"The New South Wales Government and the City of Sydney Council have announced they will jointly develop 700 new homes in the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe.
NSW Housing Minister Matt Brown says the houses will be a mixture of public and private home units covering a 3.6-hectare site.
He says some of the units will be set aside for essential workers.
"We really are wanting to have a mix that is public housing, social housing where we have key workers, nurses, police, and the like, so they don't have to travel long distances from the suburbs to work in the city," he said.
The Sydney Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the $260 million project, saying Sydney businesses cannot afford low-income workers to be priced out of Sydney.
The chamber's executive director, Patricia Forsythe, said in a statement that future housing needs will be increasingly meet by brownfield developments.
"It's pleasing to see a commitment from [State] Government and city council to rejuvenating key sites in close proximity to the CBD," she said."
Read the article from ABC News here.
Also see the article in the Sydney Morning Herald here.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Glebe Morgue buys forklift to move obese
"Sydney's Glebe Morgue has been forced to buy a forklift truck to cope with obese corpses.
The proportion of obese patients requiring coronial autopsies has doubled from 15 per cent in 1986 to 30 per cent, according to a study by forensic pathologist Professor Roger Byard.
The proportion of morbidly obese corpses has increased from one to five per cent.
Glebe Morgue forensic pathologist Matthew Orde said the larger bodies were putting workers at risk of injury because they were difficult to lift, move and store.
He told The Sun-Herald that putrefaction - the degradation of soft tissue - was speeded up in morbidly obese patients, making handling difficult.
"A fat person will go off more quickly than a skinny person," Dr Orde said. ..."
Read the full review from the Sun-Herald here.
The proportion of obese patients requiring coronial autopsies has doubled from 15 per cent in 1986 to 30 per cent, according to a study by forensic pathologist Professor Roger Byard.
The proportion of morbidly obese corpses has increased from one to five per cent.
Glebe Morgue forensic pathologist Matthew Orde said the larger bodies were putting workers at risk of injury because they were difficult to lift, move and store.
He told The Sun-Herald that putrefaction - the degradation of soft tissue - was speeded up in morbidly obese patients, making handling difficult.
"A fat person will go off more quickly than a skinny person," Dr Orde said. ..."
Read the full review from the Sun-Herald here.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Comrades in arms to stand together
by Suzanne McFadden, The New Zealand Herald
"A Kiwi digger - tall, bronzed and standing at arms - is about to stand shoulder to shoulder with his fellow Anzac comrade once again. Dressed in the lemon squeezer hat and woolen puttees of a First World War Anzac soldier, the 4.2m-high statue stands in a Sydney foundry, waiting to be placed at the foot of Sydney's Anzac Bridge next to the Aussie Digger, who's been on guard since 2000. The two effigies of men at war will be an enduring testimony to the shared sacrifice of the Anzac soldiers. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark will unveil the Kiwi Digger in a ceremony at the western end of the bridge on April 27.
The iconic New Zealand soldier has been sculpted by Alan Somerville, a distinguished New Zealand artist now living in Sydney, who also made the Australian statue.
Neither statue was based on any particular soldier - Somerville teaches life drawing so he created each soldier's face from his memory. They share a similar stance, but there a few differences between the two men.
"The Aussie Digger has a slouch hat, and the Kiwi has a lemon squeezer. And I tease the Aussies and say the Kiwi Digger is 2 inches taller," Somerville says. "You've got to stand on our own two feet as a Kiwi over here."
Somerville says he has had "amazing responses" to the Aussie Digger statue, whose feet stand in sand from the beaches of Gallipoli where the Anzacs first landed on April 25, 1915.
"People who don't know anything about sculpture say they can see the emotion in him. It was a very straight up and down stance, but I wanted to get something in the attitude. I guess the face has a feeling of remembrance, of contemplation," he says.
Creating the Kiwi Digger was a nine-month mission, from creating the full armature around which the sculpture was built, to four months in the foundry where it was cast into bronze. Somerville was kicking himself for throwing away the original frame of the Australian version, and having to start again from scratch.
Somerville has his own connection to Anzac Day. As a young man who loved to draw, he worked on a farm in the Maniototo in partnership with a WW2 returned serviceman, Nigel McGregor.
