Jasmine House in Gunghalin has the honour of catering 2700 meals to the Wind of Shaolin troupe from Beijing during their tour of Canberra.
The hungry cast of the internationally-acclaimed dance spectacular need three meals each day for the nine days they are in Canberra.
They’re highly trained, incredibly fit acrobats who need to keep their lean muscle and maintain a diet that won’t throw their digestion out of kilter, so traditional Chinese food is an essential.
Jasmine House, the home of Asian delights on the corner of Ernest Cavanagh & Gribble Streets in Gunghalin is best known for its signature dishes, including the piquant San Dong Duck, Yuxiang Stir Fry, the Famous Singapore Chili and a Shaolin Duck dish whose recipe was created by the monks of the Shaolin Temple in China.
Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to dine at Jasmine House while they’re busy creating these 2700 dishes—it’s business as usual.For bookings phone 6242 4788.
Australia’s Chief Scientist Professor Penny Sackett launched the 2009 International Year of Astronomy this morning at Questacon in Canberra with a live cross to the Anglo Australian Telescope at Siding Spring and to Chile.
400 years ago Galileo turned a telescope to the sky.
40 years ago Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Galileo’s work was the beginning of modern instrumental astronomy and a milestone in the history of evidence-based science. To mark this historical turning point, 2009 has been endorsed as the International Year of Astronomy by both UNESCO and the UN General Assembly.
The night sky is the common cultural heritage of all humanity. With hundreds of events happening around Australia alone, IYA will be a year-long, community-based celebration of the science, history and cultural impact of astronomy for people throughout the world.
Highlights of the launch included:
• The search for dark energy – an Australian-driven study of 400,000 galaxies to precisely measure dark energy – introduced by Matthew Colless in a live cross to the Anglo Australian Telescope at Siding Spring.
• Win an hour on one of the world’s leading telescopes: the 8m Gemini telescope in Chile. This competition for Australian high school students was launched with a live cross to Chile.
• Remarkable high resolution footage of Earthrise as seen from the Moon.
IYA is coordinated globally by the International Astronomical Union, which represents the world’s professional astronomers. In Australia, the National Committee for Astronomy, a committee of the Academy of Science, is responsible for coordinating IYA activities.
International website: www.astronomy2009.org
Australian website: www.astronomy2009.org.au
The Gemini competition: ausgo.aao.gov.au/IYAcontest
Encuentro in association with the Belconnen Gallery and the National Multicultural Festival presents:
Belconnen Community Centre, Swanson Court, Belconnen
Monday 2nd of February to Friday 27th of February 2009
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday from 9:00 am. to 4:30 pm.
This exhibition will be opened by Caroline Le Couteur MLA on Wednesday February 4 at 6pm
Encuentro is a Canberra based not for profit cultural organisation of artists from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Encuentro artists work across all artforms including visual art, music, literature and multi-media.
Tierra Viva – A Changing World is an exhibition of painting, photography, ceramics and drawing that explores the dynamics of our changing world. The artists exhibiting in Tierra Viva – A Changing World include: Oscar del Pozo (Argentina), Rosemary von Behrens (Australia), Chun-chiang Shih (Taiwan), Celia Gallardo (Argentina), Ian Haynes (Australia) and Ana Gallardo (Argentina).
The ecological footprint of warWhen: Wednesday – February 18 @ 7.30pm
Where: SCIRO Discovery Centre – Clunies Ross Street
Black Mountain
What prompts this film is recognition of our deep dependence on the natural world and the significant threat to that world posed by war and preparations for war. The scale of environmental damage over the last half century is unprecedented. Falling water tables, shrinking forest cover, declining species diversity – all presage ecosystems in distress. These trends are now widely acknowledged as emanating from forces of humanity’s own making: massive population increases, unsustainable demands on natural resources, species loss, ruinous environmental practices. Ironically however, war, that most destructive of human behaviors, is commonly bypassed.
