JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED reveal the crushing reality driving the ACT’s credit rating demotion
Backslapping Barr while votes were being counted
MICHAEL MOORE
Memorial to the fallen to a sideshow for recruits
ROBERT MACKLIN
Flowering trees coming into their own
First look at the ACT’s new debtliner KEEPING UP THE ACT
OCTOBER 9, 2025
Judith Nangala Crispin has just published an illustrated verse novel inspired by crossing the Tanami Desert 37 times on a motorbike with her small dog. HELEN MUSA has the story.
Goldie enjoys all aspects of General Practice with special interests in Women’s and Children’s Health. Her passion is in providing holistic care to help her patients achieve their optimal physical and mental wellbeing. She particularly enjoys GP antenatal shared care, supporting women through their pregnancy journey and early motherhood, and supporting their babies in early infancy.
Goldie is excited to join The Mother Hub and extend her skills in breastfeeding support, recently joining Lactation Consultants of Australia and New Zealand, and is working towards her certification as an IBCLC.
The Mother Hub is a specialist pregnancy and breastfeeding clinic in Deakin, run by Medical Director Dr Sarah Bombell and her team of dedicated Women’s Health professionals. We are now offering a general GP service, in addition to our specialised care of pregnant and breastfeeding women and their babies for feeding related problems.
Our services include pre-pregnancy, antenatal and postnatal care, support with breastfeeding and bottle feeding challenges, tongue tie assessments and release, clinical psychology, counselling, diabetic education and osteopathy, as well as Women’s Health services including fertility, contraception and menopause care.
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more cutting edge all the time.”
Since 1993: Volume 31, Number: 41
Cover: Poet Judith Nangala Crispin. Story Page 23.
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With
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Evans
Planning Senior Associate
Every second and fourth Friday and Saturday of the month St Ninian’s Uniting Church, Lyneham, is hosting its new Market@The Meeting Place event between 9.30am and 1pm.
Organisers say the Meeting Place will provide a means of connecting with the local community by creating a safe space where people can enjoy social interaction over a cuppa or have a private conversation with an understanding listener in an inclusive, non-judgmental environment. At the same time there will be access to reasonably priced goods such as clothes, books and household goods through the church’s market stalls.
Many guitar models from past decades have become highly collectible worldwide, while in Australia hand-making of “boutique” guitars for players seeking a unique instrument is a thriving artisan activity.
The third annual National Vintage Guitar Expo features more than 20 makers and dealers in rare guitars from around Australia to display, buy, sell and demonstrate their instruments at Harmonie German Club, Narrabundah, 10am-6pm on October 11.
Kids in Care ACT is holding its annual community fun day at Toyworld, Barrier Street, Fyshwick, 9am-3pm on October 11. The volunteer-run charity supports vulnerable children in crisis by providing Christmas and birthday gifts.
The extent to which the ACT Public Service remains impartial is under examination.
The ACT Assembly’s Select Committee on Caretaker Conventions is already unearthing information that raises serious questions about inappropriate bias.
Most Canberrans are aware of the hard work and dedication of the vast majority of public servants that work in Canberra – whether for the federal or the ACT governments.
However, there are conventions in place that are designed specifically to ensure public service actions remain politically impartial, especially during election campaigns.
Former minister and attorneygeneral in the previous government, Shane Rattenbury, is chair of this committee that includes Liberal Leanne Castley and Labor’s Taimus Werner-Gibbings. Hearings of the committee have already revealed a worrying trend.
In 2022 the federal Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet published a comprehensive guidance document on caretaker provisions. It includes the idea that the caretaker conventions “support practices that are intended to preserve the apolitical nature of the Australian Public Service”.
As part of attempting to ensure the public service remains impartial
at this time, Guidance on Caretaker Provisions also considers the inappropriate “use of Australian Government resources in a manner that may advantage a particular political party whilst recognising the need for the day-to-day business of government to continue during the caretaker period”.
In early October the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr was crossexamined by the select committee over possible breaches tied to the 2024 election period.
The Greens’ Andrew Braddock MLA raised concerns about the style of briefing received by Barr before the time he was re-installed as chief minister in 2024.
A briefing dated on election night by Head of the ACT Public Service Kathy Leigh read: “Congratulations on your
At the time, it was not clear that Labor would form government. As it turned out, there were considerable negotiations and tradeoffs prior to the Assembly agreeing to Barr being reappointed.
re-election to the Legislative Assembly and on your forthcoming re-election as Chief Minister of the ACT.”
Labor had not won a majority and the decision for chief minister is made on the floor of the Assembly. AsBraddock stated: “It’s incredible to see this presumption of continuous Labor government set down in black and white from the public service, while the votes were still being counted”.
One of the major disadvantages of long-term incumbency of a government is the complacency of the public service. As the ACT approaches a quarter century of Labor governments, it is even more important to ensure that conventions, such as caretaker, are not only understood –but they are also respected.
The briefing that was received and accepted by Barr “detailed how Labor could implement Labor election promises”.
At the time, it was not clear that
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Labor would form government. As it turned out, there were considerable negotiations and trade-offs that did occur prior to the Assembly agreeing to Barr being reappointed as chief minister.
A matter that ought to be considered by the select committee, is Operation Kingfisher and the ACT Integrity Commission.
The investigation into any political influence on decisions regarding tenders for building works at the Campbell Primary School is still not resolved.
In 2023 the head of the Education Directorate, Katy Haire, attempted to shut down or delay Operation Kingfisher through a Supreme Court challenge. The matter was due to be recommenced in November 2024, directly after the October election. However, following withdrawal of the court challenge by Ms Haire, a final judgment was delivered in March 2025, with no findings against the Integrity Commission and no orders regarding costs.
To what extent was this action taken up to and through the caretaker period? Was it to protect the Deputy Chief Minister? Procedural fairness does play a role. However, transpar-
ency and accountability are also an important part of a healthy democracy. Neither seem to be at play in this circumstance.
Caretaker conventions do not just apply to individual public servants within portfolio departments. The PM&C Guidance on Caretaker Conventions states: “All bodies should observe the conventions and practices, unless doing so would conflict with their legal obligations or compelling organisational requirements”.
The issues before the Integrity Commission being examined by Operation Kingfisher began in 2019 and have now been running for over two elections. Hopefully, the delays, for example by legal actions, will drop away and a report will finally see the light of day.
Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with “CityNews” since 2006.
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‘I love that it’s not just about how someone looks, but how they feel about themselves.’
Growing up in regional Queensland, healthcare wasn’t always easily accessible for Dr Hollie Berghofer.
Obtaining her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from James Cook University in 2010, Dr Hollie is a Rural Generalist specialist with a Fellowship from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM).
To add to her resume, she has completed advanced skill training in Emergency Medicine (ACRRM) and Obstetrics & Gynaecology (DRANZCOGAdv), and has a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She also has an Associate Fellowship with the Australian College of Medical Administrators (AFRACMA) and holds a level 7 diploma in facial aesthetics (MATA, UK).
Dr Hollie says her childhood shaped her appreciation for the value of highquality, consistent care, having noted the difference it makes to individuals and whole communities.
“It instilled in me a drive to contribute meaningfully wherever I work, to keep learning, and to hold myself to a high standard,” she says.
Athletic as a child, Dr Hollie has always had a deep interest in science and the human body. For her, studying medicine was just a natural amalgamation of the two.
“I wouldn’t say it was my dream job from childhood, but once I started, I realised how well it fit me,” she says.
“Every day brings variety, challenge and the opportunity to connect with people in meaningful ways.”
Atelier Medical Aesthetics is Dr Hollie’s latest venture that looks into enhancing natural beauty, not changing it.
“I want patients to look like themselves, just rested, refreshed and confident,” she says.
“The best treatments are subtle.
“People notice you look great, but not necessarily that you’ve had something done.”
Challenging the popular misconception that medical aesthetics are all about vanity or chasing extreme looks, Dr Hollie says most of her patients are everyday people who simply want to feel like the best version of themselves.
“It’s all about confidence, self-care and sometimes even restoring what time, stress or health issues have taken away,” she says.
Combining the precision and procedural skills she’s built over her 15 years in medicine, with a focus on patient connection and care, Dr Hollie says stepping into aesthetic medicine felt natural, and Atelier’s success has reinforced that she’s in the right place and doing the right thing at the right time.
“It’s deeply aligned with my ethos as a doctor by delivering safe, thoughtful, high-quality care that helps people feel confident and supported,” she says.
“Aesthetic medicine allows me to combine my medical training with artistry.
“It’s meticulous, hands-on and outcome focused, but at its heart, it’s about wellbeing and confidence.”
Juggling life alongside her work like many of her patients do, Dr Hollie is mum to an energetic five-year-old and enjoys reading and pilates when she has the time. Ultimately, she says working in medical aesthetics has become her favourite job in medicine.
“I love that it’s not just about how someone looks, but how they feel about themselves,” she says.
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The Tasmanian Planning Commission Hobart Stadium Review report, released on September 15, should be considered by those interested in assessing the real economic and social costs of the ACT light rail project.
The stadium’s estimated project (proponent) cost of about $750 million has blown out to around $1.3billion; however, the commission has actually assessed the total cost, including on the basis of the criteria below, as more than $1.8 billion.
The report’s Summary and Conclusions included the following relevant points:
• The Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) was estimated at a low 0.45
• The cost benefit assessment provided by the proponent does not include any social costs or costs of associated area works
• The low BCR with downside risks infers that there is a significant social cost for the project.
The report found that in terms of the extent of public funding required for the project relative to the state’s small population, economic and taxation base, the project would result in a substantial cost burden to the community relative to the benefit the community would receive.
There is so much in the commission’s report that could be usefully parsed, specifically now, in terms of the proposed
ACT light rail stage 2b, to assess the real cost of this ill-conceived public project; and in hindsight, phase 2a (particularly the road works costs and social impacts).
In this context, I also note that the NCA has just announced the two-year Commonwealth Avenue Bridge road works, to restore its structural integrity.
