PROPERTY NEWS
The latest building approvals figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show a continued decline in construction activity in Queensland, according to Master Builders, Queensland’s peak body for housing and construction.
Master Builders’ Director of Housing Policy, Paul Bidwell said the latest figures suggests the fall in building approvals is gathering pace, rather than moderating, with Queensland faring worse than other states. The seasonally adjusted number of dwelling commencements has fallen by 2.6 per cent for private houses and 1.7 per cent for all dwellings for the month of May, compared to falls of 1.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent in April.
“The fall in building approvals is another disappointing development for the industry as it struggles to recover from the economic crisis. This highlights the fragile state of the Queensland building industry,” said Mr Bidwell.
“The results are not surprising given the sharp fall in finance commitments during the first half of this year; building approvals generally follow finance approvals by about three months.
“On the upside, the fall in finance commitments appears to be moderating, which gives some hope that approvals may start to recover in the latter part of the year. “However, this is very dependent on what happens with interest rates, and ultimately consumer confidence, over the coming months.
“We have grave concerns about what might happen if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decides to raise interest rates when it meets next week. Any rise in interest rates will further compound the problems faced by the building industry.
“Master Builders encourages the RBA to keep interest rates on hold this month, especially while the Queensland economy is underperforming compared to much of the rest of Australia.”
GOVT ‘MUST DO MORE’
Family First leader Senator Steve Fielding says Bankwest’s latest report into housing proves that the Federal Government needs to do more to ease our housing affordability crisis.
Senator Fielding said that the report’s findings, which show that it is taking almost a year longer to save for a deposit, mean that people are being forced to flush dead money down the rental drain.
“The latest figures make it clear that housing affordability is a real issue for thousands of Australians and it’s time the government got serious about doing something to ease the pressure of escalating property prices. “Owning your home is the great Australian dream and the government should be doing all that they can to keep that dream alive.
Senator Fielding wants the government to set up an Accessing Super Scheme, like the Canadian Home Buyers’ Plan, which would allow first home buyers to access $15,000 of their superannuation so they can use it for part of a deposit on a house.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Artist chosen for ZZZ’s big facelift
PROPERTY NEWS
After a worldwide search lasting six months, Brisbane radio station 4ZZZ, has finally picked the artist who will unleash their creative juices on the biggest blank canvas they’ll ever have – the front of Zed Towers!
As part of 4ZZZ’s 35th birthday celebrations this year, the station wanted its Fortitude Valley building to reflect everything that Zed is about and the person they believe can achieve that is Beastman, pictured above.
Sydney-based artist Beastman is said to be influenced by the beauty and symbolism behind nature’s repetitive geometric patterns and its eternal struggle against man-made adversities. Beastman’s tightly detailed, symmetrical paintings depict a parallel world of hope and survival inhabited by his scaly-skinned, beastlike yet beautiful and emotive characters. Years of skateboarding has strongly influenced Beastman’s characters, concepts and unique style.
Said to be one of the most distinctive and prolific emerging artists in Australia and founder and editor of the online art publication [weAREtheIMAGEmakers], Beastman has exhibited extensively throughout Australia, as well as London, Berlin and New Zealand. He has curated and organised numerous art exhibitions and events, and has designed skateboards and graphics for various brands including Element, Folklore and Mingo Lamberti.
Beastman was recently profiled on ABC's Rush TV and has been featured in publications such as Empty, Tees, Deadbeat, Oyster, Spitpress, Australian Creative and more. Check out his artwork. www.beastman.com.au
Anyway, enough about the Beastman! The station will probably just be hoping he completes his artwork without the mask.
After a worldwide search lasting six months, Brisbane radio station 4ZZZ, has finally picked the artist who will unleash their creative juices on the biggest blank canvas they’ll ever have – the front of Zed Towers!
As part of 4ZZZ’s 35th birthday celebrations this year, the station wanted its Fortitude Valley building to reflect everything that Zed is about and the person they believe can achieve that is Beastman, pictured above.
Sydney-based artist Beastman is said to be influenced by the beauty and symbolism behind nature’s repetitive geometric patterns and its eternal struggle against man-made adversities. Beastman’s tightly detailed, symmetrical paintings depict a parallel world of hope and survival inhabited by his scaly-skinned, beastlike yet beautiful and emotive characters. Years of skateboarding has strongly influenced Beastman’s characters, concepts and unique style.
