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ACT GOVERNMENT FALLS BEHIND PS SUPER LIABILITY GOAL JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED REVEAL MORE ASPECTS OF CANBERRA’S SPIRALLING DEBT

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elW rwite,n elw read

Pandemic lessons go down the gurgler

MICHAEL MOORE

Who runs the place when the pollies demur?

PAUL COSTIGAN

Why Tara’s awfully big arts policy won’t work

HELEN MUSA

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NEWS / petrol-engine ban

Car decision leaves dealers scratching their heads

By Nick

OVERALL CAR dealers have been left “scratching their heads” after the ACT government’s announcement that the purchase of new petrol cars will be banned in Canberra from 2035, according to the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA).

The peak body representing franchised new-car dealers says that automotive businesses in the ACT received no consultation on the policy, and that the ban has been foreshadowed in an environment of “great uncertainty”.

The strategy aims to phase out light internal-combustion engine vehicles from 2035, with a target of 80 to 90 per cent of new-vehicle sales to be zeroemissions models by 2030.

Head of Lennock Motors and representative of the ACT division of the AADA Peter Axiom says neither he, nor any other dealer he knows were consulted on the decision.

While he believes the government’s initiative is the right one in theory, he says many dealers hold concerns about the feasibility of its implementation.

Head of Lennock Motors Peter Axiom… “I don’t think the dealer or consumer wants a situation where the ACT has a different law to the rest of the country.”

Photo: Nick Overall “I don’t think the dealer or consumer wants a situation where the ACT has a different law to the rest of the country,” says Mr Axiom.

“It’s bizarre if we end up in this situation where an ACT resident is banned from buying a certain type of car, but they’re not prohibited in Queanbeyan, Jerrabomberra or other

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neighbouring areas.

“I’d have to say that if we’re not around that 75 per cent by 2030 it’s going to be very hard to get to 100 per cent by 2035, it’s just such a short space of time.

“It’s my hope there’s continual reviews of their targets and plans.”

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up the European Union agreed to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035. A large number of international car manufacturers have also agreed to phase out production of internal-combustion engine vehicles over the next decade.

In the ACT, Mr Axiom says, electric vehicles currently make up around four per cent of new car sales, higher than the national average of around two per cent.

While he says the interest for ACT consumers is there, he says caution should be exercised to not lock people out of the market.

“One of my concerns is that about over 60 per cent of our cars come from Japan and Korea, and to me they don’t have those same targets as the EU. My perception is they’re further behind, and a lot of the cars they produce are for your normal mum and dad Australians,” he says.

“They’re the affordable, accessible cars, and I think we’ve just got to be careful we don’t cut that market out.

“What the Japanese brands have done, particularly Toyota, is invest in hybrids, they were a first mover on that.

“I’m not a Toyota dealer, but I have to say they’ve done a great job with that but when you read the new government document here a normal hybrid doesn’t fit the bill. In theory, in 2035, that’s a banned car.”

While Mr Axiom says that as technology evolves the price of electric vehicles may come down, he says competition for resources such as lithium and cobalt used in their production may drive the price in the opposite direction.

“The biggest component of an electric car is the battery, and if the cost of producing that or mining materials for it is going up I think that’s going to be a handbrake on putting the price down,” he says.

He also believes the ACT will have to rapidly ramp up the required infrastructure in order to hit the ambitious targets.

“It’s not too difficult to go and retrofit charge points and charging stations in homes, but when it comes to apartment blocks it’s a whole different story,” he says. “It’ll need to be retrofitted and it’s not cheap.”

As the federal government is in control of the importation of new vehicles into the Australian market, it’s the belief of the AADA that the transition to low-emission vehicles should be a national decision.

“It’s definitely going to be difficult if it’s not a level playing field and the ACT is different from the rest of the country,” says Mr Axiom.

“I think the initiative is right, but there needs to be a national approach.

We can’t treat the ACT as a separate country to the rest of Australia.”

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CANBERRA MATTERS / governance

Who actually runs the place when pollies demur?

IN 2019, during a discussion about the preliminaries for the city’s coming planning reforms, it was suggested to the chief planner that governance needs to be central to any reforms.

The chief disagreed and said that governance was off the table. It was not a subject to be discussed.

To quote from the Governance Institute of Australia: “Governance encompasses the system by which an organisation is controlled and operates, and the mechanisms by which it, and its people, are held to account.

Ethics, risk management, compliance and administration are all elements of governance.”

During serious debates about planning issues under this Greenslabor government, the hot topics include matters that relate to: • who runs the planning system, • who influences the bureaucracy, • what responsibility do the politicians take on planning matters, • the questionable ethics involved with how the planning directorate’s processes of consultations actually exclude community input, • a massive number of compliance issues, how the administration of planning lacks transparency, and • how access to decision making has become complicated and inaccessible.

The Legislative Assembly… A major part of the government’s governance problems is the attitude politicians take to planning issues.

It is all about governance. This is the topic the chief planner said he does not want to discuss despite this being the subject of many of the debates within the community, between politicians and residents, and that aspects of governance were the hot topics in submissions for the recent first stage of the planning reforms that ended in mid-June.

A major part of the government’s governance problems is the attitude politicians take to planning issues.

They state, when challenged about taking responsibility, that they leave planning matters to the professional planners and to the independent planning authority. Utter rubbish!

It would be a very short line of residents who do not think that

There’s the common perception that the bureaucracy lauds it over the politicians. If so, it’s a democratic problem to have unelected bureaucrats running the show.

everyone from the chief minister to the housing minister, the environment minister and a few others do not exert pressure on planning decisions to suit their sometimes very questionable ideological reasons.

The Greenslabor politicians maintain the façade (that no-one takes seriously) that it is the unelected bureaucracy that controls planning.

What do the ACT Liberals think on this? No-one knows.

While governance problems undermine any good planning and development in the city, a similar lack of good governance permeates other ACT government portfolios.

The evidence points to the devastating reality that many Greenslabor politicians have little concept of what

is good governance – and that the buck stops with them.

There’s an ever-growing list of events that point to a lack of good governance. Here’s a few: • the CIT board and Minister Chris Steel not noticing the extraordinarily expensive and meaningless contracts, • the education minister and bureaucrats having to close a school when Worksafe declared it unsafe for teachers, • the on-going destruction of greenery despite announcements on tree canopy, permeable surfaces and increasing the suburban biodiversity, • the revelations by Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed on how Treasury (that would be Andrew Barr) have built-in financial disasters for the territory for decades, • how the auditor general could not justify the tram going south, but Greenslabor stayed with their foolhardy ideological ambition, • social housing in Canberra is going backwards despite the rhetoric of Yvette Berry and Rebecca Vassarotti, the same two ministers who revel in evicting housing tenants to sell the land,

• and let’s not forget that new suburbs continue to be built as if the climate emergency is not here while ignoring that the next drought will deliver havoc to the new suburbs of heat islands and energy guzzling homes.

It is my belief that the planning directorate is badly run and lacks good governance. The worry is that the directorate’s poor performance is a symptom of whole-of-government governance issues.

There’s also the common perception that the bureaucracy lauds it over the politicians. If so, it’s a democratic problem to have unelected bureaucrats running the show.

However, the dysfunctional nature of this government must remain the responsibility of the Greenslabor politicians. It is time for the electorate to consider what can be done to change this undemocratic and seriously flawed situation.

Paul Costigan is a commentator on cultural and urban matters.

There are more of his columns at citynews.com.au

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COVER STORY / sniffer dogs

How police puppies get a good nose for crime

By Lily

PASS THE crime-fighting canines, trusted to sniff Australia to safety, receive their scentdetection training in Canberra.

At least every six months, the National Canine Operation Centre – at the AFP’s Majura complex – runs a three-month training course to hone the detective skills of 12, mostly labrador, puppies.

Mark Rice, team leader of training and development, says labradors are a good all rounder.

“We mostly have labradors here that come through the Australian Border Force’s breeding program,” he says.

“A dog has to have the maturity and all of its hunt drive in the right place to be able to focus on the work it’s doing, so we can train them from 10 months onwards.”

They’re hunting dogs genetically and want to use their nose, says Mark, so they’re taught how to channel that hunt into finding a specific odour, from explosives to firearms, drugs, currency and technology.

“We use a rolled up hand towel, and play with them and build their possession for that toy,” he says.

Mark Rice, team leader of training and development, with labrador Dove… “Dove… was just happy to take or leave things, so she became a demonstration and pat dog.”

Photo: Holly Treadaway “That’s from when they’re six weeks old. When it comes time to train, all we do is we put that towel in a big vault with the odour we want them to find, and the smell permeates.”

When the dog plays with the towel, it then associates the smell with its reward – and the difficulty gets harder with the towel hidden for the dog to sniff out and find.

Finally, the dog is trained to give a response when they locate the towel.

“Sit down passively and stare at the

point where the odour is the strongest,” says Mark, so that he knows exactly where to begin searching.

Only the top one per cent of dogs are used in technology detection, says Mark.

“Of our disciplines, that’s the hardest for the dogs.”

“The difference between the plastic around us in the world, and the plastic on an SD card or USB, is its fire-retardant ability. That’s what we train,” he says.

The more energetic dogs, with “a higher work ethic and higher drive”, are delegated to drugs, firearms and currency, leaving the calmer, methodical dogs for explosives.

“Our explosive dogs, we don’t want them bashing into things, knocking things over, being reckless and we don’t want them missing areas either,” Mark says.

“The dog’s ability to distinguish between odours and find their target odours – even when we have distracting odours in place – is phenomenal.”

Mark says they prepare while the dogs are still in training, with distractions of food, other dogs, cat odours and people, but mistakes can still be made.

“There are dogs every day getting trained off a scent they aren’t meant to find. What we’re doing is finding what those odours are, and we are taking them away as targets.”

Mark says a three-month basic course is just the basics, searching in a sequence and finding things within limited concealments.

“It’s not all doom and gloom. If they don’t quite make the rigours of the training program they’ll either go off to another law-enforcement agency where they can work more one on one, or they’ll end up back in their foster carer’s home,” he says.

A now two-year-old cream/white labrador named Dove was unsuccessful in training.

“Dove was one that was just happy to take or leave things, so she became a demonstration and pat dog. We take her out to engage with the public, but even watching her work is pretty phenomenal – and that’s not one of our good dogs,” says Mark.

He says they’re like athletes – if a dog requires a specific diet then there is no expense spared, and Emily O’Donohue, the kennel development manager at the Majura facility, is a vet nurse herself.

Working dogs are expected to be switched on 40+ hours a week, but have heated kennels to rest in on their weekends and days off.

Throughout a dog’s career, the AFP stresses the bond of having one handler.

“You learn what the dog’s behaviours are, and pick up on when those behaviours are different. So, through repetition and working with that dog, a handler knows what the dog’s signals and behaviours are, which is really important to the team being functional and effective,” says Mark.

And, retirement comes once a dog reaches eight-years-old.

“We feel like they’ve served their purpose by that stage. At the end of it all we want to see is them go on a couch, eat snacks and be normal.

Mostly they get retired to their handler who has spent years working with them and built that bond,” he says.

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ARTS / ‘Canberra: Australia’s Arts Capital – Arts, Culture and Creative Policy’

Why Tara’s awfully big arts policy won’t work “It pains me to become The Grinch Who Stole the Minister’s Vision, but the talk, the detailed action plans and the forms to fill out will never make Canberra the arts capital until the political will to do so is manifested much further up the food chain than the ACT government,” writes arts editor HELEN MUSA. SINCE Tara Cheyne replaced Gordon Ramsay as ACT Arts Minister, she has been talking up her “statement of ambition” for Canberra to become Australia’s arts capital, despite snickering from Sydney and Melbourne.

Now it’s out in black and white (and lots of colour) in the form of a written arts policy: “Canberra: Australia’s Arts Capital – Arts, Culture and Creative Policy”.

It mightn’t have been as sexy as the announcement of $28.44 million to develop the Canberra Theatre Centre, but Minister Cheyne’s unveiling could, if followed through, prove more significant.

