Schools chalk up one for urban renewal

By Susannah Thomsett

Inner-city schools might finally be enjoying the flow-on benefits of the urban renewal of recent decades but it remains a very slow process, an Independent investigation suggests.

First-year and overall enrolment figures for state and private schools suggest families are now being attracted more and more to renewal hotspots such as Bowen Hills, Newstead and Teneriffe, the Valley and Spring Hill. Y
et despite continuing population growth – Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows an increase of more than 2000 people in each of five inner Brisbane suburbs, including Fortitude Valley, Spring Hill and Newstead between 1996 and 2006 – families with young children are still a minority in Brisbane’s inner suburbs.
Nick Gallen, principal of Holy Spirit New Farm, says the suburb appears to be attracting plenty of families with young children.
“We have a number of people trying to get into our school this year, especially for our prep services … unfortunately, we can’t take them all and we have to turn some people away,” Mr Gallen said.
“They are all local New Farm families, or moving into the area. I would say seven to 10 years ago there were fewer families, but from the inquiries we get that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer,” Mr Gallen said.
“I would feel that over the last 10 years New Farm has become much more family friendly. People come here for a reason, not just passing through. As long as it remains affordable, we’ll see more families moving in.”
Nearby New Farm State School is experiencing a similar growth: it had a total enrolment of some 280 children last year; this year, it has 75 new prep kids alone.
Many of the residential projects built over recent years in that and adjoining suburbs have attracted predominately single renters without children but PRDnationwide New Farm principal Adam Gray says that trend may now be slowly changing, with more owner-occupiers taking up residence.
“We have noticed over the past few years that we are getting more owner occupiers than in the past. I think the world has realised that we live in a little slice of heaven."
Of New Farm School’s first-year intake, he said: “Perhaps the families are starting to target New Farm a bit more.”
But he admits it’s a slow process, as there “are not too many families that move into our area apart from perhaps the house”.
“The apartments make up around 85 per cent of the dwellings and these are mostly rented. They are occupied by professionals and students and DINKS."
In 2009 the ABS found that New Farm was the most densely populated suburb in Brisbane at 5 700 people.
According to Fortitude Valley State School principal Matt Taylor, inner city schools experience high student turnover as families arrive in Brisbane, find their feet and move to suburbs further out.
“The pattern in the past is that up to 10 per cent of our enrolments are from people just turning up out of nowhere in the first week,” Mr Taylor said.
“One reason that the inner city schools receive these children is because … the inner city is better set up for new arrivals.”
The last census supports Mr Taylor's comments, showing that 88 per cent of Fortitude Valley residents are between 18 and 64 years old, 55 per cent of residents are renting their homes, and the average household has 1.8 people.
Fortitude Valley’s population has more than trebled over the last 13 years, but Fortitude Valley State School itself has remained small at under 60 students.




Big prep intake ... New Farm State School

Long wait for mall almost over

Come here, Tiger!


It wasn’t anywhere near finished the last time City Council opened the Chinatown Mall to the public in mid December, but we’ll soon all get another chance to see just how much more has been done over the past seven weeks.

The $8 million mall makeover is officially opened on Chinese New Year’s Day – Sunday February 14 and it will be a great opportunity to see just how “open” it really will be. A lot can be done in a few days, but on Monday the mall remained a virtual no-go zone.
While the cladding on the grand arch was almost finished, the modern entrance on the mall’s Ann Street side looked far from complete, as did the water feature on the mall’s northern side, and many of the other smaller features that will eventually adorn the new look mall.
City Council has an extensive program of events to celebrate the Chinese New Year, with activities planned from Friday February 12 to Sunday February 14 (see program below). 2010 is the Year of the Metal Tiger, which according to the Chinese zodiac runs from February 14 until February 2 next year. The tiger is the sign of courage in the Chinese zodiac and is revered for warding off the three main disasters of household life: fire; ghosts and thieves.
On the downside, the Year of the Tiger is traditionally linked to social upheaval and massive changes …so if you believe in astrology, be prepared for an unpredictable year ahead. Being flexible and courageous are the key tips for thriving in the Year of the Tiger.
Chinese New Year is a 15-day celebration beginning on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, which is a lunar based calendar.
Chinese New Year begins with the new moon and ends when the moon is full, 15 days later. The Chinese phrase for celebrating Chinese New Year, “Guo Nian”, means “the passing of the beast”.
In Chinese mythology, a Nian is a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains. Once each spring, or around Chinese New Year, it comes out of hiding to attack people, especially children.
Fortunately, the Nian is sensitive to loud noises and afraid of the colour red, so, to drive it away, the Chinese have traditions of decorating things in red, exploding firecrackers and performing a lion dance.
Brisbane will be celebrating Chinese New Year with lots of colour, noise and excitement.