Said to be one of the most distinctive and prolific emerging artists in Australia and founder and editor of the online art publication [weAREtheIMAGEmakers], Beastman has exhibited extensively throughout Australia, as well as London, Berlin and New Zealand. He has curated and organised numerous art exhibitions and events, and has designed skateboards and graphics for various brands including Element, Folklore and Mingo Lamberti.
Beastman was recently profiled on ABC's Rush TV and has been featured in publications such as Empty, Tees, Deadbeat, Oyster, Spitpress, Australian Creative and more. Check out his artwork. www.beastman.com.au
Anyway, enough about the Beastman! The station will probably just be hoping he completes his artwork without the mask.
Where am I?
Nice couple of facades, right? Be even nicer if you know where they are, because you’ll then 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, 16 July 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!
***
From our last issue, Josephine Leigh of the Valley correctly identified the facade of the famous Empire Hotel in Brunswick Street. Josephine is off to the Brunnie for some tucker on us!
Mick and the boys bring heat
MUSIC
Who: Mick Hadley & The Atomic Boogie Band
• What: Free Sunday Sessions
• Where: The Tempo Hotel - 388 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley
• When: Sunday, July 11 & 25 from 2pm
• Cost: Free admission
• Who: Asa & Friends
• What: Asa Broomhall Band and special musical guests
• Where: Stage Door @ The Tempo Hotel (formerly Dooley’s Hotel)
• When: Saturday July 3, 10, 24 & 31 from 8PM
• Admission: $10
Throughout Mick Hadley’s career in music, one thing has stood out, stagecraft. From his early work in The Purple Hearts, the seminal Brisbane band The Coloured Balls through The Last Shout, The Shakers, The Midnight Blues Band and now with The Atomic Boogie Band, Mick is known as a master on stage.
His energy and vibrant stage persona has left many an audience member overwhelmed. Now stepping out of semi-retirement, Hadley (pictured) will be playing a set of special reunion shows in July at The Tempo Hotel in Fortitude Valley.
The Tempo Hotel (formerly known as Dooley’s Hotel) is the place to be on Sundays for their free Sunday sessions and who better to jump start things off than Mick and his Atomic Boogie Band. Then there’s Asa & Friends, when the Asa Broomhall band and their special guests will provide a rare chance to see a musician’s musician play a series of casual shows with some close musical friends.
It’s coming to Stage Door @ The Tempo Hotel (formerly Dooley’s Hotel) in Fortitude Valley over four dates in July. Asa and his band will open each night with their exuberant take on roots, rock and blues and then the night’s guest will play full sets with their own band before the night ends with some surprising collaborative efforts.
Opera the new black?
The press release shouts that “opera & ballet is the new black’. That bit of nonsense doesn’t deserve to score any coverage, but your reporter is, as the editor of this journal noted when he forwarded the message, “an old opera buff”, so here goes.
What’s happening is that the move to make high definition, high quality sound live transmissions of opera, ballet, theatre and (inevitably if not already) classical concerts to cinemas around the world is growing. The houses concerned, several of the world’s best, send recordings to those of us for whom that is not practical (e.g. because of time differential).
We have seen several seasons of pioneering productions from New York’s Metropolitan Opera and very satisfying they have been. More recently several series from European houses have graced local screens. Right now we are in the midst of an interesting mixed series showing at the Palace Barracks.
The Royal Opera (Covent Garden) production of Verdi’s Don Carlo runs July 23, 24, 25 and 28; Royal Ballet Liszt’s Mayerling August 13-18; Royal Ballet Henze’s Ondine; September 3-8; and the Globe Theatre Shakespeare’s Love’s Labours Lost September 17 to 22. The next Met series of 11 operas starts, neatly enough, in mid October and runs roughly monthly until mid May, in cinemas around the world. Here they will be at Centro and Portside, which are also showing a winter season repeating some of the past season’s highlights: Verdi's Aida (July 18 and 22), Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and Bizet's Carmen.
The new New York dates (we come in usually some days, perhaps even two weeks , later) are: October 9, Wagner’s Das Rheingold conducted by James Levine; October 23, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (Valery Gergiev); November 13 Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (James Levine); December 11,Verdi’s Don Carlo (Yannick Nézet-Séguin); January 8, Puccini’s La Fanciulla Del West (Nicola Luisotti); February 26, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (Patrick Summers); March 19, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (Patrick Summers); April 9, Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (Maurizio Benini); April 23, Strauss’s Capriccio (Andrew Davis); April 30, Verdi’s Il Trovatore (James Levine); May 14, Wagner’s Die Walküre (James Levine).
