GIVE US BACK OUR RIVER!

NEWS

The part-privatisation of the Brisbane River by Mirvac at its Waterfront development at Newstead should be a key issue for the next municipal poll, this newspaper believes.

And to that end, The Independent is now ramping up its Give us Back our River! campaign to try to ensure that the next City Council administration not only promises to build the missing piece of RiverWalk in front of this project, but knows it had better fulfil that promise or cop the wrath of its citizens.
Our message is simple: It’s our river. Mirvac should never have been allowed to design a project on a greenfield site that deliberately forces citizens away from their river, behind a large residential block of multi-million dollar units and through some parkland.
It may be beautiful parkland but that is not the point. Brisbanites can walk through parkland throughout our city. But we only have one river.
The Independent put its campaign on the backburner for a while, but now that Labor has nominated its Lord Mayoral candidate in Ray Smith, we are calling on Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and the man who wants his job to get this thing right once and for all.
We do not believe the Brisbane public will accept any argument that the missing link is not a feasible engineering project. It’s some pylons and maybe a hundred metres of broad walkway.
And on their behyalf we will not accept an argument that it would cost ratepayers too much.
Lord Mayor Newman in recent times has rightly boasted about the completion of a missing link of RiverWalk nearby.
The cost to build a walkway in front of the Pier South building at Waterfront will not be prohibitive. It will surely be less than that recently completed missing link nearby, and it will surely cost a lot, lot less than the RiverWalk placed in front of New Farm some years ago. Council felt that needed to be done; so does the missing link at Waterfront.
We want a unequivocal commitment from both men. We want similar commitments from whomever runs for all the council wards come 2012.
And early in the New Year, we will launch a hardcopy and electronic petition so that the people of Brisbane can add their names to this cause and leave our local politicians in no doubt as to the strength of feeling over this issue.
The Independent wants to reiterate its earlier stance.
It’s our river. We have a right to cycle and walk along its shores. The privatisation of a section of the river at Waterfront, whatever the reasons for doing it, robbed the people of Brisbane of the wonderful opportunity to one day meander, on foot or on wheels, from the beautiful grounds of Newstead Park right up into the CBD – and beyond.
The Independent believes that this campaign must succeed to send a message to any developer in future. If you are designing a project on our river, then factor in a nice, wide, practical boardwalk for the people to enjoy unspoiled and uninterrupted views of the colour and movement of their river, or the people through their local council will do it for you anyway.



ABOVE: Our front page that launched our Give Us Back Our River community action campaign a while ago. BELOW: One of the Mirvac posters on its fenceline shows the view Brisbane people now have of their river.





• Have your say on this issue! Send your comments via email to editor@theindependent.com.au or drop us a line via post to PO Box 476 Fortitude Valley Q 4006.

Help sought for gardners

NEWS

The 139 Club Inc has partnered with the New Farm Neighborhood Centre to employ eight homeless or marginalised people in the Fortitude Valley area for 15 weeks.

The Queensland Government has funded the 15 week work program under a strategy called Skilling Queenslanders for Work. This program will give the participants landscaping experience while undertaking a certificate 1 in horticulture.
Participants will be designing and constructing two organic edible gardens – one at the Neighborhood Centre and the second at the 139 Club.
“It is through programs such as these people are given real tangible support for positive change in their lives,” 139 Club manager Rod Kelly said.
“The participants will be supported for a further six months after the completion of the project to help with seeking suitable accommodation, long-term employment and other life -enhancing support.”
So, are you an employer who could help with the ongoing employment in the horticulture and landscaping trades for the participants?
If you have a landscaping business, nursery or any other horticulture business and would like to support our community please contact Rod Kelly at the 139 Club on 3254 1144.
For more information on what the 139 Club and the New Farm Neighborhood Centre do in the community go to www.139club.com.au or www.newfarmneighbourhood.org

Play our exciting new game!

NEWS


It’s now well over two months since Stage One of CityCycle was launched with much fanfare on October 1, so when will the Stage One station in the Valley Mall greet its first bike for hire?

Entries have been flooding in – okay, trickling in – since we started Spoke in the Wheel Lotto last issue. Sadly, some of the answers have tipped December dates, and judging by the state of progress as this edition went to press, the chain has well and truly slipped off their chances. Other central Valley stations that looked ready a month ago are still bikeless.

How long does it take for cement to cure, or electronic gadgetry to fire up? And what do you think? Send your guess as to the very first day bikes will be available at the station to us via email to editor@ theindependent.com.au or via post to PO Box 476 Valley Q 4006, to reach us by 5pm Friday December 24! (STOP PRESS: LET'S MAKE THAT DECEMBER 31!)

We’ll shout the randomly selected winner (if we have more than one entry with the right date) a year’s subscription to the scheme – or they can take the money if they want! Our tip? January 15 ... we're just not sure which year.




If you don’t stock CityCycle stations with bikes, people
will find other uses for them!

Govt shows faith in Chaplain Watch

NEWS

Intense lobbying by local community groups and politicians has seen the State Government open its coffers to the tune of $180,000 to fund the work of respected local organisation Chaplain Watch.

As reported on our front page last issue, the Bligh Government was criticised for overlooking the locally based Chaplain Watch, run by Lance Mergard, for a key role in the new Fortitude Valley Drink Safe Precinct. The job of running a chill-out zone in the Valley Mall during the two-year trial period went instead to the Gold Coast Youth Services.
Labor councillor David Hinchliffe (Central Ward) who in our last issue had described Chaplain Watch as “one of the best Valley initiatives I’ve seen in 20 years” praised the government for funding funds for the local organisation that has been active in the mall for the past six years.
“A lot of people were unhappy about [the decision]. I spoke out. The Valley Chamber of Commerce spoke out. [Local state MP] Grace Grace worked away behind the scenes.
“I am just glad that the minister has pulled the money out of her purse to pay Chaplain Watch. They are the real deal.”
Grace Grace confirmed to The Independent that “wheels began to turn” as soon as the decision on the chillout contract was made.
She said she was delighted with the outcome.
“It’s a great result and one that I had not thought possible.”
The funding meant these two excellent organisations could now work side by side in the trial period to keep drinkers safe in the Valley precinct

Council signals art winners

NEWS

Brisbane City Council has announced this year’s winners of the very popular Artforce traffic signal box initiative.

A quirky feature of the city, the project enhances traffic zones, provides splashes of public art and gives residents the opportunity to express their creativity by creating colourful artworks using Brisbane's traffic signal boxes.
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman thanked the artists, who had worked with Urban Smart Projects as part of the initiative in 2010, for helping to brighten up the streets of Brisbane.
“A little over 10 years ago, the suburbs were littered with ugly traffic signal boxes that were an easy target for vandalism,” Cr Newman said. “Today, through the Artforce initiative, they have become a celebration of colour, creativity and community art.”
The 2010 overall winner with a prize of $1000 was Pen Donovan with her three artworks at Woolloongabba: Road to Love, in the City: Cellfire and at Highgate Hill On the Road to Success. Pen’s colourful artworks can also be seen on traffic signal boxes around South Brisbane.
The Best School entry this year went to the Year 7 class of Craigslea State School with their artwork, School Friends.
Urban Smart Projects are looking for more contributions from Indigenous artists next year and also works that reflect on the theme of reconciliation between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians.