In all its stages, from the production of weapons through combat to cleanup and restoration, war entails actions that pollute land, air, and water, destroy biodiversity, and drain natural resources. Yet the environmental damage occasioned by war and preparation for war is routinely underestimated, underreported, even ignored. The environment remains war’s “silent casualty.”
Activities that do such damage cry out for far-reaching public scrutiny. The very sustainability of our planet is at stake. We can no longer maintain silence about the environmental impact of war on the grounds that such scrutiny is “inconvenient” or “callous” at a time when human life is so endangered.
If we cannot eliminate war, we can at least require a fuller accounting of war’s costs and consequences, and demand that destructive forces used in our name leave a lighter footprint on this highly vulnerable planet. It is to this change in values and actions that this documentary film is directed.
Medical Association for Prevention Against War
www.mapw.org.au
Smouldering - Tiffani Wood, Michael Miziner & Katie Underwood in Valentino.
David Tydd announces that former Bardot and Las Vegas (Confidential) The Musical star Tiffani Wood will star in the 2009 production of ‘David Tydd’s VALENTINO alongside her former bandmate Katie Underwood (in the role of Betsy) for the first time!
“It’s great to land a role in a second musical within such a short period of time. I’m excited that Valentino will be touring various theatres across this country of ours, especially when the show takes me back to my hometown of Newcastle.” said Wood.
“David Tydd and the principal cast are all very passionate about this show and this is one of the main things i look for when working with people on any level.”
From the creator of the musical blockbuster Rasputin comes another stunning theatrical production ‘David Tydd’s VALENTINO’, showcasing the breathtaking choreography of Strictly Dancing’s Atalie Wilmoth.
‘David Tydd’s VALENTINO’ embraces Rudolph Valentino’s dramatic struggle to fame set against the spectacular backdrop of 1920s Hollywood with all its glamour and romance.
Latin dance star Michael Miziner (Dancing with the Stars fame) stars as Rudolph Valentino, who introduced Latin dancing to the world. Tiffani Wood stars as Valentino’s lover, Natacha, while fellow Bardot member Katie Underwood plays the Hollywood glamour girl, Betsy.
“I can’t wait to work with Katie again. It’s been way too long and she was such an asset to Bardot especially with her vocal ability and strength. Now to work with her on such a different level is going to be a great experience and bring back a lot of great memories. We are both playing roles that people wouldn’t expect to see us in so it’s going to be a great surprise!" Said Wood
Legendary entertainer and star Normie Rowe (Les Miserables) stars as the Hollywood studio boss Max. ‘David Tydd’s VALENTINO’ will also showcase dancers who have featured on the hit television series So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars.
‘David Tydd’s VALENTINO’ will leave you breathless!
During the end of the 1970’s into the 1980’s British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the City of London financial interests who backed her, introduced wholesale measures of privatization, state budget cuts, moves against labor and deregulation of the financial markets. She did so in parallel with similar moves in the USA initiated by advisers around President Ronald Reagan.
The claim was that hard medicine was needed to curb inflation and that the bloated state bureaucracy was a central problem. For almost three decades, Anglo-American university economic faculties have turned to Thatcherite deregulation of financial markets as ‘the efficient way,’ in the process, undoing many of the hard-fought gains secured for personal social security, public health care and pension security of the population. Now the ‘poster child’ economy of the Thatcher Revolution, Great Britain, is sinking like the proverbial Titanic, a testimony to the incompetence of what is generally called Neo-liberalism or free market ideology.
As the Neo-liberal revolution began in the economies of the USA and UK, it should not be not surprising that the epi-center of catastrophe in the global crisis now unfolding also lies with the economies of the USA and UK, as well as a handful of economies, including Ireland Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland, all of which embraced the free market Thatcherite agenda most strongly in recent years. Notably, the man who personally implemented Thatcherite financial market reforms and deregulation during the era of Tony Blair in Britain was Gordon Brown, then Treasury Secretary.
