POLITICS
Hello to Barr newspeak, goodbye bush capital
MICHAEL MOORE
NEWS
Andra takes her family story home to Latvia
THE GADFLY
DAVID TURNBULL Putting Trump’s America in the shadow of shame
In art, depicting hands can be a real handful, says CLIVE WILLIAMS
ROBERT MACKLIN
GARDENING
Climber that flowers until early spring
JACKIE WARBURTON
JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED expose the inconsistencies, questionable assumptions and conceptual flaws of the embarrassing light rail business cases
Winnunga Nimmityjah AHCS is an Aboriginal community controlled primary health care service operated by the Aboriginal community of the ACT.
In Wiradjuri language, Winnunga Nimmityjah means Strong Health. The service logo is the Corroboree Frog which is significant to Aboriginal people in the ACT.
Our aim is to provide a culturally safe, holistic health care service for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the ACT and surrounding regions. The holistic health care provided by Winnunga AHCS includes not only medical care, but a range of programs to promote good health and healthy lifestyles.
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Winnunga AHCS is a national leader in accreditation, was one of the first Aboriginal community controlled health services to achieve dual accreditation under RACGP and QIC standards. Winnunga AHCS has been at the forefront of setting a national agenda for quality improvement in Aboriginal community controlled health and continues to advocate locally and nationally for best practice standards in operational and governance areas of Aboriginal health services.
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Last year, author Andra Putnis published a book about the astonishing lives of her Latvian grandmothers. Next month she is to “complete the circle”. In his series of stories of remarkable Canberrans, DAVID TURNBULL explains why.
Andra Putnis, her husband Michael and their son and daughter, Talis and Annija, are going to Latvia in July.
But it is not a holiday.
Andra is going to Latvia to launch a book she’s written about her two grandmothers – Stories My Grandmothers Didn’t Tell Me.
The launch, in the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia will complete a journey Andra set out on in 2002.
“The book has already been launched in Australia, but to take it to Latvia is like a homecoming. A homecoming after 80 years. It completes the circle.”
Andra had close contact with both her grandmothers growing up, and even by the age of 10 she’d become fascinated with them.
“I used to sneak into my
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grandmother’s room and look at all the mysterious Latvian things in her wardrobe. Fur coats, amber jewellery, brightly coloured traditional dance costumes.
“I guess, the stories of Latvia, of snow, the forests and maidens were like fairytales.
“But I stopped asking questions because the little glimpses I got about Latvia’s history, the Soviet and the Nazi occupations, war and the holocaust scared me. I could also see the memories that brought tears to their eyes.”
Just how they all came to be in Australia together is amazing in itself.
Andra’s paternal grand mother, Aline, and her maternal grandmother, Milda, migrated with their whole families after World War II.
But to different sides of the country, Aline and her husband settled in Collie,
mothers lived with my family from the time I was 10 to 19,“
“I knew they had stories of growing up in Latvia and
was – in her own words – a peasant who was raised near Kraslava, close to the border with Poland and Byelorussia
She was raised in a strict Catholic family. The world she grew up in was a world where people worked the land, but they were well educated.
By contrast, Andra’s
mother’s mother, Milda, spent much of her young life in Riga, the capital of Latvia. She was from a Lutheran family, and she loved everything about city life, especially the music, the dance and the Opera.
The grandmothers’ stories took different paths, but they shared the horrors of war – the loss of home and family, the constant fear of being shot or deported, the never-ending struggle for food, and shelter, and the endless trudge from one displaced persons camp to another in sub-zero temperatures with babes in their arms.
And then finally, migration to Australia, and a new life.
The year 1940-41 is known by Latvians as the Year of Terror.
On June 14 that year, the Red Army started knocking on doors and detaining whole families. In 24 hours 15,000 people were arrested as “enemies of the people” and shipped off to gulags in Siberia like cattle.
Initially, the Latvians hoped the German invasion would provide some respite, but it quickly became apparent it was just horror by another name.
Continued Page 8.
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Chief Minister Andrew Barr has blazoned “more housing choice” across his Our Canberra newsletter. He argues: “The ACT government is supporting the delivery of more housing where Canberrans want to live.”
The goal, he says, is for “Canberrans to have their say on plans to deliver more low-rise homes in our existing suburbs”. The intention is to “support the growth of our city for decades to come”.
This is simply 1984 “newspeak” (propaganda) that is becoming more common in the US and the world of Donald Trump. It does not belong in an educated Canberra under a Labor government.
The government is focusing only on the gain without mentioning the pain. The pain includes, for example, urban heat island effect, environmental degradation with loss of trees, loss of playing areas for families and loss of the character of the suburbs that have made Canberra the “bush capital”. There are gains – including having more accommodation closer to where people work. Additionally, there will be less need for investment in greenfields development. The price of free-standing homes will escalate with the resultant increase in rates
to be paid to a government that has a poor financial management record. Then there are the downsides. Many Greens are advocates of urban consolidation. Under their influence, the recent planning mantra seeks to develop within the current footprint.
The Australia State of the Environment Report 2021 pointed out that “rising temperatures particularly affect cities because of the ‘urban heat island effect’, in which urban areas are warmer than the surrounding land”.
Flying into Canberra is different than most cities in Australia and around the world. The view from the aircraft window of established suburbs is a tree canopy with houses dotted in between. This bush capital effect is in marked contrast to other
It is not so easy to pull the wool over the eyes of Canberrans. There are multiple solutions to increasing choice in housing in Canberra. When the government largely ignores supply of greenfields development, it reduces real choice in housing.
cities characterised by urban roofing with a few trees dotted in between. Climate must be considered. Increasing housing choice in the way proposed by the chief minister is a formula for increasing the heat island effect at a time when the community is wrestling with ways to mitigate global warming.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the second-warmest year on record was 2024 (after 2019), with a national annual average temperature of 1.46°C above the long-term average.
Increasing urban density, named by the ideologues as “the missing middle”, does require loss of trees and loss of backyard amenity that has been so important in the history of Australia. Imagine if the Chappell brothers had not been able to start their cricketing careers in their backyards?
“Urban parks will fulfil that role” is the usual rejoinder. However, when infill is on the table in inner north or
inner south Canberra, for instance, there are no plans to improve the green spaces that already exist. The loss of backyard playing areas increases parental worry about the safety of their children and requires much closer monitoring.
Don’t be confused by an article on the new Watson Playground in the Our CBR newsletter. Large playgrounds form an important part of urban centres – however, they are not a replacement for the backyard. Even if they are used by some people a few times a week, they do not replace the easy-to-manage play and discovery learning of backyards.
Hackett featured in this column last week. It is a good example of greenfield developments from half a century ago and beyond. There have been more recent examples of effective greenfield developments that do have the “missing middle”. Denman Prospect is one
example, Whitlam another. It can be done. It is time to provide more land to reduce the cost impact of low supply and high demand.
Addressing the housing crisis takes political will. Nicole Gurran and Peter Phibbs point out in The Conversation that in the ACT “there has been a near total retreat from public sector investment in new supply. For instance, in 1969-70, nearly a third of new homes in Canberra were delivered by the government. These days it is just 5 per cent”.
It is not so easy to pull the wool over the eyes of Canberrans. There are multiple solutions to increasing choice in housing in Canberra. When the government largely ignores supply of greenfields development, it reduces real choice in housing.
Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.
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clubhouse and
A woman came into my clinic for a consultation about her hearing aids, telling me her hearing aids were 4 years old and she had never found them to be of much help. She said the salesperson quoted her $14,000 for a pair of hearing aids, however, the monthly special of 20% discount meant they cost her $11,200. So, she ‘only’ paid $11,200 for hearing aids that did not help her. Sadly, I hear this all too often.
Here are some things to do to avoid this type of problem:
1. Visit your GP. If you or someone you know has a problem with their hearing, visiting your GP to check for wax in the ears, and to get advice is a starting point.
2. Qualifications. Always check the qualifications of the person you are dealing with. A person without professional qualifications has no business advising you about your hearing. They need to belong to a professional association with a Code of Conduct, so you know they are acting in your best interests, not their own.
years. If you are not sure about their advice, then seek a second opinion. The wrong hearing aids can be an expensive waste and could lead you to stop wearing them. You should always have a trial of hearing aids to ensure that they are right for you.
6 Pensioners and eligible DVA card holders often have entitlement to free services. If you are covered by a government concession, then let the clinician know (even though your clinician should ask). Eligible clients may obtain free hearing tests, consultations, and free hearing aids (referred to as fully subsidized hearing aids).
“A person without professional qualifications has no business advising you about your hearing. They need to belong to a professional association with a Code of Conduct, so you know they are acting in your best interests, not their own.”
– Dr Vass
These hearing aids are appropriate for many people, however if you have great difficulty hearing in background noise (for example a restaurant), then you may want to consider partially subsidized hearing aids. This is when the government pays a certain amount, and you pay for additional features and benefits. Your decision should be based on the following:
you are dealing with a qualified clinician, then they belong to a professional association. The best contact is an independent complaints body referred to as Ethics Review Committee. You can email ethics@auderc.org.au and view the website www.auderc.org.au. You can make an anonymous complaint and your complaint will be handled in a confidential and professional manner. If you are in the ACT, contact the ACT Human Rights Commission email human rights@act.gov au and the website www.hrc.act.gov.au
3. Independent advice. You should get independent, professional advice.
4. There are a wide range of hearing aids out there. Finding the right hearing aids for your communication needs can be challenging. Hearing aids vary in price and performance. Bluetooth® connectivity and rechargeable hearing aids are available on most hearing aids, along with apps that allow you to control your hearing aids from your mobile device. Be aware that just because a hearing aid is more expensive, that doesn’t mean they are the best hearing aid for you.
5. Just as hearing aids vary in performance, clinicians may also vary in performance due to training, experience, and skills. Make sure that you are comfortable and confident in their advice. You are likely to be with this clinician for the life of your new hearing aids, typically 4 to 5
(a) Can you afford the more expensive hearing aids? Don’t go into financial stress if you can’t afford them. (b) Are you clear on the free vs partially subsidized features & benefits? Never believe someone who tells you the free hearings are not good or of poor performance, this is simply not true. (c) If you try the partially subsidized hearing aids and are not happy, then return them. Do not keep hearing aids because you think the failure is yours or that you will improve over time. If the hearing aids are not working for you in the trial period, then they will not work for you in a year or two.
7. If you have a complaint, then seek help. Your clinician should be able to help you through most of your needs. Sometimes, a problem may be beyond the expertise of even the best clinician. However, if you have a complaint there are things you can do. If
JON STANHOPE & KHALID
AHMED continue to expose the inconsistencies, questionable assumptions and conceptual flaws of the embarrassing light rail business cases.
If you are a regular commuter – or even an occasional one –from the Civic to Woden, you may be confounded by the options presented in the light rail business case(s).
One of the options, for example, will take you to Barton but terminates the journey there!
We are referring to the Light Rail Stage 2 Business Case prepared by Transport and City Services in 2018, and the City to Woden Light Rail Business Case prepared by Major Projects Canberra in 2019.
