Paul Bishop plays the mayor at QPAC and is a Redcliffe councillor by day
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre board has demanded in writing that a jokey reference to Campbell Newman was excised from the play, Australia Day, between the premiere and opening night.
Writing in Art Hub today, Ben Eltham details the sequence of events that led to the censorship of the light hearted joke. The section that was cut ends with the line “Two words: Campbell Newman.”
It appears the two words weighed heavily on the board’s mind.
Regular readers of Westender’s news feed will remember that we broke the story of the cuts to a dozen institutions last October. Since then, the Arts community has been understandably sensitive about what may or may not affect its funding.
As we put it at the time:
“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.”
Former Powerhouse director Andrew Ross is quoted in the Arts Hub article pointing out that self censorship through fear is more effective and cheaper to implement than actual directives from the government.
While Newman is busy kicking the stuffing out of any creative endeavours, Lord Mayor Quirk is busy selling Brisbane as a cultural hub and a new World-City.
Dr Rob Ruberry welcomes his son John into the business
Dr John Ruberry joined West End Medical Practice in late January this year. Studying medicine was a fairly late decision, he tells Westender.
Before that he had finished a degree in electrical engineering and spent some time in the air force, an experience that has been very valuable.
“But I found myself wanting a bit more human interaction and the satisfaction of helping people,” he said. A career in Medicine has always been on his mind, as his father is a doctor.
He looks forward to learn from his new, more experienced colleagues and especially working with his father, Dr Rob Ruberry.
Family owned and run businesses help give West End its close knit community character.
Caption: Dr Rob Ruberry welcomes his son John into the family business
Commercialisation Australia offers information about grants
If you have developed and tested an idea and need help funding the process to take it to market, have a look at the Commercialisation Grants available from the federal government.
The beauracrats reckon it is “It is a competitive, merit-based assistance program offering funding and resources to accelerate the business building process for Australian companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and inventors looking to commercialise innovative intellectual property.” Whatev. If they are funding the bill we’ll let them call it as they must.
To keep up to date with the latest shifts in government policy keep an eye on the Commercialisation Australia website
A great market atmosphere adds a new destination to shopping in Boundary St
Despite a number of missed deadlines and trips around the roundabout, the same players are jockeying for position to purchase and develop the Absoe site in the middle of West End.
The plan, as Westender understands it, is for the building to be redeveloped as a mixture of housing, commerce and industry in a sensitive manner consistent with West End cultural values. It will include an underground carpark open treed space and at least some of the refurbished existing buildings.
This is partly governed by the Brisbane City Council’s Riverside Neighbourhood Plan and will guide the development application submitted by the eventual owner. What that means in practice depends somewhat on who becomes the eventual buyer. David Devine had a contract over the property, missed a critical deadline but is now back in play again.
Meanwhile the onsite Artisan markets are ramping up their presence with a marquita multicultural food spectacular on dates yet to be announced. The weekend markets have slowed down a little since their big launch in December although no official change in times or approach has been forthcoming.
Local business owners along the section of Boundary Street between Mollison St and the police station watch with interest.
John Dwyer watches his favourite coup on set at the client’s
The South West Chamber of Commerce is breakfasting at the Loft again this month with marketing guru John Dwyer working up the Wow factor over breakfast at 7am on Thursday 6 February.
John’s company assists business in developing marketing programs that have that Wow factor and he will impart the secrets of his success over breakfast next week.
John was the Rocktober festival organiser in the eighties and has worked with Woolworths, News, KFC, Coca Cola and Caltex. His most treasured gig though is securing Jerry Seinfeld for the Greater Building Society’s advertising campaign.
The Chamber enjoyed breakfast at a few different venues, trying the menus, last year. Looks like the Loft might have got the nod, or be closing in on the deal so we can expect a few more business breakfasts coming our way.
Get yourself to the Loft a little before seven so you can be comfortably seated before the Wow factor whacks you for six. Members and non-members are welcome to attend.
Jennie Harvey, Sam Watson and Jim Beatson at Jaegara Hall on Tuesday
The community forum held at Jagera Hall on Tuesday to discuss the Queensland Government’s war on civil liberties generated passionate debate around the value of protest marches as a form of engendering change.
Organised by the Cloudland Collective, the intent of the evening was to bring the experience of three activists from the seventies to bear on the discussion about how best to respond to the Newman Government’s ongoing attack on civil liberties and the Abbot Government’s emulation of the slash and burn approach to everything that smells faintly progressive, humanist or libertarian.
Sam Watson, Jim Beatson and Jenny Harvey were all University of Queensland students and activists at the height of the Joh Bjelke Petersen years and engaged in a variety of protests and other actions.
Sam Watson remains deeply involved in Socialist politics and activism. Jim Beatson has built on his long experience at 4ZZZ FM moving to Northern NSW and being actively involved in The Greens mayor of Byron Shire Council. Jenny Harvey continues to advocate for public education and regional affairs from her position as a regional school teacher and union rep.
Inflaming passions
It was Jim Beatson who raised passions on the evening with his observation that “if you think you are going to change the world by marching and shouting you are deluded.”
His contention is that actions designed to co-op and derail the media are more important than actions which the media cn portray as the radical looney fringe.
“If you provide the news with its fodder that those opposing the government are outsiders and fringe dwellers, you are helping the government do its job,” he said.
Many members of the audience were shocked into making comments from the floor during his speech and denouncing him during the forty minute question and answer session.
“You are using me as a straw man for the more fundamental argument about how we build a progressive movement for change that isolates and identifies the government’s radical agenda,” Bestson said.
A common thread
While the lines were starkly drawn in this forum, Westender has come across very similar discussion at a number of fora.
Advocates for high profile speakers, targetted social media campaigns and media friendly actions against the VLAD laws, offshore processing of refugees and sacrificing public assets to coal companies have expressed frustration at a number of organising committees that the emphasis is so firmly on the protest march that there is little room to discuss anything else.
The facilitator at one committee meeting actually said without any sense of irony, “These ideas are all well and good and I support them, but we have a rally to organise for three week’s time and we still have a large number of decisions to make.”
Looking forward
Given that the context of the Cloudland meeting at Jaegera is the forthcoming G20 summit, and the mounting calls for a major March in March against the Abbot Government it becomes critical that this debate is resolved and soon.
Rather than attempting to discuss the value, or the appropriate context of protest as a form of raising awareness, it seems more fruitful to develop new mechanisms for shifting the mainstream.
As an activist attempting to engage with mainstream politics to drive change and as the publisher of Westender trying to create a mainstream publication advocating for a compassionate and holistic leadership it seems critical to me that we build alternatives. Rather than protesting against the counter-reformation governments we have elected, who are clearly ruling as the vassals of corporate feudalism, it is critical that we build and sell an alternative.
This year, some of us need to suit up in black and occupy the police, but even larger numbers need to hold an alternative G20 to outline a more sensible future than the extractive, oppressive and dominant paradigm that sacrifices the 99% to satisfy the one percent. That is certainly where we will direct the resources of this publication.
Disclaimer: Geoff Ebbs is the publisher of Westender and candidate for The Greens in the Griffith by-election.
