Managing director of Ebono Institute and major sponsor of The Generator, Geoff Ebbs, is running against Kevin Rudd in the seat of Griffith at the next Federal election. By the expression on their faces in this candid shot it looks like a pretty dull campaign. Read on
Becky Kanis (right) seen here with her wife Christine Marge
New York based Becky Kanis, co-founder of the 100,000 Homes Campaign in the US, will be in Brisbane for the next few days sharing her experience in tackling the problems of homelessness in our society and reporting on the positive outcomes being achieved in the US.
Ms Kanis is here at the invitation of West End’s Micah Projects and among other engagements she will be conducting a free public forum in Woolloongabba this Monday night.
According to Karyn Walsh, Coordinator of Micah Projects, Becky helped to launch the successful 50 Lives 50 Homes Campaign in Brisbane in 2010, based on her US experience.
“A total of 671 people have now been surveyed with the Vulnerability Index about their housing, healthcare and support service needs,” said Karyn. “223 people have now been housed and 190 people are supported by the 50 Lives 50 Homes campaign partners.
“Becky is an inspirational speaker, and her passionate commitment to ending homelessness shines through her every word,” said Karyn.
Free Public Forum with Becky Kanis
6pm – 7.30pm
Monday 4 November 2013
Refreshments served from 5.30pm
Trinity Hall, 68 Hawthorne Street
Woolloongabba 4102
Dr Barghouthi is here to beat the drums of peace, See him at the Trades Hall in Peel St on Monday
Dr Mustafa Barghouthi is here to talk about Peace in the Middle East and what western governments can and should do to help acheive it.
A Member of the Palestinian Parliament, Physician and President of the Union of Palestiniaarghouthi (also spelt Barghouti) has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and awarded the Medal of Solidarity and Legion of Honour and is speaking at Peel St, South Brisbane next Monday.
Venue: Level 2, QCU Building, 16 Peel Street, South Brisbane
Mark H Moore at one of his Building Public Value presentations in the USA
Given the proposed cuts to the Arts sector in Queensland it is very timely that QPAC is presenting Show Me the Value, a talk by Harvard professor Mark H Moore on Monday 4 November.
Professor Moore will be joined for Show Me the Value by experts Dr Judith McLean, QPAC Scholar in Residence and Adjunct Professor at QUT (Creative Industries) and Dr Geoff Woolcock, Board Director of the Australian National Development Index and Adjunct Associate Professor Griffith University (School of Human Services and Social Work). The discussion will be facilitated by ABC Radio’s Steve Austin.
Show Me the Value will explore how the cultural sector can overcome some of the challenges it faces measuring and communicating the value it contributes to society and the economy.
QPAC Chief Executive, John Kotzas said “At QPAC we’re focused on how we can best manage and deliver on both our public and commercial imperatives. Being able to capture the whole picture of the value a cultural institution or organisation like ours creates therefore is crucial, but it’s not straightforward to do. That is why we’re fortunate to have Professor Moore explore this challenge with us while in Brisbane.”
Professor Moore first impacted policy debate around the world with his seminal work Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government andhis follow up book Recognising Public Value was published earlier this year.
“For QPAC, we’ve experienced solid growth in recent years and we want to maximise this success to deliver more public value to Queenslanders through our program. This is our responsibility as a cultural institution and we take it very seriously,” said Mr Kotzas.
Professor Moore first worked with QPAC in October 2012. As part of his program, Moore participated in a discussion for Radio National’sBig Ideas with Professor Julianne Schultz AM and Terry White GroupNon-executive Director and QPAC Trustee, Rhonda White. They explored the parallels when pursuing public value, private value and shareholder return.
“Show Me the Value will significantly progress our national discourse on culture – it’s important we in the sector find a way to convey culture’s relevance to contemporary Australian society and the value it delivers to individuals, communities and the nation,” said Mr Kotzas.
Telling the complete story has been notoriously difficult for the cultural sector and it has struggled through numbers alone. Professor Julianne Schultz AM highlighted the importance for the cultural sector to persist with its pursuit of achieving broader understanding and recognition in Australia at a recent Currency House breakfast in August, likening the journey to that of the environment and the significant progress made achieving recognition of its value.