These are the business cases that the Labor Party, along with the Greens, did not want Canberrans to see, necessitating a motion in the Legislative Assembly, a prolonged debate, claims of executive privilege and a review by an independent arbiter before the documents saw the light of the day.
While the claim of executive
privilege by Chief Minister Andrew Barr was summarily dismissed by the Honorable Keith Mason AC KC, questions remain about the government’s determination to keep the documents secret and so avoid scrutiny. In this, and subsequent columns, we will highlight some key and frankly embarrassing aspects of the business cases which span more than 400 pages. A Civic to Woden public transport project terminating in Barton is but one example.
Both the business cases consider the following three options:
• Option 1: City – Parkes – Woden
• Option 2: City –Parkes – Barton – Woden
• Option 3:
City – Parkes – Barton
Option 1 is the direct route through Capital Circuit to Woden. Option 2 veers through King George Terrace, Brisbane Avenue and Sydney Avenue – re -
ferred to as the “dog leg” in the media – before heading back to Woden. Option 3 stands out as ending somewhere other than the declared destination.
To be fair, some 70 pages into the analysis, the 2018 business case makes the remarkable discovery that “Option 3 will not provide light rail connectivity to residential and employment precincts in Woden”. However, this remarkable observation did not deter the authors of the 2019 business case from again considering this as a standalone option.
Table 1 provides key measures of travel time, patronage, costs and benefits as estimated in the 2018 business case. We will outline the changes in the 2019 business case in a later article.
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The cost estimates by definition imply a 90 per cent certainty that costs will be at or below the estimate. However, noting the Stage 2A contract cost of $577 million, which covers just 1.7 kilometres of the route, we can say with certainty that the above cost estimates are significantly understated, and in fact fanciful. Indeed, more credible estimates for Stage 2B (from Commonwealth Park to Woden) from a number of other commentators, are in the order of $3.5 billion.
There are also serious questions about the inclusion of city-shaping and wider economic benefits which should not be attributed to this project even if there is any evidence about their realisation. The estimates of transport benefits are also clearly overstated noting that travel times under both the options will actually increase.
Accepting both the underestimated costs and inflated benefits at their face value, Option 1 – the direct route – with its shorter travel
time (21 per cent), higher patronage (4 per cent), and higher transport benefits (65 per cent) compared to Option 2 would clearly be the preferred option. Nevertheless and staggeringly, the business case recommends Option 2
The justification for the recommended option is because the “overwhelming majority (75 per cent) of the feedback received during community consultation on the route alignment options preferred an option that travelled via Parkes and Barton” (Page 69). However, the community consultation summarised in Section 11.2.4 (Page 210) cannot be taken seriously as an unbiased and objective survey of current and potential future commuters.
A more fundamental problem with the options analysis is the absence of any consideration of the obvious alternative, ie, bus travel. It could be argued that this mode is captured in the “base case”.
However, the base case assumes bus travel times will increase by more than 25 per cent, reflecting no or minimal investment in busways and in reality, the deliberate slowing down of bus services. It is quite
clear from this that the light rail project is not primarily about the needs of commuters.
Remarkably, the economic analysis in Section 8 of the 2018 business case considers an entirely different Option 2 , which is a direct route similar to the Option 1 but through State Circle. The inclusion of the “dog leg” option, without any explanation or justification, appears, therefore, to be a late change in the executive summary. Heading to Barton, either as an end in itself, or as a diversion, appears to us, for reasons we cannot fathom, to be a central focus of the business case.
We have in the above, touched only briefly on the options analysis in the 2018 Business Case. However, it is clearly riddled with inconsistencies, questionable assumptions and conceptual flaws. It is, or at least should be an embarrassment to the government, which perhaps helps to explain the lengths to which it has gone to hide it from the public.
Jon Stanhope is a former chief minister of the ACT and Dr Khalid Ahmed a former senior ACT Treasury official.
My, how the worm turns. These days you can’t open a newspaper without discovering how different the Americans are when compared with us wonderful Aussies. And more power to that.
Two of that country’s most visible columnists, the iconic Maureen Dowd and Michelle Goldberg, her likely successor on the New York Times, have confessed that they’ve shed real tears with the discovery that in their country, “the MeToo movement is dead”. The paternalist power structure has returned with a vengeance.
One of Michelle’s recent columns is headlined, “This is what autocracy looks like” as she describes Trump’s National Guard confronting Los Angeles protestors with guns at the ready.
“It’s hard to think of a clearer signpost on the road to dictatorship,” she wrote. And Trump’s adoption of the Proud Boys and of all things masculine, ensures that it will be a thoroughly priapic tyranny.
However, the movement for the equality of the sexes is certainly not dead in our fair land. Not when the shattered Liberal Party, once the home of Australian paternalism, elects a woman as the only viable leader to begin the process of rebuilding.
And not when the prime minister
himself could ever be described as a macho man.
Not when both his cabinet and his backbench are redolent with feisty females such as Clare O’Neill and –when she’s roused – Tanya Plibersek.
Not when our Governor-General, unlike some of her predecessors, is clearly a person of substance and confidence. (Can you really imagine Sam Mostyn allowing a prime minister to be sworn into five additional portfolios without either a protest or public revelation?)
So it goes with journalism, once dominated by men, where women were confined to fashion and social occasions with a little cooking on the side. Today they’re front and centre –at least on the ABC – where they have fronted the 7.30 program for years and the perceptive, literate Laura Tingle has just been promoted to cover the entire globe.
So it is in medicine where in my typical medical centre, women doctors outnumber the men and the receptionists who really run the show
The movement for the equality of the sexes is certainly not dead in our fair land. Not when the shattered Liberal Party, once the home of Australian paternalism, elects a woman as the only viable leader to begin the process of rebuilding.
are all women. Same in real estate where at Tuross, a typical Hallmark agency, there’s not a man to be seen.
Conversely, the house cleaners of Northside, the company that provides assistance to the aged and infirm, the overwhelming proportion are men (mostly from Nepal).
However, there has been a notable change of emphasis to some of the MeToo extravagances.
For example, the decision to change the name of the local writers’ organisation to Marion, ostensibly to honour Marion Griffin who never had a book published in her life, and Marion Halligan, a former local author, became an embarrassing outlier.
While they have retained the name they now say, the group “is not named after a specific individual”, though it “warmly acknowledges our late patron, acclaimed writer Marion Halligan AM”. In fact, they are now doing a splendid job and Canberra’s cohort of scribblers is relatively well looked after.
Other trends suggest a similar subtle paring back of the MeToo dominance in news stories such as the daily feed of the Erin Patterson “mushroom trial” for the deaths of her relatives via a beef Wellington lunch. It is slightly reminiscent of the dingo trial of Lindy Chamberlain, with one important difference. Other splashes that take the edge off the MeToo presumption of female superiority include reportage of women driving drunk or drugged, and women teachers grooming pupils for sex. But equality remains the golden goal and, in that quest, we’re putting Trump’s America in the shadow of shame.
robert@robert macklin.com
From Page 3.
And five years later, with Germany losing the war, the Russians came back!
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Still in her teens when the Germans invaded, Aline naively signed up for a job that was supposed to be an adventure with a girlfriend.
It was a terrible mistake that meant she would never see her parents again.
Fending for herself in strange surroundings, she had a child out of wedlock and then was befriended by a priest who she eventually married.
“She struggled with that all her life, but it was just what happened to her. She grew to be a very warm and reflective person,” Andra says.
At 24, Milda was on top of the world.
“I love this life” she used to tell her friends as they strolled down the streets of Riga.
Dark haired with a slim build she was stunningly attractive, and she married Rudis – a young radio technician who was just as handsome.
They soon had a son, and during the German occupation spent a lot of time apart, as Rudis was conscripted into the army. All in all they survived that period reasonably well, but when Germany started losing the war Latvia was thrown into chaos yet again.
Every train out of Riga was
full of German soldiers and Latvians trying to escape the Russians.
With no communications, Milda lost contact with her husband.
She fled heavily pregnant and with her first born still in a pram.
After crossing the Baltic Sea with allied bombers overheard, they arrived in Gotenhafen.
Milda’s waters broke as she was trudging along the road, and her dress froze to her skin. She gave birth to her second son in a makeshift medical centre.
The matron brought her newborn son wrapped in a mattress.
“Only bring him out to feed, and change, or he will freeze to death,” the matron warned.
With no time to recuperate, Milda was then forced to trudge through the snow for 300 kilometres to a Displaced Persons camp in allied territory after the war.
And that was the pattern for the next five years. Camp after camp after camp.
A constant search on noticeboards and word of mouth failed to find any trace of Rudis, so with the Russians still occupying Latvia, Milda migrated to Australia.
Unknown to each other, Aline and husband Eddy did the same, and after completing their work contracts they all
found themselves in Newcastle, part of a small but passionate Latvian community.
Andra admits writing the book was a long, and sometimes painful process.
“When I went to the occupation museum in Latvia in 2006 the weight of what Aline and Milda had gone through came into terrifying focus.
“I couldn’t understand how people who’d suffered so much could be so loving, so gentle, so caring of others…just cuddly grandmas.
“What have I taken out of it?
“It’s that there can be so many different parts to one person’s life… dark times… even horrific times… but then children, and laughter, and so much love.”
She says it has also given her a much clearer sense of who she is, of where she fits in the world.
“I’m Australian, but when I go to Latvia, I feel connected to the earth there.
“You can belong to more than one place.”
Andra Putnis is the artistic director of the Canberra Writers Festival, which will be held in October.
Journalist David Turnbull is writing a series of profiles about interesting Canberrans. Do you know someone we’ve never heard of? Share the name in an email to David via editor@citynews.com.au
‘The new cremator will be more efficient, save energy and will be cleaner and greener’
Serving the Canberra community since the early ‘60s, the Norwood Park Crematorium is getting a facelift.
“This is an important time in the history of Norwood Park,” says general manager, Michael Bridges.
“The new facility will be a state-of-the-art crematorium and administration building to service the growing population of the ACT and surrounding region.”
Michael says the new facilities will see Norwood Park well into the future and give its clients’ families a modern, comfortable environment to visit and arrange their loved one’s memorials by using the latest technology.
With construction crews onsite working, it is anticipated that the new building will be finished by December.
“We are hoping to see the facility finished by the end of 2025 and then fully operational for the community by 2026,” says Michael.
The new facilities will herald the arrival of a new cremator that, according to Michael, will be better for the environment.
“It will be more efficient, save energy and will be cleaner and greener,” he says.
Producing less greenhouse gases, Michael says the machine’s time will be halved from 1.5 hours to 45 minutes during
each use.
“The new cremator will be three times more efficient than our current ones and it will nicely compliment the new state-ofthe-art building,” he says.
While the current facilities have managed more than 60,000 cremations, Michael says the new facilities will expand the longevity of the older infrastructure. The old cremators will not be decommissioned until the park can ascertain whether its current two machines are no longer working at an optimal level.
“We don’t want to waste the current facilities and will continue to create meaningful
cremations with our machines,” he says.
“We will also be building 24/7 facilities for funeral directors.”