A sample of most recent British developments is instructive. Britain’s economy is about to suffer its most vicious slump since 1946, shrinking by a drastic 2.8 per cent this year, according to EU latest estimates. The UK is predicted to suffer the worst recession of any large European economy. The consequences for the UK will include soaring unemployment, while the economy also teeters on the brink of full-blown deflation. Unemployment will rise by more than 900,000 people over the next 12 months, driving the jobless total to 2.55 million by the end of the year, or 8.2 per cent of the workforce, from 5.3 per cent at present.
In parallel, the currency, the Pound, which is not part of the Eurozone currencies, has fallen dramatically against the Euro and even the US dollar in recent weeks over growing fears of the collapsing UK economy and banking system. Sterling has fallen below $1.40 to its lowest point in seven and a half years because of concerns about the depth of Britain’s banking crisis and the Government’s rising debt levels. This coming year the UK Government’s borrowing levels may exceed £118 billion, equal to 8 per cent of GDP.
Britain will not be able to reap much benefit from a lower pound for exports because, as part of the Thatcher Revolution, the national economy has out-sourced, de-industrialized and turned to a service economy where, as in the USA, finance and banking became the motor of economic growth the past two decades. That motor has now broken.
Public debt soaring
Fuelled by the cost of state bank bailouts, the UK’s national debt is set to rise to £1.06 trillion, or 72 per cent of GDP, by 2010, a sharp rise of more than 70% from present levels. Yesterday, the Gordon Brown Government, only three months ago hailed as the place which was taking effective action to control the global financial meltdown, was forced to introduce yet another new bank bailout package of measures designed to rescue the country’s banking sector. He refused to put any ceiling on the amount that he might ultimately need, creating great distrust in the Brussels and across the EU.
Combined, British banks have some $4.4 trillion of foreign liabilities. That is twice the size of the British economy. UK foreign reserves are virtually nothing at $60.6 billion. Little wonder that savvy currency traders and hedge funds have decided the British Pound can go only one way, down. Swap markets for CDS now price in an alarming 10% probability of Britain having to default on state debt obligations in the next few years as public debt explodes.
The last time England had a default on state debt in the early 14th Century when King Edward III decided to declare default on his then huge debts to the large Italian banking house of Bardi & Peruzzi, taking the large bank down with it and spreading ruin across Europe.
‘.giving the kiss of life to a corpse’
The Brown Government admits it does not know whether the second bank rescue package it just launched will work, senior ministers admit. One minister is quoted anonymously in the British press, ‘The truth is that we can’t be sure whether it will be effective. We have to look calm to try to instil some confidence in the system. But we don’t know what will happen next. No one can be sure that this is the end of it. We are in completely uncharted waters. The position is changing all the time.’ In brief, the authorities have lost control in the UK.
Gordon Brown and Treasury Secretary Alistair Darling claim the second bailout did not mean the first package they unveiled last October had failed. That deal, they insist, was about preventing banks from going bust; this one was about ensuring they had the confidence to lend to businesses and the public.
The Government refuses to reveal how much it would cost taxpayers. Officials dismissed talk of a £200bn bailout, saying some measures had a low risk and figures were still being calculated. Labour backbenchers conceded it would be difficult to “sell” the rescue plan to an increasingly hostile public. Not surprisingly, polls have turned dramatically against Labour and Brown, now showing that were elections held today, the Conservative Party would win a gain over Labour of 9% to 13 %. An astonishing 49% of all Brotins fear losing their job this year as well.
A major impediment to swift and consequent Government action to contain the impact of the banking crisis has been the dominance of Thatcherite ideology as an almost religious dogma that permeates even Labour, where Tony Blair was portrayed as a Labour version of Thatcher. The ideological absurdity of the situation was underscored recently when the Conservative opposition offered broad support for yesterday’s measures, even though their concern over soaring borrowing led them to oppose the Government’s £20bn fiscal stimulus designed to keep the economy moving.