For more information on the initiative contact
Urban Smart Projects on 3211 7178 or visit www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/artforce

Book answers questions; poses many new ones

NEWS

One of Ross Garnett’s duties as president of the New Farm and Districts Historical Society is to field questions from near and far from those who used to live in the suburb.
A typical inquirer phoned from Canberra recently to say her husband was once commanding officer of the Naval Reserve at HMAS Moreton. In fact, both of their sons had been baptised in HMAS Moreton’s Chapel.
Ross quickly discovered that her real question was about her grandmother who passed away in the 1930s at The Laurels private hospital in New Farm. “I have never been able to find its location,” she told him.
According to Ross, other calls are from people who just want to express their appreciation for the suburb, such as the lady who explained that the best six months of her life were spent in New Farm before “I had to return to boring old Chapel Hill”.
Sometimes the caller is the one who provides valuable snippets of historical intelligence.
One such caller told Ross she had been adopted by “Nurse Austin”. She was alluding to Nurse Mary Jane Austin’s Maternity Hospital which once stood behind the Village Twin theatre in Barker Street.
She told Ross that if he looked closely at the photo of the lady hosing the garden on page 88 of Reflections on New Farm, that was indeed Nurse Austin herself.
Ever since the historical society started in 1994, there’s been a steady flow of photos, documents and
anecdotes from historically minded folk.
“But once we published Reflections on New Farm, the flow turned into a torrent,” Ross said. “That’s why we’re updating our methods of archiving material. We’ll soon be better prepared for all sorts of “gold” to aficionados of past events.
Denise Buckby, one of the history society’s committeewomen and onsite manager of Freshwater was delighted to hear a caller announce she was a descendant of William Ruddle, “the earliest known owner of your Freshwater site”.
Not only this, but the caller offered to show Denise a trove of photographs and heirlooms, and had contacted another branch of the family.
“History isn’t just about past dates and places,” she told Denise. “It’s about people and that’s why I love it so much.”
Considering that the name Ruddle is connected with the Royal George Hotel and one of the Valley’s early photographers, you are sure to hear more about that story in 2011. Meanwhile if you’re still wondering where The Laurels used to be, it was on Brunswick Street near Harcourt Street.
The fire that damaged the private hospital in 1928 left a nearby vacant allotment on which “Avalon Flats” was soon to be built.
“Reflections on New Farm quickly answers most of our far-flung inquiries,” Ross Garnett says, “So if you have friends or relatives who used to call New Farm home, then here’s a book that they will treasure."



Above: Before Coronet Court on Brunswick Street was built in the early 1930s, architect Richard Gailey Jr chose the spot for his residence. (The Queenslander, 1922, courtesy of Russell Duncan)


Disclaimer: This article was kindly provided by the book’s authors which in no way detracts from Reflections being a bloody good read and a fine Xmas present. - EDITOR

Bike scheme has its detractors...

LETTERS

Dear Editor
As a five-year resident and owner in the Valley I have to say that this new cycle scheme may work but only in time; it could be years! Most of us who live in these areas have bikes already.
But my beef is the placement of the racks and the every growing visual polluting signage that is springing up everywhere and anywhere telling us to use the scheme!
The BCC has many times talked how bad the signage is around the Valley /
New Farm/ CBD area ( and charge businesses for them ) but now , at will with NO checking to residents they dig up the footpaths to put these signs that block our views while driving and lessen the space to walk along the footpaths.
These signs are popping up like mushrooms , every morning I leave my apartment there seems to be another one blocking the view that was once there .
And will we be seeing ads for male erection problems filling the sign space soon, to earn money to pay for Can-Do’s folly! Hmmmmmm.

Lindsay Anlezark
via email Nov 12


Dear Editor
Enjoy your paper far more than the Murdock press! As someone who walks on the boardwalk daily, I live in fear of being hit by the Tour de France riders already speeding there.
I believe that we should have, as you find in advanced cities overseas, a registration system with each bike having a licence number affixed to its rear and that a small annual rego fee be used to cover some form of Third Party insurance.
The number would allow identification of a rider not stopping after an accident and the funds raised should cover compensation for injuries to pedestrians. Who do we call on when injured? The State Government?
The Council? Or the French bike franchise?

David Mc Veagh
Brisbane
via email Nov 11

Station revamp missed chance to honour Chinese heritage

Dear Editor

The revamping of the Valley Railway Station, including the food hall, in fact all the new “upgrade” in the Valley, demonstrates both a total lack of imagination and a total lack of respect for its history.
The Valley has long been known as Brisbane’s Chinese Market. The Chinese were here long before the majority of our forbears, and although they were persecuted by the Europeans for no other reason than their colour or their race, survived the White Australia Policy, along with the popular comment of the times. “Two Wongs don’t make a White”.
They remained true to their ideals, were virtually never seen in court for breaking the Law, and eventually became respected members of the business community.
If you get the time, have a look at the noticeboard in the foyer of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, where it lists the names of those who have financially assisted that hospital. By far, the largest proportion of donations have come from either Chinese firms or Chinese individuals.
Instead of the stupid squiggles on the wall tiles of the station, there should have been large Chinese Dragons, creeping along the walls, along with Chinese lanterns and decorations in the rest of the station precincts as well as the rest of the Valley shopping area.
This whole area could have, and should have, been turned into one of Brisbane’s greatest tourist attractions, and should have included pictorial historical evidence of the history of the Australian Chinese community’s achievements to make Australia what it is today.

Colin Hooper.
Kallangur
via email

TALK TO US!

Got something to get off your chest. Then send us an email to editor@theindependent.com.au
or post us your thoughts to PO Box 476 Fortitude Valley Q 4006. Name and address
please, although we will withhold that at your request.

Movie madness

THEATRE

Stage Door Dinner Theatre’s current production of Movie Madness ends just before Xmas. Don Gordon-Brown threw a few questions about movies – some silly, some serious – to two of the cast members Ian Maurice (pictured) and Damien Lee.

It’s been a long time since I’ve emerged from a cinema and thought: Wow! So, has the last great film script been written?
Ian: If the last great movie script has been written we may as well stay at home and watch the reruns of the great ones on cable.


How do you rate this year’s crop of films, and what was your favourite and why?
Damien: Oh, if only I had the time to see some movies. Being in the theatre world, it sort of keeps you busy. Movie Madness is as close to a movie I have come in months.

George Clooney is the modern-day equivalent of Cary Grant .... agree or disagree?
Ian: Quite possibly although Brad Pitt might challenge him.

On the same theme, who is today’s Katharine Hepburn?

Ian: Meryl Streep, Julie Walters or Helen Mirren.

Name the most underrated actor or actress going around in world movies right now.

Damien:  I would have to say the most underrated actor for me is Robin Williams. I am a bit of a fan of his work. He can make us crack up, or terrify us in films like One Hour Photo.

Colin Firth gets to stutter a lot in the upcoming The King's Speech. Does that make a Best Actor Oscar a near certainty?
Damien: Go Colin, but I don’t think stuttering will get him there alone. For me, an Oscar nomination should be awarded to any actor who has excelled in making their character on screen totally believable. You need to no longer see the actor on screen, but the character. That’s when it is awesome.

The explosion of CGI has been a blessing for the film industry over recent years. Agree or disagree?
Damien: CGI has totally transformed the movie industry. Who can ever forget the movie maker attempts to fly rocket ships in the old Flash Gordon show (fishing line everywhere) and even the amazing efforts George Lucas made on the initial Star Wars movie without all the technology.

Steve Buscemi has made a fortune out of film, so why hasn’t he got his teeth fixed?
Damien: But he has had them fixed. You should have seen them before!

Movie stars can reshoot their mistakes .... has anything gone terribly wrong onstage during the current season of Movie Madness?
Ian: Edna Turnblad’s (Damien Lee’s) microphone became dislodged and her husband Wilbur (that’s me) had to pull her dress up to adjust it, revealing her scanties!!

Affordable housing milestone reached

PROPERTY NEWS




Brisbane Housing Company Ltd has announced the completion of its 100th home, at Green Square in Fortitude Valley. Congratulating the company, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said BHC wa san independent, not-for-profit organisation which provides affordable housing, was gifted the land on which the 1000th home was built by Brisbane City Council.