Surely the ACT government would not be even considering further extended closures after this two-year period, to provide a new bridge for the light rail service extension to Woden.
Ron Edgecombe, Evatt
Will the Labor and Greens light rail leopards spend another billion dollars on light rail, to reduce Canberra’s public transport travel by five per cent?
light rail leopard cannot change its spots.sion to Infrastructure Australia concluded that bus rapid transit to Gungahlin would increase the Territory’s public transport travel by 17 per cent. The light rail alternatravel by 18 per cent. But we could have 24 kilometres of bus rapid transit for less than the cost of 12 kilometres of light rail.
For 10 years ALRC/PTCBR denied the existence of that submission. When the Conservation Council discussed it last year, ALRC/PTCBR committee member Damien Haas falsely claimed that it concluded that light rail would generate the best overall outcome.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for light rail stage 2b must assess alternatives to the project.
The draft EIS failed to refer to the government’s 2012 submission, or to government business cases that concluded that light rail stage 2 would cause a 5 per cent fall in network-wide public transport travel and was not economically justifiable.
The ALRC/PTCBR submission on the draft EIS makes no mention of that important but missing information. Instead it says, “PTCBR is highly supportive of this project.”
Leon Arundell, Downer
Re Hugh Selby’s column “National embarrassment: take medals back now” (CN October 9): Ben Roberts-Smith hasn’t been convicted of anything. The opinion of a civilian sitting in judgment of a warrior carries no weight.
Our country sent the SAS into battle, the very tip of the spear.
You want to condemn a soldier for doing his job? Shame on you.
Peter Nagel, via email
Dr Andrew Hughes in his column “Not easy being brand blue “ (CN October 2) advises the ACT Liberals to get back to core values such as law and order and cost of living.
The only Liberal leader that I recall who embraced these core values was Alistair Coe.
He promised to freeze rates for 12 months if elected, but it fell on the deaf ears of the affluent elites and bourgeois upper class.
At the time he was criticised not just by his opponents but by the likes of Kate Carnell and Gary Humphries for being too far to the right.
Coe finally left politics after 12 years of banging his head against a brick wall. It’s not easy being brand blue as many Liberals have discovered during the past 24 years of the ACT Labor government.
Paul Temby, via email
Ian Pilsner’s statement that half of Australia’s current energy mix comes from coal and gas (letters, CN October 2) is correct, but it’s clear Fiona Colin was talking only about electricity generation (letters, CN September 18).
Our current energy mix is 41 per cent oil, 25 per cent coal, 24 per cent gas and 9 per cent renewables. Electricity is 45 per cent coal, 13 per cent gas, 21 per cent solar, 14 per cent wind, 5 per cent hydro and 2 per cent oil and biofuels.
Clearly, we have a long way to go to clean up our act and reduce our emissions.
Oil, in the form of petrol and diesel, powers our vehicles, ships, and machinery. These can all be electrified. There are now nearly 40 different types of EVs to choose from.
The world’s largest electric ferries, built in Tasmania by Incat, are operating in South America and Denmark. And BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are investing in electric trucks and machinery.
With plenty of sun and wind to drive this transition, Australia is indeed the lucky country. As former chief scientist Alan Finkel said: “So even if we wanted to have nuclear in Australia before about 2040, by which time I am quite confident we won’t need it.”
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
“Join the army and see the next world.”
–Dylan Thomas “The quickest way to end a war is to lose it.”
–George Orwell
I assume that most people know about the wartime Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam, but in case not, here’s a potted history.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a vast and complex network of roads, tracks, and paths that ran from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam.
Named after North Vietnam’s leader Ho Chi Minh, the trail played a critical role in the Vietnam War (1955–1975), serving as the primary supply route for troops, weapons, food and equipment going south to support the Viet Cong insurgents in South Vietnam.
Stretching over 16,000 kilometres at its peak, the trail was not a single path but a constantly evolving web of routes that adapted to intense US bombing campaigns and changing military needs. (The actual distance from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) is around 1700 kilometres.)
Engineers and workers, many of them volunteers, and many of them women, worked tirelessly to build roads, bridges and bypasses through dense jungle and rugged
mountains, often under the cover of night to avoid airstrikes. Camouflaged supply depots, underground bunkers and even fuel pipelines were developed along the route to maintain the flow of logistics.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was of immense strategic importance. Despite the challenges of developing and maintaining it – including harsh terrain, diseases, and relentless aerial bombardment – it enabled North Vietnam to sustain a prolonged guerrilla campaign in the south.
The trail’s effectiveness greatly contributed to the US and Australia’s eventual withdrawal and the fall of Saigon in 1975, leading to
Communist rule.
Today, remnants of the Ho Chi Minh Trail still exist, with some sections transformed into modern roads. For historians and travellers alike, the trail is a symbol of endurance, resistance and the human cost of war.
What the Vietnam War demonstrates is that a highly motivated local insurgency with public support will invariably outlast an external power’s attempt to destroy it.
In Vietnam’s case the external powers included France, the US and China, all of whom were militarily more powerful than their
Vietnamese opposition – but lacked the motivation and staying power to prevail.
My current interest is in using a trail bike (no pun intended) to follow the Ho Chi Minh trail and visit the battlefields along the way. The best time to do it weatherwise is March. The only problem so far is finding volunteers to join me! (Interested? Email Clive via editor@citynews.com.au)
On a lighter note: Three constables are applying for a position as police detective.
The chief calls in the first applicant and says: “Before reassignment, you have to pass a little test. I’m going to show you a mugshot of a suspect whom we know to be shortsighted; but can you tell me something more about him based on the photo.”
The chief hands the first applicant the photo. The applicant studies it for a moment, then says: “Easy, the suspect only has one eye!”
The chief, puzzled, looks at the photo, then says: “Are you crazy?! This is a profile picture! Of course you can only see one eye! Get out of here!”
So, the chief calls in the second applicant and gives him the same photo. The applicant says: “The suspect only has one ear!”
The chief blows up: “Have none of you heard of a profile picture! Get out of here!”
He calls in the third applicant and says: “Now, before you say anything, I want you to think carefully… what can you tell me about this suspect?”
The third applicant studies the photo intensely, then says: “This man wears contact lenses.”
The chief is taken aback. He excuses himself and goes to look at the suspect’s file where he’s pleasantly surprised to discover the suspect does indeed wear contact lenses.
He returns to the interview room and says: “You’re right… but how did you deduce from this photo that the suspect wears contact lenses?”
The applicant replies: “Well, he can’t wear regular glasses since he only has only one ear!”
Clive Williams is a Canberra columnist.
Ben Roberts-Smith was awarded two military medals, the Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.
According to the Special Air Service Historical Foundation, the Victoria Cross is awarded for the most conspicuous gallantry, or a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or selfsacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the face of the enemy.
The Medal for Gallantry is awarded for acts of gallantry in action in hazardous circumstances.
“Gallantry” is a component of both awards. “Gallantry” refers to courageous conduct, bravery and noble-minded behaviour.
Roberts-Smith was a living war hero, but he had feet of clay.
In 2023 Roberts-Smith was found by Justice Besanko in the Federal Court to have carried out unlawful killings in Afghanistan.
In May 2025 his appeal was dismissed by three judges. Their judgment shows that the following, among other acts, were established (on the balance of probabilities, which is lower than the criminal trial standard of beyond reasonable doubt):
• He murdered an unarmed and defenceless Afghan civilian, by kicking him off a cliff and procuring the soldiers under his command to
shoot that man.
• He committed murder by pressuring a newly deployed and inexperienced soldier to execute an elderly, unarmed Afghan in order to “blood the rookie”.
• He committed murder by machine gunning a man with a prosthetic leg.
• He authorised the execution of an unarmed Afghan by a junior trooper.
• He broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement.
• He disgraced his country and our Army by his conduct.
In September, the High Court declined to hear his appeal from that outcome because it had “insufficient prospects of success”.
But he still has his medals. Why?
How to revoke the unearned honours
The process for cancellation of a military honour is: “A Defence honour or award may only be cancelled by the Governor-General… the Chief of the Defence Force may request that the Minister for Defence make a recommendation to the Governor-General to cancel an honour or award.
“Before requesting that the Minister make a recommendation to the Governor-General, Defence must determine that a member or former member of the Australian Defence Force is no longer eligible for, or should no longer be entitled to be recognised by, the honour or award.
“The Minister will review the recommendation and if he agrees, will refer it to the Governor-General.”
None of that has been reported.
Meanwhile, the Australian War Memorial (AWM) continues to display his valour.
That it does so is a matter of national embarrassment.
The purpose of our AWM, as stated on its website, “is to commemorate the sacrifice of those Australians who have died in war or on operational service
and those who have served our nation in times of conflict. Its mission is leading remembrance and understanding of Australia’s wartime experience.”
The Australian War Memorial Act, 1980 does not require the AWM exhibits to be accurate. The closest it gets is section 5.2: “The Memorial shall use every endeavour to make the most advantageous use of the memorial collection in the national interest.”
There is no guidance as to what to do with any matter of individual or collective disgrace.
means that he cannot be stripped of the medals. This is nonsense.
Had those responsible for approving his awards known of his murderous conduct he would never have got them. End of story.
It has been reported that the failure to convict RobertsSmith of criminal offences means that he cannot be stripped of the medals. This is nonsense.
Meanwhile, busloads of school kids visit the AWM. They are not going to read the recent changes to the notes to the exhibit. Is he the kind of soldier we want them to emulate, one who has disgraced his country and our army?
There is, it seems, no will on the part of the Army, the Defence Department, the minister or the AWM to get on with the job.
They have had two years, since Justice Besanko’s decision, to prepare.
It has been reported that the failure to convict Roberts-Smith of criminal offences
The solution is hiding in plain sight. What is needed is a short act of parliament. It should start with a statement that our medals of honour are awarded for acts of heroism, valour and gallantry, free of the taint of any ignoble conduct and state that the parliament revokes the military honours (as listed in the schedule to the act) from the recipient Ben Roberts-Smith.