This is magic stuff. We are very lucky.
David Bray
Dutch treat for Fortitude Valley
PROPERTY NEWS
Fortitude Valley has become the “unofficial sister suburb” of Amsterdam Central in Holland. Yellie Alkema, a councillor with Amsterdam City Council, recently met with local Councillor David Hinchliffe, and signed an impromptu “Sister Suburb” agreement.
While both councillors emphasised the agreement had no legal binding and was ‘in good fun’, they said that there were a lot of similarities with both communities. Yellie, who visited with ex Dutch Senator, Kirk Cooper, said the Valley was “a very relaxed, personable and down to earth sort of place”.
“In that respect, it’s a lot like my Amsterdam.”
She said the centre of Amsterdam which she has represented for 10 years had a lot of students and young people, similar to the Valley.
Her son was in Australia as a backpacker. “Kirk and I were keen to come over to see what the Land Down Under really looked like. We’ve been very impressed. We’ve had a lovely time.”
Cr Hinchliffe said that if the Dutch Government had followed up explorers Dirk Hartog and William Dampier, Australia might have been colonised by the Dutch instead of the English.
“We could have written this friendly ‘Sister Suburb’ agreement in Dutch,” he joked.
Revenge required? Holler for a Marshall
FILMS ... with Tim Milfull
The Horseman (TBA)
Director: Steven Kastrissios
Stars: Peter Marshall, Caroline Marohasy
Rating: 3.5/5
96-minutes, screening from 8 July
The Horseman is a local production helmed by Queensland filmmaker Steven Kastrissios who took on the roles of writer, director, editor, and producer to bring his dream to life.
In a very impressive, stony-faced performance, Peter Marshall plays Christian, a forty-something father who suspects there was more to his teenaged daughter’s death than a simple overdose.
As he digs further into her last days, Christian begins to realise that she had begun to mix with the very worst crowds imaginable, and when the truth about her death emerges, the grieving father’s calm face belies the bloodlust that is boiling inside.
Let’s be honest here, The Horseman is not for the fainthearted; Christian is living the vengeance fantasies of any and all parents who have lost their child to the depredations of others. There’s a cold-hearted determination roiling in Christian—imagine how Bruce Willis’s John McClane would have behaved if his estranged wife had succumbed to Hans Gruber.
But Aussies have game on this genre – remember Max Rockatansky’s fury in the wake of his family’s death? Magnify that to the nth degree, and you can imagine the sadistic satisfaction Christian feels in exacting revenge.
While some of Christian’s targets fall squarely into stereotypical territory, and Caroline Marohasy’s Alice seems relatively comfortable as his hitchhiking waif, Peter Marshall completely owns his role as the angry dad. Kastrissios shows great promise in his first feature film; we can look forward to very good things from this storyteller.
Cold war intrigue at its finest
Farewell (M)
Director: Christian Carion
Stars: Emir Kustarica, Guillaume Canet
Rating: 3.5/5
113-minutes, now screening
Back in 2005, French director Christian Carion directed Joyeux Noel, a poignant account of a Christmas during the First World War, when French, Scottish and German combatants laid down their arms and came together to celebrate Christmas, much to the distress of their commanders.
In Carion’s latest film, L’affair Farewell, a similar rebellion is under way in the 80s, as Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kustarica) decides that he has had enough of party politics in the USSR, and looks to affect some change. Pierre Froment (Guillaume Canet) is a low level diplomat in the French Embassy in Moscow, and when asked to undertake a routine meeting, doesn’t realise the frightening lengths he will be asked to pursue, as he gradually becomes a reluctant handler for the Russian spy.
To the distress of his wife, and the thinly veiled amusement of Gregoriev, Froment is forced to hit the ground running in the world of international espionage. Carion’s adaptation of the book of the same name is often almost unbelievable—Gregoriev’s character is based upon KGB spy Vladimir Vetrov, who handed over more than 4000 secret documents that contributed to the exposure of almost 200 spies, and eventually to the fall of the USSR.
Veteran actor Kustarica offers a grimly determined, ideologically offended Gregoriev, who never took any payments for his work; while Canet is utterly convincing as the reluctant spy, who eventually becomes an ardent defender of his charge. Farewell is Cold War intrigue at its finest.