As well, it is clear, following the nationalization last year of Northern Rock and the forced state share of 70% in the large Royal Bank of Scotland, that a type of approach as that used in the early 1990’s Swedish banking crisis, in which the State nationalized banks that were insolvent and unable to raise private capital. Sweden then split the banks into ‘good bank’ and ‘bad bank.’ In the good bank, business of lending to the real economy continued unabated. The assets in the bad bank, largely illiquid Swedish real estate holdings, were held by the state until economic growth again allowed the government to sell the assets in a healthy market. The ultimate taxpayer cost of the Securum model were estimated to have been zero or even a tiny profit when all costs were factored.
The ideological Labour government is stubbornly refusing to admit the logic of the situation, and ends up ‘cutting the dog’s tail off by inches.’ As certain Labour MPs call for the full nationalisation of the banks the Government says that is not its goal. Chancellor Darling stated, ‘We have a clear view that British banks are best managed and owned commercially and not by the Government. That remains our policy.’
John McFall, Labour chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, who believes full nationalisation of the banks is inevitable, asked Darling in recent House of Commons debate if the Government would take a 100 per cent stake in the banks if the new package did not restart lending. Vince Cable, Treasury spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said, ‘The Government increasingly resembles somebody who is trying to give the kiss of life to a corpse. The Government now effectively controls one of the largest banks in the world. It will almost certainly have to put more money in; it may well acquire other banks.’ Cable had also predicted the bursting of the house price and personal debt bubbles – and the nationalisation of Northern Rock.
Royal Bank of Scotland next
The same day Brown’s Government announced the second bank bailout attempt, Royal Bank of Scotland issued a statement revealing it expects losses of £28bn for 2008, far greater than anyone was expecting, and triggered further selloff in all major British banks. The huge losses announced at RBS were mainly the result of its acquisition of ABN Amro in 2007. RBS paid a high price for ABN and yesterday admitted that the business was worth around £20bn less than it had previously thought. This unexpected announcement resulted in a 67 per cent fall in its shares.
Brown, in a pathetic attempt to deflect blame, has said that he was particularly ‘angry’ at the record losses racked up by the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the large write-offs of foreign debt. Lloyds Bank is rumored to be the next bank in need of emergency help as the economy of Britain goes into free-fall, the tragic eulogy to Thatcherism.
Origins of the neo-liberal model
The so-called neo-liberal finance model which was espoused by the Thatcher government after 1979 had its origins in a decision by leading Anglo-American financial powers and their circle that it was time to begin a wholesale clawing back of the concessions which they had granted under, as they saw it, duress, during the great depression of the 1930’s and in the case of Britain the postwar economic difficulties.
The origins of the effort in the United States go back to a seminal little known book by a scion of the vastly wealthy Rockefeller family, the late John D. Rockefeller III, titled The Second American Revolution. There, amid soporific rhetoric about creation of a ‘humanistic capitalism’ he calls for drastic reduction in the role and size of government in the economy. That theme was then propagated through the efficient propaganda apparatus of the Rockefeller imperium, aided by the economist guru of the Rockefellers’ University of Chicago, Milton Friedman.
Amid the misnamed ‘stagflation’ sluggish growth high inflation era of the late 1970’s into the 1980’s, that propaganda machine, conveniently ignoring the pivotal role of the manipulated oil shocks, shocks incidentally manipulated and brought about by the same Rockefeller family, as I detail in A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics, blamed all ills on ‘big government.’ Rockefeller protégé, Paul Volcker of Chase Manhattan Bank was sent to Jimmy Carter on orders of David Rockefeller, to ‘wring inflation out of the system’ in October 1979, the same general time Thatcher’s Bank of England imposed its own form of economic ‘shock therapy.’
True economic causality was obscured and reams of press copy from the Friedmanite free market camp, during the Reagan and Thatcher era claimed that the ‘defeat of inflation’ had been due to the ruthless discipline of Volcker and Thatcher. That was, we were told, again and again, the reason why the market should be unfettered from government regulation, freed to the devices of its own unbounded innovative genius. The results of that unfettered ‘humanistic capitalism’ or what Alan Greenspan approvingly called the ‘revolution in finance’ is now bringing both meccas of neo-liberalism, the United States and Great Britain to economic ruin. Somewhere between this and Stalin’s Soviet central planning there lies a better way.
