Category: News

You’ve seen poetry in the pub, up on a stage, in the back of a bookstore. But in a hair salon?

Betsy Turcot and Eleanor Jackson are The Belles of Hell, a local word-making duo whose powerful presence and razor sharp language weave tales of love, family, heartbreak, and everything in between. After a sold-out run in 2013, The Belles of Hell return to Anywhere Theatre Festival with a new story to tell. Shave & A Haircut is an intimate poetic play told from the hairdressers’ chair. For three nights only, Betsy and Eleanor are asking the big question – just what does it take to be the man?

If you’re new to the world of spoken word art, an evening with Betsy and Eleanor is the place to start. Combining a playful irreverence with a cutting streak, Shave & A Haircut will be a poetic play unlike any you’ve seen before.

A plan by fascist group Australia First to protest the arrest of  Nikos Michaloliakos today was foiled by workers, anarchists and locals who turned out in numbers to make sure the group did not get any traction.

A handful of fascist supporters skulked away from the hundred or so anti-fascists and headed into the city where they planned to protest to Premier Newman. Again hugely out-numbered by twenty or so leftists for every fascist, they were shuffled into a taxi by police and told to leave.

Westender journalist Jimmy Wall and citizen journalists will be filing longer stories later.

UPDATE – 3rd May, 2014

It was wrongly reported in an earlier version of this article that the intention of the Australia First Part was to interrupt a funeral. This is incorrect. The protest was planned and the date set before the funeral was organised.

Thursday May 7 is the annual candlelit vigil for those who have died at the hands of their partners or lovers in domestic violence. Held at Kangaroo Point for many years now, the candlelit vigil has become a national event and part of Prevent Domestic Violence month.

Queensland continues to top the national statistics though, with more than one woman a fortnight being murdered by their partner. This is as many women as the rest of the nation put together.

The event is hosted by DV Connect and supported by a wide range of groups including the Queensland Police who face the difficult task of deciding when to intervene in family relationships that all too often end in murder.

The Queensland Government has mounted a Make The Call campaign, now in its third year.

Communities Minister Tracy Davis reiterated the purpose of the campaign in the lead up to Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month 2014.

“The aim is for every Queenslander to stay safe from domestic and family violence, which can include non-physical abuse as well as physical violence,” Ms Davis said.

“We want people to recognise the warning signs of domestic and family violence if it is happening to someone they know, and to call the DVConnect statewide hotline for advice if they suspect abuse is occurring.”

<caption>Minister Davis receiving an award on the Sunshine Coast with Snr Sgt David Somerville

If everything goes according to plan, as far as the government is concerned, Australia might end up with the highest retirement age in the world.

The suggested retirement age is 70, surpassing countries such as Greece, Iceland, Israel and Norway with their retirement age set at 67.

While in Sweden retirement age is set at 61, but if you feel like it, you can retire at 68. At least the Swedes have a fair choice.

The increase of the retirement age in Australia is due to how superannuation works— or doesn’t work if you will —at the moment.

When superannuation was first introduced in Australia in 1909-10 the retirement age for men was set at 65 and for women at 60. A time when life expectancy for men were about 58 and about 60 for women.

In other words, in 1909-10 you would be lucky if you managed to retire before you died — your sole purpose in life back then was— as it seemed —to work till you were six feet under before you retired and not becoming a burden on the government.

Former PM Paul Keating argued in a 2006 ABC interview that if the superannuation rate had been 15% since 1996 (minimum rate now is set at 9.25%), total superannuation assets in Australia would be approaching $2 trillion — almost double the current level.

On Twitter last year ALP made the bold statement that, “Australia’s superannuation system is the envy of the world.”

At that time I reached out to them and asked who they were referencing — no response (no surprise).

A quick search on Wikipedia shows that only Canada, USA, New Zealand and Hong Kong uses a similar superannuation scheme as Australia.

From that I can only assume that Australia’s superannuation is the envy of Canada, USA, New Zealand and Hong Kong — hardly the whole world I dare say.

It still raises the question, if Australia’s superannuation is allegedly the envy of the world, how can it be if the retirement age must be raised to compensate for its inability to properly fund the retirement of Australian workers?