The policy and its action plan are described as: “The roadmap the ACT government will take for Canberra to be recognised as Australia’s arts capital as articulated in ‘Canberra: Australia’s Arts Capital – a statement of ambition for the Arts 2021–2026’.”

It is accompanied by several fairly stuffy papers, including the “ACT Arts Organisation Investment Program Framework” and the “Remuneration Principles and Practices” paper, which specifies that artists should be paid

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for their work, so complicated that you can understand why some artists flee the funding scene and try to fund themselves or else go interstate. It might have been wiser to have held these off until a later date.

Optimists are hopeful that the policy will mean salvation for Canberrans who, the papers report, are highly creative, with a 92.5 per cent attendance rate at cultural venues and events, but ACT Opposition spokesperson for the arts, Nicole Lawder, notes the serious lack of direct funding or support for artists in Canberra and labels the printed policy release as “a glossy booklet filled with outdated statistics and trendy buzzwords”.

But there is also the “Action Plan”, outlining how and when the ACT government will deliver the policy’s strategies aimed at achieving the grand “ambition” to make Canberra the country’s arts capital.

As part of the “how”, three key strategies are identified – “Create, Develop, Promote”, spelt out as creating amazing art and culture, developing arts, cultural and creative

industry, practice, and facilities and promoting them all.

Ten focus areas are identified with, front and centre, the stated aim to “elevate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s cultural and artistic practices”.

But with grand visions such as “exploring how to position Canberra internationally as a city of design”, “developing a public art strategy for the ACT” and “ensuring there is a diversity of voices on the Minister’s Creative Council”, there is the detail.

Specific examples of action include setting up a Winter Innovation Festival, continuing the partnership with Wellington City Council to deliver the Canberra-Wellington [NSW] Indigenous artist exchange, co-ordinating regular meetings with larger cultural institutions, supporting contact between the arts, business and academia, upgrading Gorman and Tuggeranong Arts Centres, expanding Canberra Museum and Gallery, and reviewing the Cultural Facilities Corporation Act 1997.

There are also plans for commissioning a new public artwork by female or non-binary artist and preparing a new ticketing system for the Canberra Theatre Centre that, they say, will increase understanding of audiences in the economic impact of the productions to play on its stages.

Glaringly omitted in all the self-

nurtured artists such as Daniel Riley, the new director of the Australian Dance Theatre and screen star Mia Wasikowska; prize-winning poet Geoff Page and glass artists Matt Curtis and Jenni Kemarre Martiniello.

This confirms that Canberra is a first-rate seeding ground for the arts, but they are the exceptions that prove the rule.

And only in the professions that have benefitted from the ANU’s schools of art and music, can artists maintain a lifelong practice in Canberra.

Quality suffers. Underfunded and driven to the co-operative model of payment for artists (this is mentioned in the remuneration paper), there has been of late a proliferation of small theatre companies popping up that claim to be professional, but are not.

Each year, I look in vain to report on Canberrans shortlisted in Archibald, the APRA/AMCOS music awards (one this year and a couple born in Canberra) the Miles Franklin or, with occasional elite exceptions, the Australia Council’s list of residencies and major grants.

It pains me to become The Grinch Who Stole the Minister’s Vision, but the talk, the detailed action plans and the forms to fill out will never make Canberra the arts capital until the political will to do so is manifested much further up the food chain than the ACT government.

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satisfaction is any sense that the arts survive because of passionate individuals who make things happen, until exhausted by persistent underfunding.

There is nothing wrong, per se, with a bit of ambition and the many hundreds of people who labour in the Canberra arts day and night exhibit that in spades, but ministerial hyperbole should be balanced with a cool dose of reality.

To be sure, Canberra is home to national institutions such as the NGA, the NPG, the NLA, the NMA and the NFSA, which are legally constituted and funded arts bodies, but alongside them is a proliferation of small organisations that assume to themselves the title “national” without any credentials to do so.

It’s partly lost in history, but Canberra’s Symphony Orchestra was never part of the ABC orchestras’ network that led to full-time state orchestras. Nor was it deemed necessary to establish by deed at the federal level a national orchestra, dance or theatre company, leaving those notoriously expensive performing arts to flounder.

As well, with a small population here, most of our performing artists quickly head for the big cities.

We have a fair track record of novelists and playwrights being honoured in the NSW and Victorian premiers’ literary awards, we have

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NEWS / Canberra Blues Society at 25

The blues and how to make the most of them

By Belinda

STRAHORN CANBERRA blues musician Dean Edgecombe’s family has enjoyed an out-of-the-ordinary brush with fame.

His late mother – actress Ilma Adey – performed with Australia cinema royalty, and his late father – musician John Edgecombe – played with jazz great Ella Fitzgerald and other leading musicians of the era.

A founding member of the Canberra Blues Society, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Edgecombe shared his remarkable family history with “CityNews” while discussing the importance of the society to the Canberra music scene.

“Dad was a very good jazz musician and very well known during the 1950s,” says Edgecombe, 66.

“He backed a lot of overseas stars when they came to Australia including Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Rich and Johnnie Ray. “Mum was an actress, and a singer, and made a movie called ‘King of the Coral Sea’, which came out in 1954.

“It was filmed on Thursday Island and starred Chips Rafferty, Rod Taylor, and a very young Charles (Bud) Tingwell.”

Canberra Blues Society pioneers, from left, Dean Edgecombe, Kerry Sattler and Steve Hartnett. Photo: Belinda Strahorn. Inset: Dean Edgecombe’s mother IIma Adey in a ‘50s poster for “King of the Coral Sea” with Charles Tingwell.

A talented songwriter, bassist, and vocalist in his own right, Edgecombe is also the founding president of the Canberra Blues Society, which formed in 1997.

Following his relocation from Sydney, Edgecombe helped establish the society with other like-minded local musicians, as a way of promoting blues in the territory.

“I’d been involved in the Sydney Blues Society and when I moved to Canberra for work I spent some time getting to know the local blues musicians and we all decided it would be a good idea to get a blues society together,” says Edgecombe.

“So, we met up at the Gypsy Bar in the city and it went from there.

“The whole idea of the society was to promote interest in blues music and try to get some gigs for ourselves.”

Starting from humble beginnings with 30 members, the society now boasts a membership base of more than 300.

While the society has had many homes over the past 25 years, it has settled on the Harmonie German Club as its permanent base where it hosts travelling blues bands, blues events and runs regular jam sessions and workshops.

“The popularity of blues has defi-

nitely grown in Canberra and that’s down to the work of the society because it has provided venues for bands, and promoted not just our own events but other blues events, too,” says Edgecombe.

Following a long career in a number of Canberra blues bands, Edgecombe has played most recently with the Jeff & Deej Trio.

A passionate fan of blues music, Edgecombe says the genre developed in the late 19th to early 20th century.

“It comes from a moulding of African rhythms from the poeple who came as slaves from various parts of Africa to the US,” says Edgecombe.

“It’s good music and it’s relatively simple to play.

“If I’m playing with a band and we are going well and the audience is appreciative, then playing blues feels great, it’s like a drug-free high.”

Fellow Canberra Blues Society founding member Steve Hartnett, 69, points to the pivotal role that blues music has played in the development of some of the biggest pop groups including The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

“There’s hardly a genre of music – apart from classical – that doesn’t have a blues influence somewhere in its de-

velopment,” says Hartnett, who serves as the society’s current president.

According to Hartnett – a seasoned harmonicist who plays with Canberra band Blue Tone Specials – blues music encourages movement and dance.

“It lets you in,” Hartnett says.

“Blues music is not all lovie dovie, it’s earthy, it’s sad, it’s about loss, grief and bitterness.”

Longtime society office bearer Kerry Sattler, 69, has devoted her time as secretary, treasurer, and booking agent to support the volunteer organisation over many years.

Although not a musician, Sattler has fond memories of growing up listening to blues music on her crystal set radio.

The blues society has given her an opportunity to reconnect with those childhood memories and the music she loved.

“When I listen to blues I get totally immersed in it. I can shut everything out and forget all my troubles,” says Sattler.

“It’s just the music and me, and that’s a great feeling.”

To mark the Canberra Blues Society’s 25th anniversary, the society has produced a CD of blues songs performed by local artists to be launched at the 10th Annual International Blues Music Day celebration on August 6, at the Harmonie German Club.

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POLITICS / vaccination

Lessons from the pandemic go down the gurgler LESSONS from the pandemic seem to have gone down the gurgler. Instead, the world’s population is at an increased risk of preventable disease.

UNICEF describes the declining rate of immunisation in children as a “red alert”. Adults are missing the opportunity to use protective vaccines against a range of debilitating and life-threatening diseases.

Twenty-five million children worldwide have missed out on one or more doses of their infant vaccines through routine immunisation services in 2021 alone.

The percentage of children who received three doses of the vaccine, for example, against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis – a marker for immunisation coverage within and across countries – fell five per cent between 2019 and 2021 to 81 per cent.

With around 20 per cent of children not covered for routine immunisation, the protective factor of “herd immunity” is lost and children are much more vulnerable to devastating diseases.

It was not so long ago that there was a terrible outbreak of measles in Samoa. This is not a mild disease.

Even in that very small population, more than 83 babies lost their lives and many more will have long-term issues.

The World Health Organization

Lack of vaccination against covid is a key factor in Australian hospitals being overcrowded with more deaths than with the previous waves of the disease. and fourth doses of the vaccine. Lack of vaccination against covid is a key factor in Australian hospitals being overcrowded with more deaths than with the previous waves of the disease.

The pandemic ought to have taught us that robust and resilient vaccination systems in all countries are crucial to protect children and adults from preventable illness and death and to ensure quick and effective recovery from any future shocks and crises.

Logistics are a key element of effective, robust and resilient immunisation systems. In remote areas, for example, logistical systems need to be in place to ensure an effective “cold chain”. This is where vaccines are delivered to the arm having been

Twenty-five million children worldwide missed one or more doses of their infant vaccines in 2021 alone. says that vaccination is second only to clean water in improving health.

The European Commission’s 2017 report “State of Health in the EU” identified vaccination as “one of the most powerful and cost-effective tools in the history of public health”. That was before the pandemic. We have also learnt since that time of the most significant health, economic and social benefits of vaccination.

Australia vaccinated brilliantly for the first two doses against COVID-19.

In Canberra, by October last year more than 99 per cent of over 12-year-olds had been vaccinated.

However, this commitment dropped off considerably with regard to the third

maintained at an appropriate temperature from manufacture to delivery.

The importance of vaccination beyond childhood has been lost on some populations. COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of adult vaccination such as the flu and other important protective vaccines such as against the varicella virus – which is responsible for chickenpox and which, later in life, causes shingles.

The pneumonia vaccinations and the triple tetanus, pertussis and diphtheria, are two more examples of protections that are available for adults. Adults who have the pertussis vaccine play a key role in preventing whooping cough in infants who are not yet old enough to have the vaccine themselves.

Younger adults are able to gain protection against cervical cancer with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. In fact, Australia leads the world with the number of people protected through this vaccination. In Africa and other developing nations the numbers protected are very low.

Globally, according to UNICEF, more than a quarter of the coverage of HPV vaccines achieved in 2019 has been lost.

Robust and resilient systems have

three key elements. Firstly, they prioritise immunisation throughout life as a key pillar of expanded prevention strategies and a central component of universal health coverage. Secondly, they remove barriers to access for appropriate immunisation throughout life to ensure all people are protected and no one is left behind. Thirdly, they reduce inequities in timely, appropriate, and affordable access to immunisation throughout life.

Vaccination works. Smallpox no longer exists as a disease in humans.

There were only a handful of wild polio cases in the world over the last two years. Failure to learn lessons from the impact of the pandemic takes many forms, but inadequate vaccination ought not be one of them.

Michael Moore is a former independent ACT minister for health. He is chair of the Global Taskforce on Immunization Policy for the World Federation of Public Health Associations.

There are more of his columns at citynews.com.au

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BRIEFLY 40 fined for using phones in cars A LEARNER driver, unaccompanied and without L-plates displayed, was one of more than 40 people issued infringement notices for illegal phone use during July.