F. William Engdahl is author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (Pluto Press) and Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation (www.globalresearch.ca). The present article is adapted from his forthcoming book, due in summer 2009, Power of Money: The Rise and Decline of the American Century. He may be contacted through his website, www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net.
F. William Engdahl is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by F. William Engdahl
This article first appeared on my blog ‘En Passant with John Passant’ (http://enpassant.com.au)
The Rudd Labor Government’s next budget in May will take a meat axe to vital public services and public servants.
As Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said recently: "We have got further efficiency work (sic) under way – the second phase of the razor gang." (Danielle Cronin and David McLennan ‘PS pain not over as China hits the wall’ The Canberra Times Friday January 23 2009 page 1.)
He went on to say: "It’s all about squeezing more out of the lemon, cutting out waste, getting greater efficiency, but time will tell how successful we are."
Ominously, Tanner said that the number of public service positions had grown from 212,000 to 247,000 under John Howard in his final years in office.
Remember 1996 when Howard and Costello sacked 25,000 public servants and axed a large number of programs?
Tanner is softening us up for the HowRudd Government’s version of 1996. Given the benchmark Tanner is using – 212,000 compared to 247,000, could this rotten Labor Government be tempted to go further than Howard and Costello and sack 35,000 public services and axe vital programs across the board?
The CPSU – the public servants’ union – has condemned the comments, saying you can’t get blood out of a stone. The CPSU accepted the 1996 attacks. It should take a stand now. Instead of being an acolyte of Labor, it should defend its members.
If you are a public servant, and not a union member, now would be a good time to join. But don’t imagine that somehow the "union" will save you without you doing anything. The union leadership is essentially a conservatising force, afraid of industrial action and wedded to the ALP and the fear of upsetting it. So if you do join, join prepared to argue and agitate for mass meetings, demonstrations, bans and strikes to defend public services, jobs, wages and conditions. Join and fight!
These meetings, bans and strikes should be on the union agenda now to force the Government to back down before their attacks become a debilitating and confidence destroying fait accompli. The added bonus is that such action would help rebuild the union, tainted from years of collaboration with the employer and class enemy – Hawke, Keating, Howard and Rudd.
This looks unlikely from the CPSU leadership. Instead the Union is affiliating with ALP branches around the country. In Canberra these moves are just beginning. The talk is of influencing the ALP from the inside. The union may as well join the Liberals for all the good it will do.
This entryism is doomed to failure because managing capitalism for the bosses demands attack on workers. That’s the essence of the ALP in times of economic crisis, and no amount of "influence" is going to change that. In fact the end result is more likely to be the host ALP taking over the parasite CPSU.
This affiliation nonsense is the consequence of the CPSU limply rolling over to governments for 25 years. The alternatives are affiliation or action to defend jobs. I’m in favour of action instead of passing do nothing resolutions through the ALP and getting do nothing officials on to the backbenches.
Strike to defend vital public programs, jobs, wages and conditions.
An initial Forum was conducted late September 2008 at the University of Canberra, supported by the National Institute of Governance which is a professionally recognised body throughout Australia and overseas, concerning public policy and public management issues. The audience of this Forum was from the senior ranks of the Australian Public Service and senior policy advisors from the Solomon Islands and South African High Commissions. The theme of this Forum concerned identification of the skills needed for rejuvenation of leadership in business organisations such as the private sector, public services, the armed services and the trade unions and other not for profit organisations. A press release and photo of the presenters is available if you send an sms to 0406377047 with your email details.
Due to the high interest in the Forum a much more extensive program with additional substance is planned for the first week in September. International and local experts have already indicated they wish to take part. The theme for the two days will focus on leadership development (skills, advancement, mentoring, and renewal) within business and the public affairs area, which despite its critical importance is a neglected area because of its tough non-academic nature. The Forum will take place in Canberra but intended for a very wide audience and take place in first class facilities. The audience will be expected to pay a conference fee for the occasion but the budget needed and hence the fee schedule is yet to be determined.