Shade issue set to heat up again
FROM MY CORNER ... with Ann Brunswick
Do you remember when the revamped King George Square opened late last year? The new square cost almost $30 million but soon after its completion there were complaints from users about its lack of shade.
Pedestrians avoided crossing the open space in front of our City Hall for fear of the high temperatures, and it seems few were using the new space to sit for a while. Your columnist can validate those complaints, having felt the jump in temperature when leaving the shelter of Adelaide Street shop awnings and entering the square with its light-coloured stone that reflects heat upwards while the sun beats down. So ever since it has been my practice during hotter months to avoid using what is meant to be our city’s prime civic space.
But with the onset of winter the square again became a part of my CBD perambulations. Unfortunately there appears to be no evidence of any attempts to provide extra shade and, with summer’s inevitable approach, no doubt complaints will again be heard loud and clear.
Because of my avoidance of the new square for the best part of the past half-year, another of its in-built problems had not been obvious to me previously. But in the past few weeks it has become clear to me that the northern corner of the Ann Street side of the square is a source of potential injuries to pedestrians. That particular part of the square is made up by a series of shallow terraces with their edges marked by a border of black stone to contrast with the overall grey effect used throughout the rest of the square.
Pedestrians must either step down or up between the different levels, or use a cut-out ramp in the middle of each terrace edge. The trouble is that the black-edged terraces make the drop difficult to see when walking away from Ann Street.
It was sheer luck that I did not fall when first using them, and anyone stopping to observe others would see many pedestrians running the same risk. My difficulties occurred in road daylight. It must be even more risky at night. Surely it is not too much to have the steps and the change in level marked more clearly, or to have railings installed to shepherd users to the central ramps.
***
While on the subject of King George Square, this column has previously questioned the usefulness of the covered “verandah” against the northern wall of the square.
It is a big space and contains a few seats. But there is still no obvious use for it. It all looks rather empty and pointless. All in all, the coming first anniversary of our new King George Square seems hardly worth celebrating.
As taxpayers and ratepayers we have yet again seen one of our elected officials celebrate the opening of a new piece of traffic infrastructure that we will now be asked to pay for, on top of our taxes and rates already used to pay for it.
***
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman this week declared the new bridge across the Brisbane River from the inner-city bypass at Hale Street to West End open for business. And business it is, given it’s a toll bridge and we all have to pay to use it, unless you are on foot or on a bike.
It seems gone are the days when the Brisbane City Council or the state government used our money to build things for us and then let us use them without dipping further into our pockets. Cr Newman has won some plaudits for naming the bridge after one of Brisbane’s best-known musical groups, the Go-Betweens.
Unfortunately the name put up for a public ballot was the “Go Between Bridge”. Well, either we recognise the band by its correct name or we don’t. That means a hyphen as the band itself used and an “s” at the end.
So at your columnist’s instigation the editor of this newspaper has agreed to refer to the new structure only as the Go-Betweens Bridge from now on. If we all do it, maybe Cr Newman might fork out the cost of a new plaque.
Do you remember when the revamped King George Square opened late last year? The new square cost almost $30 million but soon after its completion there were complaints from users about its lack of shade.
Pedestrians avoided crossing the open space in front of our City Hall for fear of the high temperatures, and it seems few were using the new space to sit for a while. Your columnist can validate those complaints, having felt the jump in temperature when leaving the shelter of Adelaide Street shop awnings and entering the square with its light-coloured stone that reflects heat upwards while the sun beats down. So ever since it has been my practice during hotter months to avoid using what is meant to be our city’s prime civic space.
But with the onset of winter the square again became a part of my CBD perambulations. Unfortunately there appears to be no evidence of any attempts to provide extra shade and, with summer’s inevitable approach, no doubt complaints will again be heard loud and clear.
Because of my avoidance of the new square for the best part of the past half-year, another of its in-built problems had not been obvious to me previously. But in the past few weeks it has become clear to me that the northern corner of the Ann Street side of the square is a source of potential injuries to pedestrians. That particular part of the square is made up by a series of shallow terraces with their edges marked by a border of black stone to contrast with the overall grey effect used throughout the rest of the square.
Pedestrians must either step down or up between the different levels, or use a cut-out ramp in the middle of each terrace edge. The trouble is that the black-edged terraces make the drop difficult to see when walking away from Ann Street.
It was sheer luck that I did not fall when first using them, and anyone stopping to observe others would see many pedestrians running the same risk. My difficulties occurred in road daylight. It must be even more risky at night. Surely it is not too much to have the steps and the change in level marked more clearly, or to have railings installed to shepherd users to the central ramps.