Police say, disturbingly, several of the 40+ drivers were committing other offences while using their phones.

A van driver, leaving a heavy-vehicle fuel station, was on his mobile and not wearing a seatbelt, and a provisional driver was detected on Northbourne Avenue holding her phone in one hand while driving, with no P-plates displayed.

This month police focus on reducedspeed areas, including town centres, school zones and road works.

Marg’s quirky Canberra WITH increasing numbers, Narrabundah Probus Club president John Worcester says the club’s regular monthly meetings at the Harmonie German Club have moved to the second Tuesday of the month to ensure a bigger space. Marg Wade is the guest speaker at the 11am meeting on August 9 with a presentation about “Quirky Canberra”. New members are always welcome, says John.

A word from Karen CANBERRA author Karen Viggers is the guest speaker at the next monthly meeting of the Canberra City Ladies Probus Club at Yowani Country Club, from 10am on August 9. More from patchysue7@ gmail.com or 6258 2231.

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DEEP IN DEBT / public service superannuation

Government falls behind PS super liability goal Following the revelations of recent columns exposing the spiralling levels of ACT government debt, JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED have received several comments and questions.

IN addition to general concerns about the impact the ACT’s current levels of debt will have on essential services, such as health and education, and the ethics of the burden of debt being transferred to future generations, we have been asked: • where the borrowed monies have been spent, and what the ACT has to show for the debt; • whether this is the full extent of the ACT’s financial obligations; and • whether the debt figures include or paid for Light Rail Stage 1.

In relation to light rail, some readers suggested that because the project was “off budget”, or in the words of some “paying for itself”, it was unlikely to have an impact on the budget.

Noting the government is in the process of making contractual commitments for the next stages of the project, it’s timely to expand on and, hopefully, clarify issues relating to the funding of light rail.

Our previous articles related to borrowings by the government from the financial markets through bonds and promissory notes, and the lack of budgetary capacity to repay those debts as they mature.

TABLE 1.

However, in addition to borrowings there are other substantial medium to long-term financial obligations that will also need to be met from future budgets. Broadly these relate to superannuation liabilities and payments in respect to Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) into which the ACT government has entered.

The superannuation liability relates to the entitlements of current and past members of the ACT Public Service who were members of the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS) and the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS).

The benefits payable to members of these schemes are defined in advance through formulae that are linked to factors such as years of service, final average salary and level of individual member contribution over time.

The defined benefit schemes are now closed to new employees, however, there are current employees who are members of these schemes as well as retirees receiving pensions consistent with the terms of those schemes.

The 2020-21 ACT audited financial statements estimate the ACT superannuation liability as of June 30, 2021 as $13.2 billion. According to the

TABLE 2.

projections included in the budget papers, the liability is forecast to peak in the early 2030s, reducing progressively over the following 50 years, based on the current mortality rates and other relevant assumptions.

Concerns about the ACT’s mounting superannuation liability were raised soon after self-government, resulting in a Superannuation Provision Account being established in 1991 to set aside funds for investment to cover future liabilities.

The Carnell government subsequently adopted a target, as part of its fiscal strategy, designed to fully fund the superannuation liability by 2030.

This target was maintained by subsequent governments and remained a key component of fiscal strategy until 2013-14.

However, the 2014-15 budget reflected a major change in fiscal strategy, including changes to the measurement of debt and liability metrics that, as we have pointed out previously, are irrelevant and misleading.

The budget papers nevertheless continued to refer vaguely to the government’s objective to fully funding the liability by 2030, until the 2018-19 budget where the Budget Overview (rather than the Fiscal Strategy) contained the following rather ambiguous undertaking: “The government continues to focus on our important financial objective of extinguishing the territory’s unfunded superannuation liability by 2030. This is the largest liability on the government’s balance sheet, but our strategy remains on target to fully fund this over time.”

Notably, there is no reference to any such objective or indeed a target date in the 2019-20 budget papers.

In 2010-11, the superannuation assets, that is, funds set aside previously and their returns, had reached $2.3 billion, while the liability was estimated at $4.3 billion (TABLE 1). The unfunded liability was $2 billion, and the coverage ratio was 53%.

In 2021, the liability had grown to an estimated $13.2 billion, of which only $5.1 billion was covered, leaving an unfunded component of $8.1 billion and a coverage ratio of just 39 per cent.

It is notable that budget allocations to the fund over the past decade have not kept pace with the growth in liability due, almost certainly, to the precarious state of the budget and the government’s spending priorities.

is attractive, even seductive, to governments such as the ACT government, where debt levels on the balance sheet are a serious concern.

Ultimately, however, such arrangements represent a cost to taxpayers and future budgets, in both the finance and service delivery component, as well as in project risks.

The accounting standards initially failed to ensure that the impacts of such “innovative financing” structures, as they were originally known, were appropriately disclosed.

For example, in 2015-16, when the ACT government entered into PPP agreements for Light Rail Stage 1 and the ACT Law Courts, the financial commitments were disclosed only in a note in the annual financial statements.

Presumably on the insistence of the auditors.

The ACT’s monthly payments to its PPP partners cover (a) design, construction and upgrades of the infrastructure; and (b) operating and maintenance costs. The former has been treated as a finance lease and the latter as an operating lease until 2019-20.

At TABLE 2 are the commitments the ACT government has entered into over the term of the PPP agreements relating to Light Rail and the Law Courts.

These liabilities will be extinguished over the respective terms of the PPP agreements.

The ACT’s increase in debt is largely due to poor financial management and deficits in the primary cash balance which have of necessity been funded through borrowings.

THE other most significant liabilities that the ACT government has acquired relate to two projects commissioned by it under PPP contracts.

The appearance of “off-budget” financing

APART from the liabilities discussed above, there are other relatively smaller commitments the government has made, for example, those relating to leasing vehicles, office space and IT equipment.

A broader measure of liabilities than Net Debt (which includes superannuation and other lease commitments) is Net Financial Liabilities (NFL) which is calculated as total liabilities less financial assets (such as cash reserves and investments). TABLE 3 illustrates changes in this measure over the last decade as well as the NFL to Revenue ratio, a key metric in the Fiscal Strategy.

To sum up, the ACT’s increase in debt is largely due to poor financial management and deficits in the primary cash balance which have of necessity been funded through borrowings.

In addition, the superannuation liability has increased by $8.9 billion, and the ACT government has abandoned the objective of fully funding the liability by 2030. The unfunded superannuation liability has increased fourfold over the last decade. The PPPs have placed significant liabilities on the budget over the coming years.

Jon Stanhope is a former chief minister of the ACT and Dr Khalid Ahmed a former senior ACT Treasury official.

TABLE 3.

Note: The above table relates to the General Government Sector. For the total Territory, which includes some of the light rail liability, the NFL to Revenue ratio was 85% in 2011 and 236% in 2021.

10 CityNews August 4-10, 2022

HUSSEY & HUSSEY

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‘Clients trust us with their money and their livelihoods, so the relationship has to be special.’

Pamela keeps her clients up close and personal FROM stuffing envelopes as an eight-year-old on weekends to help her dad, accountant Pamela Hussey now leads Hussey & Hussey.

She has taken the legacy of her late father’s firm to new heights, but never lost sight of the importance of building strong client relationships.

Michael Hussey and Associates, as the accounting firm was then known, was started by Michael Hussey in 1981.

Pamela remembers her larger-than-life father to be a natural with his clients, always friendly, approachable and attentive.

“Dad was 6’3”, with a big laugh, big smile and was incredibly approachable. He was not your stereotypical accountant,” says Pamela.

“He was outgoing, understanding and people loved to be around him. He built up a practice and a loyal client list because of his personal approach.

“People believed him and his intentions. I always admired my dad’s honesty.

He was the real deal, always.”

In 1996 Pamela Hussey graduated as a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) after completing her accounting degree at the University of Canberra.

She says it was a natural progression for her to work alongside Michael and, after her graduation, they formed a partnership, creating Hussey & Hussey.

Pamela says that because of the close client relationships that she and Michael

Pamela and Michael Hussey… “People loved to be around dad,” says Pamela.

Accounting principal Pamela Hussey… “At least once a year our clients know that my team and I are here for them. Tax time is one of life’s certainties!”

fostered, generations of Canberra families come to Hussey & Hussey for their tax matters and keep coming back year after year.

“We didn’t aspire for a big practice. I want every one of my clients to know me and trust that, as the owner, I will be here every day,” she says.

“I wanted to keep the family nature of the practice going. The practice still loves the close relationships we have with our clients. When the phone rings, I know each of our clients. I find you can only give people the right answers if you fully understand your clients.”

Pamela says that she and her team of eight recognise that it’s a privilege that clients come to them each year, every year through all of life’s stages such as marriage, the birth of children, creating businesses and through difficult times.

“There’s something about when people trust you to talk about money, you can talk about anything. Governments, technology and all aspects of our life change, but at least once a year our clients know that my team and I are here for them. Tax time is one of life’s certainties!”

Pamela says that her team understands

the difficulties that the community has faced, especially in small business over the past couple of years.

“They are trusting us with their money and their livelihoods so the relationship has to be special. It’s a big responsibility and a big privilege,” she says.

In terms of tax accounting services, Hussey & Hussey specialises in rental property tax advice, small and medium business accounting, and international tax matters.

In recent years, Pamela has done a lot of work in deceased estates and estate planning.

“It’s the inevitability that with the older members of the families we have had long-standing relationships with that they are now coming to us for help with managing their estates,” she explains.

“As the saying goes, death and taxes are an inevitability of life. There are terrific tax outcomes that can be made if people plan ahead.

“People arrange for prepaid funerals, but so often leave their money in a mess.

Getting tax advice and planning about the outcomes of your estate prior to your death is something more people should consider doing.”

She says that thanks to her team, who have a diverse mix of experience and backgrounds, they continue to utilise new technology by moving to a totally paperless office this year, implementing an online booking system for clients to make appointments any time they like, and an online client portal to make approvals and sign-offs completely digital.

These improvements have supported clients who move away from Canberra but still want Hussey & Hussey to look after their accounting matters. And Pamela says it’s been a “godsend” during covid times.

“While we enjoy the face-to-face interaction with clients, we can help provide more flexibility and ease for them and help our clients plan their lives better,” she says. “It’s a privilege for them to trust me.”

Hussey & Hussey Certified Practising Accountants, Unit 5/30-36 Woolley Street, Dickson, visit hussey.com.au or call 6247 6735.

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Call 6247 6735 | Unit 5/30-36 Woolley St, Dickson | www.hussey.com.au CityNews August 4-10, 2022 11

LETTERS

Would I swap my construction job? You betcha!

I WAS gobsmacked and incensed when I heard Women’s Minister Yvette Berry’s announcement regarding an all women-led construction project for the $62.4 million Straithnairn primary school.

Some people want the tram, Rebecca

Minister, please take your rose-tinted glasses off – the reason that there are low numbers of females across the broad spectrum of trades is that construction work is bloody physically hard, tedious and, at times, boring. I should know, I’ve spent the past six years hands-on within the industry and the past 40 years associated with it.

Having come from a corporate job, I now have a wonderful set of new skills: a degree in driving a wheelbarrow (still tips over sometimes); an advanced diploma in sweeping (I’m an absolute expert); and a certificate in draining a water-inundated site (amazing what you can achieve with a used disposable coffee cup and bucket).

Would I swap my construction job for something else? You betcha! However, it’s a small family construction business, we have everything invested in it.

I’m also the wife of a former qualified bricklayer who was the first person in the ACT to give a female bricklayer an opportunity to work in the trade in the ‘90s.

If you really think it’s difficult for females in this day and age to work in the industry, just give a thought to that woman and what she went through (no longer a bricklayer, but still associated with the industry).

So, some final words of advice to the government – get rid of the woke crap, those who want to work in the industry have plenty of opportunity to do so.

Stop dishing out new forms of discrimination and barriers as the industry has enough problems.

Perhaps, if you reduced the current development application approval time from the standard 6-12 months, and get it back to the old system of 40 working days, then we would have some certainty and efficiency within the industry.