God forbid that Hamas, Netanyahu, Putin or Trump should be able to say that we, too, condone the murder of innocents.
Former barrister Hugh Selby is a CityNews column ist, principally focused on legal affairs.
The character of the Australian War Memorial is about to change from a memorial to the fallen, to a sideshow for recruits. It doesn’t just normalise war as an appropriate human activity, but as a fulfilling career for the boys and girls of a new generation.
I have no problem with recruiting commercials in the media. And if the government wants to present them as something other than a kill-or-bekilled operation, good luck to them. Defence technology is heading in the other direction entirely. The days of massed armies are long gone. Indeed, we might well be inventing the final enemy ourselves: called AI. Certainly, we’ve chosen to make the world as scary as possible through climate change. AI might come as a welcome stranger to take our place as the apex predator. But honestly, do we really have to trash the AWM to get a few more hands on the levers of destruction on the way to Gaza for all? Surely, it is better served to become a memorial to our victory over war itself.
Do we really have to trash the AWM to get a few more hands on the levers of destruction on the way to Gaza for all? Surely, it’s better served as a memorial to our victory over war itself.
more. One life is gone forever; other lives are scarred in ways that can never be repaired.
“Yet when we write of soldiers, we employ words like gallantry, honour and sacrifice to somehow justify the horror. And we speak, not of single deaths, but armies – millions – in a murderous obscenity. And we do so with a kind of fatalist calm that in itself is horrific. I do not excuse myself from the charge, though I have tried, wherever possible, to expose the enormity of the crime against humanity.”
against the British class system – and its membership – from the rulers to the ruled who permitted it… and to its bunyip shadow.
World War II produced The Battle of Brisbane with my classmate Peter Thompson where only one man died, but at the hands of an American ally; thence to the Special Forces against the Japanese invaders; and more recently the SAS before the Ben Roberts-Smith scandal.
I realise, of course, that I am one of the culprits in spreading stories that normalise, and even celebrate, our men of war. No fewer than eight of my books characterise the Australian
“heroes” of war – 10 if you include the Aboriginal battle against the British invasion. Aside from the latter – which the AWM continues to ignore – they covered the period from Gallipoli to Afghanistan, beginning with the biography of Albert Jacka VC in 2006. Already, I was concerned about the process. In an author’s note, I wrote: “The research of military literature exposed me to… an attitude
towards death in war that I find deeply troubling.
“The premature, violent death of a single human being is a shocking tragedy. Often, it involves terrible agony. Always, it represents the loss of great human potential. Without exception, it causes the most devastating anguish and pain among those who loved the young man – for they are overwhelmingly young men – who is suddenly no
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I had in mind characters such as the World War I British generals Hamilton and Haig who, from the luxury of their suites far behind the lines, ordered the certain deaths of many thousands of young Australians.
Thereafter I was forever prejudiced
They were not killers in their thousands; that was the fate of the civilians when we tagged along with the American military-industrial complex in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. That leads us back to the AWM under the charge of the councillors and the director, Matt Anderson, who numbers a Duntroon graduation among his many academic achievements. They fitted a Black Hawk chopper in the showplace and decided to retain the Roberts-Smith uniform and weapons. Smart moves. No doubt they’ll draw crowds of little boys.
robert@robert macklin.com
NOEL BEDDOE has returned from wintering in tropical Cairns and he’s doing it again for a month next year.
There’s a lot to enjoy in Canberra when its cold.
I think of:
• The National Gallery, the informed explanations and privileged access to one of the great art collections of the world.
• Enjoying a mulled wine and hot German sausage at the winter Christmas markets.
• The Viking Clap and Ricky leaping (and, occasionally, weeping) on the sidelines while The Raiders do their thing.
• Coffee and cake at Tilly’s before trawling the treasures in Michael’s Book Lore in Lyneham.
• Hunting for truffles on farms or in the markets.
There’s a lot to enjoy and then… and then… it does get quite boring, doesn’t it? All that coping with the task of staying warm month after month.
Millions of Australians take their break travelling to Asia and The Pacific – between them, Fiji, Vietnam, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Bali received more than five million visits from Australians last year.
Tropical Australia received less than 40 per cent of that number.
That journey has clear advantages: you don’t have to struggle through immigration and customs at both ends; flight times are briefer; we retain access to Australian medical provision and Australian law enforcement if there’s some sort of crisis, so that, travelling in Australia we don’t bother with the increasingly-expensive travel insurance, a necessity when going abroad.
Tropical Australia –Cairns for example – offers various tourist pursuits – continual columns of tour boats head out to The Reef for sightseeing, snorkelling, visits to islands; The Cairns Esplanade is a strip of tourist-aimed cafes, restaurants, cocktail lounges with shaded verandahs and Coral Sea views; trinket sellers.
The wealthy can take a helicopter ride up the coast and back. And then the heart of tourist Cairns is the remarkable swimming lagoon, half a hectare of treated water from the Coral Sea, free to use, lifeguards,
curated picnic areas and barbecue hot plates on three sides.
The high-end boutiques that once lined the streets near the ferry terminal now congregate in the remarkable Cairns City complex.
A million Australians live north of The Tropic of Capricorn. They have created remarkable cities worth examining for their own unique charm: drive a little past the weatherboard Queenslanders on the fringe of Cairns and you travel between paddocks thick with sugar cane or the Cairns aquarium.
The town museum is filled with
photographs and exhibits that speak of the tough time original white settlers had in establishing a life in that climate, the task of manhandling 80 kilo sacks of sugar into the bodies of ships in plus century heat. However, I couldn’t find much reference to the savage battles fought in defence of their land by the Yielinji people after 1870, nor to the use of slave labour from The Pacific in early sugar cane-growing days.
I’m a fan of the century old Croc Bar in The Grand Hotel, with its menu offering marinated crocodile skewers.
A 40-minute trip by bus reaches
the stylish beach side suburb of Palm Cove.
You can visit the Cairns Botanical Gardens for free, use the boardwalk through native rainforest and enjoy the exotic bird life or catch the vintage train up the 400 metres of the escarpment, past amazing views of waterfalls and gorges to the funny little township of Kuranda.
There are still delays on the narrow Captain Cook Highway up to the Big Money enclave or Port Douglas while brave, skilful people try to repair the damage done two years ago when Cyclone Jasper dropped more than three metres of rain on the area in a week.
Average maximum temperature for the month we have just spent up there was 28 degrees.
Thinking of going? Contact individual resorts and discuss terms – I spoke to Sam, a member of the management team in Cascade Gardens for a reduction of $50 a night by comparison with the best price on booking apps to less than $160 for a beautifully-refurbished, one-bedroom unit.
We’re charmed by the easy pace and physical beauty of Cairns – we’ll go back for a month next winter.
Novelist Noel Beddoe has twice been awarded by The Literature Board of The Australia Council for the Arts.
‘There are tangible consequences from the downgrades – the degradation of public services such as health’
“An
improvement of almost $2 billion, or $500,000,000 a year over each of the next four years, is far-fetched even by the ACT government’s standards, and surely demands that the budget papers be categorised as fiction.”
JON STANHOPE & KHALID AHMED reveal the crushing reality driving the ACT’s credit rating demotion.
In a column revealing the shortcomings of the 2025-26 ACT Budget in July, we warned that with net debt rising at 10.1 per cent annually another downgrade of the ACT’s credit rating was inevitable and imminent.
That downgrade, from AA+ to AA, was announced on September 5 by the ratings agency S&P Global. We had also predicted the previous credit downgrade in 2023 from its longstanding, and highest possible, AAA rating to AA+.
As we wrote at the time of the earlier downgrade, it gives us no pleasure that our prediction was then and is again, correct.
There are tangible consequences from these downgrades in, for example, the degradation of public services such as health and public housing, and a regressive increase in taxation, or more likely both, given this government’s appalling record.
In any event, the costs are disproportionately distributed to those on low-to-moderate incomes.
We would, of course, have been pleased to have been proven wrong since that would have meant that the ACT government had abandoned its reckless management of our finances and its apparent disinterest in the needs of those Canberrans for whom life is a struggle.
It may appear a very short time span over which the ACT has gone from having the highest credit rating of all Australian states and territories to the equal lowest, along with Victoria.
However, this outcome had been in the making for well over a decade because of sustained financial mismanagement and was only delayed because of the strength of the finances Andrew Barr had inherited when he was appointed Treasurer – a budget
in surplus and negative net debt, while coming out of the global financial crisis.
The nationally reported reasons cited by S&P Global for the downgrade, refer to the “territory’s significant budget deficits and large capital spending pipeline, including an extension to the city’s light rail”.
From a surplus of 1 per cent (of the total budget) in 2011-12, the ACT’s budget dipped into an uninterrupted and increasing sequence of deficits from 2012-13 onwards, blowing out to $1.06 billion in 2023-24, ie 12.2 per cent of the budget.
An even larger deficit is expected for the recently completed 2024-25 financial year – Chief Minister Barr’s 13th and final deficit budget before handing the poisoned chalice to Chris Steel.
The deficit during the 12 years of Barr’s reign over the Treasury portfolio was an average of 8.2 per cent every year, ie they were deep and persistent.
Compounding the impact of this unprecedented run of deficits on the ACT’s finances is the large capital works program that, year on year, was largely or entirely funded through borrowings.
These two factors (deficits and debt-funded capital programs) have produced a third whammy –rising interest costs that cannot be accommodated from the available finances – necessitating additional borrowings for interest payments.
This is indicative of a debt spiral, and if unchecked will potentially result in financial disaster.
“Primary Balance” is a budget measure that reflects a government’s ability to service its debt. It is calculated by taking revenues and subtracting expenditures on operating activities as well as capital works, but excluding inter-
excludes the historical cost of debt. If the Primary Balance is in surplus, the budget has the capacity to service debt depending, of course, on the magnitude of the surplus. For example, if the surplus is larger than the interest costs, it is reflective of a capacity to pay the interest on past borrowings and repay some of the principal. For a government committed to prudent financial management, this is a most desirable position.