“I'm proud to say that Council gifted the land to the BHC exempt from Land Sales Act tax, and provided $3.7 million to Brisbane Housing Company for the construction of the building." Located at Lot 4, 503 St Paul's Terrace, the development entails eight levels of affordable housing units and a two-level integrated community facility, which will occupy the ground and first floors.
Once completed, the community facility space will be transferred back to Council to be used for community purposes. Cr Newman said BHC would hand the 1,334 sq m community facility space back to Council next week for the commencement of fit-out works.
"This space will service a range of community organisations, as well as provide shared community meeting space," Cr Newman said. "The organisations identified to tenant the community centre on the ground floor are Council's Visible Ink Valley Youth Space and the Open Doors Youth Service.
"New Farm Neighbourhood Centre will manage a range of tenants on the first floor." The Brisbane Housing company was founded in 2001 with joint funding from Brisbane City Council and the State Government.
Council has provided $14 million over a 7-year period to BHC, as well as land at Hurworth Street, Bowen Hills, and Church Street, Fortitude Valley, to increase the development of affordable housing in Brisbane.

Predicting flood risk made easier

PROPERTY NEWS

It’s now easier for people find out their flood risk with City Council's new look FloodWise Property Report. Lord Mayor Cr Campbell Newman said council had redeveloped the FloodWise Property Report to make it more user-friendly.

"Severe storms and flooding are a natural part of living in Brisbane due to its subtropical climate, and whether we like it or not, Brisbane is built on a flood plain," he said.
"While we can never stop flooding from happening, we can give residents the tools to find out their flooding risk and help them to prepare." "The FloodWise Property Report gives residents a way to find out the flood risk for a property they live in, or wish to build, renovate, buy or rent, and the redesign has now made it easier for residents to understand the results produced by the report."
The Lord Mayor said the redevelopment of the FloodWise Property Report involved dividing the report into two sections to provide easy to comprehend information for residents, as well as a separate technical summary for engineers.
The new look report includes graphs of flood levels and the size of minimum living areas, a supplementary information section and a revision of all definitions to make reports easier to understand.
The FloodWise Property Report was initially introduced online in 2008 to deliver on recommendations handed down by the Lord Mayor's Taskforce on Suburban Flooding, an initiative which was instigated in 2005. Depending on the property, the report may show sources of flooding such as river, creek, and defined overland flow, predicted flood levels, minimum habitable floor levels and whether a property is located within a waterway corridor. More than 173,000 reports have been generated since the Floodwise Property Reports were introduced, with a record 30,000 reports requested by residents during October.
Also this week, flood warning lights on Shaw Road, Wooloowin became operational. Council invested $136,000 to install the lights, which will warn motorists when the road is affected by floodwaters.
The FloodWise Property Report is free and available through Council's website at www.brisbane.qld.gov.au or phoning Council on 3403 8888.

Where am I?

Doesn’t Brisbane have some lovely colonial homes? Trouble is .... this place is a fair bit larger than your average home. But it is a well-known landmark deep in the Indie’s patch, so if you think you know the answer, tell us and you’ll have the chance to win a $60 prize voucher to enjoy some tucker and a drink at the Brunswick Hotel in New Farm.

Email your answer to
editor@theindependent.com.au to reach us no later than 5pm on Friday, 31 December 2010. Or drop us the answer in the post by the same deadline to PO Box 476 Valley Q 4006.
One lucky winner will be off to the Brunnie on us. Bon appetit!



Eagle-eyed Graham Larkin of Greenslopes – and we say eagled-eyed because Graham is a previous Where am I winner – identified these windows as being above the shop at the corner of Wickham Street and the Brunswick Street Mall. Enjoy the tucker at the Brunnie, Graham!

Charging ahead with a new tax

FROM MY CORNER ... with ANN BRUNSWICK

In a local publication a week or so ago there appeared yet another article about the idea of imposing a “congestion charge” on people driving into the CBD. For “charge” you should really read “tax”.

The idea, which has numerous advocates in the academic and bureaucratic worlds, involves imposing a tax on everyone who enters a designated area in their car. In theory it is supposed to cut traffic jams and generate cash to improve public transport. Yes, in theory. But in reality what would happen?
The only people who won’t be fazed by a congestion tax, are those who can add it the bill they present to others. That would include taxis, tradies, couriers, and the like. To my mind the immediate effect of a congestion tax would be to cut the number of people doing business in our inner-city.
You see, the theory does not seem to take account of the fact a lot of traffic entering our inner-city is carrying people shopping or otherwise doing business in the CBD and its immediate surrounds.
So a congestion tax would see a drop-off in traffic carrying people wanting to spend money and keep business operators afloat. It would mean shops, other businesses and offices closing and shifting to areas outside the CBD. So inevitably there would be a drop in vehicles heading into the city, and therefore a fall in the revenue such a tax would generate.
So much for its ability to fund new or improved public transport services. The bottom line is that Brisbane drivers just don’t like tolls, charges or taxes on roads. Haven’t any of our highly paid policy makers learned anything from the Clem7 debacle?

***

During the recent heavy rain it was my lot to spend a large slice of my lunch hour at a CBD post office. After picking up a pre-paid express post envelope I joined a queue of 17 people, so many that we stretched outside the door.

It took 17 minutes for me to be served. I could tell because this post office kindly provides a digital clock on the wall behind its service counter. This is not an isolated case. Lengthy waits for service at Australia Post outlets are par for the course.
A lot of it is caused by people conducting time-consuming transactions at the counter while others, like me, usually want just one item.
Is it so difficult to have an express service counter for simpler and faster transactions?

Nuclear debate glows

POLITICS ... with Mungo MacCallum

It must be the silly season. The old arguments are all back on the agenda, and none of them is more thoroughly worn than the one about Australia going nuclear. We have endured it in one form or another for at least the last 50 years and there is every prospect that another generation will be rehashing the same debate at the end of this century.