This, in turn, could lead to a reduction in the price of residential construction, and, if overall holding costs are reduced, we may get more reasonably priced housing.

Vesna Strika, Gungahlin

REBECCA, of Hughes, refers to the tram “that no-one wants” (Letters, CN July 21).

I suggest these people want it: 1. The CFMEU for gold-plated jobs.

2. The construction companies for lucrative contracts.

3. The Labor/Greens government to avoid the embarrassment of a stranded Gungahlin line to nowhere.

Hugh Dakin, Griffith

Michael’s right about Access Canberra MICHAEL Moore’s indictment of Access Canberra (“How Access Canberra gilds its own wilting lily”, CN July 21) was, unfortunately, spot-on.

As a dutiful citizen, I report infrastructure issues needing attention to Fix My Street. A quick review of my reported but unresolved issues dating back to November 2021 reveals the following: half of the issues remain “unassigned”, including two relating to pothole repair and two relating to street light globe replacements.

The others, which have been assigned but not actioned, include pothole repairs, pavement repairs, street light globe replacement, and inspection of deterioration to an underpass roof.

Karina Morris, Weetangera

Good luck getting the streetlight replaced GOOD luck to the resident seeking to have his street light replaced (“How Access Canberra gilds its own wilting lily”, CN July 21). The light in our cul-de-sac was unserviceable for 10 years and reported on at least three occasions before it was replaced by a suburb-wide program to install LED lights.

We have a government that displays interest in drugs, LGBT, euthanasia, bike paths and anything trendy with a photo op, but has negligible interest in quality of education, health care or services to the community. We have schools and areas of health with endemic bullying known for decades without being successfully addressed, and road subsidences that are addressed by painting some white lines

on them. Unfortunately, there is nothing publicity-worthy in a streetlight, even if it may save a life.

Noel Moore, Fadden

Monumental failure in planning IT is said that the biggest failure of planners is to underestimate the impact of technology.

No problems there with the Labor/ Greens government’s plan to ban new internal combustion engine cars and light trucks in the ACT from 2035. There is complete faith in technology to overcome the current shortcomings in battery technology. Although, as Bjorn Moore (Letters, July 28) points out, it will cost the consumer, especially in upgrading the most expensive part of the grid so that parked vehicles can be recharged.

Why then ignore the wide range of electric-traction, road public transport technology, including automated car fleets, in favour of a light rail network.

With the right planning we could have a flexible but uniform public transport system covering the entire Canberra region by 2035 for a small fraction of the cost of light rail.

Instead, Canberra residents south of the lake are to be given a “disruption task force” for an unnecessarily costly imbroglio that may go on for the next 10 years before there is even a link to Woden.

Technology is now making working from home and internet shopping efficient. So, it is already apparent that basing the city of the future on concentrations of high-rise apartments and commercial buildings along transport corridors is a very poor way of achieving the desired outcomes and must rank as a monumental failure in planning.

John L Smith, Farrer

Plant billions of trees as quickly as possible I AGREE with Michael Moore: “It’ll take more than God to fix the environment” (CN July 28).

Apart from the fact that the last demographic survey showed that Australians have drifted away from religion, including Christianity, the “State of the Environment” report shows that we have lost control.

Record heat waves and wildfires in southwestern Europe, in California, and even in outer London are conclusive evidence that the climate has changed – for the worse.

Wildfires are becoming more intense, glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates, even in the Himalaya and on the high Tibetan plateau, sea levels are rising, storms are also becoming more intense, albeit less frequent, and productivity of the land is being reduced by more intense and frequent droughts and dust storms.

The answer? For a start, cease using fossil fuels and plant billions of trees as quickly as possible.

Dr Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin

Where have all the kangaroos gone!

HAS anyone noticed there are hardly any kangaroos to be seen when driving around Canberra?

I hardly see any these days on my regular trip from Woden to Belconnen or on the way to Fyshwick. A cull on Farrer Ridge last year left only 30 kangaroos in an area of over 200 hectares and, although I walk there most days, I hardly ever see any.

It reminds me of when I first came to Canberra in 1956, most of the suburbs were surrounded by mainly sheep farms, not a kangaroo to be seen. It might be hard to imagine for people living here today.

Although I spent lots of time out exploring the bush, I saw a kangaroo in the wild for the first time in 1963 on an abandoned farm off the Brindabella Road.

It was nice to see their migration into the ACT thinking they would be safe from the landholders’ guns, but the current government seems to have adopted the same attitude and are hellbent on ensuring the extinction of kangaroos in Canberra.

Julie Lindner, Farrer

Time Steel put his head up and explained THANKS to recent strong campaigning on integrity by local, independent, senate candidates, ACT voters’ expectations about governance at the Assembly level will be much harder to ignore.

The ACT government’s handling of CIT’s dogged awarding of “transformative” management tenders should not be conducted in ways that simply aim to avoid bouts of political jousting (“Libs: Steel in hiding over ‘murky’ CIT contracts”, citynews.com.au July 22).

Once the ACT Budget has been bedded

down, it would be encouraging to see the ACT Skills Minister putting his head up above the proverbial parapet and revving up his public engagement in more transparent ways.

For example, updates about what the tender investigations will deliver, and when, are needed since costs keep mounting from the current CIT CEO being on “gardening leave” for many weeks and a temporary CEO from interstate being employed to keep the government’s main VET ship from capsizing.

Sue Dyer, Downer

When it comes to emissions, cars win!

JACK Palmer says that “Transport Canberra’s [emissions] result is thus better than individual cars’ result as soon as the number of passengers exceeds three,” (Letters, CN July 5).

I disagree.

In 2020-21 Transport Canberra’s buses travelled 32 million kilometres. They used 12 million litres of diesel and 90,000 GJ of natural gas. From that, I estimate that they caused the equivalent of 37,000 tonnes of greenhouse emissions.

With three passengers, that’s 390 grams of emissions per person per kilometre.

The average Canberra car carries 1.46 people and causes 270 grams of emissions per kilometre. That’s only 185 grams of emissions per person per kilometre.

Leon Arundell, Downer

Is travelling Albo any better than Scomo?

IN 2019, Scott Morrison made headlines regarding his holiday in Hawaii while bushfires forced thousands of people to leave their towns.

This dramatic event has a particular resonance with Anthony Albanese enjoying himself overseas at the expense of taxpayers’ money as heavy rainfall in north-west NSW continues to significantly destroy homes and the environment causing families to experience immense social upheaval.

Myriam Amar, Mawson

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WHIMSY

Of dragons, wyverns, griffins and phoenixes OUR former Senator, Zdenko “Zed” Seselja, was said to be one of Canberra’s mythical creatures – except around election time.

Dragons, wyverns, griffins, and phoenixes are mythical, too.

Not many of us can explain the differences between them, so I did some research.

Firstly the “dragon” – a legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide.

In appearance, dragons often have a combination of feline, avian and reptilian features. Crocodiles bear the closest real-world resemblance to dragons and may be the basis for Asian dragon imagery.

Beliefs about dragons vary considerably. Western cultures since the Middle Ages have depicted dragons as winged, horned, fourlegged, aggressive, and capable of breathing fire. In fact, the name “dragon” is derived from the Latin word “draconem”, which means “huge serpent”.

By contrast, dragons in Asian cultures are usually depicted as friendly wingless, four-legged, serpentine creatures, with aboveaverage intelligence. In China, only the imperial dragon has five toes on each foot. All others have four.

Clive’s wife Ruth about to high-five the Welsh four-toed, red Y Ddraig Goch.

Japanese and Korean dragons look similar to Chinese ones, but only have three toes.

The four-toed red dragon Y Ddraig Goch features on the national flag of Wales. The Welsh dragon is thought to have originated in Arthurian leg-

end. The Celts believed that dragons were shape-shifters who could take any form they desired; including human form. Merlin the magician tells of the red dragon (representing Britons) defeating the white dragon (representing invading Saxons).

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The tails of dragons vary a lot, too, with the Welsh dragon’s tail traditionally ending in an arrow shape.

A “wyvern” by contrast is a legendary dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry. It’s also a popular creature in European literature, mythology and folklore. Today wyverns are often seen in fantasy literature and video games with dragonlike characteristics. The wyvern in heraldry and folklore is rarely fire-breathing, unlike four-legged dragons.

“Griffins” are unlike dragons.

They are a legendary creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle’s talons as the front feet. Since classical antiquity, griffins were known for guarding treasures and priceless possessions. (Confusingly, there are two apartment blocks named The Griffin in Canberra.)

In Greek and Roman mythology, griffins and Arimaspians (a tribe of one-eyed people living in the Ural Mountains) were associated with

protecting gold. Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote: “Griffins were said to lay eggs in burrows on the ground and these nests contained gold nuggets.” In medieval heraldry, the griffin became a Christian symbol of divine power and guardian of the divine.

The “phoenix” is an immortal bird associated with Greek mythology that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again (like some dodgy Canberra property developers). Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.

That reminds me, if you’re on a horse, surrounded by dragons, unicorns and other mythical creatures, and are concerned about your situation – it’s probably safest to wait until the music stops before getting off the carousel.

Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.

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ALL ABOUT QUEANBEYAN

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Meet the businesses proud to call QBN home Experienced legal team offers support for personal injury

“QUANGERS”, “Q-town”, “Queanbo” – Canberra’s neighbouring city has certainly had its fair share of creative handles over the years.

But even before it was known as Queanbeyan, the area went by a similar, yet different name.

Queanbeyan is actually the anglicised form of the name “Quinbean” – an Aboriginal word meaning “clear waters” and likely a reference to the river that runs through the heart of the now-city.

By 1828, ex-convict and innkeeper Timothy Beard had a squattage called “Quinbeane” Station on the banks of the Molonglo River in the area now known as Oaks Estate.

The name Queanbeyan would first be gazetted some 10 years later in 1838 and the community has held on to it ever since.

Whatever one might label the locale, there’s no denying that Queanbeyan residents wear it with pride. This week “CityNews” visited its favourite neighbouring town to meet the local businesses who are proud to call Queanbeyan home.

‘Modern, chic’ hotel in the heart of Queanbeyan THE Royal Hotel in Queanbeyan has three different venues available to suit any occasion, says events and marketing manager Bianca Paquay.

“The Manhattan Room is our biggest, hosting up to around 80 guests, but we also have the Menzies Room and our smallest and most private is the Beadman Room,” says Bianca.

And with an upstairs kitchen designed purely for functions, Bianca says the Royal Hotel offers an extensive choice of dining and drinks packages to add flavour to any event being hosted.

“We’ve got different catering options available as well, whether they’re after

the sandwich package for a working lunch, or whether they want to go for a hot buffet, which is perfect in these winter months – and it’s been the most popular at the moment.”

Bianca says The Royal Hotel has the latest audio-visual technology available.

The atrium and outdoor terrace can be used for fresh air during breaks and it’s all right at the heart of Queanbeyan, in a modern, chic feel.

The Royal Hotel, 85 Monaro Street, Queanbeyan. Contact functions@royalhotelqbn. com.au or call 6297 1444.

BAKER Deane & Nutt (BDN) Lawyers have been serving the Canberra and Queanbeyan region for more than 160 years, says partner Richard Baker.

“Our practitioners are client focused, strong communicators and possess the necessary knowledge to work successfully across both ACT and NSW jurisdictions,” says Richard.

“Additionally, for personal injury matters, we offer free initial consultation and if there’s no win, there’s no fee.”

Throughout their long operation, Richard says the firm has amassed a wealth of knowledge and assisted thousands of clients to obtain compensation for injuries suffered due to no fault of their own.

“If you’ve suffered an injury and have needed either time off work or medical treatment it is likely that a claim for compensation can be made, in which case, you should contact BDN for a risk-free consultation,” he says.

Unfortunately, Richard says, there are many circumstances where people have been injured and might not realise they’re entitled to compensation.

“Whenever an employee suffers an injury in the course of their employment, sometimes even when they’re travelling to or from work, a workers’ compensation claim may be made,” he says.

“This includes employment-related disputes resulting from bullying and harassment. Commonly, employees may seek advice in relation to their rights within the context of employment law, without realising that they may also have a remedy via workers compensation, provided they’ve suffered either a psychological or physical injury.