However, if the Primary Balance is in deficit, the government will need to borrow to pay its interest costs in addition to the borrowing required to fund the deficit. If this state continues, debt will obviously grow with no prospect of being either stabilised or repaid. The ACT has, worryingly, been in this state persistently for some years now.
Table 1 details the Primary Balance and interest costs from the past three years’ audited financial statements, and the estimates from 2024-25 to 2028-29 as published in the current budget. The table (in the last row) also details the proportion of interest costs funded from borrowings.
Table 1 confirms that the ACT government has not only been borrowing to fund the deficit and then more, but to also pay all the interest costs. Notably, while borrowings to pay interest will continue over the forward estimates, the government has forecast that 39 per cent of the interest
in 2028-29, will need to be funded from borrowings, with the forecast improvement to come from a forecast turnaround in the operating budget. While this does seem rather fanciful, to be fair, as they say in the classics, “pigs may fly”.
The rating agency has a grim view of the government’s forecast return to surplus, reportedly noting “the territory’s return to budget balance had been repeatedly delayed”. That is a significant vote of no confidence in the ACT government’s forecasts.
In fact, Barr made such a forecast in each of the years he was Treasurer – turning out to be wrong – as we have previously highlighted, on every occasion.
Table 1 forecasts that in the next four years a Primary Balance deficit of $1.089 billion in 2024-25 will flip by 2028-29, to a surplus of $872 million – an improvement of almost $2 billion or $500,000,000 a year over each of the next four years – is far-fetched even by the ACT government’s standards, and surely demands that the budget papers be categorised as “fiction”.
Of course, 2021-22 is not the first year that the Primary Balance was in deficit. We have reported previously that the Primary Balance was negative on average over the decade 2011-12 to 2020-21, which was a major turnaround from the preceding decade.
Table 2 provides average Primary Balance and interest costs over 2021-22 to 2023-24 and the previous two decades.
We have previously pointed out
from the light rail project’s fans, urgers and devotees that the project has a small cost relative to, say, the overall budget, or the sum of budgets over the life of the project, or the total economy.
S&P has now taken the unusual step of naming this project within the large capital spending pipeline as the reason for the ACT’s credit downgrade.
S&P has reportedly foreshadowed that it “could further downgrade the territory if it reported materially weaker operating margins or deficits after capital accounts compared with forecasts”. Given the government’s record over the last decade, that is highly likely.
The number one question we should surely now explore is whether Treasurer Chris Steel has the capacity and/or the will to dig the ACT out of the hole that his predecessor Andrew Barr has knowingly dropped us in. However, we’re not encouraged by his now infamous entreaty, at a time when the government was borrowing to pay interest on its borrowings, that the government should borrow because “debt has never been so cheap”.
The government is also blindly persisting with the tram to Woden via Barton notwithstanding its negative transport benefits and the fact that much higher priorities, notably health and housing are in crisis. Not much hope there!
Jon Stanhope is a former chief minister of the ACT and Dr Khalid Ahmed a former senior ACT Treasury official.
The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted aboveaverage rainfall across most of the eastern half of the country, with a possibility of a brief La Niña during spring before returning to neutral by the end of summer. It has also predicted warmer-thanaverage minimum and maximum temperatures in the lead up to summer.
With this in mind, now’s the time to start thinking about ways to beat the heat.
For more than 35 years, Rhonda Arnall has become a staple for local craft markets and fair attendees looking for a cold, sweet treat.
Easily recognisable by her cheery yellow ice cream van, Rhonda’s business, the Chameleon Icecreamery, specialises in homemade boutique ice cream and sorbet.
With more than 150 flavours in her repertoire, Rhonda isn’t shy to branch out to the weird and wacky.
Some of her strangest combinations have included mint and potato, wasabi and red bean, as well as sheep’s milk and passionfruit.
Goat, camel, rice, soy, almond and oat milk have all also made an appearance for lactose intolerant or non-cow’s milk drinkers, ensuring there is something for everyone.
“I’m experimenting all the time,” says Rhonda.
“I don’t know what I’m going to make next and that’s the challenge to come up with something new and imaginative.”
With more than a few awards under her belt for her ice creams, including some at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, Rhonda sources many of her ingredients locally, if not from her own backyard.
A chef, Rhonda used to own the Chameleon Restaurant in Aranda, before stumbling into ice cream-making after the man who made
Proudly recognised with medals at the Royal Easter Show Sydney
it for the restaurant convinced her to buy his business.
“He wasn’t nearly as adventurous as I am now with his flavours, but he wanted to make a rhubarb and watermelon ice cream,” she says.
Cooking the rhubarb for him as she watched the process, Rhonda says that was the moment he convinced her to buy.
The Chameleon Icecreamery, call 0418 323236 or visit facebook at The Chameleon Icecreamery
• Homemade Icecream
• Thickshakes
• Milkshakes
• Fruit Juices
• Slushies
Rhonda Arnall 041 832 3236
(Contact Rhonda via message only)
chameleonicecreamery@yahoo.com.au
German quality for the Australian home.
Slimline, top down/bottom up Cosiflor® blinds incorporate high-quality fabrics and components ensuring a hard-wearing, stylish, energy efficient and affordable solution for your home.
The Cosiflor® honeycomb blind is a great solution for keeping you cool in the summer and warm in winter, whilst also saving you money on energy bills.
The perfect option for a European style tilt and turn window, the Cosiflor® blind also fits perfectly in the reveal of a casement, sliding or windout window.
Showroom in O’Connor – by appointment only
‘Each challenge we faced led to another ‘style’ to add to the library. Today, no two of our pergolas are the same’
There are pergolas and there are pergolas.
It is not a one-size-fits-all business, says Canberra engineer Andy Stodulka.
The days of the standard rectangular, timber pergola covering the back verandah are gone.
Today, there’s a multitude of choices with different materials, different colours and different shapes.
There are curved roofs. Curved poles. Cantilevered pergolas.
Shade from Colorbond roofs. See-through Suntuff or even cloth – PVC coated nylon.
And much of this innovation came about when the founder of Canberra Creative Pergolas, engineer Andy, simply decided to build pergolas out of steel box section, also known as hollow section, which is a strong construction material usually made from plain mild steel. It has great welding abilities and can easily be bent and formed.
“Back in the early 1990s I had a brainwave: ‘Why don’t we just build these pergolas out of box section; it’s stronger, and it’s lighter’,” Andy says.
“That small decision transformed pergola construction. I even had inquiries from the US.”
Andy admits the early steel pergolas were “pretty industrial affairs”.
But over time, lots of variations were developed, many in response to clients who had problems.
“One client just didn’t want posts everywhere, so we decided to build a cantilevered pergola with just two supports,” he says.
“Each challenge we faced led to another ‘style’ to add to the library. Today, no two Canberra Creative Pergolas are the same.”
Andy Stodulka and his team have more than 30 years’ experience in pergola
design and manufacture. Over that time, they’ve built more than a quarter of a million square metres of sun protection!
Canberra Creative Pergolas designs and manufactures pergolas for a specific space.
“We sit down with clients, assess the
structural issues, then get a detailed idea of exactly how they want to use the space, what aesthetic they are looking for,” says Andy.
“It’s a creative collaboration to enhance a home.”
Canberra Creative Pergolas offer obligation-free designs and quotes. Call Andy on 0411 725 886, email finance@designconstructindustries.com, visit canberrapergolas.com.au or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Tuggeranong, one of the original 18 districts in the ACT, was derived from the Ngunnawal expression “Togranong”, which roughly translates to “cold plains”. The 2021 census found more than 89,000 people called the district home in one of its 19 suburbs.
Building confidence in children’s early learning journeys, Galileo Early Learning’s small, 20-place centre “offers a genuine home-away-from home environment”.
“Children feel safe, secure and supported to thrive,” says early childhood educator and owner, Sarah McCulloch.
Since opening their doors five years ago, Sarah’s team has been with her since the beginning and says they foster strong, trusting relationships with both children and families, creating a sense of belonging for all.
“Our consistent and nurturing team supports each child’s identity, wellbeing and confidence in line with the Early Years Learning Framework outcomes,” she says.
“We value every child as capable and competent, encouraging their agency, curiosity and voice as they explore, play and learn.”
Sarah says early learning plays a pivotal role in every child’s life, laying a “foundation for future success”.
“We recognise that children learn best through play, exploration and meaningful interactions with their peers,” she says.
“These early experiences help them develop important social skills, such as sharing, co-operating and communicating, while also nurturing a genuine love for learning.”
Seeing children flourish as they master new skills and grow into confident learners, Sarah says each day offers many moments of pride
as educators watching their pupils explore, ask questions and develop a strong sense of identity and belonging.
Galileo Early Learning, 3 Carleton Street, Kambah. Call 0447 757475 or visit galileoearlylearning.com
Awarded the best brow technician in Tuggeranong in 2025 and a finalist for the ACT Salon of the Year at the Australian Beauty Industry Awards for 2024 and 2025, About Face Beauty & Anti Aging Salon owner, Suzy Mooney says these acknowledgements are not only a huge milestone, but also a testament to the passion, hard work and commitment to everything they do.
“Our mission has always been about more than just beauty treatments,” she says.
“It’s about creating a space where women feel empowered, valued and confident in their own skin.”
Suzy started her business in a small salon after years of struggling with her own skin.
“From that moment on, I was hooked,” she says.
“This career has allowed me to combine my personal experience with professional expertise to truly make a difference for my clients, and that’s something I’m incredibly proud of.”
Today, Suzy’s salon is three times larger than when she started, employing a team of five professionals, including a nail and brow
to deliver lifting and tightening results.
“From targeted skin treatments to the perfect brow, we pride ourselves on offering services that are both luxurious and effective, helping our clients look and feel their best,” she says.
About Face Beauty & Anti Aging Salon, 1/146 Scollay Street, Greenway. Call 0488 932883 or visit aboutfacetuggeranong.com.au
The arrival of Southbound Clubhouse & Grill signals a bold new era for the Canberra Southern Cross Club’s Tuggeranong precinct. More than just a facelift, it is a transformation that brings a fresh identity to the southside, a true pub within a club, designed to blend community spirit with modern hospitality.
