congreve’s “The

Ray Omodei, April 11, 1936 - April 12, 2020.

Way of the World”, at Guildford’s Garrick Theatre, his fourth staging of the play. The presentation was of impeccable quality, all the more extraordinary considering his worsening condition, but, supported around the clock by a team of willing friends and carers, he came through with flying colours.

Omodei’s life was entirely devoted to the theatre and by the

time of his illness he had staged more than 200 productions.

He trained as a school teacher in Graylands Teachers College, Perth, before moving to London in 1968 for three years, founding a theatre company there.

Back in WA, he was from 1971-73, associate director at Edgar Metcalfe’s National Theatre Company before being headhunted as a resident director at the Old Tote Theatre Company in Sydney.

His east-coast career included a stint as artistic director of the Australian Theatre for Young People, a teaching position at the University of Newcastle and from 1977-78 the artistic directorship of the inaugural Armidale Project, a regional theatre initiative.

After working for the Curriculum Research and Development Centre in Canberra, he returned to WA, where he became artistic director of the Mason-Miller Theatre Company then from 1982 the artistic director of the Hole-in-the-Wall Theatre Company.

In that year he was named Citizen of WA for his contribution to the arts, culture and entertainment.

A voracious reader and documenter of theatre, his collection of theatrical material now rests with the Museum of Performing Arts.

Omodei is survived by his siblings Cathy, Mont and Vincent.

CityNews April 23-29, 2020 17

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General knowledge crossword No. 730

Your week in the stars – April 27-May 3, 2020 ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

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Restless Rams are raring to go, as your ruler Mars charges through the adventurous sign of Aquarius. But life is trimming your fiery wings and diverting your energy and attention from personal projects to group endeavours. Can you help family members, assist people in your local community or support a global cause? And can you inspire others to move through these difficult times with extra courage and conviction?

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

With unpredictable Uranus still moving through Taurus, old rules have changed, and outdated ideologies have already been extinguished. Change and disruption are the new norm. So businesses need to innovate; communities need to be creative; people need to pivot; and Bulls need to be very adaptable. So your motto for the moment is from birthday great, comedian Jerry Seinfeld: “If life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving.”

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Innovative ideas and lightning flashes of inspiration make for a thought-provoking week. But there’s a tendency to be a real know-it-all, and you’re likely to blurt out the most inappropriate comment to the most inappropriate person. So take your foot out of your mouth, and think things through carefully before you speak!

Heed the wise words of birthday great, writer Harper Lee :“Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowing more than they do.”

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

This week you need to be firm and down-to-earth when dealing with a fractious friend or a frustrating work colleague. Don’t waste time side-stepping around issues. If things become too difficult, re-state your case clearly and calmly, and then move on. A much-cherished goal or dream will also have to be revised or completely reimagined. Don’t get into a stew worrying and complaining Crabs.

Just get on with things in a resourceful and resilient way.

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LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

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Destiny is around you this week. The Sun, Mercury and Uranus are all moving through your career and reputation zone. So the way you present yourself to the world – via formal study, paid work or a volunteer position – is in the process of being radically reinvented. So the job you end up with will be very different to the one you had before. You’ll find the more thought and creativity you contribute to the process, the less stressful the journey will be.

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

In challenging and chaotic times, clever and responsible people are required.

That’s you Virgo! This week Saturn disciplines your mind and Uranus sharpens your wits. So do your best to come up with some pragmatic and creative solutions to current problems. Your mantra for the week is from Virgo actress, the practical and persistent Lauren Bacall: “You learn to rise above a lot of bad things that happen in your life. And you learn to keep going.”

Down

4 What are service stations also known as? (7) 8 To act as chairperson is to do what? (7) 9 Which games are held every four years, with occasional interruptions? (7) 10 Which legendary monster is part man, part horse? (7) 11 What are male geese called? (7) 12 Name the heavy one-edged swords used especially by cavalry. (6) 14 Who founded the One Nation party in 1997, Pauline ...? (6) 18 What are holiday places known as? (7) 21 Which soldier is of the lowest military rank? (7) 22 To furnish, or supply, is to do what? (7) 23 Name an Australian rugby union footballing legend, David ... (7) 24 What is another term for a sweets course? (7)

1 Geronimo was the chief of which group of Native Americans? (7) 2 What is a female donkey called? (5) 3 Name an alternative term for an oyster. (7) 4 Who is the patron saint of England? (6) 5 Name an artificial silk. (5) 6 What are ground squirrels of West North America?

(7) 7 What are religious denominations also known as? (5) 13 Which chess pieces move obliquely on squares of the same colour? (7) 15 What are courtyards also called? (7) 16 Name agents of retribution or punishment. (7) 17 What is a countenance or facial expression? (6) 18 What does the R in REM stand for? (5) 19 Which term describes an increase in wages? (5) 20 Name another word for a bet. (5)

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

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Librans have a talent for creating beauty around them… in the way you speak, sing, write, dance, dress, draw, decorate, cook or just generally create. So that’s what you must do. In a world full of sickness, uncertainty and financial problems, you can divert people’s attention to a more beautiful and magical place. Be inspired by birthday great, comedian Jerry Seinfeld: “When someone does a small task beautifully, their whole environment is affected by it.”