“Our primary focus is to obtain the best possible outcome for our clients, having regard to both the strength of their claim as well as their personal circumstances.

“We’re equally comfortable representing the interests of our clients in informal settlement conferences as we are formal court hearings.”

Baker Deane & Nutt, 260 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan. Call 6299 3999 or visit bdn.com.au

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14 CityNews August 4-10, 2022

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The Royal Hotel Queanbeyan’s Upper House boasts a collaboration of contemporary comforts and amenities, integrated with the original architecture; offering unique and memorable settings. All are complemented by a beautiful atrium overflowing into an open courtyard, allowing an abundance of natural light, to create the perfect ambiance for any event.

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From boardroom meetings of 24 guests to Half Day & Full Day Conferences for 80 cabaret, our Upper House venues are the perfect choice for your next meeting.

With the option of a post-conference cocktail for 150 guests, or presentation dinners for 120 guests, the Manhattan Room has the versatility to suit all types of events.

Our event spaces all flow into the outdoor courtyard and atrium to be enjoyed during your breaks or with the setting of the sun over a glass of wine.

Contact one of our events team for more information and to organise a site visit to see why this venue is the best kept secret in Queanbeyan!

functions@royalhotelqbn.com.au | 02 6297 1444 ext 2

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ALL ABOUT QUEANBEYAN Ahoy there, theatregoers!

Debbie Maree Carvolth of Debbie Maree’s Fashion Boutique.

A decade of women’s fashion in Queanbeyan HAVING celebrated its tenth anniversary in May, Debbie Maree’s Fashion Boutique has proudly become one of Queanbeyan’s favourite local shops for women’s fashion, says owner Debbie Carvolth.

Stocking locally sourced and Australian-made products as well as major international brands, Debbie says the business is all about making women of all ages, shapes and sizes, feel good through clothes.

Just some of the big-selling brands stocked include Joseph Ribkoff, Foil and Philosophy, and Debbie says customers will always receive a friendly, supportive and personalised service.

She also says there’s a wide range of this season’s shoes, as well as a selection of sneakers, accessories and jewellery.

“You must come in to see the entire range,” she says.

Debbie’s also always encouraging retail businesses to come set up shop in Queanbeyan.

“We draw on the surrounding district and a growing region,” she says.

“There’s still some lovely vacant places perfect for innovative people.”

Debbie Maree’s Fashion Boutique, 234 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan.

Call 6299 3335.

THIS October the Queanbeyan Players bring a topsy-turvy, nautical tale to the stage with “H.M.S. Pinafore”, one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most beloved comedies.

Set on the high-seas of the 1800s, this comic opera is the story of star-crossed lovers, mismatched marriages and mistaken identities, and a show that director Jude Colquhoun says will leave its audience feeling happy and humming tunes.

“It’s actually a hard plot to define really,” says Jude, who’s been part of the local theatre scene for more than two decades.

“It’s based around the captain of a ship whose daughter has fallen for one of the lowly sailors, but her father is a social climber who’d prefer she marry the politician in charge of the navy.

“It’s just one of three tales of

“H.M.S. Pinafore” at The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, October 14-23, visit theq.net.au

The Queanbeyan Players rehearse “H.M.S. Pinafore”.

234 Crawford St, Queanbeyan 02 6299 3335 @debbiemariesfashion Weekdays 9:30 - 5:30 Saturday 10:00 - 3:00 Sunday closed 16 CityNews August 4-10, 2022

unrequited love, but there’s a secret in the story that may in the end be just the key to bringing these lovers together.”

Jude says the witty humour and lighthearted nature of the show will appeal to any age, with there being “something for every audience member” “Gilbert actually encouraged people to tweak the lyrics to suit the performance, so even though it might be set in a particular time, you can throw stuff in about the current state of affairs like politics for more laughs,” she says.

“That’s what I think we need right now, a bit of light-heartedness, and that’s our aim, to give audiences a chance to see some great live theatre again and have a fun time.”

Beautician feels ‘right at home’ in Queanbeyan OWNER of Deziner Beauty Louise McMahon says she’s felt right at home in the Queanbeyan community since first moving from Batemans Bay almost a decade ago.

“Everyone here is so bubbly and down to earth and really welcoming and really helped my business grow,” says Louise.

“With a passion for beauty, we team up to give the best beauty experience possible, we want to give the best we can back to the community.”

Louise, who has more than 18 years of experience in the industry, says Deziner Beauty owner Louise she’s currently got a series McMahon. of special deals available.

“Buy a series of six facials, and they will each be reduced down to $120 and you get $200 worth of free take-home products as well,” she says.

“Our facials are our signature treatment and we love transforming people’s faces, through facelifts and body contouring, make-up or waxing.

“We can take 10 years off your skin with all the amazing treatments and products we have, including a non-surgical facelift.”

Deziner Beauty, Shop 16/18 Cassidy’s Arcade, 72 Monaro Street, Queanbeyan. Call 6299 5792 or visit dezinerbeauty.com.au

advertising feature Plenty to see on the Queanbeyan stage THERE’S plenty of great shows to experience at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre (The Q) this month.

On August 5 and 6, audiences can see “The Year of Magical Thinking”, a journey from the comfort and contentment of life into the surreal and dark world of grief, and beyond.

Deeply moving, sometimes funny, and ultimately joyful, The Q describes this show as one woman’s journey to find acceptance, and the lessons learnt in letting go.

On August 10, audiences can see a “beautifully intimate” acoustic concert of songs from Jess Hitchcock’s new album, “Unbreakable”.

An indigenous performer, composer, and singer-songwriter with family origins from Saibai in the Torres Straits and Papua New Guinea, The Q says Jess will mesmerise with her ethereal vocals and lyrical storytelling.

On August 11, eight international awardwinning soul singers will transport audiences back to an era when music was life.

In “Songs in the Key of Motown”, people can hear the harmonies of The Temptations and the Four Tops, experience the incredible choreographed dance moves of The Jackson 5 and The Supremes and feel the soul of Stevie Singer-songwriter Jess Hitchcock.

Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. artists, The Q says this unique production intercepts Running from August 17-20, “Demented”, playful clowning, exquisite puppetry, dramatic the latest work by acclaimed ACT theatre-maker and dialogue, and an original score, to create an unforgetpublished playwright Ruth Pieloor will be brought to table theatrical experience. the Queanbeyan stage.

Pieloor, inspired by her deeply personal experience, The Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre (The Q), turns her trademark magic-realism into an “oddly 253 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan. Call 6285 6290 comic, yet touching realisation of dementia.” or visit theq.net.au An exciting collaboration with local and regional

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Demented

by Ruth Pieloor

17-20 August

In the subconscious maze of dementia, how do you find your way home?

CityNews August 4-10, 2022 17

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Expert ideas to give the home a fresh, new look THE saying, “there’s always room for improvement’’, is as relevant in the home as it is in many other areas in life.

Whether extending or renovating, landscaping the garden, or looking at feature items to bring new life into the home, “CityNews” speaks to talented experts who are passionate about improving people’s homes.

52 years of providing quality flooring

but it is a good primer for clients meeting at our office.

“We have a focus on the design development phase, working closely with our clients and meeting as often as required to ensure an outcome that meets or exceeds our clients’ desires as well as achieving an architectural outcome of high quality.

“The experience we have garnered through the projects we have completed informs each project we undertake, applying what we have learned through our many years of providing our services,” says Alex.

“Arkitex architecture is less of a career and more of a lifestyle and passion.”

ENDEAVOUR Carpets offers the largest range of top-quality floor coverings in Canberra and Queanbeyan, with options that help keep the home warm in the winter and cool in the summer, says owners Taylor O’Brien.

Established in 1970, and still a family run business, Endeavour will this year celebrate its 52nd anniversary.

Taylor says Endeavour has maintained its Endeavour Carpets original objective of displaying exceptional owners of Ben and choices of carpet, timber, laminate and hybrid Taylor O’Brien. flooring, vinyl, vinyl planks and rugs.

She describes their Fyshwick-based showroom as Canberra’s “greatest floor show” with thousands of samples on display, and an experienced team of flooring specialists to make the customer’s experience as easy as possible.

“Our showroom is so great that other retailers send their customers to view our huge range of top-quality floor coverings,” she says.

“As a family business, Endeavour Carpets appreciates that customers are spoilt for choice in a competitive market place, and so maintain an objective to offer the best service and products available and for the best possible price,” she says.

When customers visit Endeavour Carpets, Taylor says they experience good, old-fashioned service from a long-standing, local family business.

“This is what really sets Endeavour Carpets apart from any regular carpet store,” she says.

“At Endeavour Carpets, we don’t just endeavour, we do.”

Arkitex, Shop 5, 24 Torrens Place, Torrens. Call 0413 570599, email info@arkitex.com.au or search Arkitex on Facebook.

Endeavour Carpets, 33 Isa Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 6132, email info@ endeavourcarpets.com.au or visit endeavourcarpets.com.au

Woden’s ‘booming’ architecture team ARKITEX is a firm that has been operating in Canberra since 1997, says director Alessandro (Alex) D’Ambrosio.

“We are a focused firm dedicated to enhancing and improving the local architectural fabric of our immediate local community and surrounding regional areas alike.”

And, Alex says, they’re excited to be expanding to south-east Queensland soon.

But, of course, “Woden is a great place for our office here in Canberra”.

“Woden Valley has experienced something of a boom in renovation, addition and knock-down and rebuild of homes over recent years. This has led to the commute to our office being littered with our previous projects, which is not only rewarding to see from our perspective,

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18 CityNews August 4-10, 2022

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We don’t just endeavour, we do!

Carpets ∙ Rugs ∙ Vinyl ∙ Timber ∙ Laminates

New shop offers more fabrics than ever before THE ART of Frippery has just opened a shop at Dirty Janes Canberra, providing even more fabrics to the region than ever before, says office manager Robyn Ebsworth.

“It’s stocking everything from stunning chairs, unique lamps and lampshades, beautiful cushions, luxurious throws, quality furnishing fabrics, leather, trims and even lampshade making kits,” says Robyn.

“The collection and products are updated regularly.

The very popular offcuts drawer is currently full to the brim and a goldmine for crafters. If you have a bigger project in mind there is a myriad of fabric pieces from half a metre to two to three metres in size at discount prices.

The new shop will be operating out of Dirty Janes

Canberra, a market in Fyshwick that’s described as “perfect for vintage collectors and creatives alike and is a fabulous experience of shopping”.

Robyn says the Art of Frippery also still has their fabric library in Beard for custom orders and consults.

“The retail space gives our customers access to discounted fabrics and leather hides without the need for a special order as well as rare vintage chairs and one-of-a-kind furnishings,” she says.

“Customers can follow us on Instagram to see new products as they become available at Dirty Janes.”

The Art of Frippery at Dirty Janes Canberra, 80 Collie Street, Fyshwick. Visit theartoffrippery.com.au or search The Art of Frippery on Instagram.

FILL IN THE BLANK What floor covering makes your house a home?

Phone 6280 6132 endeavourcarpets.com.au Cnr Newcastle & Isa Streets, Fyshwick

CityNews August 4-10, 2022 19

QUALITY AUSTRALIAN HEMP PRODUCTS

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AS the owner of Renovation Matters, Kim says her love of renovating has seen her take her passion from a hobby to a successful business and with more than 30 renovations under her belt, she’s got the experience and know-how to transform homes to the best effect.

“We can help people renovate to sell or re-tenant as well as renovate to enjoy their home even more,” she says.

Renovation Matters offers a “fix up, profit and pay later” process in which they can cover upfront renovation costs before settlement.

“I’m hearing from some real estate agents that houses that are unrenovated or needing repairs are sitting on the market and not moving,” says Kim. “People haven’t got the time or energy in the current climate. It’s hard to get trades and supplies.

“The places that are renovated and ready to move into are selling faster and actually selling.”

Kim says she works with specialised tradespeople who she trusts to bring their expertise and skill to clients’ renovation projects.

“We provide a full service for clients. Some people might need to move interstate or have family responsibilities that means they need to hand over their home renovation totally to us.