From the outset, the vision behind Southbound has been clear: to create a lively hub that feels familiar and welcoming, yet aspirational in its design and delivery. For the Canberra Southern Cross Club, this redevelopment is about more than a building; it’s about reinvesting in its members and their future. As CEO Matt Walshe explains, Southbound is a major commitment to the Tuggeranong community, particularly for the 20,000 members who call the southside home. The aim has been to modernise the club’s facilities while keeping the needs and voices of members at the centre of every decision.
The heart of the venue is its expansive sports bar, complete with a massive LED screen that transforms live sport into a shared spectacle. Rows of taps offering an extensive beer selection, a curated wine list, and shelves of premium spirits anchor the bar’s offering, ensuring it delivers both for casual after-work drinks and big-ticket sporting events.
Food, however, is just as central to the story. Southbound’s menus celebrate the duality of pub classics and contemporary flair. Whether it’s a burger with friends, seafood over a long lunch, or flame-grilled cuts from
the Parrilla, the culinary offering is designed to cover all occasions. As Anurag Gautam, General Manager of Food & Beverage, puts it, the philosophy at Southbound is about quality and accessibility, creating dishes that everyone can enjoy, from premium meats cooked over coals to the muchloved club staples. The goal is to deliver flavour in a setting that feels warm and inviting.
The venue is deliberately versatile. Families are welcomed into Henry’s, where children can explore a dedicated play area while parents relax over a meal. Those seeking something more refined can step into The Terrace, offering a premium dining experience with the option of table service and an intimate atmosphere. By balancing these different spaces under one roof, Southbound ensures there is a place for every mood and every member.
Entertainment adds yet another dimension. Live music each week creates a festive backdrop, trivia nights bring energy midweek, and special events turn into large-scale celebrations thanks to the venue’s expansive design. Dedicated function spaces also provide flexibility for birthdays, corporate events, and community gatherings.
Southbound is not just another venue, it’s a statement about what a modern club can be. By re-imagining the Tuggeranong site as a pub within a club, the Canberra Southern Cross Club has created a space that feels dynamic, inclusive, and forward-looking, while staying true to its roots of member connection and community.
For locals, Southbound offers more than a place to eat or drink, it’s a new social anchor in the heart of the south.
MONDAY – BIG 3
PRAWN LINGUINI, RUMP STEAK, AND BATTERED WHITING $21 EACH
TUESDAY – KIDS EAT FREE ONE FREE KIDS MEAL WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY ADULT MEAL OVER $25
WEDNESDAY – SCHNITZEL CLASSIC CHICKEN SCHNITZEL $18
THURSDAY – SIZZLE & SIP
PARRILLA GRILLED STEAK OF THE DAY WITH A GLASS OF HOUSE WINE $40
12pm | Southbound, Tuggeranong Race day on the big screen with premium drinks, grazing platters and prizes. $80 per person
With a focus on group fitness, X-Hale Pilates Studio co-owner Sarah Felstead says they offer a selection of exercise classes that are open to all levels of fitness.
“All of our classes are designed to cover beginners to advanced,” she says.
“We have such a lovely community.”
Opening the studio with her husband Daniel, Sarah says they look at group fitness classes as opposed to traditional, “clinical” pilates work by encouraging people to get moving in a group environment in a social setting.
Opening in May 2024, Sarah brings years of experience with her as a personal trainer.
“I’d only been doing pilates for three months before I realised then and there that I wanted to own my own studio,” she says.
From post-natal “Cherish” classes to dynamic classes involving gym circuits and the reformer machines, Sarah says there is something for everyone to get moving.
“So many friendships have been formed after meeting in the studio,” she says.
“It’s amazing to see them spiral off to meet up outside of classes.”
All of Sarah’s instructors are qualified to teach and welcome new attendees.
From fitness junkees to new mums and retirees, she says the instructors will do their best to find a class and flow that works for everyone.
X-Hale Pilates Studio, 17 Sidney Nolan Street, Conder. Call 6105 9020 or visit x-halepilatesstudio.com.au
advanced restorative techniques and evidence-based practice.
“It’s a never-ending journey when it comes to education in dentistry, as the field is constantly evolving and demands continual enhancement of skills and knowledge,” she says.
She is dedicated to staying at the forefront of a rapidly evolving industry by mastering digital smile design, CA/CAM restorations, intraoral scanning, 3D printing and the use of artificial intelligence to help
“I find great fulfillment in understanding each patient’s goals, addressing their functional needs and using advanced digital tools.
“Empowering patients through education and transforming their smiles not only enhances their oral health, but also positively impacts their emotional wellbeing and self-esteem.”
Greenway Dental, 38/1 Cowlishaw Street, Greenway. Call 6293 9339 or visit greenwaydental.com.au
For Sandy Borgo, owner of Charlie & Chums, her business only exists due to her deep love of dogs and other animals.
“Dogs are always there for me and I for them,” she says.
“My dogs are my solace in life and I’m not the only one, many people find their pets are their best friends. They keep you active and give you happiness in life.”
Although Sandy doesn’t have a physical store, she ships nationwide and says she has plenty of items that are perfect to herald the arrival of spring.
“We’ve got so many lovely ornaments of animals and flowers to stick in your garden to brighten it up,” she says.
“It’s perfect to compliment Canberra’s
spring colours.”
Sandy also stocks a selection of animal statu ettes, which she says have been hugely popular.
“I love stocking beautiful items,” she says. “I’ve got dog collars and leads, dog and cat wooden plaques, and bright metal dog and cat metal plaques.
“The bright metal plaques list the pet traits.”
Also available is giftware, including spec holders, ladies’ ponchos, scarves and brooches, says Sandy.
Sandy says she has sculptures of dogs and cats made from old 44-gallon metal drums, from the company Think Outside.
Charlie & Chums, call 0402 097580 or visit charlieandchums.com.au
Established in 2015, Canberra-based TradeWise Renovations is quickly becoming the go-to company for home renovations, says owner Angelo Nardi.
The business specialises in all aspects of interior renovations including custom-built kitchens, bathrooms and laundries.
“We also offer a comprehensive design and drafting service,” he says.
With a complete team of qualified tradespeople at their disposal and strong working relationships with some of Canberra’s largest suppliers, Angelo says “there is not
much we can’t handle”. The business is family owned and operated, and has more than
Renovations prides itself on achieving high-quality results by working collaboratively with clients to ensure their vision is understood and delivered.
“We believe our success comes down to three things: excellent service, excellent communication and excellent product,” he says.
“It’s all about the customer experience.”
The business also offers obligation-free quotes.
30 years of experience building and renovating in the Canberra area. Angelo says that TradeWise
TradeWise Renovations, call 5112 2969 or visit tradewiserenovations.com
that
available today. Led by principal dentist Dr Meghna Karoor, our team of skilled dental professionals and support team is dedicated to delivering superior dental care and outstanding service to our patients.
A “place with heart”, Tuggeranong Homestead is spread across 28 hectares of land in the countryside.
Featuring heritage buildings, tranquil gardens and a relaxed rural atmosphere just minutes away from the city, owner Ann Filmer says the venue is the perfect location for weddings, private celebrations, corporate functions and community events.
“We provide tailored event planning, on-site catering by our talented chefs, hospitality staff, and access to our beautiful heritage grounds and rustic indoor-outdoor spaces,” she says.
“We also support fundraising initiatives and community-focused gatherings.”
A pet friendly venue, Ann says they welcome all enquiries to help clients bring their vision to life, although they ask that visitors check in ahead of time to
ensure everyone’s comfort and safety with pets onsite.
“Whether you’re planning something grand or intimate, we’re here to help make it memorable,” she says.
“Seeing joy and connection in this beautiful setting is what we love most.”
Priding themselves on personal service, warm hospitality and their ability to create meaningful experiences, Ann says their team goes above and beyond to ensure every event feels special.
Tuggeranong Homestead will host a fundraiser on October 24 for Rise Above – Capital Region Cancer Relief.
Tuggeranong Homestead, 130 Johnson Drive, Richardson. Call 0419 533298 or visit canberrahomestead.com
TradeWise Renovations is a familyowned business in Canberra, boasts over 30 years of construction experience. We excel in collaborating with clients to achieve top-notch results, guiding them through every step of the renovation process from design to completion. Our expertise encompasses coordinating trusted tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians, plasterers, painters, tilers, and carpenters.
We believe every child deserves the opportunity to become their own version of remarkable.
Here at Galileo, your child is invited to take the first steps of their educational journey within a supportive and caring environment as we cater for the developmental needs of children from 3 months to 5 years.
Our curriculum covers social and emotional learning, sensory experiences, STEM, literacy, arts, languages, meditation and yoga.
Galileo Spanish Australian Preschool 28 Astrolabe Street Red Hill
Galileo Early Learning 7/3 Carleton Street Kambah
Galileo Early Learning 19 Astrolabe Street Red Hill
By Jackie WARBURTON
Flowering trees are coming into their own this month and, if planted in a sheltered spot, a dogwood (Cornus florida) will flower for a few weeks and put on a real display.
There are slow-growing pink-flowering and white-flowering deciduous dogwoods that are worth the wait. Their foliage has autumnal tones and red fruits are on display. They need good compost soil
and good drainage to grow well, with the branches in the sun and their feet in the cool. It’s a graceful plant for a courtyard or it can be grown in a pot.
There is an evergreen dogwood called Cornus capitatas, which has beautiful, buttery-coloured flowers. It’s almost a small tree – growing to six metres – and needs room.
ANOTHER plant that’s looking spectacular at the moment is the snowball tree (Virburnum opulus) In some old gardens this shrub has lived up to 20 years or so. It will respond to any type of hacking back or prune after flowering and is drought hardy when established.
Other viburnum to try are V. japonicum, with glossy evergreen leaves and fragrant flowers that grows to two metres and V. macrocephalum, which has flowers similar to the snowball tree, but are hydrangea sized.