The impasse over nukes has a half life longer than that of plutonium. The basics are simple. There is no doubt that nuclear power is a viable source of industrial and domestic electric power; it has proved itself over large areas of the world and will presumably continue to do so unless and until an equally reliable alternative (perhaps the holy grail of controlled fusion) becomes commercially available. Once the plants are in place they are non-polluting; when working efficiently the only gas they emit is water vapour.
This, of course, is the basis of the case for using them as a replacement for coal-fired plants; they may be more expensive, but they're clean. Well, up to a point. There is still the intractable problem of disposing of the nuclear waste or at least of safeguarding it; as the quantities increase and maverick states and terrorist groups proliferate, the chances of theft or misadventure become both greater and graver.
And while the design of modern plants is a huge improvement on Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, there are still very few people who would choose to live next door to one - or indeed, anywhere within rocket range. The buggers don't even like living next to windmills. The political cost of making the switch might well be comparable to the financial one, and that in itself would be huge.
Julia Gillard has made it clear that she just doesn't think its worth it and it is pretty certain a large majority at next year's national party conference will agree with her. Meanwhile Tony Abbott doesn't even want to talk about the subject. He is happy to see it as a wedge within the Labor Party but he is not prepared to risk a similar debate among his own troops. So Realpolitik suggests that the nuclear debate will end, once again, not with a bang but a phut.
But there is another line of argument: the moral one. Australia is happy, indeed eager, to sell its enormous deposits of uranium for other countries to use. We say we're only doing it under stringent conditions to countries which have signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty but we know that is sophistry; once the stuff's on the boats, we effectively relinquish control of it.
We certainly aren't interested in taking responsibility for the nuclear waste it generates. So if it's so dangerous and evil that we won't use it ourselves, what is the justification for flogging it to others? Are we no better than merchants of death, on a par with arms salesmen and drug dealers?
Julia Gillard and most of her colleagues would this line as out of date. They no longer claim that nuclear power is dangerous and evil; it's simply unsuitable for Australian conditions. And of course even if we went down that path, it would be many years - perhaps decades - before we could build enough plants to close down the coal fired stations. We can't afford the delay -- climate change is once again a real and urgent problem. We need action now! A carbon price, that's the ticket!
And in the meantime keep those freighters moving. Of course most of them are carrying coal, which we have now realised is definitely dangerous and evil. But we've already decided this is a debate about practicality, not ideals. The Australian should really have a new kicker under its masthead: not "The Heart of the Nation" but "It's All About Us!" It s preoccupation with its own self-importance has reached the level of self parody.
The case of Julie Posetti finally proves it. It started when Posetti tweeted a report of what a former writer for the paper, Asa Walquist, said at a small and closed conference. No one too much notice until Crikey ran some of the tweets and The Australian's unusual editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, decided that Walquist's remarks were defamatory of himself and announced that he would sue not Walquist for making them, but Posetti and Crikey for publishing them.
Actually still no one took much notice; as The Australian's own Environment Editor Graham Lloyd noted rather complainingly, "the story has barely raised a ripple in the mainstream media." So to remedy that, and incidentally to ensure that the alleged libel was spread as widely as possible, The Weekend Australian devoted an entire page to self justification.
The argument, such as it was, maintained that Mitchell had been eminently fair and reasonable about climate change, even if the paper had given the sceptics and denialists a lot of space. But the paper really, truly believed in man-made climate change and had said so, and now Mitchell wished he had sued Clive Hamilton as well. And that, in about 40,000 not very well chosen words, was the news. The Australian. Think. Again.
And as an unenthusiastic outpost of the sport in the wrong hemisphere and the wrong time zone we never had any real chance of hosting the 2022 World Cup, and should never have been in the bidding.
But since we apparently had a lazy $45 million to spend on the caper wouldn't it have been simpler to cut out the middlemen and just sling the 22 voting delegates a couple of million each? Sure, we still would have lost, but at least we would have had enough left over for a decent piss-up.

New owners grab centre of attention

TRAVEL ... with DAVID BRAY

Things are changing at one of our country’s genuine tourist attractions. This is probably a good time to get yourself out to the $300 million-plus resort at Uluru, still perhaps better known as Ayers Rock, which over recent weeks been owned by the Indigenous Land Corporation.

Though the Anangu traditional owners were handed back the big rock and nearby Kata Tjuta (which used to be known as The Olgas) in October 1985, a lease agreement allows Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to be managed jointly by the Anangu and the Director of National Parks. Today the park attracts more than 300,000 visitors every year from all over the world. The ILC says it intends to use the complex, which includes an airport, a camping ground, four hotels and apartments, as an employment and training ground for indigenous Australians.
It is reported to hope that by 2018, more than 50 per cent of Yulara’s 600-plus jobs will be held by Aborigines. Your reporter has been out to the rock several times, recently with Mrs B. We found that things work, on time, as advertised. A touch on the costly side, but then it is a heck of a long way from most sources of supply. We fly in (Brisbane-Cairns-Uluru) over a vast expanse of dry, red and dull green country, and towards the end, big salt lakes.
Into a big, comfortable air-conditioned coach and a cheerful, informative driver, who lectures us strongly about the need to carry big bottle of water at all times, and to drink plenty of the stuff.
In summer you will indeed need to drink litres, for which you will pay considerably more than you are used to elsewhere, except perhaps in nightclubs. Another necessity, we find, is a fly net, at least in summer. The insects are many and persistent and most tourists end up buying a net within a few hours. We see Asian people with body-length nets. Weird but doubtless effective.
There’s a range of accommodation here, from luxury to camping. Voyagers Ayers Rock resort (for that was then its title) comprises the five-star Sails in the Desert, the Australian Tourism award-winning Desert Gardens Hotel, Emu Walk Apartments, the modern Lost Camel Hotel, the Outback Pioneer Hotel and Lodge, and the Ayers Rock Campground, which has powered campsites and air conditioned cabins.
We spend our three nights at Sails in the Desert, which I remember as a Sheraton, a well-run, establishment with efficient staff, decent tucker and a fine, big pool, well used by all. Because this town is at the end of the line and the same planes that deliver the customers turn around quickly to take the previous intake away, there can be a wait to get into your rooms. Check-in is efficient but you are likely to have to go for a walk across to the shopping centre before your room is ready. The shops have pretty much everything tourists require.
The supermarket is well stocked at high prices, the day’s papers turn up shortly after the airline delivers them, the photo shop is on the ball, the café does decent food, though we found it slightly erratic in quality. The ice cream dispensary is usually busy. But you won’t find a bottle shop. You find this at the Outback Pioneer, where you’ll get wine and beer. No spirits.
A bus runs a regular shuttle around the accommodation-shopping circuit. You have come mainly to see Ayers Rock in the timeless landscape of one of the world's most beautiful natural wonders, and there are several ways to do it, from a dawn visit to a one at sunset. You may walk around it or be driven.
We are told there are more than 65 tours, local activities and attractions within the resort and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Ride a camel across the desert dunes. Hop on a Harley. Visitors to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park must pay a fee, which is collected at border-crossing style staions. The money helps with the maintenance of the Park and contributes to the traditional owners, to help them maintain their families and the Mutitjulu community. The standard three-day pass costs $25. Children under 16 free.
The Anangu say: “Our land is a unique and beautiful place. This is recognised by its listing as a World Heritage Area for both its cultural and natural values. You are welcome to visit Uluru to be inspired by the natural beauty, to enjoy it. We are greatly concerned about your safety while on our land, because we want you to return to your families to share the knowledge about our culture that you have gained.
“When Anangu look at the landscape they pay close attention to its landforms, soils, plants, animals, water supply and fire history. They know how to use plants, can read animal tracks and understand the significance of weather changes. Some of their knowledge may be gleaned from several displays and information centres. Now here comes some controversy. Lots of people want to climb the huge rock, I have a friend who has run up it. People are regularly injured on the climb. Some die. The traditional owners don’t want visitors to do it.
“The Uluru climb is the traditional route taken by ancestral Mala men upon their arrival to Uluru. Anangu do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance.
“Anangu have not closed the climb. They prefer that you - out of education and understanding _ choose to respect their law and culture by not climbing. Remember that you are a guest on Anangu land. Anangu traditionally have a duty to safeguard visitors to their land. They feel great sadness when a person dies or is hurt.’’
If you plan to do it, be aware that the climb is often closed, notably when the temperature is forecast to reach 36 degrees or rain, storms and wind more than 25 knots forecast. Climb it or not, every Aussie who can afford it should make the pilgrimage to Uluru, check out the Cultural Centre and walk at least part the way round the great red rock.
If that doesn’t stir some patriotism, nothing will. Last time I looked there was a Rock Summer special deal offering two nights accommodation for $298 per person with extra nights $49. There was talk of special airfares, too, but no specifics.
Look at www.AyersRockResort.com.au .

STAR SIGNS

With HORACE COPE

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 to Dec 22)
You hear that Oprah’s TV fans had their first really big surprise of their Down Under odyssey when both Qantas flights from Los Angeles landed without incident.

CAPRICORN (Dec 23 to Jan 20)
You’re honoured for sure, but your callup by the national selectors to play in the Perth Test comes as quite a surprise seeing you’ve only ever played French cricket – and that was in the state school playground 30 years ago.

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 to Feb 19)
You are not at all surprised to hear the Channel 9 newsreader Bruce Paige has been rushed to hospital with exhaustion after being forced to read the 6pm news over summer all by himself.

PISCES (Feb 20 to Mar 20)
And when WorkPlace Health and Safety comes a’calling, station executives won’t have a leg to stand on. I mean, really, 20 minutes of news segment introductions and then a signoff without any backup whatsoever. What were they thinking! The poor pet. Hope he’s going to be okay.