•Information above and below gratefully compiled from material on ourbrisbane.com




Free events in Chinatown Mall

Friday February 12

• 6.30pm - Lion Dance by Khuan Yee Lion Dance Association
• 7.15pm - Traditional Cantonese Opera by Multi Arts Association
• 8.15pm - Erhu Performance (Chinese Fiddle) by Mr. Yabin Huang
• 9pm - Chinese Folk Songs & Provincial Dancing by soprano, Ms. Hong Yan
• 9.30pm - Happy New Year Kung Kei Fat Choi

New Year’s Eve Saturday February 13

• 12pm - Lion Dance & Chinese Martial Arts Display by International Wu Shu Academy
• 1pm - Songs by New Farm State Primary School
• 1.30pm - Taiku Drumming
• 2.30pm - Modern Dance by Che Jazz Dancing Centre
• 3.30pm - Chinese Folk Songs & Provincial Dancing by Soprano, Ms. Hong Yan
• 4.15pm - Chinese Pop Band
• 5pm - Chinese Folk Songs, Tenor & Soprano Mr. Hai Chun Jiang and Ms. Dong Liu
• 5.45pm - Lion Dance & Martial Arts Display by Hok Chung Wu Shu Centre
• 6.30pm - Lucky Fire Crackers with the God of Wealth Happy New Year & Kung Hei Fat Choi

New Years Day Sunday Feb 14

• 11am - Chinese Folk Songs and Chinese Harp by Ms. Lilly Chang & Ms. Sonia Li
• 12pm - Opening Lion Dance by Lam Tu Luen Kung Fu School
• 12.15pm - Chinatown Mall Re-launch Ceremony
• 12.45pm - Performance of the 'Fable of the Carp'
• 1.15pm - Lion Dance (on Poles)
• 1.30pm - Lucky Fire Crackers with the God of Wealth
• 2pm - Ms. Anna Chau Chinese Folk Songs & Face Changing Spectacular
• 2.30pm - Performance of the 'Fable of the Carp'
• 3.15pm - Chinese Pop Band
• 4pm - Chinese Folk Songs by soprano, Ms. Wu Bing • 5pm - Chinese Dance by Queensland World Dance Academy
• 6pm - Dragon Dance by Lam Tu Luan Kung Fu and Dragon Dance School
• 6.45pm - Lucky Fire Crackers with the God of Wealth
• 7pm - Happy New Year and Kung Hei Fat Choi

Other activities

Throughout the weekend of February 12-14, there is a Chinese Spring Festival Bazaar, 10am to 6pm daily, free activities, workshops and demonstrations from midday to 3pm each day, including childrens face painting, make your own fortune cookies, make your own Red Packets, Chinese calligraphy, paper cutting and brush painting, and art of tea ceremony.

It's official - Teneriffe now a suburb!

Local pollies Grace Grace and David Hinchliffe celebrate Teneriffe's elevation to suburb status

The Brisbane neighbourhood of Teneriffe will officially be granted suburb status this month following extensive public consultation by the State Government, Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said.

Since 1975, the southern area of the suburb of Newstead has been known as Teneriffe. “Although the area has had a long and unique history since the 1820s, the neighbourhood of Teneriffe was not defined by boundaries,” Mr Robertson said.
“This has often been the cause of confusion and problems for the efficient delivery of emergency and other community services in the area.”
The Member for Brisbane Central Grace Grace said the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) had conducted a public consultation to change the status of Teneriffe after a group of concerned residents lodged a submission requesting that the locality should be granted suburb status.
DERM administers the Place Names Act 1994 that controls the naming of localities and suburbs in local government areas.
“Today, all localities are required to have clearly defined boundaries to ensure computer addressing systems have accurate information," Ms Grace said.
“This is essential, particularly for Australia Post, police and community safety in general; a correct address could save a life,” she said.
The new boundaries of Teneriffe had been developed from feedback obtained from the public through public meetings facilitated by local elected representatives. The boundary of Teneriffe had been aligned with the centre line of Wyandra Street and Doggett Street between Commercial Road and Chester Street. From Chester Street, the boundary continued south-east along the existing boundaries of Fortitude Valley and New Farm to Merthyr Road and the Brisbane River.
The new suburb of Teneriffe also includes properties along the southern side of Chester Street and properties in Beeston Street and Kingsholme Street. The change means that the boundaries in Newstead will also change.
The boundaries of Teneriffe are shown on Queensland place name map QPN1120 and the amended boundaries of Newstead are shown on Queensland place name map QPN1132.