Garden hedges are now showing new growth and pruning – little but often – will get a quick-growing, thick hedge in no time.
Pruning once it’s grown to the required height leads only to a sparse, weak, unsightly hedge because all the growth will be at the top. But the more you trim, the thicker the hedge will become and support itself.
The smaller the leaf, the more formal the hedge can be.
Planting a hedge can be done from now, but soil preparation is the key.
Turn over the soil and avoid digging singular holes. Backfill with good organic compost and keep it moist until planting.
Spacing plants is also important. The general rule is 70 centimetres apart for a hedge to grow a metre tall, one metre apart for anything higher.
The roots should not compete with each other for space in the soil, so prevent overplanting for a healthy, long-lived hedge.
THE vegetable garden should be in full swing now. Watering in the cool of the day with long soaking is more beneficial than short waterings. Liquid feed all plants coming into flower, including vegetable gardens. Mulch garden beds to keep the moisture in the soil and keep weeds from growing and self-seeding. One year of seed is seven years of weeds! jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au
• Don’t overwater garlic as it comes up for harvesting next month.
• Keep picking broad beans to promote new growth.
• Continue to sow more summer-flowering plants such as cosmos and zinnias.
• Net all fruit trees after flowering.
By Helen Musa
If all the books in the world were destroyed in a sudden cataclysm, one form would survive – poetry.
The most compressed and subtle of all literary forms, it is held in mouths and memories everywhere, so that when someone dies it is invariably to verse that people turn.
It is all the more surprising, then, that po etry has been hidden in the shadows of the Canberra Writers’ Festival, with its perennial focus on Power, Politics and Passion. But under new director Andra Putnis, Canberra’s poets will get a look-in at this year’s event, which runs from October 22-25.
First, through the popular Monday event That Poetry Thing At Smith’s, local poets Judith Nangala Crispin, Barrina South, Andrew Cox and Melinda Smith will take the stage alongside Evelyn Araluen, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, Dominic Hoey and Dakota Feirer in two 45-minute poetry sets moderated by Canberra poet Martin Dolan.
poet Adam Agajewski and Marvin Bell from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. More recently, her poetry has won the Blake Prize and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Her visual art, which began when her mum gave her some cameras, has won her residencies, awards, an overseas exhibition in Cornwall and now another in Lithuania.
She’s waiting to see and feel the final printed edition of her first illustrated verse novel, The Dingo’s Noctuary, which she swears will be only half as heavy as the original copy she puts in my hands.
It’s a night-time tale (a noctuary) about the flight of a lady motorcyclist and her little white mongrel dingo Moon into the Tanami Desert to find a caravan of miraculous, dog-headed beings glimpsed in dreams and in the dementia tales of an old desert lady, all opening up questions of authenticity and family truth.
Nangala Crispin mixes poetry and prose, equally weighted, set alongside maps of land and stars, hand-drawn maps of the Australian central deserts which she shows me, plant pressings, and 47 lumachrome glass prints – not paintings but “afterlife” portraits of road-killed bodies – baby dingoes, birds and other native animals placed on emulsion and developed in natural light.
She largely invented this process, which involves arranging blood, clay, sticks, leaves, seeds, resin, ochres, and more with road-killed animals or birds on light-sensitised paper.
First Nations curator Djon Mundine describes it as “a form of spiritual rescue and easing”, adding: “Crispin creates a spiritual death-mask print of twilight’s last gleaming – the last gasp of their spirit leaving”. As for Crispin, she says there’s more material deleted than remains in the book.
Then, in Poems of Love and Rage on the NLA’s Patrick White Lawns, Canberra poets Jacqui Malins and Omar Musa will join Evelyn Araluen and Maxine Beneba Clarke.
THE Q PRESENTS
When I catch up with polymath poet, photographic artist and former CityNews music reviewer Judith Nangala Crispin at her property between Bungendore and Braidwood, she’s on fire as she tells me of plans she and poet John Foulcher have to revive the Two Fires Festival in Braidwood, inspired by the late Judith Wright.
A passionate advocate for poetry as “the longest-standing art form in Canberra”, she points to a closely knit poetry community in
the ACT where “poets support poets”.
“Poetry is the language of the soul, it will never die,” she says, remembering how her grandma liked Robbie Burns and how poems were dropped to Yazidi women under threat from Isis.
Nangala Crispin, originally a composer with a PhD under Larry Sitsky at the ANU, took to poetry while on a post-doctoral Humboldt Scholarship to Berlin.
She came under the influence of Polish
Finding myself in conversation with a small white dog called Moon, it’s clear that this is a deeply personal tale, relating to her ongoing discovery of her own First Nations ancestry – covered up for decades – and her adoption of the Tanami as her second home.
Indeed, I find that the book was written over 37 desert crossings, sometimes with dingo-dog Moon on the back of the bike, and that the entire second half was drafted on a 1966 Olympia Splendid 33 travel typewriter after a motorcycle accident left her unable to use a computer for a time.
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY THE LISTIES
The Listies perform a miracle... something no family in Australia has ever done before: LEAVE THE HOUSE ON TIME!
24-25 October
It may have been a wild ride – making a new family, dancing to Leonard Cohen on a salt lake, encountering a giant python and owls, and learning to listen to what country says – but it was better than watching people throwing bombs at each other. “We’re losing our sense of magic,” she says.
Canberra Writers Festival, October 22–26, program at canberrawritersfestival.com.au
The Dingo’s Noctuary, Puncher & Wattmann, out now.
Author Richard Osman has written another cleverly constructed, crowd pleaser of a crime novel for readers of a certain age, says book reviewer ANNA CREER .
Richard Osman’s debut cosy crime novel, The Thursday Murder Club, featuring the investigative talents of four friends in a retirement complex, was the publishing sensation of 2020.
In the week leading up December 19 that year, it sold 134,514 copies, making it the first debut novel ever to be the Christmas number one in the UK.
The Impossible Fortune (Penquin) sees the return of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, residents of Coopers Chase retirement village.
Elizabeth’s beloved husband Stephen has died and she’s still grieving. Her friends are concerned, but Joyce’s daughter Joanna is getting married and Elizabeth joins them to celebrate, even though she feels “always alone now. Always alone, and never alone: that was grief”.
At the reception, best man Nick Silver tells her somebody tried to kill him that morning. There was a bomb under his car and “something jump-starts inside her. For the last year her heartbeat has felt like a machine, a mechanical pump keeping her alive against her will, but now it feels flesh”.
Silver asks for her help because he doesn’t want to involve the police, gives her the name of three suspects and then disappears. Silver co-owns a “cold-storage” facility, The Compound, which has within it the code for a fortune in Bitcoin. Someone is trying to steal it and will murder on the way.
The Impossible Fortune is complex, as Osman brings in a variety of extra, younger characters to help in the investigation. However, the expectations of his readers will not be disappointed. The style is full of wry observations and gentle wit. Above all is the attraction of his four main characters.
Osman has said: “I didn’t write about them as older characters. I wrote about them as engaged human beings with some of the disadvantages – and advantages that age has brought them. Basically, they can get away with anything.”
The end result is another cleverly constructed, crowd pleaser of a crime novel for readers of a certain age.
PIP Fioretti, however, doesn’t write cosy
Author Richard Osman… “I didn’t write about them as older characters. I wrote about them as engaged human beings.
crime, rather setting her historical crime in outback Australia, just before the outbreak of World War I.
She made an impressive debut with Bone Lands (2024), which recently won the 2025 Danger Award for best crime fiction, an award for books using Australia as a setting for stories about crime and justice.
Bone Lands introduced mounted trooper Augustus (Gus) Hawkins, a traumatised veteran of the Boer War. Now he returns in
Skull River (Affirm Press) set in 1912. Gus has been posted to the failing gold town of Colley in the central west of NSW. He arrives from Bathurst after midnight, only to be woken early the next morning by his junior officer, Trooper Scanlon, with a report of trouble at Gibbet Hill, a five-hour ride away. But on the way they are ambushed. Scanlon is killed but Gus escapes and returns to town to discover the police station is on fire and that no emergency message had been received
from Gibbet Hill.
However, for Gus the whole experience energises him.
“All I could think of was the moment my horse went down and the bullets flying over me and how it felt so right and perfect. I knew what to do, met the chaos like an old friend, the familiar smell of gunpowder and blood. And a feeling so familiar, yet so long past, of being alive”.
Bathurst sends four troopers and a detective. The troopers are “typical young blokes: all muscle and high spirits, eat their own body weight in mutton pies and sleep the sleep of a puppy at day’s end”, while Superintendent MacKerras is “tall and grim and had the air of a man who’d been raised in a Scottish bothy”.
The tension in the town escalates when Scanlon’s horse returns to town with the trooper’s mutilated body. Gus vows vengeance. But Colley is a tough town. The prospectors have come and gone, “leaving a ravaged landscape and a dying river… there was no local prosperity or even any level of security… only the blackberries and the wild pigs are doing well”. Life is hard in Colley and its people keep their secrets close.
Fioreti’s great talent is bringing back to vivid life a neglected time in Australia’s history and populating it with memorable characters. Often bleak and shocking, Skull River is compulsive reading.
By Helen MUSA
The Australian Dance Party plans to put designers, artists and activists together for a day of workshops, talks, a giant clothes swap, installations, performances and a fashion parade, in Clothing the Loop: Sustainable Fashion Festival. The Vault, Dairy Road, Fyshwick, October 18.
Everyman Theatre is reprising one of its biggest hits, The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!). It follows a girl who can’t pay her rent through five mini-musicals lampooning Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber. ACT Hub, Kingston, October 15-25.
Monsieur Camembert is heading to town with a 10-piece ensemble to reimagine Leonard Cohen’s songs with new arrangements, audio clips, and a rotating line-up of guest vocalists in Cohen Noir: The Beauty, Mystery and Romance of Leonard Cohen, Canberra Theatre, October 17.
Liv Kidston has been announced winner of the 2025 ANU School of Art & Design Drawing Prize for her work Threads of My Thought by guest judge Dennis Golding, the HC Coombs Creative Arts Indigenous Fellow at ANU.