ARIES (Mar 21 to Apr 20)
You are hurt by the lengthy and very loud gaffaws on the phoneline that follow your attempt to place a Centrebet wager on the reelection of the state Bligh Government.

TAURUS (Apr 21 to May 20)
Listening to the Gillard Government's demonisation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange does make you wonder: if we wanted a reactionary rightwing government that always sucks up to the US bigtime, then maybe we should have elected the obvious one in the first place?

GEMINI (May 21 to June 21)
You find a way to save hundreds of dollars this Christmas by telling your kids Santa won't be coming because he has been working for Wikileaks during the rest of the year and is in hiding from the authorities.

CANCER (June 22 to July 23)
In an echo of the "cricket team" of 11 Labor Party MPs that survive the 1974 state election, you hear current ALP pollies are working out who is likely to be part of the tennis team after the 2012 poll.

LEO (July 24 to Aug 23)
You petition Lord Mayor Newman to keep the city Christmas tree up all year so there is at least some shade in King George Square.

VIRGO (Aug 24 to Sept 23
You are not at all surprised when officials erect a screen around the Wickham Street escalators leading up to the railway station and an expert using a high-powered rifle finally puts them out of their misery.

LIBRA (Sept 24 to Oct 23)
You wonder if other patrons were as surprised as you were the other day when the PA at Fortitude Railway Station actually announced a service before it had actually departed.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 to Nov 22)
Boy, have you got egg on your face after what you said about Mitchell Johnson under this star sign in the hardcopy version of this issue.

Mutton, dressed as lamb, is mutton again

Above: Mutton, dressed up as lamb for the past seven years, returns to being mutton. The final newsmagazine on quality white paper, right, and the tabloid printed on standard newspaper stock.



So, another year of fighting the evil Murdoch empire comes to an end .... and probably the biggest publishing event of 2010 in our patch was to see our main competitor City News end its days as a “newsmagazine”.

Yes, after seven odd years, a marketing strategy doomed from the very beginning through poor planning and poorer execution was finally put to rest. And, fittingly, it ended as it began – with broken promises, silly sales spiels and half-baked marketing ideas. At least they’re consistent.
When City News dumped its tabloid format in 2003 for a stitched and trimmed newsmagazine on nice white stock, it brazenly declared that an almost doubled circulation – from 22,000 to 40,000 – would be delivered to readers by a never-done-before way that would have advertisers opening their wallets in uncontrolled gratitude.
For, you see, the paper had targeted a specific demography of choice consumers – in that very desirable youngish, big-spending category that ad people wet themselves over – who each week would get their new magazine by direct mail – that’s right, through Australia Post – right into their letterboxes. It was the greatest thing in marketing since sliced bread, and the Indie’s advertisers were among those hammered with this great new deal.
It was bunkum, of course. It was an idea that we at the Indie believe was never carried through with any conviction. That direct-mail promise was then broken within weeks, in secret, simply to save money. We at the Indie believe City News never, ever told all their advertisers and ad agencies of that complete and utter failure of their core marketing strategy. They should have.
Advertisers had a right to know exactly how City News intended to distribute such a large circulation following the failure of their key marketing plan. It’s a failure, mind, that we at the Indie believe still hounds their circulation efforts – but that’s another story for another day.
Certainly the senior staff at one government agency were visibly shocked when we told them that the strategy lay in ruins.
Now all these years later, City News is at it again, heralding the publication’s return to a tabloid with a series of risible or simply false claims. From all we hear, Quest Newspapers editor in chief Neil Melloy is a very nice person, so he’s probably gone as far as he ever will in the Murdoch empire.
But why he put his name to some of the claims made for the new-look paper beggars belief. Neil’s No 1 point was that City News in reverting to a tabloid had a masthead that was new, brighter and bolder. None of those things is true, but I guess you’ve got to say something when you are plugging a lesser product, right? Neil is a journo, not a printer, so maybe he didn’t twig that there was no way in the world that a tabloid newspaper on standard newsprint was ever going to be brighter and bolder than a magazine on much better quality white stock. The graphic above may not do what I am saying here full justice, but there is no doubt that if you took the final magazine front cover and the first tabloid cover to the institute for the insanely blind, 99 out of 100 inmates would still manage to point more or less in the general direction of the old magazine as being far brighter and bolder. Because it is.
But undoubtedly the most gimmickry of his claims was the introduction of a “two-speed “ paper (see below). True! City News has decided modern life is so hectic that it has introduced a ‘two-speed’ paper so busy people can read a one-sentence summary at the top of the page and move on. Only “some” readers will have the time to read the whole story below. Now that’s pretty insulting to readers when you think about. It’s also bad news for advertisers whose very expensive advertising space is more often than not below that story! So may I now state the bleeding obvious: why advertise with City News when it is going out of its way to help readers avoid seeing what you have to sell? Of course, City News also celebrated its return to being mutton with a very hefty ad increase that they were strangely very silent over – but that’s a story for another day as well.

Some makers are a pure whizz with the fizz

TASTINGS ... with DAVID BRAY

Fizzy seems to be the way to go for an increasing number of wineries, particularly as summer sweeps us into the “festive” season. So here are five new sparklings, different, interesting and well worth a look:

Windowrie Family Reserve 2010 Sparkling is made from chardonnay grown on a 920metre vineyard on the slopes of Mount Canobolas in the Orange region. Winemaker Anthony D’Onise says the Orange region “has a great future as a producer of sparkling wines. The long cool ripening season and the natural acidity in the fruit are perfect”. And more. “Over the next decade, I imagine Orange will give Tasmania a run with its chardonnay and pinot noir based sparklings”.
His team picked the chardonnay “early, when the fruit was showing a pristine green apple and lime flavour – and luckily before the rain came. We wanted a vibrant style and so whole-bunch pressed and fermented in stainless steel”. They then matured the wine on lees to build plate texture. Good fizz this. Around $25.
Over the ditch, there’s innovative work from Waipara Hills which is sending over two new wines, Southern Cuvee and Marlborough Cuvee. The names don’t tell you much, but the former is apparently one of New Zealand’s first sparkling rieslings and the Marlborough makes use of the region’s strength being made from sauvignon blanc fruit grown in the Awatere and Wairau Valleys.
“The aromatic varieties from Marlborough and the emerging Waipara Valley regions work beautifully as a sparkling style,” says Hills winemaker Simon McGeorge. The riesling is such a versatile variety it gives us great opportunity to play around with number of styles.
“What we find here is plenty of interesting aromatics. Look for apple and melon flavours.” McGeorge fermented both wines in stainless steel and matured them off lees. Well worth a look, both of these, at around $22 in the local shop.

Renowned for producing a spectacular range of vintage sparkling wines, Blue Pyrenees is releasing its new Luna, the non-vintage, yet method champenoise crafted addition to the stable. In light of the company’s flagship sparkling being named Midnight which reflects the company’s philosophy of harvesting sparkling wine grapes during the cool of the night, Luna “seemed the apt name for the new release NV which adopts the same theory of harvesting at the ultimate time of day”.
The 2007 Vintage Brut, also just out, and Blue Pyrenees’ largest-selling wine, has developed a following over 20 years with its due fine pedigree, estate grown fruit in ideally grown conditions, methode champenoise production and French winemaking heritage. The brut is around $25 and the Luna $18.