***
While on the subject of King George Square, this column has previously questioned the usefulness of the covered “verandah” against the northern wall of the square.
It is a big space and contains a few seats. But there is still no obvious use for it. It all looks rather empty and pointless. All in all, the coming first anniversary of our new King George Square seems hardly worth celebrating.
As taxpayers and ratepayers we have yet again seen one of our elected officials celebrate the opening of a new piece of traffic infrastructure that we will now be asked to pay for, on top of our taxes and rates already used to pay for it.
***
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman this week declared the new bridge across the Brisbane River from the inner-city bypass at Hale Street to West End open for business. And business it is, given it’s a toll bridge and we all have to pay to use it, unless you are on foot or on a bike.
It seems gone are the days when the Brisbane City Council or the state government used our money to build things for us and then let us use them without dipping further into our pockets. Cr Newman has won some plaudits for naming the bridge after one of Brisbane’s best-known musical groups, the Go-Betweens.
Unfortunately the name put up for a public ballot was the “Go Between Bridge”. Well, either we recognise the band by its correct name or we don’t. That means a hyphen as the band itself used and an “s” at the end.
So at your columnist’s instigation the editor of this newspaper has agreed to refer to the new structure only as the Go-Betweens Bridge from now on. If we all do it, maybe Cr Newman might fork out the cost of a new plaque.
Rudderless govt takes on boat people
POLITICS ... with Mungo MacCallum
The Labor Party made Julia Gillard leader because it thought it was in trouble and it needed a trouble-shooter, a fixer. She delivered immediately; the first fix is in and the big miners are off the government’s back.
The small miners aren’t too happy about it, but they were never the problem; it was BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, with the backing of the Minerals Council, who were running the advertising campaign. That has now stopped, and Ms Fixit is getting all the credit.
Actually we now know that Kevin Rudd and his old mate Twiggy Forrest (who is also miffed at being left out of the final champagne-cracking) had already done most of the work; Gillard’s role was to make the final capitulation, a lowering of the tax rate from the previously untouchable 40 per cent to a headline 30 per cent, which, when the other concessions are taken in, falls further to 22.5 per cent – just over half the original proposal.
But the result, if you believe the Treasury figures (and Tony Abbott is not the only one who thinks they are a bit too good to be true) is that the big boys will still be paying $10.5 billion in the first two years that they would not have done otherwise. As fixes go, it’s not too bad.
Of course, there are other changes: the government has dropped its offer to pick up 40 per cent of establishment costs, the threshold at which the tax cuts in has been effectively doubled and the only mines affected are those producing coal and iron ore; for all other minerals, including bauxite and aluminium, it’s business as usual. Actually this is not as big a cop-out as it sounds because these commodities have not seen the huge price rises, and consequent windfall gains in profits that have made coal and iron such bonanzas; should the same thing happen to them, there will no doubt be moves to bring them into the new system.
So it isn’t the neat, inclusive policy package that Rudd, Wayne Swan and Ken Henry envisaged. But at this stage of the electoral cycle it doesn’t need to be; what is required is not policy but a fix.
And, as this column among others predicted some weeks ago, it has left the opposition out on a limb.
Tony Abbott, in a rare attack of consistency, is standing his ground: it’s still a great big new tax and he’ll abolish it and the election will be a referendum on tax, he cries. But it won’t; the fix is in and the issue is dead.
Gillard is now turning her attention to the next problem area, asylum seekers; and the outlook is a lot less happy. She has started by talking tough. The anxieties of insecure voters in the crowded western suburbs of Sydney are, she says, very real, and must be addressed: we need a fix.
Well, sure they are very real. But that does not mean they are either sensible or necessary. As has been pointed out countless times, the boat people make up a miniscule proportion of Australia’s net migration and in international terms their numbers are insignificant. The suggestion that they constitute some sort of threat to Australia and our way of life is not legitimate anxiety, but rampant paranoia fuelled by racist bigots and opportunistic politicians.
The way to deal with such worries is simply to give the facts; the truth is that there are no grounds for concern, and the prime minister should be taking the leading role in explaining this. But that’s too difficult and takes too long; it’s a policy, not a fix. So Gillard is instead calling for a full and open debate – well, at least for the next day or so, until she can announce her deeply considered solution.