Greek Theatre Now, which brought Antigone to the National Botanic Gardens in April, is auditioning for Euripides’ The Trojan Women, to be directed by Cate Clelland. All welcome. Tooms Place (Scout Hall), Lyons, October 18-19.
Art lovers are breathing a sigh of relief Sculpture by the Sea will go ahead in Bondi after NRMA Insurance stepped in with $200,000, joined by an outpouring of public support that raised more than $125,000 in just 30 hours, all ensuring artists’ confidence, program continuity, and the revival of the School Education Program. Bondi, October 17-November 3.
Canberra Youth Theatre is back on the boards, taking Honor Webster-Mannison’s fast-food satire Work, But This Time Like
You Mean It to Sydney, with eight young Canberran actors reprising their roles from the 2024 Canberra season. The Rebel Theatre, Walsh Bay, October 15-18.
Canberra artists Ross Andrews and Rodney Moss will feature their two-metre-wide triptych, Earthly Delights, alongside Moss’ northern European fjords, forests and rocky coves and Andrews’ impressions of the hidden natural landscapes of the ACT, coast and mountains. ArtBox Gallery, Barton, October 18-19 and 25-26.
Canberra composer Judith Clingan set seven poetic texts by Kahlil Gibran to music, performed as The Prophet this year. The Bellingen performance, featuring Gibran’s own images and subtitles, is now on YouTube.
It’s one of the most recognisable beer brands in the world, but there’s a side to the history Guiness that’s even darker than a perfectly poured pint.
House of Guiness, a new series now streaming on Netflix, explores that history in rich and addictive detail.
It slings audiences back to Ireland in the 1800s, a time of political and religious unrest when the country was still recovering from famine and under British rule.
The show opens following the death of Benjamin Lee Guinness, a patriarch of the brewing empire that had first been established close to a century earlier.
Now worth millions of dollars, Guiness’ four children, Arthur, Benjamin, Edward and Anne each desperately wish to inherit their father’s throne and must battle it out for their chance to sit atop the frothy castle. Does it sound familiar?
There’s some heavy inspiration here from shows such as Succession and Game of Thrones, but the historical setting makes House of Guinness stand out.
While the period is exquisitely crafted, don’t expect quite the same historical accuracy in the fine details of the plot.
Show creator Stephen Knight has admitted there’s a fair amount of creative licence exercised.
Knight is also the creator of Netflix’s hit show Peaky Blinders, the gritty drama series about Tommy Shelby and his infamous
Guiness as well.
It turns out the battle for this iconic brewing dynasty is more violent than many may think.
Can’t this all be just settled over a pint?
Apparently not.
AT first glance Amazon Prime Video’s new show The Girlfriend might come across as a run-of-the-mill psychological drama, but as the plot unfolds this slick series becomes increasingly hard to look away from.
Up front and centre is House of Cards star Robin Wright as Laura Sanderson, a
cashed-up artist and gallery owner who lives a picture perfect life in the wealthy enclaves
Her world turns upside down though when her son Daniel (Laurie Davidson) brings home Cherry (Olivia Cooke), a new partner whose behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing.
At a family dinner Laura catches Cherry sneaking through their house and going through belongings. The following day the cat went missing. Even stranger, Laura’s son, normally very close to his parents, seems to be increasingly withdrawing.
Has Daniel brought home a nightmare manipulator or is Laura simply being paranoid?
The show plays with the perspectives of different characters to make even the viewer doubt themselves. At first glance with the little information we have, it seems Cherry really is an evil incarnate, but when the audience get to see through her eyes things suddenly start to look very different. Perhaps Laura isn’t the saint she first seems.
The Girlfriend is made up of six episodes, 50 minutes a piece. It’s a fun, easy watch with a killer twist indeed.
By Helen Musa
The 2017 Pulitzer Prizenominated play The Wolves, by American playwright Sarah DeLappe is the fifth and final main stage production this year for Mockingbird Theatrics.
Briefly, The Wolves, with a tight cast of 10 follows nine teenage girls warming up for a Saturday indoor soccer game while talking about the Big Questions. It also features the inevitable soccer mum.
Not content with taking on a group of excited, talented and opinionated young actors, director Chris Baldock has assembled two separate casts that will alternate and respectively perform the first and last performances of the season. He calls the two groups of actors The Lycans, sort of werewolves, and The Lupins, wolf-headed humanoids from fantasy fiction.
As the play’s title suggests, the name of the team itself is The Wolves, whose lupine qualities emerge in the tight script full of overlapping dialogue.
The script shows the girls conversing on everything from global politics to gossip, their own body images, their coach’s hangover, their ambitions and speculations about
the new girl, #46 (none of the girls has a name, they’re all numbered by hashtags).
Baldock’s view is that the play is about identity, about themselves as young women and where they fit in.
An avid collector of new plays, he found the play not long after it was written and thought there weren’t many plays of this quality for young women who talk about life in such an exuberant way.
With its finely-distinguished characters, The Wolves had also received the 2017 OBIE Award For Ensemble Work and Baldock likes it that there are no stars in the
show, even though there are some characters who stand out more than others.
“Each character has to be alive in the moment,” he says.
It hasn’t been seen in Canberra before and, given that Canberra Youth Theatre is having a year off from production, he decided to take up the challenge of doing a play with such good parts for teenagers.
When he auditioned, so many talented Canberrans put their hands up that he felt he needed to double-cast it.
It shows teenagers up as a sharp group and the characters are not
inclined to mince words, so that even the “c” word surfaces once, something one of the parents queried, but was eventually happy with.
“It’s about contemporary adolescent lives of people around 16 to 17 years old. They’re on the cusp of adulthood – some think they already are, but some don’t want to go there,” Baldock says.
“At first you think they’re going to be cliched characters, but you quickly find out they’re not,” he says in answer to critics who’ve asked him what he would know about female adolescence to direct a play about it.
The cleverness of the writing is also evident in the topics they cover.
“You might think it first at their cliches but that all gets turned on its head and the depth comes through,” he says.
Baldock admits it took a lot of hard work because of the complexity of the characters, so that they spent the first couple of weeks going through the roles in rehearsals in some depth.
“Yes, the play is called The Wolves,” he says, “and it’s very appropriate… there’s something primal, something disturbing about this play, but you’ll just have to be there to see what that is.”
The Wolves, Belconnen Arts Centre, October 15-November 1.
IN an age where everything, including entertainment, can feel all doom and gloom, a film with a bit of good old-fashioned optimism is a breath of fresh air.
That’s certainly the case with the new Superman film, which has just started streaming on Max.
The original, classic symbol of hope landed with a bang this year in the form of this new remake, doing big numbers at the box office thanks to its charismatic cast including David Corenswet as the leading
But it’s the film’s good sense of humour and a genuinely hopeful outlook at the world that make it stand out in the oversaturated market of superhero flicks.
Superman is set in the modern day. It doesn’t shy away from the politically and digitally divided era we find ourselves in, but instead stares it down with a message of goodness that reignites the wonder that Christopher Reeve once instilled.
A tad corny? Without a doubt, the big streaming numbers show the man of steel and what he represents still cuts through. Perhaps more so now than ever.
The Muk Bar is about trendy Korean food with a twist and telling stories through flavour.
Korean food is fast becoming popular in the capital, but Muk Bar, in Macquarie Street, Barton, has its own take on matters.
About 50 metres from the Post Office Open: Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri – 10am to 4pm 6286 1499 Hellen – direct number: 0408 310 063
Some menu items might be challenging – such as beef intestine and a fettuccine with abalone liver sauce – but that doesn’t faze the Korean team behind the restaurant, who are determined to celebrate the deep traditions of their country’s special and distinct cuisine.
We were at Muk Bar to share, and share we did. First up was a trio of Korean spreads served with slices of baguette ($19). Our favorites were the pollock roe cream cheese and tofu dips. The garlic chive butter was tasty, but we weren’t entirely enamoured with the buttery texture (personal preference for sure).
The tacos were packed with punchy flavours and were mighty impressive. The Korean fried chicken taco with sweet chilli sauce ($24 for two) was colourful, crunchy and zingy. The chunks of chicken were tender and moist.
Just as addicting was the Duck Bulgogi tacos with garlic chives ($24 for two). The duck meat was marinated and sweet and savoury at the same time. Mango flavours pushed through and, once again, the tacos were packed with ingredients (no skimping at Muk Bar).
Muk Bar’s dinner menu is compact with four mains. The pork ribs were sticky and fingerlicking good. They were tender, meaty and smothered in a glaze of house-made signature sauce – sweet, smoky and balanced with a Korean kick ($55). The kick is more about bold flavours than hot and spicy ones.
Duck Bulgogi taco… marinated duck meat with garlic chives.
prawns, green mussels, octopus and clams in a rich Korean chilli sauce ($68). And, yes, I’d give the beef intestine a go at one point ($38).
Muk Bar is super accommodating with numbers in a dining party and didn’t hesitate to adjust, for example, the number of ribs needed for the six of us.
Cocktails are intriguing at Muk Bar and include an oaked premium Soju old fashion ($27), a Ginseng Margarita ($29) and Matcha Martini ($25). Korean drinks include Soju and Maksa. Beers include local ales, always nice to see. We struggled a bit with the wine list. While we managed to order one bottle of rose, it was the
last available. Some whites had also depleted.
Muk Bar’s interior is much the same as the former Vincent. It’s a dark and moody interior by design, with low lighting levels. Seating is mostly set around the bar with some larger tables available. The well-known Scrabble wall – first showcased by Vincent – remains.
Service was super helpful, attentive and friendly.
Another time we would try the seafood Jjim, which promises to be a hearty mix of king
It was a spur-of-themoment decision: my mate and I decided to have a late lunch at the Kingston foreshore to celebrate nothing in particular, just that it was Friday.
The restaurant where we had decided to eat is BYO so on the way we stopped in at the Strange Alchemy bottle shop and picked up a Knappstein Clare Valley Riesling 2024 for $19.99. This is good value as the wine is $25 a bottle from the winery.