And so we come to the very appealing Ballabourneen Moscato Blush 2010. Persons in this reporter’s household who had resolutely refused to consider moscato were converted by this one, which proved to go particularly nicely with Thai tucker.
It uses Muscat of Hamburg grapes, the traditional variety used in Northern Italy to make the sparkling d’asti DOC. The grapes were cold soaked on skins to extract the subtle rose petal and musk stick aromas then cold fermented and bottled to retain the pink blush colour and effervescent frizzante finish. The makers reckon, and I quote directly “with its strawberries and cream/Turkish delight palate this is a fresh aperitif style, low alcohol wine, ideal for any joyous occasion or just to relax and enjoy”. It’s around $26.

Just to round things off, Windowrie unveiled two new whites. They join the sparkling in what the owners, the O’Dea family, see as the best way for smaller family-owned wineries to survive and prosper by focusing on increasing quality. They looked to the vineyards within 100 miles of their winery which include the Orange, Mudgee and Hilltops regions. And here are Windowrie The Mill 2010 verdelho and 2010 semillon sauvignon blanc, well made, flavoursome wines from quality fruit at a sensible price. It’s $16.99 or thereabouts.

Unlocking a French wartime shame

FILMS ... with TIM MILFULL



Sarah’s Key (M)
Stars: Kristin Scott Thomas, Charlotte Poutrel, Melusine Mayance
Rating: 4/5
111-minutes; screening from 23 December

There are a couple of very powerful stories running through Sarah’s Key, Gilles Paquet-Brenner's excellent adaptation of Tatiana De Rosna’s novel of the same name.

The eponymous Sarah (played by Charlotte Poutrel and Melusine Mayance) spends a lifetime dealing with the dreadful implications of a split-second childhood decision, while journalist, Julia Armond (Kristin Scott Thomas) becomes obsessed with uncovering the mystery of Sarah’s circumstances.
And in the process of her research, Julia learns of the despicable story of Vichy France’s collaboration with the Gestapo to intern thousands of Jews in a disused velodrome before their deportation to Germany’s concentration camps.
Flashing back and forth between Julia’s investigations and various moments in Sarah's life, Sarah’s Key is a fascinating examination of the consequences of decisions made under extreme duress. As Julia learns of Sarah’s terrible experiences in her fight to return to her childhood apartment, there are similar conflicts tearing at her own life, including a decaying marriage. Kristin Scott Thomas offers an excellent performance as Julia.
So too does the young Charlotte Poutrel as the young Sarah, who is single-minded in her determination to escape the grip of the Nazis and save her younger brother.
But perhaps the most upsetting aspect of this moving film is the complicity of the French authorities in rounding up over fifteen thousand Jews and sending them to their deaths.
This little known blot on French history prompted an apology from Jacques Chirac in 1995, and has been faithfully and sensitively documented here.



Pound for pound, the music really rocks

Tron: Legacy (PG)
Rating: 3/5
127-minutes, screening from 9 December

Megamind (PG)
Rating: 3.5/5
95-minutes; now screening.

I was looking forward to the sequel to Disney’s 1982 film TRON, if only to hear more of Daft Punk’s pounding soundtrack, and in that respect I wasn’t disappointed. The music in TRON: Legacy is quite wonderful and ably complements the action (and there are no mentions in the credits to back up my suspicion, but I reckon the two DJs pumping out tunes in Castor’s nightclub The End of the World were probably the actual Daft Punk duo, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo).

Sadly, the film itself is a little *meh*, as it dredges up Jeff Bridges in grizzly and youthful form as Kevin Flynn and his digital counterpart CLU, and plunges Flynn's son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) into the digital world of the grid. Debut director, Joseph Kosinski's film is certainly very pretty, but the story itself is lacklustre. In the hope of jazzing things up, I found myself rooting for CLU to bridge the gap and invade our real world.
I was much happier with Tom McGrath's very cheeky animated film, Megamind. McGrath also made the Madagascar films, which were very funny and mischievous, and the director makes a successful transition to the world of the superhero.

Starting out firmly in the mould of the Superman universe, Megamind (Will Ferrell) relates his journey from a dying planet to Earth, at the same time as the impossibly glamorous Metroman (Brad Pitt) undertakes his own childhood journey from a neighbouring dying planet.
Their subsequent parallel lives are spent battling each other in Metrocity, and Megamind has a suitably anxious complex about his competition with Metroman until one villainous plan unexpectedly succeeds in destroying his nemesis.
Then, poor Megamind has trouble adapting to his new status as the megalomaniacal ruler of Metrocity. McGrath enlisted a rich cast of voices including Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and David Cross as wonderful characters to make a very enjoyable and iconoclastic film.

THE BINGE

Silly season fare


The Independent will be back from the Christmas break in early January, so I thought I'd mention a few films that will be released over the silly season.

On Boxing Day, I'll be avoiding the Little Fockers like the plague; instead, I might try the Oscar-magnet The King's Speech, which features Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush.
Romain Duris stars as the eponymous Lothario in the French romantic comedy Heartbreaker, and Jack Black will step up as the lead in a very dodgy-looking version of Gulliver's Travels.
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie will be pairing up for a mistaken-identity story in The Tourist, while Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton chase the laughs in Morning Glory in early January. There's more animated fluffery in Tangled, a reworking of the Rapunzel fairytale, and many are looking forward to Natalie Portman's amazing performance in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.
Finally, Ron Howard will release The Dilemma with Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, but I have to admit that based on the trailers, I'm not holding my breath for this one.
In DVD news, Madman Entertainment is releasing on DVD Vincenzo Natali's (Cube and Nothing) new sci-fi horror film Splice, which stars Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley as scientists looking to clone new life. And Antidote Films will be releasing an excellent documentary that recently screened at the Brisbane International Film Festival. Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould tells the story of the life and music of one of the world's most talented concert pianists.




Win FREE tickets to The Green Hornet

Courtesy of Sony Pictures, The Indie has 10 double passes to a preview screening of the action comedy, The Green Hornet, on Monday 17 January at 6.30pm at BCC Myer
Centre Cinemas. The movie, starring Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz, opens on Thursday January 20. Simply send an email to us to editor@theindependent.com.au with the words “Green Hornet in the subject field before January 1 2011 and we’ll select 10 winners at random to go see this fun flick. Winners will be notified by email
and their names will be placed on the door.

Hinchliffe slams Chaplain Watch snub

NEWS

The looming implementation of the Valley Drink Safe Precinct has hit a snag with strident criticism of a State Government decision to overlook a local organisation for a key role.

Local Labor councillor David Hinchliffe has broken ranks with his political allies at a state level and criticised the Bligh Government decision to award a major contract for the precinct to a youth group from the Gold Coast, overlooking local organisation Chaplain Watch in the process.
“I’m extremely annoyed that Lance Mergard’s Chaplain Watch, one of the best Valley initiatives I’ve seen in 20 years, has been overlooked in preference to the Gold Coast Youth Services organisation,” the Central Ward councillor told a recent meeting of the Drink Safe Committee.
“Lance and his organisation are local, they’re proven successes, they have the knowledge. In short, they have been outstanding. Chaplain Watch which is based in the Valley and supported by the local police, community members and the Brisbane City Church.
“This is a terrible blow and a bad way to kick off this major exercise to make the Valley safer,” Cr Hinchliffe said.
“I appreciate the state is putting more money and resources into the Valley, but it’s such a damn shame they picked the wrong people to lead the community initiative.”

ANti-graffiti campaign making its mark

NEWS

The city’s anti-graffiti campaign is working, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman says, pointing to 80 graffiti vandals having been caught and charged with 6400 offences since he created Brisbane’s first dedicated graffiti taskforce two years ago.