Allowing funeral directors to enter the premises at any point in the day, the new facilities will include a breakout room for drivers and team members to rest before travelling back to their destination.
“We want to be able to reach more people,” says Michael.
“This means catering to the needs of our partners.”
Expanding their “footprint”, Michael says their services will now be able to reach those in the Southern Highlands and
surrounding communities.
“We are proud to see this upgrade happen,” he says.
Currently known for its peaceful and scenic location in Mitchell, Michael says the upgrade will enhance the site’s natural beauty with an expansive view of the surrounding valley.
“The park is a peaceful and naturally beautiful place to visit with the sounds of nature and is famous for the number of blue wrens and other bird species that inhabit the park,” he says.
“We will continue to provide a peaceful space for our client’s families.”
Open every day of the week from sunrise until sunset (including public holidays), Michael says the current facilities are not being disturbed by the construction.
“Our chapel can hold more than 200 people and we have a dedicated catering facility that can complement a funeral service held at Norwood Park,” he says.
“Our reception is open from 8.30am to 4.30pm on weekdays and our dedicated staff can help with all enquiries.”
Norwood Park Crematorium. 65 Sandford Street, Mitchell. Call 6241 3177 or visit norwoodpark.com.au
Since 1966, Norwood Park has provided a beautiful and tranquil setting for memorials and ceremonies in the ACT. The landscaped grounds sit elevated above Canberra and are one of Australia’s most established memorial parks.
• Indoor and outdoor chapel areas
• On-site function room/catering and picnic areas available
• Custom plaques and a large selection of urns
• Over 20 acres of various memorial gardens
• Friendly and supportive staff
• Our grounds are open daily from sunrise to sunset www.norwoodpark.com.au info@norwoodpark.com.au phone: 6241 3177 CREMATORIUM & MEMORIAL
It is surprising that columnist Richard Calver – a wine expert – seemed to be unaware of the evidence that alcohol consumption has been causally linked to cancer (“Shocking news for moderate drinkers”, CN June 5).
Indeed, in his article which conveys his apparent shock at the news that even “light drinkers” are at risk, he makes no mention of the 2012 report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which concludes that alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen, a title reserved for substances (including tobacco, benzene, asbestos and processed meat) that have been found to cause cancer in humans.
In the case of alcohol, there is evidence of causal relationships with various cancers, including mouth, throat, voice box, oesophagus, bowel, rectum, liver, and breast cancer in females. A positive association has also been found between alcohol and pancreatic cancer.
I came across an article published last year in the CityNews sharing such qualities shown to the people by Thomas.
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The evidence suggests that there is no safe level of alcohol use in relation to these cancers, as even moderate drinking can increase the likelihood of developing these cancers.
There is also a synergistic effect of alcohol and tobacco, where these combine to increase the incidence of certain cancers beyond the effects of tobacco smoking or alcohol consumption alone.
Back in 1988, the IARC originally concluded that alcohol was a Group 1 carcinogen. Since then, we have seen growing evidence that alcohol causes more cancers than first thought.
In 2007, the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research recommended that people should limit their alcohol consumption, based on the evidence that even small amounts of alcohol increase cancer risk.
More recently, given the weight of evidence, there have been calls for health warning labels to be displayed on alcohol products, warning of these cancer risks.
Karina Morris, Weetangera
I have sent an email to the Law Council of Australia thanking Canberra barrister Thomas Wallace-Pannell SC from Canberra law firm MEJ.
He has recently assessed a claim for me pursuant to child institutional abuse in a Canberra Catholic school. The claim never made it to court as it did not satisfy legal requirements re proof etcetera.
Thomas and MEJ outlaid expense in assessing this unsuccessful claim at no cost to myself (no win-no fee terms).
Thomas is to be thanked before the community with particular recommendation to survivor groups, the mentally ill, disabled, the elderly and many others. I have let the Council on the Ageing know as to the kindness of Thomas. The Lord’s gift to the Canberra community.
Phillip Leahey, Stirling
The creative formal wordsmithing about Scott Morrison’s worthiness as an AC recipient failed to mention his significant services to the pork barrel industry.
Sue Dyer, Downer
My wife and I took a drive out to the far northern suburbs (Wright, Denman Prospect, Whitlam etcetera). As we drove, I was reminded of a song from the 1960s –Little Boxes.
I believe it started: “Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made out of ticky tacky,
yes they’re all made out of ticky tacky and they all look much the same”.
Apologies to Pete Seeger, but at least his were in colour not black, white, or grey.
How foreseeing the songwriter Malvina Reynolds was to look at Canberra more than 60 years later!
Dave Jeffrey, Farrer
A big shout out to the person, who in the early afternoon of June 7, in the vicinity of Aldi in the Canberra Centre, found a wallet and passed it over to centre staff.
Many you be blessed many times over and that happiness follows you all the days of your life.
Jim Castro, via email
Letter writer Murray May (CN May 5) complains about wood-fired heaters. Did he think that during this cost-of-living crisis and the big increase in electricity bills (thanks, Albo) that people might have no option but to use wood to warm themselves as it is free and available?
As for comparing woodheater smoke to bushfire smoke is ludicrous. Houses and all kinds of things burn in a bushfire, so they would be a lot more toxic than burning a clean log. Even the smell of a wood-fire heater is different to a bushfire.
Facts show that more people die from
the cold than the heat, so in a freezing cold Canberra winter why wouldn’t it be okay for some folk to keep alive with a natural resource such as wood?
With cloudy, cold, windless days solar and wind turbines aren’t providing us with enough electricity to power our heaters, the electricity will come from coal and gas. Is this the clean air produced by carbon dioxide emissions that Murray is referring to?
Ian Pilsner, Weston
Vi Evans (letters, CN June 12) must surely have a wood-burning heater/fireplace because she protests vehemently and also claims the number of respiratory related deaths couldn’t possibly be attributed to wood burning heaters.
According to Ms Evans death is the only indicator of the environmental pollution hazard problem we have in the ACT pertaining to wood heaters?
It’s a shame that people die from lung-related diseases, but let’s blame it on the bushfires of 2003, 2019-20 and smoking ceremonies etcetera, not wood-burning, air-polluting fires lit every day in our suburbs during the winter months.
So let me understand your reasoning – if you can’t see the smoke it doesn’t/can’t affect those who live near or nestled amongst many wood-burning heater homes?
I don’t know where you live, but where I live is a valley. Winter air is very cold and most often still at night, so the smoke (that you can’t see) hovers low in the atmosphere and dumps micro carbon particles into the air we breathe.
How does this affect people, you may ask – allergic reactions, flare ups of asthma conditions, inflamed eyes, inflamed throat, congested lungs and oh, yes, occasionally DEATH from long-term exposure to carbonparticle polluted air.
Living well should not have to include having to take medication for allergies, asthma and other anti-inflammatory drugs that are needed to avoid the problems caused by wood-burning heaters.
So the ACT government needs to pay more attention to this problem and get on to passing stronger legislation that stops people putting wood-burning heaters into their homes.Don’t just discourage it, make them illegal in suburban areas.
Smoke pollution of any kind is bad for
humans and for the environment. We live close together and what we do affects our neighbours.
Don’t dismiss the research because you think it’s wrong, there are some very sad statistics coming out of India and Africa regarding death rates from lung diseases caused by smoke inhalation.
Spare a thought for those who suffer every winter but are forced to accept that this is how it is!
They have been complaining loud and long and still not enough has been done.
Don’t wait any longer, the time for the ACT government to act and make changes is now, this year, this winter!
Carole
Ford, Conder
Vi Evans (letters, CN June 12) says she would like to know how a Medical Journal of Australia article in 2023 can claim the annual number of deaths in the ACT attributable to wood heaters is similar to the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires. In the next breath, she says this is complete nonsense! Were she to read the article, she would find it is written by five leading researchers in the fields of environmental and public health. The lead author is Prof Sotiris Vardoulakis, of the University of Canberra. Another is Prof Fay Johnston, a leading public health physician who heads up the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence, the Centre for Safe Air based at the University of Tasmania.
As with any such academic paper, the methods used and limitations that apply are carefully described.
Another co-author, Prof Geoff Morgan, of the University of Sydney, has more than 30 years’ experience in epidemiological research. Wood heaters have long been recognised as major sources of PM2.5 pollution in the ACT, particularly in areas such as the Tuggeranong Valley, where air stagnates in winter and wood heaters are particularly numerous.
The paper finds that the consequence of current wood heater use in the ACT is 11 to 63 avoidable deaths, equivalent to $57 million to $333 million in the annual cost of deaths, comparable with the 31 deaths in the ACT attributable to the bushfire smoke during the Black Summer of 2019–20. The variations in estimated deaths come from different underlying assumptions, including the severity of the winter in any particular year.
Murray May, Cook
Gaza has been reduced to rubble, people killed, tortured, maimed and starved by Israel. These actions are war crimes of the most serious magnitude.
Gaza is the deadliest place on earth for children, with the number of children killed or injured having now passed 50,000.
Most children have family members killed or injured, have had to flee multiple times and have experienced relentless bombardments.
Many children live without housing, education, access to health care, food and water. Lifesaving aid is blocked. Many children will suffer the ongoing health conditions and disability from the impact of these deprivations.
Children who do survive will experience a lifetime of trauma impact.
Doing all we can can to ensure safe passage of aid from independent agencies is very urgent.
We must also act to suspend ties with Israel, impose sanctions, support justice mechanisms through the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice and immediately recognise the State of Palestine.
We plead for commitment from the Australian government to do everything Australia can to halt what is with each passing day, more unmistakably a genocide. We owe this to the children of Gaza.
Dr Sue Packer AO, Senior Australian of the Year 2019; Mohammad Ali, ACT Citizen of the Year 2022; Dr Christine Phillips AM; Kathy Ragless AM; Sister Jane Keogh AM; Marion Le AM and Mainul Haque OAM
Letter writer Anthony Hordern seems to know something the experts don’t (“Unsuitable, ideological, intermittent electricity”, CN June 6), namely that the pro-nuclear writers he cites are more knowledgeable than the “groupies” at AMEO and CSIRO who “jump on the gravy train”. Where is the evidence to support this pejorative view? If the “ideologues” in government are also wrong, haven’t the election results and the subsequent inter-party wrangling shown the Coalition is even more nuclear fraught?
Anthony insults the professionalism of CSIRO’s scientists and blithely dismisses the high level advice provided by the range of government and industry groups involved in AMEO’s management of the energy market. In doing so he merely exposes his own evidence-free political prejudices.
He also claims we could save money by not propping up the Chinese solar industry. Had climate deniers not spent decades refusing to accept the evidence, we might now have a fully developed local solarpanel industry – and one with great export value. And for that delay, governments at all levels must also bear responsibility.
Finally, Anthony’s seeming belief that we could virtually stick a couple of wires into a pile of uranium ore and throw a switch really takes the (yellow)cake.
Who is going to design and build the reactors to meet Australia’s unique
continent-wide needs?
To claim that nuclear can utilise “all the existing grid structure at no extra cost” just doesn’t stack up. Importantly, where will the skills needed for these mammoth tasks come from, at what cost and how long will it take even if there are no cost-blowouts and time overruns (a forlorn hope, I suggest)?