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Across

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Sudoku hard No. 265

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

This week the Sun, Mercury and Uranus shine a bright spotlight on a close relationship or a business partnership. A family matter could also test your Scorpio strength, or a friend could require your assistance. So make sure you roll up your sleeves and give help gladly. Coupled Scorps: discuss your dreams for the future together. Singles: many of the usual dating channels are currently unavailable, so use your imagination to locate love in unconventional ways.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Fiery Sagittarians are honest and forthright; some people would call you blunt and insensitive. This week there’s an increased tendency to shoot from the hip (or rather the lip). So think carefully before you speak, otherwise you’ll offend others.

The Sun, Mercury and Uranus activate your wellbeing zone. So make sure you keep up-to-date with current health, hygiene and isolation guidelines, plus find fun ways to boost your fitness levels at home.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

On Tuesday, Saturn squares Mercury so strive to be strong and strategic, rather than pushy and panicky. Other people are expecting you to come up with the goods so get your act together and don’t disappoint! You may question your capabilities but Jupiter and Pluto (which are both in your sign) give you the extra gravitas and resilience you need to push through and make a difference. It’s your Capricorn calling to help others and lead by example.

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

This week the focus is on your home life, as the planets help you navigate your way through a community issue or a domestic matter in a diplomatic fashion. The more support and encouragement you offer family and friends, the better. But avoid getting drawn into petty power plays (especially with a relative or neighbour).

Learn to use your influence in smart and subtle ways. Friday favours stimulating conversations, innovative ideas and local community connections.

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2020

18 CityNews April 23-29, 2020

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AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

The current planetary placements (especially Saturn sauntering through your sign) are teaching you to slow down and appreciate the wisdom in your world, the people in your life and the love in your heart. Be inspired by birthday great, singer-songwriter Willie Nelson: “I take it not only a day at a time, but a moment at a time, and keep it at that pace. If you can be happy right now, then you’ll always be happy…” On Friday, prepare for a brilliant light-bulb moment!

Crossword No. 729

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GARDENING

Dig for victory, even a pot will do AT PRESENT it’s almost like we’re following the wartime “Dig for Victory” campaign.

During World War II, supplies of food were desperately short, with supply boats bringing food to Britain continually being sunk by German Uboats. The government encouraged every person, from those with a large garden to a small patch, to grow vegetables. Lawns and flower beds were dug up and turned over for this purpose. Now we’re faced with a similar challenge, though with more people living in units.

It doesn’t matter how many storeys up you are, if you have a balcony that gets five to six hours of sunlight a day, you can grow vegetables in containers. Herbs are usually the first to be suggested but these have a limited use compared with other veggies such as carrots, silverbeet and English spinach.

Expensive pots aren’t needed, unless preferred. One of the easiest and lightest are the polyurethane containers available at local supermarkets, if you ask. These boxes are used to deliver fruit and veggie supplies from wholesalers or growers.

Line the bottom of these poly containers with a piece of shade cloth or flywire gauze. Next, use a potting mix that costs about $12 a bag; rather than the cheaper $4-$5. Raise the container up slightly for drainage on pieces of old tiles or timber. While you can grow from seed, and indeed it’s the only way with some veggies such as broad beans, seedlings will yield quicker results.

Watering regularly is essential, as is feeding. I recommend certified organic plant foods rather than chemical fertilisers.

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Multicrop has now released its new Maxicrop “Slow Release Organic Fertiliser” pellets, feeding plants for up to three months.

THERE are many fragrance shrubs to give us joy in late autumn and through the winter, especially daphne.

Most people are familiar with Daphne odora and the variegated form Daphne odora aureomarginata, which have been in cultivation by the Chinese for several thousand years, although not introduced into the West by early plant hunters until 1771.

However, there are only a few daphne from China compared with the great many varieties from Europe, especially from the Mediter-

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ranean, growing from the toe of Italy right up through the Caucasus and Piedmont.

Used to long, hot summers, they are well suited to our extremes of climate, more so than the Chinese varieties.

Although, there is no doubt that Daphne odora grows well in this area.

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The daphne “Spring Pink”.

HENRY VIII’s flagship the “Mary Rose”, which sank in battle in 1546, was raised from the English Channel in 1982 and is now on display in Portsmouth Harbour.

More than 30,000 artifacts were recovered from the wreck, including a great variety of fruit stones.

Interestingly, with plums, the stone of each variety is unique. I had estimated that around 33 varieties of plums were grown in the 1600s, but I was way off. It was possible to determine virtually the

last meal of the hundreds of sailors who drowned. They must have been great fruit eaters, for more than a staggering 100 varieties of plum stones were excavated!

STUCK at home and have a garden, however tiny? Try spending as much time eating and drinking as you do working out there. In a larger garden, walk around and enjoy it, without compulsively weeding and tidying up. Try not to think about making new beds, and just look after what you’ve got. How long is it since you sat and read a book in the garden?

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