Say what you really feel, she urges; abandon all thought of political correctness. And while you’re at it, abandon reason, compassion, humanity, decency, and any consideration of Australia’s international obligations and reputation. Let it all hang out. Gillard will then be able to announce measures which go a long way towards meeting the brutality of Tony Abbott’s approach, claiming that the public demands them: the fix she has been flagging all along, and the one the faction bosses who installed her really want.
And then there will be climate change and emissions trading; a short-term fix for this looming disaster might be more difficult, but we can be certain that this is what Gillard and her advisers will be seeking. She has made it clear that there can be no real policy until the public consensus that prevailed less than two years ago is restored, but she has also indicated that she is in no hurry to restore it, and that in any case the new consensus that emerges may not be one for firm or urgent action; and if that is the case, that is the one that will guide future policy.
Gillard is offering not leadership but populism, not vision but adhockery, not policy but fixes: whatever it takes.
She has had her boost in the polls, and that, for the moment, is all that really matters. We can only hope that this is just her pre-election mode and that a victory in her own right will give her the confidence and enthusiasm to set a real agenda for the years ahead.
Kevin Rudd had one, but he couldn’t explain it. Julia Gillard explains things very convincingly, but so far has had nothing much to say.
The Labor Party made Julia Gillard leader because it thought it was in trouble and it needed a trouble-shooter, a fixer. She delivered immediately; the first fix is in and the big miners are off the government’s back.
The small miners aren’t too happy about it, but they were never the problem; it was BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, with the backing of the Minerals Council, who were running the advertising campaign. That has now stopped, and Ms Fixit is getting all the credit.
Actually we now know that Kevin Rudd and his old mate Twiggy Forrest (who is also miffed at being left out of the final champagne-cracking) had already done most of the work; Gillard’s role was to make the final capitulation, a lowering of the tax rate from the previously untouchable 40 per cent to a headline 30 per cent, which, when the other concessions are taken in, falls further to 22.5 per cent – just over half the original proposal.
But the result, if you believe the Treasury figures (and Tony Abbott is not the only one who thinks they are a bit too good to be true) is that the big boys will still be paying $10.5 billion in the first two years that they would not have done otherwise. As fixes go, it’s not too bad.
Of course, there are other changes: the government has dropped its offer to pick up 40 per cent of establishment costs, the threshold at which the tax cuts in has been effectively doubled and the only mines affected are those producing coal and iron ore; for all other minerals, including bauxite and aluminium, it’s business as usual. Actually this is not as big a cop-out as it sounds because these commodities have not seen the huge price rises, and consequent windfall gains in profits that have made coal and iron such bonanzas; should the same thing happen to them, there will no doubt be moves to bring them into the new system.
So it isn’t the neat, inclusive policy package that Rudd, Wayne Swan and Ken Henry envisaged. But at this stage of the electoral cycle it doesn’t need to be; what is required is not policy but a fix.
And, as this column among others predicted some weeks ago, it has left the opposition out on a limb.
Tony Abbott, in a rare attack of consistency, is standing his ground: it’s still a great big new tax and he’ll abolish it and the election will be a referendum on tax, he cries. But it won’t; the fix is in and the issue is dead.
Gillard is now turning her attention to the next problem area, asylum seekers; and the outlook is a lot less happy. She has started by talking tough. The anxieties of insecure voters in the crowded western suburbs of Sydney are, she says, very real, and must be addressed: we need a fix.
Well, sure they are very real. But that does not mean they are either sensible or necessary. As has been pointed out countless times, the boat people make up a miniscule proportion of Australia’s net migration and in international terms their numbers are insignificant. The suggestion that they constitute some sort of threat to Australia and our way of life is not legitimate anxiety, but rampant paranoia fuelled by racist bigots and opportunistic politicians.
The way to deal with such worries is simply to give the facts; the truth is that there are no grounds for concern, and the prime minister should be taking the leading role in explaining this. But that’s too difficult and takes too long; it’s a policy, not a fix. So Gillard is instead calling for a full and open debate – well, at least for the next day or so, until she can announce her deeply considered solution.
Say what you really feel, she urges; abandon all thought of political correctness. And while you’re at it, abandon reason, compassion, humanity, decency, and any consideration of Australia’s international obligations and reputation. Let it all hang out. Gillard will then be able to announce measures which go a long way towards meeting the brutality of Tony Abbott’s approach, claiming that the public demands them: the fix she has been flagging all along, and the one the faction bosses who installed her really want.