Copies of these maps can be purchased from the business centre at the Landcentre, Department of Environment and Resource Management, corner Main and Vulture Streets, Woolloongabba.

Home buying a couple thing: survey

A poll released this week by PRDnationwide shows buying property is a joint decision in 65 per cent of households. Nineteen per cent of respondents said it was the male who made property purchasing decisions, while women account for a close to 16 per cent.

PRDnationwide research director Aaron Maskrey (pictured) said the results were not surprising.
“Choosing what property to buy is a big life decision and it’s much less likely to be left in the hands of one person,” he said. “Therefore real estate agents spend a lot of time trying to attract both partners.
“Since the emergence of online real estate listings – shopping for property has penetrated into people’s daily life,” he added.
PRDnationwide New Farm director Adam Gray said in his experience, the women have the final say when it comes to buying the dream home.
“When purchasing a home to live in, the man may think he has a say in it, but it is the woman who gives the final go ahead,” he said.
“Basically if she doesn’t want it – it will not get purchased. Mr Gray said investment property purchases were a bit different. “As it tends to be more of a financial decision rather than an emotional decision – the person who brings in the most income tends to get more involved,” he said.
The study also investigated what motivated people’s decision to buy an apartment.
Mr Maskrey said nearly half of respondents (44 per cent) felt proximity to the CBD was the most important factor. This was followed by waterfront locality (24 per cent) and outlook (23 per cent).
Surprisingly open green space wasn’t high on buyers’ lists with only 7 per cent considering that important. And least of all was historical significance (2 per cent).

Valley day economy makes a move

A Fortitude Valley Valley trader who recently slammed the area’s day economy as “virtually non-existent” has had a change of heart after better-than-expected January sales.

Joseph Origliasso, pictured above, who runs the budget fashion outlet, nvy, in McWhirters, said this week the end of January 2010 has seen a surge in the daytime economy in the immediate Brunswick street mall area of Fortitude Valley.
While a few large retail outlets have moved on from the Valley, Mr Origliassso said he had been receiving lots of inquiries from what he calls “Micro Merchants’ – small businesses looking to establish themselves in the vibrant hub of the Brunswick street mall of Fortitude Valley.
“I am not a real estate agent but people are coming into my shop and making enquiries about small retail spaces for rent in this area almost daily,” Mr Origliasso said.
“I have had a number of offers to either rent or sell my shop from interested potential new businesses into the area. Unfortunately this high-volume traffic area near the Brunswich Street mall is unable to meet the demand for small retail spaces to accommodate all the new micro merchants demands but the good news is that they will spread further out in to the valley area.
“Takings at the end of January are back and are better than this time last year.
“The daytime economy is back with a surge because of new back packer travellers and overseas students replacing our lost workers. So my forecast of more shops closing in the Valley may have been premature if the customer surge continues. Tourist and students spend regularly and in their local area which is all good news for us retailers.
“All in all it’s a good result for Fortitude Valley, although traders will be experiencing a change in spending a patterns and customer traffic flow. Shoppers are coming out later in the day and into the evening and I can see the Fortitude Valley Brunswick Street area, shopping hours change to a 10am to 10pm time slot to accommodate the new customers, now shopping in the Valley.” The Valley was experiencing customer flow patterns that were normally reserved for international tourist destinations such as Hong Kong and Singapore, he said.
“The Valley will be the first area in Brisbane to enjoy this shopping trend change because of its multi cultural flavour and appeal. More micro merchants into the area will provide the assorted appeal and vibe that backpackers and international students are accustomed to and expect. “Our challenge is to meet and provide the goods and services on a daily basis that our new and existing customers expect,” Mr Origliasso said.
“It’s all good news and exciting stuff for the Brunswick Street mall area of Fortitude Valley.”