“If we are needed to help a client, there’s nothing we can’t do to help make the renovation a stress-free experience.”

And Renovation Matters has an “explainer video” on their website, says Kim. Renovation Matters, visit renovationmatters.com.au or call Kim on 0427 696662.

Renovation Matters owner Kim Persson.

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Renovation Matters offers transformational renovations that add the biggest impact and value when selling your property If you are not selling, we can help you renovate to meet your specific requirements!

Phone Kim on 0427 696 662 hello@renovationmatters.com.au renovationmatters.com.au

BEFORE

RM explainer video

AFTER 20 CityNews August 4-10, 2022

advertising feature

Thor’s Hammer owner Thor Diesendorf… “We reclaim our timbers from historic buildings, wharves, and factory demolition sites around Australia.”

Recycling wood into something beautiful THE passionate team at Thor’s Hammer design and make a wide range of architectural products, joinery and furniture pieces from recycled Australian hardwoods in their local Canberra workshop, says owner Thor Diesendorf.

“We reclaim our timbers from historic buildings, wharves, and factory demolition sites around Australia,” he says.

“For example, when making posts and beams we use timber from old bridges and telegraph poles.”

Thor says it was from a very young age that he was inspired to work with timber.

“My grandad was an engineer. His hobby was making furniture for the house and he had an amazing workshop,” says Thor.

“I think that’s a big part of where my passion came from, a passion that would eventually become Thor’s Hammer, which has been operating for over 28 years.”

Offering products such as benchtops, cladding, decking, doors, tables and furniture, Thor says sustainability and hands-on making is at the core of what they do.

“Recycled Australian hardwoods are an amazing resource,” he says.

“We aim to show our respect for these timbers by designing products and pieces that are both practical and beautiful.”

Thor’s Hammer, 10 Mildura Street, Griffith.

Call 6282 9900, or visit thors.com.au

100% Recycled Australian timber Flooring, cladding, decking, posts, beams & furniture Made in Canberra 10 Mildura Street Griffith ACT thors.com.au

CityNews August 4-10, 2022 21

HOME IMPROVEMENT

advertising feature Tara can make properties shine

“The Long Cold Winter of 2021” Margaret Hadfield’s award winning art.

Award-winning, ‘real’ art for the home OWNER of The Artists Shed, Margaret Hadfield, has paintings of her own, paintings from shed artists and a section of pre-loved art in the Margaret Hadfield Gallery.

“I’ve had a couple of wins lately. I won first prize in the Royal Easter Show under the landscape category this year,” she says.

Also on display are “beautiful watercolours” from Canberra artist Chan Dissanayake.

Chan has won multiple awards for his work, which includes depictions of rural landscapes to urban cityscapes to coastal seascapes.

Margaret says the Artists Shed and Margaret Hadfield Gallery offer “some real art, not prints. They’re original works from

22 CityNews August 4-10, 2022

local artists.”

“I think we’ve seen a renewed appreciation for the arts during these difficult times,” says Margaret.

“People have missed art and the joy it brings so it’s great to be able to get out there and support them again.”

And for those wanting to get more in touch with their creative side, The Artists Shed is always offering lessons for a diverse range of artistic mediums, ranging from those who are absolute beginners, through to experienced artists looking to sharpen their skills.

The Artists Shed, unit 1-3, 88 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick. Call 0418 237766 or visit artistshed.com.au

SALIENT Property Styling prides itself on creating fresh, cohesive and thoughtful interiors for those wishing to put their homes on the market, says owner Tara Nolan.

“Using our expertise we can make a home feel welcoming and create that important emotional connection to a property, one that will stick out in the minds of buyers as they explore the property market,” she says.

“We are dedicated to enhancing the best features of all properties Salient Property Styling owner Tara Nolan. we enter by creating flowing, functional spaces as well as drawing on the use of light, colour, texture and the smallest details.”

Tara says an empty room has no frame of reference.

“Many people struggle to imagine living in a vacant home.

That is why styling a property is a game changer and becoming the new norm,” she says.

“Our knowledge and experience ensures each home we style is presented at its best before going to market.

“With a long background in design, we understand the elements and principles, and this shines through in our properties.

“We provide all furniture, artwork, linen and decor items to create a space that buyers won’t want to leave!”

Salient Property Styling. Call Tara on 0408 155362 or visit salientpropertystyling.com.au

Distinctive ways to give the home a special touch SOUTH Pacific Hemp, Canberra’s first all hemp store, features a range of linen, fabrics, bedding, cushions and more to add a unique touch to the home, says manager Sue Booth.

“Hemp gives years of wear while its breathing ability, antibacterial and antiviral properties help promote good sleep, health and wellbeing,” says Sue. “Hemp protects your skin by naturally filtering UV light. It also resists bacterial growth and breathes excellently, preventing odours. It has four times the strength of cotton and it won’t weaken when washed.

That’s just the start of what’s on offer at the store, says Sue. “In terms of fabric, there’s everything from belts, bags and bedding to scarves and throws, plant-dyed yarns to reusable make-up removal pads,” she says.

“Our selection of products extends to a unique collection of hemp foods, hemp seed oils, with gorgeous balms and skin creams, babycare, homewares, accessories and pet products.”

Sue says the team is always excited to help customers explore the extensive range.

“Come ask us about what the hemp plant offers, from the benefits of CBD oil to the selection of skincare and beauty products.”

South Pacific Hemp, 84 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick.

Call 0431 318898, visit southpacifichemp.com.au or email sthpacifichemp@gmail.com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

INSIDE

Casual with a focus on tasty

WENDY JOHNSON

Ruth’s personal play from her mum’s dementia

By Helen

MUSA PLAYWRIGHT Ruth Pieloor has turned her personal experience with her late mother into what she describes as “an oddly comic” realisation of dementia.

Armed with grants from ArtsACT and “Q The Locals”, Pieloor’s new work, “Demented”, premieres at The Q later this month.

Her mother, Janette, a well-known Canberra poet, died in April and the role inspired by her will be performed by veteran actor Chrissie Shaw, with Heidi Silberman, Rachel Pengilly and Caroline Eccles taking up the roles of daughter, carer, lover, artist and others to unravel a tapestry of memories in a multi-form production that includes puppetry and clowning.

“It traces four generations of women understanding and embracing dementia. It is partly a woman’s cry, made more profound because women live longer,” says Pieloor.

Embarking on such a difficult subject, Pieloor is assisted by her long experience in the theatre, a career covering mainstage theatre, short plays, puppetry, clowning and, in recent years, some screen work.

After finishing acting school at Nepean, she worked in Sydney where she met

about-to-be Canberra Youth Theatre director Pip Buining. By the time she arrived in 2006 to be near her mum, she had a child and wanted to raise her family in something bigger than a cramped Sydney flat.

Buining pointed her towards Youth Theatre where she did workshops, then people told her: “You’ve really got to connect with The Street Theatre.” She did so and enrolled there in a mask workshop with actor William Zappa, her first real professional dive-in after having a break.

She also wrote plays for the Short+Sweet play festival, for which two plays went to Sydney, before The Street offered her a developmental project in its “Hive” project where she got to work with professional dramaturg, Peter Matheson.

Pieloor isn’t exactly a newcomer to Canberra. When little she lived here and did classes with Youth Theatre, then the family moved to Tasmania where she did a lot of ballet and acting and even got to work with Terrapin Puppet Theatre.

“I love both puppets and human actors enormously,” she says, explaining that puppets have been an important part of her career, possibly coming from “an imaginary person in myself who is really me”.

The roots of puppetry, masks and clowning go very deep, she believes, and are linked – “the clown’s mask is the smallest mask in the world,” she says.

Pieloor should know. By day, she’s a “clown doctor” in hospitals and she doesn’t

Chrissie Shaw, centre… ‘Demented’ traces four generations of Playwright Ruth Pieloor with her mother, Janette, just women understanding and embracing dementia. Photo: Jane Duong before a covid Christmas lockdown last year. see the evil aspect of clowns at all, saying: “Too many people have been influenced by the Stephen King clown character.”

Her clowns are the opposite, very gentle, she says, bringing “light and heartfelt moments while creating empathy for people suffering from dementia, not judging them.”

Ali Clinch, whom she met through working at Rebus Theatre, is directing the play and Pieloor is not in the performance,

although she is understudying so that, “if anyone falls off the perch because of covid, I swing into their roles”.

“Almost everybody in the creative team for ‘Demented’ has some connection with dementia,” she says. “But for me it seemed heavier because my mum’s dementia dialled up during this past year, so I became curator of what was happening to my mum.”

But, she stresses, the play is fictional, not a documentary and with a lot of skin in the

playwriting game, she believes that she has been able to orchestrate the material, balancing the funny and the dramatic moments.

“Almost everybody needs to laugh as much as cry – there’s a lot of theatrical joy,” she says.

“Demented”, at The Q, August 17 (preview) to August 20. Auslan signing performances signed by Brett Olzen, August 18 and 2pm, August 20.

ARTS IN THE CITY

Feted ‘Dark Lady’ heads to town

By Helen Musa IN another big coup for Canberra Theatre boss Alex Budd, the triple Olivier Award-winning play, “Emilia”, inspired by Emilia Bassano, possibly the “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets, will make its Australian debut season from December 1 to 4.

STATE Opera SA has announced its artistic director Stuart Maunder will leave the company in mid-2023 after four years at the helm before taking on the role of artistic director at Victorian Opera. Maunder, famous here for his productions with Canberra Philharmonic, has re-invigorated the Adelaide arts organisation and brought it back as a major contender on the national stage.

“SONGS in the Key of Motown” is a spectacular tribute concert that features Spectrum, a vocal quartet that’s spent years recreating the sound and style of the Four Tops in Las Vegas. At The Q, Queanbeyan, Thursday, August 11.

RACHAEL Maza, artistic director of Ilbijerri Theatre Company and daughter of the late Bob Maza, who created the first Black Theatre company in Australia, will be in conversation with Rhianna Patrick as part of the National Library’s “Deadly Dialogues”, 6pm, August

The cast of “Emilia”... coming to Canberra Theatre.

Photo: Pia Johnson 8. The session will be live streamed free at facebook.com/National.

Library.of.Australia The ANU School of Music is feasting on piano music with four evening concerts featuring local

and international pianists – the Herscovitch Piano Duo, Neeman Piano Duo, Friends of the School of Music Historical Instruments group and Roy Howat from the Royal Academy of Music, London. Larry Sitsky Recital Room, August 8-11.

CityNews August 4-10, 2022 23

STREAMING

From the days when Swan first got his badge BY many accounts, ABC’s brilliant crime drama “Mystery Road” shouldn’t exist.

Spanning two films, two television series and now even a prequel story for its central detective, one would think it the stuff of a top-shelf streaming company with millions of dollars to pump into production.

But this captivating Aussie drama, made on a budget that’s dwarfed by the endless catalogue of crime shows today, stands toeto-toe with any of the big players out there.

That’s thanks to Jay Swan, the indigenous and Akubra-wearing cowboy detective at the centre of “Mystery Road”.

Swan, played by Aaron Pedersen, hooked audiences’ attention with his first appearance in the 2006 film of the same name.

He brought a gruff nuance to this country investigator – a man living in a limbo, one caught between cultures, the law and family.

This crime drama dripping in outback noir stormed up enough intrigue to earn itself a spin-off TV series, one where Pedersen even went on to act alongside Australian all-star Judy Davis in an excellent second season that aired in 2020.

The question then arose, how much juice was left in this tank?

falls apart, culminating in a truly shocking climax that’ll be sure to drop some jaws.

Impeccable performances, particularly from Jones, make it hard to look away from and while there is a season two that’s far less compulsory viewing, season one stands on its own as a truly first-rate piece of television.

Hell hath no fury…

Streaming on Stan.

Mark Coles Smith plays a younger version of Jay Swan in the “Mystery Road” prequel “Origin”.

If the now-streaming “Mystery Road: Origin” is anything to go by, the answer is quite a bit yet.