The Lord Mayor’s Taskforce Against Graffiti (TAG) is a full-time team of police and council officers who gather evidence against graffiti vandals, track them down and arrest them. Cr Newman said that since TAG’s creation in October 2008 the taskforce had led to 182 graffiti offenders being arrested on 6391 graffiti-related charges, including the recent arrest of a “major player” in Brisbane's illegal graffiti scene for 550 offences.
Cr Newman said TAG had been a major success since its inception and council would continue to support them in their quest to rid Brisbane's suburbs of illegal graffiti once and for all.
“The graffiti taskforce has been so successful because they’re working one step ahead of these vandals and catching them before they have a chance to strike again,” Cr Newman said.
“I’m also committed to removing this unsightly vandalism from our streets quickly and have tripled the number of council’s graffiti clean up crews from four to 12 since in the last six years.
“Our approach is based on the visionary broken window theory, which says that if a broken window is not fixed quickly it sends a message that it’s OK to smash other windows in the area.”
Cr Newman said Brisbane residents also had a part to play and encouraged them to report any graffiti on council land by calling 3403 8888.

Community stalwarts honoured for efforts

NEWS

The work of energetic and devoted people was honoured at the 12th Annual CAN awards at the New Farm Neighbourhood Centre on November10. The CAN awards honour people and organisations for their work and passion in creating a more a more inclusive, vibrant and fair society.

Incredible work towards social justice takes place across Brisbane’s inner-city every year, and the CAN awards provide an opportunity to highlight the innovative people and programs that make a difference through building community and inclusion. Awards are given across eight categories including Environment and Sustainability, Volunteering, Homelessness Services and Community Spirit.
This year’s winners included:
Outstanding Community Leader- The Ron Muir Award: Anne Mitchell from the 139 Club.

Accessibility & Community facilities development award: Meredith Briggs from Café Bouquiniste.

Participatory process: Marina Thacker from the Pride Choir.

Volunteering in the community: Sophia Bookallil from Caxton Legal Service.

Homelessness services: Rodney Kelly, from 139 Club.

Private enterprise or development – fostering social justice: West End Women’s Work, award presented to Judy Collins-Hayes

Contribution to affordable housing: Carmela Chillemi from Brisbane Housing Company.

Environment and sustainability: Colman Ridge from Greenfest.

Community spirit: Vulcana Women’s circus. The Colin Collins special award.that recognizes a person’s contribution across nearly all of the categories: Kenneth Georgetown from Murri Watch.

Experts lacked in tunnel vision

FROM MY CORNER ... with Ann Brunswick

The company that runs the Clem 7 tunnel, RiverCity Motorway has announced it needs the unanimous support of its 24 bankers to stave off going into receivership before the end of the year. Given the reputation of bankers for big-heartedness it’s a good bet the company is now clearing out a room in their offices for the receivers when they arrive.

A shareholders' meeting was told the problem was that only around 30,000 vehicles use the toll tunnel each day, not the predicted 90,000 or so that were predicted before it opened. Well ... surprise, surprise. Who would have thought drivers would baulk at paying more than $4 to travel in the tunnel? Not the “experts” who backed the project, despite similar tunnels interstate also not meeting traffic projections.
One would hope the lack of patronage is not behind the displays flashing on the electronic billboards above the Inner-City Bypass which delivers (apparently very little) traffic to and from the tunnel.
Driving along the ICB on the weekend the signs told me the Clem 7 was the way to get to where I was going (which it wasn’t in my case). Despite the sign flashing a repetitive plug for the tunnel, it did not tell me or other motorists that the tunnel was a toll road. That was left to one of those big green directional signs that pointed the way to the tunnel and was located just where the exit road to the tunnel runs off the ICB.
***

Speaking of signs, in a recent column I made mention of the new billboards being erected around the inner-city area by the JC Decaux company as part of its contract with the Brisbane City Council to operate the CityCycle bike hire scheme.

Some of the bike stations in CBD and inner-suburban streets eat up limited on-street parking spaces and loading zones, while others take up scarce footpath space. Similarly, the illuminated billboards being installed around the CBD eat into footpath space or are erected at locations where other signage would most likely be declared illegal.
Several of the new signs in Ann Street have been installed at 90 degrees to the road and block almost half the width of the footpath. Yet again, any trader who did such a thing would be told to knock it off and face prosecution if they didn’t. The City Cycle scheme may yet prove a success. But is the loss of parking spaces and extra clutter on out footpaths worth it?
Surely a little extra thought could have found a better solution.
***

Thankfully the Brisbane City Council is moving to redress the problem of the overwhelming heat that currently prevents us all from enjoying King George Square to the full.

When the revamped square opened it was soon obvious that its lack of shade was going to be a problem. Some would argue the problem was obvious, or at least should have been obvious, at the design stage. Certainly from memory the artist’s impression of the project did look very sparse.
It is interesting to note that the upper level of the square – the bit above the eatery on its northern edge – seems to have no real formal purpose use except to house a few scattered benches. While the area does look somewhat like an afterthought, it is equally interesting to note that its benches are actually used by city workers to sit on and eat their lunch while the remainder of the square itself is usually devoid of human habitation, except those scurrying to escape the heat.
Has anyone in the BCC worked out that maybe the sterile upper level of the square is being used precisely because it is under a shade cover? It will probably take an expensive ratepayer-funded study to work that out.
***

At the weekend I read a story in a southern newspaper about the opening ceremony of the Asian games being held in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Is it just me or is anyone else sick and tired of opening – and closing – ceremonies of major sporting events?

Can’t someone just get up on a dais, blow a whistle and say: “Let the games begin.”? It would be some much simpler, and cheaper.

It’s sweet to like sweet

WINE ... with David Bray

Sweet wine is as good as dry. Think Ch Y’quem and the great sauternes, the noble Australians and the Rutherglen masterpieces. Some of the world’s most desired and expensive wines are sweet.

But some among us don’t care at all for lesser sweeter wines. Think … well let’s not get personal. Hear instead a salutary tale.
Cranky old bugger. Me? I will accept the first two but not the last. Old because at 78 there can’t be much argument. Cranky because on the occasion I last heard the description I was indeed a touch hard to get on with.
We are at a wedding reception and if you have attended such a function in recent years you will almost surely have encountered the long hiatus between ceremony and sit-down meal.
We stand around on a pleasant enough balcony, plenty of drinks and nibbles on offer but only one glass of fizzy rose accepted because we have a fair drive home. Some entertainment below at what we are told is a school formal – youths arrive in every stretched passenger vehicle in town, a helicopter and, my heroes, two on scooters.
After some 90 minutes we take our seats and in due course are offered wine. Red or white? Start with white, thank you. Big mistake. Sweet white. Summon waiter. Why sweet? Part of the package deal.
Take it away. Red instead. Bit better, but there goes your mild-mannered reporter’s reputation. Which doesn’t really lead to the point of this piece, which is simply: It’s okay to like Sweet.
Wine-drinkers are individuals, with our own taste perceptions and preferences and I am sure we have known this for a long time. But wait, here is university research telling us the same truth. If I hadn’t already I would have learned it when I stood behind the counter trying to flog the modest products of our little vineyard. The customers soon made their preferences known and the majority of them liked it sweet.
An American consumer study released recently shows that physiology plays a major role in determining wine preferences and that White Zinfandel drinkers are often the most sensitive tasters, shattering the myth about sweet wine consumers.
The study was conducted in conjunction with the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi, a thriving Californian wine area. Tim Hanni, Master of Wine and originator of the study, says: “We have uncovered a glaring error and misunderstandings by the wine industry that has lead to the disenfranchisement of millions of consumers and a significant loss of market share to other beverages.”
He says the wine industry owes sweet wine drinkers a huge apology. Dr Virginia Utermohlen, Associate Professor at Cornell University, and Hanni analysed the responses to nearly 1500 online questionnaires by potential judges for the Consumer Wine Awards at Lodi and claim that their work demonstrates clearly that physiology plays a major role in determining wine preferences. One of the more surprising indications is that drinkers of wines such as White Zinfandel and Liebfraumilch are often the most sensitive tasters.
According to the authors, “glaring errors in understanding by the wine industry have led to the disenfranchisement of millions of consumers and the loss of market share to other beverages”.
According to Dr Utermohlen, individual differences in taste and smell sensitivity relate to a number of different aspects of personality, personal preferences and behaviours – including wine choices.
So those of us who like moscato may see themselves as much connoisseurs as the pinot noir disciples. Well, I think so.