Beware the million-dollar lemon

Homebuyers have been warned to be on the lookout for million dollar lemons – especially as only about one in 10 people have a pre-purchase property inspection.
Million dollar homes, which have become more common in Australia as property prices skyrocket, can have faults, Archicentre, the building advisory service of the Australian Institute of Architects says. An Archicentre inspector checking the condition of the roof and guttering on a property for sale. Archicentre, the largest supplier of pre-purchase property inspections and design reports said nine out of 10 people take the lemon gamble and do not have a pre-purchase property inspection on the home they buy, which is often their largest financial commitment.
Angus Kell, Archicentre Queensland spokesperson said with property prices and interest rates on the rise, and power and water prices expected to double in the next two to three years, buying a million dollar lemon has become financially riskier than ever.
“In reality people spend more time and money checking out a $10,000 car to be roadworthy than an average home costing between $500,000 to over a million dollars.”
Mr Kell said that million dollar homes used to be a rarity, however, in today’s property market they are common.
Archicentre pre-purchase property inspection report statistics show that over 35 per cent of more than 120,000 homes inspected over the past decade have defects, many of which are expensive to fix.
“What this means is when people purchase a home and are faced with hefty unplanned repair or maintenance bills, they are dramatically at risk of over-capitalising and if not well planned and managed the purchase of the home ultimately can turn into a loss.
“People have usually borrowed to the limit and if expensive repairs are needed this is normally added to the loan increasing the long term debt and limiting financial return."
Mr. Kell said that at the very minimum, prospective buyers should undertake their own comprehensive inspection and could download a free do it yourself inspection checklist from the Archicentre website at

www.archicentre.com.au/survival_kit/diy_checklist2008.pdf “At least with a written property report you can assess what the real costs are and whether you are in any danger of being faced with an excessive repair or renovation bill whilst battling to pay your mortgage.
“It is too late once you have signed on the dotted line and it is important to have the inspection done before signing the contract, or in today's buyer market sign the contract subject to the inspection reports outcome.”
Archicentre’s national pre-purchase home inspection statistics reveals all homes inspected had a range of faults including illegal building, rising damp, roof faults, faulty electrical wiring and cracking.

A road trip like no other

The Road (MA15+)
Director: John Hillcoat
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall
Rating: 5/5
112-minutes, now screening

Lovers of literature are bound to be familiar with US author, Cormac McCarthy for works like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men, but the wider community really came to know of the writer when the Coen brothers adapted the latter title into an award-winning film.

Since their success – and in some instances, long before – filmmakers from independents to the big studios have scrambled to option other titles. In the case of McCarthy’s slight novel The Road, Australian director, John Hillcoat stepped in early to express interest in an adaptation. Hillcoat had form with bleak, disturbing films like Ghosts... of the Civil Dead and the Australian western, The Proposition, and evidently impressed McCarthy with his vision of what The Road could look like on screen.
The resultant film – faithfully scripted by Joe Penhall – is stark, upsetting, and ultimately beautiful. Briefly, the film tells of the relationship between a man and his son in the first decade after the world has been devastated by an unknown catastrophe. Food is scarce, the environment in ruins, and the population of the United States now miniscule, with tribes of cannibals and slave traders roaming the land.
The Man (Viggo Mortensen) has sustained the Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) for several years since the fall of civilisation and the loss of the Woman (Charlize Theron). The pair travels through a gloomy grey landscape sustaining each other with the thin hope that relief lies somewhere to the east, and in a stubborn desire to “keep the flame alive” and force the triumph of good.
Theirs is a harrowing, astonishing journey with a surprisingly hopeful ending – be sure to stay through the credits and listen to the accompanying soundscape. Next, we have to wait until 2011 to see what director Todd Field will do with McCarthy’s even more gruesome Blood Meridian.


A precious life that’s rather special



Precious (MA15+)
Director: Lee Daniels
Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
Rating: 3.5/5
110-minutes, screening from tomorrow (Thur, February 4)

Perhaps this is a cumbersome title, but Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is executive produced by one Oprah Winfrey, so it would be terrible to miss out on potential audience members by just using one word, especially when the original title, Push could have been confused with last year’s psychic , Hong Kong-based action thriller of the same name.