This new series rewinds to 1999 when Swan first earnt his detective badge as a pup cop and when he’s posted to a mining town under siege from a gang of robbers wearing Ned Kelly attire. The twisted infusion of Australiana gives this instalment of “Mystery Road” an especially eyebrow-raising edge.

Mark Coles Smith dons the Akubra to play the young version of Pedersen’s detective.

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These were big shoes to fill, but Coles Smith more than brings the gruff.

The similarities to Pedersen’s performance are so good they at times border on uncanny, yet the young actor also does a remarkable job in making the character his own. His trapping between a cultural divide comes into clearer focus than ever before.

“You policeman or black fella?” a resident of this eerie mining town of no more than 1000 people asks him.

“Why can’t I be both?” Swan asks back.

When on to a success like this, it’s easy for viewer fatigue to set in, but this prequel series is the most sophisticated and cinematic outing of Jay Swan to date, and proves there’s plenty of mileage left yet

heading down “Mystery Road”.

Streaming on ABC iView.

STAN subscribers would be remiss not to check out “Doctor Foster”, a British five-parter perfect for a wickedly addictive weekend viewing.

Suranne Jones stars as the show’s eponymous physician, whose idyllic life begins to fracture after she suspects her husband is having an affair.

On the surface the premise may sound like a standard, soapy plot of infidelity, but viewers will quickly realise it’s anything but.

Inspired by the Greek myth of Medea, this psychological thriller becomes more and more twisted as the sanity of its lead character

NETFLIX has just dropped its most expensive original film to date.

The streaming goliath injected a whopping 200 million bucks into “The Gray Man”, a new action romp starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans as two globe-trotting spies on the hunt for each other.

Its budget puts it roughly among the 50 most expensive films ever made, yet this flick can’t help but feel like a budget James Bond or Jason Bourne.

It exudes such desperation to set up a squillion sequels that a lot of its own character is lost in the process.

The film is, after all, directed by masters of expansive franchises Joe and Anthony Russo. They’re the fraternal duo behind “Avengers: Endgame”: 2019’s climax of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one that became the second highest grossing film of all time. Unfortunately, the same magic can’t be found here.

Credit where it’s due, the action in “The Gray Man’’ is at times impressive but apart from that, this film gets about as creative as its title.

Streaming on Netflix.

CINEMA / Reviews

Documentary’s amicable look at autism “The Reason I Jump” (M) PREMIERING in January 2020, this relatively brief (82 minutes) doco examines an issue little known except in families where it’s a daily companion, often a burden but never beyond the boundaries that an undiscriminating Mother Nature has built around it.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that “causes a wide range of impairments in social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviours”. Perhaps 10,000 cases of it are recorded annually in Australia. There is no cure.

“The Reason I Jump” began as a book by Naoki Higashida, an autistic 13-year-old Japanese boy. One of its translators into English appears briefly in award-winning director Jerry Rothwell’s imaginative semi-documentary film. Novelist David Mitchell and his Japanese wife are the parents of an autistic child.

Rothwell’s amicable and positive doco consists of interviews with autistic people from several countries and their carers. Only in Sierra Leone does the film’s teenaged character Jestina find life difficult. She is not pretty.

Viewers may be surprised by the film’s demonstrations of qualities in autistic young people whose ability to speak is savagely compromised.

They use alphabet cards to spell what they want to say – grammar and spelling both correct. The left-hand edge of the screen provides visual cues illustrating what’s coming, suggesting that Rothwell and Mitchell want their film to reach autistic folk without startling them.

The film’s unscripted narrative thread is cohesive and positive.

Forgive me for finishing with a personal note.

Four decades ago, in Kainantu in PNG, I bought a collection of ceramic items. They’re not delicate but their red clay bodies, deep green glaze and

“The Reason I Jump”... began as a book by Naoki Higashida. incised decoration are handsome and friendly. Turn them upside down and a name appears – “Tais”.

Tais was a tiny little bloke with a great smile.

The robust ceramics he threw are visually and tactilely comforting. Tais cannot speak. His best friend is always beside him. They have somehow worked out how to communicate. “The Reason I Jump” took me back to meeting him and explained much. The experience was good both times.

At Dendy

“The Forgiven” (M) MOROCCO is where writer/director John Michael McDonagh took Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain to play the principal characters in a very serious drama based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne.

“The Forgiven” runs for 117 minutes with precious few laughs apart from two rather unlovable

Brit gay blokes who’ve rented the house in which much of the action takes place. And they’re easier to laugh at than with.

The narrative unfolds among sand and not very high-elevated locations in the High Atlas Mountains region where Abdellah (Ismael Kanater) holds sway. We don’t meet Abdellah until the screenplay carefully sets the scene of westerner visitors lording it over local servants.

Kanater’s performance when Abdellah chooses to reveal his real feelings is worth the wait.

The drama develops as Jo (Chastain) and David (Fiennes), driving at night to spend a weekend partying in their friends’ rented house, when suddenly, too late for David to take evasive action, the headlights reveal a young Arab man Driss. Jo and David figure that they can say it was an accident and having killed Driss won’t greatly matter. Wrong. His dad is Abdellah and Arab shrewdness is going to be a significant factor.

Comparing Westerner behaviour in front of stiff-upper-lip Moroccan servants, “The Forgiven” is essentially a serious drama trying to dodge the inevitable.

Class differences between masters and servants share the film’s ambience with tensions arising from the road accident. David and Jo aren’t the most charming of characters, he having a smattering conscience about Driss, she enjoying liquor and lasciviousness.

I sometimes found the sound quality difficult.

At Dendy, Palace Electric

‘WRITERS’ FESTIVAL

In a word, writers’ festival chief likes a challenge

By Helen Musa

THE seventh (but really sixth) year of the Canberra Writers’ Festival is just around the corner and artistic director Jeanne Ryckmans is ready to face it with aplomb, despite three horror years behind her.

The 2022 festival has 70 events running at the Museum of Australian Democracy, the National Museum, the Press Club and Kambri Cultural Centre at the ANU. Ryckmans, who joined the board of the festival in 2018 and applied for the top job in 2019, is far away the most knowledgeable and connected literary person to have held the position since the event’s inception.

Raised in Canberra, she studied at Sts Peter and Paul Primary School, St Clare’s College and the ANU before heading to France to get away from us all.

Ryckmans’ literary sensibility was finetuned when she lived in Paris for six years, working on the hit TV arts program, “Bouillon de Culture”, fronted by celebrity Bernard Pivot.

Back in Australia she became an arts reporter and presenter for SBS, before moving into magazines and the publishing industry as a seasoned literary agent who’s worked at Cameron’s, Random House and HarperCollins Australia.

It was Steve Lewis, one of her HarperCollins authors, who told her about the festival

and suggested that she apply for the job – madness, since she still has a day job in Sydney, but she could see the potential for the festival.

“Canberra is a very different place from Sydney, Byron or Melbourne and some would question whether it can attract sexy drawcard authors – I knew this would be a challenge,” she tells me.

She found herself just one of two, with executive director Paul Donohoe, rising to a team of about six during the festival itself, but thought: “I do really like a challenge”.

“What I didn’t see coming was the pandemic, but then we found that there was a silver lining in it and we trialled a unique hybrid mode, using Zoom,” she says.

That gave them the opportunity in 2020 to invite writer-thinkers such as Gloria Steinem, Mary Trump and Simon Winchester who, from the comfort of their own homes, connected with live audiences. In 2021 they tried to move the festival to November, but it just didn’t come off.

Third time lucky, but it hasn’t been easy.

Ryckmans tells me about an attack on her from the Twitterati in 2020 for a perceived lack of diversity, which she describes as “really disturbing and shrill and upsetting”.

Her detractors, who weren’t Canberrans by the way, claimed she was too “white” (her mother is Chinese) and attacked her for quoting the eminent sinologist Pierre Ryckmans without noticing, it seems, that she was quoting her own father.

She has. “Really, you do your best,” she says, telling me she has accepted some very

Canberra Writers’ Festival artistic director Jeanne Ryckmans… “Canberra is a very different place… and some would question whether it can attract sexy drawcard authors – I knew this would be a challenge.” astute advice that what you do is to wipe the crap from your shoes and move on.

“We survive thanks to our venue partners and the ACT government on the smell of an oily rag,” she says She applauds the festival’s decision to keep the theme of “Power, Politics, Passion” every year, but believes she’s at last introduced a solid component of local writers and poetry into the mix, with more to come, along with workshops mooted for 2023.

Ryckmans has lined up some “hard-hitting’ writers such as Lionel Shriver for festival appearances.

Now she wants to engage more Canberrans and grow younger audiences.

She’s introduced lunchtime sessions called “Novel Grazing Lunches,” (a pun on navel-gazing), lined up some “hard-hitters” such as Lionel Shriver and Isabela Allende to appear via Zoom, as well as live appearances

by Germaine Greer and Prof Amanda Tyler, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s associate.

Other live appearances will be from Liane Moriarty, author of “Big Little Lies” and “Nine

Perfect Strangers”, a true Aussie superstar, and Peter Sutton in conversation with Don Watson about Bruce Pascoe’s “Dark Emu”.

With a new generation, Ryckmans has even programmed a children’s weekend at the National Museum where Peter Garrett’s author daughter, Emily Garrett, will appear.

“I’m always interested in family connections in the writing world,” she says.

Canberra Writers Festival, August 10-14.

DINING / Little Bird, Barton

Casual, but with a focus on tasty

By Wendy

JOHNSON BARTON is no longer a food desert. Dotted about the area are dozens of eateries, including relaxed places such as Hideout, Double Drummer, Yogi’s Kitchen, Genki Japanese, Burger Craft, 2 before 10 and Maple and Clove.

For finer dining there’s restaurants such as Vincent, Buvette, Lilotang and Chairman and Yip. We were on a mission to try Barton Kebab, but with no chairs set up outside – even though it was a sunny day – we headed to Little Bird, in Macquarie Street, for lunch. Its outdoor area gets loads of sun, which we appreciated given the wind was nippy.

Little Bird is casual by design but with a sharp focus on tasty food, with lighter and heavier options on the all-day menu. Order breakfast items such as a chai and oatmeal bowl ($16.90), simple eggs or just toast.

The chimichurri chicken salad was excellent value ($21.50). It was a huge portion of chicken and loads of other ingredients all combined for sensational taste – brown rice, black beans, earthy tasting charred corn, roquette, avocado (half to be exact), pepitas and tomato.

It was one of the most delicious salads I’ve had for a long time and the romesco sauce was punchy and vibrant. Despite herculean effort, I could not get through it all so broke down and asked for a takeaway container (I got stuck in again at dinner).

My friends were after burgers and fries, which were also generous in size. The southern fried chicken burger ($21) hit the spot and the chicken was nice and juicy. It arrived with cheddar, slaw, sauerkraut, bacon and chipotle mayo (for the chips). It was a tall, stacked burger and my friend gently deconstructed it for ease of eating.

Chimichurri chicken salad… with brown rice, black beans, charred corn, roquette, avocado, pepitas and tomato.

Photo: Wendy Johnson The wagyu beef burger was thick and also lovely and juicy. Loaded on top of the meat patty was pickles, cheddar, onion, lettuce and more ($21.90).

Little Bird also offered a maple roasted-pumpkin salad on our visit supercharged with healthy ingredients such as lentils, quinoa, cranberries and avo ($19.90). I’d easily pick it on another visit, especially intrigued by the tahini yoghurt, dukkah and chevre.

I was also fascinated by the 12-hour slow-cooked pork benedict ($21). Gluten and dairy free options are available for most menu options at Little Bird.

Lighter options include sandwiches ($13), and Little Bird has a large selection of cakes baked fresh in-house every day ($5) and other sweets by Three Mills Pastries ($5). Banana bread with house-made coconut butter is only $6.50 for something small with a coffee or tea.

Smoothies and milkshakes are available.

Coffee is by Dukes, roasted in Melbourne using 100 per cent organic, Arabica coffee beans.

Little Bird does not split bills.

CityNews August 4-10, 2022 25

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The slow-growing corkscrew hazelnut… in winter they show long catkins and contorted branches.