It didn’t disappoint with a light colour, a bouquet of lime and white flowers and a good acid structure to cut through the fish we both had for lunch.
While we were choosing the wine, Strange Alchemy owner Jack Roberts invited us to a wine tasting that evening. I attended and
it was good to catch up with wine agent Raelene Campbell, who I’d met at a dinner three years ago. She presented four wines, the first being a riesling, the Leeuwin Art Series Estate 2025. It was good to compare this Margaret River wine with the one we had at lunch. It was also very pale, but with a green hue. There were aromas of citrus and spice. It had a different
finish from the Knappstein, the acid lingered longer and the palate was of a multitude of fresh limes. Both rieslings were praiseworthy. We are very lucky to have such good quality riesling available in the $20 range.
There were two red wines from a small McLaren Vale winery, Upper Penney; the wines were named after their two Highland cows. Raelene said this family-owned producer
had a very small production of around 180 dozen bottles a year. On taste was the Dougall Grenache/Shiraz blend 2024 and the Rahley shiraz 2024.
The first wine had a lovely strawberry aroma, but on taste the tannins were very grippy, overwhelming the fruit. The shiraz was quite pleasant, but will only get better with age; a good plum taste predominates with a balance between fruit and alcohol.
The wine that stood out though and was well received by all who tried it, compelling at least two sales that I saw in my 40 minutes at the tasting, was the Stargazer 2023 Kura shiraz/pinot noir.
Jack said the blend was 70 per cent shiraz and 30 per cent pinot noir. Its bouquet was of cherries mixed with floral and spice aromas. On taste it was like when you first bite into a cherry.
The winemaker, Samantha Connew, has delivered a bright, pleasant and spicy wine. From the Coal Valley in Tasmania, this wine is a testament to the quality of the grapes now grown on that isle. It’s worthy of any kind of celebration.
“Celebrate your successes. Find some humour in your failures.”
By Joanne Madeline Moore
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
This week your partnership zone is activated by the Sun and Venus. So – when it comes to romantic, platonic and business relationships – it’s time to be more creative, curious, kind and generous as you shine brighter, communicate better and laugh more often. There are also interesting connections to be made and new friends to be found within your local community. So, get out and about as you explore fresh nooks and crannies in your neighbourhood.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 21)
Expect a busy, bamboozling, beautiful week, Bulls! Venus (your power planet) transits into Libra, opposes Neptune, and then trines Uranus and Pluto. So, you’re in the mood to socialise with friends but be careful how you communicate, especially with colleagues, clients and/or customers. If you are not clear and concise, then others may misunderstand your message. Creativity and compassion are high as you express your artistic side or help someone in need.
GEMINI (May 22 – June 21)
This week the Sun and Venus are visiting your creativity zone, so it’s time to write, sing, dance, perform, paint or play music as you draw on the richness of your colourful world within. And the Venus/Uranus trine will help you turn imaginative ideas into innovative projects. Travel, teaching studying and business ventures are also favoured. With adventurous Uranus transiting through your sign, keep experimenting and expanding your horizons.
CANCER (June 22 – July 23)
With expansive Jupiter jumping through your sign (until next June) it’s time to be the bold, brave, confident Crab you were born to be (like fellow Cancerians Nelson Mandela and Princess Diana). No hiding in the shadows or sulking on the sidelines. This week, crawl out of your cosy cave and take on the world. Your motto for the moment is from birthday great, writer Oscar Wilde (born on October 16, 1854): “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
LEO (July 24 – Aug 23)
The week starts with Venus transiting into your neighbourhood zone, which favours socialising and making new friends at local community events. With the Sun (your patron planet) squaring Jupiter (planet of extravagance and exuberance), Friday is the best day for fabulous flirting and/or frivolous escapades. Be careful not to overdo it, though, otherwise overeating, over-drinking, overspending and/ or over-promising could land you in a heap of trouble.
VIRGO (Aug 24 – Sept 23)
This week the Sun and Venus are visiting Libra, which highlights your financial, business and personal values’ zone. So, you’ll be focusing a lot of time and energy on money – how to make it, save it, grow it and keep it. But don’t lose sight of yourself and your personal, creative and spiritual needs in the process. As playwright (and birthday great) Arthur Miller reminds us: “Don’t be seduced into thinking that which does not make a profit is without value.”
LIBRA (Sept 24 – Oct 23)
You’ll feel more confident this week as the Sun and Venus both visit Libra, which boosts your sense of wellbeing and happiness. But resist the urge to judge or criticise others. Remember – you don’t have all the facts at hand, appearances can be deceptive, and no one is perfect. As birthday great Oscar Wilde reminds us: “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Resist the urge to overdo everything on Friday. As always, balance is the key.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 22)
Scorpios can be very intense, determined and driven – especially at the moment, with manic, fiery Mars also transiting through your sign. But, this week, the Libran Sun and peacemaker Venus are visiting your solitude and spirituality zones – so it’s time to cool down, cooperate, mediate, meditate, contemplate and ruminate. Your motto for the moment is from Libran great, singer-songwriter John Lennon: “Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 – Dec 21)
This week, prepare to inspire others with your high spirits and contagious enthusiasm. You’re at your buoyant best as Venus, Uranus and Pluto boost confidence levels and put extra wind in your Sagittarian sails (especially involving close relationships, joint ventures, goals and dreams). But a family situation with a child, teenager or friend looks rather confusing. Ask for some clarification, otherwise you could find yourself jumping to hasty conclusions!
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 20)
With Sun/Venus in your career zone and Mercury/Mars in your wish list zone, it’s time to make plans and dream big dreams. And don’t make them too safe and sensible! Go for gold, as the planets encourage you to be bold and brave about the future. This week is also about getting the ratio right between your busy public life and your private inner world. With Neptune in your domestic zone, make your home an oasis of comfort and calm for mind, body and spirit.
AQUARIUS (Jan 21 – Feb 19)
Expect some confusing communication and relationship challenges. You’ve got plenty to say but make sure you take the time to really listen to others. Jupiter is visiting your wellbeing zone, which is good news for your physical health and emotional wellbeing over the next eight months. There’s one proviso, though –you must be disciplined. Aim to find a deliciously nutritious diet, a fun exercise program and a relaxation routine that you really enjoy.
PISCES (Feb 20 – Mar 20)
It’s not a particularly good week to take on mighty challenges or make important decisions. There’s a nebulous Venus/Neptune opposition, so life could be complicated, physical energies low and relationships confusing. A financial matter looks perplexing for many Pisceans. So, avoid tasks that require stamina and sharp thinking. Instead, pace yourself – mentally and physically. Wednesday favours memories, daydreams and domestic matters.
Copyright Joanne Madeline Moore 2025
4 What is a theatre where films are shown? (6)
7 Which term suggests a composition of grains? (8)
When one amends or alters one does what? (7)
What is an insatiable greed for riches? (7)
What is mental or emotional strain? (7)
(7)
(6)
(6)
1 Which term describes that which is uttered by the mouth? (4)
2 Which device holds a boat in place? (6)
3 What is a cudgel also known as? (4)
4 Which box is used for packing and transporting items? (5)
5 Colloquially, what is a foolish person called? (6)
6 Which hand-held computer device controls the cursor? (5)
9 Name the longest river in South America. (6)
10 To have constructed is to have done what? (7)
12 What are backbones known as? (6)
14 What is atmospheric electricity? (6)
16 Weighing machines are called what? (6)
18 To call up is to do what? (5)
19 What is firmness of courage in trying circumstances? (5)
21 Name one of the two bones of the forearm? (4)
22 When one consumes food one does what? (4)
Lewis came to see me confused about fringe benefits tax (FBT) liabilities for his staff Christmas party.
“There's no special legislation concerning Christmas parties," I told him.
"The general principles concerning entertainment apply to both FBT and income tax.
"The most important thing to understand about FBT is that it only applies to employees – past, present or future – and does not apply to your clients. So, if FBT is payable on your Christmas party then it should be tax deductible to the extent that it is subject to FBT.
"The calculations are complex and you need to separate the costs that apply to your clients and the costs that apply to your staff.
“You also need to be aware that any benefit under $300 a head is regarded as a minor benefit and is not subject to FBT.
"If the Christmas party is held on your business premises, the situation is slightly different. If you invite only your staff and their associates then there is no FBT to be paid for your staff regardless of the cost.
"However, if the cost for each associate exceeds $300 then the whole payment for that person is subject to fringe benefits tax. It should also be tax deductible. If you also invite some clients, then the cost per client is not subject to fringe benefits tax, nor is it tax deductible.
Lewis said this year they planned to celebrate at a restaurant.”
“If you go to a restaurant or other venue away from your business premises, the situation will be different," I told him.
"If the cost exceeds $300 for each person, the full cost will be subject to FBT as it will also be for their associates. It will also be tax deductible.
"There is a second method of calculating FBT called the 50/50 method but, as you are not using this, I don't propose to discuss it further.
“I know that some of your staff are employed in other states and I assume that some or all of these staff will come to Canberra for the party. The $300 minor benefit cost also includes their travel and accommodation if it is solely to attend the party. If they come for work purposes their travel should not be included. However, if they bring a partner or other associate, those travel and accommodation costs will be included in the $300 threshold.”
“Lastly, the good news is that the cost of any Christmas present is regarded as a separate benefit so is also subject to a $300 minor benefit exemption. This means that you can provide each staff member with a meal costing less than $300 and a gift costing less than $300 and also provide the same for their associates. These amounts are not tax deductible nor can GST be claimed, if any, but they are also not subject to FBT.”
Lewis said he hadn't realised how complex this was. He'd intended to raise some general questions about client entertainment but felt he'd better digest what was covered so far. If you need guidance on FBT or any other tax related matter, please contact the experts at Gail Freeman & Co Pty Ltd on 02 6295 2844.
Disclaimer
This column contains general advice, please do not rely on it. If you require specific advice on this topic please contact Gail Freeman or your professional adviser. Authorised
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