Sapphire’s novel garnered a huge readership – and Oprah’s patronage – so the film was always going to be an interesting (and precarious) project. The eponymous Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is a morbidly obese teenage mother struggling to complete her secondary education.
Challenges present themselves on all sides: the conventional schooling system is reluctant to cater to a sixteen-year-old with one child and another on the way; Precious’s psychotic mother, Mary (Mo’Nique) sees her daughter and granddaughter as nothing more than carriages in a gold-plated gravy train; and her absent father only returns when he is horny and sober enough to rape his daughter.
Add to this bullying at school, in the streets near home, and at the hands of her vicious mother, and Precious lives an extraordinarily difficult life.
When her principal recommends relocating to a more specialised schooling environment, Precious initially is reticent; but her new teacher, Blu Rain (Paula Patton), along with a sassy and eclectic group of students, offer new hope.
Like The Road, Precious is a harrowing experience, but in the hands of director, Lee Daniels and screenwriter, Geoffrey Fletcher, the story is a really an old style fairy-tale wrought beautifully in a contemporary context.

THE BINGE - on DVD


Something for everyone

Lake Mungo (M) now available through Madman Entertainment
Departures (M) available February 17 through Madman Entertainment
Bronson (MA15+) available February 10 through Madman Entertainment
Haeundae (M) available February 10 through Madman Entertainment

Mystery, drama, psychosis, and devastation this issue, drawn from such diverse locales as Australia, Japan, England and Korea. Lake Mungo, from Australian director, Joel Anderson is a compelling faux-documentary about a missing teenager who gradually becomes the focus of a much larger mystery, and shows great promise on the part of the director, who very skilfully ratchets up the tension in his story. Thousands of kilometres away in Japan, a young cellist responds to the dissolution of his orchestra by packing up his house and wife to return to the village of his childhood. There, as they struggle to reconstruct their lives, Daigo (Masahiro Motoki) discovers a strange new career path paving the way for recently departed souls. Departures is a beautifully rendered love story-cum-transformative journey, and well deserved its multiple awards.
In Bronson, Danish director, Nicholas Winding Refn – who made the stunning Pusher trilogy – adapts the true story of a lunatic prisoner who terrorised the British justice system. Michael Peterson – aka Charles Bronson – reinvents himself as a version of his hero and spends much of the next four decades in gaol gradually scaling up his outrageous behaviour.
And if disaster flicks are your thing, you can’t go past the latest blockbuster from Korea. Haeundae – directed by Jegyun Yun – sets a number of precarious relationships flailing amid the impending doom of a massive tsunami that threatens to devastate the eponymous city, and features some pretty impressive special effects (below).

When things are crook, settle for quality

Things are crook in the Australia wine industry. Bad for many grape growers and processors, but probably very good indeed for wine-drinkers. How crook? Over-supply is so bad the industry has rip out 35,000 hectares to balance things up, according to one of the major producers. Peter Lehmann Wines managing director Doug Lehmann reckons things are the worst they have been in 15 years with our vineyards likely to turn out more than two million tonnes but only 1.5 million tonnes likely to be sold.

To compound the crookness, Lehmann told shareholders New Zealand sauvignon blanc is “having a deleterious impact on the volume and value of all Australian white wines”. Which reminds me. Did you see the finance page report that French winemaker Lacheteau has been labeling its sauvignon blanc (probably from the Loire Valley) as Kiwi Cuvee? And is not allowed to do so any more after the New Zealand winegrowers took it to the law.
Anyway Peter Lehmann Wines, which the Swiss company Hess Group bought in 2004, saw its profits fall seriously last year, as did other big Australian winemakers including De Bortoli, d’Arenberg and Casella. Other sources estimate that there is right now a surplus of about 100 million cases out there and that this is likely to increase by 40 per cent as the strong Aussie dollar makes it even harder to sell in the USA and UK.
In the long run, this is not good for us as well as the winemakers Right now, think a bit about paying a sensible price for some seriously good wines. Such as: BlackJack. Love their slogan/motto/whatever: BlackJack is red. In fact it is good red, and interesting. Good enough to win serious awards very recently in Australia and London.
At the Le Concours des Vins du Victoria event, presented by the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Blackjack won a gold medal for their 2007 Blackjack Shiraz and a silver medal for the 2007 Blackjack Cabernet Merlot. Le Concours des Vins du Victoria is a unique wine competition in Australia in that it involves a panel of French wine experts and commentators judging Victorian wines. At the International Wine and Spirit Competition 2009 in London, the winery won two silver medals across a wide international field.
The 2005 Blackjack Shiraz won Best in Class and the other silver went to the 2005 Blackjack Block 6. And adding to these the 2007 Blackjack Block 6 just won a silver medal and a place in the Top 50 for the second year in a row at the Visy 2009 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge. Blackjack Vineyards is in the Harcourt Valley in the Bendigo Wine Region. Winemakers Ken Pollock and Ian McKenzie (one a pharmacist, the other a teacher) planted the vineyard in 1988. They released their first wine in 1994 and have won a reputation for fine, generous reds.
.