Power engineering expert Dr Asma Aziz, of Curtin University, estimates that the task of upgrading the transmission system alone is so formidable it’s one of the biggest roadblocks Australia faces in reaching its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. And, she says, it would be complicated even further were we to go down the nuclear path.
Eric Hunter, Cook
I view with dismay the plan this winter to slaughter some 3000 kangaroos on our reserves, plus hundreds of pouch joeys that will be pulled from shot females and bludgeoned to death.
We are told the cull is done during the winter months when fewer joeys are in pouch, yet the government’s own figures every year say at least 66 per cent of females killed had joeys in the pouch. Many of these are large but still dependent and to restrain such while trying to kill them leaves nothing to the imagination.Those that escape have no hope of surviving the now freezing weather. I asked the Conservator to give an
undertaking that shooters would at least not target females that were obviously carrying large joeys in the pouch, but none was forthcoming. Why?
It is not hard to identify them if the shooters are as competent as claimed. Such an undertaking would at least remove one aspect of the cruelty in the cull.
Shame on this government that it could not even make that small concession to these gentle creatures.
And why is Farrer Ridge Reserve again being targeted when the government has in place a fertility program in that reserve that we were told would remove the “necessity” of culling there.
It seems the darting exercise up there was just a waste of our money.
Jennifer MacDougall, Farrer
Columnist Mike Quirk (“Can zoning reform fix it for ‘missing middle’?”, CN June 12) says that upzoning “delivers windfall gains to existing property owners”.
It is my understanding that, when property values increase through re-zoning, “windfall” gains in property values are supposed to be recovered through lease variation charges and higher rates.
In at least one case the developer got a windfall by having the lease variation charges waived. In another case the government based the lease variation charge
on the developer’s unrealistically low property valuation, and the developer got a second windfall gain by being given a new 99-year lease rather than having the existing lease extended.
Can Mr Quirk explain in what other ways property developers (or homeowners like me) can make windfall gains through upzoning?
Leon Arundell, Downer
How many of the 40,000 blocks in the RZ1 zones proposed as suitable for additional development already have multiple dwellings on them? This policy seems to be based on thought bubbles rather than research and facts.
Relying on the market to produce housing that is suitable or affordable for your average Canberra household or those with a lower income is a fantasy evidenced by the fact that this product can’t be found in the Canberra market.
Ian Hubbard, via citynews.com.au
A sub-editorial slip in Ric Hingee’s letter (“Greens need to get back to their roots”, CN June 12) wrongly attributed, in the second paragraph, a comment to Greens leader Larissa Waters and not Mehreen Farugi.
based analysis are much more
On a lighter note: True story. A friend was on holiday in the Emerald Isle. Rising fairly early one morning, he went down to the hotel reception to ask for a newspaper. The receptionist told him they didn’t have any newspapers, but there was a corner shop 200 metres away that sold them. My friend proceeded to said shop, and was greeted with: “Top of the morning
Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel depicts the moment of divine creation through the nearly touching hands of God and Adam.
meaning in art, representing themes such as power, creation, healing, spirituality, and human connection.
For example, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel depicts the moment of divine creation through the nearly touching hands of God and Adam. In religious art, open hands may symbolise humility or divine grace,
anatomy and perspective. Many artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, have used hands to showcase their technical prowess in works such as Study of Hands. Hands are central to the act of creation itself – artists use their hands to sculpt, paint, draw, and shape. This meta-quality makes
viewers alike.
It’s often said that someone knows something as well as the back of their hand. However, if you asked someone to draw the back of their hand without looking, they would probably not be able to do so. That’s even more the case with the palm. The palm has long been another
interesting cultural or historical subject, it should not be relied upon for making important life decisions. Critical thinking and evidence-
“Have you any English newspa-
“Sure, which one would you be
“The Daily Mail please”. “Certainly” was the response, “Will you be wanting today’s or “Today’s would be just great” was
“Well, in that case,” said the shopkeeper, “you’ll have to come
Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.
Living with a disability, or recovering from an injury, can be a challenging time for anyone. Simple tasks can become onerous and the ability to travel to seek help isn’t always the easiest option. Canberra is home to a selection of support services that can make life a little easier, whether it is from home or beyond.
Those living with chronic pain or a disability shouldn’t find themselves stuck without access to reliable help, says Arthritis ACT CEO Rebecca Davey.
“We have an occupational therapist (OT) who can do home modifications, home assessments and driving assessments,” she says.
“We can also assist people with their assistive technology needs, which includes wheelchairs and scooters.”
According to Rebecca, an OT helps people retain their autonomy in daily tasks, such as personal care, movement and driving.
“It’s a rewarding experience to see the difference Arthritis ACT’s services make in the day-to-day lives of those who require them,” she says.
An allied health practice with a difference, Rebecca says they have physios, exercise physiolo gists and OTs available, as well as a team of peer workers, many of whom have lived experience of the conditions they support others with.
“Arthritis ACT offers ongoing programs for people who need any type of support with their chronic pain or debilitating fatigue conditions,” she says.
“These kinds of services make such a big differ ence in people’s lives, and help open up doors,” says Rebecca.
“We want to provide them the support they need so they can participate fully in the community.”
Arthritis ACT, 170 Haydon Drive, Bruce. Call 1800 011041, or visit arthritisact.org.au
Committed to supporting a better life for people living with complex needs and disabilities, Greenleaf Care Services founder and CEO Joby George says they are proud to be coming up to almost 10 years of service to the Canberra community.
“We are a registered provider in the ACT for NDIS services,” he says.
“Our vision is to become one of the best community service organisations in the region, while maintaining our ethos as a value-based organisation.”
Initially established in Canberra, Greenleaf now has houses in Canberra, Goulburn, the Hunter Valley, the Gold Coast and in Brisbane.
According to Joby, Greenleaf offers several home services, supporting independent living in an individual’s own home and within their housing accommodations.
Their home support services include addi -
tional support to assist NDIS participants with personal care and domestic assistance, such as shopping, cooking, cleaning, recreation and transportation.
“We believe our responsibilities extend beyond the day-to-day activities in the home,” says Joby.
“Greenleaf’s staff are passionate, innovative and dedicated to supporting people with a disability so that they can lead an independent life.
“Our mission is to provide high-quality service to all of our customers.”
Currently, Joby says they have some vacancies in their shared housing accommodations across Canberra.
Greenleaf Care Services. Ground floor, Suite 2/17 Townshend Street, Phillip. Call 1800 800777 or visit glds.com.au
10 Years Strong – One of the pioneering NDIS accommodation providers in Canberra
Since 2016, Greenleaf Care Services has proudly supported individuals with disabilities through a warm, caring and people-first approach. Our services include:
• Supported Independent Living (SIL)
• Medium & Short Term Accommodation (MTA & STA)
• Support Coordination
• Plan Management
• Social, Community and In-Home Support
We’re here to make navigating the NDIS simple, while giving you greater independence, choice, and peace of mind.
Give us a call 1800 800 777 Send us an
Now welcoming NDIS participants in Canberra & Goulburn - limited
We specialise in evidencebased care for people living with diabetes and prediabetes.
Book an appointment to see a diabetes educator or dietitian.
Call us on 1800 177 055 to arrange an appointment or scan the QR to book online
Canberra CityNews connecting you with trusted local home support services, expert advice, and real news and community stories you can rely on.
Managing diabetes is easier with the support of a healthcare team, says Diabetes Australia general manager, NSW & ACT Health Service Operations, Natalie Smith.
Diabetes Australia’s ACT clinic provides telehealth appointments that offer a clinic visit to be conducted via video or a phone call with a diabetes educator or dietitian.
“You can have a consultation with a qualified health professional who will assess your needs, offer expert advice and help you manage diabetes from the comfort of your home,” she says.
“If you’re looking for dietary advice, support with prediabetes or practical health strategies, our virtual clinic is designed to provide additional high-quality care without having to leave home.”
Ongoing high blood glucose levels can damage body parts, including feet, heart and eyes, which is why Natalie says it is important to seek the right support to prevent or delay many of these effects.
“If you want to make a change but don’t know where to start, we’re here to help,” she says.
Natalie says those living with diabetes qualify as those living with a chronic health condition and are therefore entitled to a Medicare rebate on five allied health service appointments every calendar year.
“If you want to access these services, talk to your GP
Ageing can bring challenges, but no matter where you are on your ageing journey, Council on the Ageing ACT (COTA ACT) can help, says CEO Jenny Mobbs.
“With a range of programs and services, we can assist you to remain informed, connected and inspired to live life to the fullest,” she says.
citynews.com.au
COTA ACT has a free Housing and Ageing Options program that provides individual advice and informa tion on housing and aged-care support options.
“Practical support is the cornerstone of what we do,” says Jenny.
“Our office is a busy hub of activity and our team deals with hundreds of phone calls, walk-ins and enquiries each week.
“We know that what works for one person, isn’t right for another, so our knowledgeable housing advisers are able to explain your options so you can make the right decision based on individual circumstances.”
Jenny says the program is designed to explore a range of options for seniors, from staying in their own homes, moving to another home or retirement village to accessing support to help seniors stay at home, as well as care options such as dementia-specific care, respite care and residential aged care.
COTA ACT. Hughes Community Centre, 2 Wisdom Street, Hughes. Call 6282 3777 or visit cotaact.org.au
ACT’s experienced staff can provide you with advice and information to help you explore your options to make the best choice for your individual circumstances.
Planning
Workplace
Car
ADRIA Care combines access to important facilities with a feel of privacy, making it the perfect place for retirement, a spokesman for the village says.
“There’s close access to Cooleman Court and Woden Westfield, but we are surrounded by reserves and parklands making it a very peaceful atmosphere for residents,” he says.
Located in the heart of Weston Creek, Adria Care, which has two dedicated respite rooms and a special care unit, offers residential care for 42 residents. The village also contains 36 independent living units. It offers residents a wide range of things to do, and that they can get involved as little or as much as they’d like.
“We have an active residents’ committee who organise lots of get-togethers. Residents can play cards, go to morning teas and happy hours, enjoy exercise, and much more,” he says.
Established in 1994 by volunteers of the Croatian community of Canberra and Queanbeyan, the village is home to a multicultural group of people.
“We have residents [from] Australia, Croatia, China, France, Macedonia, Hungary and more,” he says.
“There are great residents and great staff committed to the best outcomes for the community.”
Adria Care, 89 Fremantle Drive, Stirling. Call 6288 0198, or visit adria.org.au
Set amongst beautiful grounds, Adria Care in Stirling is a warm and welcoming community. Cultural diversity is celebrated providing care for Croatian and all other nationalities. We offer a range of activities to cater for all cultures and interests.
Fostering individuality and independence, we offer care and support for residents to live comfortably and securely.
Adria Care offers:
• 42 residential care single rooms with ensuite
• 2 respite single rooms with special care with ensuite
• 36 independent two bedroom villas including courtyard & garden
Come & enjoy a peaceful and welcoming home-like atmosphere!