If you or your organisation would like to nominate a presenter please or become a sponsor advise 0406377047.
Leadership within the community is crucial in today’s environment of the world financial crisis which could have the consequence of cutting back substantially on leadership development programs.
The final out come of the Forum will be published and available on web casts.
Across the land, an atmosphere of hope and optimism prevails. The Bush regime has gone. A new president is in the White House. While America had its eyes riveted on the live TV broadcast of Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, financial markets were sliding. A major “market correction” had occurred. Removed from the public eye, virtually unnoticed, a new stage of the financial crisis has unfolded. Immediately following the inauguration, the Dow Jones plummeted, largely affecting the share prices of major financial institutions.
The quoted stock values of major Wall Street banks plummeted. Citigroup fell by 20 percent, Bank of America by 29 percent and JP Morgan Chase by 20 percent. The Royal Bank of Scotland fell by 69 percent in New York trading.
Related Quotes
Symbol Price Change
BAC 5.10 -2.08
BK 19.00 -3.96
C 2.80 -0.70
FITB 4.22 -1.21
JPM 18.09 -4.73
Source: Yahoo
The difficulties and book value losses of major banks were known well in advance of the inauguration of President Obama.
So why now?
The inauguration of a president Obama was expected to provide confidence to financial markets. Exactly the opposite occurred. There was nothing spontaneous and accidental in this collapse of the stock values of amjor financial institutions. Obama’s speech outside the Capitol, had been drafted well in advance. Its contents was carefully prepared.
President Obama made explicit reference to the global economy’s woes, while emphasizing that: “without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control.” “Obama warned the economic recovery would be difficult and that the nation must choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord” to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” (Associated Press, January 20, 2009)
There were “high expectations” on Wall Street. Many Wall Street brokers, who were not privy to the contents of Obama’s speech, were “betting” President Obama’s statements would help stabilize financial markets. Those who drafted Obama’s speech were fully aware of its possible financial repercussions. “High expectations for details on how the new administration would address the growing banking crisis and faltering economy were dampened after the inauguration speech.”(Reuters, Jan 20, 2009)
Coincidentally, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox, appointed by Bush in 2005, resigned on the very same day of the presidential inauguration, leading to vacuum in the adoption of crucial financial regulatory decisions. His successor, Mary Shapiro, will only take office following lengthy Senate confirmation hearings.
Those who had advanced knowledge and/or inside information regarding the text of Obama’s speech and who had the ability to “move the market” at the right time and the right place, stood to gain in the conduct of major speculative transactions on stock markets and currency exchanges. Were these speculative transactions planned in advance of January 20th? Was there a concerted and deliberate effort to “short the market” on the very same day as the presidential inauguration?
On currency markets, the movement was in reverse, the US dollar was rising, the Euro, the British Pound and the Canadian dollar were plummeting. Canada’s Central Bank Governor chose the date of the presidential inauguration to announce a cut in the interest rate in an apparent “bid to stimulate the economy and boost lending to consumers and businesses”. The impact: the Canadian dollar declined dramatically in relation to Greenback.
Were have All the Creditors Gone?
The largest financial institutions are said to be in troubled waters, indebted to unnamed creditors. Since the onslaught of the financial meltdown, the identity of the creditors remains a mystery. Over the years, the financial establishment has set up private hedge funds invariably registered in the name of wealthy individuals. Large amounts of wealth have been transferred from the large financial institutions to these privately owned hedge funds, which largely escape government regulation.
Why are the banks indebted? To whom? Are they the victims or the recipients? Are they the debtors or the creditors? America’s largest banks have, over the years, sifted off part of their surplus profits to various proxy financial outfits, hedge funds, accounts registered in tropical offshore banking havens, etc.
While these billion dollar transfers are conducted electronically from one financial entity to another, the identity of the creditors is never mentioned. Who is collecting these multibillion debts which are in large part the consequence of financial manipulation? The collapse in bank stock market values was in all likelihood known in advance. The banks had already moved their loot to a safe financial haven.