And then there will be climate change and emissions trading; a short-term fix for this looming disaster might be more difficult, but we can be certain that this is what Gillard and her advisers will be seeking. She has made it clear that there can be no real policy until the public consensus that prevailed less than two years ago is restored, but she has also indicated that she is in no hurry to restore it, and that in any case the new consensus that emerges may not be one for firm or urgent action; and if that is the case, that is the one that will guide future policy.
Gillard is offering not leadership but populism, not vision but adhockery, not policy but fixes: whatever it takes.
She has had her boost in the polls, and that, for the moment, is all that really matters. We can only hope that this is just her pre-election mode and that a victory in her own right will give her the confidence and enthusiasm to set a real agenda for the years ahead.
Kevin Rudd had one, but he couldn’t explain it. Julia Gillard explains things very convincingly, but so far has had nothing much to say.
Look out, SA! This mob’s in the grove
WINE ... with David Bray
"I believe we produce the absolute best red wines in NSW and nothing else comes close and we are right on the heels of the iconic SA regions."
There speaks Brian Mullany, dedicated and very successful grapegrower. His fruit is made into Grove Estate wines, among other well respected labels. The Flanders, Kirkwood and Mullany families established the Grove Estate vineyard in 1989. Vines were originally planted on the property back in 1886. Croatian settlers brought with them bundles of vine cuttings.
Some of the vines survive at Grove Estate today. Plantings since 1989 include cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, merlot, zinfandel, barbera, sangiovese, petit verdot, chardonnay, semillon and nebbiolo and since 1997 Grove Estate has produced a range of premium wines under its own label.
Mr Mullany has written to me a long and interesting epistle. Encouraged by the example of better (no, make that better-known) columnists, I will let you read some of his heartfelt words: “You may like to introduce the winemakers who produce our wines and describe the unique characteristics of the Hilltops Region and the great pride we have here in growing a sustainable crop simply using the rain that falls on the vineyard, the air and the air temperature that blows around the vines and the soil that holds them in place and delivers the minerals and moisture that allows them to live according to the prevailing climate at the time.
“Grove Estate vineyard is around 4km from Young out the Murringo Road. We are around 100km northwest of Murrumbateman. Murrumbateman is the main grape growing area in the Canberra GIC and there are some handy winemakers. Two of them take our grapes, ferment them and hopefully without doing too much more bottle them as unique Hilltops wines.
“We are very fortunate to have Richard Parker at Long Rail Gully making our cabernet sauvignon and other Italian varietals and Tim Kirk at Clonakilla making our shiraz. Tim is very fortunate to receive our shiraz grapes as part of his parcel for the Clonakilla Hilltops shiraz as I am sure he would agree.
“I planted the original plantings on Grove Estate on October 7, 1989. I can remember this day as it was my wedding day _ obviously a very exciting day for me and one on which some things flourished and some things did not. Suffice to say that God had his way of explaining to me what was more important and that I should try again the following spring when I had my mind more on the job of nurturing the soil rather than the body.
“We now have a beautiful vineyard and three wonderful children. all the vines I planted in 1989 are happy and still alive today. We planted additional vineyard in 1992, 94 and 1998 and continue to replant and change some varieties nearly every year. Jay Tulloch turned up in the guise of Southcorp in 1994 to buy our first crop of cabernet and now in the guise of Jay Tulloch still buys some of our cabernet to this day.
“We are not on any major or for that matter minor river system in Young. We are right at the top of the divide between the rain water running towards the Murrumbidgee and the Lachlan Rivers and both of these at their closest points are around 70km from us. Our vines’ water resources are those that fall directly within the area that they can
“Young is very cold in winter, quite warm to hot in summer and has a magnificent autumn and spring. Typically the rainfall is around 620mm per year and this rain falls throughout the year with the driest months been February and March. This is ideal as February and March fall in with our harvesting period which we need to be dry with cool nights.
“Our cropping levels have been very low for the past five to ten years. Our vines have been producing around 4 tonnes per hectare with yields as low as 2 tonnes per hectare some years. To give you an idea of just how low this is a typical Riverland vineyard would aim to produce between 15 and 20 tonne per hectare and even the cool climate vineyards in the Orange area would aim to produce at least 8 tonnes per hectare.
“You will never see large plantings of vineyards in the Hilltops area due to the reasons I have mentioned above. However you will and already can see extraordinary and beautiful wines from this area. I do not know if this area will ever become a tourist attraction like other wine regions and I don’t know if I want that to happen.