Enquire about vacancies & tours today! 6288 0198
Email: admin@adria.org.au | 89 Fremantle Drive, Stirling, ACT
Providing in-home support services across the Canberra, Queanbeyan and Yass regions, Simply Helping ACT and Queanbeyan managing director, Ann Avci, says: “Whether it’s helping someone get out in the community, maintain a safe and clean home, or simply have companionship, we’re here to support.”
With tailored services for each individual, Ann says they cover everything from aged care, disability sup port (NDIS), domestic assistance, gardening and home maintenance, personal care, social support, respite, ironing, decluttering, dog walking to much more.
“We take the stress off families by providing reliable, compassionate help, whether it’s for a few hours a week or ongoing daily support,” she says.
“We also provide ourselves with quick response times and personalised care.
“You’re never just a number to us.”
Ultimately, Ann says their support helps people stay in their own homes safely, feel more connected and live with dignity.
“Sometimes it’s the small things, such as a friendly chat, a clean kitchen, or a tidy yard, that has the biggest impact,” she says.
Offering free in-home consultations to chat about different support services, Ann says their goal is to make life easier, safer and more enjoyable for the people they serve.
“Our team is made up of experienced, kind and culturally diverse staff who reflect the communities we serve,” she says.
“We understand the importance of language, culture and connection, and always do our best to match clients with the right support worker.”
Simply Helping ACT and Queanbeyan. 540/15 Moore Street, Canberra. Call 5101 4043 or visit simplyhelping.com.au
ADVERTISEMENT
Goodwin Aged Care Services is proactively preparing for a significant transformation in Australia’s aged care sector. Effective November 1, 2025, the new Aged Care Act will commence, introducing the pivotal Support at Home program for home care services. Says Jamie Fillingham, Goodwin Executive Manager Home Care and Business Transformation: ‘Goodwin is committed to a seamless transition, with all systems, processes, and staff fully equipped by this date.’
The New Support at Home Program Goodwin’s core mission aligns with the new Aged Care Act’s rights-based framework, which prioritises individual needs and choices in care. The Support at Home program, replacing the current Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care programs, will offer a more flexible and personalised approach to home care. ‘Our HCP clients can expect flexible care and nursing services and a broader range of allied health support, designed to promote sustained health, activity, and social connections’, says Fillingham. ‘Our trained nurses are dedicated to improving health conditions while encouraging clients to remain living at home. They work in partnership with clients’ GPs and allied health teams, offering a comprehensive range of care.’ This support extends from low to high levels of care, assisting with needs such as injections, wound dressing, and continence requirements.
Key Features of the Support at Home Program
The new Support at Home program, which will replace Home Care Packages (HCP) is designed to offer a more flexible and responsive approach to in-home care. ‘With a simplified structure, being able to access more funding levels to better
match individual needs, Goodwin is committed to ensuring our clients receive truly person-centred care that evolves with them, empowering them to live full and independent lives at home, accessing Goodwin’s Clinical Care, Independence Support and Everyday Living services.’
Under the Support at Home program, Goodwin will offer an expanded range of services designed to promote client independence and wellbeing. This includes access to essential assistive technology and home modifications to ensure safety and ease of living within the home.
Goodwin also supports clients through targeted pathways for specific circumstances. This includes a Restorative Care Pathway, providing intensive allied health support to help individuals regain function and independence. For those nearing the end of life, the dedicated Goodwin nursing team support clients’ end-of-life wishes with dignity and respect. The End-of-Life Pathway ensures comprehensive and compassionate palliative care that can be received in the comfort of their own home.
Goodwin is dedicated to making this transition seamless for all its clients. The organisation understands that change can bring questions, and its team is fully prepared to provide clarity and support every step of the way. ‘We have proactively been hosting Town Hall Information sessions for our clients, providing them with the necessary information to transition to the new Support at Home program. We are integrating these new features into our service delivery to ensure our clients continue to receive personalised, high-quality care that truly meets their unique needs’, says Fillingham.
‘Our clients can expect flexible care and nursing services and a broader range of allied health support,’ says Jamie Fillingham, Goodwin’s Executive Manager Home Care and Business Transformation, discussing the new Support at Home program.
Beyond the direct services offered under Home Care, Goodwin’s commitment to excellence extends to every facet of its operations. This unwavering dedication is further highlighted by the upcoming Strengthened Quality Standards, which will underpin all aged care services, from in-home support to residential care.
‘The new Strengthened Quality Standards, also effective as from November 1, 2025, reinforces accountability and continuous improvement across the sector. Goodwin fully embraces these standards, which align with our long-standing dedication to exceptional care. Our goal is to empower our diverse client groups with greater choice and control, enabling them to live life
to the fullest, confidently, and safely in their own homes or within Goodwin’s residential communities’, comments John Penca, General Manager, Residential Care and Strengthened Quality Standards Lead.
‘The core principles of person-centred care, safety, and respect have always been fundamental to Goodwin’s approach. These new standards build upon an existing foundation of excellence, ensuring our clients feel safe, respected, and supported, enabling them to live their best possible lives. Our motto “THE BETTER LIFE CHOICE,” reflects this commitment’, Penca continues.
This unwavering dedication to person-centred care, safety, and respect forms the cornerstone of all Goodwin’s services, extending seamlessly into how the organisation helps clients plan for their future.
Goodwin Advance Care empowers individuals to plan their future health and personal care. This service respects client choices and facilitates the documentation of preferences, ensuring wishes are honoured even if direct expression becomes challenging. This service underscores Goodwin’s person-centred philosophy, providing peace of mind and affirming the client’s voice in their care journey.
Penca concludes: ‘Goodwin is enthusiastic about the new Aged Care Act, anticipating a future where choice, control, and individual rights are paramount for older Australians. We are proud to lead the implementation of these vital reforms, partnering with clients to ensure tailored support for living life to the fullest.’
www.goodwin.org.au/home-care
In Australia, students study for about 190200 days a year with four school holiday periods breaking up the routine. For two weeks in July, students in the ACT get to kick off their school shoes and enjoy the holidays. But what to do?
Luckily, Canberra has a wide variety of activities to keep kids young, old, and even older occupied and entertained!
Revealing the history, geology, culture and wonder of the remark able Kimberley region, the National Museum of Australia (NMA) is offer ing The Great Kimberly Wilderness virtual reality experience over the school holidays.
“Get ready to be transported to one of the world’s most breathtak ing and pristine landscapes in the Great Kimberly Wilderness,” says head of commercial at the NMA, Jacqui Smith.
“Guided by scientists and traditional owners, this journey crosses stunning coastlines and majestic gorges, venturing deep into these timeless lands.”
Narrated by Luke Hemsworth, the 35-minute virtual reality experience explores the striped sandstone domes of the UNESCO-listed Purnululu National Park and travels back more than 350 million years to the Devonian Reef, uncovering ancient geology that has shaped life as we know it.
Nearly two billion years in the making, Jacqui says students will see the historic, cultural and environmental significance of the Kimberley region.
“Throughout the film, students will explore themes of First Nations cultural connections to country, geological and envi -
ronmental landmarks conserved within the UNESCO-Listed Purnululu National Park and remnants of the dinosaurs at Gantheaume Point 130 million years ago.”
Suitable for all ages, Jacqui says the headset is recommended for users eight years of age or older.
“There’s a special school holiday schedule to make it easy for families to attend, with sessions hourly from 9.15am to 4.15pm,” she says.
Booking before the activity is recommended at nma.gov.au/kimberley.
National Museum of Australia. Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula. Call 1800 026132 or visit nma.gov.au/kimberley
Opened in 2005, the Cooma Correctional Museum offers the history of Australia through correctional eyes, says statewide museum manager Andrew Weglarz.
“We show the history of corrections in Australia starting from the First Fleet, up until today,” he says.
“In 2023, we celebrated our 150th anniversary, we’re the oldest working jail in Australia.”
Andrew says people should think of them as a big-city museum in a rural setting.
“We have a working gallows, people can use a real trap-door, but we also have fire trucks and tractors from history,” he says.
Andrew says they have serving, minimumsecurity prisoners working as guides.
“We have done risk assessments with them, and they are coming to the end of serving their
Celebrating their 60th anniversary this year, the Queanbeyan Players will be performing The Pirates of Penzance at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre from Thursday, July 3 to Sunday, July 13.
“While the story hasn’t changed from the original, written by Gilbert and Sullivan in 1879, the feel in the chorus numbers provides a more modern upbeat tempo, while maintaining the wonderful solo numbers,” says director Alison Newhouse.
“In its original form, Gilbert and Sullivan wrote the Pirates of Penzance as a parody of traditional opera, so it makes sense to give this version pan-
time,” he says.
“We also have a show of Aboriginal history.”
He says the museum has been named the TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award Winner for 2024, and has previously received a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor, alongside some fantastic reviews.
Andrew previously worked as a senior prison officer in the UK and in Canberra.
“My passion is the privilege I have been given to tell Australia’s history,” he says.
“I also set up displays in the reception areas of some other correctional facilities, too.”
Cooma Correctional Museum, 2 Vagg Street, Cooma. Open every day, 8.30am-3.15pm. Call 6452 5974 or visit correctiveservices.dcj.nsw.gov.au
tomime elements to create an even more fun and enjoyable theatre experience for today’s audiences.
“Come along to an afternoon or evening performance and enjoy beautiful harmonies accompanied by an impressive 16-piece orchestra, exciting and creative choreography, an extremely talented cast of 36, all thrown together on the stage at The Q.”
“What more could you ask for?” she says.
The Pirates of Penzance at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, from Thursday, July 3 to Sunday, July 13. Tickets at theq.net.au or call 6285 6290
to
Be transported to one of the world’s most breathtaking and pristine landscapes in this stunning virtual reality experience narrated by Luke Hemsworth.
See website for session times nma.gov.au/kimberley
More hands-on than any zoo or park, Taralga Wildlife Park offers close up and personal animal experiences, making it the perfect outing for the whole family, says owner John Stafford.
“Meet all our regular visitors’ favourites like Karl the wombat,” he says.
“You’ll find Karl out often just waiting for a pat and some attention or visit the friendship farm area that also features rabbits, guinea pigs and sheep.”
The park also has many species of kangaroos and wallabies, including a “spectacular” white kangaroo and, in the friendship area, young kangaroo Gary. There are more than 100 species of birds including macaws, curlews, parrots, finches and endangered freckled ducks, as well as free-ranging peacocks.
With more than 50 exhibits featuring animals such as dingoes, deer, antelope, quokka, echidna, camels, llamas and alpacas, John says there are plenty of animals and birds to see and feed.
Visitors can make a day out of the park by finishing it off at the cafe, which John says serves great coffee and cake or light lunch options until 3pm.
He says there’s also a good range of cafes and hotels in the area to enjoy a variety of food.
Taralga Wildlife Park is open 10am to 4pm, Thursday to Monday, and is open every day during school holidays.
Taralga Wildlife Park, 257 Bannaby Road, Taralga. Call 0419 014540 or search Taralga Wildlife Park on Facebook.
Lavender Art Studios has been a beacon for young artists since 1999, says owner Elita Mackay.