"We never missed an Anzac Day commemoration. He fought through the Middle East and Italy, and it was there he fell in love with art. He was a wonderful man, and he gave me a great start," says Somerville, who moved to Australia 20 years ago.
"In a way, now that I have both passports I feel like a true Anzac."
Last year, Somerville made a life-size bronze of the famous Kiwi stallion Sir Tristram that stands in Sir Patrick Hogan's Cambridge Stud; his next project is an AFL player for the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Kiwi Digger was a joint project commissioned in June last year by Helen Clark and New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma. The New Zealand Government contributed $386,000 towards the statue, which will be unveiled in front of Anzac veterans in the Sunday ceremony.
"The twin soldier statues in the heart of Australia's largest city remind us of our close relationship and of the proud traditions we share. It will be a fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by ANZAC servicemen and women over more than 100 years," Helen Clark says.
Read the full article from The New Zealand Herald here.
"A Kiwi digger - tall, bronzed and standing at arms - is about to stand shoulder to shoulder with his fellow Anzac comrade once again. Dressed in the lemon squeezer hat and woolen puttees of a First World War Anzac soldier, the 4.2m-high statue stands in a Sydney foundry, waiting to be placed at the foot of Sydney's Anzac Bridge next to the Aussie Digger, who's been on guard since 2000. The two effigies of men at war will be an enduring testimony to the shared sacrifice of the Anzac soldiers. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark will unveil the Kiwi Digger in a ceremony at the western end of the bridge on April 27.
The iconic New Zealand soldier has been sculpted by Alan Somerville, a distinguished New Zealand artist now living in Sydney, who also made the Australian statue.
Neither statue was based on any particular soldier - Somerville teaches life drawing so he created each soldier's face from his memory. They share a similar stance, but there a few differences between the two men.
"The Aussie Digger has a slouch hat, and the Kiwi has a lemon squeezer. And I tease the Aussies and say the Kiwi Digger is 2 inches taller," Somerville says. "You've got to stand on our own two feet as a Kiwi over here."
Somerville says he has had "amazing responses" to the Aussie Digger statue, whose feet stand in sand from the beaches of Gallipoli where the Anzacs first landed on April 25, 1915.
"People who don't know anything about sculpture say they can see the emotion in him. It was a very straight up and down stance, but I wanted to get something in the attitude. I guess the face has a feeling of remembrance, of contemplation," he says.
Creating the Kiwi Digger was a nine-month mission, from creating the full armature around which the sculpture was built, to four months in the foundry where it was cast into bronze. Somerville was kicking himself for throwing away the original frame of the Australian version, and having to start again from scratch.
Somerville has his own connection to Anzac Day. As a young man who loved to draw, he worked on a farm in the Maniototo in partnership with a WW2 returned serviceman, Nigel McGregor.
"We never missed an Anzac Day commemoration. He fought through the Middle East and Italy, and it was there he fell in love with art. He was a wonderful man, and he gave me a great start," says Somerville, who moved to Australia 20 years ago.
"In a way, now that I have both passports I feel like a true Anzac."
Last year, Somerville made a life-size bronze of the famous Kiwi stallion Sir Tristram that stands in Sir Patrick Hogan's Cambridge Stud; his next project is an AFL player for the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Kiwi Digger was a joint project commissioned in June last year by Helen Clark and New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma. The New Zealand Government contributed $386,000 towards the statue, which will be unveiled in front of Anzac veterans in the Sunday ceremony.
"The twin soldier statues in the heart of Australia's largest city remind us of our close relationship and of the proud traditions we share. It will be a fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by ANZAC servicemen and women over more than 100 years," Helen Clark says.
Read the full article from The New Zealand Herald here.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
A funny quest
The comedy competition with the biggest prize haul - the Roxbury Hotel's Quest for the Best series - is on right now.
By Sarah Norris
"It’s a gruelling process to be the funniest comedian in Sydney. First there’s months of intense competition, a series of heats and then finally the grand final – the big daddy – an event the organisers predict will this year attract around 600 people who will be on the edge of their seat waiting on the jokes and puns of the ten finalists.
But the payoff and rewards are big. Snagging first prize in the Quest For the Best competition sees you handed a massive wad of sweaty cash, $5,000, which in comparison to the usual comedy prize on a usual weekly comedy event, is like winning first prize in Monday night Lotto.