The most recent arrivals are: BlackJack 2007 Block 6 shiraz, from vines planted in 1998, and “one of our most difficult vintages to date, with frost and drought combining to reduce production to below half the normal crop level".
Put it away for a while if you can, otherwise enjoy a ripe and generous red. Recommended retail price $35.

BlackJack 2007 shiraz from the original 1988 plantings, obviously same vintage problems. The makers say “the soft, generous fruit flavours build on the palate to a powerful crescendo of firm, ripe tannins of substantial length”. $35

Blackjack 2007 cabernet merlot from 1989 cabernet (90 per cent) plantings, a rather more elegant and slightly less alcoholic offering. $25

And BlackJack 2007 Chortle’s Edge shiraz, from district vineyards, generous and a very pleasant not quite so serious wine that will show you the classic Bendigo shiraz characteristics. $18-$20.

You may well feel that those prices are a bit higher than you are used to paying. If so, (a) give yourself a treat and (b) give a thought to the future of the Australian wine industry. Buy some delicious wine with a well respected label upon it. And enjoy it.

Tunnel vision from my favourite council

Toowong overpass ... future uncertain

FROM MY CORNER .... with Ann Brunswick

Does anyone share my concern about the ongoing speculation over the future of the recently completed pedestrian and bicycle overpass crossing the western freeway near the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens?

It seems the $10 million structure built by the state government could be in the way of the entrance to a new (yet another) road tunnel planned by the Brisbane City Council. The overpass was announced in May 2006 as a $4 million project but its cost had more than doubled by the time it opened in March last year.
If that were not bad enough, there has since been a lot of chatter about its very existence. Apparently there is serious consideration being given to demolishing the bridge to accommodate the tunnel entrance. Member for Mt Coot-tha, Andrew Fraser, who now happens to be state Treasurer, said at the time the bridge project was announced that he had “lobbied hard” for the project that was “a victory for the local community”.
Well, it’s not so clear to me that bulldozing the structure would be a victory for anyone, especially not taxpayers. Isn’t there somebody at the state government or BCC who can stand up and say the bridge will stay? Mr Fraser perhaps? Our Lord Mayor?
If not, then maybe one of them should explain how they plan to recoup the $10 million they plan to waste and where the next $10 million for a replacement bridge will come from. Each year a lot of small community groups, sporting clubs, and other not-for-profits apply for grants of just a few thousand dollars to buy new equipment, renovate their premises, or undertake some other project that is relatively small but significant to them.
Even at $5,000 per grant, the $10 million spent on a bridge that may disappear would have helped out 2,000 organisations across our state. Unfortunately that’s the real cost of this prime example of financial and planning incompetence.
***

The saga of the overpass leads me to another gripe about bureaucrats wasting the money you and I pay in taxes and rates.

It would be good to know what genius in the Brisbane City Council agreed to install plastic parking bumpers at a near-city park. Bumpers are a common sight in most large car parks. They are usually made from concrete and are pre-cast so they can be bolted to the ground in such a way to prevent vehicles hitting a wall, fence or another vehicle. Well imagine my surprise to come upon a raft of plastic bumpers in a BCC park.
Unfortunately as my snaps show all too clearly, some of them have already started to do what any sensible person would expect plastic to do when it is exposed to the sun and comes into contact with a vehicle wheel with around one tonne of weight behind it. That’s right, they have started to crack.
Gee, what dill in the BCC didn’t see that as a possibility? Please, could somebody in the BCC get in touch and let me know that the plastic bumpers were a gift from some manufacturer, that they were installed free of charge as a trial maybe?
As a ratepayer, the alternative that my rates are paying the wages of someone who actively fostered this stupidity is too horrible to contemplate.






Holes in the argument ... plastic parking bumpers

Hypocritical Abbott blunders into virgin territory

By Mungo MacCallum



There are many things to celebrate on Australia Day, but perhaps the most important is that it marks the end of the silly season. It is the time politicians and the media dust themselves off and start on the serious business of the year. Or at least they would have if Tony Abbott had not told the Women’s Weekly that he would advise his daughters to sit on it until they were married.