“This July, the studio invites children aged 5 to 13 to immerse themselves in a vibrant world of colour, movement and celebration through our Festival Carnival Creative holiday art workshops,” she says.
Running from July 7 to 18, Elita says these workshops are inspired by global festivals and performance art, offering a blend of artistic exploration and cultural appreciation.
Each day will be divided into morning sessions (9am-12.30pm) and afternoon sessions (1.30pm5pm) to allow for flexibility in families.
Participants will explore various mediums, from watercolour pencils, sculpting and acrylic painting to using posca pens and printmaking.
“With more than 25 years of hands-on experience, our professional art teachers provide individualised attention, tailoring guidance to each child’s skill level,” says Elita.
“The studio’s nurturing environment ensures that every young artist feels supported in their creative journey.”
All art materials are provided at the studio with the session cost including a morning or afternoon tea for the participants.
“It’s more than just an art class,” says Elita.
“It’s an opportunity to explore, create and celebrate the joy of artistic expression.”
Lavender Art Studio. 42 Townshend Street, Phillip. Call 0412 649770 or visit lavenderartstudios.com.au
From timeless classics to hilarious comedies, Arc Cinema at the National Film and Sound Archive’s school holidays program offers the best movie experience for the whole family, says Aidan Delaney, manager of Programs & Visitor Experience.
“Dogs, toys, and festive fun, there’s something for everyone at Arc these school holidays,” he says.
“Dogs play star roles in Runt and Lassie Come Home, fan favourite miniatures come to life in The Lego Movie 1 and 2, and it’s time for winter fun and ‘Christmas in July’ spirit as Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) gets up to mischief in ‘90s classics Home Alone and Home Alone 2.
“ Lassie Come Home (1943) tells the heartwarming tale of a loyal collie’s journey back to Yorkshire, winning hearts – and a Hollywood star – for its canine lead,” says Aidan.
“ The Lego Movie (and its sequel) bring clever satire, dazzling animation and catchy tunes to the big screen, following everyday minifigure Emmet on two chaotic, universe-saving adventures.
“In Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York , Macaulay Culkin shines as Kevin, a resourceful kid who hilariously outsmarts bumbling burglars while left to his own devices.
“Meanwhile, Runt offers a charming Aussie underdog story about a girl, her gifted pooch, and the power of perseverance.”
Aidan says the NFSA is open daily in Acton’s cultural precinct and encourages visitors to check out the ticketed events, explore the heritage building for free
or simply enjoy a locally roasted coffee in the archive’s sunny courtyard.
“Arc Cinema is Canberra’s go-to spot for the culturally curious. Enjoy family favourites, curated classics, and special events,” he says.
“Grab a drink, settle into our art deco cinema, and experience the movies the way they were meant to be.”
Winter school holiday program
Screenings at Arc Cinema at the National Film and Sound Archive, 1 McCoy Circuit, Acton.
Thursday, July 10
1pm, Lassie Come Home
Friday, July 11
The Lego Movie (closed captions available) 6pm, Home Alone
Thursday, July 17
Runt (closed captions available)
Friday, July 18
The Lego Movie 2 (closed captions available) 6pm, Home Alone 2: Lost in New
tickets@nfsa.gov.au.
Lolly Swagman owner Ian Richardson reckons Berrima is such a “fun stop for passersby to stretch their legs and grab a few lollies for the next leg of your roadtrip”.
The business has been exploring new tastes for nearly three decades and Ian has been the owner for the past 11 years, saying they always appreciate their Canberra customers.
Located in the heart of the Southern Highlands, the lolly shop stocks all-time favourite treats and the latest-trending tastes from around the world.
“We lost count at 1300 different treats and
“It’s a happy place with kids excitedly exploring new tastes, older people reminiscing and sharing in the thrill of finding a favourite and the great stories that go with them,” he says.
“We often see people who’d come as children now bringing in their own children and sharing their experiences, which is lovely to be allowed to join in on. It’s nice to have that history.”
With the recent polar blast, Ian says they have their fingers crossed to see the snow, but are ready to welcome customers into their warm shop for a fun taste exploration.
Lolly Swagman, 11 Old Hume Highway, Berrima. Call 4877 1137, or visit lollyswagman.com.au
Open to school-aged children from five to 12 years old, Canberra City Gymnastics Club (CCGC) CEO Lisa Fitzgerald, says they will be offering a school holiday program to keep children entertained while on break from school.
“Throughout the day, participants will complete gymnastics circuits, a variety of games, experience free play and exploration on the equipment as well as will have some down time watching a couple of episodes of a television show after lunch,” she says.
“CCGC provides morning and afternoon tea for participants, so families only need to ensure that lunch is packed.”
No former gymnastics experience is required and Lisa says their coaches will be able to adjust the program to suit an individual’s level and
experience.
“Gymnastics is a fun, engaging sport with a number of benefits for participants,” she says.
“CCGC’s school holiday program is a fun way to explore the sport of gymnastics, make new friends and stay out of the cold Canberra winter.”
Lisa says they also run other programs during school terms, including kindergym for children aged 18 months to five years and their recreational program for children aged five and above.
“Participants will learn a variety of new skills and gain the confidence to try new things all while having fun and making new friends,” she says.
Canberra City Gymnastics Club. 85 Chandler Street, Belconnen and 196 Mouat Street, Lyneham. Call 6251 1131 or visit canberracitygymnastics.com.au
mrs.swag@lollyswagman.com.au www.lollyswagman.com.au
twinstitch.upholstery Like us on Facebook Call or email us today! 0422 073 665 61813511 toni@twinstitchupholstery.com.au
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By Jackie WARBURTON
While most of the spectacular climbers we grow in our region are deciduous, there’s one stand-out, evergreen climber that looks terrific all year round – the Caroline Jasmine.
With small, shiny leaves, this climber (Gelsemium sempervirens) will need a trellis or wires to twine itself. In full sun, it can get up to three metres.
Considered to be a longflowering climber, Caroline Jasmine will cover a wall in very little time with delicate yellow, trumpet-like, sweetly scented flowers from late
winter to early spring.
It needs an annual prune after flowering to prevent its prolific growth becoming straggly and tangled, and to also prevent any fungal issues.
This plant can cause skin irritation, so when pruning wear gloves for handling green waste.
It can easily be propagated from its runners or stem cuttings. In propagation mix, it will grow roots and once they emerge, plant them in the ground once the soil has warmed.
All jasmines need full sun to flower well and a good general all-purpose fertilisers as soon as the flowers begin to open.
JUNE is a pleasant time in the garden with camellias in flower. Once established they can be hardy and drought tolerant. Camellia sasanquas are flowering now. They
are easy to identify as the flowers and foliage are smaller than its counterpart. They’re more sun and cold tolerant and faster growing –ideal for an evergreen hedge.
Camellia japonicas flower late winter to early spring and the flowers and foliage are much larger, to the extent they can also be a large shrub or small tree. They prefer a more sheltered spot in the garden with protection from the sun and winds.
An unusual camellia to look out for is the Higo camellia. They are different to other japonicas in that they have distinct yellow centres. They can be treated the same as all japonicas camellias.
Unbothered by frosts, Yabilota (C. sinensis) can be grown in our region. It is a long-lived, spreading shrub that likes acidic soil. Its leaves can be picked and processed to make tea at home.
Once the tea plant has been tip pruned, the leaves need to air dried on a single, clean surface and once completely dry and brittle, tea leaves can be stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place to maintain flavour and quality.
The young, new growth is best for tea and picking leaves encourages more growth.
Fertilise with natural products to keep growth strong.
Generally, camellias need to have their shallow roots kept moist and protected under the soil with mulch. They should be kept moist, but not wet.
FLOWERING now and right into spring are Ranunculus or Persian buttercups. They are an unusual looking little corm that is planted pointy end down about six weeks before the first frost.
The corms are no more than 10 centimetres, but they pack a punch when planted en masse and with their bright, large flowers, available in all sorts of colours.
They prefer a soil that’s on the dry side and in full sun to flower well and, if the conditions are right, they will multiply year after year.
jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au
• Liquid feed any native plants that are in flower.
• Plant cyclamens for long lasting winter colour.
• Continue to pick winter greens to keep them cropping.
• Don’t prune any frost damage on citrus until spring.
By Helen MUSA
Oriana Chorale’s emerging composer in residence, Aija Draguns, whose new work is part of the coming Musica Domestica concert, seems well and truly to have emerged.
A graduate in composition from Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she has studied under Paul Stanhope, her vocal compositions have been performed by The Australian Voices, Sydney Philharmonia choirs, Sydney Conservatorium choirs, National Youth Choir of Australia, Konzert projekt, Trinity Grammar School choir, Coro innominata, The House that Dan Built, and Melbourne’s Latvian choir, Daina.
Her first orchestral piece, Lavender Paper Cranes was performed by Sydney Philhar monia Orchestra at Sydney Town Hall, her children’s opera Max and Moritz at Sydney Opera House and her short opera drama In Cosmic Utero at NIDA’s Parade theatre.
On the side, she’s an orchestral arranger and has written for the shows Queen Orchestrated and David Bowie Orchestrated.
When I catch up with Draguns, she tells me her current focus is conducting and she’s
busy working with groups such as the Latvian Men’s Choir and the Leichhardt Espresso
Brought up on the northern beaches in a family of Latvian immigrants, she spent much of her youth at Latvian House in Strathfield practising dancing and music,
By Helen Musa
At age 87, legendary photographer Heide Smith, now living at Tuross on the south coast, is looking to her legacy.
With that in mind, she and husband Brian, are staging an exhibition, Heide Smith – A South Coast Selection, along with the launch of Brian’s new book, Fotoheide – A Photographers Talebook.
The book, he says, is his tribute to Heide’s skill as an artist, but also a reminder to “The Establishment” of her talents.
It is not a biography, he stresses, but rather the stories behind the shots, collec tions, exhibitions, lectures and 12 books (including this one) that have made up her career as a photographer, from her first portrait in 1951 to the latest landscape taken a few months ago.
The exhibition ranges from coastal landscapes to intimate portraits, but the book ranges further and more than a third of its 32 chapters involve Canberra.
Heide Smith – A South Coast Selection, The Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre, The Bas, corner of Vulcan and Murray streets, Moruya, June 28-July 26.
and says the Latvian diaspora “has its own songbook”.
Unlike the enormous Greek and Italian communities in Australia, she believes, the relatively small Latvian cohort (she notes that Latvia is smaller than Tasmania) has, through music and culture, been able to hold its own despite political changes in the motherland.
She read on Facebook about Oriana’s plans to prepare for its 50th anniversary in 2028 and applied by setting some recent works and was chosen, she presumes by artistic director Dan Walker and the curator of Musica Domestica, Canberra-raised composer Sally Whitwell, now living back in the ACT.
“It’s harder to get funding for big orchestral works,” Draguns says, “but the voice community is very supportive in terms of commissioning.”
She has been engaged to write three pieces this year and so far she’s just done the present one, part of a “really cool concert” titled Musica Domestica (or Diary of a Remote Worker in Thirteen Chapters).
According to curator Whitwell, it picks up on the working-from-home experience of the freelance creative.