Powerfully intense ride on full tank

FILMS ... with Tim Milfull

Lebanon (MA15+)
Director: Samuel Maoz
Rating: 4/5
90-minutes, screening from 2 December

The 1982 war between Israel and Lebanon has already spawned a film about the brutal cost of conflict. Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir – a beautifully crafted feature length animation – told a confrontational story about memory and the way it protects us by pushing down on all that is too horrible to bear.

Now, Samuel Maoz is another Israeli filmmaker who draws on his own experiences of the Lebanon war to make a film. Maoz sets Lebanon almost entirely within the confines of a decrepit tank manned by poorly trained Israeli conscripts.
While some of them know each other, the tank crew certainly have never worked together in combat, and there are early hints at the power struggles to come. When the tank is ordered to guard a road bordering two fields of corn, the tank clatters noisily into position and awaits more orders.
This is when a grizzled paratrooper drops through the manhole and tells the crew that their mission simply will be to cover the paratroopers as they secure a village that has been razed by their air-force. Soon though, it becomes clear that there is much more at stake in the little town, and the lives of all the soldiers are in danger.
This is an impressive effort for debut feature filmmaker, Maoz, especially given the unusual setting. Our only impressions of the outside world come through the sites of the guns, the tiny window that the driver uses, and the manhole. Performances by the four unfortunate actors thrown into the tank are exceptional, as is that offered by Zohar Strauss in the role of paratrooper Gamil.
Lebanon is an intense, claustrophobic, and beautifully crafted film.



A ho, ho, horror look at Xmas

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (M)
Director: Jalmari Helander
Rating: 4/5
83-minutes, screening from 2 December

If you’re well-versed in Christmas mythology, you’ll know that not everything about the silly season is “Happy, happy! Joy, joy!” Remember the old stories about Santa leaving chunks of coal for those naughty children?

Well, it turns out that there’s much more scary stuff where that comes from, especially when you start digging into the recesses of Finnish lore, where Santa wasn’t the jolly fat bloke we’re all familiar with now. Jalmari Helander is another debut film director showing great promise with Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, a film destined to frighten the pants off any kids whose parents are unwise enough to ignore the M-rating.
Set in the wilds of Finland, where the locals herd and slaughter poor Rudolph for economic gain, Rare Exports tells the story of Pietari (Onni Tommila), a little boy in thrall of his older best mate, and deeply respectful of his gruff widower father, Rauno (Jorna Tomilla). When the boys witness some explosions on the top of a nearby mountain, and an entire herd of reindeer is slaughtered overnight, everyone automatically thinks of wolves.
But Pietari has been reading the old books in his attic bedroom, and thinks the dirty, human-shaped footprints in the snow outside his window might be more than wolves.
This short, sweet, deliciously wicked film is old-school fairytale territory at its best. Helander’s characters are believable and entertaining, especially little Onni Tomilla and his real-life father, and Santa and his filthy elves are satisfyingly terrifying.



THE BINGE

Zac shows he can act

Me and Orson Welles (PG) available 2 December through Madman
The Hedgehog (M) now available through Madman Entertainment
I am Love (MA15+) now available through Madman Entertainment
Grace (MA15+) now available through Madman Entertainment

On the evidence of his performance in Me and Orson Welles, apparently teen heartthrob, Zac Ephron actually can act, and this is despite his execrable role in Charlie St Cloud earlier this year.

Ephron plays the precocious seventeen-year-old Richard, who scores a plum role on Orson Welles’s performance of Richard III in New York’s Mercury Theatre in the 1930s. (above) This DVD Extras with this slick production from indie darling, Richard Linklater also feature an interview with one of the original production’s cast, Norman Lloyd.
Across the pond, French director, Mona Achache’s The Hedgehog casts Garance Le Guillermic as eleven-year-old prodigy, Paloma, whose plans to commit suicide on her next birthday are interrupted by a new relationship with her building’s misanthropic concierge, Renée (Josiane Balasko).
As their friendship builds, and Renée succumbs to a sweet, unexpected romance, Paloma has to reconsider her life plans.
In I am Love, Tilda Swinton collaborates once again with writer-director, Luca Guadagnino to make a very traditional Italian film about a wealthy industrialist family adapting to twenty-first century work practices and a new CEO. Behind the scenes, relationships aren’t proceeding as expected, and Swinton’s Emma finds herself wondering about where life might take her. This beautifully shot, exquisitely paced film features some excellent performances.
And finally, in Grace, Paul Solet spins his short film into a debut feature that carries echoes of Rosemary’s Baby, as the pregnant Madeleine (Jordan Ladd) walks away from a dreadful car accident determined to bring her now dead, unborn baby to term. Convinced the foetus is not dead, the birth brings something horrific and unexpected into Madeleine’s life.

Where am I?

Well, here’s a window of opportunity to win a free meal and a nice glass of something lovely. But exactly where are these windows?
If you think you know the answer tell us and you’ll have the chance to win a $60 prize voucher to enjoy some tucker and a drink at the Brunswick Hotel in New Farm.
Email your answer to editor@theindependent.com.au to reach us no later than 5pm on Friday week, 8 December 2010. Or drop us the answer in the post by the same deadline to PO Box 476 Valley Q 4006. One lucky winner will be off to the Brunnie on us. Bon appetit!
Our lucky winner who identified the carp sculpture in the Valley Mall was Jenny Smith of Toowong. Enjoy the tucker at the Brunnie, Jenny!

Star Signs

With HORACE COPE

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 to Dec 22)
You see a CityCycle bicycle being ridden down at New Farm and report the theft immediately to police.


CAPRICORN (Dec 23 to Jan 20)
But when you see the same City Cycle bike collide with a new model Falcon you realise you must be dreaming.


AQUARIUS (Jan 21 to Feb 19)
You still don't know why the Brisbane City Council rejected your bid to operate a scheme similar to City Cycle but with the much-catchy name Town Bike.


PISCES (Feb 20 to Mar 20)
You are rushed to hospital in a deep faint after you buy a new piece of computing hardware for your home PC and the installation disk actually works.

ARIES (Mar 21 to Apr 20)
You hear Laurie Oakes is still very angry at being overlooked for Tony Abbott’s shadow cabinet.

TAURUS (Apr 21 to May 20)
After seeing the latest TV ratings, you finally realise what the LAC in Cops LAC stood for: Like Anyone Cares.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 21)
You really admire how anchor Tracey Grimshaw keeps a straight face throughout the entire taping of Channel 9’s excellent 6.30pm weeknight show, A Current Advertorial.

CANCER (June 22 to July 23)
You suspect corruption in world cricket might be more widespread than first thought, after the Channel 9 cricket commentators started plugging a special, limited-edition, personally signed collage of colour pictures of Peter Siddle’s hat-trick for only $999 excluding postage - in the first session of play and some hours before he actually took the wickets.

LEO (July 24 to Aug 23)
You were devastated to hear the final show of Hey Hey It's Saturday being touted as season-ending, not concept ending.

VIRGO (Aug 24 to Sept 23)
You fondly remember back to a time when the start of television’s “silly season” was clearly identifiable.

LIBRA (Sept 24 to Oct 23)
You wonder if those annoyingly long annoucements about the new quiet carriages on CityRail are actually broadcast in the quiet carriages.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 to Nov 22)
Look, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are still looking pretty damned fit, so surely there’s no reason why they can’t be selected for the Adelaide Oval test and flown there immediately?