Maybe they are going for the original strategy from 1909-10, hoping most workers will be six feet under before retirement age — the payment is much lower when you try to cash out before you’ve retired, as it is then subject to tax.Let us not worry though. Australia is the best country in the world, so this is just for the better. Instead of increasing the payment rate into a fund that has poor growth, controlled by the big banks in Australia, thanks to lack of competition, let us work till we die.

So why not set the retirement age to 80 and be done with it — Australians live so they can work, not work so they can live, right?

The government gave us Work Choices— thankfully repealed in 2007 —and now the recent Strong Choices. Maybe they should brand the increase of the retirement age as Life Choices. The perfect hat trick to show what this government thinks of its people — that we only have the choices they give us, not any rights.

<caption>Onwards to the past: Older people may work in less skilled jobs

By Sophia Skordilis

There were eight children in our family and I was number seven. So, by the time my mother had my younger brother, Pauly, and me, even though she wanted us, she was sick of kids. Mum never rejected us but the drudgery and monotony of keeping a house going often threatened to break her spirit. But she was always a trouper, even though you ran for your life when you knew she was ready to tilt.

She felt extra pressure because we were Greek. Dad had left his Greek village in the mountains and came to Australia when he was sixteen and after experiencing other cities and towns, settled in humid and hot subtropical Brisbane, Highgate Hill in the 1940s. Mum was also Greek but she was born here.

There’s a big difference!

Dad was always working at his café in the city, the Star Milk Bar, and he was always on Mum’s back, ringing her to say someone saw my brothers or my sister doing this or that, or that I was up to no good.

Everyone said I was a tomboy because I had six brothers and only one older sister. I doubt it, I just was. My sister, Antonia, was named after Dad’s mother but for some reason, I can’t remember why, I called her Ansy. She was femininity personified and we were all proud of her style and model good looks. I loved slingshots, bows and arrows, goannas, Astro Boy, Shintaro, skateboards, Dragster bikes with flower-power banana seats and fighting. “Quicker than quick, Stronger than strong” that was my motto just like Gigantor, the robot. I always looked for a good fight.

World Championship Wrestling was one of my favourite TV shows in the sixties. My younger brother Pauly and I would tear home from church like ‘Speedy Gonzales’ (the fastest mouse in all of Mexico) to be in time to see the wrestling. Watching it at twelve o’clock on Sunday was a must and, if my brothers dared to say that wrestlers Spiros Arion, Mario Milano, Killer Carl Cox or Brute Bernard were just pretending to fight, they had better watch out!

We would watch and wrestle and, because I was bigger than Pauly and even though he would try and wriggle out of my grip, I could easily get him into the ‘sleeper hold’ or knock him down on the mat for the count one … two … three … with one of my ‘trip from behind’ moves.

I didn’t like my brothers, especially Bulla, teasing me and calling me ‘“Tom”. I was comfortable being a girl, but wanted to do all the things that boys were allowed to do. I didn’t want to be a boy but rather a gunslinger like Annie Oakley and I was always practising my draws.

I didn’t like being called Tom as I actually liked my name ‘Sophie’ as it meant ‘wisdom’. Greeks would stop me in the street to animatedly share the significance of my name. It just wasn’t about good old average wisdom it was “God’s wisdom”.

They were also keen to enlighten me that western civilisation, democracy and philosophy can be traced back to Ancient Greece. Even though Dad only went to school for a couple of years (he really learned to read by reading the Bible), he would tell me about these wonderful and profound themes and ideals – all Greeks do, regardless of their background.

He was also, proud of his Peloponnesian heritage and loved to tell me about the greatest hero of them all, brave and mighty General Theodoros Kolokotronis (when Dad said his name he said it in a deep and fierce voice) who led the charge against the Ottoman (Turks) Empire to help liberate Greece in the Greek War of Independence, surprisingly not all that long ago in the early eighteenth century.

Well, I was into super heroes and liked hearing all about Kolokotronis. I had seen pictures of him in encyclopaedias and thought he looked very much like my proud and strong Papoú Bellas as he had a similar chiselled out face and stance.

When Dad would hug me sometimes he would sing my name like a religious liturgy  and prayer … Sor … phi … aaa … as it must have been chanted throughout the centuries in all the great orthodox churches, such as the most famous and revered Ayia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (Istanbul) before the Turks turned it into a mosque.

I was drawn to thinking about my name and its various meanings.