”Tasks are set around the rooms in which they occur, kitchen wake-up, bathroom self-care, working in the study and relaxing in a favourite armchair in the living room,” says Whitwell.
“There are even some household chores.
“We move through the zones of the creative worker’s home, sunrise to sleep, so you can see how and where we make our stories for you to consume in your leisure hours.”
And as well as three pieces called Caffeine Kick by Whitwell herself, there’ll be segments by notables such as Henry Purcell, (Rounds and Catches on Drinking) Stephen Hatfield (Three Ways to Vacuum Your House) and a bathroom song by Michael Nyman.
“Mine is about the study,” Draguns says, “and my task was to reflect the struggle with the computer, so it is called One More Email: A Tragedy.
“It was quite a specific brief so I was a bit nervous at first, but it was really cool to push myself as a lot of my music is war-oriented, in line with what is happening around the world, very dark, so it was fun to look at this piece.
“As a freelancer I spend a lot of hours in endless piles of emails so this music becomes quite comedic – sitting at the desk, setting up rhythms, intermittent sounds crackling through, and pop-up ads.”
Most irritating of all to Draguns is “that circle that keeps going around and round”, so her music, written for soprano, alto, baritone and bass, mimics the slow internet as the chorus sings: “The wheel of death will be my demise.”
Oriana Chorale’s Musica Domestica, The Street Theatre, June 29. Awfully
In 2025, crime shows still reign as streaming king, meaning barely a week goes by without a new series dropping on to one of the many platforms that viewers now have to choose from.
As a result it’s becoming more and more difficult for a moody noir drama to truly stand out from the crowd.
Enter Department Q on Netflix, the streaming giant’s newest series about cold-case cracking cops.
This one is set in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in so doing immediately offers a fresh setting compared to the many others out there.
The show follows Detective Carl Morck (played by Downtown Abbey star Matthew Goode), a gloomy chief inspector left traumatised by a shooting four years prior.
He’s assigned to lead the titular Department Q, a new team designed to investigate Scotland’s unsolved criminal mysteries.
Morck eventually builds his own team of police who each have their own broken pasts. Their stories become illuminated as they work to bring light to the cases they’re assigned.
The show comes from Scott Frank, the same creator as another of Netflix’s hit series The Queen’s Gambit, and he sure knows how to keep the pace moving along.
For those fatigued with the modern crime drama that’s become a dime-a-dozen, Department Q might be the new show you’re looking for.
IT’S been two years since the awardsweeping series Succession wrapped up and creator Jesse Armstrong’s new project has just hit screens on Max.
He’s made his film directorial debut with Mountainhead, a new satire poking fun at ultra rich tech bros and the rapidly evolving dangers of AI.
We’re dropped into a luxurious ski lodge in Utah, where four multi millionaires have retreated in the wake of a societal collapse brought about by their own dystopian entrepreneurship.
Steve Carrell plays Randall, the creator of an artificial intelligence program that is able to create hyper-realistic photos and videos.
That software runs amok when it’s
released into the untamed wilds of a global social media platform.
Throw in a biotech mogul obsessed with the idea of extending the human lifespan and big-wig military contractors and it’s a recipe for tech-fuelled disaster.
While Mountainhead tried to keep its satire light-hearted, the arrogance and cynicism on display here is just so thick it’s hard to stomach.
Sure, Succession’s cast of characters certainly weren’t saints but those rare glimpses of humanity audiences got helped hook them for the next episode.
In Mountainhead, Armstrong has spared his characters nothing, fully resigning them to insufferable narcissists. Maybe it’s needed
good at writing, but those who struggle spending time with some truly despicable characters could find themselves more irritated than amused here.
IT looks like Apple TV Plus wants to keep
the ball rolling on sports comedies after the
The feel-good series about a seemingly inept but well meaning soccer coach played by Jason Sudekis who leads his team to unexpected victories has been called by
Now Apple has just debuted Stick, a show very similar in tone starring Owen Wilson as It’s not soccer this time around that’s in the spotlight, but rather the far less universal
Wilson plays Pryce Cahill, a down-and-out former pro who lost his path to stardom after a major breakdown on live TV. Now something of a sad Gilmore, he turns his talent to another young prodigy with all the chance of becoming the legend that Cahill
The first season features 10 half-hour episodes, the perfect length for a comedy of this style. Not too long to get boring, not too short to leave its characters undeveloped. There’s some charming, feel-good laughs here that make Stick some easy viewing. It doesn’t hit the heights of Ted Lasso, but with a few more seasons there’s a good chance it could get closer to the pin.
12 – 28 June
by Lucas Hnath
Director Joel Horwood
I couldn’t get my head wrapped around Lil Mama’s Studio when it opened on the Kingston Foreshore, but I admired its massive outdoor dining area with loads of sun and pretty specky water views.
Was this a community hub for creatives? A café combined with a studio space? A capital venue focusing on coffee and simple eats?
In the end, Lil Mama’s is all of these things. It’s a coffee and juice bar. It’s a café with a limited but growing menu. It’s an events space, sometimes with live music or other entertain ment.
In short, Lil Mama’s is an eclectic place where customers can hang out to play chess, read, work on laptops, or even shop for pre-loved and vintage clothing on consignment, or art pieces by local designers, including funky 3-D printed vases.
Indoors is as massive as outdoors. Order at the counter, after admiring the goodies in the glass display case, with inviting house-made muffins, banana bread and cakes. Or choose from the “official” menu, which has expanded and likely will again.
We kick-started our breakfast with freshly squeezed, yummy and healthy juices ($10, select from the juice bar menu or make your own). The tropical paradise was a wonderful blend of watermelon, pineapple, apple and orange. My friend is a fan of the “pure greens”, created with pineapple, celery, spinach, apple, cucumber and lemon – super delicious.
While the special poke bowls caught my eye ($22), and the granola bowl sounded delish ($15), the classic ham and cheese toastie won the day (only $8.90 for sourdough, a croissant or a bagel). Mine was piping hot. The ham was of solid quality, the amount of cheese on the inside just
($15.90). While the avo was soft and creamy, the over-toasted halloumi looked and tasted dry.
Other toasties and bagels include a chicken and rocket ($16.90). Lil Mama’s also dishes up classic eggs ($14.90 and add sides for $5) and a classic baked bean or spaghetti toastie ($9.90).
Sustainably produced coffee is by Reuben Hills, and a range of other hot and cold drinks are available, such as chai, matcha, shakes, smoothies
and specialty teas. Babychinos and puppachinos
Lil Mama’s dares to be different and welcomes everyone to pop by – tradies, cyclists, mums with bubs, walkers, professionals, locals who live at the foreshore, dog lovers and visitors alike.
The place is light and airy. The décor is fun and colourful, with pieces of preloved furniture positioned here, there and everywhere, each piece with its own personality.
Keeping an eye on what’s going on in the wine industry led me, on my recent return from an overseas holiday, to read about the increase in Australia’s wine exports.
This increase was related to an upsurge in exports to China. In the 12 months to March, total Australian wine exports to all destinations increased by 41 per cent in value to $2.64 billion, according to Wine Australia, a Commonwealth Government statutory authority established under the Wine Australia Act 2013. The average value of exports increased by 33 per cent to $4.09 per litre free on board, the highest average value in almost two decades.
The increase in average value is mainly due to the level of premium wine shipments to main land China, after tariffs on Australian bottled wine were removed at the end of March 2024.
To recap, between 2020 and March 2024, Australia was confronted with a backlash from China following diplomatic tensions involving human rights issues and Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.
China aimed its wrath at a number of Australian exports, including wine, which collapsed after
exceeding $1 billion annually.
China is now top of the pops again: the 12 months ended March 2025 represent a full year’s worth of exports to mainland China since tariffs were eliminated. So, 96 million litres of wine were exported to that market, valued at $1.03 billion.
Mainland China now represents 39 per cent of total export value, but 15 per cent of volume, which is a trend that undercuts the Chinese allegations that Australia was dumping cheap wine.
But the news is not all good. While China has resurged, exports to the rest of the world declined by 13 per cent in value to $1.62 billion
and 9 per cent in volume to 551 million litres.
This was the lowest value to the rest of the world in 10 years and the lowest volume in over 20 years. Wine Australia reports that the volume drop was due to declines in exports to key destinations such as the UK, US and Canada.
Of particular concern, given the Trump tariff circus currently in play, is the fall in exports to North America, which declined by 18 per cent in volume to 166 million litres, valued at $476 million.
While shipments to the US and Canada both declined in volume, Canada went up in value due to an increase in premium packaged shipments; so, as with all that is going on in the Americas, the glimmer of hope is in Canada.
In my understanding, Trump has imposed a baseline tariff on all imports into the US of 10 per cent, which is a minimum threshold amount despite a general rule that the US will impose a tariff at half the rate of the tariff imposed on US goods coming into Australia.
There has been some vacillation on the part of Trump in relation to the level and application of tariffs. Setting aside the asinine issue of applying tariffs in the first place, this on-again, off-again situation is plain stupid: economists are clear that uncertainty deters investment and negatively affects employment growth.
So, the extent to which Australian wine exports are affected by another tariff rodeo is as uncertain as Trump’s decision making. But it does seem that wine export growth is now centred on China.
Why is Trump unable to be hanged for treason? Fake noose.
This year readers and fans of Jane Austen are celebrating the 250th anniversary of her birth.
In the UK there will be a Birthday Ball in Hampshire; the Jane Austen Society will hold its AGM in the field where the Steventon Rectory, her birthplace, once stood and, the house where Jane Austen died at 41 in Winchester will be open to the public.
Inevitably more books on Jane Austen will be published, as scholars both academic and amateur seek to shed new light on her life and work, to uncover details that the Austen family, since the time of her death, have tried to suppress.
Kathryn Sutherland, a senior research fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford, has produced a different kind of biography in Jane Austen in 41 Objects (Bodleian Library), asking: “What might we learn if we take a glimpse of the objects that [Austen} cherished… or that furnished the world in which she moved, or that have themselves been inspired by her legacy”. For each object there is a 600-word analysis, complemented by a colour illustration.
Some are familiar and predictable: Cassandra’s amateurish portrait of 1810; the juvenilia of Volume the First; The Austen family quilt; Austen’s silk pelisse and the Windsor Castle copy of Emma.
However, others are not, including a spray
of artificial flowers found in 1978 inside a Roger and Gallet soap box in the rafters of an outbuilding at Jane Austen House.
In a letter to Cassandra dated June 16 1799, Austen details her search for hat decorations in Bath, and having been to “the cheap shop” she had purchased flowers rather than the in-vogue fruit, telling her sister: “I cannot help thinking that it is more natural to have flowers grow out of the head than fruit”. The flower spray lacks the provenance of other objects, but it’s intriguing.
Then there’s the 18th century cast iron grate from the Austen’s dining parlour in Chawton that was discovered on a scrapheap by Dorthy Darnell, who was instrumental
with others in forming the Jane Austen Society in 1940.
More controversially, Sutherland includes the famous linen shirt worn by Colin Firth, as he emerged from the lake in the BBC mini series of Pride and Prejudice. For Sutherland, at that moment: “Television classic adaptation was reinvented”.