The banks are in troubled water after having received hundred of billions of dollars of bailout money.
Where is the bailout money going? Who is cashing in on the multibillion dollar government bailout money? This process is contributing to an unprecedented concentration of private wealth. The financial press acknowledges the existence of billions of dollars of “inter bank debt”. But not a word is mentioned about the creditors.
For every debtor, there is a creditor. Is this not money which the financial elites owe to themselves?
Whoever holds these trillions will eventually pick up the pieces. They will transform their enormous paper wealth into the acquisition of real assets.
Waking up the Day After
And the day after the hopes and promises of the presidential inauguration, Middle Class Americans who had invested in “safe” bank shares, will come to realize that part of their lifelong savings have once again been confiscated.
Centre of Attention: The Snowy Hydro SouthCare Bell 412 Rescue Helicopter
The Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter Base will open its hangar doors and welcome the community behind the scenes to learn more about this life-changing Service while enjoying free or gold coin activities, displays, live entertainment and refreshment. Snowy Hydro SouthCare Base Open Day is an annual and free to enter event and is sponsored this year by Robbo’s Motorcycles.
Base Open Day 2009 will feature emergency vehicles from all of the ACT’s Emergency Services as well as ACT Policing and Kenny Koala not to mention our own Bell 412 rescue helicopter. Families will also enjoy the FARM petting paddock, air-brush face-painting and tattooing, Harley Davidson rides, helicopter joy flights, classic Holdens and Fords, a jumping castle and much, much more. Inside the hangar will be the Snowy Hydro SouthCare display, raffle and merchandise sales plus aviation related displays, models and activities for the littlies.
Enjoy a barbecue or some pancakes with a cold drink in the shade while listening to the wonderful music of the Canberra City Band, Sing Australia Choir, Canberra City Pipes and Drums and Elvis. Most activities are either free or gold coin so bring the kids, a pocket full of change and enjoy this wonderful day out for all of the family while supporting the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter Service.
Meryl Streep leads the cast with Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt.
Two diverse films
By Rama Gaind
ADAPTED from a stage drama by playwright/screenwriter/director John Patrick Shanley, Doubt is set in a working-class Catholic parish and parochial school in New York City in 1964.
Meryl Streep plays the strict Sister Aloysius Beauvier, Mother Superior at a Catholic school in the Bronx, who suspects improper behaviour by Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) towards a 12-year-old student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II).
Miller is the school’s only African-American student and altar boy.
It is Sister James (Amy Adams), a young, inexprienced teacher, who observes the closeness between the boy and Father Flynn.
The film’s overall success is due to the fine acting by the cast – particularly Streep, Hoffman and Adams – and the remarkable ascetic cinematography by Roger Deakins.
CLEVER performances by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, who play disgraced former US President Richard Nixon and British TV host David Frost, unfold in the lightweight film Frost/Nixon directed by Ron Howard.
Talking about Nixon’s time in office and the Watergate scandal, the two met for four historic interviews in 1977.
Howard’s entertaining adaptation of a play by Peter Morgan is an enlightening reflection on compelling political events.
Brisbane continues to advance – gently
By Rama Gaind
TOURISM Australia has forecast that inbound travel will fall by four per cent this year together with the continued slow-down in domestic tourism of 0.9 per cent.
Queensland tourism hit a large slump over the September quarter last year and the Tourism Forecasting Committee Report predicts the state will be especially hard hit by shrinking numbers of Japanese and domestic tourists.
Nevertheless, when I visited Australia’s third-largest city with a population of 1,857,594, I was struck by Brisbane’s laid-back atmosphere. The maddening hustle-and-bustle, which you find in other major capital cities, was absent. Brisbane is quietly evolving, growing at a rate which is not only appreciated by the locals, but interstate visitors as well.
The city centre, which is constantly changing with new buildings sprouting everywhere, is thriving, surrounded by a tropical landscape and the undulating Brisbane River.