Somehow, I think I was a little bit wise as I was interested in understanding people and the world around me, but I certainly had my share of folly – like grabbing a swarm of bees with my hands to listen to their buzzing sounds when I was showing off. Yet, I imagined myself as mythological Goddess Sophia in ancient Grecian clothing, wearing a helmet, and holding an owl in one hand and a sceptre in the other. Or I would have imaginary conversations with Plato and Socrates about philo-sophia – the love of wisdom.

I felt honoured to be given such a divine and immortal name. In Greek, I was called Sophia but I liked being known as Sophie.

Fossil fuel free portfolio for ethical investors

Have you heard about the National Divestment Day which will be held on Saturday 3rd May? If you are concerned about precious environmental areas like the Great Barrier Reef, not to mention our land, and water resources, then you may like to get involved. In the last 8 months, the campaign has asked the ‘big 4 banks’ to stop lending to new coal, oil and gas projects. They haven’t listened. If banks won’t divest from fossil fuels, then you can support the environment by closing your bank account and moving to a new bank. If you have shares in the ‘big 4 banks’ ANZ, Westpac, CBA or NAB, then you may like to consider your options and where you can re-invest.

A truly fossil fuel free portfolio now exists. Ethical Investment Advisers has created a new Separately Managed Account (SMA) that is perfect for ethical investors looking to divest from fossil fuels and invest in sustainable investments.
Finally investors and superannuation members can avoid fossil fuel investments (oil, gas, coal, and coal seam gas), tobacco, uranium mining, and weapons, whilst also investing in those companies which are providing positive solutions to global issues like aged care, sustainable property, healthcare, renewable energy, medical technologies, education, and information technology!

According to Ethical Investment Advisers’ Director Louise Edkins, “The model portfolio is an exciting product that offers social and environmental values with financial benefits. The mix provides a combination of smaller and medium sized Australian listed companies providing competitive financial returns without compromising their client values.”

The objective of the Ethical Investment Advisers Mid-Cap Separately Managed Account is to outperform the S&P/ASX Mid-Cap 50 over the long term, while providing investors with access to small and mid- cap stocks which meet environmental and socially responsible standards.

Responsible investment funds have a history of delivering better returns than average mainstream Australian equities funds over the past 1, 3, 5 and 10 years (Responsible Investment Association Australasia Benchmark Report, 2013). Performance of the S&P/ASX 200 Index over the past 10 years is very close to the S &P ASX 200 ex-fossil fuel companies. In addition there is no change in Beta and modest tracking error (The Australia Institute Climate Proofing Your Investments: Moving Funds Out Of Fossil Fuels, 2014).

The Ethical Investment Advisers Mid-Cap SMA since its inception in December 2013, has gained 5.74% compared with the All Ordinaries Index which gained 3.74% and the ASX Mid-Cap 50 Index which gained 7.46%.
The investments in the Mid-Cap SMA vary from time to time as we are always on the lookout for new investment opportunities. A few of our recent additions to the portfolio are outlined below.

Meridian Energy Limited is the only electrical generator in New Zealand which generates 100% renewable energy. It generates the largest proportion of New Zealand’s electricity and provides electricity to customers including homes, businesses and farms in New Zealand, and provides metering, dam consultancy and insurance services. Meridian Energy currently operates seven hydro stations and four wind farms in New Zealand and one wind farm in Australia.

Carnegie Wave Energy is an Australian wave energy clean technology development company. Carnegie is the owner and developer of the clean energy technology, called CETO Wave Energy Technology intellectual property. The CETO energy converter was designed to harvest the renewable energy resource in the ocean’s waves, produce high pressure water pumped ashore, and convert it into zero-emission electricity and/or freshwater desalinated from the ocean.
Investors and superannuation members can access the Ethical Investment Advisers Mid-Cap SMA by contacting Ethical Investment Advisers: www.ethicalinvestment.com.au or phoning 33332187.

Superannuation members want funds to consider ethical and environmental implications
 Did you know that a quarter of superannuation members are prepared to switch super funds if they find their current one was invested in coal seam gas, based on concerns about environmental impact ? (Market Forces survey compiled by The Australia Institute, 2013.)
 The Australia Institute also found that a greater proportion of respondents believed that in order for a superannuation company to make investments that were ‘in their long term interests’, funds should consider ethical and environmental implications (40 per cent) rather than simply maximising financial returns (36 per cent).