“Most comedy competitions offer cash, though nothing comes even close to getting five grand,” exclaims last year’s winner, 24-year-old Liverpool comic Oliver Phommavanh. “Plus I got to hold a giant novelty cheque – that’s pretty impressive.”
What’s also remarkable is the rise and rise of Quest for the Best in such a short time. The brainchild of Kathryn Benball (she’s also organiser of the Glebe Roxbury Hotel comedy nights, a major supporter of local and up-and-coming comedians) and now in its third year, the event seems to have outgrown its home. “Last year we could have sold at least 600 tickets to the grand final so the pub has agreed that the final night will be held in an external venue. We just can’t hold enough people. It’s been a fantastic success and obviously the pub is through the roof about the whole thing. The first two years we did 400 people.”
So, what does she see as the attraction? “It’s new talent coming through – a lot of people turn up because they are curious to see who will be the next crop of comedians. It’s true a lot of people don’t come until the heats because they don’t want to sit through the bad ones, but some people really love it.”
Read the full article from Time Out here.
By Sarah Norris
"It’s a gruelling process to be the funniest comedian in Sydney. First there’s months of intense competition, a series of heats and then finally the grand final – the big daddy – an event the organisers predict will this year attract around 600 people who will be on the edge of their seat waiting on the jokes and puns of the ten finalists.
But the payoff and rewards are big. Snagging first prize in the Quest For the Best competition sees you handed a massive wad of sweaty cash, $5,000, which in comparison to the usual comedy prize on a usual weekly comedy event, is like winning first prize in Monday night Lotto.
“Most comedy competitions offer cash, though nothing comes even close to getting five grand,” exclaims last year’s winner, 24-year-old Liverpool comic Oliver Phommavanh. “Plus I got to hold a giant novelty cheque – that’s pretty impressive.”
What’s also remarkable is the rise and rise of Quest for the Best in such a short time. The brainchild of Kathryn Benball (she’s also organiser of the Glebe Roxbury Hotel comedy nights, a major supporter of local and up-and-coming comedians) and now in its third year, the event seems to have outgrown its home. “Last year we could have sold at least 600 tickets to the grand final so the pub has agreed that the final night will be held in an external venue. We just can’t hold enough people. It’s been a fantastic success and obviously the pub is through the roof about the whole thing. The first two years we did 400 people.”
So, what does she see as the attraction? “It’s new talent coming through – a lot of people turn up because they are curious to see who will be the next crop of comedians. It’s true a lot of people don’t come until the heats because they don’t want to sit through the bad ones, but some people really love it.”
Read the full article from Time Out here.
Kovco death irresponsible and self-inflicted: jury
"The jury at the inquest into the death of Private Jake Kovco in Iraq two years ago has found the soldier died of an irresponsibly self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The six member jury has taken a day to reach its verdict. The jury was unable to say whether or not the soldier was aware of the possibility his pistol was ready to discharge.
The three men and three women of the jury heard more than seven weeks of evidence.
They were asked to consider six possible verdicts, ranging from the finding that Pte Kovco committed suicide to an open verdict.
Lawyers for three other soldiers, the Commonwealth and the counsel assisting the coroner all recommended the jury find Pte Kovco accidentally shot himself after forgetting that his gun was loaded.
At Glebe Coroners Court in Sydney, Private Kovco's mother Judy shook her head as the verdict was read out. Her lawyer had asked for an open verdict.
Outside the court, Judy Kovco said the jury had returned the wrong verdict, but refused to say any more to reporters. ..."
Read the full article from ABC News here.
The six member jury has taken a day to reach its verdict. The jury was unable to say whether or not the soldier was aware of the possibility his pistol was ready to discharge.
The three men and three women of the jury heard more than seven weeks of evidence.
They were asked to consider six possible verdicts, ranging from the finding that Pte Kovco committed suicide to an open verdict.
Lawyers for three other soldiers, the Commonwealth and the counsel assisting the coroner all recommended the jury find Pte Kovco accidentally shot himself after forgetting that his gun was loaded.
At Glebe Coroners Court in Sydney, Private Kovco's mother Judy shook her head as the verdict was read out. Her lawyer had asked for an open verdict.
Outside the court, Judy Kovco said the jury had returned the wrong verdict, but refused to say any more to reporters. ..."
Read the full article from ABC News here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