Sutherland describes her biography as Austen “discovered aslant, through small biographies of things – objects… that offer shifting entry points into and various ways of inspecting her life and her after lives”. It’s also both entertaining and informative.
MORE academic, but equally entertaining,
is An A-Z of Jane Austen (Bloomsbury) by Michael Greaney, senior lecturer in English Literature at Lancaster University, UK.
Greaney describes his collection of interconnected short essays as “an exploratory guide to the writings of Jane Austen using not only the six novels but also her letters, unfinished novels, the juvenilia and her prayers”. He takes 26 key words from accident to zigzag, which include places (Bath, West Indies), things (eye, horse, letter), concepts (kindness, queer, risk), activities (dance, matchmaking, visit) and people (children, friend, servant).
Through his intertextual approach, Greaney reveals “under examined corners of Austen’s imagination”, (P is for poor; N is for no), as well as how current postmodern approaches are shaping modern understanding of Austen’s work (Q is for queer; W is for West Indies). Greaney raises and answers intriguing questions about Austen herself. Why are children so marginal in her fiction? Did she actually dislike children? Why are many of her female characters – but none of her heroines – called Jane? Why do refusals shape so many of her storylines?
An A-Z of Jane Austen encourages a deeper reading of Austen’s
works in an engaging, accessible format.
IN Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness (John Hopkins University Press), Inger Brodey, professor of English at the University of North Carolina, questions how Austen has become “a cultural icon for fairytale endings” when in fact her endings are not as happy as they seem. They do not focus on weddings for instance. In the six novels, only Emma’s is described and that through Mrs Elton’s acerbic comment that: “It was all extremely shabby and very inferior to her own.”
It’s TV and movie adaptations that have created the fantasy that Austen’s novels have romantic happy endings, whereas in reality Austen remains “explicitly and stubbornly silent on details of the happy union”, rejecting the sentimental and gothic endings of her predecessors.
Brody, through her analysis of both the novels and the mod ern adaptations, brings the real Jane Austen into focus.
In what looks like an arts traffic jam of a weekend, Mockingbird Theatre Company is opening Steve Mar tin’s absurdist comedy, Meteor Shower, to be directed by Chris Baldock. Jess Beange, Maxine Eayrs, Anto Hermida and Sachin Nayak play two couples planning to watch a rare meteor shower. But as the stars come out, so do the home truths. Belco Arts, June 25-July 5.
Opening on the same night is Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s famous drama, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, set in a small, rural cottage in Connemara County Galway where middle-aged Maureen and her ageing, manipulative mother, Mag, live their isolated existence. Directed by Cate Clelland for Free-Rain Theatre, it runs at ACT Hub, Kingston, June 25-July 5.
There’s one more opening that night: NZ comedienne Penny Ashton’s Promise and Promiscuity. Billed as razor-sharp, it’s a romp through the Regency period with characters created in the likeness of Jane Austen’s heroes and heroines and is said to have been performed more than 600 times to sell out houses from Edinburgh to Adelaide. The Street Theatre, June 25-29.
Mockingbird Theatre’s production of Steve Martin’s absurdist comedy, Meteor Shower.
Canberra Qwire is going operatic, reinterpreting Purcell’s 1689 opera, Dido & Aeneas, to explore themes of Queer love, loss and heartache. Joined by four soloists and a chamber ensemble led by the Ellery Quartet, the Qwire will perform the work in its entirety, returning to the stage after intermission to offer a musical response to the opera with contemporary repertoire. These Precious Hours: Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas Reimagined, Llewellyn Hall, June 28.
Canberra Youth Theatre, armed with a one-off funding boost from the ACT government, will take its comedy, Work, But This Time Like You Mean It, to Sydney in October for a one-week season at The Rebel Theatre in Walsh Bay. Written by Melbourne playwright Honor
of the 1960s. They’ll take the stage for their Final Curtain Tour at The B in Queanbeyan on November 2 to perform classics such as We Gotta Get Out of This Place, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood and The House of The Rising Sun.
By Joanne Madeline Moore
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
This week’s New Moon is in clannish Cancer, so it’s a suitable time to start a domestic project, move house, organise a family get-together or welcome a new baby. If you’re travelling, it’s likely to be somewhere you’ve been before, where you feel completely at home. But have you been feeling like a tired and lacklustre Ram, with too many activities crammed into your timetable? Some rest and relaxation (at Casa Aries) are just what the doctor ordered.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)
Bulls can too easily get bogged down in a boring old rut. This week, the New Moon encourages fresh ideas, exciting connections and lively communication. And with Venus and Uranus visiting your sign, it’s also time to break a few rules and ruffle a few feathers – in a planned and responsible way. You could be asked to do some volunteer work in your local community or contribute to a humanitarian project, as you reach out to those who are less fortunate.
GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)
The New Moon shines a spotlight on your current bank balance as well as money mistakes you’ve made in the past. If your finances are in a mess, then it’s time to sort them out. Mercury and Jupiter are also visiting your $$$ zone, which increases your extravagant side. Be careful you don’t indulge in a ‘comfort shopping’ spree that you later regret. Slow down and think things through. Remember… good things eventually come to Geminis who wait!
CANCER (June 22 – July 23)
Sensitive Crabs are ruled by the silvery, changeable Moon, so you can’t help but be affected by this week’s New Moon in Cancer, as it stirs up your emotions. Plus, the planets agitate professional partnerships or financial insecurities. But becoming overemotional and unreasonable won’t help matters. Instead, tune into the magical promise of the new moonbeams as you learn to love yourself, celebrate your strengths and follow your dreams.
LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)
Expect a rather stressful week, as Saturn and Neptune square the Sun (your ruler), and Pluto opposes Mercury (in your sign). So, your bossy, demanding, Diva side could take over. If you sweat the small stuff, then you’ll end up feeling tired and emotional by the end of the week. It’s time to de-stress, as the New Moon lights up your spiritual/solitude zone and you meditate, contemplate, ruminate and relax. Calm down, Cats – you might just enjoy it!
VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
With the New Moon activating your hopes-and-wishes zone, it’s time to articulate (and write down) your goals and dreams for the future. Then you can put them into action. Saturday favours disciplined, creative work. But don’t let a loved one or workmate manipulate you on Sunday, as they try to persuade you to do something against your better judgment. Have the strength – and common sense – to stand your ground and say: no… with a firm smile.
LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
Polite Librans are the peacemakers of the zodiac. And you’ll certainly require your diplomacy skills this week, when a relationship with a partner, child or friend could be confusing and frustrating. The best way to handle the situation is with plenty of patience and understanding. The Sun, New Moon and Jupiter activate your career zone, so don’t be a wallflower. Speak up and promote your talents! If you procrastinate, then a golden opportunity will pass you by.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
It’s a good week to channel energy into educating and expanding your mind. Your communication skills are firing, as you extend your peer group and make creative new connections. Unhappily single? With Venus and Uranus visiting your relationship zone, it’s time to look for love online. Coupled Scorpio – surprise your sweetheart with a special romantic gesture. But obsessive thinking is a danger on Sunday, so try to relax body and mind.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
Is it always appropriate to be fearlessly frank? Is honesty always the best policy? Your natural inclination is to be incredibly blunt, but not everyone is ready for your brand of Sagittarian truth serum. The New Moon, Mercury and Jupiter are in your secrets zone, so a dollop of discretion and a pinch of diplomacy will smooth troubled waters. If you’re smart, then you’ll talk a lot less and listen a lot more. It’s time to hold your tongue and uncover a mystery (or two).
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
The week starts with the lingering Sun/Saturn square, which could trigger an old problem with a partner or relative. Wednesday’s New Moon is in your relationship zone, so put the needs of loved ones at the top of your to-do list. Then Mercury trines Saturn on Saturday, which boosts drive, ambition and organisational skills. But avoid telling other people what you think they should be doing. Remember –the only person you can control is yourself!
AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
The New Moon (on Wednesday) stimulates your job zone, so socialising with customers, clients and/or colleagues will help improve workplace relations. If you’re looking for employment, then put the word out amongst family, friends and within your wider peer group. At the moment, it’s not what you know but who you know! The Mercury/Uranus link (on Thursday) is wonderful for innovative ideas, lively communication and brilliant, light-bulb moments.
PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
Be careful on Monday, when the Sun/Neptune square could scramble your bulldust detector. Then Wednesday’s New Moon lights up your self-expression zone, so channel your energy into a personal project or a creative venture. Draw inspiration from singer-songwriter Carly Simon (who celebrates her 82nd birthday on Wednesday): “There’s always a creative side to me, even when it’s quiet musically. Like painting, decorating or planting a garden.”
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2025
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3 When one hawks, one does what? (7)
4 Vienna is the capital of which central European republic? (7)
5 Which term describes a formal speech? (7)
6 When one comes forth, one does what? (7)
11 What is called “The Scottish play”? (7)
12 When one attacks another, one does what? (7)
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Jess and Nat have been in business for 18 months and were keen to know if their small profit was within the range of similar small businesses.
I told them that what they were alluding to was known as benchmarking. "This can be very sophisticated or quite simple," I said.
"Simply, it is the process of identifying, understanding and adapting practices from high-performing organisations to your small business.
"The concept is that you measure and compare your business processes and outcomes against the leaders in your industry. For a small business this is not so easy, which is why I recommend we look at financial benchmarks.
"The American Quality Council suggests four types of benchmarking, but as I said, for simplicity, let's limit this to initially talking about financial benchmarks only."
I told them that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) publishes benchmarks by industry and recommends that businesses compare their results with others in their industry.
"They use these benchmarks when processing tax returns to see how that business compares with industry norms," I said.
"The benchmarks are grouped by turnover size. We use these benchmarks when we are reviewing financial statements to assist our clients to make wise business decisions.
"In your industry the average cost of sales is 52 per cent, using your turnover level. However, for your retail business the average cost of sales is 45 per cent. This is great because your gross profit is higher than many others in your industry.
"I put this down to your savvy buying system, which means you are paying less for your goods than others. Well done.”
Nat said that was a relief and that they had no idea how they were doing beyond the small profit.
I said: “My professional association, Chartered Accountants Australia and NZ, recently published many benchmarks for small business and these also confirm that your profitability is excellent. "They also show other ratios such as wages as a per cent of sales and this can be very useful for confirming that your staffing is correct.
"Among the ATO benchmarks is rent as a percentage of turnover. In Canberra this can often produce an unusual result against the benchmark because rents here are often higher than in other cities.
"This is nothing to be worried about as you have to pay the going rate for rent. As you buy so efficiently and have a higher gross profit than others in your industry then paying slightly more for your rent than the average does not distort your figures in any way.
“The benchmarks that I have been referring to show quite clearly that the size of the business and profitability can vary depending on the management team in the organisation and sundry other factors. They are useful to look at on an annual basis just to see how you are going.”
Jess was pleased and relieved, and said she was looking forward to reviewing the business again next year.
If you need business help to review your profitability or your taxation position contact the experts at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd on 02 6295 2844.
Disclaimer
This column contains general advice, please do