Show Me the Value will be streamed live atwww.qpac.com.au/youtubelive and comments and questions are welcomed via twitter @QPAC using the hashtag: #publicvalue
Taking a break from tearing apart the judiciary and parliamentary process, the Newman government this week was predicted to ab use its absolute power by ripping up that other pillar of civilised society, the arts.
The Westender reported yesterday through its facebook page, “Qld government to announce slashing to Arts sector this afternoon. Institutions such as the Queensland Centre for Photography have been notified by phone that their funding has been removed. They will receive no future funding from the Queensland Government.
Stand by for further updates.”
So far, those further updates have not materialised, though plenty of behind the scenes activity only confirms that something is afoot.
Having heard Newman wax lyrical about the government’s support for the classical artforms, especially when they uphold politically “incorrect” attitudes to power, sex and politics, it is clear that the arts sector is in a very difficult position.
If they call out the philistines in George Street then they are relegated to the outer circle with womens reproductive rights, environmentalists, paedophiles, judges and bikies. If they do not, they are complicit in assisting the government in manufacturing a make believe fairyland that masks the chamber of horrors under the pink, glittery frosting.
You can rely on Westender to keep peeling back the marzipan to reveal the maggots that have inhabited the meal.
Sporting clubs, corporations, superfunds and chambers of commerce are busy announcing their new executives following their annual general meetings.
Like most forms of democracy many of these annual general meetings are somewhat untidy. membership lists are not up to date, rules around eligibiity to vote are not clear, the purpose of the annual general meeting is not clear, the membership has not been properly notified.
This is not an extraordinary or isolated incidence of corruption, this is so commonplace that Westender is providing access to the standard rules for those of you have yet to hold your annual general meeting or those of you who have just been to one and found it wanting.
Football star Leigh Matthews was delayed from running for the president of the board of the Brisbane Lions on the basis that his membership was up to date. The West End Traders association is this month holding an extraordinary general meeting after the annual general meeting last month failed to elect a president. The full story was reported two issues ago.
Most organistions do not have their own constitutions and are governed by the model rules provided under the and available at the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 and Associations Incorporation Regulation 1999.
The area that seems to vex many associations are those around the holding of Annual General Meetings and the rights to vote in them.
The model rules clearly indicate that nominees for contested positions must nominate 14 days prior to the AGM. The entire membership must have been notified of the time and place of the AGM and must have access to the agenda of the meeting and the rules for voting.
In the case of the West End Traders Association, new members who sign up by emailing WETA secretary, David Mildren and paying the membership fee of $100 between now and the 17th of November, can be ratified at the general meeting to be held prior to the Extraordinary General Meeting and therefore vote in the extraordinary general meeting election.
The annual general meeting did not appoint a full complement of general members and can decide to accept nominations fro m the floor.
Nominations for other positions are now closed or were voted on last month.
The laconic pace of outback Australia seems an unlikely platform for a thriller but Aaron Pedersen as executive producer and star winds us so tight in this neat little film that there are times I could barely breathe.
The open spaces of the outback support the tensions built in Mystery Road
This is a tale of the good man overcoming adversity and given that our hero is a black detective returning home from detective school “down south”, the adversity mounts thick and fast. From the opening scenes which outlay the tragic murder of one of “his” people through to the final shoot out the relaxed and open space of the script allows the heat, dust and loaded history of the frontier to blow through the action with full force.
The use of arial photography provides a powerful sense of location as we watch suburban cars cruise around suburban Winton. The ramshackle disrepair provides a hauntingly dangerous backdrop to the actions and rifles with scopes brings the action close up and personal in a way that hollywood action shoot ’em ups rarely do.
There are the inevitable sacrifices made for the sake of bringing the action to an audience without too much set up and explanation: targets are always centred in the cross hairs, for example, where as a real sniper has to shoot off centre to cope with distance and wind. The protaganists “tail” each other at a couple of hundred metres in a landscape where most horizons are tens of kilometers away.
It’s relatively low budget and looks very homegrown to a local audience but the scenery is so exotic, the language so true to life and the depicted events are so stark, harsh and heart-rending that this is essentially a foreign film told in Australian English.
As such, it is probably limited to the art-house circuit in Australia, but will almost inevitably become a cult film somewhere in the world.
I would not be surprised if it spawns a genre of films in the way that a Fistful of dollars did in the seventies. This is a powerful piece of work.