“It is very calm here today the cellar door has been shut for a few weeks and I think I like that, the orders come in over the email and a lot of small and large independents have helped us move all the stock we have. “Wines from the Hilltops have been winning many awards, many more awards than a small region like ours probably should win and for lots of different varieties and styles. This makes it difficult for our region to be earmarked for a particular style. I can’t understand why this matters. Can’t we simply be earmarked as a great grape growing region?.”
As well as the words, Brian sent some wines and notes on them:
Grove Estate Sommita nebbiolo 2008. Sommita is Italian for Hilltops which reflects the grape varieties’ origins in the Piedmont region … the 2008 shows lovely floral notes and a mix of dark berry fruit flavours and savoury spice with balanced tannins . (Likely price around $45).
Grove Estate The Italian sangiovese barbera 2008. The dominant savoury flavours of the sangiovese are well balanced with the richer sweeter fruit style of the barbera. ($20).
The Cellar Block shiraz viognier 2007, a medium to full bodied red with the substance to age well. ($38)
Well worth a look, all of them.
Top blues the prize ... with cigar!
MY SHOUT with Ivor Thurston
Queensland Festival of Blues
Jubilee Hotel St Pauls Terrace, Valley Saturday July 17 and Sunday July 18
Tickets: Saturday $35 at the door
Sunday $20 at the door
2 day prepurchased via Oztik: $30
2 day prepurchased via Juke Joint $27
Inquiries: jukejoint@live.com.au
My loyal readers would know that my greatest love – well, after a soothing Dakota pimms with citrus peel at the end or start of a long day, that is – is music. Uber-eclectic are my tastes, and many a female acquaintance has been more than impressed when shown my collection of 12 inches.
For me vinyl is still king, and I have them all: from the great musicals of Hollywood and Broadway, to the World War 11 songs of Vera Lyn, to the thumping works of probably the greatest composer of all time, John Philip Sousa. Da darrr, da darrr, da da darrr. Magic!
And then there’s the greatest genre of them all – blues. Even typing that word on my Remington 12 easyglide has gotten the old hushpuppies a-tapping. Not bad considering they’re up in an upstairs closet as I write this.
For that reason alone, I am more than happy to give a plug to the upcoming Queensland Festival of Blues at arguably one of my favourite watering holes, The Jubilee on St Pauls Terrace in the Valley. That’s where journalists used to go and drink, when they used to drink and before they took redundancy packages. I can’t promise to be there both days but make sure you set aside Saturday July 17 and Sunday July 18 and if you spot me – some people say I’m hard to miss – please say hello!
In what promises to be an awesome two days of high quality blues, the festival kicks off on the Saturday at 1.30pm and rocks through until midnight, and features some of the who’s who of Australian blues, headlined by the one and only Bondi Cigars. I’m told it’s been a while since the Cigars last appeared in Brisbane – not that they would be unfamiliar with Fortitude Valley – and I reckon it will be well worth the wait.
Pugsley Buzzard, (pictured above) and touted as Australia’s own growling, snarling, piano thumping hoodooman, makes the trek north to show Queensland blues fans what all the fuss is about. And Tasmania’s crown king of the jump blues guitar Pete Cornelius will be dropping by to showcase his amazing vintage guitar chops. And speaking of the Apple Isle, Kate Meehan and Skip Landy should have just moved into their new Tassie digs before flying up to get all Koko Taylor on us with their Wise Fools. The superb Mojo Webb keeps the vintage groove bubbling with a set from his hot 4 piece band, whilst Blind Lemon must surely now join Mojo as a “must see” live Australian blues act after another amazing weekend at Broadbeach, and a hot new CD, Drinkers Lament…
The traditional blues flame will continue to burn with sets by Brisbane’s own Natural Ball, the very good close friend of mine Blind Dog Donnie, and Natural Born Lovers. The Sunshine Coast has not been forgotten, with sets to be performed by Triple Shot and Kath Williams and the Housesitters. I’m told that’s 11 quality blues acts on two big stages, over more than 10 hours And If you can recover from that within 11 hours, then come back – or come to somewhere out the back – for the inaugural Queensland Blues Showcase on the Sunday. J
uke Joint, the festival’s organisers, have inviting a number of blues venue bookers, festival organisers, and record company managers from locally and interstate to view around 15 of our great local acts.
This commendable new event will take place over six hours from 11 am, so come along to show your support of our great local blues music talent. I might bring the spoons and join in for a set or two, but only if invited, of course.
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