Photo: Jackie Warburton

Wollemi Pines… only discovered in 1994 in the Blue Mountains and are still quite rare.

Photo: Jackie Warburton

Caught up in corkscrew catkins A SPECTACULAR plant putting on a show right now is the slow-growing corkscrew hazelnut.

In autumn its colour is lovely as the leaves fall, but come winter they show long catkins and contorted branches that look graceful and can be used as a focal point in the garden.

The catkins can grow up to 10 centimetres long and are a hanging flower spike. It’s a variety of edible hazelnut, but this is a garden shrub. Look for the name Corylus avellana “Contorta” at the nursery.

have different pruning methods. If you’re going to have a go yourself with your own roses, remember to cut out all dead, diseased and damaged wood.

Generally, trimming a third off and tidying up will get them blooming in no time. Top up rose garden beds with cow manure, water but no fertilisers until the soil warms.

Planting calendula flowers under roses can attract hoverflies to the garden to feast on any aphids on the roses in spring. They are a good companion plant and their big yellow or orange flowers give a little cheer to the winter garden.

WOLLEMI Pines grow well in Canberra in a protected spot. They can also be grown in a large pot as well.

They like an acid soil, so planting near conifers will help them if they are going in the ground. In summer they ooze a white sticky sap, a totally normal sign that new buds are coming.

Amazingly, Wollemi Pines were only discovered in 1994 in the Blue Mountains and are still quite rare. The Friends of the National Arboretum Canberra have a project to grow trees from the seed collected at the arboretum and sell them to help increase the conservation of this species and as a fundraiser for the arboretum. The first 30 trees have been released for sale. To buy one go to arboretumcanberra.org.au

PEAR trees can also be pruned now Their upright growth needs to be removed. Prune to a downward-facing bud and try cutting into a vase shape without any branches crossing over.

Pear trees tolerate wet feet better than most fruit trees, so if there is a boggy area in your orchard, a pear tree will grow quite well.

Feed it with high-nitrogen manure now (chicken manure) and when there is spring growth, fertilise with a fruiting and flowering fertiliser. Most pear trees are dioecious, that is they need another to pollinate each other.

However, there is a variety of self-pollinating trees available at the nursery. They like a good, rich soil and can be espaliered on a trellis if space is at a premium.

KEEP picking lemons if big frosts are around and leave a little of the stalk to increase the shelf life of the lemon.

EARLY spring flowers or vegetables can be sown now, but kept under protection. A horticultural heat pad is a useful and quite cheap way to get seedlings moving faster.

SPRAYING peach and nectarines with copper for leaf curl and shot hole should be done now before the buds open My peach and nectarine trees are less than a metre high and wide, and give me kilograms of fruit. They can easily be a courtyard potted tree or on a balcony.

Mulch the trees and keep them weed free.

Plant flowers, such as seaside daisy or calendula, under fruit trees to attract bees to the garden and let them do the work of pollinating. jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au

AUGUST is the time for pruning roses in Canberra and having good, sharp tools will help with cutting large, old stems.

There are many varieties of roses and all

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HOROSCOPE Your week in the stars

By Joanne Madeline Moore

PUZZLES General knowledge crossword No. 841

August 8-14, 2022 ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Are you procrastinating about which project to pursue? A bored and unengaged Ram is a recipe for trouble. With the Full Moon activating your aspirations’ zone, focus on your goals for the future. However – with Saturn squaring your ruler Mars – too much haste could land you in hot water. So do your best to get the balance right between thinking things through and taking action. On the weekend, be extra compassionate towards a close friend.

TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)

Expect some professional or domestic dramas, as Saturn and the Full Moon stir up old grievances. Use your diplomatic talents to help find solutions but, if you just sit back and let others make decisions, then you’ll feel paralysed and powerless.

So strive to be more self-sufficient, especially at home and work. Getting the ratio right between your public and private lives is challenging. But if anyone can juggle conflicting commitments, it’s a well-balanced Bull!

"I managed to identify several new 'ready-to-cook' meals in Coles that don’t taste entirely of wallpaper paste," says Sara Milne.

ANXIETY

GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)

Many Geminis have a wandering gypsy gene. And this week your travel zones are activated by Saturn and the Full Moon. So you’re feeling restless but foreign adventures could still be thin on the ground, as Saturn frustrates plans and slows things down. Don’t despair! Find weekend escapes that are closer to home and plan to explore further afield in 2023. With Venus visiting your financial zone, it’s a good time to work hard and save well for future escapades.

CANCER (June 22 – July 23)

Full Moons usually activate your moody side, and this week’s full moonbeams are in the unpredictable sign of Aquarius. So prepare to be at your stupendous best and your tempestuous worst! If life becomes too stressful, then you’re likely to withdraw into your Crab shell where you can rest, recuperate and rejuvenate. It’s also a week when mysteries abound, and someone could tell you something in strict confidence. The question is… can you keep a secret?

LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)

The Full Moon and Saturn (in your relationship zone) highlight your inclination to jealous, possessive or overbearing behaviour. It’s time to loosen your intense grip on a loved one, Leo! Otherwise you’ll drive them away with your demanding Drama Queen antics. You’re in the mood to text and tweet; socialise and circulate.

But are you sending mixed messages? And are others happy to hear what you’ve got to say? Strive to be more discriminating and diplomatic.

VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

This week Saturn and the Full Moon stimulate your job and daily routine zone. So expect communication chaos, relationship rumbles or work frustrations. It’s also a time when unresolved issues from the past could be dredged up all over again.

Do your best to release pent-up Virgo frustrations via a chat with a trusted family member or a compassionate colleague. Spending quality time with your favourite four-legged friend will also lift your spirits.

Down

1 Who, in Greek legend, was a wise and beneficent centaur and teacher of Achilles and others? (6) 7 Name another term for expulsion. (8) 8 Name a renowned pattern, used on china.

(6) 9 Which horse won the 2000 Caulfield Cup? (8) 10 What is a pendent tapering mass of ice? (6) 11 What are illicit relationships? (8) 14 What was the former name of the Hawaiian Islands? (8) 18 Name a major Hebrew prophet of the eighth century BC. (6) 19 Name one of a class of medieval musicians.

(8) 21 Which English surgeon was the first to use antiseptics in surgery, Joseph ...? (6) 22 Name an oily liquid used as a wood preservative. (8) 23 What is a portion of ice-cream with tasty additions poured over it? (6)

1 What are tufts of hair turned up, usually over the forehead? (8) 2 What are surviving memorials of things past? (6) 3 Where were the XIX Commonwealth Games held? (3,5) 4 Which term describes a distinguished female singer? (4) 5 What are atmospheric disturbances often accompanied by rain, hail and thunder? (6) 6 Name a small firework made from a paper roll, twisted at each end. (6) 12 Who was the hero of Homer’s lliad, who died from a wound in the heel? (8) 13 Which movable frame is used for holding wood that is being sawn? (8) 15 What is a place in which bees are kept? (6) 16 What is a tyrant or oppressor? (6) 17 Name an Australian research station in Antarctica. (6) 20 Which land area is approximately a quarter of an acre? (4)

LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

Monday looks frustrating, as plans proceed slowly. And Tuesday looks stressful, when the Venus/Pluto opposition highlights problems at work or home. Then the Full Moon stimulates your friendship zone. So it’s a good week to network with your peer group and catch up with friends (in person and online). Be inspired by actress Gillian Anderson (who turns 54 on Tuesday): “I believe people are in our lives for a reason. We’re here to learn from each other.”

Solution next edition

Across

FREE PUZZLES EVERY DAY AT citynews.com.au

Sudoku medium No. 321

SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

With the Full Moon activating your career zone, proceed carefully with a complicated professional project. If you are too stubborn, then you’ll experience communication problems with a work colleague, client or customer. Plus, Pluto (your patron planet) opposes Venus. So strong feelings could resurface, as loved ones push your emotional buttons. Simmer down, Scorpio, otherwise you run the risk of turning a minor matter into a major obsession.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Saturn and the Full Moon activate your neighbourhood zone, so find more meaningful ways to connect with loved ones and contribute to your local community.

Education and short trips are highlighted, plus expect plenty of phone calls, snail mail, texts, tweets and emails. But you’ll also have to handle stress, frustration and challenges along the way. The secret to a successful week is getting the balance right between being spontaneous and being responsible.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Has your strict inner parent taken over? Don’t be too hard on yourself – or others.

And don’t overdo the criticism (no matter how ‘constructive’ it is). Striving for perfection will be fraught with frustrations (especially on Monday and Sunday), so relax and try to take things as they come. If you’re feeling worried or stressed, then turn to a wise friend or mentor for some sensible advice and words of wisdom. But financial problems need to be attended to as soon as possible.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2022

Solutions – July 28 edition Sudoku hard No. 320

PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Saturn and the Full Moon are visiting your seclusion zone. So slow down and reflect on where you’re going, and where you’ve been. When it comes to a muchneeded holiday, be patient and plan carefully. Unresolved relationship issues could also be dredged up all over again. Mars and Neptune encourage you to be proactive about healing the past, as you head towards a brighter future. Thursday and Friday favour community projects and creative pursuits.

Solution next edition

Crossword No. 840

The Full Moon and Saturn light up your sign. So it’s time to tap into the essence of what makes you the quirky and avant-garde Aquarian you were born to be.

Don’t let pandemic problems, relationship rumbles, work worries or financial fiascos diminish your idiosyncratic style. Be inspired by model and actress Cara Delevingne (who was born on August 12, 1992 and has Sun in Leo plus Moon in Aquarius): “Be brave. Believe in yourself. Make yourself proud.”

How the 'wifey' ticks all the boxes ALL across the land, in shops, factories, offices and schools, a mammoth exercise in introspection is taking place; the annual performance review.

Apparently, I’m "good at that sort of thing".

• I have stopped my husband going into his office looking like someone who’s slept overnight in a hedge. A check at the door to make sure shirt is not sticking out and there is no egg down the front of his tie, is a basic function My husband will soon be mightily of the "stay-at-home wifey". I have occupied thus, both appraising and saved him on many an occasion being appraised. He had the gall at from sartorial ruin and ridicule. breakfast the other day, to turn to • I have made him a packed lunch me and ask if I had begun reflecting every morning, buttering the on my own performance in 2022. bread right into the corners and What? The cheek! lining up the cheese slice with the Earlier in the year he identified my ham at a perfect 90-degree angle. current role as "stay-at-home wifey".

Anything less and the sandwich Referring to my initial business plan, comes home, uneaten, in his he asked me if I had achieved my school bag… sorry, goals, what were my briefcase. key performance I have crawled • I have indicators and what was my plan going under the beds to displayed excellent forward. retrieve lone socks communication skills in "liaising" He was particuand shoes… I have with all tradesmen larly interested in coming to carry out knowing of any innotrawled through repairs. Have to say vations I intended a foul-smelling this has been a not to introduce in the rubbish bin to find unpleasant task area of cuisine. The given the downright nerve! my daughter’s hunkiness of the Following several mislaid college average Australian hours of navel gazproject.

Apparently, tradie. ing (not easy with a On the cookcovid belly), I have I’m "good at that • ing front, I managed come up with the sort of thing". to identify several following: new "ready-to-cook" meals in • I have enslaved myself to this Coles that don’t taste entirely of house to keep the rental property wallpaper paste. agency off my back. Every six And finally, there is a schmaltzy months I have scrubbed disgustsong from the 1930s that I’m going ing ovens, scraped greasy pots, to sing for you now. It is the song of cleared blocked sinks, cleaned the "stay-at-home wifey". It is our smelly fridges, washed windows mission statement, the essence of and generally worked myself to our being, our raison d’etre. the point of exhaustion. Even the Keep young and beautiful. five-star review from the property It’s your duty to be beautiful. agency can’t take away the pain Keep young and beautiful of that suffering.

If you want to • I have crawled under the beds be loved. to retrieve lone socks and shoes, Fortuapparently because I’m the nately, dear slimmest, or is it the stupidest? reader, I tick I have trawled through a foulthe box on all smelling rubbish bin to find my daughter’s mislaid college project. three.

CityNews August 4-10, 2022 27

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