Actually if he had put it as straightforwardly as that there probably wouldn’t have been much of a fuss. Some might have derided him as a bit old fashioned (or, as his 18 year old daughter Frances put it, “a lame, gay, churchy loser”) but a lot of traditional parents might have shrugged in mute agreement. However, Abbott being Abbott, he had to take it further. After all, the Weekly was doing an extensive piece on his favourite subject – himself – and indeed on his favourite aspects of it – ethics and beliefs, creed and credo. So Abbott felt constrained to add that virginity was a gift from God to a woman, and the most precious gift she could give to a man. By way of later explanation he insisted that he wasn’t preaching – this was simply the advice that he would give to his own three daughters, although given that two of them had already reached adulthood it could still be seen as a touch patronising. But no one really believed him.
The worst fears of the moderates, both inside and outside the Liberal Party, were confirmed: Captain Catholic was back in charge. The Mad Monk just couldn’t help himself; he was incapable of drawing the line between public policy and private morals. And in Australia, this was always going to be a bummer.
Actually Abbott received more support than he probably expected; talk back radio ended up slightly in his favour thanks to a blitz by women of a certain age (and possibly also a certain religion). And the most severe critics tended to be the usual suspects: feminists such as Catherine Lumby and Eva Cox, who were generally seen as political fringe-dwellers at best.
Kevin Rudd sensibly laid low and said nothing, and his deputy Julia Gillard restrained herself to the terse observation that Australian women could make their own choices and did not want to be lectured by Tony Abbott. Even this was too much for the Liberals’ normally sensible legal affairs spokesmen George Brandis who said Gillard had no right to talk about families because she didn't have one herself.
The quick response was that Gillard was not talking about families but about Tony Abbott, and that Brandis would presumably also disqualify the Pope and all celibate clergy from the debate; indeed, perhaps he should disqualify himself from discussing women and children since he did not have a womb.
But the real argument centred around Abbott’s hypocrisy, which he at least acknowledged; after all he could hardly deny it. Rather sheepishly he admitted that when his daughters said to him: “But daddy, you did all those things yourself,” he had replied: “Well, yes, I did.” And indeed he had, and more.
It is on the record that while studying in the seminary to become a priest, his lust was so overwhelming that he was forced to appoint a personal celibacy adviser. This hapless individual was not up to the job; Abbott jumped the wall and quickly gained a name for successful lechery at Sydney University. There was an unfortunate experience when one girl with whom he was playing Vatican roulette becoming pregnant, and the child was adopted out; years later Abbott was reunited with the man whom he thought was his son but whom tests showed had another father altogether. And there are many unedifying anecdotes about his time at St Johns, the Catholic residential college of Sydney University. They are best summed up by a fellow student who prefers to remain anonymous: “Tony would fuck a hole in the wall if it had hair around it.” T
hus when he claimed that he was urging restraint upon young men as well as young women, there was a certain amount of coarse laughter. But the more serious underlying complaint was about the idea that a woman’s virginity, and therefore presumably her entire sex life, could be regarded as no more than a gift to a man. The issue died a natural death in the media, but the memory of that piece of unbridled misogyny will linger on.

***

This generation’s answer to Screaming Lord Sutch, Gibbering Lord Monckton, is so obviously loony that under normal circumstances Australians would treat his ravings with the contempt they deserve.
But alas, these are not normal times; the anti-science brigade is not only on the march, but is making the running on the whole issue of climate change.
They have been helped along by some very powerful financial backers and some influential allies in the media, but what has given them a real lift is the revelation that some of the advocates for the case for global warming have been shown to be over-enthusiastic and in some cases just plain wrong. These flaws, according to the sceptics, show that the whole scientific edifice painstakingly erected over a decade is shonky; scientists are not to be trusted, and it is likely that the earth is flat after all, just as reasonable people have always suspected. Of course they show nothing of the kind; 99 per cent of the science, supported by 99 per cent of qualified scientists, remains intact.
By any rational standard the case for man-made global warming is beyond argument, even if all the details cannot be quantified. But in political terms, we are just about back to square one. It is to be hoped that people of good will from all parties can restore some sanity to the debate. The fact that Tony Abbott and even Barnaby Joyce have shunned numerous invitations to associate themselves and their parties with Monckton’s outrageous demagoguery is a hopeful start.