Cruise down the Brisbane River and catch a glimpse of million-dollar homes, travel under the Story Bridge, visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary or walk down to South Bank which is Brisbane’s arts precinct – and home to the Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Museum and State Library of Queensland. Neither are you far away from dining precincts, shopping, parklands and lifestyle markets.
The city’s oldest park – the City Botanic Gardens – runs the full length of Alice Street, bordered by Parliament House on the one side and the Brisbane River’s northern banks on the other. Originally planted by convicts in 1825 with food crops to feed the prison colony, these gardens include ancient trees, rainforest glades and exotic species.
Arguably the most famous watering hole in Queensland, Breakfast Creek Hotel is a popular destination. While it’s a pub steeped in folklore, this famous, sprawling hotel, dates from 1889 and is located on a photogenic bend of the Brisbane River just north-east of Fortitude Valley.
Take time out for a quick trip to Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast which are vibrant and alive with their healthy outdoor lifestyles, enticing beaches and ample opportunities for some retail therapy.
While it’s not surprising to learn that the Gold Coast is home to 300 days of sunshine a year, you will be astonished to learn that it has more man-made canals than Venice.
There are so many ways of unwinding here including basking in the lap of luxury at Palazzo Versace and partaking of indulgent afternoon high tea; visiting the Golden Door spa for a total pampering body massage; spend a relaxing afternoon at the Villa, the manor home which was formerly a private residence, complete with its own golf course; eating at Oskars on Burleigh and enjoying the sweeping water views; and eating out at Marriott’s Benihana restaurant in Surfers Paradise.
End your stay on a relaxing note at Benihana where highly skilled chefs will perform culinary acrobatics, right before your very eyes as they cook such favourites as steak, chicken, seafood and fresh vegetables in traditional Japanese style on a hibachi table. Enjoy!
“The Eurobodalla Walking Together Group was formed in 1993 from a Reconciliation Council Study Circle and acts as a support group for social justice in the Eurobodalla community.
From the start there have been indigenous and non-indigenous members and meetings and other functions have been held in co-operation with one of the local aboriginal land councils as well as at the Eurobodalla Shire Council and other indoor sites and at camping and picnic sites.
The group has also been the local focus for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and for the Sorry Day and the Journey of Healing.
On 3 June 2000 a Bridge Walk in Moruya was organized in which more than one thousand supporters participated.
The Sea of Hands has been installed at Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Bermagui.
Monthly meetings and special events have focussed on topics of key importance in attaining social justice and reconciliation in the community.
The group has collaborated with and receives on-going support from the Shire Council which flies the Koori flag daily from a specially-installed flagpole.
Members have taken part in many activities supporting social justice including as invited observers at Yuin Elders Council Conferences, the Round Australia Sea of Hands Tour, and as participants in Corroboree 2000.”
For more information please contact:
Georgina Parsons Phone: 02 4474 2321, 02 4474 3123
Address: 11 Woodbridge Avenue Moruya NSW 2537
“The Eurobodalla Walking Together Group was formed in 1993 from a Reconciliation Council Study Circle and acts as a support group for social justice in the Eurobodalla community.
From the start there have been indigenous and non-indigenous members and meetings and other functions have been held in co-operation with one of the local aboriginal land councils as well as at the Eurobodalla Shire Council and other indoor sites and at camping and picnic sites.
The group has also been the local focus for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and for the Sorry Day and the Journey of Healing.
On 3 June 2000 a Bridge Walk in Moruya was organized in which more than one thousand supporters participated.
The Sea of Hands has been installed at Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma and Bermagui.
Monthly meetings and special events have focussed on topics of key importance in attaining social justice and reconciliation in the community.
The group has collaborated with and receives on-going support from the Shire Council which flies the Koori flag daily from a specially-installed flagpole.
Members have taken part in many activities supporting social justice including as invited observers at Yuin Elders Council Conferences, the Round Australia Sea of Hands Tour, and as participants in Corroboree 2000.”
For more information please contact:
Georgina Parsons Phone: 02 4474 2321, 02 4474 3123
Address: 11 Woodbridge Avenue Moruya NSW 2537
